Hi there! Welcome to chapter 12! It's been a super long time since I've updated, sorry about that. I'm trying to stay close to the games on this story, just like the prequel to it, and so I'm using the text from the game as an outline... but since I couldn't find the game text online I'm actually having to play through Black 2 and write it all down. T-T I'm slow. So I have an excuse, even though it's a lame one. XD

Anyway, this chapter has all kinds of stuff in it, even though it's a little bit of a filler. There'll be some with N after the part with White, and then after that I threw in another of her voicemails to N. So we got all kinds of crazy crap going on. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12: Progression

"Yoo-hoo!" I jumped, stumbling backwards as a flash of blonde tackled me, my arms flailing in an attempt to stay upright. I only had to guess for a minute who or what it was that had sacked me, before I chuckled, grasping onto one of the pillars outside the Aspertia Gym for support. Bianca was fast, I had only stepped out of the Gym a few seconds ago and she was already clinging onto me for dear life.

"How was it?" she asked excitedly, pulling back, her eyes shining with anticipation. "How did your Pokémon battle with the Gym Leader go- ooh!" she squealed, taking my hand and prying it open to find the Basic Badge that Cheren had given me inside. I blinked, my head spinning. She asked so many questions and never waited for the answer to any of them.

"If it isn't the Basic Badge! Wow!" she exclaimed, letting my hand go and dancing in place, "Amazing! You're so amazing, White!" she called, spinning around in a circle, giggling to herself. She was such a cheerleader.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" I heard Cheren's deep and confused voice ask from inside the Gym. The door creaked as he opened it, his eyebrows knitted together as his head poked out to see what was happening. I had left him with a goodbye and he had stayed inside to heal his Pokémon before he began accepting other challengers. Cheren's eyes widened as he spotted Bianca trotting in place on his front doorstep.

"Bianca!" Cheren said with a smile, stepping out onto the porch to join us. "Long time no see! I thought you'd be here for the opening yesterday," he said, allowing the door to close behind him and placing his hands on his hips.

Bianca immediately ceased her excited prancing and blushed, looking down at the ground in embarrassment and tapping her toes together. "Y-yeah, sorry about that. Juniper called and, you know, work!" she said with a forced and fake laugh. "B-but yeah, w-what's up?" she asked, her eyes darting around and landing on anything but Cheren.

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Apparently Cheren wasn't the only one who was still hanging on to their childhood crush. Bianca'd always been a little awkward around Cheren. I'd asked her one day why and she'd told me in complete confidence that she, "kinda, sorta, maybe, liked him". She had told me if I ever told anyone she'd beat me with my own bag but I'd never believed her. Although I'd never told anyone either.

Cheren faltered, "Uh, well, I just opened a Gym," he said, his statement trailing up at the end so it sounded closer to a question. He was more than a little confused as to why Bianca'd asked him 'what's up' when she already knew what was going on in his life. I bit down on my lip harder. Those two were just so fun to watch.

Bianca nodded, her blush turning a little darker. There was a long silence between us all as we waited for the others to spark a conversation, and just as I had decided I should probably leave, Bianca spoke up.

"Oh!" she said, holding a finger in the air in remembrance. "Professor Juniper asked you to call her whenever you get a chance to talk about that Snivy," Bianca said, "She just kinda wanted to give you a few tips on raising it, I guess." Bianca shrugged. "You still have her number right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, sure do." I was a bit relieved the Professor had more information on Snivy. Bianca'd just given me a quick summary of what the Pokémon had been through but hadn't really said anything on how I might go about raising it. Certain Pokémon required certain strategies, and one that'd been abandoned like this Snivy had, would surely be unique. Abandoned Pokémon usually had a lot of baggage.

"Good!" Bianca said, nodding to herself. "I guess if that's all… you should probably be heading on to Virbank City!" she squealed. "You're so close to becoming Champion again, White! I can practically smell it!" She tapped her nose with a very confident expression before giving me a wink and a smile.

"White?! You're still here!"

All three of us turned our gaze to a figure in the distance, running full-throttle toward the Gym. I squinted, and as the figure got closer I recognized it to be Hugh. If he was just now getting to Aspertia, I mustn't have taken long in my Gym battle.

Hugh reached us, panting and putting his hands on his knees. "I was told," he sighed, taking long gasp of air. How long had he been running anyway? "That this was actually-" Another deep breath, "- a League Gym?" he finished, sloppily gesturing to the building before wheezing and muttering to himself about being out of shape.

"Yes, this is the Aspertia City Gym," Cheren said hesitantly, "And you are…?"

I shook my head and smiled, jogging down the few steps to the gym to where Hugh was still catching his breath. "You get that map from your sister?"

Hugh nodded, hastily taking the crumpled map out of his pocket. "Yeah, I got it and got all the way back to Route 19 before I heard someone talking about an official League Gym in Aspertia." He inhaled and straightened up, shoving the map back into his pocket. "So I high-tailed it back here to see if it was true, since I'm after my eight badges and all," he said, turning his attention from me to Cheren. "I'm Hugh, by the way."

I adjusted the strap of my bag, reaching into it and retrieving my badge case. "Well you came to the right place at the right time. Cheren was just about to open up his Gym to challengers for the day," I mumbled, snapping open the case and realizing I didn't have a place to put my new badge. I frowned, placing it on top of my other Basic Badge and shutting it, having to struggle a bit before the hook locked safely. When I opened that thing again my badge would probably come flying out. Ohwell.

"Really?!" Hugh exclaimed, pointing a finger at Cheren. "Alrighty then, one-two-three, let's battle!" he shouted, sprinting up the steps to the Gym and dashing inside without waiting for Cheren to accept his challenge or follow him inside for a battle.

Cheren's eyes were wide, "He's a unique one, isn't he," he said, his mouth twitching into a smile.

I gave him a nod, "Oh yeah. But he's got potential."

Cheren nodded back. "Well then, I guess I have a challenger to attend to. Good luck on your journey, White; and see you later Bianca," he said with a small dip of his head before he disappeared back into his Gym.

Bianca gave me a wave, "Yeah! Good luck, White! I'll be routing for ya! But I think I wanna watch this battle," she giggled, struggling with the door to the Gym before dashing inside after Cheren.

I waved back after she'd already gone inside. She was so fast I wasn't even able to tell her goodbye in time. I smiled; that was just like Bianca. She never stopped moving. I shook my head, wondering exactly how I'd become friends with the hyper blonde and nerd in the first place. We were all so different it was a miracle we'd become as close as we were.

I sighed, turning on my heel and walking back toward the Pokémon Center I'd stayed the night in. If I remembered right it was just a little ways past that building before I'd see the terminal to Route 19. And if I also remembered correctly, that was the way to Virbank. I knew Floccesy Town was between Aspertia and Virbank, and it would be a perfect place to spend the night, as well as meet up with Alder, as he'd finally settled down and built himself a house there. It'd be good to catch up with him.

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Professor Oak frowned as the familiar sound of the doorbell to his lab rang out deafeningly loud. "Tracey! Can you get that?" he shouted out the door. He paused, waiting for a response and when he didn't get one his frown deepened. People had been bombarding his lab constantly; it was getting real old real fast.

"Tracey!" Oak called again. Again no answer. The Professor mumbled loudly to himself about the point of having an assistant if he was never around as he stood up from his office chair, pulling off his reading glasses and dropping the book in his lap heavily onto his desk.

Professor Oak was chin-deep in research on the wonderful legendary Pokémon in his backyard. Zekrom was a fascinating beast, one of legend, and ever since White had transferred him over, Oak had been obsessed. He'd measured Zekrom, weighed Zekrom, bathed Zekrom, battled against Zekrom (and lost pitifully, even without the dragon having a trainer), observed Zekrom eat, observed Zekrom sleep, and taken enough notes to fill an entire bookshelf. He considered the large dragon the best thing that had happened to his research. He also considered him the worst.

Ever since Zekrom had taken up residence in the back, people had been at his door nonstop. Whether it was Ash Ketchum's mother, complaining about the loud roars in the wee hours of the morning, or passerby who saw the top of the dragon's head over the trees and were curious, he got them all. His research wasn't coming along as quickly as he'd hoped because of this. He'd assumed Tracey would answer the door and the people's questions, but the boy had his hands more than full keeping the dragon fed. It seemed to eat at least its bodyweight every day and it was full-time job just keeping the thing full.

Professor Oak trotted down the stairs, the doorbell ringing again. "Yes, yes, be right there," he called, just loud enough for the person outside to hear. Who would it be this time? Someone complaining about the noise or someone curious about the dragon? Or both? He betted on the noise, as Delia Ketchum usually showed up about this time to threaten Oak if the thing didn't stay quiet during the night that she'd send Mr. Mime to smack him with his broom. Of course Zekrom was loud every night, no matter what Oak did, and he had yet to see Mr. Mime on his doorstep.

Oak paused when he reached the door. Maybe it was Mr. Mime this time. He peered through the peephole and instead saw a very intriguing looking boy. He was tall enough that the peephole made it to his chin and had bright green hair. Oak paused. Green. That was an odd color; the only time he'd heard of someone having green hair was when May talked of Drew or when White talked of N.

Oak squinted. It wasn't Drew. So could this be the man White was so desperate to find? Oh surely not.

Oak threw open the door, "You here about the dragon?" he asked wearily.

The boy jumped, stumbling back a few paces before his eyes grew in size. "Yes, how did you know?"

Oak shrugged, "Most everyone is. You can't see him, he's off limits to the public," Oak droned.

The boy stayed quiet for a moment, his mouth turning down into a frown. "Are you sure? His brother wants to see him awfully bad."

It took a moment for Oak to process it. Zekrom's brother? Throughout all his research on Unovian legendary Pokémon he'd found that Zekrom and Reshiram were in a way two parts to a whole. One belonged to White, and the other to the boy named N. With a little deduction Oak's mouth dropped open, "You're N?"

N paced backwards, "Woah, how'd you know that?" The boy looked as if he'd run at any moment, his eyes flicking in every direction.

Oak held up his hands in defense, "No, no, no, I've just heard from White that a boy named N is the owner of Reshiram. That is who you were talking about right? Zekrom's brother?"

N froze in place, "Y-Yeah, that's him. Wait… White's not here now is she?" he blurted, taking another gigantic step backwards. Oak could tell he was bracing himself to run if he told him that the small girl was present.

Oak shook his head, "No, she's not. She's back over in your home region."

N's body relaxed immediately, "Oh, so I was right. Okay." He took a deep breath before continuing. "You won't tell her I came here, will you?"

Oak judged N's reaction carefully. He'd witnessed White break down in complete defeat on his front porch, about where N was standing, only a few months ago. She'd been desperate to find N, wherever he was, and after Oak had told her that he'd never been visited by a man named N, she had broken down in tears. Although when she'd gone back to Unova she'd been in much better shape, her determination to win over the Championship driving her on without the presence of N.

Oak shook his head finally, "No. I won't. Although you probably should go and see her sometime."

N dropped his head and nodded toward the ground, "Yeah, I know."

Oak smiled at the boy. He had been worried after talking with White that N perhaps wouldn't ever go back, or that he'd decided against ever contacting her again. But the green-haired boy had a look of sadness on his face that told Oak it was just going to take time, and then he'd go back and see her. Oak chuckled to himself, stepping aside and motioning N through the door. In a way, White and N's relationship amused him.

N gave him a thankful nod and quickly shuffled inside.

"He's out back," Oak said, tossing the door closed with a slam and quickly walking ahead, across the tile floors toward the large glass doors to his backyard. "He's in with White's other Pokémon. It's way back there so I think I'll go ahead and show you." Oak threw open the doors and jogged down the few steps to the dirt ground with an excited pep in his step. He was going to get to see Reshiram. Two legendary Pokémon from a region hundreds of miles away; it was like he'd won the lottery.

He heard N close the door carefully and then jog after him. The two men walked in silence, Oak practically giddy at the thought of legendary Pokémon, his eyes shining with excitement. After a few minutes he'd led N down the large dirt road, lined with fences and corrals full of Pokémon to the farthest and one, and one of the largest by far.

"There he is," Oak said, gesturing to a gigantic black lump toward the back of the fenced in area. All of White's Pokémon were lounging on the lush grass, Zekrom curled up around a tree which hid only a very small section of him. Oak turned to N and smiled in anticipation as the boy rummaged around in his pocket, pulling out a pokeball and tossing it into the air.

It exploded in a flash of light and Oak craned his neck as the magnificent white beast formed. Reshiram shook out his fur, blinking his crystal clear blue eyes a few times before looking over to Zekrom. Oak could swear he saw a small smile twitch at the dragon's mouth before it let out an ear-splitting roar.

Zekrom let out a grunt, his head shooting up from the ground, his eyes half-lidded from sleep as he looked around blearily for the noise. When the black dragon laid eyes on Reshiram he froze for a moment before scrambling to his feet, his large footsteps shaking the ground and waking up most of White's smaller Pokémon. They stumbled around, dazed and confused as they began to try and process what was happening.

Zekrom reeled back suddenly, a crackling ball of blue and yellow energy forming and slowly growing. His eyes flashed yellow and the entire atmosphere began to change. Oak felt the energy coursing over his skin, making the hair on his arms stand on end. So this was what an attack from a legendary felt like.

Wait… an attack? Oak shook his head quickly. "No, no, no, wait!" he screeched as Reshiram began to mimic Zekrom's stance, a ball of searing orange and red light forming. Oak could see it now: his backyard in shambles, Pokémon roaming freely around Pallet Town. How long would it take to gather them all? And more importantly, where was Tracey?

"Don't worry." Oak turned toward N at the boy's reassuring statement with exasperation. N glanced out of the corner of his eye at Oak and smiled, "They're just greeting each other."

The instant the words left his mouth the dragons both unleashed their attacks, the sound of an explosion pulsing into Oak's ears deafeningly as the two massively powerful attacks collided in midair, lightning and fire shooting in all directions.

White's smaller Pokémon screeched in horror and fright, tiny rodents, monkeys, and birds scrambling away in every direction they could to avoid the attack. A few water Pokémon ducked underneath the surface of the pond with a scared squeal and White's Seismitoad, who hadn't even come close to being hit with the attack, wobbled on its feet, dramatically tipping over into a heap, fainted.

The attacks ceased a second later, and much to Oak's relief not a Pokémon or fence had been hurt. He took a deep breath and sighed. "I thought they were supposed to be rivals. Didn't you and White use them against each other in battle?"

N crossed his arms and nodded, the smile still on his face, his eyes unwavering from the two dragons. "Yeah, we battled with them, but that doesn't mean they're enemies. They're one and the same, in a way, so really they were only fighting because White and I disagreed, not because they did. It's their job to fight for their hero, not to believe in what their hero is fighting for."

Oak glanced back over at the dragons as they trotted toward each other, letting out happy grunts and growls as they reunited. "White told me you could understand Pokémon?"

N nodded, "Yeah. She sure told you a lot didn't she?" he asked, his eyes sweeping over to Oak for only a moment before returning to his dragon.

Oak blinked before nodding. "Yeah, I guess she did. But… do you know what they're saying?" he asked, jabbing a thumb at the two dragons.

N nodded yet again, "Yeah. It's nothing exciting though."

Oak gaped. Nothing exciting? How could anything a Pokémon said be nothing exciting? Oak believed that if he could speak with Pokémon he'd never ever stop, conversing with the creatures twenty four hours a day until he collapsed in exhaustion, and then waking up and starting it right back up again. "Why? What're they talking about?"

N shrugged, "Well, they said hello, they said how long it'd been since they'd seen one another. They said no hard feelings about the battle, and then Zekrom reminded Reshiram that he'd won, and Reshiram said that White'd won, and that their battle had ended in a draw. Then Zekrom pouted and told Reshiram he'd gotten out of shape and Reshiram told him that 'he was one to talk'."

Oak looked back over to the Pokémon as they continued their "conversation". Was that really what they were saying? It was so humanesque. Oak quickly patted the pockets of his lab coat and deflated when he realized he didn't have a notebook on him. The one time he was able to have a Pokémon's speech interpreted he'd left his notepad in his office.

N chuckled, "They've finally gotten past introductions, and truces. Reshiram's asking Zekrom how White's doing. You know he took a liking to her. Oh, Zekrom said she's doing fine, but he's bummed out that he won't be battling for a while, and that she said he was too powerful for Gym battles, but when she became Champion she'd use him, and he'd get to battle Reshiram again when N came back and…" N trailed off, his eyes glazing over slightly.

Oak gave the boy a bittersweet smile that he knew would go unnoticed. He could tell it pained N, in a way, that she'd spoken of his return. Oak wasn't sure about everything in White and N's relationship. White had told him a good deal, but most of it had only been as hero to hero, not boy to girl. He smiled up at N as he continued to stare into the distance, his eyelids twitching every once in a while.

No, Oak didn't know much about White and N, but from what he'd observed he knew that they were both having a tough time, only in different ways. He reached over and patted N on the shoulder, breaking the boy of his trance. "C'mon, what're they talking about now?"

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Hey N! How are you doing? I sound excited don't I? So excited that I'm not even going to tell you you should call me back to let me know you're alive… although you should do that…. Anyway! Guess what? I just got my ninth badge! Yep, and with a new Pokémon at that!

Look, see? It's so shiny. I like it. It'll look good on a wall someday. Cheren took it better than I thought he would, but then again I underestimate him a lot. Eevee did really well, even though it was her first battle. I think Talace'll probably be really proud of her when I finally get them out and together again.

I haven't really brought Snivy out yet. Jeez, it's been in its ball for a long time… I know you'd hate that, but I'm really afraid of how it'll react when I tell it I'm its trainer. Although Bianca said Juniper has some more news for me regarding it so I'm hoping that'll help.

I'm on Route 19 now, this grass is really tall. I hope there aren't any Spinarak in here. I just never know what kind of Pokémon I'll see now that we have all these new species. Maybe if there is a Spinarak I'll catch it. Never really worked with a bug type, might be fun.

Anyway, I'm headed to Floccesy Town. Alder is apparently living there with his grandson so I'll probably visit him before going on to Virbank. Then if I get that one it'll be my tenth badge! Then only one more to go! I'm stoked!

Maybe I'll wait for Hugh, he's pretty amusing. He'll probably catch up with me if I talk with Alder. I wonder where that girl he was traveling with is… Mei? Was that her name? I think so. I just cannot wait to battle him when he gets stronger. Something tells me he's really gonna be something.

Oh crap, it just beeped… does that mean it disconnected? Did I talk too long? No… oh it's the ten second warning…. OH! Bye N! Call you later, call me back, don't die, just stay alive, I love you, bye!

So there it is! I hope you liked it! Seismitoads are drama queens apparently. XP

Only got two real quick things to say now. Uno- if you could go vote on the fun little poll I have going on I'd love you forever!

Dos (is that how it's spelled?)- I just created a new account on this wonderful website! It'll have just some random stuff (one-shots, few-shots, challenges, blah blah blah), a good chunk of it will be Pokémon, so if you're bored I'd direct you over there! I have a link at the top of my profile, it's Ayumu Foxtail-chan (weird name, I know) so hop on over there if ya want! It'd be greatly appreciated. XD

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews last chapter, they are what keeps me alive. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

~Poke-lover88