Chapter 4
Haruka awakens to her Dewott sitting on her chest, black eyes wet, and pawing at her cheek lightly.
She notices Kirlia beside him, and she's holding Haruka's hand.
No wait… That's not Kirlia. Kirlia doesn't have tea green hair.
The person holding her hand is… what's his name?
"N… N. Right?" Haruka asks, a little out of it.
Dewott squeals with joy, and Kirlia pops up from beside the pokecenter bed, twirling with glee. Haruka can see that her pokemon are utterly relieved. N looks up quickly and widens his emerald eyes.
"Haruka!" he says, a goofy smile forming upon his tanned face, "Thank Arceus."
He squeezes her hand tighter, and flushes red a bit. She starts to sweat and her bed starts to heat up.
"Yeah, it's N. Remember me?" He asks, leaning forward in his chair more.
"No, no, you're Risō!" She blurts out, her blue eyes filled with wild panic. She sits up rapidly and the pain in her head comes back instantly, she whimpers and N pushes her back down softly.
"Haruka… No, my name is N. Remember?" His face is filled with concern, his green eyes gleaming with worry, "Haruka, wake up! We met in Accumula Town…"
Haruka cocks her head, and stares at him, and her voice changes, "Risō, your name is Risō."
N flinches, and scrunches his green eyebrows together in confusion, and says slowly in a low voice, "Haruka… What the hell? Is this some kind of joke?!"
The Haruka's face falls and she smiles brightly, "N! Oh, I'm so glad to see you. I was at the library and all of a sudden I… I…" she scratches her long brown hair, "I don't remember why I'm here."
Haruka's pokemon look at each other in worry, and N's grip on her right hand grows tighter, he swallows, "Haruka, you're acting really strange. Who is this Risō person? Your voice changed."
Haruka looks at a painting in the room, and then says, "Risō? I never said that, I don't even know what or who that is." She then pauses, "Oh, I remember, I fainted in the library."
N nods, keeping his eyes on her small face, "Yes, and I walked in on you, and the librarian was panicking, and there were people crowded around you. I picked you up and I took you here."
Haruka half smiles, "You're always where I am."
N blushes a bit, not really knowing why, "Well…"
Haruka raises an eyebrow and presses on, "Well?"
"I was… following you." N admits, scratching the back of his neck, looking away.
Haruka turns red and can't help but giggle, "Why? Am I that special to you?"
N answers looking at her with a flirty grin, "Why, indeed. I find you very appealing."
They both laugh and then the two stop, letting an awkward silence fill in their gap.
Man, he makes me so nervous… I can't believe he said that, Haruka thinks.
Did I really fucking say that? N asks himself angrily in his head.
Haruka nervously laughs again, "Um, but, thanks. For the help, I mean." And the way you find me attractive, thank you for that too.
"No problem," N says smoothly, flashing his perfect white teeth. Then he puts a serious expression on his face, "But really Haruka, you said something about this Risō dude. And the weirdest part is, you didn't say it in your voice. It was more, um, womanly."
"N, I have not earthly idea about what you're talking…" Haruka stops herself, and then her memories start kicking in.
She remembers blurting out names, and at the moment, she can't remember them.
She inhales, "Wait, I think I do recall saying some names…"
"Yeah, and I bet one of them was Risō,"
"Yes," Haruka remembers, snapping her fingers, "Shinjitsu, Reshiram, and Zekrom."
"Ah," N says, leaning back into the chair, and crossing his arms. To do this, he had to pull his hand away from Haruka's, which saddens her a bit.
N, not seeming to notice this says, "I hear there's a legend about a princess and prince, from long ago. From when there were two Kingdoms that ruled Unova."
"Okay, so what does that have to do with those names?"
N thinks, and then answers, "I think the two pokemon names. Reshiram and Zekrom."
He explains, "One was the holder of Reshiram, and the other, Zekrom." He nods, "Yes, that's it."
Haruka asks, "What about the other two?"
N shrugs, "To be honest, I don't know. I'll promise to do some research if you like."
Haruka shakes her head, "You don't have to…"
N takes her hand again and rest his chin on it, "No, no, my doll. It would be my pleasure."
The two blush again and N puts a hand to his throat.
"N…" Haruka says slowly, cautiously. "Your voice…"
"It just went deeper." He finishes, looking into her eyes with a bit of terror.
"Is that what happened with me?"
He nods, "Yeah, except you weren't aware of it."
He keeps his hand to his throat and thinks, what's happening? I mean, this isn't freaking puberty.
Haruka says, "I don't know what's going on, this isn't a sudden outburst of puberty, it can't be."
N bursts out laughing, eyes twinkling, "That's exactly what I just thought!"
Haruka laughs too, "It's true."
The two walk out of the pokecenter once Haruka feels well again, and N says that he has to do some business in Nimbasa.
"Nothing important. Just some contract or something, it's what my father wants me to do."
"Oh," Haruka says, hugging her Dewott tightly and patting Kirlia on her shoulder, "I'll be challenging Elesa."
"Oh! In that case…" He smiles at her and flushes a rose color, "Would you maybe like to meet in front of the Ferris wheel at around five?"
Oh. My. Arceus. He's asking me on a date! Wait; maybe it's just a friend date. Or maybe- Haruka ignores her thoughts and answers, "Sure!"
He grins, pats her pokemon's heads, and tips his cap towards her, "Alright, it's a date!"
She watches him walk away and just stands there like an idiot with a silly smile on her red face.
It's a date. It's a date. It's a date, she repeats mentally to herself, and then she squeals, "It's a date!"
People look at her, wondering if she's insane. She ignores them, and runs to the pokemon gym, happiness flooding her veins with battle power.
After her battle with the gorgeous Elesa, and receiving the badge, she proudly emerges out of the gym with her new Samurott and Gardevoir.
Samurott, being too big, can't fit through the door, and she's forced to return him back into his pokeball.
"Sorry," she apologizes, "You're just so big now!"
Luckily, Gardevoir is still slender and small enough to still walk with Haruka, so she keeps her out of her pokeball.
"Gardevoir," Haruka sings, skipping around, "What time is it?"
"Voir," Gardevoir replies, motioning towards a clock hanging onto a street lamp.
4:52, almost, Haruka thinks, giggling, dammit! I'm so giddy. If I'm too early, he'll think I'm a desperate, clingy Lillipup! I'll just wait on a bench.
Haruka and Gardevoir find a bench and wait. Then Haruka's Xtransceiver rings.
"Hell-o!" Haruka replies.
"Um, hey." Cheren answers, giving her a suspicious look, "You're awfully happy today."
"Oh, I have a da- I have a Gardevoir now!" Haruka replies, quickly changing her words. On the outside she is smiling, but on the inside she is spazzing out. What if Cheren sees through her?
"Oh, nice," Cheren says, seeming to not notice her change, "Anyways, you in Nimbasa?"
"Yup, just beat Elesa."
"Cool, I'm just about to head over there. How about a battle?"
"Oh, um, heh, well…" Haruka glances up at the clock. 4:58.
"I really can't. You see, um, I'm going somewhere." Haruka stammers, trying to hide the lie with an urgent look on her face.
Cheren, raising an eyebrow, says, "Really? Can't it wait? I want to have a quick battle so I can see if I'm ready to beat Elesa. They say she's not easy."
"Nope," Haruka says, "She's kind of challenging." She sees a figure walking towards her, and sees that it's N. Her face brightens up, and she quickly says, "Listen, Cheren, I've gotta go. See you later!"
"N!" She shouts his name, and he walks quickly towards her, smiling.
She hangs up on Cheren.
But what she doesn't know is that she called his name before she hung up on Cheren,.
Cheren, staring at his now black screened Xtransceiver, clenches his fists.
"That Haruka!" He shouts, slamming his fists down onto the table, at a coffee place, "I told her to stay away from that damned N!"
He doesn't care if people are staring, whispering to each other about how such an intelligent looking boy had just cursed.
He calms down and sips his coffee, and breathes in and out.
"That stupid, stupid girl," he hisses, adjusting his glasses and slapping a tip down onto the table. He walks away and decides to rest at a rest house. He doesn't want to go to Nimbasa. He doesn't want to see Haruka go on a date with N. He doesn't want to see that damned pretty boy. And he certainly doesn't want to see them together.
As he walks, he blushes violently, already knowing why he cares. Why he's so mad at her.
I like her, he thinks, I like Haruka.
He stops walking and shakes his head and says out loud, "No I don't! I do not like that girl!"
Then he stops himself and he sighs, "Admit it, you coward. You do like her. You do."
He continues to walk, and tries to forget about his call with his crush.
"Doll!" N says, jogging towards her.
Why does he look so hot when he runs? Haruka thinks, waving at him. Gardevoir tugs on a lock of Haruka's long chocolate hair, and motions towards her pokeball.
"Why?" Haruka asks, pulling it out.
"Gardevoir, voir." The graceful pokemon replies, smiling a bit and nodding her head towards N.
Haruka nods and chuckles, "I get it. You want us to have some time alone. How thoughtful!"
She gives Gardevoir a kiss on her cheek and returns her. She turns around and finds N wiping sweat from his forehead.
"It isn't easy running from the other side of the city to the other." He says, stretching his back.
"You ran?" Haruka asks, not being able to help herself. She feels happy.
"Well, yeah. Didn't want to keep my doll sizzling out here in the sun" He winks at her.
She giggles and says, "You're such a flirt."
N replies, hooking his muscly arm through her skinny one, "I'm not flirting. I'm telling the truth." He turns to her and takes her face with one large hand, "Can't have the sun burning this fair face."
He stops, and withdraws his hand, blushing. Haruka blushes as well, and turns away.
C'mon N, get yourself together. You just met the girl, for Arceus' sake. He thinks, walking them towards the Ferris wheel.
"Shall we?" He asks the operator for a ride, and he stammers a yes at N's smooth question. He doesn't even ask for money.
"Here you go." N says, placing a bill into the operator's pocket, "Have a nice day."
The operator bows a thanks and cart for the two appears. N gestures for Haruka to go first, and then he steps in.
I'm going to have to admit it. But, right now, I want to enjoy this. This girl, I can't help it. It think… he speaks to himself mentally as Haruka speaks to him about Burgh and his honey walls.
I can't help but think I'm falling in love with her already.
Haruka listens to N laugh as she finishes. She loves his laugh. It sounds so… sexy.
"My doll, you know Burgh only does that so he won't get many challengers."
"I've noticed."
N fiddles with his planet necklace, "He's not the one to take defeat well. Once he's beaten, he starts to paint, I don't know, suicidal things."
Haruka, shocked, asks, "Suicidal?!"
N laughs, "Scratch that. Horrifying is moreproper. When I beat him, he sent me a painting that had a man stabbed in the back."
Haruka, jaw dropped, puts her hand to her mouth, "I had no idea that he's… That kind of guy."
N shrugs, half-smiling, "People show different sides."
They stay in silence as they stare out the window. The view is beautiful, the Pokemon Musical building flashing its pink, green, blue, and yellow lights. The two stadiums illuminations glowing alongside it, and Elesa's gym adding to the picture. The pink and orange sunset adding to the effect.
"So pretty." Haruka breathes.
"Yes… It is." N says, but not at the view, but at her face.
He becomes aware of this and snaps his head back towards the view.
Ugh, come on N. You can't get distracted. Stop acting like this.
Out of annoyance, he blurts out, "Doll, I've been meaning to tell you something."
Haruka turns back to him, her azure eyes glowing with cheerfulness, "Yeah?"
She really is beautiful… Unlike all those other sluts who cake makeup onto their faces and dress like their clothes got ripped to shreds. He thinks, staring agape at her.
She turns red and asks, "N?"
He shakes his head slightly and blinks, "What?"
She replies, her bangs falling into her eyes and adjusting her cap, "You want to tell me something?"
He coughs, embarrassed, "Oh, right…"
He takes a minute, the light from the sunset spraying gold onto his comely face, then comes out with it directly, "I'm the king of Team Plasma."
Haruka's lovely smile drops and is replaced by a shocked expression, her face darkening.
N immediately regrets giving it straight out to her, and remains keeping an austere expression.
"Please don't get mad."
Haruka opens her mouth, and then closes it slowly, breathing out while doing so. She turns her head and looks outside. They both notice that the ride is almost done.
N grits his teeth, and his handsome face scowls, "C'mon Doll, please speak."
Haruka turns to him, and coldly hisses, "Don't call me that anymore. My name is Haruka."
His chiseled, tanned face remains scowling, "Do you even know what Team Plasma is trying to do?"
"Yeah, I do," Haruka snaps, "You guys are trying to separate pokemon from people. And do you know what I think of you plan?"
She smiles sweetly, and swings her legs, no longer seeming mad.
N sees a Litwick's light of hope, "You agree?"
Her smile drops again, and she stops swinging her legs. Her face filled with anger, "No, I think it's BULLSHIT!"
N, now angry, shouts, "Why can't anyone agree with us? With me? Why do people take it the wrong way?!"
"What right way is there to that?" Haruka spits, crossing her arms.
"For one, pokemon won't get hurt."
Haruka sneers, "Are you talking about that battling thing again? Let me tell you something. Like I said, if pokemon don't want to battle, then they…"
"I know," N snaps, "They would Flamethrower them in the face or something."
"Exactly," Haruka continues, standing up, "It's a simple concept, really. Even for someone like me." She brushes her shorts off, and the ride comes to a halt.
"Do you hate me?" N asks flatly.
Haruka doesn't answer, and walks out of the cart, just like that.
He sits, waiting for her to go some ways, and he eventually comes out too.
The operator asks with sympathy, "Bad breakup?"
N gives him a half-hearted smile, "It's something like that."
Then he looks in the direction that Haruka walked to, and he feels a ping of pain.
He walks some ways towards the water fountain and says to himself, "You were just friends. It wasn't anything big."
But as he walks the opposite direction from Haruka, he knows that it was something. There was something there, something blooming, like a cherry blossom.
"But then I had to crush it." He murmurs, ignoring the girls goggling at him as he walks by.
"Shinjitsu…" N mumbles, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"
His voice changes again.
He stops in his tracks, and his hand with the three golden bracelets flies to his throat, "What the fuck?!"
He looks down at the ground, a bit panicked.
It's like what happened to Haruka, he thinks, something's not right. Something's going on…
His mouth forces open and a deep voice, not his, says, "I'll find you, I'm coming my love. Don't worry, my beautiful light of truth."
He slumps down onto his knees, and struggles to keep conscious.
A plump hiker nearby hobbles over to N and he asks in a gruff but friendly voice, "Hey, boy, you okay there? How about a bat-"
N looks up with eyes filled with someone else's despair, scaring the hiker.
"Where is my Shinjitsu?" He asks frantically, standing up and grabbing the hiker by his fat shoulders, "Where is Zekrom? Where is my princess?! WHERE IS SHE?!"
The hiker shrieks and starts to cry for help until N falls back down, knocked out, just like Haruka was.
Except that there is no one for him. No one but the fat hiker to help.
N doesn't know that Haruka is crying.
Haruka runs towards Route 5, onto Driftveil City. She stumbles past people and ends up near a large oak tree with lots of shade.
She sends out Samurott and Gardevoir, who try to comfort her.
She sniffles and cries, "That… T-that idiot! I thought h-he actually asked me out on a r-real date!" She then wipes her nose and cries, "He lied to me! That stupid idiot is the king. King of that damned Team Plasma!"
"Why did I trust him?" She asks herself in a soft tone and rips grass out from the ground, "I'm such an idiot. I don't even know him. I just see his good looking face, and just go all over him with hearts in my eyes." She flings the grass away and hisses to herself icily in embarrassment, "So stupid!"
She sits there staring into the darkness and breathes in the night air. Her head starts to ache a bit, and she tiredly murmurs, "Were we even friends?"
Shaking her head, she says, "No... We weren't. Then why were we acting like a couple already?"
Haruka thinks and eventually growls in frustration, throwing her cap off and letting her long brown hair free, "Ugh, forget him. Just another brief crush. I'll get over it."
She calms down after a bit, and simply stares out into the night, too tired to move on, too tired to go to a pokecenter. She decided to camp out there for the night.
"Samurott, let me sleep on your back tonight, okay?"
Samurott lowers himself down, and Haruka climbs onto him, curling up into her favorite fetal position. Gardevoir places a blanket around her, and arouses her to sleep.
Haruka's necklace glows again, but this time, with a more depressing sort of glimmer. She whispers in her sleep, "Risō, you betrayed me. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you…"