The dressed up Pokémon took the stage. A drama unfolded but to be honest, I really didn't pay attention to it. Apparently, N had seen the play we were watching before and knew all the songs so I would listen to him hum along to the music and stare at our still holding hands. His voice was even better, if that's even possible, when he was humming. I looked up at him to see if he was watching the play but saw that he was staring down at me. Was he doing this the whole time? I was so oblivious, so I blushed and turned away and he gave a quiet laugh. Deciding I should probably watch at least some of the play, I looked up. The stage was decorated like a castle at spring time, a Pokémon that looked like it was playing the part of a queen stood by a fully bloomed tree. Another Pokémon that looked to be a king of some sort was by her side with a small box. The king Pokémon took the queen's paw and put a rather simple but elegant ring on it. I was wrong, the Pokémon weren't playing queen and king but prince and princess that were now soon to be king and queen. Too many thoughts entered my head and I looked down at our hands again, but this only put more thoughts in my head. I sighed and bowed my head, I felt fingers pushing my hair out of my face when I did, he whispered so he wouldn't disturb those intent on watching the play, "Odd reaction to have at a proposal scene. You ok?" His smile looked like he was humored, had he seen my full reaction? I blushed more and continued to look down, but my hair wasn't covering my face and he saw the blush anyways. A few more scenes passed and of course, a wedding scene now played on the stage. I couldn't watch this scene and so I looked down again and he laughed to himself again. A cry echoed through the theater and I felt him tense up. I looked at him and sure enough, his serious face was back on; I looked at the stage because it was where everyone else was staring and saw the reason of all the gasps. Ghetsis was standing on the stage.

"We need to leave." He jerked me up and we ran towards an exit only to be stopped by Ghetsis. How was that even possible? "Hello, son." He spoke with venom in every word, "Oh, I see you're traveling with White. Dream come true?" He laughed and N looked down at me, "Get out of the way, fa- Ghetsis." Stopping in the middle of his laugh, he gave N a disapproving expression, "How dare you talk to me like that, you stupid worthless boy!" I saw him raise his hand up to slap N but I pulled him away, leaving Ghetsis to slap nothing but air. He turned his glare to me and I glanced quickly at N who was watching Ghetsis' reaction, "And you! Who do you think you are getting in the way of the discipline of my son?" I felt fear rising but I tried to push it away, "You have no right to talk to him that way." He let out another laugh, "I'm his father aren't I? That gives me any 'right' I need. What grounds do you stand on to think you can interrupt-", "He's not worthless!" I felt the anger and rage building in me…no wonder N always considered himself unimportant, his father wouldn't let him think otherwise. Concerned about Ghetsis' reaction, N put his free hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from his father. The only reaction I got was a glare for a few seconds then he ignored me and looked at N, "I advise you tell your little pet to watch her tone." N made a noise that almost sounded like a growl, "She's not my 'pet' and to tell you the truth, I like that tone…when used against you of course." It was a statement you'd expect to see a sly smile with it but his face was enraged and dead serious. I looked around, the entire theater room was quiet, all eyes on us, it was slightly embarrassing, but the fear I felt over powered the feeling of embarrassment. "Well," Ghetsis was even more enraged then before, "nether the less, tell her to worry about herself, she is, after all, who I and the shadows are after." An evil smile flashed on his face and N's hand tightened around mine. "Do you know why the shadows are after her?" N was yelling now which was very different than his normal but Ghetsis only laughed, "I'm afraid I can't say but I'd sure like to know." He snapped his fingers and we were surrounded by the rest of the old sages; I looked around frantically while N glared down his father. "But, I must admit, N, you are a clever boy, how you managed to figure out my plans is beyond me." He gave a sly smile and N tensed up again, "What legend are you planning to get her to use?" Now venom was in his voice…I didn't like it, nothing about him right now was him. "That's the riddle. I'm ashamed you haven't figured it out yet, son." With that I felt four hands grab my arm that N wasn't holding and I squealed in shock and fear. N turned and tried to pull me away, "Let her go!" Ghetsis laughed again, "Think about it this way, boy, if she comes with me, she'll be much safer than if she stays with you. I can provide more protection then you could ever hope to give her." I could see that N knew this to be true by the way he cringed. "Why should I believe that?" my voice trembled as I spoke these words, I hated it when he always put N down, but, instead of Ghetsis answering my question, it was N, "He still has control of a lot of the old Plasma grunts and of course these old bags." He looked at the sages, "He has a lot of people at his command to protect you should the Triad come and try to ruin his plans." He looked at me with sad eyes and I could see him torn between letting Ghetsis have me or taking off to run me away from Ghetsis. I grabbed his face and whispered, "You said you never leave me." He shook his head and turned to Ghetsis and back to me, "Don't you think it's better if I give you over, you'd be safer from the Triad than you would if you stayed with me." I shook my head, "I'd rather face the Triad than go with him and not be with you." I don't know what he saw in my eyes but he nodded and I let my hands fall. "Aw, how touching, my son, 'King of Team Plasma' has found a little queen; I think you've watched this play a bit too much, boy." N called out Zekrom who gave a loud cry and the audience screamed at the sight of the huge dragon. The dragon bent down and we climbed up on his back, then, like an expert, he flew crashing into a wall, amazingly without hitting the innocent people with the flying pieces of the wall. I looked down and saw Nimbasa city disappearing in the distance.

I rested my head on N's back as we flew off. A thought occurred to me but I was afraid to ask it, afraid he'd get mad that I was assuming his thoughts. "Ask it." His voice was smooth like always but had a hint of tension as he looked down and examined my face…how did he read me so well? "Well…I-I…" I was stumbling over my words, "N, when you were quiet on the flight to the cave earlier and the time we were in the cave…had…did you, um, were you considering giving me to Ghetsis?" It was silent, the smarter part of me knew that this meant yes but a small part of me hoped it meant no. "White, it's a little more complicated than that." He sighed…that means yes, "Yes, I had considered giving you to Ghetsis when I heard what you said about how it doesn't make sense that he would hire the Triad to kill you and that it was possible he and another person were after you, the thought that, even though he would be using you, you'd be safer with him had crossed my mind." I shook my head, "That's not true." Looking down at the black dragon we rode he disagreed, "Yeah, because I did so well last time back at the lake." I sighed, he always put himself down, "That wasn't your fault though, you told me not to come after you but I did anyways…them getting me at the lake was my fault." Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was frowning in disagreement; when he opened his mouth, I hushed him, "Don't say it wasn't, because I know it was. There's no need to argue with me, N." He looked down at my face and closed him mouth. I couldn't believe he actually listened to me. Once again, there was a long silence between us, "We're going to Striaton." What? Again, like he was reading my mind, he answered, "I told you our reason for going to Nimbasa was to get items and let you sleep in a bed one more time, well, we got the items, now it's time to get a room at the Striaton Pokémon Center." I looked at him, but let it go, I was taking my own advice, "There's no need to argue."

When we got there it was around eight in the evening but my mind felt like it was midnight. I yawned and N looked at me with a humored smile, "Tired?" I nodded, I suppose it makes sense…I didn't really get a lot of sleep last night. Taking my hand, he pulled me through the doors of the Pokémon Center; at the counter was the familiar face of a Nurse Joy who handed us a key and pointed at the stairs to her left. We walked up them in silence, the stairs and hallway in between the rooms were filled with people staying the night; we pushed our way through and made it to the room that had the same number the key N was holding had. I knew how this room would look, every Pokémon Center had identical rooms, I would know, I've stayed at almost every Pokémon Center in Unova, and when the door opened, this room was no exception. There were two bunk beds on opposite sides of the room with a small table in the space between them, there was one closet door and one decent size dresser with a mirror beside it, across from that was a door to the bathroom, and, like all the other Pokémon Center rooms, when you walked in, on the wall opposite the actual door, were two sliding glass doors that led out to a small balcony with average metal rails around it. I walked over and put my bag down on one of the bottom halves of a bunk bed; N followed suit but put his bag on the bottom half of the bunk bed across the room from mine. I yawned again, and he laughed, "If you want to go to sleep, it's fine, I'm sure I won't be far behind you." I looked at his eyes and they looked as tired and worn out as I felt, so I grabbed my bag went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and take off my hat and let down my ponytail. When I came out, he was already in his bed, staring at the bed above him; I walked over to mine and got in the covers, then turned to my side. It wasn't until now that the true extent of my sleepiness hit me, it felt like I was gone within seconds.

I heard the doors open, so I sat up groggily and looked out the glass doors. N was standing on the balcony with his back facing towards me, why was he up? Looking at the clock on the wall that read "11:56 P.M.", I heard a movement behind me. I turned around quickly but saw nothing in the dark of the room. Throwing the covers off so I could stand up to join N, I heard a movement again, but like before there was nothing that I could see. My heart was pounding; I reached for my bad to grab Lilly's, my Stoutland, pokeball but a hand came from nowhere and grabbed mine. The hand was covered in a black cloth, with that realization and the fact that it pretty much did come from nowhere, my heart stopped. How were they so good at finding people? I tried to yank away and just when I was about to yell to get N's attention behind the glass doors, a hand covered my mouth and like before, I was teleported away.

(N's point of view)
I heard her scream, but no matter how fast I tried to run, I couldn't get to the door she was behind. I ordered my legs to run faster down the never ending hallway but it seemed to be in vain. Her scream echoed again and I continued to run and not make any ground. Normally, I would've given up, but I couldn't, this was White's scream of pain and fear, I had to get to the door she was behind.

I sat straight up, panting like I had really just been running…or maybe like I had seen a ghost-type Pokémon. Turning quickly, I looked over at her bed. She was still there, fast asleep. I sighed. You'd think I'd get used to that dream by now…I'd had it so many times before. My mind began to count backwards to all the times while I was gone that I had this dream, Twenty-seven? Who knows, but I had lost a lot of sleep and gained a lot of stress over this dream. I thought it would end when I got back to Unova and saw White, saw her safe. Of course, on my way back I had never planned on running into an ex-Plasma grunt. He had told me everything he heard Ghetsis talk about with the other sages while he was on guard duty of the wrecked castle, and to be sure it wasn't a trick, I listened to the witness of his Pokémon that was patrolling with him that night. A new determination to get back struck me after they had both finished, and I quickly called out Zekrom and with that, we flew back to Unova as fast as we could. To me luck, the closest city was Nimbasa, the ferris wheel city…my mind went to a flashback but I quickly shook it away. While flying, we were passed by three shadows that were moving at an incredible speed towards the ferris wheel, which I had now noticed, was stopped. I saw the top one swing and then one side dropped and I saw her fall out, to be caught by her Samurott who was struggling to stay in the dangling cart. I ordered Zekrom to fly faster but he had already begun to before I had even finished. Feet before the cart had hit the ground, Zekrom caught it and we took off…She was in danger like in my dream, so of course my dream would continue to haunt me.

Getting up as quietly as I could, I walked over and gently opened the glass door, looking back to make sure I didn't wake her up. She gave a little groan and turned over to her back, I couldn't help but smile, she was adorable. I got out on the small balcony and replayed all Ghetsis had said about how White would be safer with him, how she would be safer against the Shadow Triad that, for some unknown reason, wanted to kill her. I sighed, he was right and I knew it, I should've let Ghetsis have her…then again, how would I know she was any safer with him? Sure, he wouldn't kill her, but White would fight back against him, and, remembering my childhood, he wouldn't tolerate disobedience. I cringed at the thought of some of the things Ghetsis might do to her out of anger, in that sense, she was safer staying with me. I felt like there was this battle inside of me, both fighting for the same reason, White's safety, but both wrong and right in the way to do it. Looking down at the ground, I saw two Pokémon run away in front of the Pokémon center, then disappearing in the woods. I wished life was easy enough to just run away from it like those two Pokémon, if it was, I would've already taken White and ran.

I heard a quiet, muffled sounding noise behind me and thought that maybe White was up. I turned around, she wasn't there. I ran back into the room, nearly breaking the sliding door when I opened, and searched frantically for her. Was the muffled noise a muffled scream? Why did my mind always jump to the worst situation when it came to her well being? I saw Lilly's pokeball in the corner, away from White's bag. She had tried to call out Lilly. I was panicking, when I heard a noise come from the roof. I ran out the room and found the stairs that lead to the roof quicker than I would've thought. There they stood, the Shadow Triad. Two of them were facing me, while the other one was holding an unconscious White up by her arm. "What did you do to her!" I felt rage building up inside of me, suppressing the panic I felt for a brief moment. "We advise you not interfere in our plans. Do you not know why we are trying to kill her?" I only continued to glare at them, I didn't care what their reason was. "No, we suppose not. Well, calm down, she's not dead yet." With that, the Triad disappeared in their mysterious way, taking White with them. I fell to my knees; I had to find them before they got the chance to hurt her in anyway. Where were they staying? Did they stay anywhere? I tried to think back to a year ago, Ghetsis had ordered the Shadow Triad stay with him at the castle until all his plans were accomplished…was this part of his plans? If so, then the Triad was staying at the castle. But why would they go there? Weren't they endangering Ghetsis' plans by trying to kill her? So many unsolved questions…

"What are you doing, boy?" his voice boomed and I gave a shiver internally. Ghetsis looked around for a second and his eyes lit up a little, "Where's your 'queen'?" I stayed on my knees, I wished I knew. "Let me guess, you weren't paying attention and the Shadow Triad came?" I still couldn't move. Ghetsis mumbled to himself, I don't think I was supposed to hear it, but then again, fa- Ghetsis had never been good at keeping quiet, "This will never do…those shadows are going to have to answer to me, getting in my way like this." Ghetsis turned around and began to walk down the stairs, "I'll find them and show them what happens when you disobey you master." So he knew where they were? I finally got up and looked over the side of the roof at a Plasma airship, and after a few minutes, saw Ghetsis board it. I called out Zekrom when the ship had gone out of sight, the only lead I had was to follow Ghetsis. Zekrom would have no problem catching up to the airship so I waited a few minutes just to make sure there was enough distance between us that Ghetsis wouldn't see we were following. I prayed for White's safety to myself as we flew after the Plasma ship.