FOREVERMORE

~Part Three Of The Forever Trilogy~

Chapter 32

To Strengthen

February 2, 5001.

(Cerise's POV)

We were now in Driftveil City, to challenge the fifth Gym in Unova. The city was more spread out than the others had been, kind of like Nimbasa, but with less exciting stuff. To get there, we had to cross the Driftveil Drawbridge, which was absolutely amazing, even if there were Ducklett that constantly harassed us.

Rubin had been getting in better moods for the past few days, so hanging with him was actually fun. He was finally loosening up; when we were in Nimbasa, he actually looked like he was having fun for a change. I was glad his anger was finally fading. I loved traveling, though it being the middle of winter made it more dangerous and less fun.

We were walking the city, heading for the Pokemon Center, when we bumped into some of our friends.

"Oh my gosh! Rubin! Cerise!"

We halted, and turned around to see Jade, Plato, Argent, and Perla. I grinned and waved to them. We waited for them to catch up. Suddenly, when they got to us, Jade squealed and started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Oh my gosh, you'll never guess what!" she exclaimed, her green eyes bright with excitement and joy.

"What?" Rubin asked, a curious look on his face.

"Plato and I are getting married!" she exclaimed.

"OHMIGOSH!" I squealed, jumping up with excitement. "That's awesome! Oh my Arceus!" I couldn't help but hug her. "Congrats! Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!"

"Congratulations," Rubin said, smiling. "That's really great!"

"Thank you," said Plato. "But it's going to be a while before we can even get married."

I stepped back away from Jade, thinking about what he said. Well, there was the war in the way. And Jade didn't turn eighteen until the last day of the year. So yeah, they would have a pretty long wait. That was sad, when I thought about it, especially since one of them could die in battle or something.

"But that's okay!" Jade said, that smile still on her face. "I'm just happy that we're engaged!"

Even though I was happy for them, I couldn't help but feel jealous about what they had. It seemed to me that I would never be able to find the right guy. I always ended up with the wrong one, and Flax wasn't the first. I could never make the right choices apparently. The good guys didn't exactly want me either, and there were barely any of them around available.

We all headed for the Pokemon Center together. It was a relief for all of us—we were all tired of the winter's never ending cold. After we healed all of our Pokemon, we went to the cafe to get something to eat. And we were all surprised by who we found.

"Shirou!" I exclaimed, waving excitedly at him and Alan and—surprise surprise—Kate. "Alan! Kate!"

They turned around at the sound of their names, confused at first. Then Shiu's face broke out in a grin, and he waved back. People were staring at us now, whispering and murmuring to themselves, but I didn't care. I bounded up to them, and gave each of them a hug.

"Hey Cer," Shiu greeted me.

"Hello..." Kate said, a shy smile on her face.

The others walked up to us. I had already been happy to meet up with the others, but now I was even happier to find Shiu and his friends. The more the merrier was really true, to me, anyways. Though Driftveil didn't have much fun things to do, more companions could make up for it.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, we're just here to chill, have some fun," Shirou said. "Because some people are always so busy." He shot Alan a look, who merely rolled his eyes.

"But there doesn't seem to be much here to do," said Jade, a confused expression on her face.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," he said with a grin. "There's lots of things to do here! Too bad its winter, the beach isn't so bad here. Though this is a really awesome cafe; it's even better than some of the ones in Castelia."

"I love it here," Kate put in.

I looked over at her; she seemed more relaxed, more comfortable here with the boys. It couldn't be Alan; she was still timid and shy as ever around him. So that meant she was more comfortable around Shiu. I didn't know why, but that bothered me a little. What if... what if she liked him or something?

...Why did I care?

"They have the best coffee," Alan added.

"Well, we are here to get something!" said Jade. "You know, I think we girls need some bonding time. Hee hee, come on, Cer, Perla, Kate!"

The next thing I knew, Jade grabbed Perla's arm, pushed me ahead, and dragged Kate with us when we passed her. Oh no, she was up to something. I knew that look on her face well enough. As she pulled us away, I heard someone ask, "What's she doing?"

...

"Soooo, Kate, you're good friends with Shirou and Alan?" Jade asked.

We had found a table, and sat down—me, Jade, Perla, Kate. We had all gotten something; I was sipping some of the world's best hot chocolate. Perla was getting all hyper on mocha; I had no idea why Jade allowed her to get that, but whatever.

"Um, yes," said Kate. "We grew up together."

"Ooooh, really?" asked Jade. "That's so cool! I don't really have any childhood friends left, unless you count Plato, Viola, and Rubin since I went to middle school and early high school with them."

"I grew up with Rubes!" I added.

"Oh oh, Argent is my childhood friend!" Perla exclaimed. "I'm also friends with Heart, Dio, and Ivorline! They're all my age."

Of course, none of those names were familiar to me. But I imagined they were more Pokedex holder kids. However, Jade frowned, looking confused.

"Heart? I don't recognize that name," she said.

"Oh, that's Emmy and Raldo's little sister," Perla said. "Oh! There's also Larimar, Indi and Cyan's little sister, and you have a little sister named Clover! Argent never told you, did he?"

"Well, he doesn't talk much."

That was a understatement. That boy was more of a stoic than Cyan, Am, and Grey combined. I didn't think I heard him talk once yet. Maybe that's a exaggeration, though.

"Anyways, back on topic! Kate-"

"You don't like Shiu, do you?" I blurted.

Kate blinked, startled. "What? Me? Shirou? No... I don't like him. What makes you think that?"

I nearly sighed with relief, but I was confused why I even was relieved. Why did I care about that? Did I... maybe... like Shiu?

"Um, no reason!" I exclaimed hastily. "I was just c-curious, that's all!"

Jade grinned mischievously at me. Oh no, she was thinking now. I didn't know Jade as well as the others, but I had learned enough about her in the past months to know that she liked to play matchmaker. And was actually successful.

"Hey, can I join you guys?"

I nearly jumped, startled by the sound of Shirou's voice coming from behind me. I looked up to see that he was behind me. I felt my face heat up even more, with embarrassment, wondering if he had overheard our conversation. I also wondered why he wanted to hang with us and not the guys. He was a little strange... but in a good way.

"Sure!" said Jade, winking at me. "Where'd the other guys go?"

"Oh, Plato and Argent went off to do with training, and I ended up leaving Alan with Rubin," Shirou explained.

Oh my Arceus, that was probably not the best thing to do. But I kept my mouth shut; if I said anything, I might end up insinuating the problem I foresaw with those two. And it had everything to do with my sister.

Shirou pulled up a chair, and sat down between Kate and me. I took a sip of my hot chocolate, trying to calm myself down. Everything was fine, I was fine. I would ignore Jade and her silent teasing. I knew she was taking this all in and was going to put this down in that notebook of hers later.

"So, how do you like Unova so far?" he asked.

"I love it!" Perla exclaimed, her orange eyes brightening up with excitement. "It's more like home here! I don't think I could survive in the other regions!"

"It's a refreshing change of pace," said Jade. "I'm glad we came here. I actually think we can win now. Before... I wasn't so sure."

I didn't blame her on that. I mean, Mount Silver was blown up. Thousands of people and Pokemon alike died. I wasn't there when it happened, but I was on my way to join the Resistance. It made me wonder how powerful the Government really was, if they were just letting us play these games and get all cocky before they crushed us.

"What about you, Cer?" Shiu asked, turning his head to look at me.

"Oh, me? It's nice here," I said. "Everyone's pretty friendly and everyone loves Pokemon! This is how it should be..."

I took a sip of my hot chocolate, feeling fine now, if not a little depressed. Shirou took notice of the change in tone, and obviously was trying to think of a way to brighten up the mood and make us smile.

"Oh, Kate, remember the time when Alan and I first met you and Liz?" Shirou asked, changing the subject.

The girl blinked, caught by surprise. "Oh... Yes, I remember. Why?"

He smirked playfully. "We were how old again? You were eight, Alan and I were ten, and Liz was twelve. Alan wanted to go to the mansion for some reason, so I went with him. You and Liz were playing out in the front yard with your Pokemon."

Kate nodded. "That's right. Liz was really... different back then."

"She was?" I asked, surprised.

Kate nodded. "Yes. She was... a bit of a rebel back then. She was a punk back then, and really into battling and discovering new things. She was really hotblooded—and she still kind of is, she just doesn't show it much. She was... very protective of me."

"I'll say," said Shirou. "She flipped out on Alan when we got there. Because of how you met Alan a couple days earlier."

Kate blushed. "Oh, yes, that..."

"What happened?" Jade asked.

Kate's face turned even redder. "I was climbing a tree, trying to test out my powers, and the branch broke right as Alan was walking under the tree, and he caught me when I fell."

"Aaaaw! That's so romantic!" Jade gushed. "You two would be so cute together!"

Shirou laughed about something, as Kate dipped her head from embarrassment. I watched them curiously, wondering what he found so funny and how to take Kate's reaction to Jade's statement. I stayed silent.

"D-Don't say things like that..." the psychic said.

Both Jade and Perla giggled as Kate kept on blushing.

"Anyways, back to the story," Shirou said. "So we went up to the front lawn, and Liz recognized Alan and started yelling at him. I managed to calm everyone down, and demanded to know what was going on. Then I was told the story Kate just said. Then I changed the topic, and we all got talking about Pokemon, and then we started playing with them. That's how our friendship began."

Then Shirou suddenly stood up, and look down at me.

"Hey, Cer, you wanna go for a walk? I could help you train for the Gym match!"

I looked up at him, surprised. I looked over at my friends, and Jade nodded to me, giving me another wink. I rolled my eyes at her, and then looked back up at him.

"Sure!" I stood up, and grabbed my coat, pulling it on.

"Great!" he said, grinning. "C'mon!"

...

(Rubin's POV)

How in the name of Arceus did I end up in this situation?

Let's see. We joined up with Plato, Jade, and their siblings, we went to the cafe, found Shirou, Alan, and Kate, and then Jade ended up dragging the girls off, and then the guys all split up. And then I ended up stuck with Alan. The only one of the Unovans I wasn't quite sure of yet.

Why?

Because of how he reacted when half of Topaz's shirt got burned off during the Striaton Gym match. I knew technically it was none of my business what Topaz did now, but it still bothered me. My anger about the whole situation had faded now, though I was too proud and stubborn to admit I was wrong. But I knew I still loved her.

Right now I was sitting across from Alan, sipping the hot tea I had ordered, looking everywhere but at him. We hadn't really spoken at all yet. He was minding his own business, which was fine with me.

"How long has the Resistance been going?"

I looked over at him, surprised that he had said something to me. "Oh... A hundred years or so... Maybe more, I'm not sure."

He took a drink from his coffee. "Who was the leader before Amethyst Kimu?"

"Jethro Tibbs," I said. "He died during the bombing."

As did many others, but that was besides the point. He was quiet for a moment.

"How long have you been in the Resistance?"

"Me?" I asked. "Oh... Three years, more or less. Pretty much everyone else is the same way, except for Am and Grey, who have been involved for much longer."

"How long have they been in?"

"Am, well, he joined the Resistance when he first came to the future, I think," I said. "So, maybe about twelve years? Grey's been in for eight years, that I know for sure."

I took a sip of my tea, and he grew silent again. This wasn't too bad. As long as he didn't ask any personal questions, it would be fine. Just fine. Yep.

I spoke too soon.

"So... You're Topaz's ex, right?"

And now my good, relaxed mood was gone.

"What's it to you?" I asked, my tone gaining a edge.

"Just curious," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

I narrowed my eyes. "It's obvious enough. Figure out yourself."

"I take that as a yes, then," he said.

I snorted, and lifted my cup of tea to drink it.

"So, it's tense between you two, huh?" Alan asked.

"Humph," I said, setting down my cup.

I wasn't about to answer any questions about my relationship with Topaz. Why did he care anyway? It was none of his business what happened between us. Now he was starting to get on my nerves; where was everyone else when you needed them?

We both grew silent again, drinking our refreshments. I leaned back in my chair, trying to keep calm. I would not freak out at anything he asked me. I would not let anything he asked me get me angry. I would not explode in rage. I was better than that.

"...You guys never had sex, right?"

Tea came spitting out of my mouth as I jerked forward with surprise at his question. I stared at him, my eyes wide with horror, while he just looked at me calmly, like everything was perfectly normal.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I exclaimed. "What in the name of Arceus is wrong with you?"

"I take that as a no," he said before sipping more of his coffee.

Oh. My. Arceus.

I set down my cup and propped my elbows up on the table, rubbing my eyes. Dear Arceus, why did he ask that? Why did he want to know? What did it matter if we did or not? And we didn't, of course, that was insane.

But now...

I was thinking about it.

And I couldn't get it out of my head.

Just the whole idea of us—

It just looked so good—

Dear Arceus, no, no, I was not going to go there, I was not going to think that—

Too late.

"Crap," I groaned.

Alan gave me a curious look. "Are you okay?"

MY MIND HAD BEEN DEFILED, I WAS NOT OKAY. WHY DID I KEEP ON THINKING ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING? WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH ME?

I looked up at him, and gave him the darkest, fiercest glare I could muster. "Don't ask me anything about her ever again. If you want to know so badly, talk to her."

Alan opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

"Oh, Rubes, there you are!"

Cerise bounded up to the table, her cheeks and nose tinted pink from being outside. She had a excited look on her face, I could almost not bring myself to even look at her, considering what I had been just thinking about doing with her sister.

Dear Arceus, it would NOT go away. The image was forever seared into my mind. I was no longer innocent. As innocent as you could be surrounded by a bunch of people who viewed getting laid as a pastime.

I blamed Gold. It really was him. Fiori was perfectly normal, and Am was... Am. Freaking Kimus. And, well, they were the only ones that I was aware of.

"Come on, Rubes, we need to check into the Pokemon Center!"

I was going to die.

...

(Plato's POV)

Argent and I decided to go outside of Driftveil to do some training. The boy was easy to get along with, which was great for me since he was going to be my brother-in-law in the future. I did wish he would talk more. I was quiet, but I wasn't that quiet. He spoke less than Am did. He was a good kid, he just needed to open up more.

I had noticed that he acted slightly differently towards my sister than anyone else. She always went to him for help, and he did talk to her more, though there was only slightly a difference. Even though I didn't know Perla as well as I knew Diamonda, she was still my sister and I was curious about this change of behavior.

"So, Argent," I said, and he looked over at me, his face expressionless. "What's with you and my sister?"

The hesitation, no matter how slight, was apparent to me. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean," I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets. "You treat her differently than everyone else, even differently than Jade."

He looked away from me, his silver eyes flickering to the snow ground. "So?"

"So?" I echoed. "I would like to know what's going on."

"We're just friends," he said.

I snorted. "That's what they all say in the beginning. I even said that about Jade once. And now look where we are."

He looked up at me, his red hair glinting in the sunlight. "Don't you trust me?"

"This has nothing to do with trust," I said. "Perla is fragile. Don't hurt her."

"I would never hurt her," he said firmly. "Besides, I have no intention to try to change our relationship. Even if I wanted to, she's so oblivious."

Now that I knew. My little sister was so innocent, so naive. I couldn't help but feel protective of her because of that. But Argent was Jade's brother, raised by the same parents that took care of her for those five short years. I said he was a good kid and I believed him.

"I know," I said. "I just wanted to make sure."

...

Earlier...

(Cerise's POV)

"The reason I wanted to get you out here was because I have something to give you," Shirou explained as we walked along the sidewalk.

"Oh, really?" I asked, getting excited. "What?"

"Hang on, need someplace more private," he said, beckoning me to follow him.

I followed him excitedly, getting all hyper. If I had had to stand still, I would have been jumping up and down with excitement. Finally, he seemed satisfied with the place we were at, and Liore, his Jolteon, leaped out of his backpack. The Eeveelution let out a excited bark.

Shirou set his pack down on the slightly frozen picnic table, and I began to rock back and forth on the balls of my feet. I was getting impatient, I wanted to know what he had to give me! He took a Poke Ball out of his backpack, and held it out to me.

"I want you to have this," he said. "Go ahead, release it!"

Oh my Arceus, he was giving me a Pokemon! "Oh, thank you so much, Shiu!" I exclaimed, even though I didn't know what it was. I took the device from him, and then released the Pokemon inside.

I gasped in awe as a Eevee appeared in a flash of light. I let out a squeal, and threw myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck, hugging him.

"Oh my Arceus, thank you so much, Shiu!" I squealed, and he laughed, putting his arms around me and swinging me around.

"Hey, it's nothing," he said as he set me down. "I knew you love Eevee, so I got one from the breeder my parents got Liore from!"

"Thank you so much!" I repeated, kneeling down to scoop up the young Eevee up into my arms. "I've gotten so many baby Pokemon lately. I got a Pichu from another egg that Raiden and Joy made not too long ago. This means so much to me, really!"

I leaned up on the tips of my toes to kiss him on the cheek. I had done this before, so it was no surprise to him.

"Ahahaha, it's nothing, Cer!" he said, rubbing the back of his head.

I brushed off some of the ice on the seat of the picnic table, and sat down. I set the Eevee down on my lap.

"Hey, my name's Cerise," I said. "Welcome to my team!"

The Eevee looked up at me shyly. "Hi..."

So now I knew the baby was a female, so I could name her now! I wracked my brain for names as Shirou sat down next to me.

"I'm going to name you Belize!" I announced.

"Nice one!" Shirou said, and I looked up over at him.

I smiled. "Thanks!"

I looked back down at Belize, and began to stroke the top of her head. She let out a happy sigh, and pushed her head up against my coat, cuddling up against my stomach. The smile stayed on my lips.

"Hey, Cer," he said, and I looked back at him. "You know, Kate likes Alan."

I gasped, surprised. I had been so sure she liked him! But I guess he would know best, especially since they had grown up together. But I felt so relieved, but I didn't know why.

"Does Alan know?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, he's oblivious as hell to things like that. But, I do foresee a problem I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"What?" I asked, curious.

"I think Alan's taken a liking to your sister," he said. "And considering what you've told me about what's been going on, that's really bad."

I paled. "And we left Rubin with him!"

"I should have stayed," he sighed. "But it's too late. I wanted to give you Belize and tell you about this. I'm just worried Alan will get hurt through all this. Even back in the day, when he was totally different to how he is today, when he was a bit like your friend Gold, he never really liked a girl like how I think he's starting to feel about your sister."

"Topaz still loves Rubin," I said. "I honestly don't think she'll ever move on. They... really had something. Topaz has had some rough times with boys. First there was Grey, but that's all fine now and they're friends, and then there was this guy... Flax... t-though that never got anywhere."

"Flax?" he asked. "Hey, isn't that the name of one of the Empire's admins or something?"

I winced, pausing in my petting of Belize. "Yeah... He's the second in charge, the leader of all the younger admins. It's... a long story."

I was relieved when he didn't press me. "So you don't think Alan will get anywhere?"

I shook my head.

"Thought so," he said, frowning. "I wish there was something I could do. I don't want him to get hurt. He's my best friend."

"He doesn't notice anything at all about Kate?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nope, nothing at all."

I sighed. "Poor Kate."

"Yeah."

...

February 4, 5001.

(Rubin's POV)

It looked like I was going to be the first to battle.

The Gym leader, a man named Enki, was not what I expected. He was in his late twenties, and dressed like what I believed was called a cowboy. He was friendly, and talked in a rich Hoenn accent that did not fit his attire at all. It made me want to squirm.

Anyways, I was the first to battle him, like I said earlier. To get to the battle arena, we had to ride a elevator deep down into the ground. I wasn't claustrophobic, but it still was nerve wracking to be so many feet underground.

"All right!" said Enki. "This is gonna be a three-on-three battle! You know the rest of the rules."

I nodded, and took out the Poke Ball of the Pokemon I knew I wanted to use. The Pokemon he sent out I recognized as Krookodile; Grey had one, and that was the only reason it was familiar. It was a fierce looking thing, kind of scary if you only paid attention to its teeth.

"Spotlight, Beauty!" I exclaimed, releasing the Milotic.

Enki gasped in surprise as Beauty arranged herself in front of me. The Krookodile's eyes grew wide. I guess they never saw a Milotic before. Which was understandable since they were only native to Hoenn and Sinnoh. I liked how I was able to catch someone by surprise instead of me being the one shocked.

"You may go first," Enki said.

I nodded. "All right, Beauty, use Hydro Pump!"

The Milotic opened her mouth, and water shot out, slamming into the Krookodile before the Gym leader could shout a command. The Pokemon was knocked out in one hit. Even though I knew we had its weakness, I still felt good about it. My Pokemon were finally catching up to everyone else's level wise.

"Well I'll be," Enki said, returning the fallen Pokemon. "You Resistance members sure are tough!"

I heard laughter from where my friends were watching, and I looked over to see Cerise and Jade both giggling. I rolled my eyes at them, and returned my attention to the battle.

"Seismitoad, you're up!"

Now the Pokemon he released next was one of the most hideous things I had ever seen in my entire life. What was that thing? Dear Arceus, just looking at it made me feel sick. Ugh.

"Beauty, use Hydro Pump again!" I commanded.

The Seismitoad thing took the attack, and barely any damage was done. Beauty and I were shocked speechless. How could that be? This Pokemon had to be of the Water type, then. That was the only reason that the attack was useless.

"Seismitoad, Hyper Voice!"

A high pitched shriek came out of the thing's mouth, hitting my Milotic hard. She cried out in pain, sliding back. I had to take a few steps back myself not to get run over. I grit my teeth; I had to switch Beauty out; she wouldn't be able to take out this one.

"Let's go, Sir!" I exclaimed, throwing the Poke Ball.

The Swampert appeared in a flash of light, causing Enki and his Pokemon to be shocked yet again. Sir was my second more powerful Pokemon. Even if they had the same typing, I believed we could do this. We were strong enough.

"Sir, use Ice Beam!" I commanded.

A frozen beam of energy shot out of the Swampert's mouth, hitting the Seismitoad. The attack did some damage this time, even freezing half of the Pokemon's body.

"Hydro Pump!" Enki ordered.

But the Seismitoad was too slow due to being half frozen, and Sir got out of the way in time. I grinned, feeling good about myself for a change.

"Earthquake!" I commanded.

Sir lifted up his fists, and slammed them into the ground. The earth split open, sending a thin fissure bolting at the Seismitoad. It hit the Pokemon hard, and sent it flying into the air. Now was our chance!

"Hammer Arm!"

Sir propelled himself into the air, getting above the already falling Seismitoad. He brought his arm down hard on the Pokemon's head, sending it rocketing back towards the ground. Sir landed rather clumsily, but the hideous monster was knocked out.

"Good job, Sir," I said as Enki sent out his last Pokemon, a Excadrill.

We ended the battle with a single Earthquake.

...

February 5, 5001.

It was time for us to go on our own way again. I was a little sad about leaving my friends, but I knew I would be seeing them again sometime soon. There were only three Gyms left after this one. Then we'd have to figure out what we'd do next.

"Hopefully we'll meet up again!" Jade said.

"Oooh, yeah!" said Cerise, a grin on her freckled face. "But we'll see each other soon enough anyway!"

"Yep," I agreed.

"All right," said Plato. "Take care, you two."

"We will," I said.

"Mmmhmm!" Cerise agreed.

We parted then, waving behind before heading off, taking separate paths towards Mistralton City.

WOOT, I'm proud of this chapter. Hehe.

MEZZOFORTE. AAAAH, I JUST FREAKING LOVE THEM. I have so much planned for them, you're going to love it. MEZZOFORTEEEEE.

So, Kummern.

Rubin is such a joy to write. Oh my gosh... Just... OH MY GOSH, THIS BOY. AHAHAHA. *cough* Anyway, yes, Alan has a crush on Topaz. That was the original purpose for his character, but he has developed into a integral character for how Forevermore ends. He also effects MezzoForte in a way. Oh, yes, Kate has been crushing on Alan silently for years, and he's never noticed. Let's just say obliviousness runs in his family (aka he's descended from one or two of the main characters, yay, more mind screw!).

Okay guys, I've changed the Topazes to the way you want it. Alpha: Forever Trilogy; Beta: Forever and Ever; Gamma: Bosco, Jewel's mom.

One more thing! I have gotten a blog for you to ask questions and see what I'm doing. You can either ask me or any of the characters in any of my works. You don't have to have a tumblr to ask questions. You can find me at neverfurtherforever . tumblr. com.

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