Chapter 8

"HELLLOOOOO LITTLE GIRLLLL, HOLD ON A SECOND!"

"What the…?" Haruka turns around and looks up carefully at the edge of a rocky cliff. She finds a slightly old man with some stubble. He has red, flaming hair in the shape of a fire (Haruka scoffs at it), and his light brown eyes glint with some amusement. He wears an unusual outfit, like someone who's visited almost every region in the world. He bends his deeply tanned legs, and hops off the cliff.

Haruka screams, thinking this is some terrible prank and she runs back, thankful that no one is behind her. She stumbles and falls flat on her butt, and winces at the pain. The old man races to her and holds out a hand.

"Oh my, young lady! You okay there? Sorry for scaring you!" He laughs heartily and then he adds, "It's an awful habit of mine, you know."

She cautiously takes his rough hand and mutters wide eyed, "No kidding…" She stands up with the aid of the strange man and brushes her shorts off, "Um, do you need anything, uh, sir?"

Fire hair man grins widely and he puts his hands on his hips, his six pokeballs dangling on a necklace shake about as he does so, "Alder's the name! Don't you recognize me?"

Haruka shakes her head, and tries to think if she knows anyone as weird as this guy, especially one with hair that looks like it's on fire. Just this morning she resumed her journey, and she isn't feeling well. With a sick Dragonair from eating way too many Oran berries, and a cranky Samurott, the bright, sunny day isn't exactly helping her current bad mood. And of course, there's this crazy man…

She comes back to her senses and shakes her head, her brown locks rustling, "No, sorry. Am I supposed to know you?" Then she can't help but blurt out, "I mean that hair would be hard to forget…"

Alder chuckles and replies, "True, so very true. I just so happen to be just you know, the Champion here, nothing important…" He inspects his somewhat dirty nails playfully and acts like he doesn't care.

Haruka, a bit taken back, says, "You are the Champion?!" Her mouth hangs slightly open and she can't believe that someone this carefree and friendly would be the strongest trainer in the region. She has to look and inspect him again and still can't see anything champ like about this man.

Alder doesn't seem to take any offense and he says smiling, "Don't worry, I get that a lot. I know, you'd expect a Champion to dress all elegant and have a stuck up, I'm-better-than-all-of-you look right?"

Haruka considers this for a moment then she nods, surprised that he's basically read her mind. She's about to apologize but he interrupts, holding up a big hand, "It's fine, I know it myself." Then he inspects her face, squinting his eyes a bit. Then he says, "Do you happen to be the friend of a young man named…" He pauses, looks down, and seems to be thinking, scratching his stubbly chin. Then he looks up at her again, seeming to recall, and brightly says, "Ah! Yes… I believe his name is Cheren?"

Haruka says, "Yeah, I am. I'm Haruka. You know him?" She's a bit astonished at how Cheren is already ahead of her. Then again, she put a stop to her journey for two days. What did she expect? Cheren is a hardworking, goal pursuing boy who won't stop until he reaches that objective. Of course he didn't lie around doing basically nothing for two days. That's so unlike Cherie. She

Alder interrupts her thinking and pulls out a familiar, brown leather wallet, "Thought so, you look exactly like the girl inside his wallet." He opens it up and she's met by a smiling Haruka, with her blue eyes sparkling and a wide grin. Her face colors red and she takes the wallet from Alder, embarrassed.

"He keeps a picture of me in his wallet?" She whispers, taking the picture out and slipping it into her pocket hurriedly. She looks up at Alder, a bit suspicious, "Did you pickpocket him?"

He scoffs, "Of course not! He dropped it on his way to Driftveil. Quite the impatient one, that young man. I even called after him, yet, he still didn't look back. Think he was too busy talking to himself."

Haruka smiles a bit, stuffing the wallet into her bag, "Yeah, that's totally Cherie. I'll be sure to give it to him when I see him." Then she notices a curious looking Alder, "What?"

"You his girlfriend or something?" he asks, running a hand through his insane hair.

She stammers and shakes her head, blushing, "No! Of course not! We've known each other since childhood, that's all. We're best friends."

He shrugs, "Mm, I don't know… Best friends soon turn into something more… "

She snaps, "That's none of your business. Besides, shouldn't you be going to the Pokemon League? That's where a real Champion should be, awaiting challengers."

He ignores her snap, "It's boring there. All the Elite Four ever do is their own things. They don't want to climb all 856 steps to come chat with me." He pouts and crosses his arms.

Then he stretches his arms out, twisting them around to relax them. He says, "The point is, I'd rather spend my time exploring and discovering new things. They say it's good to learn something each day, so I go by that statement," Alder looks back at Haruka, "I'm assuming you're going on to face Clay?"

She nods, and a sudden strong wind blows both of their hair. Haruka brushes the hair off her face with her delicate hands as she says a bit annoyed, "Yes, I'm looking forward to it. I heard he has a funny accent."

Alder nods, "Quite true, I think he's around the Western part of Unova, or so he claims," Alder rolls his eyes and then he says, "Well, I guess I'll do what you told me to do, head on back to the League. Good luck and make sure to return that wallet," Then he raises his eyebrows as he pulls a pokeball from his necklace, "Don't want a thief as a future opponent."

"Hey!" Haruka yells, irritated with the flaming haired man, but he's already off on his flying pokemon, waving bye to her and laughing his head off.

She turns away and continues on towards Driftveil and growls, "The nerve of that man… He can't possibly be the Champion." She's annoyed but pleased by his last statement to her. She's happy that he thinks that he will be facing her in the future, thinking that she is strong enough to go that far.

She's about to enter the rest mark between the route and Driftveil until a poufy haired blondie bumps right into Haruka, both tripping back.

"Ow!" She yelps and presses a milky, white hand to her now red nose. Haruka, muttering obscenities under her breath rubs the aching spot on her forehead, and wonders why so many bad things are happening to her that day. Maybe Arceus is testing her…

Haruka looks up and is about the offer the blonde a hand. She's surprised to see that it's Bianca, "Oh, Bianca, sorry! I didn't expect you'd be here already!" She's a bit shocked at the fact that both of her best friends are ahead, and that puts her down a little. She says, "I'm having so many surprises so far today."

Bianca hops up and greets Haruka with a hug and a smile, "Me neither! I didn't battle Clay yet, I just wanted to find Cheren. You know, maybe see if he wants to say sorry."

Haruka says remembering, "Oh, yeah! Here," She searches through her bag and pulls out Cheren's slightly worn out leather wallet, "When you see him, give this to him, will you? He's already ahead of me and it's bugging me!"

Bianca hesitantly takes it from her and places it in her bright green purse, "Sure, how did you get it in the first place?"

Haruka rolls her eyes, shaking her head, "Alder, the Champion, saw him drop it. And of course," Haruka rolls her eyes, "Cherie, being the intolerant person he is, didn't stop to take it back. So he saw me, and asked if I could give it back to him."

"How does he know that you're Cheren's friend?"

Haruka laughs nervously, Dammit, I forgot about the picture… "Oh, um, lucky guess I suppose."

Bianca doesn't seem to notice the anxiety in Haruka's voice, "The Champion of Unova is wandering around places when he should be sitting on a chair waiting for opponents?"

Haruka nods, "Yeah, I know. He should be right? But he's a bit of a… weird person."

"Yeah, I mean, you saw his hair didn't you?" Bianca asks, holding onto the handle of her white purse.

Haruka laughs, "Man, it's so freaking red and fiery. I definitely can't forget him now."

Bianca chuckles, "Same with me." Then she looks past Haruka's shoulder, and a funny look replaces the smile on her pale face, "Hey… Aren't those the guys that-"

"OUT OF OUR WAY!" two Team Plasma grunts shout, shoving themselves past the two girls, "WE'VE GOT SERIOUS BUSINESS, NO TIME FOR MEDDLING OUTSIDERS!"

An infuriated Haruka hisses at them icily and loudly, grabbing the arm of the female grunt, "Hey, you could've said that a little politer. Is that so hard for you, considering the lack of manners you have?"

The female grunt turns around and meets Haruka's ocean blue eyes with dull, gray eyes. Her lips pull into a scowl and Haruka can swear that she sees immediate hate in those leaden eyes of hers, "Shut up, girly! I've heard about you from Sage Ghetsis. Quite the annoyer aren't you?" Then she roughly pulls her arm away from Haruka and she glares at her one more time before heading into the direction of her male companion.

Haruka growls lowly and turns to a nervous-looking Bianca, who's right hand is covering her small mouth slightly. She exhales sharply and says, "Go and find Cheren. I'll deal with them.

"But-"

Haruka places a hand on Bianca's somewhat bony shoulder, "I'll be fine. I've dealt with those idiots before. Go give the wallet back to Cheren, make him apologize, and…" She gives a playful wink to her, "You better be his girlfriend by the time I call you back."

"Haruka!" Bianca flushes rouge, and moves back a bit, moving Haruka's hand of her shoulder, "That's not gonna happen!"

Haruka laughs and starts to run the opposite direction of Bianca's intended way. She waves and calls out, "You better make it happen!"

She leaves Bianca stuttering, feeling a bit guilty about that. She rushes out the exit and enters Driftveil, a rather plain looking city. She finds the horrendous Ghetsis himself, standing next to the local market, gathering many grunts around him, and the other six sages stand at a distance, as still as statues. One of them catches Haruka's eyes and he warns Ghetsis, "Master Ghetsis, the girl!"

"What?!" Ghetsis hisses in shock and turns around abruptly, his arms up in a somewhat defensive position. He immediately glowers at the petite girl and he grits his teeth, making a terrible grinding sound. He takes a step back and the Plasma grunts form a protective safeguard around the evil man. They, like Ghetsis, glare at her with dismal, dreary eyes, seeming tired, bored, and some even miserable.

Haruka scowls and gives Ghetsis a dirty look, taking out the pokeball containing Samurott out of her bag, clutching it tightly, giving her faithful pokemon a portent to be prepared in case of a battle, and sending the wicked sage a warning to not mess with her. She clenches her free hand into a firm fist and he raises his green and a bit grey eyebrows.

"You thinking about hitting me, girl?" He sneers at her, and indicates to the grunts behind him, prepared to protect their master, "Watch out. I've got a whole team of fifty just aching to hurt you." He leers, baring his canines in an alarmingly wolfish way.

She endures the disgusting look and her stomach lurches a bit, and she grimaces slightly, but tries to make no sign of pain evident on her face. No, she would not give this malevolent creature the satisfaction.

Breathing in deeply, she says darkly, "You don't scare me, you pathetic old man. In fact," She bravely lets out a low snicker, keeping her eyes on Ghetsis' red one, "You make me laugh."

Ghetsis keeps his cruel face expressionless, but inside he feels a bit astonished. How can this girl, this completely random girl, come up to a dangerous group of people and simply scoff at their faces? He in return smirks at her, still a bit unsure of this unusual one, "Do I now? I don't think you will when I tell you about my son."

She barks at him coldly, her long brunette tresses framing her thin, small face. Her blue eyes seem to get frostier as she says this, "Why would I give a shit about your damned son? He's probably the exact same as you!" She continues, her voice level with controlled anger, "Go on, tell me. It won't faze me at all."

He laughs loudly, leaning down to make face level with Haruka. He crosses his arms and he says in a precarious voice, "Are you sure about that?" He takes a step closer to her, causing her to move back in alarm. Quickly, he grabs her thin arm and pulls her towards him, and she yelps quietly, and she tries to pull it back from him. But the sinful man has an iron grip, and he clutches her arm tighter, and he says into her ear, almost amusingly, "What if I told you, that my valuable son has the name of a special single letter?"

He shoves her back and carefully watches Haruka's elegant face turn from confident to shaken and with a touch of scared. She says slowly at him, cautiously putting one foot back, "N. Your so called 'precious' son is N."

He loves the confused expression on her face and he decides to add in some more, "Yes, stupid child. Can't you see the resemblance?" She smirks quickly and he ignores this to continue, "I heard about your little 'date'," he practically spits the word at her, pursing his lips into a thin line, "Ran out running from the wheel crying, hm?"

Haruka lets out a quivering breath and she whispers, "How do you know that?"

"I've got spies, you know. I'm curious of my son's actions." Ghetsis answers simply.

She huffs, "Nosy much?" She shakes her head at him, but they both know that she's almost lost her will to talk back. She stares at him with as much abhorrence as she can, and resists the urge to punch him.

He can't help but give the now glaring girl a look of pity, "You silly thing, you should've known…"

"Known what?!" She shouts at him angrily, her head starting to pang with discomfort, "That the nice and good looking guy I met is the son of an old, crazy man?!" Her stomach keeps nagging her, reminding her that it's hurting. She breathes in and out deeply to try to control the throbbing and fury.

Much to her irritation, the look of pity is still not wiped off his harsh face. He says, "No, I know you're too slow to figure that out. What I mean is the boy himself," He simpers at her and looks her up and down, causing her to feel uncomfortable, "He's too good for you. He deserves a queen much better than you."

Ghetsis paces back and forth, "When he gets Zekrom…" He grins to himself, and snaps his head back to her, "Ever heard of the two heroes?"

Scrunching her dark, thin eyebrows, she opens her mouth and replies, "What? No-"

He turns away from her again, scoffing, "Didn't think so." He stops pacing and then he says to her with a hazardous glint in his red eye, some greediness in it, "Well, I'll make it simple for you. Perhaps you'll understand," he continues to glare at the girl, "There were two holders of the two legendary dragon pokemon, Zekrom and Reshiram. To make this short, they turned into stones and they hold tremendous power." The greedy look in his eye gets stronger, making her turn away and look at the pokecenter, feeling sick.

"The male holder had Zekrom, which is the stone N will pursue. Then," He smiles maliciously, "We'll make Zekrom share its power with him, and we'll make everyone agree with us, including you, you arrogant child. We'll be able to separate pokemon from humans then, and you won't be able to stop us!"

He cackles and she shouts at him, a bit freaked out, "That won't happen, maybe in your dreams, but this is reality. No one in their right minds would… Would…" She dies out, rethinking Ghetsis' and her words. She looks down at the ground hatefully, and punches her sore arm, while Ghetsis says, "See? Even you can't disagree. That just shows how easy and simple it will be to control everyone." He turns around towards his grunts and he barks, "Move on! We need to go on to Mistralton and continue business there." he turns to the remaining sages and says, "Retrieve the scrolls; we'll need confirmation on them."

Then a green haired figure comes from around the corner. N, with a bit of an annoyed look on his face, first catches Ghetsis' eye, then he sees Haruka. She grimaces at the sight of him, and she at first doesn't know what to think. Then she remembers that he's the damned king of this Team Plasma, and she gives him a hateful look, causing him to look away and at Ghetsis.

"Ghetsis, what do you need?" He asks, careful not to reveal his father's identity. He crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows, showing his bright but tired eyes. He's cautious to not show any sign of emotion towards Haruka, in case Ghetsis wants to inspect the tension between the two young teens.

Instead, much the N's surprise, his father laughs, "It's alright, son, no need to hide it now," he gives a wicked smile at a red faced Haruka and she quivers a bit, clutching her pokeballs with a sweaty and stinging hand and staring so intently at the ground beneath her, "I decided to give it all out to the girl, make sure she doesn't mess with us anymore."

N is about the answer his father until Haruka decides to look up and spit at Ghetsis, "You're wrong, old man, you're completely wrong." A sudden rush of courage zips through her body and she goes up to the tall, evil man and grabs his robe's collar, hissing at him, "I will mess with you, no matter how much energy it takes. I'm not going to let you go on with this stupid plan of yours," She quickly shoots a scary look at a shocked but cool N, giving him a slight tremor, she releases Ghetsis and continues to coldly say to him, "In fact, I'll destroy you guys." She dares to add in, "Even that son of yours."

Ghetsis turns the slightest bit of rouge, finally giving his white, pale face some color. His hand goes to the place where Haruka had gripped him, and he starts angrily, but then he stops. Then he smirks, "Go ahead, try it. Embarrass yourself," he glances at N, with a slight frown, "Boy, I expect reverence the next time I call you. I need you in Mistralton, for some translation." This causes N to sigh in frustration and Ghetsis ignores this, snapping at him, "If you want this liberation cause to work, much work needs to be accomplished! You think this is going to happen with nothing?" Then he stops talking, causing a wave of silence to pass. Then he speaks again, in a stern voice, "Hear that? If you don't do anything, you'll get nothing. It's an easy thing to understand, alright boy?"

N looks at Ghetsis in irritation, and then sighs, his broad shoulders slumping a bit and he rubs his jade eyes, "Okay, okay! I get it!" He exhales sharply, and let's his arms down, and into their pockets. He looks at Haruka for a brief second, and then moves his stare back to Ghetsis, "I get it. I'll be there soon. You can go ahead."

Ghetsis turns away, satisfied, and signals to the grunts, and they instantly make the same formation around him in Accumula. He stops, halting the grunts, and he says one last thing, turning his head to Haruka, looking at her hatefully from the corner of his eye, "We'll see if you make it, we'll see…"

He continues to walk with Team Plasma and the sages, and soon they are removed from sight, leaving only Haruka and N, in an awkward situation.

N quickly speaks up and his tanned, chiseled face has the slightest bit of a blush, "I know what you're thinking. Just don't yell at me."

Haruka, still a bit shaken, turns her attention back to N, and she puts her pokeball back into her messenger bag, knowing that she will not need it. A cool, relaxed wind blows and her chocolate brown hair flies around her face, suddenly making her cerulean eyes pop out. She decides that she's going to have to talk to him, despite how humiliated and angry she is. She really wants to go up to him and throttle him, but instead she quietly answers, "I don't feel like yelling."

He sighs gratefully and continues speaking in a smooth voice, "I bet you're still pretty pissed at me too. And I just wanted to say…" he drifts off, gazing at her for a bit, causing her to flush.

No, stupid, no! What the hell are you doing? No. Blushing! She thinks angrily to herself, not taking her eyes off of N.

He regains his senses and says, "I just wanted to say… Sorry." He takes one hand out of his pocket and adjusts his cap, his green eyes standing out on his tanned face, "You know, giving it straight out to you like that. Pretty asshole like, in my opinion."

The two surprisingly laugh lightly together, and as she stops he continues, "I saw you looking at the stars the other night."

Haruka, recalling the sudden, weird moment, says, "Yeah… I mean," She stops herself, taking a deep breath, "Let me start from the beginning. Yes, I'm still pissed. And I appreciate your apology, but" She gives a slight but strong glare to him and continues, "I can't forgive you. If you're going to go on with your plan, then I just… No."

She picks a lock of hair off of her fair face and she looks at it while saying, "And yeah, I was star gazing. It's really calming and relaxing, you know."

She gets a faraway look and N can't help but think how pretty she looks right now. It's almost as if she looks like a princess on top of a tower, awaiting her prince to rescue her. Then he quietly whispers to himself, not wanting Haruka to hear, "That's my princess."

He doesn't take his gaze off of her, and thinks that Haruka didn't hear him. Really, Haruka had to strain her ears but was able to make out what he had said, and she yearns to ask the meaning of those three words. Maybe... She thinks hopefully, just maybe I'm not the only one saying ridiculous things.

She turns to N, and looking at him with the still faraway look, she says, "If only he was here, then everything would be just fine..."

Haruka gains a slight annoyed but mostly humiliated look, flushing as red as a tomato. N at this time knows that she had heard him, and he looks down uncomfortably at his feet, pursing his lips. Haruka moves her stare down to his white shirt, and then to his face again. N is simply embarrassed, and looks away, his tea green hair blowing softly in the gentle daytime breeze.

Haruka says softly, "So, you're having these 'moments' too."

He nods, still red, "Yeah."

The two stay in a really awkward silence, and then she finally speaks up, tucking the strand of hair behind her right ear, deciding to ignore this coincidence. She goes back to talking about the previous subject, "You know, looking at the stars, it just makes me feel different, you know?"

He nods again, as she continues, putting her arms behind her back and looking up at the clear sky, only sprinkled with a few cotton ball like clouds, "Like I'm more mature, calm, and a changed person…"

"I know what you mean." N says softly, taking a step towards her.

Haruka then gives him a skeptical look, "How can you possibly know what I mean? We're two completely different people, gender and all. You're evil, and I'm good," N flinches slightly at the word evil, and she goes on, staring directly at his emerald eyes, "How can you? We have nothing in common."

The young, male, teen stays silent for a minute, and then he wisely says, "We share the same ground, sky, and air. Isn't that enough?" He cocks his head a little, causing his bangs to shift a bit, "Maybe if we start looking at things that we do have in common, then we can understand each other more."

She thinks about his statement of wisdom, and she looks at him again, glaring this time, "Just because we share these simple things, doesn't mean we have anything truly the same."

N shakes his head, looking at the pretty, brunette girl, "You misunderstand. Take the sky, for example," He looks up, and breathes in the fresh air and sunshine, "We share it. We share the day sky and the night sky. And we both look at the stars," Then he looks away and back to her, "We both feel something from the way we look at the stars, something that makes us feel…" He searches for the word, then finds it and says, "Equivalent."

Haruka breathes in slowly, and knows that he's right. He had thought about her, and she had thought about him. They both have the same, odd "moments". It's all…

"The same." She whispers, grabbing her messenger bag with both hands.

He half smiles and says, "You see? There is something here. Something like string that will eventually lead us towards each other no matter how much you run away, doll."

"I told you not to call me doll." Haruka says, icily, glaring at him. At this time she truly remembers that she hates him immensely, and she prepares to tell him to back off.

N shrugs, unfazed at her glower, "Habit."

Then he walks to her, and daringly pats her head. She wants to slap his arm away, but her body won't obey, and she can't. He stares at her blue eyes with those incredibly green ones, and he says, "I'm afraid those are hard to break."

She's about to say something, but he walks away; knowing what she's going to say will be something rude. So he stops, turns around, and he says, just to annoy her out of his pleasure, "Yes, habits are really hard to break," He gives her a charming smile and says, "My doll."