Max: *watching snow outside window*

Carlos: *lying on couch* It had to be a blizzard today?!

Gardevoir: *happy smile* Well, isn't this unfortunate. Now we can't go to Nisdey Land.

Carlos: *narrows eyes* It's Disney World.

Gardevoir: *flicks hand* Same difference.

Max: *rolls eyes* Either way, it doesn't look like we'll even be able to go home at this rate!

Carlos: *perks up* NO SCHOOL!

Max: *facepalm* Aye...

Gardevoir: *looking around* Hey...has anyone seen Eon?

Max & Carlos: *look around worriedly* No...

Gardevoir: *looks out the window* Uh-Oh. Disclaimer: Eon does not own Pokemon in any way. Simply OC's and the plot.

Chapter Thirteen: Blue

"An old friend, Blue. A very old friend."

I had no idea what she meant by that as I passed out from the pain of being shot, but apparently, some forgotten part of me did.

And my subconscious was going to make sure that I remembered.

I shivered in fear as my vision was reduced to the view through the mask's two slits, my small five year-old body paling in great comparison to the massive golden bird hovering behind the eerie man standing before me.

"Now," his icy voice said smoothly. "Are you done trying to run away?"

Fearful of what would happen if I said no, I simply gave a small nod.

I couldn't tell what his expression was behind his mask, but I had a good feeling that it matched the cold steel's frightening smile.

"Good. Now, let's get you accommodated with the others."

Shaking lightly as the Ho-Oh flew off into the sky, I followed silently as the man came up to my side and led me through the foggy area to a large mile wide abandoned field with a large complex set right in the middle of it. There didn't seem to be any signs of civilization in any direction save for the structure ahead, and that was exactly where we were headed.

He led my fear-frozen form through the front prison-like gates to the inside of the perimeter where four lines of kids stood on either side of the main courtyard. Each row contained five children, and I could see that most of their expressions were similar to mine save for two who stood side by side at the front of the row, small smiles on their faces as the Masked Man walked forth with me at his side. He placed me in the final line that only had four, completing the pattern of five to a row and raising his arms towards the sky.

"Children! Do not be frightened!" He yelled out in his frosty voice, the mask turning down to stare at us all. "This is a special time! You have all been specifically chosen out of many to witness the event that will change the world forever!"

Regardless of his words, I felt myself shiver and desperately wished I could go back home to Mummy and Daddy.

"Now," his smooth voice said softly. "I know many of you are…unsure…about these new accommodations, but do not fret. You will all be looked after with the utmost care."

Even at five, I could sense the double meaning to his words.

He clapped his hands. "Now! Let's go over a few rules before we get things started." His voice grew low as he said, "You're positions are in fact temporary."

I sensed every child around me freeze as he took a step forward and leered at us from behind his cold mask.

"Not everyone here will still remain at the end of winter. Only a select few will be permanently kept. Those that survive the trials and evaluations will have the privilege of joining me in this world-changing event. Those that do not…" He gave a low chuckle, and my blood ran cold. "Well, let's just say that you won't be receiving the same treatment."

There was nothing but dead silence as he gave a nod and lifted a hand to either side. "Now, if you would, I'd like the girls to come over here and the boys over here."

We all moved automatically, the chilling atmosphere making our feet move before we could even think. The forty-some kids quickly split into two groups, all of our eyes wide as the Masked Man watched us. I looked around at them, but it was hard to distinguish individuals with all the masks creating a mob of shining silver that reflected in the light of the midnight moon.

The Masked Man waited silently as the last few filed in line on either side of him, his shoulders tensing when one of them tripped and fell. I looked through the slits of my mask to see that it was a little boy who couldn't have been more than three years younger than me with bright red hair that blew gently in the breeze. His little shoulders shook at the man's glare, and he quickly stumbled to the safety of his gender's group.

"Alright," the Mask of Ice said dauntingly. "I'm going to randomly pair you each with another member of your group. This will be your partner for the next months of your trials. Training, eating, sleeping…you will do everything with this person. You will learn each other's weaknesses and strengths, and you will learn how to fight alongside each other. However. Not both of you may make it through these following months. One of you may fail the trials, both of you could, or it's very possible that you both survive together. If that should happen, you should consider yourself lucky. For I don't find that likely to come."

By now every child in the complex's yard had gone still and simply nodded as he started pushing them into pairs. He started off with the boys, and my eyes wandered until they landed on the small redhead I had seen before. I could feel them widen in fear as he was partnered with a much bigger child with purple hair that made me worry for him. My anxiety soon included me though as the Masked finished off the males and made his way to their counterparts.

I found myself holding my breath as he slowly floated through the girls, gently putting them in twos as he gradually got to me. His flowing figure standing directly in front of me, I set my chin and clenched my fists, determined not to let him know that I was scared. The motion seemed to make him chuckle a moment before he took my shoulders and led me toward another girl he had set off to the side. Leaving me with her, he went to finish his task, and once completed, he had us line up in twos and follow him through the complex to what looked like a small dormitory and gave each pair a room into which they went and made themselves at home—or at least tried to, considering the circumstances.

I hadn't even looked once at whom my partner was, simply walking by her form until we were turned into a room of our own. There were two beds set on opposite sides of the fairly large room, two desks against the far wall side by side next to the beds. It looked fairly homey, not quite what I had been expecting, but I didn't whine. It could have been worse.

The door shut behind us, and I stood there silently with the other girl as a few minutes later, a hidden intercom came on, and the Masked Man's voice flooded the dorms.

"I would advise going to sleep, my children. You have a long day ahead of you."

And with that, any trace of him disappeared, and the room fell into silence.

Slowly turning to the other girl, I observed her through my cold mask as she did the same. There wasn't much too study as her face was also concealed, but in the moonlight streaming in from the window above the desks, I could see that she had very light blonde hair that trailed past her shoulders which were quite straight and sure considering our current situation. She appeared to be the same age as me, and I swiftly held out a hand to her before I could think twice.

"Hi. I'm Blue."

I took off my mask to show her what I really looked like and saw her stiffen in surprise at my sudden revelation. She stared at my hand for a long minute, doing nothing to make a move forward. I bit my lip and was about to take it back when she hesitantly reached her hand out to grasp mine.

"H-Hi."

I smiled slightly. "Do you have a name?"

She shook her head slightly.

I chuckled lightly. "Are you scared to tell me?"

This time she nodded shyly, and I smiled again. "That's okay. I'll make a nickname for you!"

I saw her head perk up, and I put a finger to my chin, the mask in my other hand. Seeing the moonlight flooding in and making her light hair glow white, an idea came to mind.

"How about Luna? Because of how pretty the moon makes your hair!"

She was still for the longest time again, and I considered taking it back in case she didn't like it when she suddenly nodded and took off her mask. I watched in happiness as her fair-skinned face emerged with a smile beneath her bright sun-gold eyes.

"I like that."

We were up at the crack of dawn the following day, obediently placing our masks back on our faces as we filed into the faint light of the courtyard. I hadn't gotten much rest as I had been longing for home like all the other children, but my weariness soon left as the Masked Man appeared like an apparition before us in the dark morning.

"Ah, I hope you all rested up," he chuckled eerily. He gestured at another part of the complex with a sweep of his hand and directed the first kid to start heading for it. "It's time to begin our first activity."

Naturally, Luna and I stuck together as we walked along with all of the other kids who appeared to be doing the same thing with their own partners. Once inside the building, I saw that it resembled one of those fighting dojos I had seen before back at home and vaguely wondered why were in such a place.

As the doors slammed shut behind us, the windows all suddenly blacked out, and the room became a haven of darkness. Some of the other kids cried out in surprise, and Luna and I discreetly took a step closer to each other in the dark.

No sooner had we done that though, another cry was let out but this time plagued with a hint of pain. Whipping my head around to try and detect what was happening, I reeled back in shock as something icy and sharp whacked my arm hard and bit into my skin. I heard Luna retaliate beside me but was unable to help her as I had to fight back myself. There were some mean kids back home at school so I wasn't completely defenseless.

Snapping my arm out when the icy attacker made contact again, I let out a silent cry as I broke straight through whatever it was, my skin reverberating with the force of the hit. A thousand little shards of something cold flew in every direction, and I froze as the sounds of ambush slowly faded, and the light flickered on above our heads.

My eyes widened when I saw the statues of ice stationed in a ring around the large group of us kids. They looked lithe and eerie, some frozen mid-lunge and others standing as if observing the children in front of them.

Looking at my feet, my eyes could only widen further at the shattered figure on the ground. It was another frozen warrior, but his head had been broken off, lying battered and cracked against the far wall no doubt due to my sudden retaliation.

All gazes were locked on me, and I resisted the urge to squirm. Ever so slowly, the Masked Man emerged from the shadow hanging over the front door. He slowly walked up to my slightly trembling form, and I watched in shock as he flicked his wrist, the icy head flying back and melding onto the clear figure in response. Then he gave a wide wave of his arms, and all the ice statues moved as if human, assuming various positions along the walls of the room before growing still once more.

Every child watched him as he turned to me and tilted his head, a hand on his chin.

"Quite good reflexes you have," he murmured with icy smoothness before directing his attention to everyone. "Children! I would like to introduce you to your new playground!"

Gesturing at the various ice warriors, he said, "These are memories of men long ago who fought with their own mind and body without having to rely on the power of a Pokemon." He turned back to us, and my eyes widened as he went on. "You will learn the way of their battle. This is your first trial. As the day goes on, you will become aware of the others, but for now, let us start with this one."

I tilted my head in confusion as did many of the other kids, but we quickly righted ourselves when the Masked Man turned to us and commanded that we split up into our pairs. I turned around to find Luna heading back for me as we had been separated during the ambush. Standing side by side, we watched the others silently as they did the same, and the statues against the wall suddenly pushed off and raced across the room, one stopping in front of each set of children.

"They will perform a sequence of steps," the Masked Man's voice boomed out. "Memorize them and practice them on each other. Once you are ready, the statue will assess you."

Drifting over to a chair sitting on a pedestal across the room, he watched as the warriors of ice suddenly burst to life.

Luna and I's eyes went wide as we saw its crystalline arms swing gracefully in a flurry of arcs and slashes, wondering how in the world we could ever learn something like that. When it came to a stop, we turned to each other and hesitantly held up our arms. Calling upon our memories, we started trying to copy the statue. It was one of the most tedious and ridiculous things I could ever remember having to do, but I refrained from commenting after a glance at the evil man sitting quietly on his throne.

"Blue," Luna whispered, and I looked back to see that the warrior was approaching us, its arms up and ready to go.

I gave a small gulp. "Here we go."

Needless to say, we got pummeled. Badly. We were nowhere even close to outsmarting the chiseled block of ice, ending up on the ground with our arms stinging from the bites of cold hits. Lifting my head, I glanced across the room to see another pair watching us, a small brunette who was getting beat up pretty badly herself and a blunette with icy locks of wavy hair that bounced around her shoulders as she easily defended herself. I saw that she was clearly bored with the lack of challenge and had decided to pick some fun by laughing at how pitiful Luna and I were dealing with our own enemy.

Glaring at her, I quickly jumped to my feet and lashed out at the statue again only to be thrown back to the floor. The blunette laughed even harder, and I gritted my teeth. Luna was on her feet by now, and I saw the blue-haired girl almost double over when my partner got knocked down beside me. Luna saw her laughing too and frowned. She growled, and I held her back as she leapt up and made a start for her.

"Luna! Don't!" I told her ruefully. "We don't what would happen if we start a fight!"

The gold-eyed girl set her jaw but took my warning and stepped back just in time to dodge another hit from the statue. In retaliation, she snapped her hand out in one of the sequences that we were learning and perfectly cut off the clear arm. It immediately jumped up from the ground and reattached to the warrior, but I couldn't help but widen my eyes.

"How did you do that?" I asked incredulously.

She turned to me and held up her hands, helping me to position mine correctly. Telling me how to correctly hit the ice with it, I dodged the statue's next attack proceeded to execute my own successful punch.

"Wow!" I told her with a smile. "You sure picked up on that quick!"

She shrugged, but I could see her turn away sheepishly. "I have a brother."

I nodded cheerfully, seeing her in a new light as our lesson continued.

Luna sighed as we collapsed on the grass of the courtyard and I did the same a second later. Our fighting lessons had seemed to last forever this morning and right after them, we'd moved on to what was to be our second trial—working in darkness. We'd had to maneuver and due various activities all without the use of light. And after that, we'd been given Pokemon and told to battle with them. I'd never truly fought with a Pokemon before and neither had Luna so we hadn't done too well for our first day. It seemed to me as if the Masked Man was trying to judge our mind, skill, and strength.

Luna sighed again and turned to me. "This is not at all what I'd been expecting."

I nodded slowly. "Well, I hadn't exactly been expecting any of this."

Both of us went still at that.

"W-what do you think they're doing?" Luna whispered. "Back at home?"

I stared up at the dark-orange sky, watching as the sun slowly began to set. "They're looking for us of course."

She didn't say anything for a moment. "But how will they find us? I don't think we're anywhere near home."

I closed my eyes. "I-I'm not sure."

She nodded quietly and closed her eyes like me.

"Hey! Runts!"

Our eyes snapped open, and Luna sat up in annoyance to find the blunette from our fighting lessons. She stood with a hand on her hip as if she considered her surroundings below her standards, a foot tapping on the ground. She was definitely one of the oldest kids, surpassing Luna and I by five or six years. Her silvery-blue hair flowed down her back in large waves, and Luna scoffed as she flicked a few locks.

"Exhausted after only the first day, huh?" The girl snickered, seeing our laid out forms. "Well, I can tell already that you two won't last long."

Luna bristled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The blunette laughed. "Just wait. You'll find out soon enough."

And with that, she stalked off towards the dorms where everyone was beginning to retire.

Luna gave an angry sigh. "I swear, she makes me so mad."

I nodded with a frown. "I know what you mean."

Luna threw her back a glare as we stood up and began following the others. "I don't know what her problem is. All she's been doing all day is laughing and doing her best to make fun of us in front of everyone."

I rolled my eyes. "She's just full of it. Forget about her."

Luna nodded after a minute, but I could tell that she wasn't totally convinced.

Back in our room, we plopped down on our beds and threw off the masks, their metal echo sounding as they hit the desks. My face in the pillow, I sighed lightly before lifting it up to see Luna staring out the window, her light eyes glowing in the darkening sunset.

"It's okay," I murmured, although I wasn't sure if the words were more for her rather than myself. "Somebody will come save us."

She nodded resolutely. "I know. My big brother is going to."

I tilted my head. "Your brother?"

She turned her gaze to me, and I saw a fierce shot of hope in her eyes. "He told me he would. Before they took me away."

My eyes widened. "H-he was there when it happened?"

She nodded again, looking down. "He told me not to worry because he would find me. He said to stay safe and protect my identity above all else. That's why I haven't told you my name. He said they can't change who I am if they don't know who I am."

I shook my head slowly, a sudden longing washing over me. "You're lucky. I don't have any siblings."

It was quiet a minute, and she looked up at me with a small smile. "That's okay. You have me."

My eyes widened again at her. "Really?"

She nodded, her smile growing. "Of course! We're partners, remember? I would never leave you behind! When my brother comes, we'll take you with us!"

I felt a small tear in my eye but rubbed it away. Here was a girl who I barely even knew, but somehow, was willing to help break me out of this prison. I'd only just met her, but I had a feeling we were going to be good friends.

"Thank you."

She smiled. "No problem!"

I chuckled a little and watched as the sun disappeared completely before turning on a lamp that sat atop the desk. "You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before."

She laughed and winked. "That's because there's only one me!"

I laughed back at her before the door opened and my smile turned into a scowl. The blunette from before stood in the doorway with her brown-haired partner, a tray in each of their hands. Both of them were without their masks, and I could clearly see the cunning smile on the taller one's face.

"Here!" She said with mock cheerfulness that didn't quite go along with the slyness swimming in the blue-silver eyes that matched her hair. "We brought you guys supper!"

Luna's eyes narrowed as she walked over to her and her partner stalked over to me. For some reason, I saw a speck of guilt in her warm brown eyes and slowly reached for the tray she held out to me. She quickly walked out of the room, and I watched her with open curiosity.

Luna however was staring at the blunette with obvious suspicion. "We heard about the dinner schedule earlier. We were about to go get some."

The blue-eyed girl smirked and held out a tray to her. "Well, consider it a welcoming gift."

Luna turned her head away. "I'd rather not."

The blunette scoffed angrily. "That's no way to treat your Senpai!"

Luna turned back with a cocked eyebrow. "You make fun of me and my friend all day, make us seem like a joke, and plus I don't even know you. So, I don't care if you're older than me. I'm not taking it."

The girl laughed. "Fine. My name is Karen, and I'm simply trying to make up for being so rude to you earlier. Are you really one to refuse an apology?"

Luna's eyes only narrowed further before she reached forward to grab the tray. As she leaned over the bed, her hair caught on a button on Karen's shirt. She started tugging against it before the older girl huffed in annoyance and set both trays on the desk to unhook her.

"Would you stop moving?" She snapped at Luna.

To my surprise, the blonde went still enough for Karen to release her. Once free, she grabbed a tray and smiled. "Sorry about that. I've been meaning to get my hair cut for a while now."

Karen only frowned at her before snatching the remaining tray and stalking out of the room.

Tilting my head, I shrugged before picking up a fork to start eating. A second later, Luna was on my bed, plucking it from fingers and taking away the tray.

"Hey!" I protested with empty hands. "I don't know about you, but I'm actually quite hungry!"

"You don't want to eat it," she said flatly, dumping the contents out the window. I was about to protest again when she closed the window and set the tray down. "She did something to it."

My eyes widened. "What? How do you know that?"

Luna smirked. "My big brother always tries to pull stuff on me. I could recognize that look in his eyes anywhere."

I looked helplessly at her tray which happened to be the only food we had yet could not eat either. "Well, I guess we'll be going without supper tonight."

Her smirk grew, and she sat down beside me with her tray, handing my fork back before taking her own. "I wouldn't say that."

My eyebrows scrunched. "Huh?"

She winked at me. "I grabbed the other tray when she put them down."

My jaw dropped open, and she simply ate her first forkful. Shaking my head with a smile, I did the same. "Wow, you're really sneaky. What do you think it'll do to her?"

Luna tapped her chin thoughtfully and swallowed before grinning at me.

"Let's just say, I don't think we'll be seeing her at our lessons tomorrow."

And just like she'd predicted, the following day was a pleasant one of freedom from Karen while said girl was throwing up in her dorm.

Weeks passed by slowly with Luna and me waiting hopefully for her brother to arrive. But with each day that went by, our fire ebbed away and was replaced with a shadow of gloom as we realized that it was quite possible that no one would ever be able to find us.

After the little supper sickness on our first day, Karen had only grown steadily more venomous towards us, tripping us up in the hallways so that everyone laughed and taunting us with the threat of what would happen if we weren't good enough to pass our evaluations.

That alone was enough to keep us up at night. Every few days, another kid would suddenly disappear from the ranks without a trace. Nothing had happened to me yet, and I thanked Arceus every morning when I found my blonde friend still in her bed.

Subconsciously, I always kept an eye out for that little redhead I had seen on the first day. It twisted my heart that someone as small as him had to be subjected to something as horrible as this and silently promised to keep an eye out for him whenever I could even though we never crossed paths all that much. We did though one day when the Masked Man decided to give the half of kids who still remained since the first day a Pokemon of their own.

"You have all done very well," the Masked Man said proudly one afternoon as about the last twenty-four of us kids stood around him in the courtyard. "And as a reward, I think it's about time you all had a Pokemon of your own to train and become powerful with."

He silently produced a box from the depths of his flowing cape and sat it on the ground. It was no larger than his head, but when he opened it, I could see it contained a vast amount of Pokeballs with a variety of Pokemon inside.

Calling each pair up one at a time, I saw that Karen was ahead of Luna and me and scoffed as she smirked at us. Her partner had been gone for a while now, and she seemed to enjoy the idea of being a one-woman-show. Eventually it was her turn, and I watched as she received a Pokeball containing a small furry brown Pokemon. She evaluated it a moment before walking a ways off and releasing it to assess it further.

Then it was mine and Luna's turn. She went first, calmly walking up to the man ahead of her and meeting his steel gaze with her own. He said nothing to her, simply setting a red and white sphere in her hands and watching as she went. I tilted my head and proceeded to do the same, my eyes straining to see inside the box through my grey mask. Finally, he pulled out another Pokeball and gave it to me before I stepped out of line and walked over to Luna who had already released her Pokemon.

It was a furry purple Bug-type with big red eyes and long white antennae. Luna seemed to love it as she was giving it a big hug, and it was chirping happily in response. I hadn't even taken a look at my Pokemon yet so I wasted no time bringing it out to join Luna's.

Mine was a small round pink Pokemon that I thought looked a lot like a Normal-type. It had cute cat-like ears and round blue eyes. I gave a wide smile and proceeded to give it a hug like Luna had done. This was my first Pokemon ever, and I couldn't have been happier. I loved adorable things!

Unfortunately, I was not too good with names. "So, what are they called?"

Luna looked up from her Pokemon and put a finger to her chin. "I believe the one you have is called a Jigglypuff and mine is a Venonat!"

My eyes widened in excitement. "That' so cool! I can't believe they're really ours!"

Luna nodded happily before I saw her eyes move slightly to the right and see something behind me. Turning around, I saw that the Masked Man was looming over the little redhead I had come to recognize.

"Why won't you take it?" He asked, his frosty voice echoing around the courtyard.

The little boy shook his head slightly and reached into the pocket of his coat, and to my surprise, he retrieved a minimized Pokeball of his own. The Masked Man looked into it curiously before nodding.

"I suppose that shall do," was all he said before ushering him out of line.

The little boy's purple-haired partner received his Pokemon next, and after walking away from the Masked Man, he released it. From what I could see, it was a small green bird with little round wings and long red feet.

"A Natu," I heard Luna murmur beside me. I tilted my head at her. "It's a Psychic and Flying-type," she said to me before her brow crinkled curiously as the little redhead brought out the Pokemon he'd had with him all along.

After the initial flash of light, I saw that it was a cat-like Pokemon with a pink feather replacing its ear and contrasting greatly with its dark body color. Its hands were two large white claws, and it gave its surroundings a curious glance before turning to the redhead in confusion. The little boy whispered something, and the Pokemon froze.

"And that's a Sneasel!" Luna whispered in shock.

I turned to her. "What's wrong?"

She shifted her arms beneath her Venonat, and I did the same with Jigglypuff. "It's just that…it's a Pokemon from a region called Johto. The same goes for Natu—that's why I was surprised when I saw it."

The sudden thought of our actual location suddenly sprang to mind and made my heart fill with dread, but it was replaced with fear as the purple-haired walked up to his partner.

"So, you had a Pokemon all this time, eh?" He said with a smirk. He observed the little boy's Sneasel before sighing. "Well that's a disappointment. It doesn't even look all that strong." Clicking his tongue, he turned around and cupped a hand around his mouth. "Karen! Come look at this!"

Returning her brown Pokemon, said blunette stalked over to them and scoffed at the little redhead's Sneasel. "Look at what, Will? There's nothing to see!"

The redhead and his Sneasel both bristled at that but could do nothing. It was two on one and both of his opponents were much bigger than him.

As they continued to laugh at him, I felt my blood begin to boil until I couldn't take it anymore and marched over protectively in front of him.

"Listen you bunch of Muk slime!" I yelled at them. "Stop being so mean! There's no point in picking on someone smaller than you like this! It's just cruel!"

Will raised an eyebrow, and Karen folded her arms with a smirk. "And what are you gonna do about it runt?"

I clenched my teeth and smirked back when Luna appeared beside me, her Venomoth leaning forward challengingly at them. Jigglypuff leapt out of my arms to do the same, and I smiled at it before cocking an eyebrow at Karen and her friend Will.

"Oh?" Karen questioned with a smile. "You guys want to battle? Hm…" She turned to Will. "How about it? Might be a good warm-up for battle lessons today."

The violette laughed. "I'd be surprised if it was even that difficult!"

Karen laughed before turning back to us. "Alright. You guys are on."

I turned to see if the Masked Man would object, but he had just finished handing out Pokeballs and simply watched in curiosity. Setting my jaw, I waited until Luna and our opponents went off to find a space for the battle before turning to the redhead who was standing very still behind me.

I knelt down to him. "Are you alright?"

He looked up at me and nodded softly.

I smirked. "Good. Don't worry; Luna and I are going to teach those guys a lesson!"

I saw him chuckle lightly and smiled before running after my blonde friend. Will had already rereleased his Natu and Karen had done the same with her Pokemon who I still did not know the name of.

It was like Luna had read my mind as she said, "Karen has an Eevee. It's a Normal-type like your Jigglypuff."

I nodded and turned to her. "How do you know all the names of these Pokemon?"

She shrugged. "Big brother liked to teach me all about the Pokemon in the forest."

I smiled at her before realizing that we were about to battle and turning to face Will and Karen as the blunette cleared her throat and smirked. "Ready to get pummeled?"

Luna scoffed. "Better be talking to yourself."

Karen smirked. "I'll take that as a yes. Eevee, Tackle!"

"Venonat, dodge!" Luna yelled, her Pokemon doing just that as Eevee barreled past.

I was so caught up in watching that I whipped around in surprise when Jigglypuff let out a cry and I saw that Natu was using Peck on it. Trying to remember our battling lessons and what basic moves it could probably use, I shouted, "Jiggly, Sing!"

It smiled at me, apparently liking the nickname I had just made up for it, before closing its eyes and whispering a soft lullaby to Natu who was promptly knocked out. Seeing as how it would be occupied for a while, I turned back to see how Luna was doing.

Her Venonat was holding up quite well to Karen's relentless stream of Tackles; however, it was slowly losing ground and falling back with each hit.

"Quick, Foresight!" Luna said as if she had a trick up her sleeve.

Venonat's eyes lit up with a faint red light, and Eevee stopped its next Tackle as a white flash came from the Bug-type and enveloped it.

Karen laughed loudly from the opposite side of the field. "You really think a weak move like that can stop us? Eevee, Tackle again!"

The brown Pokemon burst through the light and slammed into Venonat, knocking it flat on its back. I thought I saw a small flash of light, but when I blinked, it was gone. Leaping back, Eevee started towards Jiggly, seeing as how its first opponent was down.

"Your turn," Karen smiled deviously. "Let's go with another Tackle!"

I winced, waiting for Eevee to collide with Jiggly, but my eyes shot back open and stared when nothing happened. Karen was doing quite the same as she realized that her Pokemon couldn't carry out the move.

"What is this?!" She screamed in outrage. "What's going on?"

Luna chuckled. "Can't you recognize a Disable move when you see one?"

Karen hissed in frustration but suddenly smirked and jerked her head at Eevee. "Helping Hand!"

I turned to Luna in confusion as Eevee quickly executed the move. "Why would she—?"

"Blue!" Luna shrieked. "Watch out!"

I whipped back around, but it was too late, and I made it in time to see Jiggly get knocked out by a charged Peck attack from Natu who had awoken when no one was watching. I scoffed as I realized what Karen had used Helping Hand for and apologetically looked to Luna.

The golden-eyed girl simply shook her head and gave me a small smile that no one else saw before setting her face. "Venonat! Tackle Natu!"

The purple Bug-type started charging forward before Karen smirked, and her Eevee intervened, tripping it so that it face-planted harmlessly into Natu's side.

Will told his Pokemon to hold Venonat down and turned to Karen with a smile. "Here Karen, dear. I've given you the perfect opportunity."

The blunette snickered. "Now Eevee! Bite!"

I saw Luna cringe as Venonat let out a cry of pain at the sharp pinch of Eevee's teeth sinking into it. The Normal-type finally let go, and my eyes widened as they caught another brief flash from Venonat's feelers.

Karen saw that Venonat was still able to battle and sighed. "Will, would you end this for me? I believe you have the type advantage, no?"

Will nodded. "With pleasure. Natu, Peck!"

Like with Eevee's Tackle, nothing happened, and Will stomped the ground. "Now what?!"

Karen's eyes narrowed at Luna. "Another Disable. My, my, aren't you sneaky?"

I chuckled to myself, thinking back to when I'd used that exact word to describe her.

Luna smirked. "Venonat, Supersonic!"

A beam of yellow knocked into Eevee, causing it to fall under a spell of confusion, and the sudden attack surprised Natu enough that Venonat could escape. It was a fast little Bug-type as it was able to get out of there in time for Luna to give another command.

"Tackle!"

In a matter of seconds, Natu was down for the count, and Will let out a cry.

"No!" He wailed before Karen silenced him with an irritated wave of her hand.

"Come on, Eevee!" She shouted desperately. "Snap out of it!"

"Ah, ah," Luna waggled her finger. "Not so fast. Venonat, let's Tackle again, shall we?"

And in another matter of seconds, a knocked-out Eevee joined Natu on the ground.

There was a long period of silence, only the sound of the wind blowing through the courtyard before the Masked Man drifted over to us.

"That is enough for today," he said in a flat voice that seemed to chill the air. "You may retire for the night now children."

Another age of silence followed before the kids realized he wasn't joking and took advantage of their good fortune to head to the cafeteria early. Luna and I didn't move, but once he turned to us, we returned our Pokemon and obediently started walking for the dorms.

I walked through the doors of the building and started down the hallway until seeing the little redhead watching me from up ahead and stopping. We watched each through our masks, neither of us moving. Then he walked up to me, and I watched with wide eyes as he bowed slightly.

"Thank you," I heard him whisper before running off down the hall.

I smiled to myself as his form vanished and turned around to find that Luna was still at the front doors, her head peeping around the corner. Walking up behind her, I said quietly, "What are you doing?"

She beckoned me forward, and my eyes widened as I realized that we could hear what the Masked Man was saying out in the courtyard. His voice echoed over the area, and I saw that Karen and Will were still out there with him.

"You two are my most elite children," he said softly. "It amazes me that one so young could defeat you two."

Karen gulped. "Please sir! We'll do better! Just don't-!"

He cut her off with a sweep of his hand. "I do not plan on disposing of you. You are valuable assets that I cannot afford to lose." He grabbed his chin. "It's that blond one that worries me. She seems too powerful for her own good. In her case, she might be better gone."

I sucked in a breath, and Luna froze as he went on.

"She may prove to be a problem later on as I can sense that she is not completely committed as the two of you are," he mused aloud. Giving a heated sigh after a moment, he hung his head. "Alright. I shall take care of her tonight. It's just something that I cannot risk."

I saw Karen grin in delight, and Will smirk in triumph, but all I could do was turn to Luna in horror as she turned to ice. My mind turning to fear, I grabbed her arm and sprinted us back to our dorm where I threw her inside and slammed the door shut.

"What are we going to do?!" I shouted in distress, beginning to pace back and forth as I grabbed my head. "We can't let them take you!"

Luna said nothing, simply pushing past me out of the room. "Stay here."

I watched her go helplessly before setting my face and going to lock the window. I wasn't going to let anything come in here. Luna was staying and that was that. Who cared if she was great at battling?! It just showed how much…potential, as the Masked Man would call it…she had!

Suddenly feeling drained, I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling. What would I do if they took Luna? In only a matter of months she had become my best friend. Even though the circumstances had kind of guaranteed it, I didn't care. I hadn't had a lot of friends back home, and Luna felt truer than any of them. We had each other's back; we both knew that.

I narrowed my eyes. And because of that, I was not going to let anything happen to her.

I laid there for a while, the sunset outside turning to twilight and soon darkness as I waited for Luna to return. Suddenly, I realized that they could've gotten her while she went out and ran for the door just as she walked in.

I crushed her in a worried hug. "Where have you been?! I thought they took you!"

She smiled at my concern and shook her head. "No, I went to find out where exactly we are."

I tilted my head. "Come again?"

She walked to her bed before beckoning me over and sitting on her legs. "I broke into the Masked Man's database and found out where this complex is."

I gasped. "H-How did you—!" I let out a cry as I cut my foot on the corner of her bed in my eagerness to hear her answer. I grabbed it, hopping on one foot as blood began to well up on my skin.

"Dang it!" I huffed. "Do you think they have any—"

I stopped talking as she got up and placed her hand on it. Instantly, a flood of warmth washed over my skin, and the cut healed in a second.

My eyes widened. "Woah."

She smiled widely. "I have special powers. Both of my siblings do, too."

My eyebrows creased. "Your brother, too? Wait, you have another brother?!"

She laughed and shook her head. "Nope! I have a big brother and little sister!"

I chuckled. "It must be nice to have siblings." I set my foot down and stared at it in wonder. I was about to ask how she'd gotten such awesome powers, but she seemed to have sensed it and answered my first question before I could ask.

"Anyway, so I found out that we're in a faraway region called Hoenn," she explained to me.

I could feel my eyes widen further as I sat down beside her on her bed. "Wow. We really are far from home, aren't we?"

She nodded tersely. "But I'm still going to try to get out of here."

I froze. "Luna, what do you mean?"

She closed her eyes. "They're coming for me tonight anyway so I might as well try. But, knowing the Masked Man and all his security he's installed to keep us here, I won't make it past the front gate." She bared her teeth. "So, either way, I'm history."

My jaw dropped in horror. "Don't say that!"

"Why? We know it's true." Her voice was bitter, and I held back tears.

"What about your brother?" I said, trying to convince her not to do it. "You said he was coming for you!"

"Blue," she said softly. "It's been, what? Three months now?" She sighed sadly. "We both know he's not coming."

I bit my lip. "But you can't just give up!"

She chuckled to herself. "It's okay. My time here is done. I would take you with me, but I know I'm probably not going to make it out of here, and I don't want you to fall victim to the same fate."

I clutched her arm. "Luna—"

"Stay here," she interrupted me. "If you can keep up how well we've been doing, I know you'll make it to the end and survive." She smirked. "And watch out for that little redhead. I think he's gonna need all the help he can get." Her small faltered. "He's so young…reminds me of my sister…" She closed her eyes and sniffled. "I'm so glad she didn't have to come here."

I saw the tears gathering in her eyes and set my jaw. "No, Luna. You're not going."

She looked at me. "Blue, it doesn't matter—"

I shook my head. "Yes, yes it does. I've been through too much with you to just allow them to come and take you away. I won't let them!"

She smiled faintly. "That's sweet of you, Blue, but there's nothing we can do about it. We're just kids."

I glared at her. "We'll just see about that."

I got up and stalked over to my bed, laying down and watching her furiously so that I could stop anyone that tried to touch her. She saw what I was trying to do and gave a sad laugh before lying in her own bed.

"Blue, just go to sleep. You'll need it for your lessons tomorrow."

"You mean our lessons tomorrow," I told her stubbornly before softening my voice. "It's going to be okay, Luna. I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay?"

She simply smiled and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Blue. For everything."

I didn't say anything, only continuing to watch over her as she fell into sleep and the late hours of the night fell upon us. Around midnight, I felt my eyes growing heavy but forced them to stay open in fear of what might happen if I should let them close. But I didn't have a choice in the matter. The stress and exhaustion from today soon got to me, and they finally slammed shut.

I was lost in a world of darkness, and when I finally woke up, I realized the fatal mistake I had made.

But by then, it was too late.

Her bed was empty.

"Luna!"

"Blue!"

I fought against the familiar voice yelling out to me, trying to watch as my five-year old self ran out of the room, but the long-lost memory faded into oblivion, and my mind slipped back into reality. However, I had a good feeling about what was running through my head as I raced out of the room in search for my gold-eyed friend for it was whirling through my thoughts for the second time now.

What had happened to Luna?!

*Knock on the front door*

Gardevoir: *hesitantly looks up from window* One of you should probably answer that.

Max: *narrows eyes* What happened?

Gardevoir: *nervous chuckle* Let's just say that Eon and I had a...disagreement...over who got the last doughnut while you guys were sleeping in this morning...

Carlos: *jumps up* There's doughnuts?! *runs into kitchen* WHERE ARE THEY?!

Gardevoir: *another nervous chuckle* W-Why don't I go help him? *hurries into kitchen*

Max: *sighs and answers door to see a frozen Eon snowman* *trying not to burst out laughing* H-Hey! W-haha-what happened to you?!

Me: *trying to speak but face is covered by snowman's head*

Max: *uses trusty Ninetales to melt away all the snow while laughing* What was that?

Me: *glaring* Where is she?

Gardevoir: *accidentally walks into room*

Me: AHA! *jumps onto Gardevoirs back* I WANT THE DOUGHNUT!

Gardevoir: *runs around* I don't know where it is! You hid it somewhere! Don't you remember?!

Me: NO I DON'T! YOU FOUND IT AND TOOK IT! I WANT IT!

Carlos: *walks in eating doughnut* Hey guys! Look what I found in the toaster-!

Gardevoir & Me: *tackles Carlos* DOUGHNUT!

Max: *sweatdrop* Am I the only sane one here?

Me: Thanks for reading guys! I hoped you liked the chapter! It's the longest one I've ever written! Whoo! *sweatdrop* I know it's been two weeks since I last updated, but I had finals last week so I haven't had too much time for writing until this weekend. And just so you all aren't confused, this chapter is about a memory from Blue's past with the Masked Man. ;D Just thought I'd let you know that! Review and return!