Greetings once again as I bring you the second chapter of Night City! I must admit, I may or may not have rushed this a tad and there are certain areas that I'm not particularly happy with (rewriting isn't helping here) but I hope that it's up to standard...

A huge thank you to Piplup1212, Quartzclaw, MeliaAntiqua, StarShine65, Ready To Flyxxx and a guest for leaving a review, I really appreciate each and everyone one of them ^^ So onward to the rest of the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Chapter Two: Déjà vu all over again

The world was a haze, a spinning maelstrom of darkness complete with an irritating throbbing pain located somewhere near the back of the head to go with it. To May, maybe it was more like having a pile of bricks thrown at her skull, what, with the mind numbing pain that streaked across her crown whenever she shifted even the smallest millimetre. She felt numb and dazed yet every now and again, a blur of incoherent words and laughter sounded nearby, her mind not fully in the right place to comprehend the jumble of cacophonic sounds. They all melded together like paint on a pallet, unable to differentiate between different layers.

Concentrate May, she thought to herself, trying to focus her eyes to no avail. It was too dark and no matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes open, her eyelids were too heavy to hold up. Maybe she should just try to get to sleep…

Ah, footsteps?

Something seemed to be getting closer but she couldn't really tell. In her fatigued stupor, her senses had become skewed but May could swear that she felt a presence beside her. If only she could find a- Oh wait. The longer she had been conscious for, the more her ability to perceive returned to her. It was only now that she realised that her inability to move previously had something to do with the strange pressure around her ankles and wrists, most likely the work of rope or chains- something like that. And her eyes. She mentally scolded herself for not even noticing it earlier but the darkness hadn't been caused by the lack of light in the room, not by a long shot.

The presence from before seemed to fiddle around with something before her eyes were attacked by the blinding light that suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere. May almost yelped, hurriedly squeezing them shut at the pain which induced another laugh from nearby.

She scowled.

Hesitantly cracking an eye open, she scanned the room- well, as much of it as she could see. It seemed that her hypothesis was correct as a quick glance down told her that her limbs were bound tightly with a thick coil of rope… She wasn't getting out of that anytime soon.

"It looks like you're awake, Lady Maple." A tone was mocking and vaguely familiar, drawing out her title with a sneer.

Her brow shot up and flinched away from the close proximity of it was great difficulty, leading her to fall flat on her face. "!" Her voice was muffled by the piece of tape plastered to her mouth but a tone of surprise could still be detected.

May's actions drew out another laugh from the room's other habitants. A look of pure hate was directed at three- no, four- men who watched her every move and found entertainment from within her struggle. Despicable, even more so than the stuck up aristocrats back at the party…

The party!

She had no idea where she was as of now and neither would her parents… And what happened on the balcony… May narrowed her eyes, glancing back at the original speaker to be met by the casually smiling face of the man in red. The dastard himself.

"Duke Matsubusa…" She managed the sound out as she caught his gaze. "Why-"

But her words were drowned out by his laugh, now much colder than before as a shadow passed across his face. "Oh… Stupid little girl." He crouched down, helping her sit up again with a smug look that the brunette wanted to punch off his face. "Did you parents never warn you about talking to strangers? Especially if you're deep within their own house where no one can hear you scream."

The goons present hooted with laughter at the man's comment, the top half of their faces obscured by their crimson hoods. Now that she looked harder, they were all donning more or less the same uniform which had the same predominantly red theme to them, just like a particular individual with the false smile.

"Good one boss." One chortled, not moving from his place where he was guarding the door with another.

'Boss' looked at him with distain before straightening himself back up. "So Lady Maple, any thoughts? A final message perhaps, to your dear family before we ship you off to Unova? How about a cry of protest whilst you demand why a person of my status would be doing something like this?"

She remained silent, glaring at him from where she sat. She wasn't going to give him the pleasure of a reaction no matter how pissed she was at her current predicament. But as much as she hated to admit it, his words did strike horror within her. Unova? May had no idea what was happening but it was a no brainer that it wouldn't exactly be… pleasant to say the least. What was this even a case of? Kidnapping? Human Trafficking? She shuddered at the thought but it was at times like these that she wished that she had listened to her father's rants on work; he was always dealing with evil syndicates and gangs and this one seemed way too organised to have stayed off his radar for long.

"Nothing?" Maxie looked disappointed at the lack of her reaction minus the glare that remained in her eyes. "Such a shame." He sighed, striding towards the large windows where the rich velvet curtains had already been drawn. "Even if you don't feel like asking, I'll bless you with an answer. See, how else do you think I've gotten this rich?" The man gestured around the room they were currently in.

It was quite a spectacle, something that even her own family would struggle to keep up. There was an intricate crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, casting its light across the furniture, mahogany possibly and adorned with red cloth that reflected the lambent glow. Numerous paintings hung of the walls, their frames gilded with what looked like gold leaf. Despite finding herself quite uncomfortable, her environment was the stark opposite, a room fit for even the Champion.

"You remember those two legendary Pokemon we conversed about earlier, correct?"

Her memory around that time was still a little hazy, but the fountain was still a clear image in her mind. The names? Not so much. If she was completely honest, she doubted that she would have even remembered them without being knocked out and trussed up like a pig.

"They're my dream. I would give anything to see them, like I mentioned before and I'm afraid that you've been caught up in this little mess." His words appeared to be an apology but his tone was still as cold as ever. "I have contacts in Unova who are helping me track them down but in exchange for their aid…" Maxie shot a smile at her. "You do understand, right Lady Maple? I'd do anything to have that Groudon under my control and you'll play your own part in making that a reality. For that, I thank you, maybe even compensate your parents a bit when they finally find out that you're gone."

May clenched her teeth, resisting the urge to spit in his face and demand that he never goes near them ever again. If he noticed, he didn't acknowledge it as he continued his little speech.

"How should I explain it to them? Maybe make up a little story." His lips spread into a wide smile. "How about that I caught you on your way out of the manor where you confessed to me that you secretly despised your parents and you took this opportunity to run away? Of course, I did my best to stop you but I was powerless against a feisty little monster such as yourself and you disappeared off into the night, never to be seen again."

Her eyes widened considerably, desperately wanting to speak up against the lie but her restraints were truly doing their job. No no no no no. It would crush them if they ever heard that, maybe leave them with the ever present question of what they did wrong hanging over them for the rest of their lives. No no no no no!

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "That sounds good to you? Maybe I'll go with that. I'll make sure that I capture the broken looks on their faces when I tell them and send it to you over in Unova. You'll be sure to enjoy that." Maxie frowned suddenly, spinning to face the most intimidating figure in the room. "Tabitha, how long do we have left until the Plasma ship docks?"

"Around an hour, sir." A man answered, clearly more important than the rest of the probably grunts around him.

Maxie scowled. "Too long… Throw her in the back room with the others."

"Yes sir."

Two men approached her and it was pointless to even struggle. May could only watch at they grabbed her by the arms and hoisted her into the air whilst one other triggered the switch to a hidden room by tapping the button found under the desk.

"You'll find that you won't be lonely for the rest of your time here, Lady Maple. Maybe you'll even make some new friends."

From what she could see, the new exit was followed by a series of stone steps, dimly glowing from the light of the chandelier. A series of shuffling and raspy breaths could be heard from the very bottom, leaving much for the imagination. Without much indication, the brunette could already guess what she would find and the very thought of it made her blood run cold.

"Be thankful you won't stay here for long, Lady Maple. Many before you have had the… pleasant experience of residing in this little back room for-"

His obnoxious voice was interrupted by the sudden shattering of glass in the room, the curtains billowing out from the force of the gales that blew around the south side of the manor. May winced as she fell to the ground, dropped by the two grunts as they raised their arms to shield their faces from the worst of the broken material flying in every direction. The lights flickered before finally enveloping the room in darkness.

"W-what's going on?!" She heard the Duke shout, his tone no longer smooth and confident like it was before, now dripping with alarm and panic. "What happened to the security?!"

"Boss-" Tabitha began before an unidentified object, possibly a dagger, whistled past his face with deadly accuracy, slamming against the wall with a soft 'twang'. The man let out a growl before firing off a rapid string of curses. "Boss, that symbol… We have to-"

"Yes, I know." Maxie snapped, hesitantly raising his head having buried it within his arms to shield himself from the worst of the glass. "We'll regroup later where the Plasma ship will be docking, go and erase all of our files from the database, no doubt those people will be trying to hack into our system as we speak."

"Sir."

The series of footsteps grew fainter, a clear indication that the two had already disappeared into the labyrinth of halls that made up the manor whilst leaving the remaining group members behind and disorientated. May let out a short sigh of relief. Sure, she hadn't managed to escape yet but the sliver of hope that reassured her safety still remained. After all, hadn't those two high tailed it out of the manor? By appearance and treatment, she assumed that those still nearby were simply mere grunts, those with the inability to think for themselves so it was highly unlikely that they would ever think to act without their leader's orders.

"Tch. Looks like they got away." May froze as a new voice could be heard above the constant flapping of the curtains. It was distinctly masculine, not exactly deep but nowhere close to the range of a prepubescent boy like her own brother.

She could hear them moving around cautiously, as if to avoid stepping on the shards of glass that littered the once beautiful room. Were they… getting closer? She sucked in her breath and squeezed her eyes shut, maybe they would just leave her alone if they thought that she was unconscious. May's thoughts were completely shattered as she could almost feel the stranger's gaze boring a hole into her body, staring her down with scrutiny for an increasingly long period of time.

"What are you doing just standing there?" A second voice. "Get a move on, they're getting further and further from our reach as we speak."

The first person snorted, finally tearing his gaze away from the teen on the ground. "Calm down, our initial goal isn't even their capture, the others should be finishing up soon so there isn't any need for us to-"

"That isn't the point."

A pause.

"Then what-"

"You know I'm right. I'm the pro in this field, just listen to what I say, grass head."

A disgruntled noise followed before a sigh. "Fine, fine. I'll leave you to clean up the Magma grunts but you better hurry up. There's also a civilian here you might want to pass on before you move ahead."

As the first intruder made to move away, May cracked open an eye. It was dark. She could barely see anything but the faint outline of the person standing before her with a flash of pale green as the moon's glow flickered and vanished at random intervals due to the flapping of the curtains. From where she lay, she could make out nothing remarkable about the figure in question. They were of average height with no physical features that really stood out.

What truly drew her attention was the wicked blade grasped in his hand, the metal glinting whatever light managed to make its way into the small room. May internally shirked away from it, unable to actually move but still doing her best to put as much distance between her and whatever she could call that weapon. The casual way that they held it or the rather nefarious looking design it had, she didn't know but something about it made her nervous.

"Then get a move on." The second voice grumbled, leaving from their place at the window. There were more fast paced foot falls as the first left. "Right." They seemed to be speaking directly to the brunette lying prone on the ground. "I'm sorry but I have no choice but to do this."

What?

They grew closer and closer and for the second time that day, May heard a quick apology before she fell into a state of unconsciousness.

May awoke with a start, gasping for breath with her body drenched in sweat. What had just happened? The last thing she remembered was the mansion… And the glass breaking… Those people… And… Green hair?

The last thought was rather confusing but-wait, where was she? Looking around, she found herself in a room much less fanciful, most likely a bedroom of sorts; something given away by the rather plush bed she found herself on. The restraints had disappeared, leaving dark purple and blue splotches where they rubbed against her skin and it seemed like she had received a change of clothes as the girl noticed that she was wearing a plain white night dress, completely different attire to what she had been wearing to the gathering.

Discounting the bruises and several mysterious cuts that marred her arms and face, she was otherwise unscathed and in a much more… relaxing… environment than her previous. But it was too quiet.

Where was the one who helped her?

What happened to those people?

Questions buzzed around her mind before she eventually decided that the best way to get answers was to go look for them herself. Quite literally. May heaved herself out of the bed, the duvet falling away as she moved. Her ankles ached as she shifted her weight to her feet but it was nothing she couldn't handle. A quick tug of the doorknob told her that it had been locked from the outside, forcing the girl to make do with searching the room she was currently in.

In the corner was a rather large wardrobe that was full of clothes, most of which were of commoner quality but to May's surprise, there were several extravagant garments thrown in there as well. Judging by size and style, they belonged to a young girl, possibly her own age possibly less and that took her by surprise. Her memory recalled that none of the voices in that room fit the character who appeared in her mind, a bubbly girl with a keen love for fashion.

Ah, never mind; she'll deal with that when she has to.

Moving on, she passed several shelves chock full of an array of books, mostly thick novels with worn, leather bound covers. She even recognised a few from her mother's own collection in their library at home, tracing her finger across the spine before going to explore the rest of the room with a heavy heart.

Next was a desk complete with a mirror, littered with several bottle of perfume and aerosols, all of them half used. There were also several scraps of paper lying around and a bound journal secured with a small, silver lock. The more and more May saw, the more she felt enveloped in a strange sense of security… It was too normal.

"Too quiet." May muttered to herself, gingerly rubbing her wrists.

BANG.

She jumped. A door had slammed from somewhere, followed by a series of footsteps that steadily got louder. There was the sound of metal against metal as whoever was outside slid the key into the keyhole for several moments, almost struggling to get it in the right place to unlock the door.

May instinctively grabbed one of the bottles on the table, shifting her finger towards to nozzle and pointing it towards the entrance. Unpleasant past experiences had put her off being unable to fight back but this time, she was prepared.

It all happened so quickly. The door swung open with force to reveal a girl with long navy blue hair just a moment too late to prevent May from squeezing the trigger to release a spray of scented liquid from the insides of whatever she was holding. That in itself caused the girl to drop the heavy, metal first aid kit she had in her arms onto the brunette's unprotected toe as she reflexively moved her hands towards her burning eyes.

The sound of two voices shrieking in pain at the top of their lungs ran through each room at a deafening tone, much to the surprise of the building's other inhabitants. One thought and one thought alone simultaneously appeared in their minds.

What the hell is going on up there?

AN: And with that, we conclude this chapter with the introduction of a few new characters and getting off on the wrong foot. Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading,

Lisitair