Me: Hehehehehe *clicking buttons on gameboy*

Gardevoir: Why do I get the feeling that you've become addicted to a new game?

Me: Because I have! Pokemon Conquest! Whoo!

Gardevoir: *sigh* I don't see what's so appealing about it. All you do is move little Pokemon around a battlefield. Not very exciting.

Me: *slams down system* It is not just some strategy game. It is AMAZING!

Gardevoir: Uh-huh. If it's so amazing, why haven't you beaten it yet? It's been like three weeks now.

Me: *frowns* See, I just finally beat the last Kingdom where the bad guy Nobunga was so I thought, "Hey, I won!" But then this other tower opens up and of course I have to go inside! Well, inside there's Arceus and I easily bond with him. And then I thought again, "Hey, I won!" But oh no! Nobunga just has to get the last win so what should happen? He attacks with his best warriors, and every single one of them had all jacked up stats! ...So yeah. I'm gonna need some more time.

Gardevoir: *smiles* You know, I think I like this Nobunga fella. Disclaimer: Eon does not own Pokemon in any way shape or form. Only the plot and her OC's.

Chapter Eight: Blue

"Now you kids give me a call when you're all done," Kathy called from the driver's seat. "Just make sure it's before supper!"

"Will do!" Red promised, waving his hand as she drove off in her minivan. White and I did the same while Silver and Green followed Black who was already halfway up the large stone staircase leading to the town library's front doors. After taking the day yesterday to scope out the city and my shopping spree the day before that, we all thought it would be a good idea to get out today and relax a little. By some silent reason, we'd all chosen the library as our destination, and my guess would be because we all had some research we wanted to do.

Letting my hand fall to my side, I turned to Red and smirked. "I'm surprised you came with us."

The black-haired boy frowned and looked up at the beautiful work of masonry behind us. "Hopefully we won't be here long. I don't like leaving Yellow alone nowadays."

I smiled. "I know. Oh, yeah," I remembered with a tilt of my head. "What exactly was it that you said you were looking up?"

He shook his head and started after White who'd already begun to trail after the others. "Stuff."

I scrunched my eyebrows curiously but shrugged as I climbed the steps behind him. Inside the massive glass doors, the first floor opened up with a long line of bookshelves lining either wall. Several individual ones created hallways in between and multiple tables were placed around. At the far end of the room was a counter and a librarian typing away at a computer, and here at the front was a grand staircase on both sides that led up to the second floor where there were computers available to use.

"It's an old library, isn't it?" White commented, taking note of the golden leaf designs weaving along the edge of the ceiling and shining double marble staircase.

"Oldest in all Kanto," Green answered. "But it's also one of the most updated."

"Great! I'm off!" Black told us happily before disappearing into the maze of towering bookshelves ahead.

White stared after him and sighed with shake of her head. "He, uh, really likes libraries."

I giggled and watched as she trailed along after the excited boy. "I can see that."

"Well, we're going upstairs to the computers," Red said with a gesture at Green. "There's something we want to look up."

I waved after them as they ascended the large staircase. "Have fun!"

The librarian all the way across the room glared at me, and I grinned sheepishly.

"There's also something that I want to look into," Silver told me, turning to the bookcases where Black and White had disappeared to. "Will you be alright?"

I huffed and smacked his shoulder. "You doubt me!"

He smiled and stalked off into the jungle of hardcovers and paperbacks. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, I snuck in after him and weaved my way unnoticed through the silent halls. Might as well have some fun and see what everyone else was up to before conducting a little search of my own.

The first I found was White. She was curiously scanning one of the shelves and picking out multiple different books before shaking her head and putting them back. Carefully looking around the corner, I saw her perk up and reach for a blue hardback on the top. The brunette stretched up high on her tiptoes until brushing her fingers against its cover and bringing it down. The title read Battling Basics, and I smiled to myself at her efforts to better herself.

Leaving the girl to study, I slowly backed away, almost running into Black who was too engrossed in a book of his own to realize that I was two inches from colliding with him. Cautiously stepping back, I breathed a sigh of relief when I was able get to the other side of the bookcase without attracting his attention. Looking to his feet, I raised my eyebrows in surprise when I saw the pile of books he'd pulled out, each one having something to do with Eevee and its evolutions.

I watched his eyes furiously take in the text of the book and, having seen what he was doing, decided to head off for my next subject of interest currently on this floor. Said person's familiar red hair soon entered my vision, and I kept myself hidden as I peered from behind a shelf full of fairy tales at his still form sitting at a table, a single book in his hands. The new pair of gloves that I'd gotten him yesterday quietly turned the page, and I tilted my head when I saw a strange yellow stone sitting by his hand. I was guessing that it was a new type of evolutionary item, and I found it strange that I had no idea what it was.

I let out a silent yelp of surprise as I started falling forward. Quickly catching myself, I cringed and fled behind the bookshelf as I banged my elbow on it. I'd been trying to lean closer and get a better look at the stone that I hadn't noticed my unbalance until it came into effect and made Silver look up sharply. I held my breath as his narrowed eyes passed over my form through the small gaps above the books and briefly wondered why I was hiding.

Softly chuckling to myself, I stealthily crept out of the bookcases and back out to the front doors, making my way for the grand sweeping staircase. I followed it to the top where I immediately found Green and Red sitting side by side at two computers, pointing at the monitors as they clicked away at the keyboard. I wanted to go up to them and see what exactly it was, but knowing those two, as soon as I got close enough for them to sense me, they'd close the tabs and pretend like they hadn't been looking at anything.

Scoffing in frustration when I saw that I was too far away to see the screen, I reached into my bag to grab the Silph Scope I knew would be there. Placing on the mechanism, I hit the zoom in button and narrowed my eyes as my vision became clear and I could finally read the words. It was hard to read anything with both of them continuously darting in and out of my view, but I was able to make out a few words on both screens. And among them were two in particular that made my skin prickle.

Heart failure.

Frowning, I took off my Silph Scope, placed it back in my bag, and nonchalantly walked up behind them. "Whatcha looking at?"

They jumped in their seats and hit the minimize button as fast as they could. Red looked at me nervously, and Green kept on a carefully blank face while I crossed my arms.

"Come on," I said firmly. "What is it?"

"N-nothing," Red tried smiling.

I glared at him, and he flinched in fear.

"L-let's just show her," he suggested to Green who had narrowed his eyes in annoyance at me.

"We might as well just tell her," the forest-eyed boy said with a sigh, crossing his black-jacketed arms in a pose similar to mine.

"Tell me what?" I demanded, pulling up a computer chair from nearby and sitting down.

Red rubbed the back of his neck, and Green waited for him to start explaining. When the stuttering boy couldn't find the right words, Green sighed again and did it for him. "Yellow's in a strange unconscious state."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "No, really?"

"And her heart rate is currently slowing down."

I paused, my jaw dropping open. "T-that can't be right! She's perfectly fine!"

"We know," Red finally said. "She breathes regularly, shifts around as if she was only sleeping…it's just like normal."

"But it doesn't make sense!" I exclaimed. "That doesn't fit at all with what you just said!"

"Exactly," Green said with a point of his finger. "That's what makes it all the more strange. Now, it hasn't slowed down to the point of near death, so that's something to be grateful for. It's just declined enough that we can notice it if we took her pulse."

I stared at the floor a moment, shaking my head. "What the heck is going on?"

The two frowned and glanced back at the computers. "That's what we were checking up on."

I looked up as Red proved his point more by bringing the web page back up. "We were trying to see if we could find out if there was some sort of disease or malady that fit this description, but so far, we haven't had any luck."

I gave the screen a glance before standing up and putting the chair back. "Well, keep looking. I'll help out and go see what they have downstairs."

They nodded and instantly got back to their keyboards, typing away as I walked back to the staircase. I was about to take the first step down when I heard Red's voice behind me.

"Wait! Are you sure you want to spend your time doing this? Wasn't there something else you wanted to do here today?"

I froze at the question but quickly shook off the ice. "Nah, it's okay."

I set off again without waiting for his reaction, my face setting a little as I made my way down the flight of stairs. It's not like we weren't ever going to have access to the internet again. I could look up my special fighting style and kidnappings of the area twelve years ago at another time.

…Yeah, I get it. It's a long shot, I know. But it was the only idea I had at the moment. To my memory, the Masked Man was the only one at the time who had been teaching the Swordsman's Dance. So it ogled my brain to the maximum why Melany would know it so well.

I took the last step off the stairs and started heading for the bookcases again. A small screeching sound grabbed my attention, and I turned around to see the guys' bathroom door closing behind a pair of dark gray jeans that I had come to recognize from even this far away.

My eyes widened to the size of saucers before narrowing to slits. Thinking fast, I ran outside and frantically grabbed a small round stone. Dashing back in, I positioned myself just on the other side of the bathroom door, the tall staircase five feet ahead of me. I waited tensely, and when it finally opened again, I silently threw the rock onto the steps and froze, hoping the person who had just walked out didn't notice me.

Thankfully, the rock had been successful in being a distraction, and as they went up a few steps of the stairs to investigate, I snuck up behind the person and calmly placed a hand over their mouth.

"Don't move."

My voice was menacing, and I could feel the black-spiked boy in my clutches turn to stone.

"You can't get past me, and as you can see, Red and Green are right up there above us." I pointed at the two boys who were still deep into their research. "So just come with me."

The figure didn't move, and I softened my voice. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I just want to talk." I leaned forward over his shoulder so that I could look right into his golden-orange eyes. "Don't you think you owe me that much?"

He didn't say anything, but I could feel him loosen up and let me lead him out of the library and down onto the sidewalk at the bottom of the building's front stairs. Placing him so that his only other option was to run back inside, I slowly let him go and faced him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"So nice to see you again."

He kept his eyes trained on the ground.

"Amber."

He still didn't say anything, and I looked up at the sky.

"So…what are you doing here? For a spy, you're not doing a very good job of staying undercover."

He smiled barely, and I grew angry at myself when I found that seeing him lighten up a little made me feel better. I was supposed to be hostile towards him now. Not act like he was another one of my friends.

"Well?"

Finally bringing his eyes to mine, he closed them in a sigh and sat down on the steps, leaning his shoulder on the stone pillar beside him. "To be honest, I didn't even know you guys were at the library today. It's Melany's job to keep track of your whereabouts. But I guess you've probably already figured that out by now."

Wary about how open he had suddenly become, I plopped down on the opposite end of the step, my back against the other pillar. "So what exactly is it that you do then?"

He narrowed his eyes and raised an eyebrow, but I only shrugged. "Hey, you can't blame me for asking."

"Blue, I didn't come here to have a conversation that could become a big problem for me," he said a little coldly.

"Then what did you come here for?" I asked with more chill than his voice had contained.

He glanced away. "Stuff."

Mentally scoffing at the fact that Red had said the same thing in the same spot not ten minutes ago, I crossed my arms and stared off like he was doing, glaring at him from the corner of my eye. "So…mind telling me why exactly you're pretending to be a villain when you're actually good? Or vice versa?"

Amber's head snapped up at the suspicion in my voice, and he literally jumped to his feet. "I'm not pretending to be anything! You have no idea what I'm doing! None at all!"

"Then why don't you tell me?" I asked curiously before softening my voice and standing up with him. "Amber, you're not bad. You're a good person."

He gave a silent chuckle. "You know, that's exactly what she said."

I tilted my head. "Who?"

His breath caught. "Yellow."

Neither of us said anything, and he took that minute of silence to briefly go off topic. "H-how is she?"

I almost hissed. "Shouldn't you already know? You're the one that did it to her."

He flinched noticeably, and I guiltily cleared my throat. "S-she's doing…okay, I guess."

"Okay?"

I gave a light huff and put it bluntly. "She won't wake up."

His eyes widened a little. "W-what?"

My fingers unconsciously curled. "That green stuff. Whatever it was, it's not letting her wake up."

He stared at the stone step in disbelief, murmuring to himself. "But it was only supposed to knock her out for a little while."

I was about ready to explode from paranoid. "You mean you didn't know that was going to happen?!"

He closed his eyes tightly. "N-no. I didn't know. Melany gave it to me and told me to use it. I had no idea."

I rolled my eyes angrily. "Well, that explains it."

The boy face-palmed harshly. "I'm such an idiot."

The use of Red's famous phrase made me smile a little, and I marveled at how similar the two could be. Glimpsing the worry on his face, I calmly sighed. "See? You obviously care for her. A lot. So why are you doing all this?"

He shook his head and scratched the back of his neck. "You wouldn't understand. It's a long story."

Narrowing my eyes, I quickly brought out Nido and blocked off his final chance of escape down the sidewalk. "It's only noon, and I believe I can make this an exception to skip lunch."

He let out an angry sigh. "No, you don't get it. I can't talk about it. There's more to it than you think, and if I tell you too much, it could ruin everything and—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" I stopped him with a hand held up high. "What do you mean, 'ruin everything'?"

He grabbed the top of his forehead and sat down. "Blue, I really can't talk about it, but I can say this. I'm not doing all of—" He gestured at him and me and the library. "this because I want to hurt Yellow. Or any of you. In fact, I know I haven't known you all long, but I do care about you guys." He hesitated a moment. "A-and her."

I gave him a helpless look, but he turned away. "How do you expect any of us to believe you?"

He shook his head and fiddled with his TR pendent, positioned just above his gold and silver yin yang. "I don't."

Something was telling me that there was some truth in his words, and seeing the real him again, I could feel myself starting to loosen up around him. However, my stubborn side wouldn't even imagine such a thing, and his honest yet dodging words only infuriated it more.

"Fine," I said tartly, an idea coming to mind. "Then we'll battle."

His ears perked up, and I counted off two fingers.

"We'll have a two on two. You win, I won't make you tell me. I win, then you have to. Sound alright?"

He frowned uncertainly and glanced up at Nido who was looming over his shoulder. "I don't exactly have a choice. Do I?"

I faked a sweet smile and hooked his arm in mine. "No, not really."

Nido followed behind me and Amber as I walked us to the outskirts of town near the edge of the forest. Keeping my arm tightly locked with his, I was careful to make sure that he wouldn't run away. To my surprise though, he actually didn't try, but he was stiff and tense the whole time until we reached the spot where there was no one in sight, and I released my hold on him.

Bringing out Jiggly, I had her sit up on one of the tree branches around us to keep an eye on Amber. He saw the action and tilted his head.

"It knows Sing, doesn't it?" When I nodded, he sighed and held his hands up. "Okay, okay. I was going to do it peacefully anyway, you know."

I gave another nod and shrugged. "Yeah, I do. But I also know that we're not exactly on friendly terms at the moment."

He leaned his head back and sighed again. "Fair enough."

Our battlefield was a small meadow just inside the tree line, surrounding us on two sides with a light layer of trees and another with thicker foliage that only got denser the farther in you went. Jiggly was currently floating around the only tread able trail into the woods, and when I placed Nido at the only other exit where we'd come in that was maybe ten feet across, I had successfully created a natural prison whose only escape was through the thin canopy above our heads and into the sky. But I didn't have to worry; Jiggly could fly and sing at the same time.

I turned to find Amber already standing on the other side of the field and reached into my bag as he went for his belt.

"Ready?" I asked him.

He nodded and threw a Pokeball. "Let's go!"

I quickly tossed one of mine, and a pair of flashes burst in mid-air before fading to reveal Blasty and a foreign Pokemon that I had never seen before. Curious, I pulled out my Pokedex and hit the reader.

"Simipour, the Geyser Pokémon. Simipour can demolish a concrete wall with the pressurized water it shoots from its tail."

"From Unova, huh?" I whistled, seeing the Pokemon's native habitat. "You sure have been travelling far."

"It's a great region," he said with a smile. "You should go sometime."

I frowned a little and put the small red machine away. "I would—except my calendar's currently booked." I flicked my hand at Blasty. "Water Gun!"

His jaw snapped open and a powerful blast of water instantly shot out. Amber didn't move and neither did his Simipour. Even as it closed in on them, he didn't once tell the Pokemon to jump out of the way or dodge. When the last second of opportunity was up and the attack hit home, I shook my head and smirked to myself. If he wanted to be stupid and just stand there, that was fine by me. It sure made my job easier.

Blasty's move soon depleted, and I craned my neck to see how far back the opponent had been thrown. My eyes widened when I saw that nothing of the case had happened. The Simipour stood firmly in place, a pool of water all around him.

Now, it's basic knowledge that Water moves don't really harm their own types that much, but I had expected Blasty's attack to do at least some damage!

My eyes focused again, and I watched in surprise as the water dripping off Simipour slowly began to dissolve into his hair—even a good portion of the puddle at his feet when he bent over and let his locks hit the ground. As the last of it was completely soaked up, I glanced up in surprise to see Amber smirking.

"Hey, thanks for that charge-up," he said smartly. "We were running low on water."

I scrunched my eyebrows as Blasty started to advance for another attack. "What do you mean?"

Suddenly, Simipour started trembling with an unseen force, and my eyes widened at Amber's next words. "Simipour are especially known for their ability to store large amounts of water in their spacious hair. Plus, as your Pokedex said, they're able to shoot powerful Water attacks from their tails. So, when that storage meets its maximum capacity…"

The cream and blue Pokemon jumped in the air and shot forward like a bullet, a strong jet of pressurized water escaping his tail to propel himself on.

Amber grinned. "It can do some pretty awesome things. Surf!"

I gasped in shock as the small Simipour slammed into Blasty with enough force to knock him straight on his back. Normally, a move like Surf is used on the ocean where it's easier to call upon a wave of water. It's still possible on land, but the result isn't as strong because the wave is summoned from the water inside the Pokemon using it. However, Amber's creative use of the excess water made it easy for him to take that ocean power and make the strength of the move portable.

My head was still spinning as Amber took the next turn, also. "Pour, Scald!"

The Pokemon obeyed, and Blasty was soon being drenched in a superhot douse that I could tell hurt by the way the steam rose off it like crazy. When the wind finally carried the light haze away, I saw my Water type struggling to get up, a harsh burn covering most of his unprotected skin.

"Guess it's time to take a non-aqua approach," I decided grimly. "Use Mega Punch!"

Blasty was still crouched halfway over so it made the move even more powerful thanks to the fact that he could bring his arm up right under Simipour's small body and gain momentum along the way. The water monkey went flying into the air, and Amber watched him helplessly before an idea brightened his eyes.

"Quick! Acrobatics!"

Simipour shook his head from Blasty's damaging attack and quickly positioned himself as he started falling back towards the ground. Astoundingly, I saw as he aimed straight for the large turtle Pokemon, and right as he landed on his shell, he threw out a flurry of loud-sounding punches and kicks before using his own momentum to bounce back off into the air for another round. Blasty went through another set of aerial assaults before his foe shot back into the sky again and I thought of something.

"Blasty, use Water Gun to shoot Simipour out of the air!"

The cannons on my Pokemon's back cocked and took aim, proceeding to blast multiple shots of water at the air-born opponent. Simipour was surprisingly nimble in the sky and dodged most of the water bombs being fired at him. Finally though, one of them made contact, and I gave a triumphant grin as he paused from the damage and fell to the ground.

I don't know how it happened, but Amber managed to have another trick up his sleeve and called out to Simipour right before he crashed. "Dig, now!"

With an obvious effort, Simipour momentarily blinked away his wounds and flipped onto his belly-side, hands and feet at the ready to go when the ground came close enough. When it did, there was a brief moment of dust before the air cleared, and the only thing left in his place was a hole.

Blasty and I twisted our head around in unison, trying to find a hint as to where he would jump out. Forcing myself to think of a plan instead of being ready for the unexpected, I saw the cannons on his back, and an idea quickly formed.

"Blasty!" I called out hurriedly, hoping I could make it before Simipour reappeared. "Aim your cannons at the ground!"

He nodded, and they had just clicked in place when Simipour burst from below right in front of him and rammed into his tender, unshielded underside. I winced at how hard my Pokemon took the hit but used that to fuel my voice.

"Now! Hydro Cannon!"

At first, I thought he was so close to fainting that he wouldn't be able to do it, but thank Arceus his guns were already prepared. Right as he reached the peak of his flight, a jet the size of a three foot long door exploded from both his cannons, the two beams of water crashing into Simipour with a BOOM! and smacking him flat on his back. A few seconds later, Blasty dropped out of the sky and did the same.

The dust from his collision disturbed mine and Amber's fretful vision for a few seconds before clearing away to reveal that both of them had fainted.

Giving a contented sigh, I returned Blasty to his Pokeball and smiled at him widely. "You did great! Now get some rest."

He was happy to oblige and was already going to sleep when I took out another Pokeball. Across the field, Amber had done likewise and was waiting with one of his one.

"You're pretty good," I commented, allowing him a little praise for taking out the powerhouse of my team.

He smiled a little. "You're not so bad yourself. I guess this is the deciding round, isn't it?"

I nodded fiercely. "You bet!" My fingers left the surface of the Pokeball as it flew into the air. "Time to finish this!"

It didn't take him long to do the same, and in no time, we were opposing each other with a whole new pair of Pokemon. Mentally, I gave myself a pat on the back when I saw his choice and then mine. He'd gone with his Froslass, who was a dueling Ice and Ghost type. Lucky for me, Ghost type moves were effective against their own type, and who else better for this job than Ditty?!

The little purple Pokemon sat staring up at the floating white one, and I didn't even have to tell it to Transform. Soon enough, there were two Froslasses, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to tell who was who in the coming match.

"Alright, Snowy, Ice Shard!" Amber commanded with a throw of his hand.

Ditty barely had time to get out of the way before a sharp crystalline missile went flying by its now white head. Getting out my Pokedex, I did a fast checkup on its new moves and snapped the red screen shut in satisfaction. "Confuse Ray!"

Nimbly getting behind Snowy's back, Ditty created a ball of flashing light that collided with its opponent and made her eyes become cute little swirls.

Amber smirked, and I anxiously bit my lip in response. "Clever, aren't you? Ice Shard again! Double Time!"

I was waiting to see if his Pokemon would be able to listen or not so I didn't see him quickly lowering himself onto the ground on his stomach. As if his touch down was the cue, Snowy began firing blades of ice from her fingertips, the directions completely random but the quantity ranging from ten to thirty in a matter of seconds. I gave a sharp laugh as they stuck themselves deep in the tree trunks all around us before yelping and ducking as few came my way. Getting up, I saw Ditty get hit with a few and frowned.

Okay, time to take advantage of this confusion while I can. "Ditty, Shadow Ball!"

Amber and I watched as a menacing black and purple sphere came to life in Ditty's hands and was thrown harshly at his Froslass who was still hovering around in circles from confusion. The move hit her right in the stomach, sending her flying into a tree. While she crumpled to the ground, I had Ditty prepare another Shadow Ball. When it was ready, it went in for a closer, more powerful shot. Just as it was a foot away and about to release it though, Snowy's head popped up, and my eyes widened when I saw that the confusion was gone.

"Blizzard!"

Amber's voice rang through the clearing, and an ominous freezing wind enveloped his Pokemon. Ditty dispelled its move and tried to get out of there as fast as it could, but the transformer was too close and it was too late. The crushing move was unleashed, and it got thrown halfway across the battlefield, slamming into the grassy forest floor and slowly raising itself onto its elbows.

Snowy was quick and released a shower of Ice Shards on Ditty while it fought to stand up. Parrying off a few of the pesky missiles, it had enough time to charge up and shoot another Shadow Ball at its opponent that sent her crashing to the ground. In turn, Snowy also had a little trouble getting back up, but finally the two were floating opposite of each other again, both breathing hard and staring with narrowed eyes.

I took the moment to look at Amber across the field and clenched my teeth when I saw him smile a little.

"Do you really think you know my own Pokemon better than myself?" He asked curiously. Shaking his head, he raised a hand to Snowy and said, "Blizzard. On the water."

My mouth opened to give Ditty a command, but I could only stand there with gaping jaw as the cold wind swept over the entire arena. There were various puddles of water of all sizes still left over from Blasty and Pour's battle so I could tell immediately what Amber was up to when the freezing breeze touched the waters' surface.

The water and droplets that had accumulated in the air all around the field froze instantaneously. And I think we all know what happens when evaporated water freezes this close to the ground.

Yeah, it's called fog.

We must have used a lot of water during our last fight for the low-lying clouds proceeded to cover the entire battlefield and flood out through the trees around us. Unfortunately, it was a fairly thick fog, and I could just barely make out Ditty floating around in a confused wander.

"Hold on,!" I told him encouragingly as my mind fumbled for something to clear this away.

"I don't think so," came Amber's voice from far on the other side. "Shadow Ball!"

Snowy appeared like an apparition out of nowhere from the depths of the fog, a foreboding dark ball of energy between her fingers. Raising it high over her head, she slammed it down on Ditty with enough force to knock it all the way back to where I was standing. Quickly picking it up, I smiled sadly when I saw that the Pokemon could no longer battle.

"Game over."

Grimly returning it to its Pokeball for a nice rest, I got to my feet and saw a red beam flood over Snowy and take her back to her own Pokeball. The fog was beginning to clear but still pretty thick, and, not wanting to risk getting lost or losing Amber, I stayed right where I was.

"I win."

I could hear his voice catch a little at the end of his words but shook the thought away and crossed my arms. "Alright, you won fair and square. You don't have to tell me."

Not catching any footsteps, I narrowed my eyes and slowly took one forward in the direction I thought he was in. When a shifting sound came from ahead, I froze.

"Well, I know this wasn't exactly the happiest of meetings, but I've stayed too long, and I need to get going," Amber told me from somewhere.

I shook my head even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Oh no. That wasn't the deal."

I could literally hear his feet scuff the ground as he stopped. "What?"

"I said you didn't have to tell me." My lips curled up slyly. "But you are coming with me. I think the others will want to see you, too. Nido, Sunny Day! Jiggly, Sing!"

I quickly cupped my hands over my ears to avoid being put to sleep and closed my eyes to escape the harsh light that would ward off this haze. A few minutes later, I uncovered them and opened my eyes to find that the fog was still there and no lingering notes filled the air.

"W-what?!" I said in a shocked craze to no one in particular.

A sudden gust of wind buffeted me, and I threw an arm up to ward it off. When I looked back up, the fog had finally lifted, and Amber was atop his Salamence, his wings softly beating the low clouds away.

"B-but how?!"

My head whipping around the clearing, I put a hand to my mouth when I saw Jiggly and Nido completely knocked out and leaning against one of the trees. Rushing over to them, I patted their heads and apologized before returning them to their Pokeballs. Slowly getting back on my feet, I looked up at Amber and frowned.

"I used the fog to take them out with Hound and Ki while Snowy finished the battle with you," he explained simply, rubbing the back of his neck.

I threw my hands up and huffed. "So that's it? You're just going to leave without telling me anything?!"

"I won," he reminded me. "Besides, I've got somewhere I have to be. I'm sorry I can't tell you, Blue. I wish I could."

"You know what? No!" I shouted with a shake of my head. "Since you won't tell me, I'm going to do it myself. I'm going to find out what it is, Amber. Why you're doing this! And then we'll see if you really are telling the truth about what you said!"

His lips fell into a frown before lifting slightly into a sad smile. "Well then, I wish you the best of luck."

He gave that two-fingered salute he always did in place of waving, and his Salamence beat his wings harder, taking them higher into the sky before flying off to the west where the tree tops cut off my view of them.

Growling angrily, I turned around and started heading back into town. Amber said he cared about us. He said he wasn't meaning to hurt us. I gave a heated sigh and face-palmed. As much as I wanted to believe it, based on the obvious evidence right now, I just couldn't. And frankly, I didn't quite want to. I mean, why would I believe the person who almost kidnapped my Yellow?!

Shaking my head a little, I exited the tree line and got onto the sidewalk that headed back towards the library. Either way, I now had another new homework assignment.

Subject: History

Objective: Find out the secret behind Amber's past.

Me: *Defeat music plays and gameboy slams down again* Why can't I just defeat you Nobunga?! Why?!

Gardevoir: Hey! It's the end of the chapter! Come help me sign off!

Me: *grumble grumble* Fine. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this update. It was fun to write the battle part!

Gardevoir: There. Now you can go back to your gaming.

Me: YAY! *goes back to game but looks up and grins* Oh, and by the way, POKE-SPE FAN, I think I fixed our little "it" problem ;D P.S. I think you miss-spelled Gardevoir. Garvidor! XD I'm still laughing about how much that sounds like Garbodor! Hahahahaha!

Gardevoir: Wait, what?!

Me: Haha! Review and return!