~~~Five day's later~~~
~Jessica's pov~

Staring at my reflection in a spoon before throwing a sideways glance as Jake who was sitting next to me. "Thanks for tagging along with me, both of you..." I looked over to Samurai sitting across the booth on a diagonal before looking out at the diner window, watching the heavy rainfall.

"As long as nobody is attempting to kidnap me again, it's no problem." He replied looking over the menu.

Samurai shrugged with a yawn. ~I'm curious as to how much of a threat you sister will be in the future, nothing more unless is gets violent.~ He replied. I felt a little guilty that Samurai was here with me and not with his ill trainer, hiding the guilt as I observed the bustling area we were seated. Paige had been almost completely unconscious since our escape, five days ago - three of which were in hospital where she was getting treatment for her injuries.

We were sitting in a small but very popular diner, all the tables were filled and a small line of people stood by the door, waiting to be seated - even in the pouring rain. The police station was also the next street over so this felt like the perfect place to have lunch and meet with my sister - who had been calling me non-stop since we escaped. I was nervous, to put it lightly. I owed my sister a lot, she did a lot to get me out of the house of my two drug addicted parents, she picked up a lot of slack my parents simply didn't want to take. I couldn't hate my sister, not after all her sacrifice for me. Besides, she had my Pokémon and I was beginning to get desperate for Megora's company.

The little bell above the diner's door rung as Nichole entered, pausing for a moment and observing the surroundings. She was wearing a tight-form fitting T-shirt, the slightly shimmery material drew the eye away from the bandage covering her arm. She wasn't wearing her trainer belt and it was the first time I'd seen her in skinny jeans. My sister held my backpack in one hand but other then that, her outfit was clearly chosen to show that she had come unarmed and that she posed little threat to us.

She came over to our booth, gently placing my bag in front of me before taking her seat next to Samurai. "Your Pokémon are in the front pocket. They were in my possession the whole time." Nichole promised as I checked  that my whole team were safely where they should be.

My sister remained quiet as a waitress stoped in front of our booth, smiling brightly. "Welcome to the Crystal Sabaleye if the whole party's here may I take your orders?" She asked.

"Yeah, 3 chocolate shakes, we're still deciding on food." Jake pipped up as he put aside the menu before anyone could turn her down. "Thanks." The waitress scribbled down the orders before prancing off with a smile. I could never work in place like this.

"I don't want anything." Nichole snapped, glaring at Jake as if to intimidate him.

"A diner like this, it would look disrespectful if we didn't order something, especially with a line of people wanting more then a seat." Jake explained as he gestured to the people waiting to be seated. "I'll pay if it's seriously that much of an issue."

Nicole pursed her lips but remained silent for a minute, her scowl never leaving her features. "So what's he doing here then?" Nodding her head to Samurai sitting next to him.

Samurai straightened up momentarily. ~To be blunt, nobody trusts you and I'm curious.~

"Don't you have your own trainer to defend?" She asked, glaring at Samurai harshly.

~I'm confident in Paige's safety with my sister,~ Samurai replied evenly. ~and if she's put in danger today, I'm going to blame you and cannot guarantee your head will stay attached to your shoulders if she comes to harm.~

My sister met Samurai's calmness with controlled hostility. "Are you threatening me?

With a slight chuckled, the shiny Gallade nodded. ~Yes, yes I am. Is there a problem with that? If there is, I don't mind stepping outside to remove your spine from you anus, after all, you did almost murder my trainer.~ Honestly, I was seriously impressed with the edge of intimidation that came with how calmly Samurai spoke although the sharpness of his tone stated well enough how much he meant what he said.

"Nichole, Samurai is here because I don't feel safe around you. Now, unless you called me 50-bajillion times just to give me back my Pokémon! I suggest you leave us alone." I snapped at my sister, not wanting Samurai to leave. "He's not exactly wrong."

My sister quietened as the waitress brought out three milkshakes and placed them in front of each of us. "So, have you three decided what you want to eat?" She asked, ignoring Samurai as he grunted from not being included - although people rarely included Pokémon in such interaction even those, like Samurai, who had more human manoriams.

Handing the waitress his menu, Jake placed his order. "I'll take a classic burger, extra beetroot and pineapple." He responded before looking over at me expectantly. I hadn't even looked at the menu.

"I'll have the same, without the extra." I mimicked, tucking a few loose strands of hair out of the way. "Samurai, do you want anything."

~No thank you.~ He responded nonchalantly.

Nichole's pause for a moment, glancing over the menu. "I'll just have a slice of Hawaiian pizza please."

The waitress took the menus with a smile before taking off back to the kitchens, Jake took his milkshake as started absently drinking it, I just kinda played with the straw before taking a small sip, even that was enough to prove why this diner was so popular.

"Whatever you want to know Jessica, I'll answer it, no secrets anymore." Nichole stated, straitening up as she took her own shake. "I want you to trust me, even if it is just a little..."

I paused for several seconds, taking a sip of my milkshake while I thought. "Well, tell me everything, how you of all people got stuck in this mess?"

"Starting off with the hardest question first..." Nichole sighed... pausing as she took a deep sip of her milkshake before sighing again. "Well, as you know, I left as soon as I turned 10, I went Unova where legal working ages are younger so I figured I'd be able to get a job and get you away from home. At first I struggled, until I found myself at a Team Plasma sign up campaign. It seemed harmless enough at first." Nichole paused, fiddling with her spoon before looking up at me, showing herself for who she was - the Nicholette I remembered and not the persona she'd donned for the months since we reunited. "Team Plasma didn't— it wasn't bad at first. It seemed to be a good organisation. Rescuing Pokémon from abusive trainers and such. We were the knights in shinning armour for these Pokémon, hence the old design. We were the good guys. When I joined, I explained the situation that I was in with you Jessica, I wanted to get you somewhere safe and the Sage who was hiring agreed to pay me enough for you to be sent to a boarding school, keep Mum and Dad off our backs and enough for myself. The offer seemed too good to be true... like most things it was..." Nichole looked down at the table again, watching herself fiddle with the spoon. "Are you following so far?"

"Yes." I replied evenly, looking over at Jake who was quietly paying attention. "But why did you do it felt it was too good to really be true?"

~May I interject?~ Samurai interrupted. ~I hatched at around the same time Team Plasma became public. Paige, Gardenia and I heard a lot when it came to the early stages of Team Plasma. The whole system and sign up was a set up to appear innocent and as if the organisation had good intentions from the begin. Helping those in dept and those in bad situations like you sister. No one who joined up knew what Team Plasma was, what Ghetsis was like.~ He explained. ~and as I know this is a question bound to come up, I doubt you sister knew when joining that Paige was locked up in the basement.~

Nichole paused but nodded. "Yeah, that sums it up pretty well. Yes, I only learnt of her shortly after joining. I was given the simple explanation all grunts got, don't hurt the kid or there will be consequences as she belonged to the King. So, like many grunts, I ignored her. I honestly didn't even know her name until I was sent to retrieve her but that jumping ahead a bit further then I'd like for the time being... Like many grunts, I did eventually figure out the... darker side of what Team Plasma did. I tried to quit and was brought before Ghetsis, at that point they had enough information on me to know exactly how to manipulate me. This was my first face to face encounter with the leader of the Sages and... I don't think it's something I can forget." My sister paused biting her lip momentarily. "As I'm sure you noticed, he's an intimidating person and has no respect for anyone but himself. I was given two options, leave and watch whatever family I have be tortured and killed before me or stay and serve... Jessica, I wanted to quit, I really really did, I just... I couldn't let him hurt you." My sister looked me in the eye, I didn't see the vulnerability I expected, but I saw saw the desperation, irritation, pain and exhaustion she hid. "I stayed and made my way up, I fought to be the strongest grunt, making my way up in hopes of figuring a way out. It became easier over the years, I kept to myself and stayed out of trouble, keeping as far away from Ghetsis as I could. It was okay... until I was sent to retrieve Paige. The mission wasn't meant to be as difficult as it turned out to be, I was told her Pokémon had no battle experience and that she was as submissive as a Skitty." Nichole paused, looking at me as if to make sure I was keeping up.

I glanced at Jake. "This is when you met Paige, yeah?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, Paige ended up in my in the town my uncles lives just before Milly and I set out on our Unova travels and tagged along." He explained, pausing as the waitress came over with our lunch. She silently placed each meal in front of us, double checking everything was in order before she left. "She only had Samurai and Gardenia back then."

"I've been meaning to ask, how did Paige get you?" I asked as my sister sighed and began to eater pizza  as the topic was detoured from her story.

Samurai looked out the window for a moment. ~Paige wasn't mentally coping with the loneliness. N only stayed with her about 2-6 hours in day and for a 7 year old, it's maddening - she was quite literally going insane - so N convinced Ghetsis to allow Paige to have two eggs to look after a raise and I honestly believe it is his single most biggest regret.~ He chuckled towards the end there. ~N had been training us since Ghetsis started forcing Paige to work so we could protect her, it was always N's end plan to get Paige out of there.~

Nichole cleared her throat boredly. "I can only disappear so long without someone coming to look for me." She said pointedly, finishing her pizza. "As far as I'm concerned, you three can discuss the runts life when I don't have to hear it."

"Do you have to call her a Runt? She's small but she's definitely not a Runt, it's dehumanising." I glared at my sister. I'd been bullied for years and been called all sorts of names, it wasn't really something that sat well with me

My sister sighed. "It's kinda the point. It's against human nature to want to hurt another human - generally anyway - it's not how our brains are hardwired. Ghetsis wants her dead, the less human I think her to be, the easier her inevitable death will be. There's a reason I tried to keep you away from their group, they're good people with the wrong enemies Jessica. After she ran away, I was sent to bring her back. Ghetsis believed she knew too much, even for a mute. Her friends and Pokémon proved very protective even if they weren't the best at battling. I managed to bring her back, Ghetsis... roughed her up a bit." Samurai snorted, glaring at her sideways.

~You did to I do believe, your Bisharp did the most damage.~ Samurai snorted, obvious tension growing between the two.

I looked between Samurai and Nichole's intense glared at each other. "What do you mean?"

~You know that scar that runs down her left arm? She has a similar one on her back too, Nichole had her Bisharp attack her. Paige almost died of blood loss.~ His solemn expression made me look to my sister for answers.

I looked at me sister for confirmation, she merely nodded. "Yes, my Bisharp caused the scars. If I didn't do it, Ghetsis would have and he wouldn't have been nearly as careful. I'd instructed Bisharp not to cut through any of the major blood vessels and the cuts from his blades were smooth enough to be stitched with ease. I know that you won't see it as an excuse, especially since I did temporarily kill her recently but.... I made the decision I thought was right. Anyone other then Ghetsis hurting someone is a more favourable outcome in any case. He won't hold back."

I balled my hands into fists but Samurai again interjected. ~Jessica, do you N as a good or a bad person?~

"Well... good I guess." I replied slightly taken aback by the shiny Pokémon's interruption. "I don't know him all that well."

~You know he's very protective over Paige right?~ Samurai continued, glancing outside momentarily as a flash of lightning burst through the clouds.

With a slight pause, I nodded my head. "Well, yeah. He seems to be."

~Now, could imagine a roll reversal here. If N was doing whatever it took to protect the one he views as his little sister, as his responsibility, would you view him any different - even if it meant hurting people.~

"I don't need you to defend my actions!" My sister snapped, she glared at the Pokémon. "You're a Pokémon, I doubt you even understand, just because you know telepathy doesn't mean you're any where near human capabilities."

~I don't claim too.~ Samurai shrugged. ~Though, let's be real, if we wanted to, Pokémon could easily take the world from humans. Most Psychic-Types have an IQ almost triple that of a human due to memory sharing. Can your species do that, pass ancestral memories on to kin Nicolette?~ I honestly didn't know this Pokémon was capable of being such a smart ass.

"Can you two please stop?" I sighed, I had a million questions I wanted to ask but I knew my time with my sister was running short.

Nichole sighed again, checking her watch. "One more question Jess." She said

"Well you know how Ghetsis, how he umm... ripped Paige's shirt and well... touched her and we all though he was gonna... well you know?" I didn't know how really to finish the sentence, Samurai firmed his expression while Jake paused from eating his burger, looking momentarily uncomfortably. I didn't need to finish my sentence, they all knew what I was talking about.

Nichole let out a deep breath, her expression softening ever so slightly. "Rape her?" She finished, her tone even and serious.

"Yeah... would have let him?"I asked softly, I couldn't even look my sister in the eye for the longest time, too afraid of the answer to dare.

Nichole paused, leaning back in her chair for several moments. I glanced at Jake in the silence but he was just staring at his almost empty plate - mine had hardly been touched. "Naturally, I'd like to say no. I've done a lot of bad things in the past few years but I've never supported the abuse of a females body, no matter how much I personally dislike them, but... Ghetsis has done it before... to people I knew and people I trusted. For all those people, I never spoke up a word against him. It's hard to say what I would have done out of instinct in the moment, it's definitely not something I'd want you to have to witness but I can't answer honestly because I honestly don't know."

Thinking over how carefully worded, how serious and even her tone was during her answer, I came up with my next question although it wasn't one I particularly wanted to ask. "Has he ever done it to you?"

Nichole visibly winced, only briefly but I caught it. "I'm not going to answer that..." She replied without any hint of the truth in her tone. "If I say no, you're going to think I'm lying in effort to save your feeling. If I say yes, you'll give me pity I don't need so I don't want worry about it." My sister tone still held no clue but I let it drop. She was right after all.

My sister slowly stood, dropping a few notes onto the table to pay for her meal. "I'm going to look after you Jessica, weather you want me to or not but if you want your friends to be safe, stay with them. I won't have any reason to turn them in if it puts you in danger. While I don't exactly show it right, I do care about you Jessie."

I didn't really know to respond, hanging my head and staring at my untouched meal.

Nichole sighed softly. "You can turn off your GPS locator on your phone, even though it was a condition of me buying it for you but if you leave it on, I can come to your aid much quicker should you desire it."

Dismissing the statement, I looked up at my sister, clutching the edges on my shorts. "What are you going to do now?

My sister looked away, staring absently into the rain. "I'm going to keep an eye on Team Plasma, I doubt you'd want to continue traveling with me and as long as you're in a group, I don't care who you travel with anymore. Ghetsis has something planned and with him believing I only care about the power and strength I get from the organisation, I'm in a position where I might be able to figure out what." She looked over at Jake before sliding a sideways glance at Samurai. "Whatever it is, it's bigger then Unova, that's for sure." That was all she said before turning on her heel and leaving without so much as a goodbye.

I didn't really know what to say, I just hung my head, deep in thought. Jake flagged down out waitress so we could pay for our meals as ask for a take away container for my untouched food. "Your total is 42.00, would you like to leave a tip?"

Jake shook his head, handing to waitress what Nichole had left behind and taking out his wallet to pay for the lot before I could say anything against it. The waitress handed him a styrofoam container for my meals, smiled and left to look after another table waiving her down. "Let's just get back to the hospital, Paige should be awake by now." He offered with a smile.

Samurai nodded but nothing more was said on the walk back through Lillycove City as we made our way back to the hospital Paige had been staying in.

~~~~~~🌺~~~~~~
Word count: 3392
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