So! I don't have much to say, so I'm just going to begin writing!

Amy47101 does not own pokémon. Only Vale.

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The Adventure Saga

Enlightening the Soul

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"Walk up." Vale ordered as they reached a set of stairs. Krystal didn't respond, simply followed orders, inwardly cursing the kimono as she nearly tripped over it. She glanced around, widening her eyes.

"This is the area where you sign up for the bug catching competition, isn't it?" she asked. "Why are we here?"

"To get to the National Park." Vale responded, moving to the exit. Krystal looked around the peaceful park, surprised by it's emptiness. "Did you expect people to see here? This place is practically abandoned every time a contest starts."

Krystal didn't respond. She saw a huge hovercraft sitting on the lawn. It was immensely large, big enough to maybe hold several rooms, and maybe several hundred people, and room to spare. Vale steered her towards the craft, and the door opened up, falling down to create a ramp for them to walk up. The two walked up, being greeted by a due of masked rockets. Judging by their uniforms, Krystal knew they were a step above the grunts that she saw lingering around the forest. It suddenly dawned on her when the man and woman in front of her were the two leading the operation in the Ilex forest.

"Aw, don't you look adorable, Vale?" Krystal glanced up at a blond, muscular man with his arms crossed, smirking. Next to him was a slim woman with silvery gray hair, expression stoic. If she remembered correctly, the man was Attila and the female was Hun. Vale glanced up, placing one hand on Krystal's shoulder, and moving the gun so it pointed at Attila.

"That's Executive Vale to you, Admin." she responded coldly. Attila held up his hands in mock surrender, snickering.

"Isn't my fault that it's every girls dream to be a pretty ballerina when they get older." he said, still making fun of her. "What do you think Mask will say when he catches word of this?" Vale didn't respond. "So is this the catcher brat that's been such a pain?"

"Who else would it be?" Vale asked, moving her hand from her shoulder. "Unlike you, I know who I'm kidnapping." she paused, smirking. "And can do it discreetly without a hundred grunts backing me up." Attila grumbled something under his breath, Hun turning towards her.

"Change out of that ridiculous outfit. Mask wants to see you. We'll take care of the brat." Vale nodded, passing Krystal off to Hun.

"Don't hurt her, you two. The last thing I need is you morons hurting the target." Vale said, walking past them.

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Vale stood nervously in front of Mask's office. She wondered, momentarily, why they haven't taken off yet, but that could be explained easily since they may or may not still need to get a few lingering grunts off the streets of Goldenrod.

She adjusted the three belts around her waist, hand brushing her six pokéballs, and wished she could have Umbreon out with her as she went to face her punishment. But she also knew how much Mask despised the idea of her pokémon out and lingering around her, so she had to just settling with knowing her faithful partner was at her hip, by her side.

Placing her half-mask on her face, she opened the door, shutting it behind her as she walked inside. At the desk sat a man dressed in his usual black cloak, long, silvery-blue hair, and a full mask on his face. He lifted his head, and despite the creepy grin of the mask, she was sure he was staring coldly at her.

"Vale." he stated. Vale glanced up at him, walking closer to the desk. "I watched your performance." Vale said nothing. "You looked lovely in your costume. Your performance was amazing. Almost good enough to win."

"Thank you, sir." she mumbled. She was having trouble understanding. He was complimenting her? What was he hiding?

"Where was your mask?"

"It went missing while I was changing, sir."

"Then you could've alerted a grunt for another one."

"The battery died on my pokégear, sir."

"Oh, really?" he pulled out some files, placing them in front of her. "Then how come I was still getting a signal from your pokégear?" Vale was silent. Mask stood up, walking around his desk so he was standing right in front of her. He raised his arm, and backhanded her across the face.

She felt her head snap to the side, mask flying off and skittering into the corner of the room. Instinctively, her hand flew up to the left side of her face that her mask covered, using her hand to cover it instead. She ignored the stinging pain on the right side of her face.

"Vain girl. Don't lie to me. Perhaps I will remind you about my trump card."

"No!" Vale exclaimed, then quickly gained her composure. "N-No, sir. That won't be necessary."

"Good." he said, sounding satisfied with her reaction. Vale scooped up her mask and replaced it on her face, going towards the door. Her hand reached the knob, when Mask spoke. "Vale, you are not dismissed. I have another question for you."

"S-Sir?" she asked, not turning around.

"Today, someone managed to sneak out to watch the contest. He stated he wanted to see his friend perform."

"An escaped grunt, sir?" she asked, turning to face him.

"No, a teenager."

"Sir, I believe you are mistaken. There are no teenagers within these ranks other than me, unless you want to count your seventeen-year-old adoptive daughters. I have no idea where you dispatched them."

"Vale, the teenager was a male."

"I see." Vale responded. Momentarily, she thought of the nameless male whom she ran into on occasion, but she hasn't seen him since she was thirteen! He wouldn't be stupid enough to sneak out, would he? "I'm sorry sir, I have no idea who you may be talking about."

"Hn." he responded, folding his hands thoughtfully, turning away. "You are dismissed, Vale."

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"Wow!" exclaimed Lyra as they walked through the underground area of Goldenrod. "I know I've been down here before, but it's amazing that all this is down here. Imagine how awesome it would be to explore these tunnels together under more normal circumstances."

"It's be a lot more dangerous." Silver answered. "Ever notice that there's no thugs in such a huge city?"

"Hm? Yeah, I noticed that." Ethan said. "Gramps always says that they're all night dwellers, come out at night, then scurry away when the sun comes up."

"Where do you think they go?" Silver asked. Ethan blinked. "They come down here."

"But where are they? This place is empty..." Lyra said, glancing around.

"They probably got booted out by the Masked Wannabes so that Vale and Krystal could have a clear path." Silver said.

"Um... do we have any idea where we are going?" Ethan asked. Silver sighed, turning to look at him.

"I assumed you'd be using your monkey to sniff her out." Silver responded.

"Oh! Yeah." Ethan grabbed the pokéball, bringing out the monkey. The Aipom sniffed the air for a moment, then scrambled up upon Ethan's head and used it's tail to swing from the pipes above them. It paused a little bit ahead of them and waved, hanging upside down by its tail, then swinging off again. Ethan raced after it. "C'mon! He caught onto Krystal's scent!"

"Thank's Captain Obvious." Silver muttered as he broke into a jog after Ethan and Lyra, who had already bolted ahead of the both of them, her Eevee bouncing happily atop her head, exclaiming it's name with each bounce as Lyra's feet hit the ground.

"Aw, Lyra, no fair!" Ethan exclaimed, practically panting after the girl. Silver shot him a sideways glance, wanting so badly to belittle him for being outrun by a girl, but decided not to since he was, though unwilling to admit it, being outrun by the same girl.

"You guys suck!" Lyra exclaimed, turning around and running backwards. She let out a small laugh, and Silver noticed that it, nor any of her previous actions, were meant to make fun of them, but rather to indicate she was having fun and to invite them into it. Aipom exclaimed its name, over and over as they came upon a staircase. The pokémon hopped down and bounded up the stairs, determined. It turned, hopping around from foot to foot, exclaiming it's name over and over.

"Up here, Aipom?" Ethan asked.

"Where else?" Silver asked, shooting him an are-you-an-idiot look. Ethan shot him another pathetic excuse for a glare, then ran up the stairs two at a time. Lyra bounded up after him, but Silver paused. What reason did he have for chasing after Mask and their stupid friend? He could only think of one, maybe even two, if he were so bold. One was to perhaps challenge Vale and snap her out of her stupid ways, the other to punch Mask in the face. The latter was stupid though, because is Mask even caught word of his whereabouts, he would have him locked away in training for the next five years.

So why?

"Silver?" he glanced up and saw Lyra coming back down the stairs. "It leads up to the National Park. There's a huge hovercraft. I think Krys is on it." she paused. "I know you said you wanted to get away from here as fast as possible, and I know that Ecruteak City is just a little past here. You can go on if you want." she smiled, clenching her fist determinedly. "I'm sure we'll be fine on our own."

Silver blinked, slightly taken aback.

"Really?"

"Sure!" she smiled happily. "You don't need to get mixed up in our problem anyways. I'm sure we can handle it! Ethan's really strong!"

"I doubt it." Silver thought.

"I'll see you soon! Lets battle again next time!"

"You don't need to ask me for a battle." Silver glared. "I challenge you, and one day I'll crush you. Got it?" Lyra merely laughed, again, not making fun of him, but more like she was encouraging a kid who just declared he was going to beat the famous Leaf Green.

"Maybe you will!" she replied encouragingly. She then bounded up the stairs after Ethan. Silver blinked in surprise, following after her.

"Lyra!" he exclaimed, surprising himself. She paused, a few feet in front of him. "Don't get yourself killed, okay?" she said nothing for a moment, before turning to look over her shoulder, waving, then bounding off to the hovercraft ramp. Silver himself turned to go towards Ecruteak City, when he saw a wave of people walking towards the the hovercraft.

Originally, he thought that he was looking at a group of curious tourists, but upon closer inspection, and the half-mask on their faces, he realized they were Masked Wannabes. He snuck in the back of the group, keeping his head down, hoping that he'd blend in since there was obviously no uniform other than the stupid mask. Easily, almost too easily, he slipped onboard and the grunts dispersed, going their separate ways. Silver lifted his head up, glancing around, trying to find Lyra or, Ho-oh help him, Ethan.

He walked forward, hoping to not look suspicious. He heard grunts talking as he passed them, catching snippets of their conversations.

"Executive got in some deep shit this time." he heard a male voice say.

"Did you see her prancing around in that moronic costume?" another laughed.

"Pah!" exclaimed a female. "At least she can do something, unlike you two moronic grunts."

"Watch your tongue, woman, remember you're a grunt too."

It didn't take much for him to figure out they were talking about Vale. He continued listening, not really picking up much more than other previous conversations. He was surprised no one has noticed him yet, actually. He rounded some corners, getting annoyed and still feeling incredibly stupid with the mobster getup. But then again, at least he somewhat fit in. Lyra was dressed as a pixie for Arceus's sake!

He stood thoughtfully for a moment, then continued walking as he pulled a pokéball from his belt. His Haunter came out, looking at him.

"Do you remember Lyra, from our last battle?" it let out a rumble, nodding it's levitating head. "She's somewhere on here. Find her, and lead her to me." Haunter wavered there for a moment, as if surprised by his orders. Silver glared. "Are you stupid? I gave you an order. Follow it!" Haunter snapped out of it's trance, then faded into a shadow and went off.

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"Comfortable yet?" Attila smirked. Krystal as she sat in a small cell with her hands bound behind her back. She sighed, tossing some of her hair over her shoulder, wishing she had pinned it up instead of leaving it down as Lyra insisted. It kept falling in her face and she absolutely hated it.

"Honestly, were the ropes necessary?" she asked. "I mean, I'm without my pokéballs, in a barred cell, wearing a kimono. If I tried to, and even managed to escape, I'd be defenseless. Plus I couldn't run very far in this stupid thing."

"Boss's orders." Hun said coldly.

"You mean Vale?" Krystal asked.

"No, she means the big boss." Attila responded. "We're talking about someone above Vale. Vale, the cocky little bitch, is our executive. She thinks she's some big shot because she's seventeen and was specially trained."

"Specially trained, you say?" Krystal said, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall.

"Yes. Apparently adopted so long ago that she doesn't even remember her real parents." Hun said, typing something into a computer.

"Honestly, I'd feel bad for her if I didn't hate her so much." Attila scoffed. He shrugged. "But it can't be helped. Training or no, she's still a cocky little bitch and I hate her."

"You just hate her because she's younger than you and your superior." Hun stated coldly.

"And you hate her because she can outsmart you." Attila responded.

"The girl has wit, I will admit that, but wit will get you no where when you compare it to real smarts." she said.

"And I'd like to see her scrawny little ass take me on in a fist to fist fight!" Attila laughed. There was a pause, nothing but Hun tapping on her keyboard.

"So some one orders Vale around? I find that hard to believe." Krystal commented.

"Oh, trust me, this guy is her father, though she will never ever refer to him as that." Attila said. "No one even knows who he is or what his name is. He always wears a mask and everyone, even Vale, calls him 'Mask'."

"You mean a mask like the grunts?" Krystal asked.

"Yes, only a full mask." Hun said. "See, only the grunts are required to where a half mask to represent their status as a grunt. Admins like us have unique uniforms of our design preference, but have to have an 'R' on our clothes. This represents our status as Masked Rocket Admins."

"And the Executives?" Krystal asked.

"Uniforms are strictly black and white with maybe a little gray thrown in." Attila said. "But aren't required to wear any sort of mask."

"So why does she wear the half mask if she's not required?"

"Well, I hear word that it's punishment for what she did seven years ago." Hun said in a matter of fact tone as she shut her laptop.

"Well, I heard that she uses it to cover her punishment." Attila said. "But that's simply a rumor."

"Care to entertain the prisoner?" Krystal asked, opening her eyes.

"Well, Mask has a thing for adopting kids. He adopted, like, what? Six? Seven?" Attila shrugged. "Whatever the number, I hear they showed impressive abilities and he adopted them and trained them in these abilities. One day, Vale and another kid decided they weren't going to take this shit anymore and tried to run away. Well, the one kid escaped, but Vale didn't."

"So, rumor has it that Mask punished her by attacking her with a pokémon, leaving a particularly deep scar on her face." Hun said. "After that, he berated and belittled her until she was convinced she was absolutely hideous with the scars and she wore the mask as a constant reminder of what she did and who she was." Hun finished, crossing her arms.

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Vale wandered rather aimlessly. She could hear the sneers and smirks of the grunts as she walked by, their mighty executive who was younger than a good majority of them, dressed as a ballerina who pranced around on the stage. At first, she wasn't particularly embarrassed that she had the gall to dance on stage, but now she was absolutely mortified. She felt stupid and foolish. She felt like a moron for thinking she could one-up Mask.

So she walked, trying to clear her head to escape the belittling rumors. She turned another corner, and heard a small, slight whisper. Her name.

"Vale?" initially, she was startled, and then she turned, seeing a young man with the hood on his hoodie pulled up. She blinked, leaning in close to his face.

"Oh, it's you!" she exclaimed quietly. "I haven't seen you in so long, it's almost strange!"

"Strange?" he asked. There was a pause as he stepped forward, coming closer. He reached up, fingers brushing the bruise forming on her cheek. "What happened?" Vale jerked her head back, hastily covering her bruise.

"Never heard of personal space?" she joked, leaving his hand hanging midair. He dropped it to his side, confusion etched on his face.

"Personal space?" he murmured curiously. "What happened?" he asked again.

"Ah, it was just a little run in with a thug!" she exclaimed, shaking her hands back and forth, smiling. "We are, after all, stationed in Goldenrod right now." he said nothing. "Well, I'll get going. Got things to do, people to see, such and such!" Vale turned, walking off, leaving the, as of now, nameless young man in the hallway. She blinked, stopping, and nearly facepalmed.

"Been nearly four years since I see the guy and I still forget to ask his name." she muttered as she continued on.

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Whelp, I'm exhausted. Review and stay tuned!

Amy47101 signing off! ^.^