Compared to him, Liza was almost the same height as her brother Tate. Actually, everything about them was almost the same, except for the fact that she was older. They had the same color hair, but Liza's was longer and she hers kept in a braid made of three braids.

The two had once been gym leaders, the only leaders to ever exist as a pair. But ever since the incident seven years ago, they'd had to find new things to do, and one of them was go to the military.

"So, General Stone is in there interrogating the girl?" she asked.

"Yep. He said she was our ninth," Tate replied. The two were standing on the side of the underwater tunnel opposite from the elevator, and they were whispering for fear Steven or even the girl would hear.

"Do you really believe that Tate?" Liza questioned. She undid her braid of dark blue hair and started to redo it- a nervous habit of hers.

Her twin brother yawned. "I don't know Liza. I don't even know who she is! I tried to ask what her name was, but we got here before I could find out."

"Well, what did she look like?"

Tate thought a moment before replying to his sister. He had found the girl's appearance intriguing. She was well guarded in her demeanor, but it was good to see he still made her nervous. "She was shorter than you Liza and her hair was a little bit longer. She had darker skin, black hair and blue eyes."

Liza interest piqued. "You don't think it's the girl from four years ago, do you?"

Tate shrugged. "She was wearing a blue jacket, which isn't much to go off of, but the coincidences are there. We'll just have to see." The two nodded to each other and pressed in a code on the wall, waiting for the door to open.

Tate looked at the clock on the keypad and smiled to himself. "Liza, I think I'm gonna take a nap until midnight. Wake me if I sleep too late."

"Knowing you, you could be sleeping until noon tomorrow."

"Don't tempt me sis!"

Steven stood across from me in the elevator, looking as serious as ever. I wanted to punch him, which was the second time that day in the elevator that I'd had that urge.

He'd been asking me questions to which I couldn't give any answers. I hadn't said a word, and to be honest, I was shocked that he was here.

"Astoria, you know you can answer me," Steven persisted. "I'll have the recordings modified so none of this is heard by anyone else."

I smirked. "So what you're saying is that this is being recorded right now? Well, now you've completely destroyed any chance of me telling you anything."

Steven sighed. "You're pretty picky when it comes to things like this. Y'know that right?" He knelt down near the buttons and opened a little hatch, one which I couldn't have seen without knowing it was there. He grabbed something out of it and held it up. "Here, let's fix this problem." He took the box and broke it in half with his bare hands, shoving the remains in his pocket.

"Fine. Let's say that was all that was recording. What then?" I asked.

"What then? Well, I'd like you answer a few questions for me."

"About?"

"Stuff."

This sounds familiar, I thought. "How do I know I can trust you?"

Steven looked at me curiously. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe, it's because I haven't seen you in like, two years? Plus, I'm really thinking that you were here that whole time. What exactly have you been doing? Why did you leave?"

Steven hadn't been my first choice of a "friend" or "partner" in the resistance movement, but he definitely wasn't my last. Steven had power in years past, and that attracted a lot of people to join the rebellion. It was because they didn't have power, and it made them feel stronger.

In addition to Steven, two members of the Elite Four were on our side; Phoebe and Sidney. The other two had mysteriously vanished six years ago, when the rebellion started up. I had a sneaking suspicion that the military had something to do with it.

Steven sighed. "Look, I have my own reasons for being here, but let me assure you, I'm still helping you out." So he didn't answer me, I thought. So he's hiding something. I knew that he was obviously hiding something, but I probably wouldn't find it out for a while. Not with the way he was playing it safe.

Steven Stone wouldn't break under me. I wasn't strong enough to do anything like that.

"Yes, because bringing another head figure of the resistance to work for the military helps everyone out so much," I retorted. Everything about me had now become hostile and Steven knew it well. I saw concern as well as anxiety in his eyes, which were the same color as his hair.

"I didn't ask you to show up if that's what you're asking."

He didn't? Then who did? Have we been betrayed by someone else? "Then who did? You should know- you're one of them," I spat. My voice was now full of a venomous anger, and it seemed to shift Steven's mood too.

"I'm not sure."

"How could you not know?! You're a General for Arceus' sake!" I had recognized it immediately upon seeing how much more elegant his crest was compared to say… Brendan's.

"I just got promoted!" Steven glared at me.

"Whatever," I said. "I'm leaving. After all, I have a new position to get to." If Steven was here, then that must mean something was up. Once again, I was unsure whether or not to go through with the whole thing.

As if he could read my mind, Steven protested. "Oh no you don't. You are not leaving the military a second time!"

He saw my hesitation. He saw my fear. I don't know how, but he did. I hated people like that- they were able to venture into the places of my mind I kept the most secret.

"Why would I do that?" I asked quietly. "You're going to set my father and Shelly and Matt and the rest of Team Aqua free." And that was it. The sentence I spoke made tears glaze over my dark blue eyes- a feeling which I knew all too well.

It was pathetic to think about. Me- who cried every damn day for the first year I was on my own- was here now, my eyes still holding tears.

The atmosphere in the elevator seemed to change with the tone of my words. I felt Steven's pitying presence appear near my uncertain one and I quickly pressed the button to open the doors, walking out as soon as they were open. I blinked several times, focusing on the matter at hand. I had to become strong again and cast aside anything that would weaken me.

"It's not your fault for feeling! It's natural! If you didn't feel, I'd be concerned for you. But sometimes, you're gonna need to push all that feeling deep inside you, to a place no one else can see it from. Because Astoria, people take advantage of the most human things, calling them weakness and sin. And girly, they're so incredibly wrong, but I know you. I know how broken you are now. So hold yourself together for the time being- that is a true show of strength."

Phoebe's words from six years ago echoed in my mind, feeling just as real as the sound of my footsteps in the glass tunnel. It reminded me of a place in Unova she'd once told me she'd visited. Gosh, I need to visit her again. I haven't seen her in what- seven months? Dear Arceus I am such a bad resistance participant. Phoebe was the older sister to everyone there, the role model, the one to pick us up. And to be honest, I needed that feeling right about then.

"You know that I'm in charge of the Delta Division right?" Steven had followed me halfway down the tunnel, though I must've been too busy to hear him.

Questions filled my mind "What's the Delta Division?" I asked. I knew how stupid it sounded, and it probably sounded even stupider to Steven. But then again, I was talking to a genius ex-Champion, so anything anyone said to him must sound unintelligent.

Steven smiled. "It's where you're being assigned. The Delta Division is our most secret section of the military, and I guess it's where whoever sent you that letter decided to put you." Oh. Just great. Isn't that a coincidence that the one man I don't want to see is in charge of where I'm being posted? I made a mental note of that, reminding myself that was one of many coincidences lining up in the situation.

"Well then General Stone," I mocked, "why don't you introduce me to my future co-workers?"

"With pleasure."

I didn't see what code Steven put into the keypad outside the door, but I was sure I would get my own eventually. In a matter of seconds, the door opened.

And let me tell you, the inside was gorgeous.

It wasn't all super high tech or anything, it just had this clean and modern feel to it. It reminded me of a penthouse apartment, and it had the same type of smell- kind of like the new car smell but with a little more B.O.

The main room was circular, with what looked like a door covered by a curtain leading to a balcony going outside on the right half of the room. What? I wondered. Do they want us to drown? I knew I was going to check it out later, but I didn't know exactly when. The walls were painted gray, accented by the red carpet and modern-looking white lights which were hanging from the ceiling near the stainless steel kitchen. Even at night, natural light was coming from the balcony-window thing, but I assumed it came from the water outside. Y'know, unless I was wrong about that.

Next to the kitchen, there were six rooms stretching on both the left and right. Each door was closed, and on them, there were different designs and color schemes. They had an odd order to them- I'd have expected them to be near other doors with like colors.

Heh, maybe it was just my artistic eye speaking again.

The first door on the right of the kitchen was light blue and white with a red triangle in the middle. The door next to it had the same design, but the colors were switched around, with it being mainly red and white and the triangle blue. The door furthest to the right was painted with rusty red and pale turquoise stripes intertwining, as well as a mystic purple circle in the middle.

To the left of the kitchen were three more doors, this time each of them seemed to have a similar theme. The first one was a light brown with dark brown and rusty orange accents. I noticed that the orange was in a specific pattern- seven dots resembling an uppercase h. The other doors had pattern like that too- the blue and white door had yellow dots looking like a lowercase t and the black and silver door had red dots in a circle.

On my left were another three doors, but as I turned around to face them, I saw a boy- again, about my age- dozing on a dark gray couch in front of a large flat screen television. I swear, his black hair was defying gravity by standing up straight like that. He had thick, dark eyebrows that made it look like he was narrowing his closed eyes. His skin was darker like mine, but he looked much taller, even while laying down. He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, and typical military pants and boots.

"Antares!" Steven called. The boy opened his eyes- which appeared to be dark brown- and stood up, dusting himself off even thought there was no reason to. He had very broad shoulders and muscular arms. This guy appeared to be one I didn't want to cross; I had a feeling he could beat me in any hand-to-hand combat, even though I'd had my fair share of practice.

"Yeah General?" he asked. His voice was surprisingly soft despite his appearance. "Uh, I mean, yes General?"

Steven's face remained straight. "Where is everyone else?"

Antares scratched his head. "Off… training?"

Steven sighed in frustration. "Antares, we've discussed this before, haven't we?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I-I mean, yes sir!"

Never mind. My first impression of this guy was wrong, he seemed to be pretty chill.

"No matter. Astoria Mizuko, meet Antares O'Halleran." Antares extended his hand happily and I reached mine out to shake it. During the exchange, I noticed a tattoo on his hand, though I couldn't quite make out what it was.

The gesture was a nice change of pace to be honest. Antares' facial expression didn't change at all when Steven said my name, which I hadn't been entirely used to.

He was treating me like a normal person so far.

I let go of his hand and placed mine in my pocket. "Nice to meet you," I said. I was desperately trying to be casual, but his demeanor was catching me off guard, reminding me of countless people who I'd grown to know. It was giving me a different awkward vibe than it had been with Tate, but there was still a vibe.

"Pleasure is all mine," he replied. Steven looked on and I could feel his burning gaze through my back. I wasn't sure why, but he seemed to be playing Mr. Nice Guy, which was odd- especially considering that he was indeed a General.

I turned back to Steven, whose gaze was no longer on me, but on the door to the balcony. "Astoria?" he asked distractedly.

"Yes?"

Steven gestured to the rest of the room. "I have a few things to do, why don't you look around?" Before I could reply, he started walking over to the door.

Antares looked at me in a strange way after Steven left. "He said your name was Astoria Mizuko?"

I nodded.

"Doesn't Mizuko mean water in another language?" Antares asked.

"Uh huh. I think it's one of those lesser regions, like Orre."

"Is that your real last name?" he followed up.

I thought for a moment before answering. "Um, no, not really. I never knew my real last name, so I picked one myself."

Antares nodded, being polite the whole time. "What made you decide to choose a foreign word?"

"I-I don't know." I had my reasons for picking it, and I also have my reasons for not sharing it, I thought smugly.

"Oh" was all he said. There was an awkward silence between us for a minute, as if Antares was making up his mind about something or another.

"Do you want me to show you around?" Antares asked suddenly, breaking the brief barrier between us. "Because, I know for a fact that I can do that!"

The way Antares talked made me think of someone I would want as I younger brother, and I felt secure, for once forgetting that I was now employed to the military. Like Phoebe and Sidney…

I smiled and nodded. An enormous grin spread across Antares' face and he grabbed my left wrist, almost dragging me across the red carpet. Since the room was circular, there were no corners to place things like a kitchen. Somehow though, the way things were set up, it seemed like there were corners. Behind the place Antares was napping earlier, I got a better look at the kitchen, full of stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Wow, the military spared no expenses!

My eyes were eventually drawn back to the doors, looking at their elaborate designs. As I looked closer, I saw most of the lines and designs were carved in, making them pop to whoever saw them, but not ever bringing more attention than they should.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" Antares asked. I nodded slowly.

"Do you know who designed and painted them?"

Antares opened his mouth to answer, letting out a few sounds like "Bren" but seemingly thought against saying it all. "Not sure" was all he managed to say completely.

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't believe you," I replied.

"Well, you might not, but the reason I asked to show you around was not so we could look at doors, it was so you could meet the rest of us!"

"I thought you didn't know where they were."

Antares shrugged. "I-um, might've bent the truth about that particular subject." I couldn't help but smile at his comment. I would've done that too, I already sort of lied to Steven that day. "Anyway, c'mon Astoria! I want you to meet everyone before they have to go out again!"

Go out again?

"So, what is it that you do when you… go out?"

"Train," Antares replied.

I blinked a couple of times. "Train? What about missions or anything?" When I had been in the military before, divisions like this had gone on "missions" to enforce the citizens of Hoenn to obey the laws. There had never been just a division that trained.

Antares didn't answer- he just walked over to a door and opened it. "C'mon Mizuko!" I internally sighed and followed suit, knowing that Steven would want me to. I mean, he had said so in the first place.

For now I had to trust him. I had to believe that he was on my side, even though my doubts were outweighing all other feelings. I would definitely be consulting with everyone back in Lilycove about the situation, but I had to stay level-headed and calm until then.

The door had been the orange and brown one, and as soon as we entered the room, my eyes had to adjust to the level of brightness suddenly surrounding us. An electronic hum was constantly in the background, making me feel like I was in Mauville again.

"Hey Rox, we got a visitor!" Antares called out.

Rox? Like an actual rock? Or is it just an abbreviation for this dude's name?

"Coming!" I heard a woman's voice call out. Feeling genuinely puzzled, I waited for the lady to show herself, hearing the crinkling of papers and rolling of a chair.

From around the corner of a tower of electronic devices and blinking lights rolled a woman older than me by vaguely three or four years. She was sitting on a black desk chair with wheels and had reading glasses on, which caused a fierce glare to come over her crimson gaze. She had wavy brown hair reaching past her shoulders was wearing a strange hairpin with a design almost identical to Antares' tattoo. She had on a dark gray tank top and a pair of sweats, clothes that I knew thousands couldn't simply afford.

She must have noticed me staring at the pin in her hair, for her left hand went up to cover it.

"Oh sorry!" I apologized. "It's just that Antares has a design similar to that on his hand."

The woman looked at Antares. "Did you tell her nothing Andy, or did you expect us to do it for you?"

"I am still standing here you know," I threw in. "Also- who's Andy?"

"Sorry Roxanne! I just thought maybe you or Liza or Brawly or Bren-"

"STOP!" Roxanne said fiercely. That's the second time I've heard that "Bren" sounding name, I quickly processed. Who is that?

Antares lowered his gaze to the floor, which was surprisingly something close to tile. "Sorry," he muttered.

Roxanne sighed. "I'm sorry about him," she said. "You don't have to act so scared though. I'm not going to bite or anything!"

Do I look scared? "Oh, I just…"

Roxanne waved one hand as if to toss something. "It's fine. By the way, I'm Roxanne, former leader of the gym in Rustboro City, current member of the PMS."

"Premenstrual syndrome?" I asked. Antares snickered in the background while Roxanne glared at him.

"Ha! It means Proud Members of Service," Antares answered. I must not have pissed off Roxanne as much as I thought, for a smile lingered on her face too.

"I like you already! What did you say your name was?" she finally asked.

I swallowed nervously. "Astoria Mizuko." That weird look people gave me after they heard my name was unnerving and I hated it.

Just a name could have power, like many others before had proven. But I guess Roxanne was just as surprised as the rest.

"Oh. Well, It's a pleasure to meet you Astoria. I've heard a lot about…" Roxanne's voice faltered, and honestly, I didn't blame her. It's not your typical conversation with your brother about how things have been lately.

Suddenly, a much louder ring filled the dark room, making me jump a little. Roxanne rolled back to her desk in the chair she had been sitting in. She must've picked up a phone, because I heard her voice coming in whispers.

"We should go," Antares said. "There are still six- um, five others you have to meet."

"But you said I was the ninth!" I said. It was more or less in the tone of asking a question, but Antares only shook his head as my supposed answer. I followed him out the door and was temporarily blinded by the light. It was much brighter, and soon I saw why.

Steven was walking out of the door that led "outside" and back in, leaving more light to filter through the partially opened curtain.

"Steven!" I said. He looked at me quizzically than walked out of the room entirely and into the tunnel, leaving me with nothing but that confused look to ponder.

No, I thought. That wasn't the look of a puzzled man- that was the look of a proud one.

(Somewhere far away from Hoenn)

He sat, eagerly awaiting the news from Hoenn. Surely, the Nine had finally been gathered. It had been seven years and he wasn't sure if he could wait that much longer.

Everything had a precise order, and the dominoes would only start falling if Hoenn was the one to tip them in the first place. Nothing would flow right if that didn't work.

A soft knock came from the door to his right. It opened, revealing a woman in her late-thirties with long violet hair falling softly on her shoulders. She made eye contact with him before bowing.

"Sir, he's on call now."

A smile couldn't help but escape his lips. "Good. Anything else to report Diantha?"

The woman stood up straight. "Actually sir, the recon team has discovered the ancient site, and is unearthing the cocoon as we speak."

Well that was even greater news! He could almost feel the power flowing through him like the adrenaline that pulsed through his veins. It was so close now… So very close…

"Sir?"

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. You may leave now." He reached his hand and made a motion to brush her aside. She nodded and closed the door, leaving him to his conference. He looked around briefly and flicked on the switch that allowed him to access virtual calls from his wrist's watch.

The other man appeared in front of him, nothing but fragments of projected light and transferred sound. It was going to be a short meeting, for the man sitting alone in the room had only one question this time.

"How long?" he asked.

The other man answered almost immediately. "It could be done in a year."

"A year?! How is that…? We only need one year until it-"

The holographic man smirked. "The General reported the interactions between the Soldier and Alpha, as well as the Rock , Soldier and Alpha. It's incredible the level of familiarity all of them are on already."

"How ironic. And the Blocks?"

"The surgical recovery has left quite the mark upon her sanity I'm afraid. The General is unsure whether or not it is temporary, but it won't matter will it?"

"No. She just has to be alive. But still, this is great news. I'll start preparations here."

"Farewell. I will contact you before the year is up."

The projected man faded and disappeared, leaving no trace he'd been there in the first place.

The man sitting in the chair was completely dumbfounded to say the least. One year. Incredible.

He chuckled and repeated the words of fortune softly. "Only one year until this all begins again."

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE AWESOME FEEDBACK! That made writing this so, so easy!

Now, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and best of luck to you all. I would have posted this right at midnight, but hey, gotta watch the ball drop "live" (yeah right. East coast broadcasting lies! It lies!). Am I right?

I also want to thank cometshadow, for she has made my year so awesome! This whole story wouldn't be possible without your support!

I also want to thank everyone who reviewed:

Guest1267: Thank you so much! You were the first reviewer, so have a digital cookie!

Shinymudkip25: Your review doesn't count. I know you IRL, so ha!

lightxhope2124: Thanks! Steven Stone is um... interesting to say the least and no, Astoria Mizuko is not Flannery. Flannery is just as important to the story though. ;)

cometshadow: Senpai! You noticed me! And THANK YOU! I was reading like crazy to get the feel for it right. Hope I nailed it. Maybe?

Please review if you liked it. Or didn't like it. Whatever's cool with you. Also- if you have questions, I'm fine with you leaving them in the reviews or submitting them by PM. And I am now adding that I understand this chapter is confusing, but like lightxhope2124 said, it will all become clearer. But still, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask them.

Also- I changed some stuff regarding the time and corrected some mistakes. So there, happy? You should be.