When White, Bianca, and Professor Fennel arrived at the Trio Café later in the evening, the three brothers rushed out to meet them. After a lot of arguing and fussing, they shooed Bianca and Fennel away so that they could make sure White was feeling all right. When she said she was feeling fine, the brother's exchanged worried looks and whisked her inside. They sat her down on her fluffy bed in the guest bedroom and made her spill her guts about the entire story. White faltered when she came to the portion about the men stepping on Munna. At the time, she didn't have a free second to even think about it, but the abuse hurt her heart more than she realized. Tears began to flow down her face as she recounted how they intended to squish the little pink pokemon and how she reacted.

"I'll get tissues," Cillian said and fled from the room. Chili and Cress sat down next to White on the bed and held her close as she looked at her shaking hands. Tears fell down her face like water on glass. It had been a scary and disgusting event. If White and Bianca had not been there, would Munna even be alive?

Seeing their temporary roommate crying was like a stab in the chest for the three brothers.

"Just let it out. We're here for you," Cress said reassuringly.

"No punishment is severe enough for them…for making you and Munna go through that…for making you cry," Chili said quietly. Cillian appeared with a box of tissues, and Chili and Cress let go of her so that Cillian could wipe her tears away. Cillian then took her hands into his own and helped her up. He wrapped her into a hug and squeezed her tightly before she finally returned it by draping her arms around him. Chili and Cress joined and they hugged White, who was now simply sniffling.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, White. I'm even more sorry that we weren't there to protect you from it," Cillian said seriously. They let go of her and White sniffled a little and wiped some stray tears away from her red and splotchy face with the help of the tissues.

"You've become like a little sister to us. Or perhaps our little princess," Cress remarked and gave her a sideways smile like her just told a cheesy joke.

"Seeing you sad kills us. You haven't been a trainer too long…to experience the ugly side of this so soon must be really difficult," Chili said quietly with his fists clenched. White managed to grin.

"You three obnoxious butlers…you're all so sweet…" she said earnestly with fresh tears beginning to fill her eyes, "I feel the same way, too. Thanks for taking care of me for so long."

"It was our pleasure. Actually, I think now would be a good time to give you our thank you gift," Cress said thoughtfully. He nodded to Chili and the red-head's mood brightened considerably.

Chili walked over to the closet of the guest room and opened it. White had never dared to peek so she tilted her head to watch Chili pull out a beautiful chocolate colored jumper skirt with a crisscross print of dark and light brown alternating diamonds. Between some of the diamonds were gold printed miniature chess pieces. White gasped when she saw the bottom print of the dress. Along the bottom edge of the dress were white and dark chocolate chess pieces, with the main print being two chocolate knights side by side. The sheer amount of detail put into the print and the cut of the dress made her jaw drop. Even the brown lace on the bottom of the dress and on the jabot at the top had a crown pattern on it.

"Where did you get this…?" White mouthed in a whisper. Her eyes darted between Cillian, Cress, and Chili. They were all smiling at her sheepishly.

"This is a big thank you from us for helping us out at the café…and for agreeing to do the match!" Chili said with a big grin on his face.

"I had seen this dress in the past, and I suggested to my brothers that it would be the perfect gift. I knew even with your limited fashion sense you would be able to appreciate the fine make of it," Cress said while flipping his hair to the side. White laughed.

"Limited fashion sense? Thanks a lot, Cress."

She timidly felt the smooth fabric and marveled at the tiny details on the print.

"This is so beautiful…" she murmured

"Will you accept it? Will you wear it tomorrow?" Cillian asked her hopefully. She jerked her head up quickly.

"Of course! Thank you! Thank you all so much! I've never even seen anything this beautiful before in my life! I feel like I don't deserve it!" she cried.

"Honestly White. You must've guessed that our café wasn't doing too well until you showed up. You helped us remind Unova that we're still here!" Cress said firmly.

After marveling at the dress for several minutes, the brothers agreed that White needed to get some rest so they attempted to send her to bed. Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear managed to pop out of their pokeballs and begin to cause havock in White's room. White decided to send out Snivy so that he could join in on the fun as well, though he mostly just acted annoyed at the monkey pokemon. After getting a midnight snack with the pokemon and the boys, some impromptu waltz lessons on the shiny ballroom floor from Cillian, Chili fixing her hair into giant curly pigtails, the four laughing hysterically at it from being delirious, and some ghost stories from Cress, White finally collapsed onto her bed after saying goodnight to everyone.

Snivy curled up next to her and she closed her eyes with a big grin on her face. Tomorrow was the big day! Her mother would be coming in from Nuvema with Professor Juniper, Cheren was coming in early tomorrow from Nacrene (apparently he was having trouble overcoming the gym the next town over), Bianca and Professor Fennel would be there, and that just left one other person unaccounted for. White's eyes opened slowly and she crawled out of bed to her messenger bag. She flipped open her xtranciever and sighed at the lack of new messages. She decided to go back and view her conversation with the one person that she was waiting on a response from. White sat back down in bed and scrolled back to the top. She smiled as she began to read their texts.

(15 days ago) White: :3

(14 days ago) White: hey!

(14 days ago) N: Hello White. I was wondering…what does ":3" mean?

(14 days ago) White: its a smiley face look at it from the side silly how have u been?

(14 days ago) White: u still dont see it do u? lol

(14 days ago) N: No. I don't understand. I've been well. How are you?

(14 days ago) White: : are the eyes and the 3 is the mouth

(14 days ago) White: ive been doing really really good! striaton is a nice town sorry u couldn't spend more time here :(

(14 days ago) White: oh and :( is a frowny face see it?

(14 days ago) N: I can see it now. It is more obvious with the sad face. I apologize.

(14 days ago) White: its ok! i am happy to teach you new things even if they are dumb ;) this one is a winking face!

(13 days ago) N: I always find the things you teach me to be fascinating.

(12 days ago) White: srry for the late response! u r so sweet! ive been soooo busy here c3

(12 days ago) White: c3 is a heart! Lol

(12 days ago) White: is zorua doing ok?

(12 days ago) N: Zorua is in a decent mood today. He is acting a little stubborn at the moment. How is Snivy?

(12 days ago) White: aw zorua! so cute! c3 snivy and zorua need to meet! and snivy is doing great! he doesnt like to play with the other pokemon here though wanna see? ;)

(12 days ago) White: [image attachment] me n snivy! i am working at the café in striaton temporarily im wearing a silly outfit huh? lol! :D

(12 days ago) N: You are working in Striaton? I don't find your outfit silly. It looks nice on you. Snivy does seem very happy.

(12 days ago) White: ^/^ aw N! ur so sweet!

(11 days ago) White: actually i wanted to ask u if u were planning on coming back to striaton? i am hosting a party with the gym leaders here it is gonna be really big! invitation only! lol i wanted to invite u :3 its kinda formal what do u think? can u come?

(5 days ago) White: did u get my message about the party? :(

White smacked her forehead when she realized how seriously flirty she was being with him. Knowing N, he probably didn't recognize any of her girlish advances. White shut her xtranciever with a snap and bit the edge of it nervously. She had read their conversation dozens of times, and it made her heart beat like crazy. White knew how stupid she sounded when she messaged him and she snorted with annoyance at herself. She flipped open her xtranciver and decided to shoot him one last message before the match tomorrow. It had been 5 days since she sent her last message, so it wouldn't be nagging him too much if she sent him one more…right?

(Today) White: hey N 3 my thing at the striaton gym is tomorrow u coming? :)

White hit send and then immediately stressed out.

"Ugh! I am so dumb! It's way too late at night to be sending him messages! He is going to think I'm insane! And why did I have to put the stupid heart? What on earth am I thinking?" she lamented to the dark room. Snivy flipped on to his belly to get more comfortable while ignoring his trainer's plight. White sighed and shut her phone in frustration. Just as she began angrily cuddling into the puffy white comforter, she heard a chime and a vibrating noise coming from her xtransciever signifying a message being received. She jerked up and snatched her phone off of the nightstand next to her.

White had to clutch her chest because it felt like her heart was going to jump out the second she read it. She swore her smile could not get any bigger as it spread across her face.

(Today) N: Shouldn't you be resting? Tomorrow is a big day for you. ;)

White typed out nearly 10 different responses to his message but deleted every one. She decided to leave things at that and try to get some sleep like N suggested. White rolled over onto her side and shut her eyes. She giggled a little as she began to excitedly think about the events that were going to unfold the next day.

/

N felt all of the blood in his entire body rush to his face when he opened the picture White sent him.

It was a simple picture, really. Nothing special.

Just a picture of she and Snivy giving identical victory signs with large smiles shining on their faces with White wearing a black and white maid outfit, similar to the hosekeepers around his place. He sat up on his bed, and shut his xtransciever hastily. N stared at the black device like it was threatening him and he began to repeatedly tap his foot on the floor. N brought his hand to his chest to feel his erratically beating heart. He felt nervous and excited at the same time as he flipped open the xtranciever to stare at the picture again. Instead of being drawn to the only pokemon in the image, N found his attention on the girl. His eyes traveled up and down the clear, vivid image of White. From her bouncy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, to her eyes, her succulent pink lips pulled across her delicate face into a beautiful smile, then to her outfit, which was modest, yet he found so provocative that it was almost difficult for him to look at. The image stopped before her knees, which was a shame because her legs were...

He could practically feel the steam being released from his ears as he was forced to shut the xtransciever again. It was too hard to look at her because she was just so…Something. He couldn't quite put it into words, but White affected him in a wonderful yet uncomfortable way. N sighed deeply, stood up, shoved his xtranciever into his pocket, and began to pace around his room.

"This is not productive. I have to stop thinking about her…" N said out loud as he walked in quick, short steps in his small, dark bedroom. He stopped and looked at his filled bookcases in the small alcove of his bedroom, which was located behind his actual room. His eyes traveled up to the ceiling. A map of the night sky had been constructed for his bedroom and each of the stars was a small light that lit the room and gave a very dark and comfortable atmosphere to his living quarters.

"Constellations. Here we go. Ursaring major. Tediursa minor. Cressaliaop-" N stopped abruptly and shook his head, "This isn't working."

He began pacing again.

"Pi. Three point one four one five nine. Two six five three five eight nine seven…after that is…nine three…two? Why is it that I cannot recall anything after that? How frustrating."

N began to tap his foot on the plush dark blue carpet again.

I surrender.

He quickly dug his phone out of his pocket to view the picture once again. His eyes couldn't get enough of her. He began to ponder an adventageous scenrio: what if White was a housekeeper at his castle?

"What would you like for lunch today, my lord?"

"My lord, please don't forget about the assembly downstairs at 5 o'clock!"

"Welcome back, Master N!"

White was the only person on the planet he knew that didn't refer to him like he was on an untouchable pedastal. Now he was imagining her saying such things and being so sweet and innocent, yet enticing at the same time. He knew that the real White, not the nurturing and submissive White of his imagination, would never EVER do anything like that. There was no point on letting his mind wander to that daydream. Yet, why did it do so anyway?

"This is torturous nonsense…" he muttered.

"May we ask what is the nonsense that tortures you so?"

If N had been a meowth, his tail would be puffed up and his claws would be out from the shock. N quickly shut the xtranciever and put it back into his pocket. He spun around to see his two tutors stepping down into his bedroom. His eyes narrowed.

"Concordia. Anthea. I did not hear you knock," he said, trying to change the subject.

"Even if we would have knocked, you would not have heard it," Anthea said with a shrug.

"We heard you reciting pi and we concluded that something was bothering you. You stopped at only seventeen digits! Normally you can recite much more than that," Concordia said with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing is wrong," N lied.

"You don't have to lie to us," Concordia pressed. They two women could see through him as if he were a ghastly.

"Have you forgotten that we are the ones that you can trust here?" Anthea said pleadingly, "If something is the matter, tell us."

N sat down on his bed and sighed deeply. One of the main reasons things had become so troublesome was because he wasn't able to talk about White. Most emotions N found easy to bottle up, but these were new and completely different feelings. If anyone knew that he had been fraternizing with someone like White, there would be no escaping his prison cell. Well, he couldn't really say if anyone knew. Concordia and Anthea had been very trustworthy and honest companions since he was young. They snuck half of the books in his personal library to him. He decided that telling them couldn't hurt anything. If anything, he could get their advice on White.

"What I am about to tell you both must not leave this room. Understood?" N said to the two women. They both exchanged serious looks, and nodded.

N proceeded to tell them about White and his past week of travels in the Unova region. He went over their time together in very great detail and even went as far as to show Anthea and Concordia their conversation and her picture.

"She seems to be desperately flirting with you during this whole conversation," Concordia said casually as she read the messages between the two of them for the second time.

"Her language is difficult to understand at times," N said to Anthea pathetically. Telling his two tutors about White had been more embarrassing than he thought it would be. His ears were still red from talking about such uncomfortable subjects.

"It's just over simplified. Don't worry about it too much as long as you get the gist of things," Anthea said with a small smile.

"You need to respond to this picture. She said that she thinks that she looks silly. That is classic for a woman to bait a complement. Tell her she is wrong and that she looks lovely," Concordia said while handing N his xtransciever back. He fumbled around with it in his hands awkwardly.

"Lovely isn't enough. Tell her she looks beautiful. Or stunning!" Anthea said excitedly.

"That's too forward, Anthea!" Concordia said quickly.

Several days passed and N managed to resist the temptation to respond to White's messages.

N shut his xtranciever one night after viewing White's latest message. He was lucky that he stayed up so late reading or else he might not have been able to see the message until the next morning. Anthea and Concordia told him not to respond to her questions about the little party, but he couldn't resist. He smiled to himself as he turned off the lamp by his bedside. The constellation lights on the ceiling twinkled in the darkness of his room and a smile spread across his face. He shut his eyes and began to happily anticipate the events that were going to unfold the next day.

/chapter 12 end/

My favorite part of this chapter is a toss up between their text messages and N's desperate attempt to ignore White's picture. Hmmm~ I don't know~ Comment and tell me…what was your favorite part?! ;D

UGH IM SO SORRY IM SO LATE RELEASING THINGS. Truth? I've been having a block on some of the future chapters. I had to scrap a few because they 1- didn't serve any purpose and 2- were so forced and poorly written. This has really demotivated me, unfortunately :/ but at least the next few are good, I just need to figure out a couple of things.