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Chapter Ten- Sleepless Night

-Black's POV-

I exhaled heavily, brushing my messy chestnut hair out of my eyes as I allowed myself to plonk down onto the step leading into Nacrene's pokemon center, the cold wood beneath my bare feet sending shivers up my body. The desolate streets around me were eerily quiet, the only light coming from a few dusty lamp-posts and the twinkling of the stars on the pitch-black canvas that was the night sky.

I couldn't sleep. Every time I'd attempted to close my eyes, my mind became plagued with incessant flashbacks of the previous day, causing me to become restless and irritable from sleep-deprivation. Cheren hadn't even noticed when I'd slipped out of our room in the Pokemon centre and headed outside to clear my mind; he'd been too busy enjoying a peaceful night's sleep. How any of them could sleep after a day like today was beyond me, but when I'd checked in on White, I'd found her nestled peacefully into her duvet, snuggled up next to her Ducklett and sleeping like a log. That girl really was something else.

I sat for several minutes listening to the sound of nocturnal bird Pokemon hooting in the trees in the distance, trying to shake the image of that deluded old-timer screeching at us from earlier. I detested running into that nutcase, even more than I hated running into our other green-headed regular, but the things he'd said to White in the Desert Ruins today had shocked even me.

I sighed as I succumbed to the day's events replaying themselves in my mind.

Nothing out of the ordinary was supposed to happen today. We were supposed to finish up training in Iccirus, earn our badges from the gym leader and start heading for Opelucid. Of course, that didn't happen though, did it, because the moment we'd stepped out of the gym, we'd been confronted by three dematerializing loonies who demanded White go to N on top of DragonSpiral Tower. I made a meek attempt to stop her going, reminding her that Team Plasma had nothing to do with us anymore, but had given in when we'd heard a deafening booming sound come from the tower in the distance.

Man, did I wish we hadn't gone. It was tough getting past the dozen of Plasma grunts that plagued the tower, even with Brycen, the gym leader, lending his strength. White had raced ahead as the booming became louder and louder, and after many battles, we eventually managed to join her at the summit too, only to come face to face with the biggest freaking monster I'd ever seen.

I could still remember that smug look on His Royal Highness' face when he saw us. He stood before the terrifying black dragon and introduced it to us as his new ally. I'd felt powerless, frozen in fear of him turning the beast on me, as he stepped towards White and cupped her chin lovingly in his hand as if he actually gave a damn about her. He'd asked her to leave with him, off to his magical castle to be his princess, at which point I was restraining myself not to race over there and beat the bleeding daylights out of the pervert. She'd told him to go squat, much to my amusement at his heartbreak, though it wasn't long before she'd started blubbering and and the floodgates opened.

And then he'd said something he shouldn't have. He should have just gotten on his mighty dragon and flown off into the sunset back to wherever the hell he came from, but no. He'd told her to go find the other magical dragon and come to try defeat him. Oh joy. Well, there was no way out now…

After he was gone, we were faced with the mission of trying to find this other Pokemon. None of us had the faintest clue what to do or where to go, and (well, I) would've just given up, had our favourite ginger Champion not turned up at that moment and shared his knowledge of Ancient Legends with us. Alder'd told us about some random legend involving two dragon pokemon, (well, I wouldn't know, I was tuned out for most of his speech), some stuff happened, and baddabing baddabam, we ended up in the Ancient Ruins tunnelling through some old castle, up to our knees in sand and fossilized crap.

I gazed out at the empty streets, wishing I was back home, as if nothing had ever happened and N and Ghetsis didn't exist. Chances were, if I hadn't gotten the brilliant idea one day that being a pokemon trainer would be awesome, none of this would be happening to us. White wouldn't be head over heels for the deranged leader of a psycho group, the government or something would be taking care of Team Plasma and we'd all be home right now, blissfully oblivious to what was going on in Unova, the way it should be. Sweet Arceus, was I an idiot.

After trudging through the underground tunnels of the Relic Castle for what must have been more than two hours, we finally came to what we guessed would have been some sort of ballroom or something. Of course, as our luck would have it, there was no stupid 'Light Stone' here; just a truckload of Plasma grunts ready to ambush us.

We fought them off with ease, but weren't prepared for the arrival of Lunatic Snr, N's deluded (to say the least) old father. He didn't fight us, though, instead taking time off from his busy social schedule to inform us we'd just wasted two hours of our lives and the stone wasn't here.

Before I had the chance to smash my fist into his face, however, Alder had shown up again (though pretty late, considering he'd told us he'd help us look in the first place and instead had just let us, a group of airheaded minors, wander around dangerous ruins filled with quicksand completely unaccompanied by an adult) and warned the freak to leave, which he did, though not before catching sight of White out of the corner of his only working eye.

"Nice to see you again, darling," he'd sneered creepily to her, knocking me out of the way with a sharp flick of his wrist when I'd thrown myself between them. "Yes, sweetheart, Team Plasma has big plans for you… I think you'll enjoy being my daughter-in-law when you lose this battle…"

…At which point I very nearly lost my lunch…

I'd screeched uncontrollably at the sick-minded pervert, being restrained by Alder as he sauntered away carelessly, pursued by his mindless drones. White was pretty ticked off by the looks of it too, but I knew well she'd be lying if she said she hadn't at some point doodled 'Queen White Harmonia' into her notebooks and imagined what N and hers' kids would look like.

I was in a funk for a while after that awkward encounter, but regained my fighting spirit after a panicked call from good ol' Professor Juniper, telling us to get our butts over to Nacrene City Museum pronto. We'd headed straight there from the ruins on our Pokemon after tunnelling our way out, and were surprised when we were met by a very unnerved Professor, who paced about frantically outside the museum, heavy black bags under her eyes. She'd ushered us inside instantly, explaining that after she'd gotten the call from Bianca explaining our current predicament, (I guessed I must have been tuned out during that too) she'd called Lenora, Nacrene's gym leader, who'd said she had a strange stone here at the museum.

The look on White's face when she'd caught sight of the stunning crystal in Lenora's hands was unbelievable. She'd simply stared at the thing for Arceus knows how long, her body moving only to blink and breathe. She was about to reach out to take the stone from Lenora, when Alder butted in with a startling truth.

"Are you really sure you want to do this to yourself, White?" he'd asked her, to which she flashed him a confused look, annoyed that we'd come all this way and hadn't even thought about it.

"What do you mean! Of course I do- I'm going to stop N!"

"Is that what you really want, though? If you take that stone, you'll be recognised as the hero- if N is correct- and the fate of Unova will rest on your shoulders alone. You'll be the one to face N if he defeats me when he comes to challenge me, and, if what he threatened you is true, then you'll be captured by those brutes. Are you honestly prepared for that?"

Her jaw flung open then as she stared at the stone in dismay, her face turning pale as winter snow. She flapped her mouth open and shut, unable to speak, until I eventually butted in in an effort to reassure her.

"Of course she won't be alone, she'll have us," I stated, glancing at Bianca and Cheren, who nodded in agreement and patted White on the back. "We'll defeat N if she fails!" Cheren announced, only to fall silent a few moments later after Alder shook his head dejectedly.

"You're underestimating Zekrom…" he sighed, rubbing his chin and shutting his eyes in worry. "He really is that powerful- without Reshiram, his counter-part, there is no hope in a battle against him. And Reshiram only obeys its hero… you, White… you are the only one who can do this, that's why I'm asking; do you really want to go through with this?"

White swallowed, clearing her throat anxiously. "Of course I do!" she exclaimed, glaring eagerly into the stone. "This is my purpose- I'm going to defeat N and save Unova, it's what I'm supposed to do!"

"You're very brave, sweetheart…" Lenora said, smiling reassuringly as the rest of us bit down on our lips uneasily, fear now surfacing that this was more serious than we'd previously thought. This was not only the future of an entire region, (and possibly the world, if Team Plasma kept growing powerful,) but also the life of a young, innocent girl. My little sister. If she failed, she'd be forever imprisoned by those monsters, thrown into a tiny cell, starved and abused. The thought made me sick to my core, but I knew that there was no way she wouldn't win, because light always triumphed over dark… didn't it?

Professor Juniper and Alder both nodded at Lenora, signalling for her to hand the stone to White, who sat in Lenora's office chair with her knees turned in, her tangled hair falling in a scraggy ponytail down her back. She gulped as Lenora carefully lifted the stone and handed it towards her, placing it delicately between her hands. Abruptly, the stone began to radiate an unnatural, orange-red glow, which pulsated around the orb the moment it hit White's skin.

"What's happening!" Bianca exclaimed, leaping to her feet and retreating several steps as the glowing slowly subsided and the stone returned to normal.

"The stone's acknowledged White as the Light Hero…" Juniper explained, hanging her head slightly. "I'm afraid there's no turning back from here, White…"

"It doesn't matter…" White stated, holding the stone tighter. "I'll fight N, and I'll win… but… how is this going to wake up Reshiram? And how the hell are we supposed to find her?"

And that was our next impossible mission.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and inhaled deeply, pressure seeming to pile up on my shoulders as the past events replayed themselves. I'd had an unbelievably stressful day, (with many more to come, no doubt) accompanied by a long, sleepless night. No wonder I was slowly losing my marbles…

"Black?" a soft voice mumbled from behind me, the sound of the door of the center creaking open and footsteps approaching. "Is that you? What are you doing up so late?"

I grumbled under my breath that my peaceful solace had been interrupted by the queen of joyful squeals and sickening giddiness herself, who was now stood next to me, wiping sleep out of exhausted emerald eyes.

"Go back to bed, Bianca…" I moaned irritatedly, as the blonde perched herself down on the step next to me, stretching her petite legs out onto the pavement and fiddling her bare toes. She was dressed in a cotton, lilac nightgown that fell to her knees, and her golden hair puffed up in all directions around her face as she cleared her throat to speak.

"I can't sleep either…" she sighed dispiritedly, glancing sideways at me. "…and you came into our room, so I guessed you must be having trouble sleeping, too…"

"Understatement…" I groused, looking out into the trees looming in the distance and doing my best to act cold so she'd lose interest and leave.

Silence.

She nodded, placing her hands nervously on her knees. "I…I just can't help thinking- what if we don't find Raziram, or whatever it's called? And what if we find it, but then it turns on us and joins team Plasma, I mean, wouldn't it want to be with that other dragon? And, like, what if we find it, White goes to take on N, loses and, like, gets captured by him and we end up never seeing her again 'coz she's being trapped in some evil castle? I mean, don't you think about that stuff? 'Coz White doesn't- she just thinks that…"

"Of course I freakin' think about that! It's all I think about!" I snapped a little too tenaciously, causing Bianca to flinch back in surprise at my harsh reaction. I buried my face in my hands, my elbows propped on my knees, and inhaled deeply, trying to rid my mind of sickening thoughts that were threatening to multiply in my head.

"You don't have to shout, Black…" Bianca all-but whispered, placing a kindly hand on my shoulder, which I made no effort to shake off, like I felt like doing. "I know you're freaking out -we all are- but we have to stay strong, for White's sake. She's the only one who can save Unova now, and we can't do anything but support her as much as we can…"

"That's the whole point…" I mumbled, lifting my head so my eyes poked out from over my knees. "I'm completely powerless in this whole thing. I can't stop her from going to fight N, I can't stop her losing against him, and I can't stop that sick son-of-a-Stoutland from kidnapping her when she fails. I'm supposed to be her brother, I'm supposed to protect her, yet all I can do is sit and watch from the sidelines as she slowly crumbles to dust right in front of me…"

"It could be worse…"

"We're going to lose White! How could it possibly be worse?" I barked, brushing off her hand and staring her cruelly in the eye. She leered back, unmoved by my actions, and paused for a moment before opening her mouth to speak.

"Well, for one thing, N could be a malicious thug who wants to hurt White, or even kill her…."

I threw my arms in the air, then pinched the bridge of my nose once more in an effort to numb the pain of a headache that was starting to form. "You're just as stupid as White, you know that?"

"Don't call me stupid!" she retorted, retaliating by landing me a sharp smack against my arm. "I'm right! You might not want to acknowledge it, but she loves N and he loves her. He's not vicious like that other green-haired guy, he wouldn't hurt White, but you're refusing to believe he's anything but a crazed psycho!"

"Oh, well excuse me for not approving of my sister wanting to run off with someone who stalked her for ages, trapped her in a cave for four hours, and is threatening to kidnap her if he defeats her! Oh, and did I mention he also wants to destroy the world as we know it?"

"I'm not saying I approve, I'm just saying it could be worse!" she huffed, tucking her legs closer to her torso in a bid to warm herself. Many moments of silence passed, both of us staring off in different directions with frowns plastered on our faces, unwilling to even look at the other.

"I just want her to be safe…" Bianca eventually began, breaking the silence. "I don't want any of this to be happening, especially not to White, but we don't exactly have a choice, do we? Fate is cruel, but at the end of the day, we just have to suck it up and accept the cards we've been dealt, even if those cards are the crappiest cards in the history of crap cards."

I grunted, leaning my head against the pole next to me and clasping my eyes shut. Bianca paused to sigh, fiddling anxiously with the ends of her short blonde bob. "…and everything always turns out the way it's supposed to, in the end. That's what my dad always said."

"Except for when it doesn't…" I murmured, flickering my eyes open to look at her. She smiled reassuringly, tea-green orbs meeting muddy-brown ones, before brushing herself off and slowly rising to her feet.

"It will. Goodnight, Black…" she whispered, patting my shoulder once more before turning and re-entering the Pokemon centre.

Silence enveloped the area once more, blunting the pain between my temples and causing me to lean more loosely against the pillar. My bare feet were past the point of just freezing in front of me, feeling like shards of Arctic ice as they lay limp on the cold, broken tarmac. All this was just too much for me to handle, like an impossibly heavy weight that constantly lingered on my shoulders, blocking my air supply and numbing every nerve in my body. This incessantly tormenting weight was supressing me to the floor, and I could do nothing to even make it budge. This weight was called N Harmonia.

An icy wind blew against me, ruffling my scraggy brown hair and tousling my baggy pyjamas. It was getting late. I needed to get to bed.