Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe or anything else.

Crystal's publicist—the novelist, Shauntal—was pacing around the princess's chamber on her second day in Kanto, parchment and quill in hand, scribbling madly. "Yes, Miss Crystal, this will indeed be your debut!" The Johtoian princess had come accustomed to hearing such a sentence, but decided to question it anyway.

"Shauntal, what exactly do you have planned for this debut?" Crystal asked. "I know that I am supposed to be presented to the people formally, but will it be like a ball? Or something overly-extravagant? I may be the queen someday, but that still seems like too much."

Shauntal quit her pacing and spun around. "Hm…a shy monarch…that would be very good development." She shook her head. "Ah, my novel is not important at the moment. I do not plan to introduce you in a ball. No, that would be too easy, and in this country in this time, simplicity will be key. I plan for something that will make the people fall in love with Princess Crystal, not just know her. You'll charm them by showing culture, talent. That's what the readers—sorry, the people—will want. Crystal, do you perhaps know of an outlet that will get through to the citizens?"

"Not particularly…" Crystal replied, unsure of a way that could show the citizens that she was cultured or talented. The most skill she really had was knowledge, and that would not get through to them as well as something else could.

Shauntal smiled. "Music. Music can find its way into anyone's soul, wrap them in it and take them to another place."

Crystal fiddled with her clumsy fingers. "Except that I do not know how to make music of any sort." Lorelei could play harp. Green denied it, but he was a master of the violin. Crystal used to joke when they were younger that all the fencing lessons they took from swordsman helped him with the bow. But Crystal had never been able to quite grasp music.

Shauntal waved a hand, as if that were only a minor detail. "We can do something about it. I'll be off and organizing everything very shortly; it will be simple and charming and I'll hire the best pianist in the country to teach you." She clasped her hands together excitedly. "Oh, Miss Crystal, this will dearly be awe-striking. We must find a piece that will resonate with the hearts of the people…"

Crystal blew air out through tight lips, trying not to sigh so much.

For the ninth time, Crystal's hands slipped awkwardly and dragged a few ugly, unwanted notes into the sounds coming out of the grand piano.

She had not been surprised when she found that she had not known of the room she was in, after all, the Kanto castle was so enormous it might have taken her weeks to navigate and find every room or corridor. It was a dusty, forgotten room near the minstrel's gallery, not as large or fancy as the others. A grand piano stood at its center, a light-coloured wood, instead of the traditional ebony. Shelves of the room were stacked with books and sheets of elaborate music.

Crystal was thankful to at least be able to read the music, but she had no idea how to transfer that to the instrument. From next to her on the bench, her instructor, Roxie, groaned.

When Crystal apologized for being unable to play the piece, Roxie just stared at her, not intimidated at all by royalty. "This piece may be from the last century, but it is well-known all over the country," Roxie explained, leaving out that the piece just happened to be on a level much higher than Crystal's. "We only chose it because there's nothing else as recognizable. You'll be able to get it." She crossed her arms. "You aren't a dope. So let's try again from measure sixteen…"

Roxie was a world-renowned musician, but happened to be rather brash and therefore not the greatest teacher. Crystal supposed that not everyone could instruct, even if they were masters of their craft.

Which Roxie certainly was. Crystal was captivated every time that the musician could play so flawlessly, so effortlessly. In the midst of playing she sometimes would even just play with one hand and quickly brush back a few strands over her feathery white hair back behind her ear before she continued. And it sounded to magical when she played, as if the piano made an entirely different sound for her, softer than when Crystal uneasily slammed her hands on its ivory keys.

After a long while of trying to teach Crystal to play the piece, Roxie ended the lesson and left the palace. Crystal must have seemed very distraught because in the evening Red asked her what the matter was.

"I can't figure out how to play the piano." Her hands hung resignedly at her sides. "I'm supposed to 'charm' the people, but I can't even play a piece of music. I—" she screamed suddenly, feeling something brush against her ankles. She heard air being let out harshly and footsteps padding across the floor. Red leaned over and picked up whatever it was, brandishing it to Crystal.

"…A kitten?" she asked, confused.

"His name is Muffin," Red replied defensively, stroking the cat. Muffin mewed with an injured air.

Crystal sent him a withering look. "You have a kitten."

"Keep telling your story," Red urged.

Crystal sighed. "I'm supposed to be an accomplished heir, but how to I govern a country if I can't even get the citizens to like me?"

"Slow down," Red replied, setting Muffin on the ground. He looked like he was going to reach out for Crystal's hands, but decided against it. "First of all, it's not as if the people don't like you. They just haven't gotten to know you as their future ruler. That Shauntal woman is only showing you off to them to get them to warm up towards you. Even if you don't play the piece perfectly, you're making an effort and that enough could win them over."

Crystal sunk into the sagging sofa beside him and took his hand, but he still felt distant to her. How could she feel no spark towards someone as kind as him?

Red suddenly sat straighter, making Crystal flinch. "I know what can help," he said. "I know of a little birdie who can definitely help you learn."

When Red said a "little" birdie, he was definitely correct. In a smaller hallway, he called out to a noticeably young maid carrying a basket.

"A-ah, Your Highness!" she stuttered nervously and quickly curtseyed. "How c-can I be of service?"

Red strode right up to her, not noticing her apprehension. "You play piano, right?" he questioned hopefully.

She shook her head. "I do not, Your Highness. My sister, however, does play piano, though I regret to inform you that she is not available…"

Red rolled his eyes. "I already know that, she's out of the country. Why are you acting so strangely?" He glanced at Crystal, then back at the maid. "Oh…Yellow, this is Crystal."

"P-pleased to be in your presence, Princess." The maid turned and curtseyed deeply to Crystal.

"I could have sworn you played piano," Red continued. "Is there any way you could help Crystal? She's trying to learn, but it's rather difficult for her."

"What is the level of her piece?"

"Fairly advanced, I'd say, from what she told me," Red answered. "But it's famous, so her teacher had her start on it."

The maid fiddled nervously with her fingers. "Well…I am unsure as to how much I could do, but I could find her an easier piece of music that still sounds nice. I-if her teacher would allow her to switch…"

Red beamed. "Thanks, Yellow."

Seeing that as a chance to escape, the maid bowed again to both of the nobles and scurried away, clutching her basket tightly.

As Red escorted Crystal to her chamber, she asked him about the maid. Apparently, she had been working at the palace since she was even younger since she had needed to support her three siblings. Because the whole castle staff was comprised of adults, Red spoke to her often.

"I actually met her before she worked here," Red went on, "because my mum used to take me into the city in disguise. I met her out there in the streets once because she got really lost." He chuckled. "Actually, I think she gets lost in the castle sometimes too."

Crystal watched him talk in mild awe. All her life, she had been trying to flee from a noble world in any way she could. She chose her best friend to be a commoner. She clung to her clandestine adventures from Goldenrod. But although Red may not have wanted to be a noble for one-hundred percent of the time, he dealt with it calmly and made friends with a commoner when he had the chance, instead of recklessly trying to escape.

Suddenly Crystal felt weak. And at the same time, she was more determined than ever to remain who she was even though a war was waging and she was sacrificing freedom to rule.

I will stay my own person, she told herself. I will not be changed by this world. I will not. I will not…

The following day, Crystal sat before that dreaded grand piano again. Roxie was beside her, explaining how she would knock sense out of Crystal instead of into her, which confused the princess greatly.

Crystal was very thankful for the disruption. An elderly maid strode in, holding out five sheets of parchment to Crystal, and bowing before exiting. Yellow must have sent her, probably too shy to deliver it herself.

Crystal stared in amazement at the music printed on the sheets. She would have to learn the part well for her right hand, but for the most part, her left only had to hold out notes instead of playing a countermelody.

"Roxie…could I perhaps play this piece instead?" Crystal asked hopefully. Roxie took the sheets and stared at the music skeptically.

"This is less advanced, but…I'm just concerned that it won't get to the people. It seems…hollow," her instructor replied, but laid it out nonetheless.

Roxie expertly played it on the first attempt, of course, but Crystal was captivated by the music itself. It was fluid and eerily beautiful, despite that it was simple. Although, as Shauntal had said, simplicity could be key when gaining the hearts of the people.

When Roxie had finished, she turned to Crystal and grinned. "We have your piece, you brilliant, dotty dope."

Red and Crystal were sitting stiffly in one of the palace's parlours. Crystal was reading a book and Red was watching the gardeners from out of a thin window.

The Johto princess admired Red very much, but that didn't make her any less uncomfortable around him. She would probably be just fine marrying a nice guy like him, but things would probably still be very awkward until they got up the guts to talk and get to know each other. That won't happen any time soon…she thought.

The interruption could not have come sooner. Crystal was about to make a fateful attempt at conversation, when a very flustered serving boy came rushing in. Red turned round with raised eyes.

"T-there's someone trying to get in to see you, Master Red," the serving boy spluttered breathlessly. "He won't go away. None of the guards wanted to raise your attention to this, b-but I thought it might be best to tell you…"

Red smiled warmly and put a hand on the shorter boy's head. "Yes, thank you Joey. I believe I know who that will be." He glanced over at his pigtailed companion. "You'll have to excuse me, Miss Crystal."

Crystal curtseyed politely as he left, curious but not inquiring. She began to wonder, though, if something was going on when she received a knock on her chamber door in the afternoon.

The short maid that Crystal had met before—Yellow—poked her head in shyly. "Princess Charlotte…er, well your presence has been requested in…in…p-please don a traveling garment…er, I-I must brief Lady Blue…" Turning scarlet at her blunders, she slipped away. Minutes later, Blue strode in without knocking, wearing her trademark mischievous grin. She brandished a tattered dress, but not just any; Crystal's tattered commoner dress. She must have packed that while I wasn't looking, Crystal suspected.

"Come on," Blue said. "We're going on an adventure."

Crystal tugged self-consciously on her pigtails. Blue had loosened them so that she did not seem so uptight. "So…do you know anything about this?" she questioned.

Blue shrugged, perfectly at ease, which was a bit ironic since she was acting more confident than the princess of the two. "Not really," Blue replied. "Did that maid go get you? The wicked short one." Crystal took note of Blue's Kanto terminology. As they stayed longer in the region, Blue seemed more and more like she belonged. "She said that we need to go into town," Blue explained. She chuckled a bit. "Well, I know that you have no opposition to this, Crys."

It was true. Crystal couldn't help but fall in love with Viridian City almost immediately. It was more like a maze than the grid that was Goldenrod, but it was charming just the same. Trees were dotted all around, and on the sides of the road, the cobblestone gave way to strips of plush grass. At night, she suspected it would be illuminated in a brighter white, but that only made her long for the soft golden lights of her hometown. The buildings in Viridian were tall and Victorian. The sky seemed permanently cloudy.

"I don't hate it here," Crystal admitted. It seemed to her that she would probably adore any place that wasn't a cold, unwelcome castle.

As they rounded a corner, they spotted a blonde ponytail and Yellow rushed up, cheeks rosy as if she'd been standing in the cold for long. She still wore her same modest black maid's dress, but her ragged coat was a few sizes too big and covered most of it.

"P-princess, Lady Blue, my apologies," she exclaimed, bowing too much. "I'm j-just really not sure why they couldn't wait; s-so I had to bring you out here so very suddenly."

Blue smiled and put a hand on the small girl's shoulder. "It's fine Miss Yellow, but who couldn't wait?"

"I-I, well, they're just, they're over here…" Turning round, she led them down another street and to the main one, where commoners bustled to markets and went about their business. The three girls walking appeared no different from anyone else.

Crystal caught a flash of dark, blue-black hair through the crowd. For a moment she thought she only imagined it, but the pale girl she was seeing was unmistakable. She ran forward. "Tanzanite!"

The girl turned around, and her violet eyes swam with recognition and tears. "Crys! Crystal!"

Crystal stopped dead. Tanzanite had never called her that before, but her friend was already before her and engulfed her in a hug. "Gold, he told me everything," she murmured.

Crystal brought her arms up and hugged Tanzanite tightly. She felt like she was holding a piece of Johto with her. "I'm sorry," Crystal said. "I am so sorry I never told you…"

Blue sniffled from behind them. "It's so very heartwarming!"

But Yellow still looked uneasy. "A-ah! There you are…Nii-san…"

Crystal spun round and gaped. Gold stood before her, grinning like mad. He glanced at Yellow. "Aw, but Yells, I was trying to make a dramatic entrance. Never mind, I guess. At least I found Cinderella here. You left your glass slipper in Johto." He held out one of the brown slippers that Crystal used to use for walking through Goldenrod. She had totally forgotten it had slipped off when she was running from Gold, thinking he was a royal guard.

"What are you doing here?" she couldn't help but ask. It came out harsher than she'd meant, but Gold only laughed.

"After you fled the festival," he began, "your pal Tanzanite wouldn't stop asking what had happened to you. I told her I'd seen you, but that I couldn't say much, and she only asked more. I figured she was closest to ya, no? So I told her about, you know…who you are. Then she suddenly decided to pick up and come here to Kanto. Started rattling off this nonsense about stealing a horse and somehow riding here. Wouldn't take no for an answer. Cheren overheard me trying to calm her down, and then he wanted to come. His bird might be over in Unova, but Kanto's where her home really is, an' he wants to wait for her to come back. So I brought them. Yellow had some favours to return to me anyways. Good thing I had a source inside the castle, but I sent her little brother to notify her at the palace when we got in earlier."

Crystal turned to Yellow. "Was that who was at the castle gates earlier?"

"Yes," she answered sheepishly. "Emerald seems to have it in his mind that he can talk to a monarch directly…"

Gold shrugged. "Eh, but that prince boy seems to not mind. He's got an okay head on his shoulders."

Tanzanite didn't seem to want to let go of Crystal. "I'm sorry for showing up so suddenly, but…I had to come find you. I just knew that I did. I felt like I would be leaving something unfinished if I never saw you again."

"This girl is devious when she wants to be," Gold sighed.

Crystal looked over both of them. How could they be saying all those things so easily? How could they have just picked up and followed her to Kanto? She never knew how much she could really mean to people, because nobody had really shown that to her before. The only signs of affection her brother showed were how he looked out for her, catching and comforting her if she ran away, keeping her sneaking out a secret. Otherwise, everyone else she had ever known just played to their own motives. That was the way it worked in the world of the nobles. But she found herself liking the world of the people much better.

"I can't believe you two would do that much for me…" Crystal found herself saying aloud.

"Of course we would!" Tanzanite replied, more tears slipping down her cheeks.

Gold beamed. "Don't you worry your pretty little mind, Cryssy," he said, "we'll always come find ya when you're in a sour place like this."

"Yes, we will." Tanzanite wiped her eyes, hiccupping meekly. Her eyes found the short maid. "So, are you Gold's younger sister, Yellow? I never did find out."

"She's my little sis!" Gold exclaimed brightly at the same time as Yellow deadpanned, "We're not related."

Yellow quickly explained, "We're family friends. Our parents were close. We're not related at all, really, but I visit him and Cheren whenever I go out to see my uncle in Johto. And anyways, I'm a year older than him."

That took a moment to sink in. Yellow didn't even reach Gold's shoulders.

"I-I really must be returning to the castle," Yellow stuttered, seeming to remember her bashfulness when she became the center of attention. She bowed to Crystal and disappeared into a crowd of people which constantly ebbed and flowed and moved like waves in the sea.

Blue smiled, appearing to see an opportunity arising. "While we're in town, I want to visit some people I know. You can tag along if you like."

Crystal raised her eyebrows in surprise at that as she walked between her two Johtoian friends. It gave her a sense of security that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but she enjoyed it. Mostly, she was just glad to be around them. The three of them acted like old chums, making jokes and talking about their past encounters in Goldenrod, and window-shopping through the markets.

Blue waved to them at one point. "I'll meet you back at the palace, Crys," she said. "Here's my ulterior motive for joining you all today." She raced up the steps of a quaint little house without any hesitation, grinning in a nostalgic way, like she really had come home, like she had sung she would in the carriage ride.

Gold and Tanzanite were looking at trinkets on a market stand, unfazed by Blue's exit, but Crystal watched her leave.

The door swung open and Blue immediately threw her arms around the red-haired man who stood there. He looked utterly shocked to see her, but his sharp steel-coloured eyes softened and he smiled widely. Their embrace broke when from inside the house, a little girl bolted out and jumped into Blue's arms. Blue laughed and ruffled the girl's light brown locks. The girl stared up at her with warm, innocent grey eyes.

Crystal watched them for a moment more before the three of them disappeared into the house. Then she returned to her friends.

"I was just suggesting that we go to the local bakery," Tanzanite said, with a rather mischievous glint in her violet eyes.

Gold huffed and crossed his arms, rather prideful. "I bet their stuff can't even compete with my father's."

"Do you want to test that?" Crystal asked, giggling.

"Try me."

"I'll race you guys there!" she exclaimed, despite not knowing where it was.

The other two laughed. "You're on!"

Crystal returned to the castle, not late for anything in the slightest, but Green still grabbed her arm and pulled her into a side corridor. "What exactly do you think you're playing at? I thought this would stop when we came to Kanto."

Crystal clutched at her fire agate amulet. "This doesn't have to concern you, Green."

"Yes, it does. Where were you and that pesky girl going anyways?"

"I went out to see the town," she answered, which wasn't exactly a lie. "Blue went separately for a while. It looks like she's got family here."

"What's that mean?"

"I don't know." Crystal crossed her arms. "She went to a little house and a man came out and a little girl with brown hair ran and hugged her. I guess that's what she meant in the carriage, but I wasn't really paying much attention to what she'd said."

Green's eyebrows creased and he got that expression which told Crystal he was thinking something over thoroughly. "You still can't do this. You'll be married in less than two months, and you'll have to really take over things here in Kanto."

"Look I know you don't actually care," Crystal snapped. "You don't care what happens to me out in the city. You're only enforcing this because it makes you feel as though you're abiding by what Lorelei thinks is best."

He opened his mouth to retort, but Crystal would not give him the chance. She was a dragon, emotions churning in her stomach like the swirls of the fire agate.

"I know you don't really care for Lorelei. I don't even think you like her, and this just proves what I want to escape from! What an awful world we live in! Think about it, Green; what kind of world is it where our own parents hate us because we will come into power? Or where you marry a woman you don't love? Or where we argue like this? I know we can see eye-to-eye, Green, and I know we do! I think that somewhere in you, you know too and you want to escape just like I do. The only problem is that you've got a little more sense than me, and that might just be the cause of your undoing. So I implore you, please do not let someone like Lorelei control you. If you're going to rule in this kind of a world, don't let that woman destroy what we're working for. What I'm sacrificing by becoming queen."

For a moment, a stunned silence filled the air. Crystal felt like she should say something more, like that was no way to end it, but she had already paused for too long and anything else she could say would sound feeble.

She expected Green to be angry. To shout right back at her. To hit her with the razor-sharp blades of his words, or even to storm away. And for a moment, he stood there looking just as icy cold as usual, and she really thought he would do one of those things. But he did something she would have never thought the cold-hearted man before her would do.

He pulled her in and hugged her loosely. Any time he had embraced her before, it was in a stiff, proper manner, but now he held her like she meant something to him. Like they really were family. Her grandfather was isolated from her, her parents shunned her, her sister-in-law was cruel, and the rest of her family seemed distant, filled with just names and the traditional placid faces of nobles. All she really had was her brother. And all he had was her.

A/N:
Sorry for the delay guys. I really would have posted on Saturday or sometime around then, like I usually do; since I had most of the chapter written by then. But all was not well on my side of the screen. That's alright, though. So long as I get the chapter out! :) I don't know what time zone you guys are in, but where I am, as I'm posting this, it's still Tuesday the twenty-first, SO I'M NOT COMPLETELY LATE. Sorry if I'm a bit slow these following weeks; I've been super-duper sluggish on my planning of Part Two. And I also have midterms...fun. I hope you're all doing well!

I am very much aware that women were not often writers, but Shauntal was a writer in the games and I honestly did not know what else to do with her.
Okay, so here's Yellow actually presented!
And I'm trying to not use OCs...it did cross my mind that I could have made Red's father actually be from Pokémon, but...I just didn't. I forgot to. But I'm trying to get away from the whole OC thing because frankly I think I get possessed when I write these chapters. So instead of some random serving boy, he became Joey. Like Youngster Joey from the games.
Actually, remember those people from last chapter? "Yellow and her companion"? I've been getting a lot of questions as to who her companion is, and a lot of you seem to be thinking it's Lance. I won't tell you who it is, but I will tell you, it is not Lance. Lance frightens me, actually, and I have not planned to put him in this story, even though he appeared in the old version. He will not make an appearance. BUT, the companion guy IS from Pokemon, I swear, and I actually used one of his actual lines in his speech (I think only one though; when he appears again, he'll say one or two more.) So if you're spontaneosly watching/reading/playing Pokemon and you're like: "Wait...did that guy say this? Wat? Wat?" Then yeah, he did say it. Though he's such a random person I doubt people will figure it out (which is good for me. I'm the writer, it's my job to make you guys totally and completely confused XP )

Oh and the piece of music Cryssy played! I don't really know what I was talking about with that. Piano is a really hard instrument...I guess the piece of music I was thinking of was "Lacie" from Pandora Hearts, since that piece doesn't even go into bass clef and is relatively simple with much practice for a beginner, but then that piece has a rather somber tone...so please just imagine any old piece when our dear princess plays it for us! Sorry for adding that whole piano thing in, but I needed a filler and I figured they'd have to show off the new princess.

NEXT CHAPTER THERE WILL BE AN ACTUAL PLOT ADVANCE I PROMISE GUYS.

Rant over! Thank you for reading!
-Silvia