The pair walked the path to Striaton, both being careful to avoid tall grass where they could disturb pokemon nests. Instead of having problems with wild pokemon, White had to deal with the challenge of random trainers begging her for battles. Each trainer was defeated with ease thanks to Snivy and his new amazing attacks that he learned along the way.

"Now use your vine whip to send him flying!" White ordered Snivy. Snivy flung his wrapped opponent, a small lilipup, up into the air. He then retracted his vines and watched his opponent hit the ground hard.

"Lilipup return!" the trainer boy said miserably. He knew there was no way his puppy could get up after the intense assault from the little green lizard across from him.

White thanked Snivy for his efforts and returned him to his pokeball.

"Thanks for the battle," the young boy said with a huff. He held out some money and White accepted it gratefully.

"Do you know how much farther it is until my partner and I reach Striaton City?" White asked the boy politely.

"Yeah, sure, it's like a little over a 2 hour walk down in that direction," the boy pointed, "You'll see a sign."

White thanked him and he dashed away from her, clearly embarrassed by his loss. N stood up from his seat near a large tree trunk as White trotted up to him. He dusted off his pants and looked at her expectantly.

The sun was nearly about to set on their third day wandering though the maze of trees. At some point on the first afternoon after they left Accumula, White's Xtransciever battery died and they were left to follow the path. Instead of backtracking to Accumula to get a new battery, they both decided to be a little adventurous and use the map that White's mother had given to her. Unfortunately, the path ended and they had to walk though tall grasses and bushes until they ended up somewhere in a dense forest. Sleeping in the forest hadn't been unbearable, but the lack of a suitable place to clean up left the two of them a little desperate to find the town. At least the company had been pleasant. White kept N entertained with stories about Cheren, Bianca, and herself growing up, and N thought up riddles and puzzles to challenge White; She was never able to solve any unless he gave her hints, though.

They drilled each other about their personal likes and dislikes. White enjoyed dancing around her room to catchy pop music. N enjoyed playing piano. White enjoyed eating potato chips and reading manga until 1 AM. N enjoyed long afternoons reading and then studying allegories behind the stories, or analogies between different pieces of literature. White disliked studying and struggled in most subjects. N enjoyed every subject, especially science ("How can you understand all that crazy stuff?" White said after N described the basics of carbon chains to her.)

"It figures with my luck," White said with a sigh.

"How far away are we?" N asked.

"A couple of hours in that direction, and we should be there," White said grimly, "I was hoping we could get there before the sun went down, but that battle just took up way too much time."

"mm," N agreed, "You could always decline. Snivy looked exhausted during that last battle."

"It's disrespectful to decline from a pokemon battle, but you're right. We'll probably take a long break from battles when we reach Striaton."

They began their trek again, but White decided to speak up.

"You know, you could enter in some pokemon battles. We've been out here for a few days and I've never once seen you use your pokemon. What was its name?"

"Zorua."

"Yeah! Zorua! I've never even heard of that pokemon," Whte said and her fist met her palm decidedly, "All right. Go on. Send it out of its pokeball. I want to see!"

"What do you mean? Zorua has been following us ever since we began our journey," N said. He pulled a hand out of his pocket and gestured behind them.

"He is behind us right now."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me!" White spun around excitedly. She scanned the trees behind them for any movement, and N grinned at her enthusiasm.

"Stop teasing her, Zorua. You can come on out."

To White's surprise a black boot that looked strangely like hers poked out from behind a tree. She watched as a leg finally came into view followed by the rest of a girl that looked very similar to her.

Actually it looked identical to her. Her hair, outfit, face, everything was identical to White.

White stood completely dumbfounded by the girl in front of her. She gasped when the Fake White stuck its tongue out at them.

"Zooooor," fake White said.

"Wh-what on earth…?" White exclaimed. She didn't know whether to be completely flabbergasted or utterly terrified. N laughed out loud, something White hadn't heard him do very often. With her hands shaking, she pulled out her pokedex and pointed it at the mirror of herself.

"That's really good, Zorua, but as usual, you forgot to tuck in your tail!" N said still chuckling.

"Zor?" the fake white said, shocked. 'She' turned around and, sure enough, there was a giant fluffy black tail at the base of the back in the middle of White's shorts. Fake White shrugged and let out a sigh of disappointment. With a sudden shudder, the fake White dematerialized to form a tiny black fox no bigger than Snivy.

"Zorua is the 'tricky fox' pokemon?" White said staring at her pokedex to get information.

"I suppose one could call it that," N said nonchalantly. He was eyeing the pokedex suspiciously.

"That's interesting," White smiled down at Zorua and squatted down to say hello while stashing her pokedex back in her pocket. Zorua immediately freaked out and went to hide behind N's legs.

"Did I do something wrong?" White worriedly asked N.

"Zorua. She will not harm you," N said quietly to the tiny black pokemon.

Zorua gave N a pathetic whimper.

"I promise. Just go and say hello."

Zorua growled a little and bit at N's pants leg. He didn't want to follow N's orders.

"Humor me," N said flatly.

Zorua trotted up to White, and looked at her timidly.

"Don't worry. He won't bite unless you move too quickly. Put your hand out slowly and he will come to you," N said. He seemed a little nervous too.

White obeyed N and carefully reached her hand out to Zorua. The fox walked a few steps forward nervously. It shut its eyes and pushed the top of its head up to White's outstretched palm. White looked at N excitedly, and he gave her a small smile of reassurance.

White began scratching the top of Zorua's soft head with her long fingernails. She moved her fingers behind Zorua's ears and it mewed in satisfaction and scooted slightly closer to her.

"Oh, Zorua! Your fur is so soft!" White said quietly while massaging underneath his chin. Zorua glanced up at White with a look of surprise. Seeing her smile down at him made Zorua bury as much of its face as it could into its fuzzy mane bashfully.

Zorua decided to leap back to N and he smiled up at his trainer. With a hop Zorua sprung onto N's shoulder with one jump. N straightened his hat.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," White said, still kneeling. She held out her arms.

"Can you help me up?"

Zorua seemingly whispered something into N's ears, and N nodded.

"O-okay," he said shakily.

He took her hands into his and helped lift White up off the ground. When she was on her feet, she was facing he and Zorua.

"Thank you, N," she said sweetly. It was then that he noticed the short distance between the two of them and became a little uncomfortable. She reached out to him and N felt his heart pounding. He froze on the spot.

Her hand moved slowly. Closer. And closer.

White ruffled the top of Zorua's head lovingly.

"Well? Come on guys! Just a couple more hours!" she said practically skipping away from them in the direction of Striaton.

N let out a deep breath he had been holding and glanced over at Zorua, who was still hanging off of his shoulder.

"What?" N asked his friend. Zorua was smiling at him smugly.

"Zorrr," Zorua said slyly.

"Oh be quiet," N blushed and began to walk in the direction that White had left.

"Zoruu."

"Well you don't have to gloat about it," N said sourly.

They ran to catch up with White, who teasingly called them slower than a shuckle.

"So." White began as they were walking.

"So?" N repeated, waiting for White's comment. It was amazing how relaxed he had become around White since they began their short journey to the next town together. When they met, he felt as though it was difficult for him to piece an entire sentence together in front of her, let alone walk next to her for several hours.

There were certain subjects that he would shy away from, though. They looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. N looked away hastily and White giggled a little.

Yes, there were some things that White didn't need to know about him.

"I was a little hesitant to introduce you to Zorua, honestly," N finally spoke up.

"Oh? Why is that? You're afraid Snivy and I would be a bad influence?" White playful jabbed.

"Well…" N began. White laughed nervously.

"Oh come on! That's not it, is it? It's not like I'm a totally savage trainer that just cares about gym badges, though, I must admit, I'm really excited to challenge my first gym!" White said.

"Zorua actually originally came from a very abusive trainer," N said quietly. He looked at White to gage her reaction. Her jaw dropped.

"No way, Zorua. I'm so sorry."

Zorua didn't say anything and nuzzled closer to N.

"Zorua was abandoned by his owner after he lost one too many battles. He is not trusting of most people, but he has been my dearest friend for as long as I can remember."

"I can't even imagine a trainer that would do such a thing," White said while putting a finger to her lips pensively.

"Well, you need to believe it. It is a harsh reality that happens frequently. More often than you would expect," N said seriously. White's shoulders shuddered.

"It's a scary thought," she said.

They walked in silence for a few moments.

"Would you ever abandon one of your pokemon, White?" N asked her.

"What?"

"Would you ever abandon one of your pokemon somewhere after forcibly taking it away from its natural habitat, home, and family by capturing it, and then leave it somewhere foreign to fend for itself?"

"How could you ask me something like that?" White said raising her voice in aggravation, "Of course not. Never."

"But you're traveling with a pokedex. That means you are supposed to capture many different species of pokemon in pokeballs so that someone can study them over a computer. Is that not correct?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"So once the researcher is done recording data from the pokemon that you have captured, you would never simply release them?"

"No! I would never abandon a pokemon that I caught!" White said, now visibly angry, but N's voice stayed steady and eerily calm.

"Then I am not sure which fate is worse. Would it be the life of abandonment, or the life of staying in confinement? Living cramped up in a pokeball, floating around in some laboratory to be poked and proded by scientists. Which do you think would be worse?" N asked her coldly.

"Just…how could you say that!" White said infuriated. Her eyes blinked back tears. N and Zorua looked at her surprised.

"How could you be so insensitive?" White exclaimed. She turned and began to run off into the densely wooded area to the side.

Zorua barked at N, scolding him.

"White?" N called to her. Zorua jumped off of his shoulder and ran in the direction White stormed off to. N followed Zorua until they came to a large, gnarly tree where White was hiding. She was sitting with her forehead on her knees and her arms hugging her legs. She was crying softly.

"Go away," she sniffled.

"White…it wasn't my intention to offend you or-" N tried to say.

"Really. Go away," she said a little bit louder, "You were being a jerk."

Zorua prodded her black boots with his tiny paws, and whined. N sighed.

"I apologize. It's just…when I think about those trainers that abandon their pokemon, I can't help but get upset," N said quickly. He then stuffed his hands into his pockets with frustration.

White looked up at him angrily, her face was splotched and red from her little crying spell. N looked down at her solemnly and sighed.

"There are a lot of terrible and rotten trainers out there, White, but…I know you would not do something like that."

It was the hardest thing he had to say ever. It went against a lot of things that he had been taught. One thing was for sure: this girl was different.

"Yeah?" she said, still distrusting of his apology.

"I apologize for making you so upset."

She sniffled and looked around.

"I didn't take us too far off the path, did I?" she asked. N shook his head.

"I'm sorry I called you a jerk. I know you didn't grow up around many people your same age, but that really hurt my feelings, you know? Just be careful," White said softly. She quickly wiped her face off with her hand.

"I will. I am sorry," N said. He was a little embarrassed. It hurt his heart to see her so upset and crying. Physically, his chest was in pain from their confrontation. How on earth did she do that to him?

"Would you like for me to help you up again?" he asked her. She laughed.

"Can we wait a minute? My legs are still trembling because I was so mad."

The sting in his heart hit him again.

"I am so sorry," he said miserably.

"No, no. It's all right. Just give me a minute. You don't have to apologize so much," White said simply.

Once White regained her composure, N helped her up (nervously) and they made their way back to the path. White cheered when she saw the sign for Striaton City. The sun had set a little while ago, but she was so fired up to finally sleep inside tonight that she suggested they jog the rest of the way.

/end chapter 7/

Before anyone gets upset about N being a meanie please notice that speaks very calmly with White. He is genuinely curious about why people do these things to pokemon but White takes it as a personal attack. I imagine that is how N argues. He speaks in a low, quiet tone very quickly so that he can't be cut off. Dear Arceus he is just so cool.

Oh! Also, I just wanted to address that, no, Ghestis doesn't know that White is his puppet's temptress. I made it this way IF ONLY BECAUSE it is going to be very dramatic when N has to finally confront him about White ("You see, Daddy dearest, there's this girl-"). It's going to be…so good…I can't reveal any more…eventhoughiwantto.

As always, that you all so much for being dears and leaving such sweet words of encouragement for me!