(Okay. I am WAY sorry for not updating. I wanted to finish SYOTOS, and after that, I had major writer's block, so it's a miracle I didn't discontinue this, natch.

Okay! Plot twists ahoy! Now, for some credit; the basic idea of Opal Fletcher belongs to The Keeper of Truth, who writes awesome fics, and has helped this trainwreck of a fic along, so go thank him and review Overdue Sunrise.

NAO.

Anyways, yeah, sorry for not updating, new developments, I hate Rock Tunnel, and I don't own!)

It was such a nice day out. Why was the girl crying?

I gestured quietly to my Espeon, Amai, to follow me as I approached her. She was slumped on the ground, crying quietly, apparently believing that no one was around.

"...Excuse me, ma'am. Are you alright?" I asked her softly. She jumped about five feet into the air, and then caught my eye. She assessed me quickly, decided I wasn't a threat, and shook her head.

"...I've been separated from my friends. I ran off. Would you mind helping me find them?" She asked quietly, standing up. I nodded.

"Amai, scan the area for people." Her whiskers quivered, and her head snapped north. I nodded. "Well, she scents people that way. Maybe it's your friends." The girl nodded.

"Thank you so much. My name's Anna Montgomery. What's your name?" I began walking behind Amai, and before turning back to her, I called, "Opal... Opal Fletcher."

Gold, Silver, and I were engaged in three-way training as Akira paced crazily around the area. "Where could she be!?" He roared, wringing his hands in fear. "It's not like her to run off!" I rolled my eyes, and said, "She'll be fine. She's probably finding her way back right now." Akira ignored me, and kept on pacing.

"...Hey, guys. Sorry I ran off." Akira's head shot up, and he raced toward her voice, and tackled the girl, sweeping her off her feet. "Doll! You're okay!" He cried, thrilled out of his mind, apparently. Anna sighed.

"I'm fine, yes, Akira. This is Opal; he helped me find you guys with his Espeon." I took a good look at him.

Goddamn, for starters, he was gorgeous. His hair was a honeyed light brown, and his skin was a slightly tanned whitish sort of color. His eyes were the color of limes, and he had freckles on his nose. He grinned in my direction.

"Hey. I see you're training an Eevee?" All intelligent thought went out of my brain.

Curse this man! How dare he take away my thought process!

"...Uh. Yeah, yeah, I am. His name's Jack. Mine's Olivia Kent." Jack had gone over to investigate the Espeon, who chorused in with a silky "Hello. I am Amai." His thoughts were shocked, having never experienced telepathy before.

The boy said, "My name's Opal Fletcher. It's nice to meet you, Olivia." I nodded self-consciously, aware of Silver and Gold snickering behind me. Opal continued, "Well, dear, I was wondering, would you grace me with a battle? It would be good experience for your Pokemon, I believe." I nodded again.

"Sure, I'd like that. How many do you have?" He smiled faintly. "I have three available." I nodded, and we headed over to the makeshift field Silver and Gold had been practicing with me on. He selected a Pokeball from his belt, and called, "Solba!" An Absol leapt down gracefully, evidently female.

I thought for a moment. I didn't have any Pokemon with a distinct type advantage, and this Absol looked really tough; best to use Santi, who had evolved. "Okay, Santi! You're up, and use Flamethrower!" He spewed out a steady stream of flames at the Absol, but Opal retaliated.

"Water Pulse." He ordered. The Absol sent out a steady stream of water. Santi barely dodged, and I gasped, and turned to Opal.

"How did you do that?!" Opal smiled, and said quietly, "Absol can learn many different types of moves. They're quite useful little Pokemon." I groaned, and shook my head.

"Santi, return!" He headed back to my side, and I called, "Grimwald!" The Pachirisu flew out on the battlefield, and hissed at Solba. Solba sighed, and retaliated with a Shadow Claw.

Grimwald skittered away, but his intentions were clear. He charged up a Thunderbolt, and let loose, managing to deal some sort of damage. I felt a surge of pride for him, but it was quickly cut down by Solba's next move; a powerful Blizzard that left him frozen.

I frowned. "Okay! Grimwald! Use Crunch to gnaw your way out of the ice!" With two chomps from his powerful fangs, Grimwald had broken free, and fired off a Discharge; Absol retaliated with a powerful Flamethrower.

The two attacks met, and they exploded on contact, sending both Pokemon skidding. Opal frowned as he assessed the damage. "Solba, return." I was dumbfounded; Grimwald had barely any strength left.

Then I figured that he wasn't looking to win; he was looking more to test my skill, and how I handled myself in battle. I frowned, and recalled Grimwald. He selected his next Pokeball carefully, calling, "Myrtle!" A lithe and well-kept Altaria flew out, cooing something in her species' lovely trilling cry. I stopped and watched her soar for a bit, gazing at her soft, fluffy wings.

I debated Leviathan against Grimwald; Lev won out, because Ice Beam had quadruple-weakness to Dragon/Flying. I called out the Totodile, who was sniffling. I was slightly confused as to why he was crying, and asked him. His huge coffee-colored eyes widened a bit more, and filled with tears.

"I... I was tuh-tr-tryin', to, uh, make a sn-sno-cone... and my mouth got all freezy and cold." The fact that he looked so pathetic and forlorn was the only thing keeping me from laughing right there. I managed to compose my tone and choke out,

"D-don't... uh, don't use Ice Beam with your mouth shut, Lev." I managed to wheeze, biting the inside of my cheek and inhaling deeply. Lev nodded, and dried his tears, standing ready for battle.

"Use... ah, heh, uh, Ice Beam!" I cracked up, grasping my sides and giggling uncontrollably. Lev, perfectly oblivious, fired off an Ice Beam.

"Myrtle! Use Dragon Dance, then Wing Attack!" Myrtle did a weird, twirly sort of dance, and then flew at Lev at a breakneck pace, striking him with both wings. While she was so close, I ordered another Ice Beam, which sent Myrtle sprawling.

"Use Hydro Pump, and then Ice Beam!" While her cloudy wings were soaked with water, the Ice Beam froze them, rendering flight impossible. Opal nodded, and called, "Return!"

His last Pokemon was obviously Amai. The Espeon sat on the battlefield, anxious for a fight. I sighed.

Though Useless had won that Gym challenge, well, this was an obviously high-level Espeon. And to top it off, Jack had been thinking about evolution, so if he lost, this would be another excuse for him to evolve, and I...

Well, he didn't need to evolve just yet.

I sighed, and called, "Shadow Ball!" Jack mustered up a giant purple blob, and shot it at Amai.

"Psychic." With a flick of her tail, Amai had imploded the Shadow Ball in on itself. I felt a twinge of frustration, and thought, "Crap. Not the Madness, not the Madness..."

It might seem like I'm just a spoiled brat, throwing temper tantrums when I don't get my way.

Not true.

These fits scare me shitless. I have no idea how long they'll last, or how much damage I can cause, or who I might harm. And it doesn't take a lot to set me off; just existing in daily life is a cause for anger.

I'm not a spoiled child, by any means; my mom was useless and my dad was dead. (Until recently.) I don't do this for attention; I do it because I can't stop it.

And oh god, how I wish I could.

My temper was steadily building; as Jack was getting beaten by Amai, I was merely registering it as something to be angry about.

Jack, well, I didn't... okay, so it wasn't his fault. I mean, he was just as much a rookie as I was. But goddamnit, we had the fate of Kanto and possibly everywhere else in this world on our backs, and there was no time for...

"STUPID FUCKING USELESS EEVEE!"

...For that.

Oh shit, it's happening again.

"JACK, YOU'RE FUCKING PATHETIC! NO ONE ELSE CAME THIS CLOSE TO FAINTING BUT YOU!" And there we go, rehashing my earlier complaints.

"YOU'RE WEAK! I DON'T NEED YOU! I NEVER WANTED YOU!" I think it's just yelling, but wait, oh, no—

I've kicked him. This isn't like at the Lab, this time, I think I actually hurt him. Everyone's staring at me in horror. I don't register it as anything more than a feeling, but I know it's there.

I wait an instant, and as quick as it came, my anger is gone. "Shit." I squeak, and my voice sounds so small and thin. "Shit, Jack, I'm so sorry."

And with that, I turn and flee, running as fast as my legs will carry me.

Jack rose from his heap, and sat down again quickly. "Livvy?" He cried softly. Opal was stunned.

"But, but..." Anna sighed.

"She has Johto Madness. It's pretty bad, as you can see." Opal nodded, still a bit stunned by a sheer burst of temper.

"LIVVY!" Jack screams, and as he runs off, Opal caught sight of the crystal Pokeball bouncing around on his neck. His eyes widen slowly, and he mouths, "What?" Shaking his head, he saves this bit of information for later.

Amai catches up with Jack, and cuts him off. "Jack, listen to me! She's just angry right now! Going after her won't solve a thing!" Jack stops in his tracks. Bowing his head, and scuffing a paw on the dirt floor, he stays quiet for a second, as Amai continues.

"...Why do you stay?" She asks abruptly. Jack continues his silence for a bit. Then, quietly, almost ashamedly, he says,

"Because I love her."

I kept running, just going far away. I think I'm past Cerulean by this point; I can see the Power Point in the distance, which I figure means I'm by Rock Tunnel. I regain my senses for a minute, and then sigh.

Wow, didn't I just fuck up this time? Sitting down, I begin to trace my finger around and around in the sand. This just wasn't good. I hoped the others could find me here; I had no clue as to where we had been before.

So I just decided to sit and wait, because, well, what else was there to do? I was tired, and just the tiniest bit hungry. Better to sleep it off.

Curling up behind the patch of wild grass near the river, I fell into a fitful sleep, plagued by nightmares of a pair of eyes as green as limes, and a crystal Pokeball.

Amai seemed rather taken aback by this. Reasserting herself as the sexy psuedo-therapist, she purred, "Well... most Pokemon do love their trainers, correct? At any rate, it doesn't matter. She doesn't deserve you, you know. If she hits you, well, she obviously doesn't love you very much." Jack frowned, and stood up straight. With determination blazing in his eyes, and a fire alight in his heart, the young Eevee said,

"I don't care! I might not be the best, or the strongest, and maybe I don't mean anything to her! But I'll make myself mean something! I don't love her like a servant! I love her as an equal, a friend, and... and... Yes, I love her like a human would! So maybe it's a long shot, but I have to try! For LIVVY!" He cried, placing his paws squarely in the dirt.

Amai sighed, and kneaded her paws. She purred deep in her throat, and stroked his cheek. "It'll never turn out right. Once, in a far-distant time, you could've been happy." Her eyes hardened. "But that time is gone. Even if she loves you, it'll never be." Jack shook his head.

"How do YOU know, Amai?!" He retorted, fur standing on its edge. Amai sighed, and beckoned to him to follow her back to the group. She was silent for a minute, then said quietly, "Because I evolved for him. And still, he did not love me." Jack's eyes widened with realization.

"You love Opal. Is that why you became an Espeon?" Amai nodded, not meeting his gaze. With a heavy voice thick with misery, she began to explain.

"You are so young. You weren't here... before the war came." She stopped at the edge of the precipice overlooking the others, who were searching for them all. "Before then, he gave me roses. Everyone had roses, and there was peace. Pokemon and humans were free to love, and wed, and have children." Her eyes hardened.

"Then the war came, and there were no roses for anybody ever again. They beat down doors, killed husbands and wives, took children away." Her eyes were wide with remembering, and her jewel glowed black.

"They performed experiments on the children; they ripped their perfect little Eevee ears off, tried to fuse them on children of Luxrays. They were so often left to die that people complained of the smell when the corpses were gone. The parents were tortured, forced to watch as their lovers died, and they... they were left alive. The humans were 'reeducated', and given suitable husbands or wives. They usually killed themselves after about a month or two. The roses were burnt for warmth in the cold." Jack blinked.

"Is that what happened to you, Amai?" Amai shook her head. "No. This war was before Opal's time, but not my own. He is so young... he never saw it. What they did to his mother, and he doesn't even know." Jack's eyes grew wide.

"They killed her?" Amai frowned.

"They may as well have. She was one of the scientists that was in charge of the children born of the half-Pokemon union. She was the top advisor to it all. She was able to create the only perfect graft of human and Pokemon using some DNA from a Pokemon she caught.

"That Pokemon was Mew." Jack's eyes widened. Opal's mom had been the woman who caught Mew!? No way! Amai continued, ignoring his shock, too immersed in her story to care.

"I was her Pokemon; her precious pet, a soft, small, and altogether unassuming Eevee. I was in the room when Opal came in. His hair was stuck up at many different angles, and his eyes were full of sleep. He came over to the girl she was performing an experiment on; her mother had been a Milotic, her father, a human. Her gills were slowly being sliced open, as his mother probed the insides." Jack's eyes widened in horror.

"He came up to the girl, and put a hand on her gills while her mouth open in a silent scream for air. He looked at her, and said softly, "Are you making me a sister, mommy?"

"She looked at him, and her eyes widened. He observed the carnage quietly, assuming they were all to be his new brothers and sisters. She scooped him and I both up, and fled the lab." Amai fell silent. Jack was still trying to comprehend the entire thing, when she interrupted his thoughts.

"We survived for five days on the run, alone and hungry. Then they hunted us down. They killed Celeste, and took Opal and I away, to a rich family called the Fletchers." Jack was still trying to get a grasp on things when an idea came to him.

"But Morgan's only been around for about thirteen years... so, who was doing it?" Amai spoke the words with a chilling finality.

"The Resistance Order."