Chapter Two

After training much in the grass, it turns dark. The three decided to camp there for the night.

"Ew, but there are bug pokemon and stuff." Bianca whines, taking her green beret off.

Cheren takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes, "Oh, grow up Bianca. Just step on them."

"But what if one tries to Poison Sting me?!"

Haruka takes her cap off and lets her hair loose, "Then I'll be sure to Poison Sting it back in my own way."

Bianca pouts and says, "Hmph. At least Haruka is at least a little reassuring, unlike someone."

Cheren turns around and takes his blue blazer off, along with his white T-shirt. Haruka and Bianca blush, and turn immediately away.

Cheren seems to notice this and says, "Guys, it's not like I have a chest or anything."

Haruka answers, "Yeah, and it's not like you have abs or anything," she then thinks about N, "I bet N does."

Cheren turns around and spins his glasses on his finger, "No abs you say?"

Bianca shrieks.

Haruka clamps her hand over her mouth.

Oshowatt sprays water all over Haruka's sleeping bag.

Ralts teleports.

"UM…" Haruka stammers, "UM… UH, MY MISTAKE!"

She turns around quickly, hoping that her long hair will cover her red face. She is mistaken. Cheren DOES have abs. A light four pack, and he… He looks good.

Bianca squeaks, "OMG CHEREN, DO YOU WORK OUT?!"

Cheren pulls a fresh white T-shirt over his head and answers, "Yeah, when I have free time. I don't want to stay a skinny chopstick like you girls. You know, weak and all."

Bianca slaps his arm and gets distracted by her Lillipup starting to poop on her pillow, "NO! Oh man, c'mon Lilli. Get out here." She climbs out of the tent and carries Lillipup with her.

Cheren and Haruka are left alone, and Haruka feels pretty damn uncomfortable at the moment. She hugs her knees close to her chest and watches Snivy sleep.

"Hey, shouldn't you change out of your clothes? They're dirty you know." Cheren says as he slips into his sleeping bag.

Haruka says uneasily , "Um, no, I think I'm okay."

Cheren smirks, "Hey, we're best friends. You can trust me, I won't look." He then starts to laugh, "Remember that time when your mom gave all three of us a bath in the sink?"

Haruka recalls the memory and starts chuckling, "Yeah! And I stuffed that bar of soap in your mouth?"

"I slapped your face."

Haruka keeps laughing, "And then Bianca peed in the water!"

The two continue to laugh and then the amusement dies away, and then both of their cheeks redden.

Thankfully, Bianca walks back inside.

"UGH! You should smell Lilli's poo! It's DISGUSTING!" Bianca shouts, and then notices that she's scared Lillipup, who is cowering behind Haruka.

"Oh, it's okay Lilli! I'm not mad, it's just that…" Bianca crawls over to Lilli, "You need to be potty trained! Properly, potty trained"

Lilli, feeling Bianca's shouting going away, jumps to her and barks happily. Snivy turns over in his sleep and Cheren places him on his chest, "Go to sleep guys, we've got a long day ahead."

After settling down, Haruka snuggles inside her sleeping bag with Oshowatt and Ralts. Funnily, they proceed into a deep slumber almost instantly. Haruka smiles gently and closes her eyes. She thinks about what Cheren said, about staying away from N.

Haruka feels herself smiling again, and squeezes Ralts tightly. It struggles then teleports out of her grip and instead lies down on Haruka's stomach.

"Sorry." Haruka hears herself mumble, and says, "Just thinking about stuff..."

Haruka looks over at a silent Cheren, who usually sleeps like a mummy. She asks herself, "I wonder why Cheren doesn't want me to go near N?" Then she strokes Oshowatt's fur and concludes, "Well, we're best friends. He's looking out for me."

She eyes him again and goes into her favorite fetal position and yawns sleepily, "Well, anyways, thank Cheren. That's sweet."

After a while, when Haruka is fast asleep, Cheren, who's been secretly awake the whole time, quietly says, "You're welcome, Haruka."

It's rainy the next day, and Cheren only brought one umbrella. So the three squish themselves together under it.

They all start to fight over whose space is being taken over, who gets to hold the umbrella, and especially, who's invading whose bubble.

Finally, Cheren inhales deeply and speaks in a tone that would scare off a pack of Bouffalant, "Haruka, Bianca, it's my umbrella. So, we are all going to get along with each other and let me, the rightful owner of the precious umbrella, hold it. Therefore, we are all going to clamp our mouths shut or I'll push one of you out into the rain."

Bianca doesn't say a word for the rest of the time, and Haruka sighs.

This is the one time that I would actually like to be in a pokeball, Haruka thinks, the pokemon don't get wet.

In the next fifteen minutes, after a really awkward silent walk, the three soon see their destination, Striation City.

Usually, they had heard that it's a really quiet yet lively small city, but since it's rainy, many people restrain themselves inside their homes and the very few that want to remain outside sit quietly on benches under parasols near the water gushing fountain.

"Hm," Haruka says, "Kinda gloomy, don't you guys think?"

Bianca shivers, "I wanna go home and get under my covers and just sleep."

"Look on the happy side guys, "Cheren says, trying to brighten up the mood, "There's a gym."

Cheren, being right, points to a small building, "And I heard that there are actually three gym leaders."

Bianca questions, "Three? Isn't one enough?"

Cheren leads them over to a bench, "Duh. But in this case, the three gym leaders are three types. Grass, Water, and Fire. They ask which starter pokemon you got, and then the leader with the type advantage battles you."

Bianca wipes the bench off with her sweater, "Ugh. That's unfair. I should go get more pokemon."

Haruka takes a seat, "Hmm, yeah. I think my Ralts will do just fine though. Hey, Cheren," Haruka nudges the young man, "Isn't Psychic super effective against Grass?"

Cheren shakes his head, "No, just Ice, Poison, Flying, Fire," he thinks for a moment, "And I think Bug."

"Aw, I was thinking about using Ralts." Haruka grumbles, and adjusts her cap, "Hey, isn't it about time for you to catch some more pokemon, Cheren?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna go to the Dreamyard. It's not far."

They decide to challenge the gym after some training in the Dreamyard. Cheren catches a Pidove and finds a Panpour, and Bianca finds a Pansage. Haruka decides to simply train her two pokemon.

They walk in and are greeted by a man in sunglasses named Gaido. He gives them each a fresh water bottle and informs them about the gym.

"The three gym leaders are guys, and I must warn you," He says, "They don't go easy on cute girls."

In no time flat, the three defeat the battle waiters and waitresses and approach the gym leaders.

"Ooh, look, challengers!" The red haired one squeals and hops up, then he whistles at Haruka, "Wow, look at you."

"Um, hi?" Haruka says uncomfortably, and raises an eyebrow at the dude.

"Hi! My name is Chili, and as you can probably tell from my hair, I am the Fire type leader!" he then takes Haruka's hand, "And I do certainly hope that you have the Snivy, because I would love to be the one to battle you."

"Heh heh, um, actually," she pulls her hand back and says, "I have Oshowatt."

Chili groans, "Aw! Damn. I never battle the pretty girls." He then eyes Bianca, "How about you, my fair lady?"

Bianca blushes and shakes her head, "Nope. I have Tepig."

Cheren coughs, "Um, I'm actually the one that chose Snivy."

Chili turns away from a now relieved Bianca and raises his eyebrows, "Oh," he says a bit disappointed, "You're not a pretty girl… But you are and pretty good looking guy."

"Oh Arceus, no." Cheren mutters, "What a weirdo."

"Chili, why don't you go over there and battle him? We want to meet our challengers." The one with blue hair says, ushering him away.

"Yay, come on!" He squeals, grabbing Cheren's hand, "I'm going to beat you!"

Cheren mumbles something under his breath and is dragged away.

"Well, now that that's out of our way, I would like to apologize," Blue haired guy says, "Chili gets a bit excited when he sees challengers. Especially…" He rolls his gray eyes, "The girls. Anyways, my name is Cress. I am the Water type brother. And I believe I will be battling you?" He asks Bianca.

"Yup." Bianca replies, seeming confident.

"Alright then, let's start over there." The two go off to a different part in the gym.

Haruka watches them go off, and then sees a green haired guy rushing in from the front gym doors.

"Hey, Cress!" he shouts, "Any challengers?"

"Yeah, there's a girl over there waiting."

He turns Haruka's way and widens his eyes, "Oh! Hey, sorry, I'll be right there!"

After about two minutes, the last gym leader hustles over and throws his apron off, "Sorry! I had a little delivery to make." He puts out his slightly flour caked hand, "I'm Cilan. So, um, you ready to battle?"

Haruka smiles and grabs her Ralts, "You bet I am."

It was a relatively long battle. Cilan's Pansage was the real problem. After her Oshowatt had fainted, she had sent out her last hope, a tired Ralts. But Haruka wasn't ready to lose, and Ralts eventually confused the poor grass monkey and nearly tackled it to death. Either way, it was a clean victory for her.

Cilan wipes his forehead and exhales sharply, "Whew! Man, you're pretty good. I'm impressed." He rummages inside his pocket and pulls out a gleaming badge, "Um, this is for you. Congrats."

Haruka takes it thankfully and proudly places it into her badge box, "Thanks!"

After the three receive their badges, and pry Chili off of Cheren (who has taken quite a big liking to Cheren), they head outside and heal their pokemon. Then they move on to Route 3.

At this time, Cheren stops them and says, "Okay, guys, I think we need to talk."

Haruka and Bianca wait anxiously for him to speak.

Cheren looks out at the waiting trainers and grass patches, "We've already gone this far, and I think… I think it's time to separate."

Bianca questions, "Separate?"

Cheren fidgets with his glasses, "Well, yeah. I mean we can't stick with each other all the time. We have each other's Xtransceiver numbers, and we'll try to help each other the best we can."

The two girls stay silent as they ponder about Cheren's words.

"You're right," Haruka speaks up, "Our journeys won't be as fun then. We have to think for ourselves, and share our experiences with each other when we meet."

Bianca sadly nods, stroking her Tepig, "Yeah, guess you're right."

The three stand awkwardly and then Cheren says, "Well, guys, I'm off."

"Bye…" The girls watch him walk away, turn back to each other, and hug goodbye.

As Haruka walks away towards Wellspring Cave, she feels a heavy and depressing weight being pushed down onto her.

To Haruka, for some reason, this feels like a real goodbye.

"Ugh," Haruka groans, "There's nothing in here. Come on Dewott, let's go."

She exits the cave with her newly evolved friend, and clutches her pokeball containing Kirlia (her evolved Ralts). She heads towards her next destination, Nacrene City.

"Dewott, what do you think about another gym battle soon?"

Dewott answers happily and nods its head. Haruka smiles and sends out Kirlia, who rummages inside Haruka's bag for two Oran berries. Kirlia hands one to Dewott, and they happily munch together, making friendly, pokemon talk.

Haruka sighs, "Man, I feel so left out. I miss Cheren and Bianca already."

Haruka crosses her arms and shivers at the cool, windy breeze. It turned cool about an hour ago, and Haruka wishes that she didn't wear her shorts. She continues on down the path dotted with pebbles, and instantly warms up at the sight of trainers.

After about eight battles with preschoolers and youngsters, she finally reaches Nacrene. There, she finds a problem.

A group of four Team Plasma grunts are ganging up on a frail, old lady. She's threatening them with her cane and her Herdier, but the grunt's pokemon are stronger.

"Give up Grandma," a male grunt laughs, "That's a tough pokemon you've got there, and we need it."

"NO!" she snaps, waving her cane around, with her Herdier growling dangerously, "Go capture some of your own, if you insolent brats are smart enough to even do that!"

Herdier barks, and the male grunt glares at it, "No, that would be cruel to them. We can't restrain these precious creatures into pokeballs. Therefore," he shouts an order at the grunts, "We must separate them from people! Grunts, get it!"

Two other grunts tackle the Herdier and quickly shove it into a kennel. The old woman screams as the male grunt holds her back and the remaining one snatches the cane away from her.

Haruka watches in disgust and says, "C'mon, guys, we've got to help."

She runs over to the scene and yells, "Hey! What do you think you're doing? That's her rightful pokemon; you can't just steal it from her!"

The old woman and the grunt look up; the woman looks a bit relieved. The Herdier whimpers in distress as two grunts tell it to shut up. The grunt leers at her, "What do you want, girl? Are you asking for trouble?"

Looking away from the woman, her pokemon by her side, she answers, "Look, pal," she steps up to his face and looks up at it, "I don't know what you crazy lunatics and your stupid leader with the hideous robe are thinking, but now I'm damn sure that it's not right!"

She remains glaring at him, "Release that woman's pokemon! She and the Herdier did nothing to you!"

The grunts laugh, and the head grunt smirks, "Make us! That is, if you can. I doubt you can even make a scratch on my Watchog!"

Haruka fumes at him and she shouts in anger, "Fine! I'll make you sorry for even saying that."

After an easy battle, the grunt stammers, "W-what… WHAT? You… You're just a little teen! And my Watchog was a fine steal from-"

He widens his brown eyes and covers his mouth, "I-I mean, a fine capture from, uh, Route 3!"

Haruka, speechless, yells, "You steal pokemon?! As in, this isn't your first time?!"

The grunt starts to back away and Haruka just walks closer, "Look, you freak," she grabs him by his collar, "I defeated you. Now give that Herdier back to that innocent woman or that Watchog won't be the only one defeated!"

The grunt shoves her hand off of him, "Ugh, she has a grip," he coughs and wipes his mouth, "Fine, fine! Release the Herdier!" The grunts reluctantly obey and the Herdier zooms out and tackles the grunt still holding back the woman. He falls, and Herdier catches her just in time.

The head grunt backs away and to his other three companions, "Whatever, guys, let's just go. There are better pokemon anyways. Our king will be waiting for us."

They clumsily scramble away and Haruka rushes to help the old woman. She helps her stand up and Dewott hands her the cane.

"Oh, thank you little one," the woman smiles at Dewott softly, "I certainly appreciate your help." She pats Dewott on the head.

She turns to Haruka, "And I definitely thank Arceus for you. If you weren't here, my precious Herdier would've been gone by now." She takes Haruka's hands and says, "How can I thank you?"

Haruka says, "Oh, there's no need…"

The old woman protests, "No, no! I must pay you back. Perhaps I can…" she trails off, releasing Haruka's hands, and placing both of her wrinkly ones onto her cane, "Hmm…"

She inspects Haruka again, and walks around her slowly. Haruka starts to feel uneasy and hugs Kirlia tighter. The old woman stops and squints at Haruka.

"Hmm, yes, perhaps…" she mumbles, and looks away.

Haruka, curious, asks, "Um, excuse me? Is there something… Um…"

The old woman turns back to Haruka and says, "Come with me. I know this sounds strange and all, not even knowing me, not even my name," she pauses, "But this is my way of paying you back."

Haruka, sensing no harm, quietly follows the old woman and inspects the city. In seconds, they are met by a young girl, older than Haruka, with short dark hair and obscure eyes.

"Grandma! I heard all the commotion about an old lady being robbed! Was it you?" she eyes Haruka, "Oh, who's this?"

"Mmf. Come on, let's get inside. I have something to give this kind, young lady."

The girl gasps, "So it was you Grandma! You're okay, right? I mean, they didn't touch you or-"

"Hush, child! Step inside, or I'll never get to give her what I intend to!"

"Sorry, but you are okay?"

The woman scurries inside and around the girl and disappears into a room, murmuring to herself. The girl sighs and turns to Haruka, "Thanks for, you know, saving her. She gets scared when people try to talk to her other than me. She's a bit of the hurry and go type. By the way, I'm Akira, and my grandma is Hana."

Haruka says, "Your grandma really wants to thank me, but truly, it was a small act of kindness. Just her simple thank you will be enough."

Akira laughs and fixes up some drinks, "Sorry, but, knowing my grandma, you won't be getting out of here unless you take that special present."

Haruka exhales a bit sharply and louder than she intends to. Haruka flushes red and Akira gives her an understanding pat on her shoulder, "Have a seat." She hands her a glass of lemonade.

Haruka takes a seat on the plush sofa and takes a sip of her drink. She's not sure what to think of this, but decides to go along with it. If Hana was to give her anything expensive looking, she would simply refuse. Haruka decides that this would be nothing too complicated.

"Aha!" Hana rushes into the living room with enclosed hands. She stands before Haruka and reveals a beautiful necklace, with a plain, glowing white stone, "For you."

Haruka, of course, is wrong.

Haruka, speechless, cannot believe that a stranger would give such a luxurious looking gift to her, "I-I… I can't! That's way too much! Like I said, I don't need anything. A thanks is just fine."

"Look, girl," Hana says, slowly lowering herself onto another chair, "Let me explain."

Hana starts, "Unova, about 1000 years ago, was rules by two, even kingdoms, and one kingdom had a princess, and ah…," Hana scratches her wrinkly chin and stays silent for a moment, "Oh, I don't remember the rest of the story." She holds up the necklace, "My past family dug this up." She places the necklace around Haruka's neck and fastens it, "She had a 'legendary' necklace, which has been kept in my family. I've no need for it, and Akira here doesn't really want it. She has plenty of jewelry. She claims this is too plain for her taste."

"Grandma…" Akira groans, rolling her eyes, and blushing ever so slightly.

"Um," Haruka says, touching the necklace, "Thank you. I'm…" she sighs, "I still think this is too much."

Akira exclaims, "No, it's not. We've been meaning to sell it, but seeing you made us think about her."

Hana stands and says, "Girl, I've been meaning to ask your name."

"Haruka, um, ma'am."

Hana walks over to her and lightly touches the necklace, "Yes, the necklace is precious, yet unneeded. Please take it, Haruka. Really, it's a small token of thanks."

Haruka smiles, "Thank you, really. And I should get going…"

Akira's eyes gleam as she smiles softly, "We should be thanking you." She walks Haruka over to the door, and she and her grandma watch as Haruka takes off towards the gym.

Akira turns towards her grandma and pouts, "Grandma, that necklace… I know you wouldn't just give something like that away."

Hana, taking her gaze off the city, returns back into the house, "You're right. But something in my old gut just told me to give that stone to her. I don't know what that is, or why it's so precious for it to still be in the family, but…" Hana trails off, "it just seems to glow on her, don't you think?"

Haruka still feels uncomfortable after leaving Akira's house with a probably five thousand dollar necklace dangling around her neck. She turns to Kirlia, "What do you think? To shiny on me?"

Kirlia spins around and shakes her head. Dewott claps his hands to show that he thinks it looks great.

"Well, that's nice to hear I suppose." She then smiles confidently, "So, you guys up for another gym battle?"

Lenora's gym was a bit perplexing for Haruka. The secret messages, the moving bookshelf, it all took an hour. But she battled Lenora, a hearty lady with a booming voice. Haruka did defeat her though, and had received the Basic Badge.

Walking out of the gym, Haruka is encountered by N. He is reading a book and leaning against a column and looks up and smiles as he sees Haruka.

"Doll! I knew we would meet again." He flashes her a dazzling smile, "How was Lenora? Still loud as ever?"

Haruka, flushing red, says, "Yeah, my ears are still ringing. So what are you doing here?" She absentmindedly plays with her necklace.

N aims his green eyes at the white stone, "Whoa, who gave that to you?"

"Oh, just some old lady who said she didn't need it anymore."

N walks over and takes it in his hand, causing Haruka to almost stop breathing, "It's beautiful. I wonder why she'd give something like this away…"

Something inside Haruka starts fluttering like a butterfly, but not from the crush on N. But something different. Like something awakening.

He steps away, releases the stone, and the feeling dies away. Ngrins at her again, "Anyways, I thought you would be here by now. I beat her about a week ago, and," he looks around and seems confused, "Where are your friends, by the way?"

Haruka answers, standing on her heels, "We decided to separate. To make our journeys more fun."

N questions with a slight tilt of his head, "But wouldn't having friends to talk to make that fun?"

Haruka laughs lightly, "I dunno. I guess I meant more challenging."

The two of them chat as they walk towards Pinwheel Forest. Then N speaks up, "Oh, yeah. How about a battle? I want to hear your pokemon again." He leans against a tree and stares into Haruka's eyes, "How about it?"

"Sure, why not?"

After a somewhat easy battle, N sighs and returns his pokemon; he crosses his arms and looks up at Haruka, "Very interesting things. Still, I cannot tell."

Haruka raises her eyebrows and looks at Kirlia and Dewott, "Guys? Nothing embarrassing?"

The two pokemon try to reassure her that nothing of the sort had happened and N laughs, "No, no! Very good things."

He walks closer to her and says, "Battling you, I've learned something." He turns around and paces back and forth, his tea green hair swaying ever so slightly, "Right now, my friends… They're not strong enough to save all pokemon." He turns back around and his eyes brighten up, "I know! I need Zekrom, the legendary pokemon. I'll need it so that everyone will agree with me!" He smiles at her and pats her head, "And you and I, we will become good friends."

Haruka stares at him, listening to his every word. She returns her pokemon into their pokeballs and says, "I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but…" She shyly looks up and notices that his hand is still on her head, "I hope to see you again."

She backs away and turns around to walk further into the forest, both proud of her brave act of a bit of flirting and a bit sad about leaving N. She likes hearing him talk, the silkiness of his voice soothing her. She hears his voice calling to her.

"Yes, Doll. I'll definitely see you very soon!"

She almost stops, but then starts to run. Giggling, and when she thinks she's deep enough into the forest, she laughs hysterically.

He said he would definitely see me again! She thinks, grinning from ear to ear, and continues to laugh, I don't know why I'm laughing, I'm just so freaking happy!

Haruka honestly doesn't know why she's laughing so much. She notices that the butterfly feeling is back, tickling her insides. She questions this for a moment, and soon forgets about it. Haruka knows that she's run so deep into the forest that she's lost. It takes her an hour and a half to find her way out, and by that time, it's dark. Haruka decides to rest on top of a tree.

Dewott and Kirlia don't like the idea, worried that she might fall off, and from the fact that they just don't like heights. But she ensures them, "No, it's fine. I've always wanted to try this."

While Haruka sleeps, her necklace glows beautifully in the dark, almost unnaturally.

Somewhere, N decides to stop and rest as well, and thinks about his meeting with Haruka, and flushes a faint red.

He strokes his Pidove, and asks himself, "Haruka, that girl, she makes me feel so…" He pauses, and thinks, "Different. Fluttery, I don't know." He laughs softly and runs a hand through the top of his hair, "It's like we have some sort of connection."