Emerald's pov

It was the middle of the night, and I couldn't sleep. It wasn't really the rock of the ship, the unfamiliar environment and the, um, the air pressure thing. Those certainly didn't help, but it wasn't the root of the problem. The root of the problem was… the memory of what had happened earlier in the day… with Strider. He acted with me as if he wanted to be in a meaningful relationship of some sort. He called me his beauty, and he wasn't being sarcastic or anything. However, he might have been under the influence of those drugs, the anesthetic. He might have been… well, he wasn't lying, but he wasn't himself either.

I couldn't lie. I did like him. I did find him attractive, dashing. I wouldn't mind being in a relationship with him, or at least trying it out. I wouldn't mind trying, if he wanted to. He was just so… mysterious a guy. I kept trying to figure him out, but I really couldn't. Did he want the cash and just the cash, or did he like the adventure, or did he like me, or had his motives changed? Or was he just here because he had been kidnapped. Or… why was he still here? Because Flygon wasn't around to fly him away? He could have gotten his reward and more for something with less risk than being my bodyguard. Oh, and a hell of a good job he did, too, letting me get kidnapped like that. It turned out for the best, of course. Now I got to be part of a pirate crew, a long term dream. But… there was no way he could have known that, and no way he could have known these guys wouldn't just kill us right away.

I tossed, I turned, my mind would not shut up, would not let me sleep. What a pain in the neck. I could usually just shrug off thoughts like that, you know, just go to sleep anyways. I had many nights where my mind was very loud, but it never… actually kept me from sleeping. But now, thinking about Strider… that was what did it, huh? That was the one I couldn't shrug off enough to drift off to sleep.

Well, there was no arguing with a mind like that. If I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep. So, it was time to take a walk. I wasn't entirely sure it was the best idea, considering… potential danger… I knew these pirates had accepted me into their crew, but that didn't mean one of them, in the dark, couldn't mistake me for an enemy. They were pretty drunk, after all. What if they thought I was one of the people in the dark court… or what if someone from the dark court actually showed up?

Oh well. I wanted to take a walk, and I wasn't about to let some stupid fear of an imagined enemy stop me. I was better than that. I got up and carefully tip-toed over the old coot, over Strider, all curled up in his bed, and over Ray. Ok, I didn't actually climb over them, but it felt like it. I got passed them all and opened the door. It creaked. I looked back to check if I had woken anyone up. Ray stirred a little, but did not wake. He did not look very comfortable there. He was a dragon who needed space… and this room was not exactly the most spacious, especially since there were three humans also trying to sleep in here. I imagined what it would be like if Flygon, another large dragon, were ALSO trying to sleep here. Maybe it was better that he wasn't here right now. Or, maybe if that was the case they would have given us another room. Whatever, this place wasn't built for comfort. Plus… that was kind of awful of me to say, now that I thought about it. Of course I wanted Flygon to come back. It was just… really crowded in here.

I lingered for a moment, and then the old coot started up his snoring again. It wasn't pretty. It was loud and awful, and I did not have the slightest inkling how the other sailors were sleeping through this. It was almost cartoonish. Maybe that was why I couldn't sleep… no, it was definitely the thoughts bouncing back and forth in my mind, but the snoring and other unfamiliar noises didn't help. That's right, this was my first night in a new environment, even though it felt like I'd been there forever. No, no, this room was not a good place to be. I needed to get out into the air… free air, cold air. I opened the door and slipped out.

Through the passageways and up onto the deck. I couldn't see a single soul, and just a few lights. I could see, but only because the rooms down below had been pretty dark, so my eyes were already adjusted. Whoever it was that drove the ship or kept the engine running or whatever must have been awake, if out of sight, because we were still going full speed ahead, which made for a brisk breeze. To be frank, it was absolutely gorgeous. The stars were out and twinkling at me. There were so many of them, the only reason I could see was that we were below a layer of smog I had seen earlier in the day. The world outside the court, or the capital, or whatever… the world outside the white cliffs… was not a pretty one.

So I just walked for a little bit, just walked, trying to clear my head. It was still sort of buzzing… The cool air did me good, would do me good. The moon was huge in the sky, and everything bathed in her beautiful light.

I saw a figure in the dark. Who was that? Why was there someone… or was there even actually somebody there? I had very little way of knowing. Was it reality or were my eyes playing cruel tricks on me. My heart rate rocketed upward. Whoever it was… I was ready to fight with everything I had. It had to be an enemy, a member of the dark court, who else would be.

"Emerald? What are you doing out here?" The figure said. Oh, I recognized the voice. It was Strider. I felt silly…

"Arceus! You scared me, Strider. Shadow in the dark like that, thought you were about to kill me." I shook my head. Wait a sec…. "Weren't you in bed? I thought I saw you there?"

"Nah. Maybe you saw some bunched up blankets? I've been out here for a while. Also, not to worry, I won't kill you. You're not on the list." I wasn't entirely sure, but I thought I could see him smirking. I knew it was a joke, but it still made me a little uneasy, him talking about his assassination work. Was I… was I ok with that, with… how did I feel about him, and he had killed. But, was it just a necessity of this world. Was it something I could forgive him for and become close with him? Well, now was as a good a time to talk as any. He was the one making my head so loud in the first place.

"Strider… do you remember anything from when you were under the anesthetic?" I asked. He sat there and thought for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"Not really, lil lady. Why? Did I make a fool of myself?"

"No, but you did confess you have romantic feelings for me. Is that true?" I asked, straight to the point. He started, inhaled sharply, like I caught him off guard. No, I knew I took him off guard. What did that mean, though? Was it true, and he didn't want to tell her about it yet, or was it not true and he was appalled. Or maybe there was some other option. I could have said something else or went back on my words, but that would have… well, I elected not to. I would let him take whatever time he needed. However, I wasn't about to let him drop the subject. I needed this answer.

And so he sat… he seemed to mull over the answer, like he wasn't entirely sure, himself. That was fine, if that was the answer. I would let him do all the thinking he needed, for the time we were here, at least. So I look at him and he looks at me and we sit for a while… I didn't want to interrupt his thought process, but he was sitting there so long it seemed as though he might never answer...

"I do. Or, at least… the beginnings of them. You're awful pretty, and you have a certain way about you. It's, uh, it's caught my attention." He said, looking into my eyes. I could see that he was telling the truth, no doubt about it. So, how was I going to respond to him. He looked younger, somehow, in this light. Did he know anything about love, and… did I? Well, I was fairly sure I didn't, but I thought he would have.

"I'm into you, too. You wanna do something about it?" I asked. He gave me a really uncomfortable look.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing dirty, if that's what you were thinking. Nothing dirty. Just, I dunno, try dating, try out the idea of it… see how we like it, and go from there. You know? Like an experiment." I shrugged. "Only way to really find out is to try… unless you're afraid." I teased.

"Afraid? Nah. You're on, little lady. Just… uh…" He shifted uncomfortably again. "Let's not tell nobody til we know for sure, ok? Til we know we're gonna be a couple for real. I don't want people to get the wrong idea, you know?" Strider asked. I could decode that one.

"You want to be able to back out easily." I nodded. "So do I. Then… it is agreed."

"Well, no need to be so formal. You really are a princess, aren't you?" He gave me a smile that warmed me on this chilly night… in this dark world. But the warmth faded somewhat at his words.

"Not anymore, I'm not." I looked off into the sky. Somewhere out there… my family was wreaking havoc on the world, serving someone who would see the citizens on this kingdom destroyed. They were probably living lives of luxury while it all transpired, too. I knew they did, because I did too. They had wanted me to join them… the family business, destroying everything I thought we were building up.

"Hey, I wanna show you something. If we're gonna try out this couple thing." I braced, half expecting him to take off his clothes or show me some weird and awful defect or scar. He didn't do any of those things. Instead, he took out a spherical object. I couldn't really make out any of its details, just that Strider now had this solid sphere in the palm of him hand. It was pretty small, too, about the size of his palm. I thought back to everything I had ever seen in my life, but I hadn't seen anything quite like this. I was completely stumped.

"What is it?" I wondered out loud. Strider had obviously been waiting for me to ask such a question, because I could see his eyes sparkle, despite the darkness of the night.

"It's my most prized possession! I don't know what it's real name is or how exactly it worked, but it was used to store Pokemon. It acted like our soulbonds do, a little. From my research, I've found out that people would go get Pokemon roaming in the wild and try to get them into one of these things, and when the humans finally managed to do it, the Pokemon would act more friendly and tame and wouldn't just run away again. Seems kinda cruel, people taking them out with no mutual bond… but when you study history, you can't judge it, or else you run the risk of completely missing the truth and a good learning experience."

I blinked, taken aback. He just kept going, and he was so excited about it. I hadn't… I hadn't heard him say this many words during the entirety of our time together. In the span of thirty seconds he had completely trashed his cool, smooth guy reputation. Ok, I got it. He wanted me to see this side of him, the side he hadn't been showing, right at the top. This way, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed later. If I was going to dump him for this, better it be now than later.

"Hehe, glad to see you're passionate about something, you giant nerd." I said affectionately. "Maybe we can go explore some ruins as a date or something. For now, though… my mind's been cleared of what was bothering it, so I should really go to bed. Night, Strider." I said. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and quickly retreated back to our cabin. I slept good that night.

Have a good day