"Find anything?" Robert called out as he hopped over a log. Mary, who was just ahead, partly hidden by trees, yelled back, "Nothing!" There was a twinge of desperation in her voice now. Robert sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he waited for Chesnaught to catch up. He still had no idea what kind of Pokemon "Ghost" was, but Mary seemed too distraught since she had woken up to explain. She had almost ran off into the forest by herself as soon as there was enough light.

A sudden yelp from up ahead stirred him from his thoughts. He quickly ran towards where he had last seen Mary, vaulting over another log, only to realize the ground wasn't there. He didn't have time to scream before his head collided with something and everything went black.


"Farewell my friends," Robert breathed as he gazed for a couple more seconds before turning away from the boat. He would miss both Zeno and Alex, but it was high time he headed home. He sniffed, realizing how much he had missed the clean, fresh tropical air of Alola. The smog in Virbank seemed worse now that he had been away for so long.

"It'll be better along Route 20," He told himself. Soon, he found he was right. Now the air was cleaner and the Unova air smell, a mix of water and forestry scents. The planks echoed beneath his feet as he crossed the bridge, making his way to Floccesy Town.

Robert then stopped, leaning on the side of the bridge to look over the flowing river. He sighed. "What to do now? I lost in the Alolan League. I did make it pretty far, but perhaps battling just isn't my strong suit..."

He shook his head, resuming his walk. Soon, he was in Floccesy Town. "The home of Unova's Champion, Alder. I hope I can battle him one day." He moved on through the town, nodding to people as he passed them. He was surprised at how they stared at him, smiling and welcoming. A couple even congratulated him for his performance in the League.

"Well, dang," Robert rubbed the back of his head as he left the town behind. "I didn't realize they had all watched. I wonder..." He stopped, seeing Aspertia City, his home, not too far off at the end of Route 19. His pace quickened until he was sprinting the rest of the route, a sudden urgency to be home filling him inside.

As he ran down the street towards his house, the sound of an explosion registered and smoke filled his gaze...


"Ugh, my head," Robert groaned, trying to blink away the blurriness. The outline of a figure was kneeling over him, waving their hand frantically in his face.

"You okay!?" Mary's striking wide red eyes were the first things Robert saw when the world finally came into focus. He glanced around, seeing that they were in the forest...

Everything came rushing back. "Man, did I seriously fall into a hole and nearly kill myself?"

"Um, basically," Mary sat back, looking relieved as Robert sat back up. His hand immediately flew to his head, but he was pretty sure he was doing alright. "How long was I out?"

"Several hours," Mary bit her lip, looking worried. "Chesnaught pulled you out of the hole and seemed to apply some berries to your head."

Robert pulled his hand away, feeling the stickiness from the berries. "Must've picked up a few things from me." He glanced around. "Where is Chesnaught anyway?"

"He went foraging I think ten minutes ago."

Robert nodded slowly, the simple movement triggering pain. He then realized another thing. "I'm so sorry." He clasped his hands together. "Because of me you weren't able to look for your Pokemon!"

"It's-It's fine!" She waved her hands, flushing. "I'm starting to think she isn't even on this island anyway."

"Then she'll hopefully be back on the ship," Robert made to stand. "We should head back to the beach and-!" He fell to his knee, his head throbbing even harder.

Mary gasped. "You need to take it easy! You're still not okay!"

"I'm..." Robert considered telling her he was alright, but figured they would both know that was a lie. "Okay, maybe I'm a little beat up, but I'll live." He tried to stand again, but this time his knees buckled beneath him. He fell face first into the dirt, barely seeing Chesnaught rushing through the woods towards him. Mary was shouting, but all was lost to darkness.


"Woah!" Robert came to a sudden stop, streamers flying around his head. There were so many people, it looked like all of Aspertia had gathered outside of his house to welcome him home. A banner was nailed to the top of his two-story house, the words "CONGRATULATIONS ROBERT!" written in bold caps. His mother, father, and his little brother were at the front of the crowd, wearing big smiles.

"This is too much," Robert shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't even make it to the Quarter Finals!"

"You think that matters," a slap to his shoulder made Robert turn to see his friend who he had lived next to all his life. Dark spiky blue hair flowed gently in the wind as he grinned. "Man, you battled like a boss! We all watched your battles in the Alolan League and man, you've sure have grown strong."

"And we're so proud of you," his mother spoke as she and the rest of his family stood in front of him. "Look how much you've grown!"

"Son, you battled well," his father grinned, rubbing Robert's head hard, but affectionately. "With more training, I can see you becoming a very strong trainer."

"It was amazing!" his little brother exclaimed. "Munchlax has become so much cooler!" He then began checking Robert's pockets. "You brought me back a souvenir, right?"

Robert was speechless, then began laughing. "Oh man! You guys are seriously the best!" He hugged his family, relishing in their warmth. Right there and then, he made a decision. "I won't give up battling! I'll train harder than I ever have before! Me and my Pokémon will become stronger, strong enough to take on the Unova League! Then..." An image of the orange-haired Champion flashed in his mind. "Then I'll take you on, Alder! And I'll win!


Robert groaned, waking up again. He felt the heat of fire and the cool night air around him. He felt soft leaves beneath him as he shifted his body. He turned his head, seeing Mary stoking the fire with a stick.

"Hi," he said. "How's life."

She barely reacted. "You're feeling better?"

Robert tried to sit up, then felt more pain, but it wasn't as bad as before. "I'm getting better."

"Good," Mary eyes were glowing eerily from the firelight.

"You okay?" Robert asked. "You don't seem alright."

She didn't answer. Then, "I expect you'll be falling back asleep any minute now. When you wake up, I expect you'll question my being here." The fire crackled ominously. "But before that, I'm going to leave you with a warning."

"Warning?" Robert held his head with one hand, not sure if his mind was functioning properly. "What? Mary, what-?"

She finally lifted her eyes from the fire and her gaze stopped him midsentence. "Robert Aspen. You, Alex, and Zeno must not interfere."

"Interfere," Robert echoed, the world already starting to spin.

"You three have a habit of acting the part of heroes," her tone was cold. "If you try to meddle where you shouldn't, you will die. That is a promise." She stood, already fading from his darkening vision. "Make sure to pass this on to your friends, especially Zeno." She sighed. "Goodbye, Robert."


"You know, you haven't been home for that long," Robert's friend stuffed his hands into his red and white sweater's pockets. "And you're already going on another journey?"

"Yeah," Robert hefted his backpack, patting Snorlax's pokeball on his waist. "I'm gonna beat the Unova League!"

"Good luck," his friend nodded. "I'll be cheering for you."

"You know, you could always become a trainer yourself," Robert held out his hand. "What about it."

His friend considered the hand for a moment before saying, "No. Thanks for the offer, but I have no interest in becoming a trainer. I'll leave that dream to my sister one day."

Robert patted his shoulder. "Well then, cheer me on as loud as you can. Because Robert Aspen is going to become the very best like no one ever was!"


"Robert."

"Robert."

"Robert!"

Robert jerked awake, shielding his eyes from the intense light. Two figures then blocked the light, their faces leaning in close.

"Robert!" Zeno and Alex exclaimed, joy written across their expressions.

"Um..." Robert glanced around. He was on the bed in their room back on the ship. He blinked. "How'd I get back here?"

"What I want to know is where you've been," Zeno folded his arms. "You were missing for a couple days. The ship stopped and everything while people looked for you. And now you turn up in here."

"Sorry?" Robert rubbed the back of his head, trying to piece together his memories. "Hold on, let me get my bearings here."

"Where were you?" Alex asked, looking worried.

Robert narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. "An island. I don't know how I got there, but... there was someone else there with me I think..." A vague image seemed to appear for just a second. "A white haired girl with red eyes I believe. You two see anyone... like that..." Robert had noticed Zeno stiffen when he had described the girl. "What?"

Zeno hesitated. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Alex glanced curiously at the two of them, so Zeno cleared his throat. "So, what exactly happened on this island?"

"I hit my head, I think," Robert rubbed the spot where he remembered it getting hit. He stopped. "But I feel relatively fine."

Zeno frowned. "You're definitely having slight memory problems, so I'm willing to bet you actually did hit your head."

"Yeah," Robert agreed. "Let's see, I think we were looking for the girl's Pokemon, then..." Robert's eyes widened as the words came back to him. He had been slipping away when she had told him, but now the full effect of those words had finally hit him. "She... She gave me, no... us a warning."

Zeno and Alex both listened as Robert repeated the warning to the best of his memory. Alex sunk onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling as Zeno stared thoughtfully at the wall. Robert itched with impatience.

"Well?" He said finally. "What do you make of it?"

Alex closed her eyes, a smirk forming. "It's not like our lives haven't been in danger before. But," she sighed, folding her arms behind her head. "I was hoping to get more of a vacation before our next misadventure. I-"

"Robert," Zeno cut in. "I need you to tell me. Is there anything else you can say about her? Anything at all?"

"Nothing that matters?" Robert thought hard, then shook his head. "I don't think so."

Zeno sighed. "I say we heed this warning."

"Why?" Alex leaned forwards. "What about this warning is more serious than what we've faced up until now?"

"Because..." Zeno closed his eyes, and for the briefest moment, looked older than he should. "Just trust me on this one. We need to take this seriously."

Alex and Robert exchanged glances with one another before Alex turned to Zeno and said, "And you'll just sit back and let whatever bad deeds someone is planning to do, happen?" She stood up. "'Cause I won't."

"Alex was right when she said that we've been in danger before," Robert said, feeling conflicted. "But, I do think we need to be more careful on this one."

Zeno looked at the two of them, then gave in. "Alright alright. My worries may amount to nothing anyway. But for now, be very cautious. We don't know what we're dealing with. Or rather, what we might deal with." He still looked like he was hiding something as he left the room, but Robert didn't move to follow. He looked to Alex. That would be her job.

"I know," she sighed, seeing Robert's look. "You know, it probably has something to do with his past."

"Didn't doubt that for a second," Robert folded his hands. "Whatever it is has him spooked. That's what worries me."

"Same," Alex murmured. "He hasn't told us everything about his past and he shouldn't need to. But... if he knows something that will turn out to be vital, we'll need to know." She tapped Robert's head with a finger before heading to the door. "Get some rest. You probably need it from hurting yourself. And if you're wondering, your Pokemon are in their pokeballs on the desk."

"Alright, thanks," Robert nodded, then pointed a finger at her. "Later, we are having a talk about what you changed. Don't think I didn't notice."

She smirked as she held the door open. "How could you not notice?" Then she left, closing the door behind her.

Robert leaned back on the bed, glancing to see Snorlax and Chesnaught's pokeballs on the desk like Alex had said. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering what awaited him and his friends this time.


"No one saw you I hope," Mary asked as she felt a second presence enter the small boat. Water shook from the Pokemon as it growled. Mary smiled. "Good." Her smiled quickly faded as she stared at the cruise ship in the distance, sailing its way towards Unova. "I do wonder, will you actually heed Mary's advice, Zeno?"

Her Pokemon growled again. Mary laughed. "What? Too close to my real name? Well," "Mary" grabbed her katana as she headed towards the walkie-talkie. "It's not an issue. As for now," she narrowed her eyes as her Pokemon stood by her side. "I think it's time the killing began, wouldn't you say, Ghost?"

First things first, I am back. Only reason I can give for the years of absence on this site is that my stories weren't getting that much traction in comparison to Wattpad. Then I ended up moving to AO3, which is now my main site. However, I decided that I may as well continue to publish on here just for those people who strictly are on this site for fanfiction. So I will continue to update RoC and a few new stories until they are caught up with where they are at on both Wattpad and AO3. Please enjoy.

Oh, for this story in particular, the writing does end up getting a bit rough and the story itself a bit... iffy in terms of quality as it progresses. During the time I had originally written those chapters I had begun losing motivation for this story and considered ending it prematurely. However, I found new motivation and am still writing it. I will likely not edit these chapters unless I really feel the need to, but once we're caught up to the story, it will likely have gained a quality I am more proud of.

That is all from me. Please enjoy. Toodles~

Toodles~/strong/p