Pokémon 1. Chapter 1- Days Gone By

Chapter 1- Days Gone By.

_Author's Notes:  
>It's here. Be quiet and read.<br>If you have an questions feel free to ask._

…

…

The subway rocked from side to side gently, only the occasional bump giving its occupants any difficulty – and most of those sudden lurches in movement had nothing to do with the subway itself. That evening was fairly quiet on the subway and thankfully most of the battles that took place within its carriages were tame. After all after today the subway was going to be without its two masters for a while.

Smiling at the thought Alice absentmindedly jotted it down into her journal. At the same moment the train gave one of its more sudden jerks but having been a passenger on this particular subway for some time now Alice was at least able to remove her pen from the paper before the bump caused her to draw wonderful scribbles all over the page.

How long has she actually been using these subways now?  
>Pausing to dwell on that thought a small frown formed on Alice's face and in answer to her own off handed thought to simply drew a small five on the page. Five years.<br>_That's quite a while._

"What are you always scribbling down in that Alice?"

Alice was not alone in the cart but she hadn't expected to suddenly be spoken to by one of her companions, she assumed they'd all fallen asleep by now, but Bianca always was one to surprise. Thankfully Alice had also gotten use to this trend.

"Nothing important." Alice replied with a faint smile, not looking up from the book in her hands as she mindlessly wrote down words that held little meaning.

"Hmm?" Bianca let out a disappointed whine when Alice seemed to evade the question. Chuckling to herself Alice glanced up from the heavily inked pages to the pouting face of her friend.

"Anything and everything." She changed her original answer. "Pointless things. The colour of the sky on certain days, the temperature, what clothes are nice or what people say. Just things."

"Oh." Bianca murmured in disappointment. "I was hoping you'd be drawing up plans for us." She admitted, not bothering to hide her enthusiasm. It was getting to the pointy end of the game after all.

"Don't I do that enough already?" Alice groaned, leaning back in her seat and placing the book open on her face. "I've been doing so much planning and teaching I can probably do it in my sleep. It's in my dreams I tell you."

Bianca simply laughed at Alice's distress, watching as her friend from another world let out a heavy sigh of exhaustion. "We know, but we can't let you rest just yet." She told Alice sympathetically.

"Suck it up!" Alice's eye twitched slightly from under the book as another voice spoke. "Everyone is working, not just you."

Gradually letting her journal slide off her face and into her lap Alice stared straight at Hugh as he chastised her. Her unimpressed expression must have irritated him further because the spiky haired boy continued. Standing with his arms crossed Hugh dove head first into one of his little speeches, which could just be called well justified whining.

"Everyone is tired, we're all working hard to track down that Legendary for you. We're all trying to clean up this mess and it's only taken the last five years of our time and-"

"Come on Hughie." Alice groaned, slumping forward to rest her elbows on her knees as she looked at the frustrated boy with a faint smirk. "Cut me some slack will ya?"

Bristling with anger Hugh prepared to spit out what Alice could only assume was more angry exposition. But a larger hand dropping onto his shoulder caused him to tense up and freeze, forgetting what he was about to say. Inch by inch he turned to look at the person who had grabbed him, wearing a mortified expression.

"Problem?" The question came from the owner of the hand, in an impassive tone. It probably was not meant to be intimidating but it was hard for it to come across in any other way when spoken by that subway master.

"Ah! Ingo, Emmet, are you finished for the day?" Bianca asked before Hugh or Alice could respond to the question and possibly start and argument.

"Yep." Peeking out from around his brother Emmet shot them a brilliant smile, playfully lingering half hidden behind Ingo as he waved. Ingo, who kept one hand on Hugh's shoulder, stood like a statue with his permanent frown in place.

The two brother's had been part of their team for a while now, getting the small group from place to place with only a few battles as compensation for their troubles. When they'd first met Alice had not particularly liked them. It was not their doing and they were perfectly helpful wherever they could be, but still they tended to concern her.

Ever since the link between their worlds had been explained Alice had looked for similarities in those she met and for some the matches were easy to spot. Bianca and Rose might as well have been the same person at times, in the same fashion the Riley and Red mirrored one another. The subway masters had a somewhat strange link back home, one that caused Alice endless bouts of concern. She couldn't say if her assumption on who their counterparts in the other world were was correct – hell they could just have easily been Tharja and Len. Still it gave Alice reasons to think about home and that tended to get her down.

"Thinking about home again?" Alice looked up in surprise and found that Emmet had slid out from behind his brother and bent to her level, far too close for comfort. Yelping, Alice flinched back in alarm. Emmet's ever present smile only grew when she responded so comically.

"Brother." Ingo muttered warningly. Immediately Emmet pulled back, handing in the air innocently as he spun on the spot, full of his usual energy.

"I didn't do anything." He chimed childishly, hands moving quickly behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "I was just wondering if Ally would tell us more about the other world."

"I'm off duty." Alice replied breathlessly, once she'd got her bearings sorted again. "No more lessons till we get to the meeting." Much like Bianca had earlier, Emmet pouted and made a small sound of complaint.

"What's all the noise about?" The small group turned to see a rather tired and cranky Cheren sitting forward in his seat. Adjusting his tie with a scathing glare the black haired man sighed in irritation. "If you wake up Riley we'll all be in for it."

There was a silent agreement between the carriage occupants though Emmet just giggled cheekily at the thought. Alice looked over at the only other person that belonged to her home world. Riley slept with his hat pulled over his eyes, arms crossed and sitting upright on the subway seat.

Five years seemed like a long time to Alice but Riley did not seem to notice it at all. In fact he didn't seem to even have aged that much. Riley was the oldest of the group at home and he was one of the older members of the group in this world. Twenty six years old now, and he wasn't ever trying to keep track. Every time his birthday rolled around he seemed to be surprised when everyone else told him and congratulated him on another year. To every birthday however there was a lingering thought shared by Alice and Riley.

_Another year and still not home._

Pushing away discouraging thoughts Alice eased herself up out of her seat, walking by the train masters who both followed her movement in their own strange ways – one a statue and the other a jittery shadow. Coming to stand in front of Riley Alice bent down at the waist and unceremoniously bonked him on the head with the spine of her journal.  
>Hugh tensed and Alice heard Bianca giggling while Emmet made a soft 'oh' sound, definitely amused.<p>

For the most part Riley was silent and still, giving only a small huff of annoyance as proof her felt any of it. After a few seconds of silence Riley reached up to tip his hat back, revealing on glaring eye. Alice simply smiled in response.  
>"We're almost there." She informed him, getting that glare to soften just a bit. "Time to get moving."<p>

A ghost of a smile curled on Riley's lips and slowly he sat up straight, pulling his hat back onto his head. A glance around the cart and Riley nodded once, acknowledging them and what Alice had said.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this." Bianca admitted nervously as the subway gave another jerk in the same second an electronic voice sounded from the surrounding speakers.

'_Next stop, the Pokemon League._' The younger members of the group all turned to look up at the speakers as it announced their arrival. No time to back out now. '_Please stand clear of the doors._'

"You've met them all before." Cheren reminded Bianca reasonably. "This will just be like meeting up with old friends." Cheren always was the one to calm Bianca down and be the ever present voice of reason. Riley could have been something similar, if not for his aversion to speaking. He could speak just like anyone else but preferred to remain silent until something absolutely needed to be put into words.

"I know that." Bianca huffed indignantly. "But we've never met them all in one place before. Of course I'm nervous seeing that many people."

"Five years worth of new friends." Alice mused, vocalising her train of thought. "It is rather daunting to think we've gotten to this point."

Five years of gathering people to aid them. It was a long time and there were a lot of faces to remember, some friendly and some not so much. Alice couldn't help but smile when she thought about all of the effort that had gone into convincing each person to help them, some agreed purely out of goodwill or friendship. Other had more demands and Alice had often found they acted more like a mobile task unit than they did a team on a quest. Still whatever got the job done was fine.

"You're both being wusses." Hugh informed them in a matter of fact tone. "Everyone is waiting on us, we're late as it is."

"And just whose fault was that?" Alice shot back watching as Hugh's face turned bright red. "If you didn't have such a temper we wouldn't have gotten into half the fights we did."

"I was training for the battles ahead!" Hugh argued indignantly, not one for having his pride knocked down.

"How many times do I need to tell you? Where we're going you won't need those skills." When Alice said this Hugh did not respond, a grim expression coming over his face. He wasn't looking forward to the next part of the journey. Knowing this Alice's defences dropped and with a sigh she sat back down next to Riley and amended her snappy tone.

"I know it's going to be hard for you." Alice admitted while watching all their gazes drop to the floor. "But the pokemon will be safe here. That's all that matters." Alice prepared to go over the usual pep talk but was shushed by Riley who raised his hand and simply said.

"Save it for the League." With Alice silenced the raven haired man turned to peer at Hugh. "Prepare yourself." Was all he said but it was all he needed to say. He and Hugh while not exactly harmonious were long time friends and Hugh knew that Riley meant to calm him.

"Right…" Hugh answered in a flat tone.

"My, my." Emmet piped up in a bright tone. "What a gloomy bunch! Come on, let's have a little match to lighten the mood." At the invitation the subway master flashed a pokeball in his hand and grinned.

"Not a chance." Emmet almost dropped his pokeball in distress. "We're almost there. We don't have time to play games." Alice told him seriously and Emmet began to pout. Wandering over to her he jabbed his finger against her cheek, wearing Alice's patience with him terribly thin.

"I remember when you were a cute little trainer." He complained. "Couldn't wait to get out there and have a battle."

Alice resisted the urge to bit the offending finger and settled for a simple glare at the subway master. "Hmm, come on!" Emmet continued to whine, clinging onto Alice's arm and tugging childishly. "Just a quick battle I swear!"

"Brother…" Ingo growled from where he stood, still a statue. He hadn't moved an inch since he released Hugh's shoulder. "You'll get bitten." He told his brother in a matter of fact tone. At this Emmet's gaze slipped up to the girl he clung to, nervously checking to see if his brother was correct.

Alice simply cast him a small smirk and muttered. "Ivan will eat your face." To add to her threat a low growl immited from below the subway seats. A glance down from Emmet and immediately Alice's arm was released from his vice like grip. Laughing sheepishly he put some distance between Alice and the growling ball of white fluff.

"I didn't see you down there Ivy." Emmet spoke to the somewhat hidden pokemon. Again the little Eevee growled at Emmet though it was more for the nickname than a threat. After this the disgruntle pokemon jumped out of its hiding place and up onto his trainer's lap.

Ivan was her first pokemon, it had taken some time for his name to be picked and despite the fact this little discoloured Eevee had followed her through multiple worlds, both trainer and pokemon were a little bit disconnected. Ivan guarded Alice with a fierceness most were not willing to oppose and even Alice was taken aback by the lengths the small pokemon would go to just to ensure her safety. Yet at the same time Ivan could completely blow Alice off, as though he wanted nothing to do with her. It was frustrating to say the least.

Alice could only assume this had to do with the fact this Eevee was not originally hers. She had not caught him, rather Touko had some time before her death. Alice guessed this was why Ivan felt so strongly about guarding her, losing another trainer could do in any pokemon's heart. For this reason Alice never questioned his odd behaviour towards her.

"We'll battle another time." Alice finally promised Emmet though it was probably a lie. They may very well never have a pokemon battle together again.

"I'll hold you to that!" Emmet announced, his smile back in place as he returned to his usual cheerful self.

"You always do…" Alice sighed, pulling a face as her mind flashed over the many different times she arrived at the subway only to be tackled by the master and roped into battles. The worst time had been when he insisted on twenty battles in a row, they only got to the seventh before Alice caved in. It was no question that Emmet could outlast almost any of them in multiple battles and frankly Ingo was even worse. The best they had so far was a draw between Ingo and Riley after the twelfth match.

"It'll have to wait." Riley spoke up as the subway began to shudder to a stop. "We're here."

A silence settled around them as their ride slowed to a stop. Bianca was the most openly anxious but Alice could guess most everyone was feeling something similar. Well maybe not the robots. A glance at Riley, Cheren and the subway masters has Alice wondering if it really might only be herself, Hugh and Bianca that were concerned.

Alice closed her eyes, arms curling around Ivan as she took a deep breath. Ivan turned to look up at his trainer with a curious expression. It didn't take him long to realise she was simply nervous. Five years of work and now they were nearing the end of it, they could only hope it went well. Ivan huffed quietly, not one to comfort Alice much as he wasn't a fan of showing affection. Still he placed a paw on her hand while staring off in the other direction, making a show of not caring. Alice simply laughed under her breath and pretended she didn't notice the gesture.

They would be fine.  
>They had to be, it had already been too long and now they were getting close to finding their way back home.<p>

Finally the doors slid open to the sound of a soft electronic 'bing' and it was time to leave and meet up with some old friends.

"Well then." Alice stood up, Ivan jumping onto her shoulder as she put on a confident face. "Let's get on with it."

…

…

Everything was proceeding perfectly.  
>The pace of progress was rapid and they'd successfully embedded themselves within a world that was not their own to begin with. In some ways it was more simple and in others infinitely harder to work with, thankfully they were fast learners and already well practiced at hiding their tracks.<p>

New recruits had joined, adding to their ever growing reservoir of information and assets. They had discarded their traditional uniform for the time being in favour for the formal attire suitable in this world, with only a single 'P' stitched into the right pocket of their new uniforms. Discreet, efficient and invisible.  
>Everything that he had once hoped for when first discovering the new world.<p>

However if Ghetsis was to nit-pick, there was one minor detail that troubled him from time to time. Unfortunately it just so happened to be a very important and influential piece to the game – and naturally it had to be his own son.

Perhaps it was simple inevitable that this would happen. No matter the setting and plan, N seemed to be an ever constant source of dismay for the great sage. However it was also imprudent and impossible to remove N from the equation, now so more than ever.

Ghetsis observed as his son made yet another formal address to what he could only call a council of fools. It was boggling how anything was achieved in this world where all decisions were argued over mercilessly and those in charge ruled with their tails between their legs. Far across this new worlds vast oceans there were other nations in which their rulers held a style more akin to Ghetsis's own vision and while that comforted him somewhat, it did prove to be a problem.  
>A problem for another day – a day soon to come.<p>

They had been fortunate to find themselves on this part of the world, a small and relatively unnoticeable country that was isolated from the others by great distances. Even more fortunate was the council of fools, they made no decisive action until months of argument had come and gone, usually without a notable outcome. The changing of a road sign would boggle these morons for weeks had they not all been backed by the actual intellectuals.

At first Ghetsis was discouraged by the system of government they'd found but quickly found it to be just as easily corrupted and bendable as any other. They made a great big song and dance about the importance of honesty and righteousness but they seemed ready to steal, lie and slander at the drop of a pin. Beautiful - absolutely spinelessly stupidly, uselessly, beautiful idiots.

It hadn't taken long for Ghetsis to place his seeds. A man here and there in various parties, in various positions of politics, in any and every possible department. They were perhaps one of the most efficient underground opperations this sleepy little desert island nation had ever seen.

A country so innocent to deceit and war on its lands, so blissfully unaware of the danger – was simply perfect for Ghetsis.

As Ghetsis once again marvelled in the ridiculousness of ease that they had captured a nation unaware, a small shifting by his side caught his attention. Without turning to look he spoke to his visitor.

"The results?" He asked calmly as the blonde scientist by his side flicked his fingers over an illuminated tablet. Colress looked less groomed then when he last saw the man. He'd become somewhat eccentric…more eccentric that is. The new world fascinated him beyond compare and he often lost himself in his work, forgetting the most basic of human needs. If Ghetsis found him passed out even once more he was going to let him die.

"Good. Good." Colress hummed approvingly. "Stable connection and a steady flow of energy." Looking up from his tablet towards the speech their young 'king' was currently giving, Colress smiled mirthlessly. "He certain seems to be handling the new additions to his body well."

Ghetsis's single seeing eye rolled back over to his son. He could barely hear the buzz of words as N presented his argument in the parliament. At a glance he barely resembled the boy that first arrived in this foreign land. Seven years had aged a boy into a man and while N was still very much in his early years he barely held the same innocent glow as he once had. N's green hair had been carefully hidden away behind fake strands of blond so as not to alert the world to his different nature. Ghetsis was in a similar situation and while he detested having the same colour hair as the foolish doctor sitting next to him – some things were simply necessary to the overall plan.

However it was not his immediate appearance that caused the sage to smirk – instead it was his 'new' glow. An unnatural aura that even those who were privy to the secret behind it were sometimes at its mercy. N captivated people's minds with his words even when he'd been a young boy and now he captivated them with not only those beautifully strung together sentences but also a gift not from the world they currently resided in.

As N stood, the centre of attention and spoke in a firm voice, delivering his beliefs and demands onto a world new to his face and influence, Ghetsis looked over the signs that the pokemon's influence was in effect. N's eyes blazed as he spoke, passionate and certain – he lacked the ability to turn back or change his ideals. All for the sake of a past mistake he foolishly sought to rectify. Children could be so easily manipulated.

That alone could have been enough to keep all eyes on him but it was the unnatural power that coursed through his veins that made the entire nation stop to tune in.  
>No, what ensnared the unknowing humans was not N's sharp tongue – it was the legendary god Arceus.<p>

Chuckling Ghetsis eased himself back into his seat, eyes remaining on N as he spoke. "I had thought you completely mad when you suggested this, but it has surpassed all expectations." Ghetsis praised Colress begrudgingly and in response the fool merely smirked.

"Of course it was a long shot that he would survive the process at all." Colress admitted nocholantly, as though they were discussing the colour of the sky. "But his body had accepted Arceus's gifts exceptionally well. I never could have guessed he would take to it this quickly. But just…just look at them." Colress laughed shamelessly at those captivated by the human in possession of a pokemon's demanding aura.

"It was lucky we were able to obtain even this much of Arceus's left over powers." Colress murmured anxiously, as though he was still afraid they may lose it should he speak of its fragile nature. "It was a risk implanting it in N. We could have lost him and the remanets of Arceus's influence."

"However that did not happen." Ghetsis reminded the doctor sharply, not approving of the negative talk. "Once this meeting is finished have N return to his room and take another dose. If he is stable then we can double what he has now."

"Now Ghetsis." Colress chided his partner in a teasing tone as he waved his finger back and forth. "Push him too much and his side effects may very well worsen. What would we do if he started glowing? He couldn't deliver speeches looking like a monster."

"You forget." Ghetsis responded flatly. His gaze following his son as, by chance, the young male looked up towards where he and Colress were seated. His eyes piecing and hardened beyond anything Ghetsis could have hoped for. "That he is nothing less than a monster."

"Perhaps, and it may be best not to let that monster know exactly what it cost to give him his new found influence." Ghetsis cast the smiling doctor another warning glance. The plan had never been to reopen a link between the pokemon world and their own, though they kept N blissfully ignorant to that and Ghetsis fully intended for things to remain that way.

"I'll be sure to bring you more wonderful results next time as well." Colress merely smiled as he excused himself and stood back up, having no interest in politics he intended to return to his research. As he eased out of his seat and prepared to leave the doctor's gaze caught one of the usual shadows lingering behind Ghetsis.

"Vigilant as always I see." Colress laughed as he came to stand level with the silently standing guardian, the shadow had grown quite tall in passing years. The original shadow triad had been lost back in the pokemon world but they had been able to find suitable replacements. This particular shadow barely spared Colress a glance but he could see the clenching of the young man's jaw – he was certainly not deaf.

Turning back to look towards the political arena Colress continued to speak at the boy's expense. "Your prince certainly has grown into a magnificent king, don't you agree?"

"He is no king." The response was just as Colress expected and a cold smirk formed on his face. The shadow did not look away from his duty but still he spoke. A shred of disobedience remaining. "I only serve one king."

"Your brother, no?" Colress rest a hand on the shadow's shoulder only to receive a scathing glare. If looks could kill. "My, my, such a hateful young man. Well I must be off." Speaking in his usual light-hearted tone Colress released the boy's shoulder and began to walk off down the hall and as he went he called back to the boy.

"I trust you'll look after our master, little knight." With that last jab at the boy's dignity Colress gave one last wave and vanished from the room.

With Colress gone the shadow's eyes lingered on his 'king'. Seven years he'd served the man known as N but he still remembered a time where instead of serving and being forced to remain by the foolish king's side, that foolish king had smiled in a carefree way and destroyed a kitchen with him.

Seven years of this. Time seemed to hold little meaning when every passing day belonged to someone else. Standing in the darkness the would be knight let out a silent sigh, closing his eyes for just a moment though he knew such an action could be punishable if Ghetsis were to catch him slacking off.

Seven years and still not a single night of rest. Seven years and still not one day he could remember having smiled as they once did. His smiles were bitter and forced but still he tried to maintain them, still he tried to keep them alive so that his true 'king' would not feel any sadder than he already did.

"Boy." The shadow knight tensed when Ghetsis spoke but made no vocal response, fearing his small moment of rest had been seen by the sage. "Return to the main house."

"My lord…?" He questioned, worried that if he left and something were to happen to Ghetsis he would have the brunt of the punishment. Loyalty through fear and nothing more.

"Do not argue." Ghetsis snapped. "I need an empty room, alone with my thoughts. Send the witch to escort me when the meeting in through."

"Of course my lord." Knowing better than to argue the shadow turned and left without another word. The witch. A fitting nickname for the dreadful twin but still it irritated him somewhat. They referred to her so often as 'Witch' that sometimes her real name left his mind.

"Tharja would curse me if she knew." He chuckled to himself as he walked back towards 'home'.

Ah. The young knight had not been home in a very long time.  
>Seven years felt even longer without a home.<p>

Still he walked towards it as he always did. Returned unwillingly to the place he must always go, there was no helping it because the only thing he had left was chained to that place. Although the knight could not return home happily he could look forward to at least one thing.

Stopping along the way to pass on the message to Tharja about her new job, the knight could only give her a sorry smile and continue on his way, ignoring the stare that followed him as he walked away. Old friends did tend to stare at him in that way, if it was pity of loathing he could no longer distinguish. It couldn't be helped, he was bound to this bloody place and its masters, he could not escape even if his legs carried him to whole other worlds. Because they had the only thing that the young knight had left in this world. It was similar to Tharja and Len's situation. Lock one twin up and the other cannot disobey, it was an effective method of control.

As he did most days returning home the knight paused at the doors, thoughts of fleeing or simply not going inside strong in his mind. But as always he pushed them aside and walked straight back into his cage once again.

"Brother." As the knight entered the front doors of their prison named a home a familiar figure appeared before him, just as it did every day. Again he put on the familiar false smile, the one he always forced when he saw the last of his family come to greet him. The boy that came to the front door to welcome him back to their prison wore nothing more than a long white shirt and perhaps his usual cream coloured shorts under it. When they were not dressed as shadows they preferred to were little and to always wear white. The thick black of their hoods and cloaks were an eye sore to both boys. Pulling his hood back from his face the knight stepped forward to properly greet the other.

"Evening, I'm home safe and sound. How was your da-" His words were cut off as the smaller of two brothers suddenly wrapped his arms around his torso, clinging tightly to his knight. After a brief hesitation the other sighed with a wistful smile and raised one arm to hug the smaller male to him.

"I'm sorry I left you alone – Vince." At his name the blonde haired male's arms constricted around his brother's body, clinging to him tightly. Allowing Vincent to hug him the knight raised his other hand to rest atop Vince's head, returning the gesture. Vincent's hair was growing to unmanageable lengths again. The thin strands of blond hair were already beginning to make their way to his lower back. He knew that soon he'd need to fight with Vincent just to cut a little bit of the hair back, Vincent hated it when people tried to mess with his hair, even his big brother.

N would not return for a while and so the two brother's took comfort in the display of affection they so rarely were able to show now days. As Vincent's shoulders began to shake his brother held him tighter, guessing nightmares were to blame for his little brother's desperate clinging. Elliot got them to, the nightmares.

"I'm sorry I took so long." He murmured the quiet apology.

"Just…stay with me for a while." Vincent muttered into his big brother's chest. "Don't leave yet Elliot."

Elliot wanted to promise he'd never abandon his brother but he knew such a promise would be met with anger and sorrow, so he kept the vow silently to himself. He'd never abandon Vincent or leave him on his own.

"Come on." Elliot murmured in a hushed tone. "Let's get to our room before N returns." Vincent needed no more urging than that and immediately turned away from Elliot, still clutching his gloved hand tightly as he did and began to walk back towards their shared room.

Elliot sometimes thought about the time before those seven years had passed. It wasn't so much that he missed those days as opposed to simply hating these times. What always stood out to the want-a-be knight was not the change in himself or his little brother but rather the drastic change in their caretaker and 'big brother'.  
>It was not too long ago that Elliot might have even stayed to greet N as well, just for the sake of old times and relationships but now they both scurried to the security of their room before their king came knocking to drag the two down to dinner.<p>

N's insistence on having a 'family' dinner was perhaps more nightmare inducing than the early days. The days in which Vincent and Elliot had tried…for lack of a better word, to escape.  
>Dark days not worth thinking about. There were a lot of those recently.<p>

Their caretaker had always insisted he did this for their sake, that they had to be kept safe out of duty to his guide. So much time had passed and still that nickname had stuck for their big sister.

A big sister that Elliot could only assume had died.

It was an unspoken law around the household that the mere mention of their former sister was forbidden. Only N and occasionally one of the brothers would slip up and in someway reference the long gone girl. It was always met with grim results, none more so than when it came to Vincent and N.

Shuddering at the thought of those two entering another violent argument Elliot's hand gently squeezed Vincent's. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad living under the same roof as the now, somewhat mad, king – had it not been for the fact both he and Vincent shared a mutual hatred. Elliot never wanted to see the outcome of another outburst from either one of them, knowing it ended with a locked room and a great deal of tears and screaming.

N always reassured the two of them that he did everything for the sake of the greater good. That he did it to protect them or to eventually bring about what he described as the perfect world. Elliot had seen N's idea on the perfect world and he did not want to be part of it, even in the early days when he still tended to smile and act normally.

Elliot could not pretend to understand everything that Ghetsis and Colress spoke about that day though he'd heard it all before. He could not pretend that he knew how to help N get through what he saw as some sort of illness but he did know what it did to the young king.  
>The days where he treated subordinates tenderly and showed at least some form of empathy were long gone. The N he'd met as a child when his sister brought him home was no longer there, the one left in his place was some sort of monster.<p>

"Brother?" Vincent turned to look at Elliot, noticing a pained expression lingering on his face. "Did something happen today?"

When Elliot didn't answer immediately Vincent's eyes narrowed into a spiteful glare. "Was it him?" He asked demandingly. Vincent always assumed it was the kings doing and to be perfectly honest, most of the time it was.

"No." Elliot muttered quietly, not wanting Vincent to try picking a fight with their caretaker again. "Just…just tired. Long day."

Vincent's expression softened and he gave his big brother's hand a small squeeze, at least reassuring him that Vincent wasn't going to go after N…at least not right then.

"Vince…tonight please don't argue with him." Elliot asked quietly, staring at the ground when he asked. "Tonight when we have dinner, just try to be nice."

It took Vincent a while to say anything, looking frustrated by the request but it was his big brother asking so begrudgingly he agreed. Smiling in relief Elliot reached up to ruffle Vincent's hair, knowing that Vince would growl at anyone else that tried to do such a thing.

"Thanks." Elliot murmured gratefully. Hoping that tonight would be alright.  
>It wouldn't be so hard to just have one good night.<p>

…

…

Alice never could understand why the place had to be made of sand and dirt.

The moment they set foot onto the pokemon league grounds she'd been underwhelmed by the scenery again. Oh yes, the main structure was grand and beyond anything she could have dreamt up herself but where it was built was the exact opposite. Bleak brown dirt was what paved the way to the pearly gates f Unova's pride and joy. Alice didn't like it one bit.

"You're making that face again." Emmet lent down close to Alice who in return recoiled. They were currently walking towards the final meeting place and Alice had wanted to be serious about the whole thing but it seemed Emmet was not feeling the same atmosphere – and stupid her for responding to him.

"What face?" Alice demanded while glancing over at the white subway master. "There's no face, this is _my_ face."

"And what a face it is." Emmet chuckled, getting a glare from Alice. She kinda wanted to hit Emmet most of the time.

"He's right you know." Cheren cut in before realising his words might be mistaken for something else. "About the expression you're wearing I mean." He clarified quickly.

"Alright so maybe there was a face." Alice admitted begrudgingly. "It's just that…well couldn't they have prettied this place up a tad?" She asked indignantly. "It's the pinnacle of every pokemon trainers journey and it looks more like a wasteland than it does the thing of dreams."

"Ah, what it's what inside that counts right?" Bianca chimed in gleefully. "It's beautiful inside there!"

"Besides." Hunter added with a rude huff and wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter how pretty it is, all that matters is the battles inside."

Alice hesitated, taking a distasteful glance around the somewhat empty dirt path to the league and the vast wasteland that stretched out around it. She couldn't help but think it wouldn't have killed them to try for some desert plants of water features but…the others made a good point.

"I guess you're right." Alice allowed finally. At these words Emmet plastered a large smile on his face and did a strange salute gesture.

"That's right!" He hummed happily. "It's what's inside that counts." After he said that cheesy line however a somewhat eerie grin came over his face. "And the wonderful, glorious battles…" As Emmet chuckled in his usual battle obsessed way the usually silent Ingo spoke up in a flat tone.

"Appearances do not matter." He said simply, leaving no room for argument in his final tone. "Not here. Not now."

Both Alice and Ivan shared a sceptical expression, not exactly about to climb aboard the inspirational boat. However a gentle pressure on Alice's head caused her to glance back at Riley who watched her with a faint smile. Seeing this Alice let out a sigh and smiled herself. The message coming through loud and clear.

"Aye, aye captain. I got it." Alice murmured, eyes turning back to the grand structure looming ahead of them. They were right, it really didn't matter if it was pretty or not. This is where dreams were made and hopefully where they'd make a miracle or two of their own.

"N-Now that we're here…" Bianca seemed to be getting anxious again. Immediately Cheren was by her side, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Come Bianca." He smiled encouragingly. "Don't get skittish now. We're finally here." Bianca nodded, putting on a determined expression as she clenched her hand into a tight fist.

Bianca might have been easily made nervous or embarrassed but she genuinely gave it her all and Alice couldn't help but smile while watching the effort she put into everything she did.

"Where are we going to be meeting them all?" Hugh asked curiously. He probably wanted to go looking through the entire league.

"Someone will be here to greet us." Riley spoke up, saying that and nothing else as he walked ahead of the group. Alice's gaze followed the male as he walked ahead, figuring that he knew who would greet them. Still she didn't try forcing anymore words out of the quiet male and instead trailed after him silently.

As the looming building stretched over head and began to block out their view of the sun Alice felt her nerves pricking again. She wasn't so sure that they'd be able to work together coherently once the meeting was settled in. various terrible outcomes ran through her brain despite knowing that they'd all met before and for the most part gotten along.

Without thinking Alice reached forward to grab the back of Riley's jacket, causing her friend and big brother figure to pause and glance back at her. It was a momentary hesitation before he started walking again, allowing Alice to hold onto the back of his jacket like she was a nervous child. For all the growing up she'd done Alice still liked to hold onto her big brother's jacket for comfort.

"It'll be fine." Riley spoke back to her in a hushed tone. Saying no more than that, but it was enough.

Quietly they proceeded to the front of the league, a small set of stairs and sliding gate marking its entrance. But what caught their attention was the person sitting on the top step, arms resting on his knees with a small smirk plastered on his face.

The group came to a halt not too far from what Alice guessed what their guide. Even Riley's smooth steps slowed to a stop as he looked up at the other male. Sitting atop the steps was an orange haired male, Alice swore she knew.

After a momentary pause Riley's head dipped down slightly and he took a step towards their greeter, Alice trailing after him as she was unwilling to release her grip on his jacket. At his approach the sitting male's head tilted up slightly and his grin grew.

"Well look who decided to show up." He crowed in a mocking tone. "You kept us waiting, loser."

Alice bristled at the insult but Riley barely seemed to register it and instead continued towards the other. Coming to stand at the bottom step Riley looked up at the smirking male with his usual deadpanned expression. After a few seconds of silence the other let out a bark of laughter.

"Ah, come on man. Do you have to pull the same face as that guy?" He asked with a smile. Once his laughter subsided he lent forward from where he sat on the step.

"Hmpf. Looking at an idiot tends to do that to you." Riley responded with a small chuckle, genuinely surprising Alice. "It's good to see you again Blue."

Finally the other stood up, leaping off the steps and down to the same level as Alice and Riley. His smile never faded though it seemed a tad more genuine this time. "Well some things never change." Blue mused, reaching out to bump fists with Riley who wordlessly obliged the odd gesture.

Once they'd exchanged their greeting Blue bent down to peer around Riley at Alice who looked back at him with a small glower. She wasn't angry at all but she couldn't decide what face to make when meeting Blue. She hadn't recognised him immediately. It had been a long time since she'd seen, let alone thought of the character and so she'd genuinely not recognised him.

"So this your little sister?" He asked while looking at Alice's unfriendly face for a moment longer. Only after a few seconds more he glanced up at Riley from his bent down position. "Thought you said she was cute."

Before Alice could growl about that Ivan beat her to it, the little silver pokemon snarling warningly at Blue. Apparently the trainer found this adorable and just laughed, straightening back up before he could have his face clawed off by the unfriendly little beast.

"Behave yourself." Riley said simply, casting a glance between both Alice and Blue. The message could have gone to either one of them and frankly they both needed the warning.

"Everyone, this is Gary, or Blue." Riley introduced them to the male who causally waved. "An old friend, and a blatant bully."

"Hey, don't go tarnishing my good name before we even start." He protested but he didn't seem to actually deny being a bully.

"Good name?" Alice glanced past both Riley and Blue to see who had spoken then, a female's voice. Standing by the gate was a girl that looked roughly the same age as both Blue and Riley. She had fairly plain features, long greyish hair with dark eyes and a ready smile. This time Alice did recognise the character.

"Leaf!" Blue complained turning to glare at the girl. "You were meant to wait with the others."

"Yeah, but seeing as they sent you to wait for them I thought I'd better check on you." Leaf laughed, skipping down the steps to joining Blue. "You were taking your time."

"Hardly my fault that they're late, they just got here." Blue defended himself but Leaf simply shook her head with a smile and hands on her hips.

"Hi everyone." She greeted them all brightly. "Sorry we left Blue to greet you. My name's Leaf." She paused with introductions when she saw Riley and her smile brightened further. "Riley you've grown so much!" Leaf cried gleefully and leapt forward, wrapping Riley up in a tight hug.

This forced Alice to let go of his jacket, backing away from the display of friendship. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Riley and Red had swapped places numerous times, so it made sense that he would have interacted with the same people that Red had. Alice just hadn't realised they were _this_ close.

"It's about time you got here." Leaf chirped as she got set back down on her own two feet. "Come on, everyone is waiting."

Much like Blue had paused to take note of Alice earlier, Leaf did the same. She was older than Alice and seemed to think that Alice was still a child as she came over and bent close to her height. Okay, Alice was on the shorter side of the size scale but she didn't look that young! Maybe Leaf was just the affectionate big sister type?

"You must be Ally." Leaf greeted Alice with the nickname she really wished would just up and die. Somewhere behind her Alice could hear Emmet snickering and she reserved a inner glare for the gleeful bastard. "You really are as cute as Riley said."

Alice wasn't sure what concerned her more, the idea that her silent brooding big brother figure was going around introducing her as his cute sister, or the fact Leaf and Blue had completely opposite views on her yet both referenced the same idea.

Leaf then smiled in a sad sort of way. "But you're going to be talking to everyone today huh? Sounds scary."

_You pointing that out isn't helping!_ Alice cried internally but Leaf was being too friendly for her to snap at.

"I'm sure you'll do fine." She concluded in a encouraging tone. With that she stood up straight, turning to the rest of the crew. "We'll do all the introductions once the meeting has started. Lots of new faces and names to remember. Let's get a move on."

With that Blue and Leaf turned towards the entrance of the League, leading the group through. Once Hugh crossed the stairs, the last to step across an unseen line, the sliding gate slid shut with a loud bang. Alice jumped and grabbed hold of Riley's jacket again. She didn't want to admit it but she was a scaredy cat through and through. That was why Len and Tharja had a habit of pulling pranks on her during Halloween. She didn't really miss that part of her old life…not really.

Again Riley was very tolerant of her and didn't comment on the fact she kept tugging on his jacket. As all the group gathered at the base of a large statue Alice took a glance around the entrance to the various chambers that belonged to the elite four. Four sets of pathways and stairs that took the trainer to four separate challenges. Alice could only just remember this part of the game she once played. She remembered…she loathed those stairs.

"Face, the face~" Emmet murmured in her ear causing Alice to snarl at him in time with Ivan. The train master merely laughed gleefully. "Do you hate everything?"

"I like plenty of things." Alice hissed back before muttering under her breath. "You try to beat the elite four without training your pokemon enough…you have any idea how many revives I used just to go through each battle…?"

"Huh? But Alice. You never challenged the elite four." Bianca joined in and Alice simply sighed. No point explaining she meant in a game. It would probably just make her seem petty…pettier than she already was.

"Never mind, it's nothing." Alice murmured before looking up at the massive statue. If she remembered correctly what happened next was…

"Brace yourselves." Blue called just as the base around the statue gave a violent shudder and dropped straight through the floor. The base lit up in brilliant shades of blue, and as they rapidly descended Alice ended up grabbing onto Riley's jacket with both hands.

Somewhere behind her Alice heard Bianca give a yelp of alarm and Emmet laughing again, apparently enjoying himself. Cheren gave an audible sigh, rather wishing his companions would be a little more composed.

Riley reached back with one hand and gently pat Alice's head, just to reassure her that they wouldn't fall right to their deaths. Alice was too old to be clinging to her big brother but she wasn't about to let go any time soon. It didn't take long for them to approach the ground, too quickly for Alice's liking but thankfully when they did hit the ground thankfully none of them fell off the edge or even fell over. At worse Hugh stumbled a little bit, he quickly composed himself and pretended that never happened.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Blue asked, looking over his shoulder…right at Alice with that smug smirk. Alice glared back, not voicing that it really was so bloody awful. Still one hand relinquished its grip on Riley's jacket while the other remained firmly gripping the soft material.

"Now comes the real hard part." When Blue said that and turned to look back ahead of him everyone's eyes followed his. Alice did not remember much about the league and she had absolutely forgotten this part.

"Oh no. Hell no!" Alice immediately yelped when she saw the…mountain ahead of them. Alice swore she'd never seen so many stairs in all her life. Alice had stairs when there was only three or four and ahead of her now was the mother of all staircases.

"Thought you said you'd done this before." Emmet teased.

"Yeah…when it was in bloody 2D!" Alice complained. It didn't look so bad when her sprite – who had infinite sprint mind you – climbed a bunch of tiny looking steps.

"Alice." Riley's firm voice muttered her name, getting her to immediately stop her whining though she wasn't the only one that looked sick by that point.

Reluctantly they all approached the first set of stairs and while everyone else was happy to take their time and not burn themselves out on the first of three sets of stairs, Emmet rushed on ahead of them with seemingly endless reserves of energy. Laughing to himself the whole time the clown bounced up and down the steps, as if to spite Alice. Finally when Alice had enough of his joyful frolicking up and down the stairs she glanced to Ivan who wore the same agitated expression and muttered.

"Bite." With that Ivan took off from Alice's shoulder, becoming nothing more than a white blur as it charged towards its target. Seeing Eevee before it was too late Emmet yelped and took off like a rocket up the steps, vanishing beyond the first set and somewhere off onto the second set of endless stairs, Ivan not far behind.

"We might as well use a flying type pokemon for this." Hugh muttered disgruntledly but technically they were still indoors and flying indoors was akin to opening an umbrella indoors. Plain rude.

"Uh, Ingo?" Alice glanced to the silent one of two brothers. "Shouldn't you go after Emmet?"

"No." Was the sharp reply Alice got for her suggestion. While Emmet seemed to be a puppy that was all to happy to be kicked by Alice time and time again, Ingo seemed to dislike her. He seemed to dislike everyone…maybe. It was a little hard to tell when he acted like an emotionless robot.

However not a moment later Alice guessed why Ingo felt no need to go fetch his brother. Emmet came tumbling down the stairs, tumbling head over heels down each step until he came to land flat on the first break between the sets of stairs, just as Alice and the others had reached it.

He lay face first on the cerement, smiling foolishly though he was obviously hurt and above him on the second landing of stairs Ivan huffed indignantly, obviously having been the cause for Emmet's fall. Ivan sat himself there, not about to walk back down to them, he'd wait till his trainer staggered her way up the steps to collect him. Lazy bugger.

As Ingo stepped up to stand next to his fallen brother the statue like trainer looked down at his injured brother with ice cold eyes. "Climb." He spoke the simply command to Emmet, not cutting the more playful brother an slack. Alice almost felt bad for poor Emmet. Still…they all had a lot more steps to climb, no time to feel bad for someone else.

…One agonising climb later.

Alice all but dragged herself over the last step, panting and whining shamelessly as she collapsed against on the stone pillars that at least kept her from falling face first on the ground. Bianca was nestled on Cheren's back, having been offered the lift halfway up and Hugh was in a similar condition to Alice. The only people that seemed alright were the subway masters, minus a few cuts and bruises on Emmet who had ended up being dragged the rest of the way by his brother, and the three older trainers that watched the children all struggle.

"Wow, the younger generation is absolutely hilarious." Blue laughed at them, ignoring the scathing looks cast his way.

"Lets just…give them a minute to compose themselves." Leaf chuckled as politely as possible. Giving the more exhausted members of the gang to at least catch their breath and let their faces cool back down. It took a few minutes but finally everyone was breathing normally and was able to make themselves presentable.

"Well let's never do that again." Alice announced firmly. She wasn't one for exercise, even after having tracked all over Unova.

"…What about getting back down?" Bianca asked meekly.

"Never. Again." Alice repeated with a demon glare. Bianca laughed nervously, putting her hands up defensively, there was no point trying to reason with Alice when it came to possible undesired exercise.

"You ready?" Riley cut into the conversation. Alice calmed back down and nodded, though she still felt a little bit anxious. "Let go." Riley nodded, turning to Leaf and Blue who in turn nodded and took the lead and stepped through the large archway the lead into the mansion like building. Wordlessly the rest followed, entering a place that could be considered the top of the world.

It was a little like stepping into a castle and knowing you couldn't so much as touch the walls it was so important. Alice was walking behind Riley as they walked through the entrance hall but as they neared the main room Riley slowed up suddenly and placed his hand behind her back, forcing Alice ahead of him. Alice gulped nervously but didn't try to hide behind Riley again. They had long since agreed that she was the one to lead this whole project.

Alice had always thought it should have been Riley but he wouldn't have any of her arguments. In his eyes it was her responsibility to mend this. Once he had said that it should be her and N working to mend it. When he had said that Alice had finally agreed to play the roll, she could only hope that N was doing something similar back home.

N…  
>God it had been so long since she'd let herself think about the male and now was absolutely not the time to be getting caught up in those thoughts.<p>

Raising her head as the hallway stretched out into a full room Alice felt her breath catch when she saw a large table, filled to the brim with faces she had met in the past few years. All heads turned to look at them as they entered. Blue and Leaf darted off to the sides, leaving Alice alone at the front and now the centre of attention.

Alice froze up, a little bit terrified by the sudden attention put on her. It was a small hand against her back that jolted Alice back into motion, a much needed sign of support from Riley who lingered close behind her. Taking a deep breath Alice put on a confident smile and with one hand raised in a wave she finally got to open the meeting on a positive note.

"So, who's ready to catch a god?"

…

…

_Alice: "Hey….Hey….OI!"_

_Malice: *Jumps up from her desk in alarm.* "Oh god what!?_

_Alice: "Where the hell have you been?"_

_N: "What sort of time do you call this?"_

_Malice: "I don't suppose you could just be happy I put this up can you? Ungrateful little…"_

_Alice: "So anyway!" *Cuts across Malice and her potty mouth.* "You might be a little confused about the state of things. Don't worry it should all be fleshed out later. Please fell free to ask questions…leave your hate for the wait and everything else."_

_Malice: =_= "You grew up to be a wanker… Anyway, see you next chapter….but seriously leave me some feedback. I got a new style and the characters had undergone some rather major changes in my mind. Tell me what you think about this new approach."_

_Alice: "Review addict." ._

_Malice: "If you hate it, write your own damn chapter. Later."_


	2. Chapter 2- Making Compromises

Chapter 2- Making Compromises.

_Author's Note: Fan-Friggin-Tabulous. =_=_

_I'll be writing all the official links to each of the characters and their pokemon world counterparts at the end. Feel free to guess until then. It's not hard though, really it's not.  
>Enjoy your chapter.<em>

…

…

N was exhausted.

Not physically at least. N's body rarely felt burnt out but mentally he felt as though he was going to run out of energy and simply shut down. But he had no time for rest, he still had work to do. Once his address to the parliament had come to a close and all pleasantries wrapped up N still had to check in on the progress within his own ranks. There was no time to be taking a break.

Pulling at the tight collar of his formal attire N walked from the meeting chamber briskly. His father would be somewhere within the audience, studying his improvement as always. However N did not seek the elder out, he knew he still had some afternoon duties to attend to before he could retire for the day. Even when he did finish work and slid out of the fake blonde wig and stuffy suits, he still could not truly rest. He was always thinking about the end goal.

And he was becoming frustrated. More and more he felt confined, constricted and beyond furious. At times the pressure became too much and N snarled at people that may or may not have deserve it, but he did not have the time to think it over thoroughly. Feeling the constant itch just under his skin N tried to keep himself from scowling at everyone that passed him. He had to keep face. N left the halls and chambers of the parliament behind him, heading to simply check up on some of the new order of team plasma members.

N often ran out of patience with both the old members and the newcomers. The original men that came over from their world had to learn how the new world worked and those that came in from this world needed to be reconditioned and taught everything from scratch.

Unwittingly N had become the teacher for all team members in the early days. That duty had eased off somewhat as now the more informed members were able to take care of such thing, seven years of being in the new world wasn't anything to scoff at. None the less N found many still coming to him for the finer details of this world and it always brought up mixed feelings in N. On one side the usual irritation grew inside of him but on the other…it almost made N smile. His guide had taught him for a year and now he was teaching his subordinates, it was a melancholy feeling.

A bittersweet feeling that quickly soured as N's anger rose, fists clenching by his sides as he fought back another wave of blinding rage. He couldn't look back onto happy feelings or times, not when there was still work to do. As always N carried out his duties efficiently, checking on the progress of the men and exchanging few words with those that needed instruction. However even during these times his eyes remained distant and recluse, everyone was aware of their king's true feelings and while a great deal of the team felt pity for their king very few were brave enough to speak up. In the beginning he still seemed hopeful but as the months turned to years that hope began to fizzle down into a grim determination. As though he'd long since realised there was no way of returning what he'd lost but was simply too caught up in his desperation to admit defeat.

Those that knew their king well would smile and do everything within their power to help ease his burden but with every passing month it seemed he slipped away just a little more. If it were not for Ghetsis's driving force and vision they may have very well come to a stand still.

"My lord." N turned away from the grunt he had been instructing when someone spoke to him in a calloused tone. He was not surprised to see one of his shadows waiting for him by the door. "It's late." The male demon twin informed him simply. At first N didn't care for that obvious fact but Len was quick to remind him of why the time was important. "You'll be late for dinner."

N tensed and glanced down at his wrist, noticing it had indeed gotten quite late. Time was simply lost on N now days, he could barely tell hours from minutes and days from hours. It was rather troublesome but he always had a shadow to guard his time.

"Of course." N sighed quietly. "Len, go and fetch the car. We'll return home now."

With a simple firm nod Len vanished from his place lingering behind N. Len and Tharja were always eager to return home though they would not voice it openly. N could understand that desire, the twins had to reassure one another that their other half was safe – though they had once told N they would have known if the other was in danger.

When pondering this N's thoughts moved onto the two little brothers that would be waiting for him to return home. Perhaps not waiting willingly but waiting none the less. Vincent was not allowed out of the house as much as Elliot despite being the fourth shadow in their new version of the shadow triad, annoyingly shadow quadrat just didn't roll off the tongue so they scrapped the nickname. Vincent was simply too troublesome, Elliot could follow orders but Vincent tended to lash out and do thing to upset the young king. As a result he spent most of his time locked up in his room, hopefully learning his lesson.

Letting out a weary sigh N finished up his work, signing off on something a grunt put in front of him and left his work behind to return home. For all his efforts to keep those two boys safe in his care, they continued to cause him endless amounts of trouble. N could not understand why they were being so difficult, it had been hard enough prying them away from Oscar when he first fetched them.

His own disliking for Vincent did not make things any easier but he had to keep at it. It was not for his sake that he kept the boys close at hand, it was supposedly the most important thing that his guide had left in this world. It was his responsibility to safe guard them until he found a way to return his guide to him.

As familiar thoughts began to formulate in N's brain and cause his head to begin aching the quiet click of a car door being opened caught his attention. Len had done as instructed and gotten the car ready for N, sometimes it was unclear to the green haired male if Len and Tharja were delighting in their job or not. They certainly took a great deal of joy in being eerie and silent but they never did seem happy at any point. N could not pretend that he understood the twins.

With quiet thanks N climbed into the car and closed the door behind him. As the car began to gradually role away from the curb N's gaze turned towards the sky. It was not only getting dark because of the hour but also the thick blanket of black clouds that began to roll over them, it was going to a storm that night.

The drive home would be a short one but still N allowed his eyes to slide shut, taking solace in momentary rest. The only problem was that when his eyes closed he always saw the same sorts of thing. Faded memories, desired scenes and even some images he could only assume were dreams.

Behind his closed eyes someone smiled at him. Their body glitched and blurred in and out of focus but still the smile remained and no matter which person their body shifted into they still harboured a kind smile. If it was a dream or a distance memory lost within the back of his mind N couldn't be sure but somewhere a voice spoke to him and simply asked.

"_Do you believe in happy endings_?"

Familiar words echoing in his head caused N to jerk upright in his seat just as the car pulled up to his new home. Giving a small groan N pressed his palm against his forehead, willing away the undesired images. He could not take any pleasure in them, not until he was able to see the owner of those words in person again. He would not fail another loved one.

For now he'd have to do all he could to create a world worth returning to and while the process was slower than it would have been back in his home world, it was achievable. The car's engine was cut off and N let out one last weary sigh before straightening himself up and preparing for another night with the 'family'.

"Be sure to tell your sister I said hello." N offhandedly commented to Len as he was let out of the car. All he got in response was a small nod from the shadow. However those two felt towards him meant very little to N so he didn't particularly care if his polite gesture was passed on or not.

The second he set foot in the main hall of their new home a gentle heat greeted him, much nicer than the slowly chilling air outside. The house was somewhat quiet and N vaguely wondered what it would have been like to have someone greet him when he came home. He could just remember a time when occasionally Elliot would greet him but that had ended some years ago.

Shrugging off his heavier coat and setting down the documents he had to carry with him N glanced around the entrance hall. He was able to smell food being prepared and if he strained his ears he could just hear the faint clinker of pots and pans.

Following those sounds and the lovely scent of what he could guess was dinner, N found himself standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Like the rest of their home it was large, full of enough equipment to run a small restaurant and it always produced wonderful food. While this new home was not as large as his castle back in the pokemon world it was much larger than the house that he'd resided in for his first year in this world. He did occasionally miss that house, his attic must have been gathering dust by now.

Within the kitchen a blonde haired girl flittered around rapidly, obviously enjoying herself as she cooked that nights dinner. A faint smile appeared on N's face as he watched the happily humming girl go about her job. However when she happened to turn and catch sight of him her smile fell straight off her face and she almost dropped the plates she was holding.

"O-Oh, N. I didn't see you there." She tried to smile but her anxiousness was obvious to the king, he pretended not to see it.

"What are you making tonight Rose?" He asked, keeping his own faint smile in place so as to try and help the girl relax. "It smells wonderful."

"Ah…well I thought I would make some ravioli." Rose murmured, fidgeting as she told N what she was making. N didn't make comment on her choice immediately, but his smile dropped. Rose only made ravioli for two reasons.

"Is everything alright?" N asked, either Rose was feeling particularly upset or she wanted something. Those were the only reasons she cooked that meal. It was interesting how quickly N and the two Mau boy's favourite meal could become a curse.

"Well…" Rose began to twitch more nervously. "It's just that…I was hoping maybe we could give some to H-Hunter tonight." Immediately N's mood soured at the mention of the troublesome brat. Rose seemed to notice that she'd set N off and immediately bowed her head, backing up somewhat.

"S-Sorry. It…it's just that it's his favourite a-and it's been a week now…" She meekly tried to justify herself while N took a few calming breaths. Under his flesh he could feel the familiar sting gliding through his veins. He couldn't get upset or he'd lash out at the already panicky girl. He quietly willed Arceus's influence to remain bottled up within his body. He must not waste the great pokemon's power on petty anger.

"Think nothing of it." N announced finally. "Feel free to take him a plate." Rose seemed surprised by his permission but smiled none the less. Rose had a rather bright smile and N found himself relieved to see it, even if it meant giving food to the rebellious brat.

"I'll have the food on the table in just a few minutes. Will ah…Vincent be joining you tonight or is he…with Hunter?" Rose asked tentatively, knowing that from time to time Vincent would end up locked up in the same fashion as their insubordinate friend.

"Vincent will be eating at the table tonight." N informed her simply, feeling no need to say anything further.

"Oh, wonderful!" Rose chimed. "I'll get those two if you like?" Rose offered. For all her anxiousness around N she still genuinely seemed willing to try and make things work within the turbulent house and for all the conflict between N and the original group of this world she tried to remain friendly towards him.

"No need." N denied her gently. "I'll go and fetch them. Please finish up in here." Nodding mutely Rose went back to her cooking, simply finishing off the preparation of the pasta dish. She seemed to have a hop back into her step, no doubt thrilled that she was able to give Hunter at least something better than bread and water.

N was not a cruel person…but Hunter was a persistent brat and there was nothing else to be done about his behaviour. When he learnt to behave himself N would release him from the downstairs rooms. N was not a cruel person…he just had to keep reaffirming that to himself.

Leaving the kitchen N walked through the sterile halls of his home, halls stretching on seemingly endlessly with many doors hugging their sides – most were locked. The many separate floors of their home stretched both above ground and deep bellow it, the lower chambers held the more undesirable rooms. Labs, training areas and – of course – the punishment chambers, which were nothing short of nicely named prison cells. Disobedience was not tolerated.

However N was not descending the steps in that moment, he was not traveling down to see any of the cell occupants. For tonight Rose would visit their grounded friend to give him food so N would have no need to enter those lower levels. Instead N walked upwards, towards a much less intimidating section of the household. The upper levels were littered with sleeping chambers, studies and various rooms used for rest and entertainment. However there was one higher level of the house – the highest to be exact – that was reserved for only a special few.

In the upmost floor to the furthest corner it could cram itself, a small wooden door almost seemed to hide itself within the stonewalls of the house. Unlike the more decorated and modern looking doorways, this wooden door looked more akin to something from this worlds medieval period, put simply it was not very inviting. All it lacked was a 'keep out' and 'go away' sign hanging out the front.

As N approached he tried to ignore the heavy aura that emanated from the room, the very obvious message that its inhabitants wanted to be left alone. Coming to stand outside of the unwelcoming door N took a small calming breath and let out a much less collected sigh. With his hand raised to knock N paused for a moment, hearing the quiet murmur of hushed voices on the other side of the door.

While N could not make out and words he could hear the tone of the words that were spoken. Mostly it was calm with the occasional hitch of laughter or some other happy emotion.

This was encouraging but N knew the moment the door was removed all traces of those happy voices would be replaced with silent loathing or at the very least quiet discomfort. Still N gently rapped his knuckle against the harsh wooden surface of the door. Immediately the voices became silent and after a second of quiet there came a soft shuffling as people moved behind the door.

N waited patiently and finally the door creaked open just a crack. On the other side, looking up cautiously at N was a young man. Just shy of eighteen years old the boy looked up at N past messy spikes of brown hair. Elliot's eyes were dark though he didn't use them to glare at N so that was at least something.

"Rose has made dinner." N informed Elliot calmly from the outside of the room. "I hope you're ready to come down stairs." It wasn't a question, time to play happy families.

Elliot's gaze dropped to the floor for a moment and he remained holding onto the side of the door. N was concerned that he and Vincent were going to try and refuse again but to his surprise the boy looked back up to N and put on the friendliest face he could possibly muster – which was not all that friendly to be perfectly honest.

"Yeah, Vince is just getting changed." He told N casually, glancing over his shoulder with a sort of warning glare. He needed Vincent to get dressed and N had a feeling the blonde was being a little difficult to handle with…as always. "We…we won't be a minute." Elliot tried to keep things civil between them, fully aware of how sour it could all get.

When N's flat gaze caused Elliot to tense and unconsciously distance himself from the older male. Despite having grown considerably himself, N didn't look much different from the day they first met – at least not on the surface. In an effort to distract both himself and N, Elliot tried small talk.

"What's for dinner?" He asked casually with a smile, he knew this family act usually lifted N's mood. Something about playing happy families greatly appealed to their king, Elliot learnt this fairly early on in their lives here and so eating meals together at the dinner table was a must. Had they still been going to school N would still be insisting that they get driven by himself or at least Colress – thankfully they never shared a school ride with Ghetsis before.

For all of N's efforts to make them be a family he seemed to have a blind spot for his own father. Oh sure, Ghetsis was invited to join in his family game but N never went out of his way to make Ghetsis play along. Elliot had been concerned it was fear of the older male – Elliot had a healthy does of fear for Ghetsis himself – but as time went on it seemed N was simply avoiding the possibility of being rejected by Ghetsis. Elliot made a point never to ask or pry into it, what N didn't want to say was absolutely off limits, those were the rules.

"Ravioli." N's reply almost caused Elliot to jump. He'd almost forgotten that he had been waiting for N to answer it had taken him so long. Not a second after however his expression formed into a frown, concerned by their menu that night.

"Ravioli? Is Rose...?" He began to ask and quickly N answered with a simple shake of his head. Elliot would have flown into a fit had something caused Rose to become sad. Rose had rapidly become an irreplaceable staple in his life, should something happen to her he'd be furious.

"Then…" Elliot paused, considering his words carefully as they left his mouth. "…is it for Hunter?"

Behind him Elliot could hear the hasty rustling of clothing, no doubt his question had Vincent getting dressed a little faster. For all the hate that Vincent held onto towards most people he'd grown to like Hunter a little more in recent years – mostly because Hunter was his partner when fighting against their caretaker.

"A gift." N said calmly, confirming Elliot's assumption. He did not miss the icy edge to his king's words however and fell silent, simply waiting for Vincent to be done. N wasn't going to have Vincent poorly dressed when they had dinner.

After what felt like an eternity Vincent finally appeared in the doorway, a scowl on his usually passive face as he looked out at N. Elliot had wished that their relationship had a better start when they were children or at the very least hadn't turned this sour over time. There was no helping it now, not when Vincent held N accountable for all that had gone wrong in their lives.

And frankly…Elliot didn't feel much different.

Either oblivious to Vincent's hostile gaze or simply indifferent N turned his back on them and with a single over the shoulder gesture muttered. "Come."

Time to play happy families again.

…

…

Well this turned out to be a disaster.

Alice couldn't help but let her eyes glaze over slightly as she watched the proceedings around the table. Those that had gathered there were all familiar faces but when put into the same room they tended to start the most bizarre arguments.

"Well this all looks terrible." Alice drawled, resting her chin on her palm as she tiredly watched Blue and Silver shout at one another about something unrelated. Why did those two have to go meeting up and becoming the worst of enemies?

"This is why crossovers should be banned…" Alice groaned rubbing her temples.

"Surely it's not all that terrible." Jerked from her pessimistic tendencies Alice sat upright in her chair, alarmed by the smooth that reached her from the seat two down from her own.

"S-Steven." Alice yelped in alarm, completely missing the silver haired male that sat watching her with a quietly amused expression. "D-Didn't even notice you there." Laughing sheepishly Alice rubbed the back of her head. That was incredibly clumsy and tactless of her, it was bloody _Steven_ and she'd completely overlooked him.  
>She'd rather not get tossed around in another pokemon battle with him.<p>

Steven simply hummed in what Alice could guess was amusement before his piercing gaze turned towards where most of the conflict was arising. Distantly Alice followed his gaze and caught snippets of the argument. Words like 'capture' and 'impossible' were being thrown around quite a lot.

"I don't suppose you would step in? After all they'd stop quarrelling if you told them to." Steven glanced to the chair that sat between he and Alice. Riley watched the proceedings quietly, like a ghost. At Steven's query Riley simply glanced at him and then back at the argument.

"It's your world's safety on the line is it not?" Steven clarified, though he didn't seem to really mind if Riley stepped in or not.

"It's not." Riley answered flatly, surprising Alice who immediately began to bristle with anger. He couldn't just go around saying that it wasn't their home in question. Thankfully Riley knew her well and continued speaking before she could chew his ear off.

"Right here. Right now. It's the fate of _this_ world in question." Riley spoke, gaze kept low as he regarded the arguments with what Alice could only assume was disapproving eyes. "This is your people's choice. What they decide now will define their own home, I will not intervene. However…" He paused before adding calmly. "…should the game be moved to my home then it will be another story."

"Don't you think that's too trusting?" This time the question came from Alice's right and she turned to look at a woman that simply had too much hair to even fathom. Standing a small distance from Alice and Riley's seat was the elitist Caitlin, she seemed like she'd only just woken up from a long nap – not that this was unusual. Caitlin was perhaps not here because she was asked by rather because this was essentially the sleepy looking blondes home, still she appeared to be concerned. Well as concerned as someone that didn't seem to be in the same world as you could appear.  
>"What if nothing is accomplished. What of your home?"<p>

Riley was silent for a good while after this, the sounds of insults and shouts flying around filling up the empty space in his silence. After appearing to think about his answer for a few more seconds a rare smile came onto Riley's face.  
>"Then that world is entrusted to those I left it with." He answered smoothly.<p>

"My, my." A lean male appeared next to Caitlin, leaning past his coworker and towards Riley with a sly smile plastered to his face. "You seem awfully confident." Grimsley chimed in a lyrical tone. "What will you do if they burn your home to the ground?"

At this Riley's gaze hardened. He didn't hold a particular disliking to Grimsley at all but he didn't appreciate his input. "Impossible." He responded simply.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?" Grimsley asked curiously. At this Riley just glanced at Alice and jerked his thumb in her direction before saying offhandedly.

"Because this one won't follow my rules."

"Stop putting me at the center of everything." Alice barked angrily at Riley. He put too much on her shoulders, as though he wasn't able to do anything and it was all up to her. What was with that? Riley was the proper adult here, it should have been his job!

Though…in the pokemon world there was a creepy tendency to let the younger generation save the world a lot. Sighing in defeat Alice slumped in her chair. She couldn't be as calm as Riley, she spent every waking second worrying about those back at home. Too many years had passed and she didn't know what she'd find should they return home.

"Hey." Alice sat back up, looking to her side again, noticing a small smile that Volkner wore. "Optimism Alice, optimism." He encouraged her good-naturedly. "You'll do just fine." Alice couldn't help but feel embarrassed when he offered his support. It always struck her as strange when people she looked up to her offered their kind input.

Taking her slumped shoulders and sullen face as insecurity, the blonde lent over in his seat and placed a comforting hand on Alice's shoulder. "You will be fine." He insisted, giving a small squeeze and smile to help her relax and feel a little more confident in herself.

And she was just about to start feeling a bit better when the argument went up an octave and shattered any semblance of tranquility she could muster up.

"If it doesn't listen the force it into submission!"

"You can't do that! It's a _god_ pokemon, or did you just forget that part, huh?" Roxie piped up, her arms folded and feet up on the table with her guitar propped against her chair. Alice couldn't help but think about the mean left hook that Roxie had, if they weren't careful someone might just get a black eye. Hopefully this time it just wouldn't be her.

"Hey, he can't help being a bastard – bad genes and all." Came a snide, biting remark, causing Silver – who had been putting forth the idea of capture and control – to turn furiously on the speaker. Alice just wished that the offender would _stop_ being Blue.

"The fuck was that?" Silver snarled and Alice could almost picture his dark eyes flaring red like the color of his hair. Things were getting out of hand again.

"Oh hell…" Muttering that when she saw fists being tightened Alice stood from her chair abruptly.

Before she was even out of her seat however Roxie was standing to challenge Silver, the white haired punk not exactly one for politics. By her side Marlon was trying to keep her from throwing the first punch, even as he held back the wildly flailing gym leader he retained his smile – though it was understandably uneasy.

Blue and Silver didn't have the same saving grace, though Alice would put good money on Leaf trying to break them up if Riley didn't do it first. Riley was perfectly happy to leave politics up to others but he would have no grievances with stopping children rom fighting. There was a difference between brawls and politics – a small one mind you but a difference nonetheless.

"Hey, hold up a second!" Alice shouted, all but jumping over the last stretch of table to grab hold of an upraised fist. This particular fist belonged to Silver who growled at Alice like an animal when she stopped him from hitting Blue.

"Hey! Get off me! R-Riley, let go damn it!" Blue's voice called out as he fought against his silent captor. Riley was glaring down at Blue, giving him a right scolding with just his eyes.

Alice almost got thrown off by Silver and was only saved when Leaf grabbed his other arm, getting a glare for her efforts. With the extra help restraining Silver, Alice was able to peek over Silver's arm at Blue and Riley. Blue was kicking and flailing like a child while Riley kept his arms wound tightly locked around his shoulders, he wasn't going anywhere.

"Just let me hit this delinquent once. Just once!" Blue was arguing with Riley and faintly Alice heard their big brother reply with something that sounded vaguely like 'there's never a just once with you'.

Silver was shouting similar profanities though there was a good deal more swearing going on from his end. God, didn't they come from a children's game? Such a ridiculous potty mouth…not that Alice could judge.

"Who the hell are you calling a delinquent?" Silver snapped at Blue while fighting against the two girls that clung to his arms, though he didn't seem to be putting his all into it. Alice guessed it was something about hitting girls and she did try not to be insulted by the assumption she was weak. But hell, if he didn't slug her she wasn't going to get a black eye so why complain?

"Oh, like you don't know." Blue's voice dropped into an unfriendly growl. "What's this guy even doing here? Knowing his lot they'll probably try stealing the pokemon for themselves."

"Don't you dare put me in with them!" Silver spoke in a dangerous voice, causing Alice to flinch. Why did she have to get involved with this? Oh right…peacekeeping. Just her poor luck.

"What?" Blue smirked when he continued to play on Silver's weak spot. "Don't like that your daddy isn't a dirty, rotten criminal-"

"Blue!" Leaf's angry voice snapped out in a mix of horror and anger. "_Stop_."

It was too late, the damage had been done and Silver was livid. With one swing of his arm he was able to knock both Alice and Leaf off him. Alice ended up landing painfully against the table, probably bruising something and with Blue restrained by Riley it seemed like Silver was finally going to get that punch in.

"Take that back you fucking bastard!" He shouted as his clenched fist flew towards Blue's defenseless face.

It never reached its destination. With a cry of alarm Silver was suddenly off his feet and being held a few centimeters off the ground, fist falling short of Blue's lucky face as Silver flailed uselessly off his feet.

"Wow now!" Alice – who was rubbing her shoulder with a grimace – recognized that cheery tone. Glancing up she saw a mass of fiery red hair and a good-natured grin that could only belong to Alder. "You kids sure are rowdy aren't you?" He laughed while holding Silver off the ground as though he weighed nothing at all and for all the pain that was welling up in her shoulder, Alice took a moment to snicker at the mortification on Silver's face. It was pretty degrading to be held up like a toddler.

"Put me down!" Silver demanded, face gradually turning red as he was treated like a misbehaving child.

"Are you going to play nice?"

"Like hell I will!" Silver snapped back at Alder who simply shrugged.

"Then I guess you'll have to stay like this for a while." Silver was fuming but he couldn't very well lash out at the Unova champion, he'd lose in a physical match just as quickly as he would a pokemon one. So he was left to quietly sulk while Alder held him to cool off.

"Serves you right for acting like a brat. Don't even get me started on you Blue." Leaf piped up, sounding disgruntle as she – much like Alice – gathered herself up off of the ground, probably sporting some sort of bruise as well.

Blue was still being held by Riley but now for his own punishment Riley was calmly burying his knuckles against his scalp and delivering a rather painful looking noogie. As Blue cursed and tried to escape the knuckles grinding against his head, Riley remained passive with only the faintest hint of a smile on his face as he punished his friend.

"Yeah, can't you both be civil for onc- ouch!" Alice began to join the scolding and pushed herself from the table, only to stumble and clutch at her shoulder. That rather graceful little trip looked like it was going to earn her another bruise when she hit the ground but thankfully someone had better reflexes than she did.

"Oof!" Alice made that sort of noise both in body and voice when someone's arms caught her. Immediately she had a sinking feeling it was going to be someone she'd rather wouldn't do that. Sure enough when she looked up she found herself looking at the frowning face of a pokemon champion. If only the ground would swallow her up and she could escape this embarrassment.

"Looks like you've hurt yourself." Lance murmured thoughtfully, his free hand pressed to his chin as he looked at Alice's shoulder, noticing how it began to swell. Fantastic. A moment later he glanced up at Alder and the struggling youth with a harder expression. "And you two!" When the pokemon champion barked in their direction both Blue and Silver froze on spot. "Conduct yourselves like adults, not a pair of squabbling mankeys. Should the young lady be unable to tutor us properly, it will be your responsibility."

"It's not like he shot me…" Alice mumbled but of course her small complaint went either unheard of ignored. At times she felt babied by the older trainers and sometimes it got to the point where she was sure they were paranoid when she was in danger. If she got killed they could always use Riley to teach them about the other world…but getting Riley to talk was a chore so they were stuck with her.

"Cousin." Lance's attention was brought away from the two sulking boys when a woman with blue hair approached them. "Give her here." Clair insisted, keeping her voice calm as she held her hand out to receive Alice like some sort of package. "We'll have a look at that shoulder of hers."

Rapidly Alice was turning bright red. Why did she always end up in this sort of situation? "I-I am fine!" She yelped finally, standing straight and out of Lance's hold. "Just a small stumble." She said hastily, hand clapped firmly over her throbbing shoulder.

Standing by the dragon gym leaders side was Cynthia. Alice took one look at the smug smirk on her face and the dangerous glint in her eyes and decided she did not want to be handed over to Clair or anyone within close proximity of Cynthia.

"Nonsense. It's broken." Alice was alarmed by the finality of that conclusion.  
>Oh. Hell. No.<br>Alice was not going to believe she could break her bone just by landing against a table, that was lame and if that was true she was also going to be lame. She was supposed to be leading these people into a new dangerous world and she lost to a _table_.

"Well, at the very least you've dislocated that." The woman that had originally spoken smiled in an oddly smug way as she pointed to Alice's shoulder, the blonde champion obviously lacking pity for her.

"Cynthia could you _not_." Alice muttered, fearing the woman was going to poke her injured arm. This only brought a smirk onto the pokemon champion's face and she neared Alice.

"Don't worry, just a quick pop and we'll have that shoulder back in." She purred, causing Alice to stumble back a few steps.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" She denied quickly, not letting Cynthia get within grabbing distance. "It's fine, don't go touching it. You'll only make it worse!"

"Ali~ce." Alice froze at that lyrical tone and a moment later she felt a set of white-gloved hands rest on her shoulders, narrowly missing the tenderest spot on her arm. Emmet held her in place and was no doubt wearing his creepy smile as he stopped her form escaping. "Let's play doctor." The white clothed subway master suggested happily.

"Ah! Go to hell!" Alice shouted, trying to pull away but only succeeding in hurting herself further when her shoulder was jolted. All the while Cynthia was getting closer and Alice was sure that if the woman touched her she'd be losing the arm.

"One quick twist." Cynthia promised gleefully, only causing Alice to shake her head from side to side furiously in denial. Why couldn't they all just get alone and play politics like normal adults for once!

Cynthia neared her arm and Alice began to feel like crying as she felt her slender fingers glide over her sore shoulder but before the painful twist and snap she expected could be heard there was a small snicker from Cynthia. A moment later Cynthia gently poked her arm, a much less painful feeling than what Alice had been anticipating.

"Got you." She smiled brightly while waving a finger in front of Alice's face. Immediately the color bled from her cheeks, she figured it out pretty quickly after that. Cynthia was just messing with her again. Emmet's chuckle behind her confirmed this suspicion.

"It's just a bruise, nasty but no real danger. You'll be fine." Cynthia told her truthfully and Alice felt like an idiot, she had just believed Cynthia's diagnosis on spot…like a complete fool. Emmet's laughter only grew louder as Alice sulked.

"Sometimes…I hate you…" Alice muttered meekly, a mix of relief and frustration conflicting within her.

"Are you two quite done?" Lance asked, hand on his hip as he regarded the playful torture with a weary expression. "Save that for another time Cynthia, we have work to do."

"I suppose you're right." Cynthia agreed with a hearty sigh. She gave Alice's hair a small ruffle before standing straight and walking back over to the two dragon loving cousins, leaving Alice to practically deflate in Emmet's hold. Thankfully by this point Ingo had appeared by his mischievous brother's side and promptly grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him off without a word. Alice didn't feel up to thanking him just yet but she made the mental note.

"Ah." As if seeming to remember what Alice was actually there for Cynthia turned back to face Alice momentarily with that confident smile on her face. "Alice, I believe you're on duty again."

At this Alice finally straightened, her expression losing its childish frustration as she became serious. When Alice was on 'duty' it was a whole other game. There was work to be done.

"Right!" Alice announced, slamming her hand flat against the table. The motion created a loud bang that echoed throughout the room, finally creating some form order – though it also stung her palm like all hell. "Listen up, enough arguments we can decide what happens and how we proceed after I've made a few things clear to you all."

Those that had been standing gradually made their way back to their seats and Alder was able to keep Silver and Blue far apart like the cautious uncle type he was. The thought caused a smile to tug at the corners of Alice's mouth, soon she'd be back with her own uncle…soon. Pushing away sentimental thoughts Alice waited until the others were quietly seated and had their eyes on her before continuing.

"When we traveled this world to seek each of you out we explained why we wanted your assistance, I'm sure you remember." There was a collective murmur of agreement between trainers and champions alike. "Some of you agreed on spot." Alder smiled brightly when Alice glanced his way. "Others…needed a little more persuasion." At this

Silver glared at the table in front of him, not missing Alice's meaning. He had been a troublesome one to get on board but Alice needed him there. As much as Silver may hate it, his ties to rocket helped greatly.

"Did you tell us all the same thing?" Roxie piped up, feet up on the table and crossed over one another as she shot Alice a hostile stare.

"Essentially." Alice admitted there may have been some variation in their versions of the story, they didn't exactly have a script to follow. "You all know the core reason we gathered don't you?" Alice asked to clarify.

"To find Arceus." The answer came from the usually quiet Morty. Morty sat with Clair and Lance at the right side of the table, he'd accompanied them to Unova by Lance's request. He and Grimsley had a lot to talk about and it was enough to give Alice shivers.

"That's right." Alice breathed and nodded in confirmation. "Not to capture." She added firmly. "I simply need to find Arceus."

"And then what?" Silver demanded. "You'll make that magical portal to your world? What makes you think Arceus will listen to you?"

At this Alice hesitated, actually…Alice highly doubted Arceus would see it her way. She was sure she'd be denied, after all if Arceus had wanted to be found by her it would not have taken five years.  
>"No." She answered finally. "I do not think Arceus will grant my wish immediately, Arceus may refuse me to the bitter end but I am not about to sit around without giving it one hell of a shot."<p>

"Tsk." Silver looked away from Alice as he spoke is a dismissive tone. "If you know it's useless why are you wasting our time at all? If you're too weak to do anything just give up already."

"This is _my_ home on the line." Alice's voice rose, almost to a shout. She was rather sick of Silver constantly insisting things would not work out and more than anything else she was afraid he would be correct. "There are people there I love again, people I made promises. It is my world and I need to get back to it."

"She's right." Volkner spoke, the blonde gym leader leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. "You all remember team Plasma and all they accomplished here. You all know the danger and you all know Alice and Riley's world does not have the weapons to combat their power. This is not a matter of home sickness, it's about saving a world."

"What? And bring those guys back into _our_ world?" Roxie barked angrily. "Wasn't the damage they did the first time enough?"

"You'd wish that on those without the means to fight back?" Across the table Clair raised an eyebrow at the young gym leader, obviously feeling contempt for that sort of idea. "That is not how a gym leader shoulder think." At the insult Roxie made a low snarling sound but otherwise stopped speaking.

"Roxie didn't mean it like that." Bianca piped up nervously. "She's just worried about our home, our people. Aren't we all?"

There was a silent agreement to those words. They knew the risk, should the portal be reopened they'd face the possibility that Ghetsis and his men would return.

"We must all acknowledge the threat." Lance agreed solemnly.

"Think about our jobs!" Roxie spoke up again. "We are gym leaders, elites and champions! Our duty is to our people, did anyone ask them if they were alright with being put in harms way? And for what? For the slim chance they could save a world they've never seen?"

Alice felt her blood boil when Roxie spoke. They'd gotten on in the past but she always knew they'd reach this impasse eventually. Alice's duty was to her world and Roxie's to her own but even so, Alice couldn't bring herself to entirely disagree. She did not want to put anyone in danger.

"Do you believe they would do it?" The argument was cut short when Steven spoke before it could really kick off. The silver haired champion looked over the entire table, his sharp gaze striking each and every one of them. "Do you believe the people of our world would offer up those of another to guard themselves?"

The question was directed at them all but slowly Steven's eyes came to rest on Alice, causing her to tense all over. Alice's gaze dropped to the table under her hands, wide and blankly staring at the smooth surface of the wooden table.

"Or rather…" Steven continued smoothly. "Would you ask that of us?"

Alice's hands clenched into fists, her eyes narrowing as frustration grew on her face.  
>Could she ask them such a thing? To risk their home, their families and loved ones and for total strangers at that?<p>

Momentarily Alice envisioned what was back home, what was important to her. Her family and friends and she asked herself – would I risk them?

The selfish respond was no and the kind was yes – but she couldn't say either was correct. Finally she raised her gaze towards Steven who patiently awaited her response. In his cool gaze she saw how he judged her every little move and word, as though he was staring right through her and into the very core of her character. If what he found was displeasing they'd be making no progress.

"No." She answered firmly and Steven seemed to frown before she continued.

"I could not ask your people to be put at risk, it would be wrong to ask for that." She admitted lowly before continuing at a quick pace. "No, I will not ask your people to risk themselves, but I'm not walking away either. I won't just give up. I'll do anything I can, I'll keep standing so that I can do what's right. We've got to have the guts to do what's right, even if others just runs away. Five years I've spent in the world I admired as a child and it's everything I hoped for and more. Your people are kind and I know that if given the choice your people will also do what is right."

"Today I'm standing here to represent my home, perhaps not the best choice of representative I'll admit." Chuckling Alice rest her hand on her chest as she finished with a grin. "A true leader would demand your compliance and help but I'm not that strong or cruel a person. I would not ask anyone to sacrifice anything. I would not ask for your people to put themselves at risk for mine."

"If you're not willing to ask for such a thing." Steven spoke slowly, his calculating gaze never once shifting from the clumsy girl. She spoke passionately but she was also no speaker, barely an adult and standing at center stage – Alice was true but inexperienced. What was more essential? Practice or passion?

"What is it you will ask of us?"

Never once did Alice's grin fade, with one hand pressed to her chest and head held high Alice spoke calmly. 

"I will ask you place your trust in us."

Steven's eyebrow raised slightly at this and Alice's confident expression softened to a simple calm smile.

"I ask that you believe in us to keep your people safe and to save our world. I ask you to give us your trust just as I've placed my trust in you all, I've placed the weight of a world in your hands. What you do now is up to you."

"So instead of asking you to do something, I'll simply ask – what will you do?"

Gradually Steven's cold stare turned into a faint smile. "If that is your answer, then that is what we shall return." Steven looked to the other side of the table, at Lance. "What do you have to say? Champions of the other regions. Speak for your people and we will decide. For Johto?"

Lance lowered his head in thought before sharing a small look with his blue haired cousin and then a brief glace over the rest of the table. "We choose to do the kind thing. We will aid you in finding Arceus, for your home world and ours."

"And Sinnoh?" Steven's gaze slipped over to Cynthia who paused for a longer time. The woman's gaze rest on the table for a while before lifting to Alice's face. What she was looking for Alice couldn't be sure but whatever she found must have been satisfactory.

"For Sinnoh I will offer my support." Cynthia answered clearly and calmly. "And I do hope that it is the right choice." With that said Steven smiled and gave a small chuckle as if to say they all hoped for the same.

Steven's gaze turned to Alder next who immediately grinned brightly. "Well of course Unova agrees!" He chortled and for good measure turned to look at the young girl sitting by his side. "Iris?"

The dark haired girl smiled brightly and tossed Alice a thumbs up. "Unova's all in!" Iris laughed brightly.

Finally Steven's even gaze met with Alice's and with a cool smile he finished. "I will speak for Hoenn, and you have my support."

"Now then." Suddenly Steven leant back in his seat, legs folded with his hands neatly folded in his lap. "You have our support, so it is time for you to give us what we will need in order to offer that support. Well, little miss teacher – time for class to begin."

Alice couldn't help but smile brightly, her entire face lighting up as her wish was granted. "In that case I'll start at the top. Where we're going there will be no pokemon."

At this announcement, those who did not already know groaned and wailed in complaint.  
>Well…they'd passed the first hurdle, time for the second.<p>

…

…

Alice: "You're not dying are you?"

Malice: "Maybe, check back in three weeks."

Alice: *Sighs* "Can you just…" *Tries to put a pen in the writer's unwilling fingers.* "…bloody write!?"

Malice: *Unintelligible growls and groans.* "I'm booored."

Riley: "Not to mention stressed, lazy, without time for Christmas or family this year, running two jobs and your final year trials." *He doesn't even look up from his book while noting off the horrors of her life*

Malice: "Gee _thanks_ for laying it all out for me."

Riley: "Well at least you finally got your P's."

Malice: *Grumbling the author forced herself to sit up.* "I just need some rp and story writing…that's all. And Tea…someone get me some tea….and reviews…and…and…" _**BANG**_ *Annnd she's back down face first on the table.*

Riley: "…." '-_-

Alice: "…." .

N: "Guess I'll make some tea…."

See you next time.


	3. Chapter 3- To Grant A Wish

Chapter 3 – To Grant a Wish

Author's Notes:  
>Fun fact – I'm home early from school camp because I got kicked out and suspended…ahahahahah! Joy. =_=<br>So that's my life and now on with the chapter.  
>Second fun fact – Arceus has green and red eyes and Kyurem has all yellow eyes. It's not important but it's a thing in here.<p>

…

…

It was quite possibly one of the most awkward situations one could find themselves trapped in.

The only relief from the heavy silence that settled on the occupants of the mansion dinning room was the quiet, cringe worthy, scrape of cutlery against polished plates. Sitting quietly at the large table their small 'family' ate and did their best not to step on any hidden landmines. To avoid such hazards it was often best to simply remain silent.

Elliot quietly looked down at his plate. The pasta dish was a wonderfully made as always and he made a note to compliment Rose on it later so she wouldn't feel disheartened. Just not at the table. If they could get through one sitting without a word then perhaps they'd be able to have that peaceful evening that Elliot longed for.

Despite the lovely aroma of the dish, Elliot found himself unable to eat his usual fill. Being hungry just wasn't something that Elliot could handle when in tense situations – it was frustrating that the most grueling time of day just so happened to align with the time in which he was given to eat. He guessed Vincent had the same problem.

Hesitantly Elliot risked a sidelong glance at his brother's plate. Just as he thought, Vince had hardly touched the food. However that cautious look was noticed by the last person Elliot wanted to alert and it cost Elliot his wish of a peaceful dinner.

"It's not poisoned." Elliot tensed sharply when finally a voice broke through the heavy wall of silence. Elliot had thought the silence was so thick it had become a real, physical barrier. But as always even the strongest of locks and doors failed to keep N out.

Elliot's head lifted slightly to look at those he ate with. The saving grace that was Rose had left only minutes before, something about giving dinner to Tharja and Len, and now it was only himself trapped in a room with N and Vincent. As Elliot looked at their caretaker he noticed the somewhat irritated edge to his dark eyes, though he spoke in a tone that suggested he intended to be civil.

The young king's gaze remained firmly locked on the stationary Vincent, who did not so much as flinch when he was addressed. Instead the blonde kept his gaze firmly on the plate in front of him, he looked about ready to throw it across the room and smash it to little pieces. Whatever the ravioli did to Vince, Elliot couldn't guess.

"It is also your favorite." N continued as though he was informing Vincent about himself. N spoke in a thinly tolerant tone and Elliot knew that N was treating Vincent as children – N only had so much patience with Vincent and that was on a good day.

"Why won't you eat?" That patience was wearing thin fast tonight.

"Not hungry." Came the clipped response from Vincent who at least had the good sense to keep his voice lowered. Elliot saw what he assumed was a flash of concern over the green haired king's face, but it was quickly replaced with a narrowing of his eyes and N's mouth forming into a tight line.

Elliot quickly leant towards his brother and murmured to him anxiously. "Remember what we talked about Vince. Play _nice_." He stressed the word, if things turned sour he knew exactly what the outcome would be.

"Eat." N insisted, pretending not to have heard Elliot's brief word of advise to the younger brother, but they all knew he heard everything. "You're thin as it is."

"I told you, I'm not hungry." Vincent hissed the words through his teeth, looking as though his own patience with this entire game had long since broken. "Going to force me to eat now as well?"

"_Vince_." Elliot hissed but as always both his brother and N ignored him in favor for going at one another.

"If that's what I must do then yes!" N snapped back, his tone becoming hardened with frustration.

Vincent did not respond immediately, instead he continued to gaze at his plate. Elliot hoped he'd just eat, it was actually concerning how little Vincent was eating now days. What he did usually ended up being thrown back up anyway. Elliot was concerned his brother was getting really sick.

Finally – much to Elliot's dismay – Vincent shoved the plate away from him and crossed his arms, his glower turning on N finally. "I told you, I'm not eating."

"For goodness sake Vincent!" N sighed heavily, his brows creasing together as he returned Vincent's heated stare. "Why must you always be so difficult? What would your sis-…mother think of this?" N caught himself but just a tad too late. It was strictly against their unspoken rules to make any mention of a sister and N had just brushed too close to that rule – thought usually it was N who got angry at others for the mentioning of that person. In an instant Vincent's expression turned from cold to murderous.

There went any possibility of a peaceful conclusion.

"You want to talk about being difficult?" Vincent's voice finally raised and Elliot sunk back into his chair with a small sigh. He just wanted one night…just _one_ night when this didn't happen.

"Vincent." N growled the younger male's name, clearly a warning to calm himself before he found himself spending another night in the lower levels.

"Don't you 'Vincent' me!" The blond snarled back, slamming his palm flat against the table. "You're the difficult one!"

"Vince…" Elliot tried to quietly stop his brother from getting worked up again.

"Forcing us to eat dinner like this every night like we're some sort of _family_." Vincent continued relentlessly.

"Vince." Elliot could see N's eyes becoming increasingly colder the more Vincent spoke but the blonde was either oblivious to it or chose to ignore the warning signs because he pressed on.

"When the hell are you going to grow up and stop fucking around?"

"_Vince_." Elliot quietly begged him to stop, knowing the exact words he'd say next would be the last straw.

"Don't you get it already? You don't have a stupid, bloody family! The only family here was ours and you fucked that up to you damn freak!"

_**Bang**_

A loud crash sounded, echoing throughout the room as N's hands flew down against the table. The king was out of his seat, mirroring Vincent's pose as they both stood with hands flat on the dinner table, glaring at one another.

A few seconds passed before one of them finally moved. Without a word N pushed away from the table, his actions jerky and violent as he marched towards Vincent. An instant later Elliot was also out of his seat, a mix of brotherly devotion and his desire to be a protecting knight kicking him into action.

Before N could reach his target the dark haired twin stood in front of his brother protectively, excuses he knew off by heart already on his tongue and being spoken before he truly processed the thoughts.

"My lord. Please ignore my brother!" He implored N as quickly as his voice would allow him. "He-He's not eating right, he's tired and sick. He hasn't been out of his room in days – I-I sure he's just not in his right mind. Please forgive him."

Behind him Elliot could practically feel Vincent seething. He hated to be defended and have his argument accused of being nothing more than feverish rantings but at the same time Vincent was sticking close to Elliot. He knew the danger better than any of them.

N's furious strides left him standing a small distance from Elliot who flinched when he felt the familiar icy sensation roll over his flesh, brining goose bumps to the surface.

This wasn't N.

Elliot knew that the person standing in front of them now with murder in his gaze was a mere reflection of the king they once knew. It was not N's fault, not really and so despite all his crimes Elliot could not hate him. Sadly Vincent did not share his big brother's sentiment.

As N stood in front of them seething with an unnatural aura radiating off his very skin, Elliot became tense as he feared being struck by the older male. N had never been one for direct physical violence but the power given to him by his father warped N to even those extremes at times.

"My lord." Elliot all but whispered this time as he said all he could without flat out begging. "My brother is just unwell."

When no harsh words or strike came, Elliot gradually lifted his head and not a second later regretted that choice. N looked down at him with cold, distant eyes. His usually grey eyes were no longer the calm shade that he remembered, they were tainted with a yellow hue and Elliot cringed away. This was the effect of Arceus's left over energy.

Elliot understood very little about the link between N's world and his own but after being a shadow for these people for so many years he picked up a few things. He still vividly remembered the first time the topic was brought up. Colress was near out of his mind when he came rushing in with declarations he'd found a way to achieve all their dreams without working too closely around this worlds politics.

He also remembered N having agreed to take in the pokemon's power, believing it to be a gift left behind to help him find his way. More than Ghetsis's sickeningly sweet praise or Colresses unbridled excitement – Elliot remembered how N had screamed.

Colress said the first administration would be the more painful and the howls of agony N had let loose that day still haunted Elliot. In Elliot's mind it was not the sound someone would make if this power really was a 'gift'. Many treatments after that N had let out similar sounds of suffering but Colress's prediction had been correct and with each new application of the legendry's power, the less N screamed.

And the more he became someone that Elliot scarcely recognized.

The person in front of them now what the one created through Ghetsis's greed and Colress's madness.

"Please…" Elliot repeated, barely breathing as he lowered his head again. His arms remained pushed back slightly, so he could feel that Vincent was safe behind him. "Just this once…let Vincent off the hook. N…._Please_."

A few more tense seconds passed before N finally spoke, his tone came out short and venomous. "Where's your apology?" He asked darkly and Elliot gently tapped his brother's hand with his own, silently begging that just this once he comply.

"…I'm sorry." Vincent replied in a hushed tone. It was a complete lie and they all knew it but N wasn't truly looking for Vincent to be sorry, it was simply a power play.

"Good." N's tone remained icy. "Now. We are going to return to the table." He spoke lowly, allowing every darkly murmured word to sink in. "You will eat dinner and we will all be a nice, happy family. Is that understood?"

"Yes my lord."  
>"Yes."<p>

Both brothers answered and finally N seemed satisfied. He took a step back from the two and the familiar threat of the unnatural power that N possessed faded.

"Wonderful." His kind tone returned and Elliot's tense shoulders relaxed, they'd actually managed to get off scot-free this time. It seemed like a miracle.

"Oh and…" N paused on his way back to the table and without so much as a glance over his shoulder he spoke the words Elliot had desperately tried to keep at bay. "Vincent, tonight you're with me 'downstairs'."

Elliot felt Vincent tense all over and he himself felt as though he was close to cracking. Vincent's hands began to tremble in his older brother's hold and trying to comfort him Elliot gave them a small squeeze. This was their compromise, this was their mercy, Elliot could get Vincent no better than this and it was still not enough.

It never seemed to be enough.

…

…

"Okay, remember when you're inside of the – oh god! Will you _stop_ with the look?" Alice demanded, having to cut one of her explanations short when she noticed Silver giving her the stink eye again. "What? What is it this time?"

Silver gave a rude huff and turned his head away from Alice. He was sitting with his chin on his palm and a finger tapping away agitatedly on the table. Alice had almost reached her limit with this guy.

"Why do we need to change anything?" He demanded and Alice bit back a groan, having heard this argument slash idea, about ten times from Silver already.

"Because we're trying to go in without being noticed. To draw little, to _no_ attention to ourselves…having a god damn Pidgeot flying around my world is bound to turn a few heads!"

Sighing irritably Alice rest her hands on the table and took a moment to cool her head off. "I don't want to keep my team trapped in pokeballs anymore than you do but they can't have free roam in my home." She spoke more calmly. As cool as it would be flying on Pigeot through her old home, they couldn't risk to consequences. Her world was not kind to the uninitiated or unexpected.

"But we will be able to bring them along won't we?" The tanned skinned gym leader asked cautiously. "I don't know how I'd feel about leaving my team behind." Marloon looked uneasy when simply thinking about it.

"…Yes…" Alice spoke slowly, hesitating as she tried to word it correctly. "If Lance is correct and Plasma really is causing problems for my home, we will need our pokemon to fight theirs. But we have to keep them out of sight of my people – lets just say they probably won't react too kindly to the whole ordeal."

"Why not take a lot of pokemon?" Blue suggested. "If there's no pokemon in your world then why not just over power them if they don't have pokemon to fight with."

"It's entirely likely they've been breeding the few pokemon they had." Lance answered while carefully thinking over his words. "They don't have variation but I guarantee they have quantity if they've had as many years to prepare as we have."

"More actually." Riley spoke up, raising his gaze from the table. "They should have at least two more years on us."

"There's that much of a time gap?" Leaf murmured, a distressed expression on her face. It wasn't just Leaf who was distraught by this news.

"What?" Alice demanded, head snapping to face Riley. "You never mentioned this before!"

"It was irrelevant." He answered smoothly and anger bubbled up inside of Alice.

"Irrelevant?" She seethed. "Why you bloody-"

"Alice." Riley's sharp tone broke through her anger. "What good would it have done you to know?"

Gradually Riley's logic set in and while Alice could still feel her body shaking with uncontrollable rage, she knew he kept this information to himself out of kindness. There was no reason to add to Alice's growing list of troubles. As Alice regained her composer she completely missed Steven's calculating gaze remaining on her. Gritting her teeth Alice forced aside her personal feelings on the matter for the time being and got back to the situation at hand.

"Right. As I was saying before we got sidetrack…_again_." Silver didn't even have the decency to look ashamed when she cast him a scathing stare. "We will act as though Arceus has already agreed to our request. Put simply we need to chose who is going to come with us."

"I have explained my world's differences as quickly and with as much detail as possible to you all. You know the stakes and you also know our disadvantages. None of you are required to join myself and Riley but the extra help is more than welcome."

"Do you have a preference?" Grimsley asked form where he sat, legs crossed and chin resting on his palm. "Anyone in particular you feel you need?"

Alice paused, a quick glance around the table told her that playing favorites would get her burned. So she simply closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not at all."

"However." Riley spoke again. "We do have some ground rules for who may accompany us."

"We do?" Alice asked dumbly and was quickly shushed by Emmet.

"First of all the age limit. Sorry Leaf, you can't come along." Leaf looked mortified, slamming her hands down on the table.

"What? You can't be serious!" Alice shared her frustration but she also understood Riley's reason for saying this.

"That's just how it is. We cannot have anyone younger than Alice coming back with us, the minimum age is twenty four."

"Why is that?" Clair asked, although the rule held no power over her actions the dragon loving gym leader was still intrigued. "Does it have to do with your rules reaction to the young ones?"

"Exactly." Alice answered when Riley remained silent, having apparently reached his limit for a few minutes. He needed to recharge his voice. "As infuriating as it is, anyone that is not a fully-fledged adult in our home world holds absolutely no voice. It's easiest with older people."

"Well I'm not child." Leaf complained but otherwise let it go with a disheartened sigh.

"It's for the best. To keep you safe." Riley smiled sympathetically to his childhood friend and for a second Alice looked at his gaze with a suspicious expression. She'd interrogate him about it later.

"As for who else can come along there's not really any restriction, though we can't have more than eight people or so. Anymore than that and it would become unmanageable." Alice concluded and after a hesitant pause added. "Who is willing to come with us?"

After this there was a small outburst of hushed murmurs, everyone trying to figure out what they wanted to do. Alice would understand if no one came, it was not their concern what happened once Arceus sent them home. Finally the sound of someone clearing their throat broke the tension.

"I will go." Alice didn't bother to hide her surprise when Cynthia spoke and immediately she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"What about Sinnoh? What will it do without its champion?" Cynthia paused thoughtfully, apparently frustrated by that thought.

"Well it is true that as Champion I should watch over my home land…" She admitted reluctantly. "However I don't want to see you attempt this without some sort of support from my region."

"In that case." Cynthia and Alice both turned to look at Volkner. The blonde haired gym leader sat hunched over with his arms on his knees. "I'll go in your place."

"Volkner?" Cynthia didn't bother to hide her surprise. The gym leader simply smiled faintly.

"If you wish for Sinnoh to have a hand in the protection of their world, I will gladly carry out that task for you." His gaze turned on Alice next. "Do I have your approval to join you?"

"O-Of course." Alice was just as taken off guard by Volkner as she had been Cynthia but she wasn't about to turn away either of them. Satisfied with her answer Volkner stood from his seat and made his way over to Alice's end of the table where he came to stand silently, arms crossed and leaning back against the wall. He was waiting for the selection to end so they could leave.

"A representative from Sinnoh is it?" Lance murmured, seeming to be considering the concept critically. "If Sinnoh is sending someone then it is only right that Jotoh follows suit. Morty?"

Responding to his champion's request the ghost type user stood silently from his seat with a nod. "If that is what the champion wishes, I will fulfill the role." Alice couldn't help but frown a bit. It seemed wrong to take gym leaders from their lands for any amount of time. Not that they didn't have a tendency to _never_ be at their gyms when she came looking.

"Cousin." Clair murmured with a faint frown. "If Morty does not wish to go, I could go in his place." Lance's expression hardened and Alice recognized that look and was relieved when Morty spoke up.

"Do not fret, I am rather looking forward to seeing this new world." Morty wore a distant smile as he left his chair, gliding past Clair's own seat in an attempt to console her. "It would help me feel at ease knowing you are safe back home."

With a small sigh of defeat Clair simply gave Morty's hand a small squeeze before allowing him to leave and join Volkner on the far side of the room.

"If it's such a problem losing your precious gym leader I'll go." Silver's voice snapped irritably and before anyone would dispute his proposition he was out of his seat. When Alice opened her mouth to protest she was met with a heated glare. "You're pathetically weak as it is! Without me you'd crash and burn." Alice shut her mouth and returned his spiteful gaze. However the red head still ended up standing behind her, arms crossed defiantly as he impatiently waited for the meeting to end.

"If we're all giving out representatives then Unova has to give someone as well!" Alder spoke excitedly, his loud, cheerful voice easily filling the room. "I'm happy to go."

"Alder!" Cheren scolded with a sharp tongue. "You cannot go, as champion you also much stay here. Where you are needed." Alice didn't like seeing a grown man sulk but Alder was very good at it.

"Wait, wait." Iris piped up, trying to encourage Alder. "Plasma originated in Unova…it's partly our responsibility to see they are not causing problems for others."

A smile returned to Alder's face as Iris made a perfectly reasonable point. However Cheren was quick to remind him that even if they sent someone to the other world it would _not_ be him.

"How about me?" Bianca tried hopefully.

"Absolutely not!" Cheren snapped even faster than he had with Alder, startling Bianca who began to whimper. Quickly Cheren composed himself and continued a tad more calmly. "If it's really as dangerous as they say…I do not want you to go." Gradually a blush crept up Cheren's neck but he kept talking, spitting the words out quickly. "I-If you were to get hurt or lost then I…I would-"

"It's okay Cheren." Bianca spoke gently, stopping the black haired trainer from embarrassing himself further. "I'll stay here." Cheren let out a single quiet 'thank you' before falling silent with a relieved smile.

"Oh! Oh! Don't leave us out." Alice suppressed a groan at that voice. Emmet looped his arm with his disgruntle brother's and grinned at Alice. "We're coming to. We can represent Unova just fine!"

This time Alice wasn't surprised in the slightest. Emmet and Ingo had agreed many months ago to coming with them. There had been some difficulty with the concept of putting their battles on hold but eventually Emmet said something about the greater good and they decided to tag along.

Alice thought it would end with the two brothers coming to stand behind her but was surprised yet again when Steven began to rise form his seat.

"Steven…?" Pausing the champion glanced up at Alice and immediately a calm smile settled on his face and with a calm sweep of his hand he gestured to the entirety of the room.

"It seems I must break the rules this time as I have not brought a representative of my own from Hoenn." Alice resisted the urge to glare, guessing he'd planned this somehow when he expression was so terribly smug.

"The hell you are!" Steven tensed in alarm and in one comical motion all heads turned towards the angry voice. Alice actually threw her chair back when she stood abruptly. Standing to the entrance of room was a familiar raven-haired girl.

"Z-Zinnia?" Alice stumbled on the name, recalling their last encounter as being a particularly nasty one. In fact Zinnia had sworn she'd never come to this meeting so as to how she knew they were here and why she was also here was lost on Alice. "What are you doing here?"

Before answering Zinnia bent over, slamming her hands against her knees as she gave a few wheezing coughs and struggled to breathe. Alice understood her struggle – those stairs were a killer. Finally Zinnia smiled past her heavy panting.

"What do…you think…?" She gasped. "I'm here to keep you from crying all over the place."

Alice made a face at that explanation and she wasn't the only one – Steven looked genuinely disturbed by her presence. However he was composed as ever and quickly cleared his throat.

"While I appreciate you input Zinnia, now is not the time to-"

"Shut up!" Zinnia snapped at Steven who tensed and made a frustrated expression, Alice hadn't seen that look on his face in quite some time. "You said you didn't have a represented for Hoenn, but here I am."

Realizing what Zinnia intended to do Alice finally left her seat to walk over to the older girl, frustrated that she was still taller than Alice. Though she was getting used to everyone being bloody taller than she was.

"I thought you said there was no way in hell you'd help me?" Alice inquired with arms crossed. She didn't know what to expect from Zinnia, sometimes she was a complete stranger to Alice and others she was a brilliant friend.

"I was angry." Zinnia murmured in response, apparently still not entirely over their little spit. "But I wasn't going to let you run off back home on your own. Besides this guy." She jerked her thumb towards Steven. "Was just going to up and leave his position as champion to go joy riding."

"I assure you I wasn't." Steven muttered irritably and Alice noticed the constant drum of his fingers against the table. She hadn't seen him this put off in a long, long time. "Besides your presence changes nothing. I still fully intend to go."

"What?" Zinnia hissed angrily. "And abandon your position?"

This time Steven merely smiled, it was an icy expression but one brimming with a smug air of confidence. "Actually if you must know Wallace will be standing in as my replacement."

Alice's jaw almost hit the floor when she heard the flamboyant gym leader was going to be champion. "Is _that_ why he isn't here?" Alice had fully expected Wallace to be accompanying Steven to this gathering but he was absent. Steven's cool smile only grew.

"Of course, Wallace is more than capable of being Hoenn's champion while I am away." Zinnia was glaring at Steven but ultimately had nothing else to say about his choice. Finally having caught her breath the black haired girl stood straight and dusted off her clothes.

"I'm still joining you." Steven's jaw clenched when he heard this.

"Oh? And why is that?"

This time Zinnia smiled, a bright expression that only held a small amount of smugness. A second later her arm looped around Alice's neck, drawing the startled girl into a one arm hug and with a smirk Zinnia said simply.

"Because this here belongs to me." With her thumb jammed against her chest Zinnia's arm squeezed Alice a bit too tight. "I'm not going to let her wander around like a lost child. Besides, I am a lorekeeper, it is my duty to see to it that everything is in order – even in other worlds."

After a few seconds of silence Steven finally turned away from the two girls. "Do as you please lorekeeper." He allowed finally with a wave of his hand. Alice watched as Steven approached Riley and the two exchanged hushed whispers.

This left Alice to gradually turn her gaze towards Zinnia, still uncertain of her intentions. "Why are you here Zinnia."

"Do you ever listen?" Zinnia rolled her eyes and hugged Alice closer with a grin on her face. "Just looking out for you kid."

"So…we're not fighting anymore?" Alice asked cautiously.

"We had a fight?" Zinnia feigned innocent obliviousness and got a scowl from Alice for her efforts. Laughing Zinnia shook her head and smiled. "Lets just forget about it. Besides Aster would cry if she didn't get to say goodbye before you ran off back home.

"Ah, right Aster." Alice repeated in understanding. "Where is she?" Alice had expected the Whismur to be with Zinnia but she couldn't spoke the pink pokemon.

"She's in her pokeball." Zinnia shrugged despite rarely using the pokeball with her partner. "Couldn't make the poor dear walk up all those stairs now could I?"

Alice could feel a glare coming from behind her and a nervous glance over her shoulder confirmed her suspicion. Ivan was scowling at her from her seat at the table, no doubt having heard what Zinnia said. Noticing this hostile stare Zinnia laughed.

"Don't tell me…you actually made Ivy climb all those stairs?" She laughed, squeezing Alice's throat in the process. "That's awful!"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Alice defended herself to Zinnia before whipping around to point at Ivan furiously. "If you just got into your pokeball once in a while you wouldn't need to walk!"

Ivan huffed indignantly and turned his back to Alice, giving a flick of his tail to add insult. Alice seethed while Zinnia watched with a pitying smile.

"You two still not on the same wave link huh?" She asked sympathetically and Alice let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't know what that Eevee is thinking. Sometimes he likes me other times I think he wants to suffocate me in my sleep." Alice admitted, exhausted by her efforts with Ivan. He had been so fond of her when they first met but now he'd gotten comfortable and they fought over anything and everything.

"Hey, hey." Zinnia spoke encouragingly. "Chin up, I have a wonderful surprise for you."

Alice looked up cautiously, not sure she trusted the somewhat crazy girl's promises. Seeing her hesitance Zinnia only grinned more, looking like a shark in the way she smirked from ear to ear.

"Oh trust me." Purring quietly Zinnia whispered to Alice. "It's a wonderful gift."

"What is it?" Still not entirely trusting the situation Alice eyed her female friend closely. If she got too close and trusting she feared Zinnia would take a nip at her.

"She has found Arceus for us." Alice jumped in alarm when Steven's voice rang in her ears. He stood a small distance from the two of them, arms crossed and a serious expression lingering on his face. "Isn't that right?"

"You…found Arceus?" Alice looked back at Zinnia who – despite having her big reveal ruined by Steven – was still pleasantly smiling and shrugged. "How? We never even got close."

"Well that's why you have me isn't it?" Zinnia lent in close to Alice, smirking wickedly. "Because without me you're completely hopeless."

"In that case." Steven spoke calmly. "Shall we depart?"

Alice felt her heard drumming away frantically in her chest. They had everything now, there was nothing else in the way and there was a chance she'd finally be seeing her home after five years.  
>She could go home…she could see her brothers again.<p>

Alice could finally see N again.  
>Even if it was only for the briefest of times, she couldn't be happier.<p>

"Now the only problem is getting Arceus to agree." Zinnia piped up cheerfully despite offering up a problem. "Maybe you can charm it?"

"Somehow I doubt that…" Alice muttered. While they spoke the group that had agreed to join them in crossing the bridge between worlds gathered.

"Yeah!" Emmet spoke happily. "There's no way Alice has any charm at all!"

"Maybe she has a little bit?" Zinnia spoke, always the optimist.

"Like the charm of a muk?" Emmet suggested helpfully and before they could all go agreeing on the unlikable nature of their flustered host, Alice spoke up loudly.

"Let's just get on with this already!" She could still hear the faint snickering coming from Zinnia and Emmet.

_Just. Bloody. Brilliant._

…

…

"This is…the place?" Alice asked uncertainly.

After Zinnia's announcement they had wasted no time heading for the place she spoke of and frankly Alice wished they'd tried it earlier. It was so _bleedingly_ obvious.

Alice stood motionless in a scene that was distantly familiar to her. The ground under her feet consisted of dirty stones and flanking them were a number of broken pillars, dust still sliding down the edges of their smooth curves as they slowly crumbled into ruin.

As Alice stared off into space she felt a great deal of frustration and guilty.

"Looks like you've seen this place before." Alice didn't look behind her but she knew the voice well.

"I have." Alice responded flatly to Cynthia. They were in Sinnoh now, so Cynthia had of course accompanied them to this place. "But last time I was here…well I wasn't quite myself." Smiling bitterly Alice recalled how she had actually visited this place. She had done so with a screen between her and this world, with someone that was not her walking. Last time she had been at Spear Pillar she had simply been playing a game.

Closing her eyes Alice let out a small sigh, smiling as she thought back on it. This place belonged to the legendary keepers of time, space and everything in between but she was not here for them. They had come for Arceus and Alice knew exactly what it was Zinnia had found to aid them.

Turning to the side Alice looked back at their group, while a few of their companions had left to their own home lands a great deal of them remained – wishing to send those leaving to another world off personally.

You could imagine Cynthia's surprise when Zinnia told her they had to return to Sinnoh in order to find Arceus though they all realized later that it should have gone without saying.

But in the end it wasn't the painful realization that they should have known this or even the dazzling sensation of déjà vu and nostalgia that had Alice take her first step into the Spear Pillar's center – it was the familiar power that leaked form every corner of this space.

How could she not recognize this power?  
>The low thrum that seemed to echo from an unknown origin and the heavy pressure that lingered in the air was unforgettable, it had burned itself into her memory and Alice intended to find it's possessor.<p>

Five years ago Alice had been beat down by this pressure, thrown and forced to her knees by it. Five years ago Alice had fought against this phenomenon for the sake of a pokemon bound up in chains and suffering beyond compare.

Five years had passed and now she'd found it again. The power she'd been seeking out so desperately.

"Alice." Zinnia spoke her name from close behind, no doubt having called her a few times while her mind wandered. "I have this."

Glancing back at Zinnia's cupped hands Alice saw a flute lying innocently in the older girl's hold. She stared at the flute for a good while before turning away, facing directly ahead and into the sky. She knew the flute would create a pathway to the place that their target lingered. She remembered its importance and the struggle of getting it, however that was not going to be their struggle, not today. That adventure did not belong to her and it did not belong to her own counterpart so neither of them would partake in it. Besides, Alice knew already that there was no need – the beast was watching them.

"You won't be needing it." Alice told Zinnia simply. "We're already being observed."

If Zinnia was surprised by the finality in Alice's tone she didn't make comment of outwardly display it. Instead she slipped the flute wordlessly into her pocket and took a step back. The gap between Alice and the rest of their crew was growing larger by the second, Riley had advised they do not get too close as the pressure that lingered innocently in the air for the time being could increase at any moment and crush them all without any difficulty.

Alice gulped, fingers tightly gripping her shirt as she stood on her own at the center of the stage. The only one by her side was Ivan, the quiet Eevee gently nudged Alice's cheek from where he sat on her shoulder. Ivan and her may not see eye to eye on many things but he meant well by her and he knew she was afraid.

They had everything to lose in that moment and Alice most definitely feared failure.

"Ar-…" Alice tried to speak but her voice caught in her throat, choking her as she struggled to gather her nerves. Again Ivan nudged her cheek, giving a small lick of what she guessed was encouragement. If she hesitated again he'd probably bite her – Ivan wasn't big on patience.

"Ar-Arceus!" Alice called the god pokemon's name though it was nowhere in sight. "I know you're watching us. I know you've been watching us for five years now."

Alice paused after that, knowing full well that Arceus had slipped through their fingers at every twist and turn. Whenever they got close Arcues would simply flee to a new area but this time…it didn't seem that the pokemon was running quite so quickly. Perhaps five years was enough to calm its rage.

"You know why I'm here as well don't you?" Alice spoke boldly though she received no immediate answer and she could feel her knees shaking. "But you still haven't run away this time. This time you've stayed. So answer me, Arceus!"

In an instant the pressure in the air increased, becoming thick and almost painful as it pushed down on her spine and head but still Alice stood, clenching her fists and locking her jaw as she did. She did it five years ago and she was so much younger and weaker at that time – she could do it now.

"_Yes."_ The voice echoed through the Spear Pilliar, filling everyone's ears and minds as it rumbled lowly. Alice recognized the voice as Arceus's, it had not changed at all. As the voice boomed that air kicked up wildly, causing Alice to cover her face with her arms to stop from getting dust and rubble in her eyes. Behind her Alice heard some shouts of alarm as her companions were also hit with the blast but she knew this as well. This simply signaled Arceus's arrival and it was a blessing.

"_I know why you are here little human. You have come to make a wish_."

On the last sentence the words came out slowly, deliberately – as though speaking to an unruly child that had to grow up and see reason. Alice was never quite one for reason.

"Yes…" Breathing her answer Alice looked up past her arms and saw the great looming form of Arceus above her, never touching the ground as it hovered in the air above the center of the pillar.

"_Have you forgotten the fruits the last wish bore_?" Arceus's gaze locked onto Alice's, easily cutting into her and entering her very core, but she did not shy away. "_Have you ceased to remember the horrors of that wish? Little human girl, you should know more intimately the consequences of that selfishness. Do you deny it's impact?"_

"No." Alice answered simply, her arms dropping to her sides and her back straightening despite the ever-present pressure of Arceus's mere existence. "I have not forgotten."

"_Then why. Why would you believe for even the fleetingness of moments that I – _I _who was bound and punished for my carelessness – would ever repeat that mistake?_" Arceus reared up, angered by the sheer thought but Alice stood firm. If Arceus was to strike her down now she'd simply have to accept that outcome, to turn back now was to give up everything they'd strived for in the past five years.

"You once granted a kind wish for us." Alice reminded the pokemon, a glare remaining on her face as she spoke. "Would you grant me another if it was just as kind hearted?"

"_All wishes are selfish in nature_." Arceus responded simply though its anger seemed to have dulled.

"Even the desire to grant other's wishes?" Alice shot back, desperately grappling for some way to make Arceus see reason – and if not reason then at least compassion. All Alice needed for a mutual understanding between them and the legendary beast. For a while there was no reply from Arceus and Alice feared it would vanish away at any moment.

"_A kind wish_." Arceus echoed her, its distorted voice laced with a melancholy tone. "_What defines this form of wish from one born of selfish intent._?"

"If it is made for the sake of others." Alice's answer came instantly. "If it is made with that in mind and nothing else then it is a kind wish."

"_You are foolish_." Arceus seemed to chuckle and all malice had left its tone, instead it now simply sounded weary. They might have searched for five years but Arceus had five years of running to weigh it down. "_You've chased me across so many lands, sought me out and caused me to abandon every hiding place I've found and for what? For the slim hope that I will appease your desires?_"

"It was all we had." Alice replied grimly. "That's it, a slim, fleeting chance. As cliché as it is…hope was all we had."

"_Foolish_." Arceus spat at her again. "_Idealistic drivel! Your hope is a child's dreaming, nothing more than naïve optimisms in miracles that do not exist in the true world! What makes you believe I would desire to help anyone? Why would I place my trust in another human after that childish king brought it all to ruin!? Who could possible place trust in such nonsense?_"

"Because I trust you!" Alice shouted back, over the roar of the god creature's furious growls. Her angry response quieted the beats raging, if it was quietly seething or in shock Alice could not tell but she continued none the less. In for a penny, in for a pound – or something like that.

"I trusted you and I still do. And you - you trusted me once as well." Alice spoke quietly, her voice lowering almost to a whisper from her previous shouting. "Trusted me enough to save you. Would you trust me enough to save others now?"

Arceus twisted in agitation, as though unable to stay still as its irritation bubbled away silently. With a few more sharp thrashing twists back and forth in what Alice guessed was pacing, the legendary god turned back to her and Alice was relieved when she heard its voice lowered just as hers had been.

"_Aye_, _that I did_. _Trust you I did_." Arceus allowed, again a low rumbled akin to laughter coming through in its voice. "_And save me you did, you and the young king_… _and trust you I do_." Arceus chuckled as though amused by its own words. "_To place trust in a creature as petty and temperamental as yourself…I find I must be half as mad as you human creatures. Half as mad as that childish king_."

There was a pause and gradually Arceus lowered itself closer to the human girl. "_Your little king seems more lost than when he came to me_, _I have lamented my choice to grant his wish for many, many years. I do not wish to fell anymore remorse than I already do. It may be selfishness on my part…it is a human emotion to fear regret in one's self."_

Alice did not respond to Arceus's words, she couldn't say anything and instead waited for Arceus's final word. She needed to know if the pokemon would help her or not.

Finally she got her answer.

Arceus seemed to sigh as he spoke with an air of defeat. "_You must understand the gravity of your choice, of your wish. In the end you will not be able to find happiness yourself – you cannot have everything. To give others a happy ending you will give up your own. You will be separated from the boy, you cannot remain in the same world as one another. Do you still wish for this?_"

"A kind wish is made with another's happiness in mind." Alice repeated what she always believed. "This request is not for me, it is for those left behind and those that remain here without loved ones." Looking directly at Arceus Alice mustered up all her courage and concluded. "This is my wish – this is my kindhearted, idiotic wish."

"_If that is your answer_…" Arceus trailed off, its head bowing slightly as a bright light began to grow around its form. "_I pray you will help ease my guilt, help wash my hands clean of this nasty affair and I will place my trust in you once again – do not cause me to regret my decision_."

Alice's heart skipped a beat as she recognized the mass of swirling inky black shadows that formed in the ground under Arceus's form. The god like pokemon watched as her face turned into one of absolute overwhelming disbelief – as though she could not believe they'd done it. In the next second the human girl's face broke into a dazzling smile and despite all its fear and doubt – Arceus felt its heart lighten at the sight.

"You guys!" Alice turned to face the group that had anxiously been waiting by the outskirts of the pillar. "It's time to go! Come on!" She shouted to them over the roar of the world ripping apart at Arceus's demand.

She saw understanding flash across a few faces and there was a flurry of movement as goodbyes were exchanged and last minute promises made. As each member of their band detached from those they intended to leave behind and approached Alice and the waiting world she intended to lead them through.

"Jump right in. Try not to hit the ground too hard." Was the only advise she handed to them as each member took their turn looking down into what could be considered the most unappealing puddle that they ever laid eyes on. But each took the dive until it was only Alice remaining on the edge, carefully observing their decent encase someone was to take a poor step. Zinnia was last to approach the edge and with a daring grin cast in Alice's direction she vanished into that inky blackness – Alice chuckled, wondering if she should really let Zinnia into her world. She didn't think they'd be quite ready for her.

When Alice finally moved to follow after them she was stopped short by Arceus who hovered down close, blocking her path to the gateway. Surprised, Alice stumbled a few steps back and on her shoulder Ivan growled at the legendary pokemon, fur raised.

"_You were correct in saying I trusted you with my life back then_." Arceus informed Alice calmly. "_You did well to release me that day…and so not only will I grant your wish I will impart something vital to you."_

"What?" Alice took another, intentional step back when the legendary beast neared her. Arceus stopped barely a breath away from the human girl.

"_Something precious was stolen from me_." Arceus told her in a low drone, clearly displeased but remaining calm as it spoke. "_Twisted and detestable as it was – it was mine and not the humans to take. Yet they've taken it and I fear they've used it to create something dreadful in that young king._"

"Arceus…" Alice so rarely addressed the pokemon by its given name – it seemed too informal but in this case her nerves and rapidly beating heart won out against formality. "I don't understand what you're saying."

"_No. I suppose you wouldn't and I hope you never will. I hope what I give to you now is not something you will call upon in this lifetime or the next. Nonetheless I will leave it with you and trust in you to know its importance. What was stolen from me was tainted and in turn torn from the beast they plagued me with when you had found me. What I give to you now will have no such impurities and I trust it will not kill you as its sister may have done its host_."

"K-Kill me?" Alice yelped in alarm but was hushed by a sharp growl from Arceus.

"_Such trivial things should and shall be ignored_." Arceus hissed firmly before adding more gently. "_Fearing them will do you no good child_."

Despite her confusion and blatant fear Alice squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, trembling where she stood as Arceus continued to speak. "_I wish you well, I wish you will not die but should my assumptions be proven true then you surely will fall to its sister counterpart without my gift_."

By now Alice had an idea – a terribly vague idea but an idea all the same – of what sort of 'gift' Arceus intended to give her and so she simple asked in a pitifully meek voice. "Will it hurt?"

Arceus chuckled dryly when asked this. "_I imagine it will child. Close your eyes and listen to me speak – it will be fast_."

Alice did not feel terribly reassured but her eyes remained closed and she bit back a whimper. Flinching when she felt Arceus press the crown of its head against her chest Alice focused solely on Arceus's soothing words.

"_What I give you now, may very well save your life and those for whom you made this pact. What I leave in your hands now I will one day ask you return. What I am entrusting to you is the antidote to what was stolen from me_."

As Arceus spoke Alice became aware of a slightly…painful feeling. As though someone was sliding a needle under her skin, just by her heart and perhaps a little higher – closer to her neck. The painful pinch of a hypothetical needle slowly grew into a scorching flame that infected all areas around where the needle tip had penetrated. It grew in heat and with it the fire brought agony, painful and sharp it stabbed into her flesh, tearing through her heart and nerves without remorse.

When the pain became too much to bear Alice opened her mouth and a strangled scream tore loose from her throat. The sound ripped through the air and distantly she heard the sounds of those that had not passed into the inky blackness shouting in alarm. Their words and the meaning behind them were lost to Alice as she was crippled by the fire that raged under her flesh, burying itself into her core and rapidly spreading through her body.

It clung to veins and bones alike – spreading like poison to each and every nerve. It left no piece of flesh without burns and no crevice of her body untouched – her every cell was subject to the torment. It was inside her and intended to rip her apart from within and it crippled her.

Above the far off cries of alarm and possible helping hands Alice was just able to hear Arceus's voice. It broke through the pain filled haze like a much desired wave of cooling water.

"_I'm entrusting our worlds into your clumsy hands. Please, do not make me regret again_."

Then the spike that had embedded itself into her flesh and struck her down with that ungodly pain – pulled free. A slight jerk pulled her body forward and behind her closed eyes Alice could imagine the bloodied spike sliding from her parted flesh with ease.

After this her body fell limp, crumpling to her knees first with a quiet thud and as her body tipped forward Alice could feel the ground she'd hit decaying away. Instead of hitting the dirt of spiral pillar Alice felt the familiar tingling sensation flood her as she plummeted down through the darkness and back into the void that would take her home.

Her clothes slick with blood and every cell in her body abuzz with the lingering agony was not enough to keep a single bright thought from her mind.

_I'm going home._

Alice's slightly parted eyes watched the last rays of light of the pokemon world vanishing away and with it Arceus's heavy gaze. The weight of the pokemon's trust was great and the responsibility that came with this gift was greater still. But Alice felt none of it – the only lasting emotion in her was a dull sense of victory.

_Ah, I guess I might die. _

Alice mused as a weak smile came onto her face. The darkness was rapidly swallowing her up and she new the black ink would wind its way across her body and eventually overtake her sight and other senses – but she gladly welcomed it. As much as she hated these portal like things it was all she'd sought after of five years and finally it was finished.

_Not before I'm done.  
>Not before I see N<em>

Even as the paint like substance began to sting her eyes and creep at the corners of her mouth Alice couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle and have one last thought before the world was lost to her in the darkness.

_I wonder what he'll say when he sees me again…ha…I hope it's a good one._

…

…  
>N- The lower levels.<p>

That night Elliot had not been able to escort his brother back to the safety of their shared room. That night he'd instead watched on helplessly as the protection that was dinner came to an end and N announced he had a few documents to finalize.

When he said this N had stood from his seat, complimented Rose on the meal – Rose who had no idea what had happened – and made to leave for his chambers. Oh, but of course not before giving Vincent a small reminder not to forget that night's plans.

It was a subtle way of doing it and had Elliot not been through this a good number of times he may have missed it. N paused at the first step of the stairs that lead to their rooms and with a glance over at Vincent he'd simply smiled and simply said.

"Don't run away now. Never be late." Rose had laughed at the strange parting sentence but both brothers had remained quiet with heads bowed.

N really meant those words. It wouldn't be the first time that Vincent had tried fleeing the lower levels, it wouldn't even be the first time that the two brothers had tried taking off and leaving the manor all together. It had never worked out – obviously or they wouldn't still be stuck there.

Elliot glanced over at Vincent, noticing how deathly pale he was. If Rose knew anything was wrong – more so than usual anyway – she didn't show it as she cleaned away the plates and chatted away about possible deserts. Elliot politely declined and once their smiling chef had left he turned back to Vincent and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Vince…" He wasn't sure what he was going to say next but Vincent spoke before him.

"I know." He hissed, fingers clutching harshly as his pants. "I know, alright? I know. I shouldn't have…I should have kept my mouth shut…I-I…!"

To stop Vincent's frustrated outpour of angry words Elliot stood from his chair and pulled the smaller male into a tight hug. Vincent was tense but quickly responded by grabbing a fist full of his brother's shirt and clinging to him. Elliot could hear his uneven breathing and guessed he'd be sobbing soon purely from fear and so – as useless as he knew it was – Elliot made the same offer he always did.

"Vincent swap with me." Elliot murmured gently. "I'll go to the lower levels. Just go back to the room."

Apparently unable to talk Vincent just shook his head back and forth furiously, hugging closer to Elliot. The dark haired brother knew it was pointless to even try. If Vincent didn't immediately refuse then N would deny him just a quickly.

As frustration as it was N wasn't particularly interested in taking Elliot to those dungeon areas. Oh sure if Elliot stepped out of line he'd take him down but most often it was simply N and Vincent. If it was a game or some sort of sick relationship Elliot couldn't say. But it seemed to always end up this way and Elliot barely knew what it was N did that caused his brother to shake so bad in his arms or scream at night.

"If…If he…" Elliot began the usual talk. "If he hurts you…you will tell me won't you?"

The strangest thing was that Vincent never seemed to be physically harmed. Rarely was there even a bruise on his body. No cuts, no obvious signs that he and N had any type of scuffle. So what _was_ it? Elliot agonized over the answer a thousand times, time and time again he tried to figure it out but Vincent never told him and he never got close enough to spy.

"I will." Vincent's dry voice spoke the usual promise but Elliot had long since decided it was a kind lie – to keep him form worrying.

"_Tick tock_." Vincent's form gave a violent jerk at the sound of N's voice. The king had apparently finished whatever he needed to and was now standing in the doorway – a smile just twitching at the corners of his mouth.

Tick tock…it was always those words. It seemed to physically harm Vincent to hear them and despite himself Elliot hugged him closer – as though he could somehow combat the words N spoke.

"Time to go. Vincent." N held out his hand, it could even be considered a kindhearted gesture had the situation be any different. His tone was soothing and his expression one of apparent comfort – as though he was not the source of Vincent's trauma but the cure. It caused Elliot's blood to boil.

But he was helpless.

And his heart almost broke as Vincent released his grip and slid from his big brother's arms. Reaching to take N's hand mutely. Elliot did not turn to watch as N lead his brother away, he knew he'd see that calm, sickening smile and the look of hopelessness he was so accustomed to seeing.

"Will…" Elliot's voice broke when he tried to speak the first time and after a deep breath he tried again. "Will you return him to bed tonight?"

"Perhaps." Was N's simply reply. "If he behaved."

Elliot's hands clenched into fists but he did not turn, he was barely breathing. He could do nothing until he heard the sound of his brother and N vanishing down the halls and into the dark levels of the manor he was forbidden from entering.

As N lead the younger male away with his hand gently leading the blonde he couldn't help but turn back and look at the defiant male's face. It was only in these times, between the walk to hell and the event itself that Vincent truly looked crushed and submissive. He'd fight and kick and spit at any other time but it was these fleeting moments that set in stone N's control over the other.

And N could only smirk.

"Don't look so sad." N all but sang as he led Vincent down into the depths of his kingdom. "We'll have lots of fun."

Distantly N got that nagging feeling in the back of his mind.  
>That annoying little inkling that would occasionally bother him in moments such as this and it annoyingly complained.<p>

_This is wrong._

It only made N grit his teeth and force his smile to stay in place. Another look at Vincent's dejected expression and that single thought was crushed under a mountain of satisfaction. 

Wrong?  
>There was nothing wrong with this.<br>This was powers.  
>He had power over Vincent.<br>And power was a must.

This was right.  
>It had to be.<p>

"Lots of fun." N murmured in a quiet purr, watching as Vincent shuddered.

This had to be right.  
>It had to be.<p>

…

…

Malice: "Hey…Colress…"

Colress: "Hmm? Do you need more medication?"

Malice: "No! God…just…explain the cross over stuff please. You're sciency to you should do it."

Colress: "Oh is that all? Shouldn't you do it, it is – after all – your world."

Malice: "Humor me you idiot.."

Colress: "Very well… Ahem." *Clearing his throat Colress begins.* "As I'm sure you all realize there is a mix of characters from most of the other regions and our lazy writer-"

Malice: "I resent that."

Colress: "-has tried to avoid taking characters that already have counterparts in the story to the other world. As for Zinnia and temporal tower they are purely here because our writer has a soft spot for them. If you don't know Temporal Tower I advise you go and play the mystery dungeon games and as for Zinnia…in truth our writer doesn't know much about her." *Shrugs.* "I'm sure you all understand how our writer works by this point – inefficiently."

Malice: "I told you to _explain_, not _insult_."

Colress: "When explaining you they are one in the same."

Malice: "…..fair enough. But we're not at temporal tower see?" *Points drunkenly to the script."

Colress: "Ah…so you changed it. Last minute…how like you."

Malice: "I feel judgment on your part."

Colress: "None at all my dear lady."

Malice: "….I'm going to torture you one day…"

Colress: "I'm sure you will…if you're not too busy being lazy and getting suspended from school. of course. Actually the scene with Vincent and N has been cut short in this chapter – due to its already satisfactory length. Our author will add more of their punishment time later so don't worry you sick people – you'll still get to see it."

Malice: "I wrote this the night I got back from camp…I'm a little messed up so cut me some slack."

See you all next time.


	4. Chapter 4- Empty Houses

Chapter 4: Empty Houses

_Author's Note:  
>Do. Not. Say. It.<br>It's here now so shut up and read it.__  
><em> 

…

…

The sound of ragged breathing was the only sound to be heard in the dingy little room Vincent found himself in. Panting heavily as he tried to regain his breath, Vincent feverishly looked around. His surroundings were hazy and too fluid to be real life. In the back of his mind he knew that he was not actually in the maze that he saw – no he was on the floor in a cell and dreaming.

"You're not trying." Vincent's head whipped up at the sound of the familiar growl. "Come on, at least _try_ to escape, or maybe you've given up this time?"

Gritting his teeth the blonde kicked up off the ground and began to run away, the sound of hollow laughter following him as he dashed through what seemed like an endless maze of stonewalls and damp floors. It wasn't real, it just wasn't and while Vincent knew that very well – it felt real.

Every step he took, every stumble he made in his attempt to find the exit, he felt it all. The scuffs and scratches he'd gotten from his various tumbles onto the muddy floor and the occasional trap were very real to the blonde male. It was all in his head but to Vincent that was no comfort.

A poorly places stepped too hastily taken had Vincent slamming back onto the cold, hard ground. Bouncing about twice before skidding Vincent felt every new injury with all the clarity of the real world. The walls and air might be a little bit fluid and hazy at times but one thing was always solid – the pain. Groaning where he'd come to lay on the unforgiving floor Vincent began to gruelling task of pushing himself upright again. However the sound of more laughter stopped him short.

"Found you!" Fear gripped Vincent's chest and in his desperation to escape, his desperate scrambling proved to be more a hindrance than it did help and much to his horror the floor began to tip up. He'd seen this before, sometimes when he'd fall N would push walls in to block his escape or in this case, push the floor upright so he'd slide down and cut himself up on the way.

"No where to go now." N's voice reached Vincent again as he frantically clawed and the floor that was rapidly becoming a vertical drop. In the little gaps between the rocks that made up the floor he was able to wedge his fingers in slightly and while they ached and screamed in protest, Vincent hung on tightly. Squeezing his eyes shut Vincent hoped he'd be able to hold out this time. Usually N's little tricks ended just as quickly as they started and he'd get another change to flee. Today was no one of those days.

"What should we do this time?" N's voice continued gleefully, cutting through all of Vincent's attempts to block it out. "Oh, how about we have little Elliot have an accident this time? Or maybe a bad memory, really I'll let you choose this time Vince."

He was a liar and even if he were not, Vincent would never ask for any one of N's offered options. Gritting his teeth, Vincent clung tighter to the wall. It had stopped moving now and he held onto a thread of hope that maybe he'd be set back down again like normal. He was not so lucky.

"You're so quiet." N's once happy tone dropped to a low hiss. "Don't you dare ignore me!"

To Vincent's horror the wall began to move again, with a dull roar it slowly grinded in the same direction it had started going – he was going to put Vincent upside down.

"Stop!" Vincent's voice finally came free when the fear of falling became very real. He couldn't do it again. He couldn't play the punishment game again. Still hugging the wall desperately, Vincent felt it halt momentarily. He knew what came next and after a few painful seconds of waiting he felt a hand touch the back of his head, pressing it against the stone wall a little firmly but never becoming painful.

Vincent knew that this was not just the dream, N had to be touching his body for real and that was frightening. N rarely touched Vincent in these sessions, he never left a single bruise or cut on him – for some reason he seemed to believe that somehow made it more humane.

"That's not what I want to here Vince." He's voice was louder now, closer. "You know what you're meant to say."

Yeah, he did. Apologises and promises of repentance were what N wanted. However Vincent was spiteful as he was stubborn and getting that sort of thing out of him proved difficult but – as N had found – not impossible.

"Apologise properly. Be a good boy and behave and perhaps tonight I'll let you off the hook." N waited a second, as if expecting an immediate reply from the struggling youth. "You're very close to falling." He added, a malicious note entering his voice. "I could pull you off right here and you'd fall."

"Ch-Cheating!" Vincent gasped breathlessly. "That…that's against the rules!"

"Yes." N agreed slowly. "However am I not the one who made the rules?" Vincent could hear the smug smirk in his voice but chose not to take the bait and bite back though N did give him time to do so. Chuckling at his silence N continued calmly. "But none the less, you're right. I will not cheat – not tonight. Yet, you're still only an inch from falling, another push and you'd go. So, here is my offer."

Vincent tensed when he felt N moving closer to him. He could feel the male's hand cupping his chin gently and the other resting against one of the hands that anchored Vincent to the wall – a constant reminder that he may just break his word and rip Vincent from the wall.

"Just apologise." N whispered soothingly to Vincent. "Be a good boy, behave and I'll let you go for tonight. You don't need to see any of the painful things. Not Hewie's death." Vincent's breath hitched. "Not Elliot's enslavement. Not your sister's hatred. None of it. Just submit and be good."

It was guilt play, Vincent knew this but it struck him hard all the same. "Well?" N enquired in a calm tone. "Your answer?"

Gradually Vincent forced himself to look at N for the first time and despite seeing it so many times before, he was still scared when he saw N's eyes. He didn't look human when they were in this world. His skin had become an ashen colour and his eyes glowed an unnatural yellow hue – he looked beyond sanity. It wasn't just his appearance, his voice – while still recognisable – was different. It echoed as though two voices had joined into one and were fighting for dominance – it's harsh rumble scared Vincent badly but he could not pin point the exact reason behind its intimidating nature.

As he looked at this version of his caretaker, Vincent felt something painful grip at his chest. This wasn't N and it had taken a while for Vincent to differ between the real and the fake. It was a pity the real king grew smaller and smaller inside his own body with every injection he got from Colress.

"I…" Vincent gulped, his body quaking violently as he spoke familiar words. "I will if you get out of him." Vincent directly addressed the thing that warped N and as always the result was the same.

"Oh Vinny, how you disappoint me." With mock regret N leaned away from Vincent. Vincent knew what happened next and so he shut his eyes tightly and waited.

Not a second later his grip on the wall was lost as it almost reached the ceiling. As his fingers slipped Vincent bit back a scream – falling very quickly through the air. Despite his fear and knowledge of what came next, Vincent still peeked open one eye as he plummeted and just like every time before he saw what he'd wanted to forget.

N remained above him, without anything to support him he simply floated where he wished – it was his world after all. But what bothered Vincent was neither the warped version of N or the oncoming pain – it was the face N made whenever he watched Vincent fall.

It was almost heartbreaking, as if he regained enough sanity at the last second to see what he was doing but was powerless to do anything.

"That's what makes me hate you the most." Vincent whispered to himself as he fell, knowing soon he'd feel the pain again. "The fact that you're still so bloody human."

Vincent hated N.  
>Vincent hated the warped N more.<br>But more than anything, Vincent hated the fact that N still had the audacity to make that pitiful expression.

Because when N looked like that – Vincent couldn't hate him properly.

…

…

Alice became very acutely aware of the fact that – no, she was not in fact dead.  
>This was proven to her by the <em>massive<em> amount of ungodly pain she was in when she hit the ground.

The second her body snapped back against the ground with a painful thud Alice let out an agonised groan and curled in on herself while cursing those portals mentally. Muttering swears under her breath furiously Alice once again swore to herself she'd never – in all her life – go through another one of those damn portals.

"You 'right down there?" Alice's eyes inched open slightly, scowling as she looked up at the smiling face of Emmet.

"I swear Emmet….I will punch your stupid face in." Alice was fuming but her anger only lead to Emmet laughing gleefully.

"Alice, are you alright?" As her vision cleared she saw a few less agitating faces. It seemed everyone else had landed safely and more gracefully because no one else was lying on the ground re-thinking his or her life choices. Instead a majority of their company was looking down at Alice with various expressions – pity was among them but in the minority, mostly they seemed amused. It was just about then Alice realised her new companions were more on the malicious spectrum – god she was missing Bianca right about now.

Finally a friendlier face appeared as Riley offered his hand out to the fallen Alice. "Can you walk?" He questioned, getting only a single nod from the disgruntle Alice in response.

"Did…we make it?" Alice groaned as she was helped upright by Riley. A quick look around answered her question before Riley was forced to speak more words. Alice was hit by the normality of it all. Whipping her head back and forth she looked for any signs that they were still occupying the bright and colourful world that had played host to them for five years.

Not a pokemon in sight and the gentle thrum of cicadas in the summer heat was what Alice was greeted with.

"Cicadas…" Whispering the insect's name Alice's eyes widened and began to water. "I-I didn't know how much I missed the little bastards!" Laughing dryly Alice tried to dry her eyes before she could properly cry. Distantly in her memory she recalled the cry of many cicadas in her childhood and the grief the sound once brought her – it was a welcome relief now she heard them again.

"We're home." Riley confirmed gently, hand still resting on Alice's giving his sister's small hand a squeeze, his usually passive expression replaced by a gentle smile. Alice quickly wiped her eyes again and with one sniff she'd successfully fought back an overspill of happy tears.

"About damn time!" Alice exploded, beaming as she jumped away from Riley and ran in no particular direction. She had to see more, go further. Alice needed to see the familiar landscape, the usual sights and sounds. The people and the atmosphere – she needed it all.

Behind her, Alice could heard the sounds of their party following with some complaint but she didn't slow. She was home, home, home, _home_.

_I need to see everyone. We actually did it!_ Alice could scarcely believe it was true despite having been planning around it for so many years. It had seemed like an unobtainable dream and now it was real and at her fingertips.

As her feet pounded away at the pathway under her feet and Alice flew down the small road her eyes were rapidly putting together the familiar area. They weren't too far out of town, not too far from her home. Her memory was hazy and once or twice she almost took a wrong turn but even five years couldn't completely eat away at the mental map she'd made of the place she'd called home since birth.

The trees thinned out and in the distance Alice heard the all too familiar sounds of cars on the highway. Somewhere under the forest foliage a snake was slivering away from the sound of someone running too close by its resting place. Over head small, regular sized birds flew – ones that did not cry their name but instead let loose a sharp melody.

_Ravens_. Alice recognised the strange babbling sound the black birds would use as a song. When Alice came skidding to a stop on a corner briefly to make sure the others hadn't gotten lost behind her, a small winged bug fluttered by her head.  
><em>Ah! A butterfly.<em> Grinning Alice tried reaching for the insect but was quickly reminded that while pokemon may let humans close, animals from her home had no such trust and quickly the yellow winged butterfly skittered on off.

"Are you quite done?" Alice turned and beamed when she was addressed by an angry, exhausted Silver. "I thought you hated moving? What's with this damned running!?" He demanded while gasping for breath.

Alice became aware she was also panting but was simply too energised and excited to pay it any mind. "You'd be running to if you were late five years." Alice quipped back mockingly, one hand in the air and the other on her hip. "Or are you just unfit?"

"Ha! Rich coming from someone like you." Silver seethed, glaring in response to Alice's smug gaze.

"I agree with Silver on this if nothing else. Will that be all the running Alice?" Unlike Silver most of their company had not been so eager to run and catch up but they must have at least a little bit because they were all there. Steven had put forward the question and when Alice glanced him over she was annoyed to find that he was completely unaffected by their little run through the woods.

"Yeah, I guess I'm spent anyway." Alice agreed reluctantly. Sure she was tired but she could have easily burned off a bit more excitement.

"So this is your home land?" Zinnia asked curiously as she walked on past a still tired Silver and looked around. "It's a tad boring don't you think?"

"Easy Zinnia." Morty chided in his usual eerie tone. "We are guests in this world, best be respectful."

"Say Alice!" Emmet piped up as he skipped around his brother who – as per usual – was keeping all his thoughts to himself. "You said you were late, what are you late for?"

"Huh?" Alice hesitated, turning to look at Emmet as he innocently asked the question. She had said that but…only as a joke. But….

"Brother." Ingo murmured in a deadpanned voice. "It was meant only as a jest. She is not late for anyone."

"Vincent, Elliot!" Alice yelped in alarm, causing most of their small group to flinch and turn to her with startled expression. Without a word Alice turned sharply on her heel and took off in a dead sprint. As she ran out of the bush land and out onto the built up area of her town, Alice didn't stop to look at the old sights of admire her old home – she couldn't tear her eyes off the empty space ahead of her.

All that filled her mind were images of her brothers, the brothers she'd left unattended for five years. Five fucking years. With that tugging at her chest Alice forced her body to it's limits, barely paying any attention to the weak throbbing in her chest, the chest that should have showed the signs of its trauma from the parting gift Arceus left her with.

'You and Elliot are very precious to me_.'_  
><em>I left them alone. Oh god I left them alone!<em>  
>Sharply taking another corner Alice's footing almost betrayed her as she stumbled to keep balanced and almost came a-cropper on the turn. Skidding, Alice slammed her feet down onto the tar road and threw herself forward again, stumbling a few more steps before she got back onto her feet properly, never once stopping in her desperate run.<p>

"I'll always be here to look after you_."_  
>Gritting her teeth Alice continued to run, ignoring the ache in her bones and the wind that whipped through her hair and clothes. As she ran Alice failed to notice something in her home. It appeared as though the road had been redone and the buildings that flanked her sides looked as though they were new. The entire town – while very familiar – had changed considerably. Everything was new. But Alice couldn't see any of it, her goals were set purely on the old house she once lived in with her two little brothers.<p>

"I'll never leave your side_."_  
>She never meant to lie, Alice had never meant to break their trust in her. She'd only wanted to find a happy ending for everyone. She'd been selfish and perhaps she was still just as selfish. Closing her eyes tightly and clenching her fists Alice continued to run, narrowly missing crashing into other people as they walked down the streets and in her haste Alice missed yet another crucial change to her home. In every window, plastered on every door and stapled to most every street pole was a simple piece of paper, adorned with a large silver symbol that vaguely resembled a 'P'. Alice didn't see that either as she dashed towards her own street and left the town behind.<p>

Panting heavily and rapidly becoming dizzy from lack of air Alice stumbled her way onto the last street of her suburb and with a few more rapidly taken steps she was in front of her house. Hesitating for a second Alice was able to briefly look at the two story home and found it looked very much the same – at a glance. Relief, dread and desperation simultaneously filled her heart but Alice didn't pause any longer than that and without a second of doubt she ran down the pathway and reached for the handle of the front door.

_Click._

Alice's eyes widened. It was locked.

Tugging furiously at the handle and rattling the once sturdy door Alice began to panic. She had no key and she wasn't sure if anyone would answer to her – she'd been gone a while now. Her little brother's might be scared of her.

"Vincent!" Alice shouted as she gave up on pulling the door and began to bang her fist against it. "Elliot! Please someone answer me!" Shouting desperately Alice's pounding fists on the door turned into pathetic slaps as her composer continued to slip away.

"Vince, Elliot!" Alice continued calling for her brothers even as her heads turned numb from beating against a door that was just not willing to buckle. She didn't cry yet but Alice knew if she lost it anymore than this she would. "I-It's me. It's Alice, I'm home see? Come on please, please just answer me! I-It's your sister! I swear it is."

"Alice."

"Open the door! Vince, I'm sorry I was gone so long but please answer me!" Alice ignored the sound of her name being called and tried in vain to get a response.

"Alice!" This time the voice was accompanied with a firm hand on her shoulder, yanking her back from the door she'd been damn near clawing at. "Listen to me!" Alice recognised the voice shouting at her as Riley's, she hadn't heard him sound so angry in a while. Looking up at her brother she saw his face was flushed and he was sweating, how far had he run to catch her?

"No one is here Alice!" He continued, shaking her slightly as he demanded her attention and sanity. "Take a good look at this place." On that order Alice's eyes slowly drifted back to the house and saw that…he was right.

What had, at a glance looked like a perfectly normal house now looked clearly abandoned. There were cobwebs in the windows, paint gradually peeling from the weaker places on the walls and there were papers piling up from where they'd been left and never collected and around the newspapers the grass was growing into a small forest.

"No one has been here for a _long_ time." Riley spoke more softly now he knew he had her attention. He quickly followed up with more sensible words. "Look, Vincent and Elliot must be with Oscar. They wouldn't have been left here, not on their own. I'm sure that they've been looked after by everyone else. They were _not_ alone."

Alice didn't speak but her expression must have spoken legions because Riley quickly pulled her into a hug. Alice clung to his sleeve as she continued to stare at the desolate house. She cared not for the structure itself but it had been the place her brothers and Hewie once lived. If they were not in it then it was just another abandoned building to her but…the memories remained.

"We'll find them." Riley comforted Alice, running his hand through her hair gently. "But not tonight. Tonight we rest, get our heads straight and make a plan. Do you understand?"

Alice nodded mutely knowing that soon they'd lose the daylight and it'd do them no good stumbling around in the dark with no leads or concept on what to do or where to go.

"The plan is the same, right?" Riley held her at arms length, talking sense to her as though she was on the verge of breaking again. "Nothing changes. Once we've found Ghetsis and the rest of Plasma we send everyone home and rebuild from there. Vincent and Elliot will be alright, once we're finished we'll live together like normal. Alright?" He demanded more sharply when Alice didn't respond.

"Y-Yeah…I got it." Alice murmured shaking her head as if she was breaking out of a trance. "Sorry I…" Taking a deep breath Alice tried to calm herself. "Just got scared. I wasn't thinking." Riley's face softened and he knocked her on the head with the back of his knuckle.

"Try not to scare me as well." He murmured, relieved that she seemed to have returned to normal.

"Hah, that's the most I've heard you say in ages." Alice laughed as she slowly regained control over herself.

"I am going to _kill_ you!" Both Alice and Riley turned at the sound of a furious Silver. Doubled over and panting heavily his face contorted in furry. "You had to go and run a fucking second time didn't you?"

This time Alice only laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, just got a little bit worked up." She admitted, not feeling so smug after her little spiel.

"Is this your home?" Zinnia asked curiously, coming to stand next to the struggling Silver. She'd obviously run as well but she showed it far less than the angry male crouching besides her. With curious eyes Zinnia looked over the desolate remains of what had once been Alice's childhood home. Her hand trailed over the knee high grass before turning her gaze on the dusty looking building. "It's not exactly what I had expected."

Smiling Alice turned back to look at the old house and nodded. "This is where I grew up, although I remember it being more maintained." Chuckling Alice stepped back onto the pathway, at least that part was still visible under all the weeds. "Still…" Looking up at her old home Alice ended up grinning. "I think I like it better like this."

"What, seriously?" Zinnia chimed coming to stand next to Alice with a baffled expression.

"It looks a little less stiff." Shrugging carelessly Alice didn't bother to explain herself further. How was Zinnia meant to understand that it was the lack of her parents care and money in the house that made Alice feel more at ease. Though that did bring up the question of her folks. "I wonder if they took Elliot and Vince…" Alice murmured, concern dripping from her voice. She truly hoped they were with uncle Oscar and not their parents.  
>Riley gave Alice a small nudge and she simply nodded, he meant well to reassure her but Alice wouldn't feel better until she knew first hand what had happened to her little brothers and that they were happy.<p>

Gradually the rest of their small band began to arrive, obviously not as keen as Zinnia and Silver to run. Steven stepped ahead of the small group, even moving past Zinnia and Alice towards the house. Waiting expectantly for Steven to fire off some sort of snide remark about the state of their base of operation, Alice was taken aback by his silence as he surveyed the house and its surroundings. For a good while Steven remained quiet, simply studying every aspect of the building and the rest of the company watched uncertainly.

When he did finally turn back to face the group he made absolutely no judgment on the house and instead went about business. "There will be enough room for now, all we need to do is situate ourselves here for at least the night. Once we've gathered enough information we'll go about locating Ghetsis."

"Sir." Morty stepped forward calmly. "I believe I may have seen something in the town that could assist us. With your permission I'd like to retrieve it."

"Alice?" Steven looked to Alice for guidance on this, causing her to tense sharply. Sometimes she forgot she wasn't just here for the ride, it was her job to make them blend in and keep it hidden exactly who they were. A quick glance at Morty and Alice began planning the adjustments in her head.

"Yes, Morty is the best to send." She agreed finally. "Volkner, you are also okay to move around freely. But the two of you have to change before going anywhere. That goes for all of you." Alice added before muttering under her breath. "Wearing the same outfit everyday here just isn't going to fly."

"Why those two?" Silver piped up, irritated by Alice's choice.

"They stand out the least. Steven can't go because his hair alone makes him too distinctive, Zinna and yourself are too…ah what's the best way to put this – loud. Yeah, too noticeable by personality. And as for those two...-" Alice jerked a thumb back at Emmet and Ingo. "They stick out back in your world, so how do you think they'd do here?"

"You'd do well to follow our guide's advice young one." Morty spoke coolly to Silver who began to seethe again. "We did not put our trust in her for no reason." Alice tuned out the oncoming outburst from Silver in favour of thinking over the word Morty had chosen. She'd become accustomed to being referred to as a guide but it did bring her mind back to something else that weighed heavily on her.

Where was N? Was he with her brothers and Oscar? Alice wanted to believe that they would have stuck together but there was always the possibility that perhaps he was with Ghetsis. Would Ghetsis hurt him if that was the case? Alice had tried not to think about N for a good five years but gradually her control over that line of thought was cracking resulting in more and more concerns beginning to fill up her head. She knew that she'd have to find him again and then send him home – they'd really be saying goodbye this time.

And it was painful to think about.

"You-who?" Alice flinched back in alarm, realising Zinnia was standing in front of her, waving her hand about flippantly. "Back to earth there Ali? What are you getting all day-dreamy about?"

"O-Oh, just going over strategies." Alice lied poorly. "And…other things." She added lamely, knowing that her poor cover up was easily seen through.

"Recovering from the shock I believe." Never had Alice been more thankful for Steven's interjection. "It must be quiet a shock to our young guide's system to be back in her world after all this time."

Zinnia eyed Steven closely and then studied Alice's face for a bit but ultimately she gave a small huff and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, that's great and all but we got things to do right?"

"Indeed. Alice?" Steven again turned back to Alice to get their party moving again. "Shall we?"

"Right, come on you lot." Alice shook herself back into awareness and turned back towards the house. It was locked still but with a clear head Alice reached into her pocket, finding the smooth surface of a pokeball. Withdrawing the white and red capsule Alice took a quick glance around but as usual there wasn't a soul near her home so she released the pokemon inside.

With a small burst of light and a little cry of alarm the pokeball flew open and out of it formed a small green pokemon. Once free from its home the little rock type pokemon gradually opened it's red eyes to peer around in confusion, perhaps a little taken aback by the world it was in. Alice crouched down next to the pokemon with a warm smile and reached out to gently rub its head, calming the somewhat distressed Larvitar.

At the touch of its trainer the pokemon initially flinched before recognising Alice and letting out a little cry of confusion. The Larvitar did not know this land, it could feel the difference in the very soil it stood – something was off. However his trainer was smiling in a comforting way and so gradually the small pokemon's anxiety bled away – unlike Ivan this Larvitar had absolute trust in its trainer.

"Good morning sleepy head." Alice cooed quietly, never quite sure if her words made sense to the pokemon or not but sure he got the gist of her meaning all the same. "I need you to do a little favour for me, okay Tyrant?" Alice gave all her pokemon nicknames though given the Larvitar's somewhat timid personality perhaps his name was a little strange.

The green pokemon nodded its head once, agreeing to its trainer's request. "That's my boy. Now see this door here?" Alice gestured to the door she had been pounding on earlier. "I need you to use _chip away_, on that lock right there." Tyrant turned to look at what his trainer was talking about and a shine sparked in his red gaze, quickly getting Alice to amend her command. "Gently!" Tyrant seemed to sulk and made disappointed whines at his trainer. "We need the door intact, just opened. Can you do that?"

Still a little disappointed but willing Tyrant huffed and nodded again, earning a praising smile and a second pat on the head. Whatever grievances he'd had with holding back were gone when he saw how happy his trainer was with his efforts and so with a happy air about him Tyrant went about opening the door in the way of his trainer.

Alice stole a glance back at their group and smiled. "Once we're in I'll show you where you can sleep and hopefully nothing inside has been changed too much. After that we'll go about getting out research done. Everybody on the same page? Brilliant." Alice chimed without waiting. "This will be easy."

Right, why didn't she just add 'what could possible go wrong' to that? Idiot.

…

…

It was just as awful as always. Vincent sat kneeling by the crumpled body of a childhood friend. It was just as vivid as the day Hewie had been struck by the truck.

He'd tried. Like a fool he'd tried again to stop Hewie from stepping out in front of the truck but no matter how he tried to scream or how fast he ran – Vincent was never fast enough and the result was the same.

Hewie was a bloody mess in his arms, growing cold as the blood dried in his once white fur. The first few times N had chosen this memory as punishment, Vincent had screamed and cried his heart out – having been foolish enough to believe maybe he could do something. But it was not real, it was just a memory and Vincent fell for it every time.

So there he sat in the empty road with Hewie hanging limply from his arms. He didn't scream anymore but he could not stop crying. It was guilt and it was regret. Hewie could have lived if he hadn't been in the way, if he hadn't been so stupid and run out onto the road. It was his fault.

And N knew it hurt. He knew Vincent couldn't forget or move on and so he played this memory again and again in their sessions.

Clutching Hewie to his chest, Vincent was almost happy. Even if it was fake, even if his dog could never come back – he could see Hewie again even in this twisted way. So despite the fact his eyes were blinded by tears and his dog could no longer move – Vincent hugged Hewie to him tightly and babbled apologises and words of affection.

"I'm sorry." He sobbed over and over again. "It's my fault, I'm so sorry. Please…please Hewie." He wasn't sure what he was begging for anymore but he still cried his heart out – wishing an impossible wish.

As he sat there in his nightmare, Vincent knew N had arrived. N was rarely there for the actual memory – perhaps it hurt him as well on some level to see it. But he always came shortly after, to see the broken pieces and ask what he always did.

"Have you learnt your lesson Vincent?" The joy was gone, the malicious intent no where to be found. N spoke without emotion and no longer raised his voice.

Gradually Vincent nodded. His voice would betray him with sobs if he were to try and speak. N must have understood because he began to tread towards Vincent, the gentle sound of his feet landing on the grass and eventually the road told Vincent how close he was.

Finally his caretaker stopped in front of him and when Vincent was finally able to raise his head to look up – he saw the yellow eyes that had reached his nightmares had faded. N looked more human but there were still traces of the monster in his eyes alone. N stared down at the pitiful boy for a while without speaking a word and Vincent again wondered what it was that went through his head. Gradually N took one knee in front of Vincent, reaching out to gently cup his cheek – almost comforting him.

"You know why I do this don't you?" He asked, reading off their usual script.

Again Vincent nodded but N continued as though he'd not responded.

"You need to obey, you must be kept safe and you must never run away." N told him gently, as if chiding a child who'd been grounded. "I can't let you out of my sight. I won't let you get hurt."

Vincent wanted to laugh. He wanted to correct N and tell him that was a lie but he couldn't find the words to do it with. When Vincent nodded a third time, N let out a little sigh and smiled.

"Good." He spoke kindly. "I forgive you." With that he pressed a little kiss to Vincent's forehead. It was almost affectionate but even then the affection seemed misplaced – Vincent did not know what to make of it. When N got to his feet, he brought Vincent up with him.

"For tonight you'll stay down here. I'll fetch you in the morning." Vincent wanted to protest but any further word of rebellion and N may change his mind again. So as N walked away from him Vincent remained silent. With each step N took, the world he'd made to punish Vincent in gradually vanished away and along with it went Vincent's consciousness.

When the last images of the fake world began to fade, Vincent saw N pause at his cell door and glance back at Vincent. There was that pitiful look again, N looked just as lost and confused as a child but he seemed just as powerless to stop it. So like always, Vincent was left alone in the cell, chained and on the verge of passing out.

And just like always he did not fight it when sleep came to take him.

…

…

"Alice!" Silver's voice rang out angrily, causing the owner of the name to cringe and growl in frustration.

"What now?" Silver had complained about everything they did since entering the house. The clothes were not his style, the rooms were too dusty, the furniture too mundane. No matter what the topic was he had something negative to say about it. Needless to say Alice was nearing the end of her rope.

"Where's the food?" He demanded when Alice appeared in the kitchen doorway. He'd already pulled out half the cupboards and draws by this point. "Who the hell has a house with no food in it?"

"Well excuse me for not being here to stock food for five years!" Alice snapped back as she walked into the kitchen, curious to see what they might actually still have. They'd been settling into the house for a few hours now. Thankfully it seemed to have been abandoned just the way she left it. Her father's clothes suited the older men just fine for camouflage and Alice was able to share some clothes of her own with Zinnia.

When Alice peered into the familiar cupboards she found the remains of old food – some had been packaged to survive a few years and other, less fortunate food had expired. Thankfully her family didn't keep much meat or dairy stocked at any given time so the smell was bearable. After some rummaging, Alice ended up pulling out a large jar of honey, completely full and sealed. Honey was known for its long life and it looked perfectly safe.

"Now if only we had some bread…" Alice murmured to herself but a quick glance at what looked like it had once been a bag of bread immediately put her off that thought. It was more green and blue powder now than it was food. She realised that Silver was still waiting expectantly.

"Here." She thrust the honey out towards him. "Eat this for now, just use a spoon. It's sweet so eat slowly." She advised while opening the cutlery draw to fish him out a spoon.

When Silver did actually taste the honey he made a disgusted face. "Urk! This doesn't taste right." Alarmed, Alice quickly put her finger in the jar and sampled it herself. To her it tasted fine and she frowned at Silver.

"What do you mean? It tastes perfectly fine."

"No, it doesn't taste anything like the honey from Combee!" Oh, well of course it wouldn't Rolling her eyes Alice took the jar and ran her finger over the label 'Australian Honey Bees.'

"Not pokemon, remember? This is our version of honey. Now either shut up and eat it or give it here." Alice personally preferred honey bees honey to Combee's stuff. But she could just be biased.

"It's awful!" Silver argued, getting Alice fired up as well.

"You're awful!" She snapped back childishly.

"Well you're just bloody-!"

"Ahem!" Before they could really start arguing a fake clearing of someone's throat interrupted them. "Children." Silver addressed the two now he had their attention. "It seems Morty and Volkner have returned – and they have some _interesting_ news." Alice didn't like the face Steven was making, had something gone wrong.

"Now if you could reschedule your fight for another day, perhaps we could get to work?" He suggested, embarrassing both girl and boy. Begrudgingly the two exchanged a glare and finally nodded, though they would definitely have that fight another time. "Wonderful, come on then."

Steven left the kitchen, getting the two to trail after him into the living room. Despite the house having three bedrooms, their party had assembled in the living room as their base. Zinnia, Emmet and Ingo has spent a good portion of the afternoon pushing aside furniture and cleaning dust from the room. Without the bulky tables and chairs cluttering the room they had plenty of room to set up bedding, bedding of which they stole off the actual beds and brought down stairs.

Now their individual possessions each lay in a pile at the end of a mattress of lounge, marking their property. The television remained untouched after they'd all agreed it would be a good source of entertainment and information should their stay end up becoming lengthy. It was almost a homey setting, like having a bunch of bizarre room mates.

As they entered the remodelled living room, Alice spotted Volkner and Morty sitting at one of the few remaining tables. They'd kept a single coffee table in the room so that if they needed to they could hold proper meetings and write down information. The two had changed out their more identifiable clothes for fairly mundane ones. White shirts and black pants were as inconspicuous as you could get around here. They had complained the least about the clothes change – besides Zinnia who took to it with frightening enthusiasm.

The two glanced up when Steven returned with Alice and Silver – their expression were not exactly encouraging. When Alice looked them over again she could see what looked like a flyer sitting between the two of them. Zinnia was sitting on her claimed bed, a lounge to the side of the television and both Emmet and Ingo were standing a small distance from the table, peering at the flyer with blank expressions. Without a smile Emmet looked startlingly like Ingo and Alice had to do a double take to see who was who.

They'd also swapped out their very flamboyant clothes for jackets and regular colours, though both had refused to go without a hat – well she could let them have that much at least. She didn't plan to release them on the public any time soon anyway.

"Let's just say what they've found…is not ideal." Steven murmured as he broke away from Alice and Silver to head over to the table as well. Tentatively Alice followed, not so sure she was ready for bad news this early on. As she approached Alice noticed someone was missing.

"Where is Riley?" She asked curiously. This was met with uncertain glances before finally Morty answered her question.

"Master Riley left the house not long ago. He's gone to ask some questions around town."

"Questions?" Alice repeated, baffled by the idea. He was born here and knew everyone so she had no doubt that he'd get his answers but what questions could he possibly have?

"You'd best have a look at this, it may answer your questions." Volkner murmured, his gaze not lifting from the sheet of paper between them. Finally Alice got to the table and was able to look at what had caused all the fuss. Needless to say it hit her pretty hard.

Sitting on the table was a large flyer that had a very familiar looking insignia on the front. The large silver 'P' struck Alice to her core. "Plasma…?" Breathing the name of the organisation, Alice continued to stare, bewildered by what she was saying.

"What?" Silver hissed, moving past Alice to had a good look himself. His eyes raked over the flyer a few times before a string of colourful words left his mouth. "Those bastards are playing at politics again!"

"Brainwashing more like it." Zinnia droned with a frown. "Ghetsis has a way with words from what I heard."

"That he certainly does." Steven sighed thoughtfully. "To think they've gotten a foothold in this world already, they didn't waste any time."

Alice was in shock and couldn't speak, unable to speak she continued to read the flyer. While the most striking thing was the large 'P' there was also text. It looked like a promotional flyer, the type that showed up not long before an election and it also looked a bit like a recruitment add.

"Do you think Ghetsis is trying to gain control here? Without force? That's a little strange for him." Volkner noted.

"Not necessarily, he originally tried the diplomatic solution back home as well." Emmet piped up.

"But ultimately that failed due to the champion." Ingo finished. "He lost his key piece in the game, N." Alice glanced up when she heard that. They were talking about Touko and N, Ghetsis almost had his way but Touko had beaten N and reached his heart – so Ghetsis moved to more violent means.

"I'd say it's safe to assume he will do the same thing here." Steven murmured with a frown. "Unless he's threatened or feels he's in the loosing lane – he'll stick to underhanded politics to get his way. That's both comforting and troubling."

"Both?" Silver asked indigently. "Which is it, good or bad?"

"_Both_." Alice stressed the word as she found her tongue. "As long as he keeps playing with politics, no one needs to get hurt. If he gets nervous he'll get violent and then people start dying again." Alice didn't particularly feel like having any more blood on her hands.

"So what's our solution?" Silver asked, at least not getting to snippy with Alice this time.

"We keep in the shadows." Morty answered calmly. "Keep ourselves hidden and makes sure we're not discovered."

"How are we meant to do anything while hiding?" Silver asked, exhausted by the idea alone.

"Ghetsis has moved while hiding and gotten this far." Volkner calmly reasoned.

"Yeah, sure, but it took him five years." Zinnia cut in. "We don't have five years."

Gradually their discussion turned more and more into an argument but Alice had stopped listening. Instead she'd left the table and started to rummage around in the cupboard under the television. Emmet was the first to notice and curiously inched towards her.

"What are you looking for?" He asked with what sounded like genuine interest.

"Remote." Alice answered shortly, the sounds of the other's beginning to argue escalating. "If there's anything else we need to know, the best place to start is with the news."

"I don't suppose we could watch some cartoons as well?" Emmet asked innocently, getting a heavy sigh from Alice. She might have snapped at him but in that same moment she'd discovered the remote and barked in victory.

"Got ya! Alright let's see here…oh god why are there so many buttons?" Alice never was very good with figuring out her television set up and five years did tend to make her a little rusty. It took some fiddling with both remote and the TV set but finally it flashed into life.

With the light came sound and very quickly their argument stopped as all heads turned towards the television screen. Alice continued to fiddle with the remote until she found a familiar channel – at least that hadn't changed over the years.

"Oh!" Emmet smiled brightly. "Look, look, they're talking politics. Alice your timing is great!"

"Don't be stupid, I'm not lucky – this is the channel all for politics. The most luck we got is that it's not localised." With that Alice watched the screen, not recognising many faces anymore. Five years and the old politicians had changed – she could pretend to care about that later.

"And now, we'll go over the Sarah who's covering the speech that is to be presented to parliament tonight. Sarah what's the feeling over there?" One reported passed over to their correspondent who seemed to be standing outside of the hall where this speech was to be held.

"Well John, everyone is very excited. After the last controversial speech held here people are beginning to think maybe a shift in party leadership is needed." Alice was getting bored already but still she listened and read the little line of information down the bottom of the screen. Maybe she could find something useful for them.

"Apparently people are starting to call our rising star the prince. It's not often someone gets a nickname like that in parliament." The presenter, Sarah, laughed. Well usually their nicknames were all vulgar and maybe prince could be a jab at selfishness or something but as far as nicknames in politics went – it wasn't bad. Just lame.

"I'm looking forward to the presentation tonight John and it looks like a lot more people will be tuning in after last time."

"Jeez." Alice complained out loud. "They go on about all this but they're not actually telling us anything."

"You have no patience." Silver told her harshly.

"You're on to talk." Alice growled back, an argument starting to form.

"Hush!" Steven cut across them, again stopping a potential fist fight. "They're going to the speech now."

Alice settled back down in front of the television but was still bored. Now they'd have to sit through some boring speech. Maybe she could search more news channels to find something else useful.

"I'll just look for something better." Alice announced leaning over to grab the remote and just as she pointed it as the screen Zinnia jumped up in alarm.

"Wait, wait! Ali, don't change it!" She all but shouted, making Alice cringe and glance back at her.

"What's the deal Zinnia? When did you get into politics?" She was joking but Zinnia's expression didn't become any less urgent. "Hey, what's wron-?"

"Look!" Zinnia pointed at the screen, directing Alice's attention back to the glowing box and when she saw what had Zinnia so riled up – she dropped the remote. The batteries popped out of the back as it hit the floor with a loud clatter but Alice didn't turn to gather it back up. Her eyes were firmly trained on the screen, on the familiar gently smiling face behind the glass.

"N…?" Alice breathed the named in shock.

What the hell was N doing on her television? What the hell was N doing in parliament?  
>What the <em>hell<em> was N doing?

…

…

Author: "Don't say it!" *Raises a hand to shut Alice up before she can start yapping on about the wait.* "Just, don't say it."

Zinnia: "You're laaates." *Whispers.*

Author: "HEY!" *Turns to hit Zinnia but she's run off.*

Emmet: "You're slooow." *Whispers*

Author: "I swear to Christ you two…" *Seething, seething.*

Emmet and Zinnia: "_Slooooow. Review whore._"

Author: "ARG! That's it, you're both getting so much crap in the next chapter!" *Rages.*

N: "Uh…Author….P-Please…" *Reaches out to try and calm her…but it's no good – she's off breaking things again.* "I didn't even get to apologise…." *Sad N is sad.*


End file.
