Author's Note: I'm making this note at the top because I want to make sure everyone sees it. I've made a very important announcement on my profile that I ask you to take the time to read. I would really appreciate it.

Chapter Twelve – Shattered and Destroyed

Cheren bounced against Arcanine's back as the beast ran, and it was all he could do to keep his grip on its fur. He hadn't the strength to push himself up and look back for Rosa, but it was too late for that, anyway. They were long gone, faded into the darkness that he left behind. There was no going back now.

Though, that didn't mean Cheren wouldn't try. "Stop. You have to go back for Rosa. She's your trainer!" he told the Arcanine, but it just kept running. If it could speak, Cheren knew what its reply would be. "I know she can handle herself, but…" He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut and leaning his forehead against Arcanine's back. "All right."

On the one hand, he knew now that the Shadow Triad was not unwilling to murder someone to get them out of the way. If they got to Rosa…

He couldn't think on that now. She gave him a direction—he was to get out of here and go to the police. They were in over their heads, anyway, and once Cheren found the police and informed them of the Shadow Triad's doings, he would turn right back around and come for Rosa and N. They would be okay for a little while.

And he… he would be okay, too. As painful as all of this had been—as terrible and horrific as it was, as much as he could barely believe that this was real—he would make it through this alive. His hunger would be satisfied with a good meal, his exhaustion would fade away with sleep, and even his scars would heal with time.

He would never forget his last sight of Hilda, but the pain would cease.

The way out of the sewers was not a simple path, and Cheren felt more lost as Arcanine continued through the deeper, darker paths towards the tunnels lit with flickering fluorescent lamps. He couldn't hear anything behind them, and when he glanced back, all he saw was the blackness of the tunnel. The faint light from their current tunnel didn't go deep into the one before.

All Cheren knew was that it took minutes upon minutes to get out of there. A few times, Arcanine stumbled into dead-ends—even the Pokémon didn't know how to find the exit, though perhaps with its sense of smell and its night-vision, it was better off than Cheren alone. But a half-hour, or maybe a whole hour, passed before Cheren saw the staircase leading to the outside.

The light outside blinded him, though not from the sun, which had set. The streetlights kept the city bright, and it was surprisingly loud. Castelia was well-known for its nightlife, anyway. The noise from the city traveled far, carrying all the way to this empty pier, but it was a pleasant transition from the eerie silence of the sewers or the drip-drip-drip of the pipes.

When you get outside, find Reshiram, Rosa had instructed. It should be there somewhere waiting for N to come out, but if it sees you, it'll come—take it and go to the police.

Cheren slid off Arcanine's back, slumping against the poor, tired beast. "Reshiram!" he called through a coarse, weak voice. He cleared his throat, as if that would help any. "Reshiram, please, we need your help!"

Only the whisper of the wind responded, at least at first. Then, over the city's din, Cheren could hear Reshiram's familiar roar. He turned his gaze upward to the sky, where Reshiram circled a couple of times before diving down. It landed like a feather despite its size and weight, but it was not so quiet now. Upon seeing Cheren, it roared once again, this time in his face.

"I'm sorry I'm not N." Cheren reached a shaking hand towards Reshiram and patted its nose. "I'm not even Rosa… But I need your help, and so do they. Can you bring me to the Castelia police station?"

It roared a little more softly this time, and Cheren patted it again. He put in as much effort as he could into climbing up on the dragon's back without much success, and after a couple of failed attempts, Arcanine helped lift him up by pushing its head against his rear-end. Cheren tried not to think on that too much.

Then, looking back at Arcanine, he held out a hand. "You'll need to wait here. I don't feel good about that, but I don't have your Poké Ball. Just… go try to hide somewhere inconspicuous. If you sense any danger, protect yourself, even if that means running away. We'll come back for you later."

Arcanine whined a little, but it was clear that it understood the directions. With one last bark, it turned and ran into a darkened corner of the pier.

"Okay." Cheren rubbed Reshiram's neck. "Let's go."

It felt nice being out of the sewers, as putrid and dirty as they were, but Cheren knew he couldn't revel in that for too long. In just a matter of time, he'd be right back in them again. The fresh air and the cleanliness of the city could only be revered for so long, though he would never take the aboveground for granted again.

When they landed in front of the police station, Cheren received some strange looks from passing pedestrians as he dismounted from Reshiram's back. Trust me, he thought a little bitterly, I'd much rather have my own Pokémon right now.

He just hoped they were okay…

"Wait for me," Cheren ordered. He was aware that the only reason this beast was obeying him at all right now was because it was worried about N, but that was good enough for him.

He limped into the station, and when he stopped in front of the front desk, the policeman finished whatever he was working on before looking at Cheren. "How can I…" the policeman, a middle-aged gray-haired man, began, only to trail off, but it wasn't exactly concern that stopped him. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I was in the sewers—"

"Yeah, I can smell that." The policeman rolled his eyes but continued before Cheren could explain. "You are aware that the sewers have been off-limits to civilians for over six months, aren't you? The whole system has been declared a hazardous zone. Only the workers are allowed in there for check-ups."

Cheren was fuming now, and he slammed his hands down on the counter. "Well, those workers aren't doing a good job. When was the last time they checked the deeper areas? Because there's a body that has been there for… years."

The policeman's face went serious for the first time, but he shook his head after thought passed through his eyes. "That's impossible. No one is allowed within the center radius of the sewers. That's been the law, for both workers and civilians, for over a decade. There have been barriers set up and everything."

The barriers… it was possible that the Shadow Triad had removed them and put them in the maintenance room where they kept Hilda and Cheren…

"I was in there. Team Plasma… ah, uh, the Shadow Triad of the old Team Plasma—they kidnapped Champion Hilda, and she's dead. She was in the sewers in a maintenance room, and… they took me, too, and kept me in there with her body…" Cheren gripped the edge of the counter now, his knuckles burning white. "And now they've got one of my friends, and Champion Rosa is down there trying to help him."

The policeman's serious expression didn't last very long, and now he stared at Cheren with one eyebrow raised. "All right, sir. If you would like to file a missing persons report…"

"No, none of them are missing! Champion Hilda was murdered. Her bones are down there—she's been down there for years! And N and Rosa are trying to stop the Shadow Triad, who were the ones who murdered Hilda," Cheren explained desperately, but nothing seemed to change the policeman's mind.

"Sir, perhaps if you go home and rest, you'd feel better."

Cheren's rage was fueled now, and any exhaustion that he felt in his bones had been burnt up in the flames within him. "Do you know who I am?" he demanded, knowing that playing this card might be the only thing to help him now. "I'm the Aspertia City Gym Leader—I'm not some kid with a prank. There are real people below this city who need your help, and if you're just going to sit here and do nothing, then you can't call yourself the police!"

The trump card worked. "All right. I'll get a team deployed down there."

"Thank you." Cheren's grip on the counter loosened. "Just tell me when."

The Shadow pressed harder on N's neck, and it wasn't long before he succumbed to the darkness, too. No matter how hard he fought back, it was three-against-one. He knew as well as they did that he didn't stand much of a chance against them alone. But it didn't matter much—maybe he'd have a shot at convincing Ghetsis he meant no harm, assuming that the man didn't kill him before he had a chance to fight back.

But N opened his eyes again not a half-hour later, unbeknownst to him, only to find that he had been taken from the garden. He didn't know where he was exactly, but the air was thicker and mustier here—as well as less odorous.

He sat up, and the ground beneath his palms was earth. As he blinked the haze away from his eyes, a dim light let his eyes adjust, and he saw that the walls were earth, as well. The Shadow Triad had brought him to a cave. But there were caves all over the region… nay, beyond that. How long had he been out?

A flash of white in the corner of his eye made him jump, and his eyes met that of a Shadow again. The man sat cross-legged on the ground, his back leaned against the cave wall not unlike N. And though there was distance between them now, N couldn't help but feel something constrict around his neck. He reached a hand up but couldn't feel anything.

"You're awake, Lord N."

N nodded, lowering his hand from his neck. "Where are we?"

The Shadow chuckled quietly, the joke too unimportant to share, and the sound felt like grinding metal to N now. If only N had displayed more caution, but the only reason he followed the Shadows was to make sure Rosa got to Cheren—had she? Had this all been for naught, or had it all worked out?

No, the Shadow Triad had all released some Bisharp back into the sewers before they killed the innocent Eevee. The probability that they sent their Pokémon to find Rosa and Cheren was high—who else would they have gone to, if not Hilda?

It gave him some hope, though. Maybe they had gone after Hilda, and she was still alive and fighting.

"Worry not, my lord. We're still in Unova. We had an audience with Lord Ghetsis, you see," the man, who might be more fit to call a monster, explained. N's stomach churned a little, but the emotion behind his uneasiness couldn't quite be described. "Unfortunately, he wasn't pleased with us. Well, he was until he found out that you had not been broken yet."

"What do you mean?" N questioned.

The Shadow sighed, holding his hand up to stop N from asking further questions. "We took it upon ourselves to do something wonderful for Lord Ghetsis a couple of years ago. It would be dishonorable to have bragged about it then, so when we arrived here with you, we finally told him what we did. He was pleased—very pleased—but when we presented you and told him that you did not yet know…" The Shadow shivered, but it was obvious behind the fabric that he was smiling. "It's easier to destroy something that's already broken."

N felt somewhat relieved. Ghetsis had the chance to kill him already, and the man refused to do so. Sure, whatever the Shadows had planned now didn't sound good exactly, but maybe it meant that, deep down, Ghetsis didn't want his son dead.

Or maybe he just wanted N to be as broken as he felt upon his second defeat.

His relief did not last long. The Shadow's quiet giggles grew louder and louder until they filled the whole cave and echoed off the walls. And in that moment, it dawned on N what the only thing that held the power to break him was that they hadn't used against him yet. They had already murdered an innocent Pokémon; they had already tricked him. There was one thing left—the one thing they had been using as leverage.

The Shadow must have seen the realization in N's eyes because he stopped laughing at once. "We didn't kill her," he whispered, though in the silence of the space, it sounded much louder. "She just… died."

If Ghetsis wanted to see N broken… he would get exactly what he wanted.

Author's Note #2: I was glad to get out of the sewers at least for a little while with Cheren. The poor guy just needed a break, and he was taking no crap from that policeman.

If you've read my note on my profile already, I thank you. If not, I really recommend that you take a look.

I'll update soon… hopefully.