Blue: Hello people! Blue here! Sorry, but Nikki can't make it today, she's still in shock that we actually like her!

Silver: We do?

Yellow: Would we have sent Gold to stop her if we didn't?

Gold: I only went because I lost the game…

Blue: Doesn't matter! Anyway, since Nikki isn't here, I'm going to introduce the story today! With the help of everyone else of course.

Green: Why?

Yellow: Because we need to do something nice (for once) for Nikki! And she's still shell-shocked. So she can't do this.

Green: Point taken.

Blue: Anyway, this is part two of the Twisted Forest chapter!

Silver: ThePokemonPress does not own Pokemon, and never will.

Blue: Yep! Now, on with the story!

Everyone: Enjoy!

Chapter Six: VS Lillipup - Traveling The Twisted Forest Part II

Terri considered banging her head into a tree. She was that desperate to be done with walking in circles; in a twisted forest; in the rain.

Not to mention she was stuck in there with a complete moron that she called her friend.

If she had to listen to anymore stories about poker parties and club dancing (how he was able to go club dancing was a mystery to Terri since he was only sixteen), she was going to hang him and leave the boy to rot away.

"Gold?" Terri asked, turning to face the slightly older teen.

"Yes?" he asked before going back to his story about dragging his friend, Silver, into a club back in Johto.

"Shut. Up." Terri growled, glaring darkly at the older boy, who quickly shut his mouth and stopped talking.

Better. With a satisfied smirk, Terri took the lead. That exit had to be around here somewhere…

((Twenty Minutes Later))

"I CAN'T STAND THIS FOREST! WHERE THE HELL IS THAT LOUSY EXIT!?" Terri screamed, scaring everything within a five-mile radius from the two travelers.

"Calm down Terri! We'll get out of here soon!" Gold promised. He was starting to be afraid of the red haired girl. Her temper was shorter then he thought.

"Calm DOWN? CALM DOWN? Are you INSANE!? HOW can I BE CALM, when we're TRAPPED in this FOREST!?" she shouted, her voice rising and falling every few words. Gold rubbed his ears, wondering of he still had his hearing.

"Well screaming your lungs out isn't going to change the fact that we're stuck in here," Gold grumbled, glaring at her. Terri huffed, but she knew he was right. She hated admitting she was wrong. She'd gotten enough of that from him… Speaking of whom, was he worried about her? She had left so suddenly…

"Hey Terri? Terri! Snap out of it Fiery Gal!" Gold's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She blinked, then focused on her friend, he seemed worried. "Huh? Oh, sorry," Terri said, turning away, clutching her Luxury Ball that hung around her neck.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Gold spoke up. "Hey! Look!" he pointed ahead, where a path was clearly marked. He shot Terri an amused look. "It seems you scared the path into existence!" he joked.

Terri couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, guess I did," she agreed, heading for the path. Maybe things were looking up, even the rain had lightened up.

((Meanwhile, In The Hoenn Region…))

The gray eyed teen searched franticly. Where was she? Where had she gone? He scratched his head irritably. Why did she always do this? She always left without telling him!

I need to get her a leash, he sighed. Why couldn't she act like a normal girl for once?

"She's not a kid anymore Gray. You need to let her go." Steven's words echoed in the teen's head.

What did he know? He wasn't the one who had taken care of her! He wasn't there when she got sick; he wasn't there when she got in trouble with the police; he wasn't the one that busted her out of more fights then Gray could count.

But he's right… Gray shook his head. That didn't make it any easier, in fact, it made it harder. Now she was gone, vanished. If she was going somewhere, couldn't she leave a note? Gray sighed, this is what he gets for adopting a two-year-old when he was six…

Just be okay, at least till I find you, Gray begged silently. He sighed, well, she wasn't in Hoenn. So he better go to another region… perhaps Sinnoh.

((Back At Pinwheel Forest…))

Terri was never so happy to see the light. Literally.

She sighed in relief as she and Gold walked out of the forest and into the open. There were trees still, but they formed a path instead of being scattered around. The sky was clear, having lost all their water, the clouds vanished, leaving the sky clear.

"At least its still daylight," Gold murmured. Terri nodded in agreement, "Yeah, maybe we can get to Nacrene City before dark."

Truthfully, Terri had lost all hope in that option. So she was pretty surprised when the city showed up just an hour before the sun set.

"Okay, so why don't you go get us checked into the Center, and I'll set up a appointment with the Gym Leader!" Gold said, turning to face Terri with a big grin. She hesitated, she'd prefer setting up a appointment herself, but she didn't really trust Gold in getting the rooms.

"Alright, see ya later," Terri said, giving her friend a careless wave as she headed for the Pokèmon Center.

((Unknown P.O.V))

I waited, making sure no one was watching. I didn't need anyone following me. Casting a quick glance at the Pokèmon Center, making sure she wasn't watching me, I headed for the Nacrene Museum.

Apparently the Gym was inside the Museum, clever, seeing as how Gym Leaders watched over their city. I remembered that Brock, Pewter City's Gym Leader, kept his Gym near the Museum, but not inside.

Another quick look, at this time of day (or night) the Museum was closed. No one was around…

I fished out the key I had been given just two days ago and unlocked the doors. Stuffing the key back into my pocket, I shut the door behind me quietly. The last thing I needed was getting caught…

"Who's there?" Crap.

((The Next Day, Around Noon))

Terri tapped her foot impatiently as she sat at a table outside the city's main Café. What was it called again? Terri didn't remember, but she did know it was right next to the Museum/Gym.

Why, in the name of Arceus, did Gold drag her here? She sighed, glancing over at the table next to them where her Mudkip (Marsh), Poochyena (Swift), and Delcatty (Charm) were sitting with Gold's Ambipom (Aibo), Typhlosion (Exbo), and Dunsparse (Dunbo).

It was rather amusing though, seeing the six Pokèmon sitting in chairs (or standing by the table in Exbo's case) and eating/drinking from bowls. People that were walking by would stop and stare. Maybe because they've never seen Hoenn and Johto Pokèmon before, maybe because they've just never seen Pokèmon eat at a Café before, Terri wasn't sure.

"So why are we here?" Terri asked, turning to face Gold, who was sitting across from her. The black-haired boy grinned, lifting his Coke as if gesturing to something. "Well your battle isn't till one, and we need to eat! Besides, you know what I say! When first coming to a new region-"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Try the local food.' You've told me before," Terri huffed, her orange eyes flashing with amusement. Gold grinned, "Yep! So lets dig in!" he said as their food was brought to their table. His Pokèmon echoed the cry as their food was brought to them.

Terri exchanged an amused look with Marsh and Swift, both girls were like her, tomboyish. Charm, on the other hand, was more… girly. The Primp Pokèmon wrinkled her nose as she watched the male Pokèmon (and Gold) eat.

With a laugh, Terri dug into her pasta. She liked pasta. As she ate, memories of old flooded her mind.

((Flashback- Almost Fourteen Years Ago))

Terri laughed, clapping her hands as the older boy and his Pokèmon tried to cheer her up. She'd been upset about something, she didn't recall, after all, she was only one.

"Again!" little Terri begged. The older boy grinned and looked at his Pokèmon, what did he call it? A Poliwog? She didn't know. The little blue Pokèmon was around her size, give or take a few inches. Its long flat tail was tadpole-like, and it had a swirl in its stomach.

"What do you think?" he asked the Pokèmon. He had a name for it, but Terri couldn't remember it. "Pol! Poli!" the Pokèmon chirped happily, bouncing over to Terri and jumping into her lap.

Footsteps came, and a woman walked out of the house that Terri had been ignoring (since the boy and his Pokèmon were much more interesting). She smiled down at them, her eyes were a pretty orange, much like Terri's.

"Come on now Terri!" she lifted her daughter up before turning and smiling at the boy. "You to _!" she said and the boy followed. Terri grinned down at the boy, but his face was dissolving. Vanishing before her eyes...

((Flashback- Thirteen Years Ago))

Terri wandered around aimlessly. Where was she? Where was _? One minute she was holding his hand, the next a tidal wave of people swept him away. Now she was somewhere she didn't know. Alone.

Warm tears started to fall from her cheeks as the young child stumbled into a alley. Where was she?

"Hey! Are you okay?" Terri perked up. Was that him? She turned around, but it wasn't _. The boy she was looking at seemed to be the same age, but he had gray eyes, not the _ colored eyes of _. Though he had the same hair color- black.

"I-I'm lost…" Terri whimpered. The little boy frowned, then looked around as if he was afraid of something. "Lost? But shouldn't you be with your parents?" he asked, then seemed to realize he was talking to a two-year-old.

He slapped his hand to his forehead. "Never mind. Come on!" he reached out his hand to her. "I'll take care of you!" he promised, grinning at her.

Terri looked at his hand for a minute before grasping it weakly. She didn't want to be alone, and this boy reminded her of him.

Letting the older boy led her off, Terri felt her head go fuzzy. Images of him were fading. Soon all memory was gone. But what could she do? She was only two, and the feeling that she had been abandoned settled in her stomach, and anger began to grow.

Why had she been left behind?

((Flashbacks End))

Gold stopped eating, looking at Terri with concern as she closed her eyes, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Why was she crying?

"Terri? Terri are you okay?" Gold asked gently. He was afraid of igniting her anger, but even though he'd only known her for a few days, he had the feeling she wasn't one to cry over nothing.

The younger girl opened her orange eyes, but for a second, Gold could have sworn they were red, and not from crying. They looked almost just like…

"I-I'm fine Gold," Terri wiped away the tears with a napkin. "I'm fine." she repeated, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as much as Gold.

"You sure?" he asked. Terri straightened her shoulders, "Yeah. Don't worry," she told him before shoving a forkful of pasta into her mouth. Gold exchanged a look with his Pokèmon. He was sure Terri wasn't fine, but she clearly wasn't going to talk about it.

"If you say so. Whew! Look how time flies! We better get going before we miss your battle!" Gold said, glancing at the clock. Terri's head snapped up, seeing that Gold was right, she jumped to her feet, narrowly avoiding the table.

"Gold! Pay for our meal! I gotta go!" she ran off, her three Pokèmon rushing after her. Gold blinked, then smirked as he got to his feet. A waiter came forward with the check, but Gold waved him off. "Its all paid for," he told the man, who looked at him with confusion.

"By who Sir?" he asked.

"Lenora, Nacrene's Gym Leader." Gold replied, giving the man a tip and walking down the street with his Pokèmon towards the Museum. He couldn't wait to see Terri's battle.

With Dunbo on his head (the normal type seemed to like being up there for some reason), and Exbo and Aibo by his side, the DexHolder headed straight for the Gym.

((With Lenora))

The normal type Gym Leader smiled as she watched her latest challenger, a girl from Hoenn by the name of Terri, rush around the library above the battle field. She found the clues easily and quickly, without so much as a pause.

Lenora smiled, she had a feeling that this battle would be a good one. The thought began to work her up, and she took a deep breath to calm down. The last person to rile her up so much for a battle had been Black, just a few weeks ago.

"Are you two ready for this?" she asked, turning to her Lillipup and Watchog. Both Pokèmon nodded, eager to battle.

With a smile, Lenora looked up as the hidden staircase moved, letting her see the outline of her challenger and her three Pokèmon.

It was time.

Blue: Well that was fun!

Gold: She gave me a Dunsparse?

Crystal: Well Nikki does have a strange love for that Pokèmon.

Blue: Right! Anyway, review! Any guesses who the mystery person was? Or why Lenora was paying for Gold and Terri's lunch? Or who the people in the flashback were?

Crystal: Tell us! Bye!

Everyone: Review!