The bus approached as the ten of us crammed together in a huddle, they were surprisingly cooperative after getting a taste of the bitter cold. Ghetsis was the first to hesitate but once it began to get to him, he reluctantly stood near to share our warmth. I excitedly hopped onto the rolling bus as I signaled the others to follow. Maxie let out a powerful sigh when he collapsed on a seat that was near a heated furnace. Little did the man know that this place was shared with countless other people, considering he may be afraid of germs I decided against popping his bubble.

The bus driver was a scraggly old male who gave these men a glare of shock. It was obvious he had not known who they were, but his stare still suggested that he was rather concerned. It was just a part of plan the the bus had a few scattered pedestrians, but they all paid little attention. It all seemed that the plan was going accordingly as the leaders stayed fiercely quiet. I allowed myself to relax as I set my head back onto the faded blue leather. Vicky had sat on the left side of me barely containing her devilish excitement. When I glared to my right I realized Archie had been sitting there his position one of absolute power. It seemed he was always very dignified and impressed with himself, but it was obvious he was struggling with coming to terms with his surroundings.

Maxie only took seconds to recompose himself into the same professionalism he carried all the time. However in front of me was a Ghetsis and Cyrus knuckling it to their seats as if they were going to punch someone. N was staring off outside watching the snow drift by violently, this was also the same with Lysandre and Colress. Giovanni was not very amused however, he glared around with disgust probably at the poor taste of transportation. Meanwhile during all their affairs Vicki and I just stared at each other still in complete disbelief.

Believing I was assured that all the men were entertained I whipped out my 3DS knowing it would be around an hour ride. Tapping the screen lightly with the pen I began to play some more Pokèmon, I realized the irony as I trained a Sharpedo I had actually named after Archie. It was Adamant nature, and was almost done being super trained in the right areas. It's move set contained Earthquake, Crunch, Waterfall, and Skull Bash, I thought to myself about how perfect it was. Before I was aware of it, Archie had been staring over my shoulder watching everything I was doing.

I peeped out a quiet squeal, "What are you doing?"

"I see you training Pokèmon, so you were lying. Is this some sort of video device? Why is it named after me?" Archie replied with a barrage of questions.

"It's not real, it's the video game I was talking about. Also seriously stop invading my privacy, it's named after you because it is!"

"Okay, I get it, you love me!" The man laughed loudly obviously taunting me.

Vicki let out a terribly loud chuckle as well, she thought it was absolutely hilarious. A bubbling heat began to grumble deep in my stomach, having these people around was embarrassing as Hell. My shy nature however allowed me to cower underneath my own skin, ignoring their teases. My head pounded as burried my face into my knees, the warmth wrapping itself around me like a comforting blanket. I began to drift off into slumber, however the sudden sharp bump pushed me awake again. When my head shot back up Lysandre was staring deep into my eyes.

Lysandre scratched his chin and spoke, "Are you sure you have not the slightest idea of how we got here?"

"I give you my word, I have no idea" I replied honestly, I trailed my eyes off to see N and Vicki really hitting it off.

"Well, I guess that's as much as you are able to give us. I am honored to share a space with someone beautiful like you. Unlike these ugly mistakes..."

The compliment rolled off nicely as he continued to stare, I scratched my head avoiding his gaze awkwardly. However I did not at all consider myself beautiful, the only feature that was, was probably my almost porcelain like skin. Maxie glared at him with fire burning in his eyes, he must have been listening rather intently.

Maxie spat the words out calmly, "Oh and I suppose you're just the most attractive man on the planet?"

Lysandre glared back at him like a lion, "Yes, I do believe I am in a right sense allowed to say that I am perfect."

"Excuse me, I am a king, I suggest you re-think that statement!" Ghetsis roared adding to the argument.

Archie chimed in as well "I'm sexier than all of you!"

"Archie please, you stink like salt and never even attempt to keep properly groomed" Maxie stabbed at Archie.

"That's because I don't need to! I am epic!"

Lysandre scowled in disgust, "What do you mean, you never shower?"

"I have, I just don't need to brush up and look prissy like all of you!" Archie howled.

Vicki and N's side conversation was suddenly sent at a halt as the men grew louder and louder. Gritting my teeth nervously I shot a glare at Vicki hoping for some sort of assurance. She stared back with uncertainty lifting her shoulders slightly in her white jacket. Luckily before things got any worse we arrived at the stop near the mall, Vicki and I let out a sigh of relief followed by a silent gathering of the others. They did not deny following, allowing us to lead them to our destination.

Upon arrival they all stepped inside the massive shopping center that was decorated well for Christmas. Sparkling lights hung onto walls and ceilings, and a centerpiece of the mall Santa was decorated like the North Pole. Above us was a food court that was wafting smells of all sorts of delicious things. The men around us seemed mildly puzzled as to what they were supposed to do. It made sense that they have never seen a shopping mall in our world.

Gathering up some more confidence I spoke again, "Alright so we are here, I have enough to give you all fifty dollars to spend on any clothes you like. So because I don't want to have to awkwardly follow you, can I trust you to handle this?"

"You can trust me, I won't do anything dumb!" N cheered positively.

The rest of them nodded hesitantly after and my heart boiled with worry. Pulling out my wallet I separated all of my bills, and then handed them reluctantly to the villains. They all examined the currency curiously standing awkwardly as if waiting for approval.

"Alright, so that's fifty all you need to know is math and I know you can probably handle that. So I'll be waiting here, I want you to explore and find something then come right back. I really need you to trust me right now, so I'll wait right here" I claimed in pure hope.

"We are very grateful for this, I hope I can be speaking for all of us as we could be in deep trouble" Colress explained while strolling in the opposite direction.

After that I allowed myself to sit around in the fancy black bench that was sitting near the Mall's main doorway. I was glad that these men known how to take control of things, as if it were me I would be sheepishly asking for someone to help me. This made me curse my own shyness, I couldn't even order a pizza without someone to stand with me. I guessed I was just horribly afraid of being alone.

Vicki and I proceeded to wait as we chatted about trivial little things that have happened lately. It was a rather pleasant moment forgetting about the crazy passing events of today. Around us sitting the mall was sleek designed with white marble flooring partnered with plain white walls. All the individual stores varied of styles and colors, which made it sort of unique in its own way. The mall itself was quiet with few people pacing around shopping for gifts, it was now a blessing that the weather was so terrible.

Time passed even slower as we ran out of idle chit-chat, I kept peering back at my phone for the time. The black surface of the screen shone, it happened to have only been thirty minutes so I didn't have too much anxiety. However more time went by, and it quickly became a sheer two hours that have passed. I twiddled with the screen nervously as it began to grow darker outside, at least to what you could actually see asides from snow. I cracked a shutter and shot up into the air, I couldn't wait anymore my patience was gone.

Darting my head around frantically I whispered, "Why aren't they back yet I'm getting worried?"

"Yeah it's been a really long time we should go look for them now" Vicki agreed with an irritated tone.

"I'm going to find something terrible I just know it. I shouldn't have trusted them let's go."

"Well that's what happens when you give fifty bucks to a group of insanely evil people."

Strolling from our position we went on a head hunt for the eight team leaders. The first we found was N, he peacefully shopped in a regular clothing store. His selections were obvious, a plain white T-Shirt, a flat brimmed ball cap, and some faded blue jeans. The young man was just now walking up to the counter as he spotted his observing from afar. Waving his arm in a shy fashion we approached him thankfully with a smile; perhaps they weren't in trouble after all.

"I'm almost done, I'm sorry about keeping you waiting" N whispered awkwardly.

"It's fine, we're going to search for the rest of them. It seems they all decided to be super long" Vicki said with an eye roll.

The young long haired male spoke suspiciously, "That's odd, I always known my father to be a quick and decisive man."

I piped in painfully, "Well maybe they're actually in a lot of trouble, I seriously hope not though."

N at the counter was addressed by an attractive young blonde female, her eyes glowing as she spoke to him. With obvious flirtation I watched him obliviously chatting like her was unsure, Vicki also watched with a glare of disapproval. I didn't doubt that this would happen as N was rather attractive to most girls from the latter. However N was also painfully oblivious which made me held back the urge to laugh.

As we left the counter we began searching again passing through the mall hallways as if it were a maze. After a few minutes I became very focused as Vicki and N began speaking to each other again. It wasn't long before I found Giovanni arguing with a suit clerk at a high end store. My hope dropped almost instantly as I rushed to stop him. These actions would clearly get him into trouble, and we all didn't need any publicity. The clerk was an older bald male who was nicely dressed yelling at Giovanni, "Sir I cannot sell you these suits for that amount."

"Listen here buddy, if you knew what kind of power I had you would be sorry!" Giovanni retorted with composed rage.

"Giovanni, you can't hassle store clerks!" I squeaked trying to stop him.

The scrappy Italian just gave me a glare of disapproval as I came to his side. His eyes were like that of a predator and stabbed right through my soul. He towered over me as he confronted my outburst, "What is the problem?"

Glancing at the sleek suits price tag I squealed, "You can't buy a one thousand dollar suit with fifty dollars!"

"Well what do you suggest then?"

"How about this?" Vicki piped in, holding up a shirt.

It was a well made dress shirt that was a starch white. The buttons were positioned almost perfectly and it's longer sleeves were folded at the ends. I smiled in a giddy way staring back at Giovanni with hopeful eyes, it would be perfect. Letting up he relaxed taking the well done shirt from Vicki and placing it on the counter. The clerk rang it through without an emotion or complaint and we continued on our way. I was never one to be too interested in fashion, however if it meant that things could proceed I would play along with it.

Things began to get easier getting through the mall, and this time our next two friends weren't off too far. Ghetsis was sitting reluctantly on a resting bench his arms folded like a child, along with this was Colress attempting to get him moving. Colress' excitement peaked as we got closer, he was probably glad that he wouldn't have to deal with the problem anymore. The four of us clumsily made our way to them, a growing feeling of fear stirred inside me when I was finally there. Ghetsis to me, was the only one of these villains that truly scared me as I knew he was legitimately insane.

Colress hopped forward greeting me hopefully, "Thank goodness you're here I can't get Ghetsis to agree with the clothing I bought him!"

I stared at him with a puzzled expression speaking slowly, "You bought his clothes for him?"

"Well as you know he has to be a little princess and get people to do things for him. So yes, I indeed took charge in this matter but now he's acting like a spoiled child."

"Alright well let me see."

Before I could examine the clothing I noticed Vicki and N holding back snickers as they watched Ghetsis pout unhappily. Giovanni glared back at Ghetsis with a searing expression of disappointment. Ripping through the bags I saw a plain stripped shirt and a nice black overcoat that was meant to go past the hips. It actually was fairly decent for the price range, the coat was probably a fake leather but was tailored with shiny black buttons and zippers. The shirt also was nice and simple, as to not grab attention.

"What's the matter with this, I think it's fairly decent?" I asked in shock of his dismay.

"Exactly, he's just being a sour imbecile!" Colress agreed in annoyance.

"Ghetsis... Why don't you like it?" I squealed in fear of his reply.

The powerful male sighed furiously, "I just don't want to get rid of my current attire."

The response coming from him was surprisingly calm, so I reassured him with more confidence, "You don't have to get rid of your normal clothes, it's just for when you have to be in a crowd. I promise I won't force you to wear it all the time."

"Then I need you to promise your life to me, I will not be trusting the thoughts of a random girl."

"I promise my life and honor to you" I responded nervously, he really made me shiver with fear.

"Oh thank you so much!" Colress interrupted with relief.

"Not a problem, anyways I'm curious as to what you got?" I questioned.

The adorably dorky male grinned showing a nicely made overcoat similar to his own but less obvious. He also had a pair of faded black jeans and a black male shirt with a Pikachu on it. I smirked back at him playfully, he was too nerdy for his own good but I absolutely adored it. His golden eyes glowed as he returned the clothes to their proper bag.

As we walked away with the rest I complimented him, "I think you have a great choice in clothing, it'll be nice!"

"Thank you, I knew I had an eye for the best!" He claimed with pride.

Strolling across the marble flooring I let the talking around me fade out again as I focused on my objective. I had to remember all of them, it was important to not forget a single soul or I'd put one of these reckless men in danger because of their own ridiculous natures. I glanced around me counting in my head, Giovanni, N, Colress, and Ghetsis. We were missing four more, Archie, Maxie, Lysandre, and Cyrus, halfway there. I was beginning to get a tiny bit more comfortable around Ghetsis thankfully, his childish behavior was a pleasant reminder that he was still human. Giovanni always gave me an uneasy feeling but I was never afraid of him; thankfully I was enjoying N and Colress' company.

Shortly ahead I was sent into a confused blur as I seen Lysandre already dressed in a second outfit. His clothes were changed into some very fashionable jeans paired with fur edged coat similar to his previous one. The jeans he wore were a dark blue, along with this he was wearing a washed low cut top that was a maroon color. Through this shirt his chest was slightly visible, it was flawless and hairless, he carried a flat stomach and bared no real imperfections. He was thoughtlessly wandered around browsing in a men's clothing store as well.

Leading the others I approached him thankful that he was amazingly blending in better than the others. Lysandre's eyes locked onto me as he saw me get closer, his face bared a sly smirk as I ogled him from afar. Colress had observed this behavior intently as if he was internally taking notes on all of us. Even though the lion haired man was simple with his style it was well picked, this wasn't surprising though.

Lysandre took a graceful stride towards us and spoke clearly, "I see you like my clothing choices, I like them a lot myself!"

I gulped speaking quietly, "You actually did really well, it's not all that surprising though we all know how fashion forward you are."

"Yeah he is quite the princess isn't he?" Giovanni taunted.

Ghetsis piped into this as well, "I'm actual royalty and I don't act as girly as he does."

"I see you brought these disasters along as well" The man growled back at them.

Vicki was getting impatient by this point and screamed loudly, "Okay god damn stop it already, you're all super annoying and we have to pick up the rest and leave!"

With that statement they all nodded, but before we could leave Giovanni was pelted in the side by Cyrus. The blue haired male was also dressed into his new clothes, it was literally plain pants, and a plain white T-Shirt. The impact of the hit sent Cyrus and Giovanni onto their butts, this sent Giovanni into a furious rage. The dark haired male snatched him by the collar of his shirt lifting him far into the air, his dark brown eyes were filled with burning anger. Almost like lightening Giovanni smacked Cyrus hard his cheek a bright red from the forceful impact. Directly after Cyrus was delivered the blow he was dropped onto the ground with due haste.

Giovanni spoke down at him, "Don't touch me ever again."

"I won't I wasn't trying to..." He responded in a blank tone.

"Well what were you doing then you idiot?"

"Archie and Maxie have gotten into a brawl, it's not pretty I bolted to let you know since they just got arrested."

We all froze with great expressions of horrible disappointment, they had only one thing to do and they blew it. Without further ado we raced as fast as we could follow Cyrus to where they had been. When they were close we saw the two of them in cuffs from the mall police, they both had bruises and blood stained to their faces. They had already changed into new outfits, I pictured them making fun of each other and suddenly attacking one another.

Archie still wore his bandanna on his head, it was fine as this seemed iconic to him. The rest of his attire was consisted of a dark black studded jacket, a blue and white striped shirt, and chained jeans. Meanwhile Maxie had gone in a different direction, he was wearing a neat red sweater vest along with nicely fit black jeans. Both of the fashions seemed very different, but both sort of worked in their own ways.

"What did you guys do?" I screamed in annoyance, the two police observing me.

Archie was the first to reply, "It was his fault, he said my choice in clothing was dumb!"

"You were the one who shouted names, telling me I'm a nerd!" Maxie replied in utter astonishment.

I placed my head into my hands sighing, "You got into a fight... Over clothing!"

"Well when you put it that way..." Archie responded in an embarrassed tone.

"You're acting like two teen-aged girls, for the love of God you're grown men get it together!"

A female officer with long brown hair spoke up, "So you know these ones?"

"Yes officer I apologize for their behavior they're both in our anger management class, they haven't come to terms with it yet" I lied thoughtfully.

"Alright well since we were able to stop this before it got too out of hand we'll let you go, but you're going to have to leave the mall"

"Okay thank you, we were just going to go, I promise you won't have any trouble from us in the future!"

The rather brawny female unlocked their cuffs and let them free, the two men glared at each other in a deathly way. Collecting our little group the officers escorted us to the front doors of the mall. I felt a searing embarrassment, wanting to dig myself a little hole to die in. The silence between us did not make anything better, we were tortured with the shame and guilt that these two imbeciles brought onto us. Once we were kicked out, the hurling winds were again crashing into our faces. It was time to make our way back home.

******
END CHAPTER

AUTHORS NOTES: Hello again! So this chapter didn't turnout as well as I wanted it to but I hope you like it anyway. Also on another note my uploads will be slowing down near the 20th of December as I'll be busy with a lot of Christmas stuff. It should take around two weeks after to get back on track but until then enjoy the uploads! If you have any suggestions, comments, or ideas please feel free to review and enjoy your day!