BY THE TIME I MADE my way to Professor Juniper's laboratory, Bianca's business at home was settled, and she was standing with Cheren, that distant look still on her face.

"Hey, you're here," Cheren noted as I arrived. "Why'd your mom keep you home?" He paused, and then added, "Are you okay?"

"Y--yeah, I'm fine," I stammered, still not recovered from my fearful experience at home. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you look pretty shaken up," he answered, gesturing to my hands, which trembled lightly in the aftermath of blood work.

"That guy was my doctor. Apparently they had to make sure I was in good enough health to go on a journey so he took some of my blood."

"Why?" Cheren asked, which was exactly what I didn't want him to say. Cheren's constant yearning for knowledge inconvenienced me far too much.

"There's this disease that runs in my family," I answered, trying to make my words sound as true as possible. "They wanted to check to see if anything had changed since the last time I was tested for it." Judging by the understanding look on his face, my words were believable enough.

"Wow, I never knew that about you," Cheren commented with interest. He considered this new knowledge for a moment, before coming to his senses, remembering the reason for us being here. "...Well, let's go meet the professor." I stepped forward first, and the automatic door slid open in front of me. I entered the laboratory with my friends behind me.

Professor Juniper stood patiently in the middle of the large room, having been awaiting our arrival. "Hi! I've been waiting for you kids!" she exclaimed. "Now, let me introduce myself--"

"You don't need to introduce yourself. We've known you our entire lives," Cheren interrupted. He had never perfected the skill of being quiet when the situation permitted.

"This is a special day. I want to give you all the same treatment I give the new trainers that I've never met. That being said, my name is Professor Juniper, and I am researching when and how the creatures called Pokémon came into existence." She then proceeded to scan all of us, looking particularly long at my Oshawott, who was on the ground beside me. "Oh! That's unusual... You've already had a Pokémon battle! So maybe that's why... It feels like your Pokémon have already begun to trust you!" She looked excited as she said this, then added, "Oh, by the way, would you like to give your Pokémon a nickname?"

Cheren and Bianca both shook their head, briefly explaining that they liked their Pokémon's names already. Then it was my turn to speak. "I haven't thought about it... I'll nickname him when something comes to me."

Professor Juniper looked pleased, then continued on with her monologue. "Okay, and as for the Pokémon I gave you..."

Cheren sure was on a roll today. "It's for the Pokédex, right?"

While I, like Cheren, already knew about the Pokédex, Bianca did not. "A Pokédex?" she questioned, her eyes wide with wonder.

"I am astonished. Nice work Cheren!" Professor Juniper complimented. "You have already studied Pokémon extensively, Cheren, haven't you?" Cheren nodded cockily in response. "Still, let me explain it for everyone else's sake."

It took everything I had not to burst through my wall of calmness and scream that he wasn't the only one who knew that, but this was Cheren's thing. Just like Bianca's thing was always looking good. You don't try to steer someone away from what they were meant to do.

I don't even know what my thing is.

"The Pokédex is an electronic device we have produced that is meant to automatically record the data of a Pokémon you encounter on your journey. Therefore, the more places you visit, the more Pokémon you'll meet, and the more Pokémon you meet, the more research we get. So my request is simple. Touko! Bianca! Cheren! Will the three of you go on an adventure and work to complete the Pokédex?"

We all agreed happily. I mean, why would anyone ever say no to such a win-win situation?

"This is great!" Professor Juniper exclaimed. "Take these Pokédexes!" She walked along the line we had formed, handing them to all three of us. "Now, if you'll meet me on Route 1, I will continue my explanation." She grinned at all of us, then left the laboratory.

I was practically bouncing with excitement, so I didn't hesitate to get out of there. I rushed directly outside, prepared to sprint towards Route 1, but there was my mom, standing in front of the lab, stopping me.

"Hey, Touko! Wait up!" Bianca called, hurrying after me from inside the lab, but stopping right when she saw my mom. Cheren did the same.

"Oh, there you are... What did the Professor say?" Mom asked, as Oshawott caught up and motioned to get on my shoulder. I picked him up and placed him there, and Cheren and Bianca had already taken over explaining.

"She asked you to complete the Pokédex?! You kids should be super excited. It's rare that she gives those out. I would know, because she told me earlier." She flashed a grin, and they laughed. I was only slightly amused, more so from wondering if they were laughing because they felt bad for her than actually thinking she was funny.

"I wanted to give you all gifts before you leave. I think they'll really help you on your journey." Mom reached into her pocket and pulled out three large folded up papers, then handed one to each of us.

"Th--thank you so much!" Bianca said nervously, and they both stuffed their noses into it curiously. I had seen a million of them before. This was Mom's job. She was an artistic cartographer, which meant she drew, sold, and made art out of maps. I had a map of Unova hanging in my room. I was used to this.

"And Touko," Mom continued. "As for your room, or what's left of it... I'll tidy it up for you. No need to worry. Okay?"

I smiled wryly at her, feeling genuine homesickness flood into my brain already. I was starting to realize I wouldn't be seeing my mom every day when I woke up in the morning. "Okay."

"Your Pokémon are all strong. They managed to destroy your room, and if that doesn't tell you that you have bright futures ahead of you, I don't know what will. I expected to be stressing out about you all leaving, but I know you'll have your new partners by your side to help you and keep you safe. And I'll tell your parents that too so they know not to worry. I wish you all the best." By now, she had tears in her eyes, and she was looking at me thoughtfully. "I hope your journeys are wonderful, and you have a great time!" She then proceeded to place kisses on Bianca and Cheren's foreheads, and then moved on to me. She threw her arms around me, sobbing silently, trembling, and it took everything to keep the tears from falling from my face. I had no idea when I would see her again, but I was going to savor this moment for as long as possible.

She gave me a long kiss on my forehead that was loving and reassuring. "I'm sorry, kids," she said as she pulled away from me. "I didn't mean to get all emotional. I just--"

"It's okay, Mom," I assured her. "I love you."

She put her hand on her heart, closing her eyes. "I love you too, Touko."

I gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then forced myself away from her, towards Route 1. It was when I was just a few steps away when Bianca grabbed onto my hand, pulling so hard that it both halted and hurt me.

"What?" I asked, massaging my shoulder, which felt terrible now.

"Bianca says if we're starting our journey together, she wants us all to take our first steps at the same time," Cheren explained.

The idea sounded sentimental and beautiful, and I wouldn't dare say no to such a thing. "Okay," I agreed, and we formed a line together.

"Let's all take our first steps on Route 1 together!" Bianca cheered, grabbing my hands, so I grabbed onto Cheren too, since I was in the middle. On the count of three, we made our first steps, together, onto Route 1. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest, and I could tell that the same went for the two of them based on the euphoric expressions on their faces.

"Oh! I wonder what will happen! Isn't this so exciting?!" Bianca cheered, as if this was any different than just seconds ago. It definitely felt different, but if I looked behind me, I could see where we were standing right before this moment. It felt more surreal than exciting. I half expected to wake up at any second, but the feeling of Oshawott laying sleepily on my shoulder was unmistakably real.

"It sure is!" Cheren agreed. "C'mon, the professor's waiting." We looked up only to see Professor Juniper watching our moment unfold from up ahead, right next to the tall grass. We hurried over, and Cheren immediately began to apologize for keeping her waiting, as always.

"That's quite alright," the professor said with a smile. "Now that everyone's here, I'll explain. The Pokédex's pages update automatically whenever you meet a Pokémon! Plus, it's set up so that you obtain even more information from the Internet when you catch one!" She looked so enthusiastic that it carried on to all of us as she added, "To make this even more clear, I'm going to demonstrate how to catch a Pokémon!" She turned around and stepped into the grass, where a Pokémon appeared almost immediately. Out came a Patrat, which stared at all of us curiously with its beady eyes.

Oshawott was fully awake now, no longer in his little trance between awake and asleep, and he was watching with curiosity as Professor Juniper sent out a Minccino to battle it. She commanded it to use Pound, so the chinchilla Pokémon scurried towards its opponent and gave it a harsh slap, making the Patrat fly backwards, severely damaged already. That Minccino was really strong, and Oshawott could easily tell that. Professor Juniper was already prepared to make an attempt at catching it, so she threw a Pokéball at it, which shook three times and then clicked in defeat. The Patrat was caught.

Professor Juniper neared the ball and picked it up. She gestured to it, then said, "This is how you do it step by step. First, reduce the Pokémon's HP. If you can, use your Pokémon's moves to make your foe asleep or paralyzed. They have trouble fighting back if they have a status effect. And to wrap this up for all of you, as my gift to you, here are some Pokéballs!" She opened her bag and gave all three of us five Pokéballs each to use ourselves in the future. "Okay, I'll be going ahead kids. I'll meet you in Accumula Town. Goodbye!" She turned around and walked through all of the tall grass quickly and without interruption.

"She forgot to say so many things," Cheren sighs. "Like that Pokémon jump out of tall grass."

"Don't worry about it Cheren. We already know that anyway," I told him. Bianca nodded beside me.

"Okay, well I'm going to take off," Cheren said, turning and beginning to walk.

"Wait!" Bianca shouted, stopping both of us in our tracks. "Listen guys. I thought of something fun! Let's compete to see who can catch the most Pokémon! The person at the end of the route who has the most Pokémon, including the one Professor Juniper gave us, is the winner!"

"That actually sounds interesting," Cheren said. "It'll help to fill up the Pokédex pages, so I'm sure Professor Juniper wouldn't mind."

"Me and Tepig will do the best! I'm sure!" Bianca chimed.

Bianca and Cheren both began to sprint farther into the route to get a head-start, leaving me slightly behind. Not that I minded. Oshawott and I could bond until we made it to Accumula Town.

Oshawott hopped off of my shoulder. "Osha--Osha!"

"You looked super excited when you watched the battle," I joked. Oshawott just shrugged, embarrassed for getting caught. "Don't worry about it. It was pretty amazing to watch. I hope that we can train up and become strong like them someday."

Oshawott nodded his head excitedly, then started running into the tall grass. I followed him, feeling giddy and new as I stared out at all of the possibilities with my partner at my side.

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

The sun was starting to set, out of sight behind the trees. I could already see the night creeping up from the other side of the sky.

"We should probably make camp," I suggested. Oshawott nodded. We had put in a lot of work, and gained quite a few levels, but it was time to settle down. We could continue in the morning.

I pulled out the supplies my mom packed for me while I was freaking out about taking blood, and began to put together a tent. I wasn't very good at it, since we hadn't gone camping in years, so I was completely confused, trying to understand everything while the light was fading away.

"Need some help?" asked a voice coming from behind, causing me to jump into air from fear. I flicked my head around only to see Looker standing before me.

"I'm sorry for startling you, but I have good news," he said.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to pull myself together and slow my heart rate.

"The results came back."

"Wow, that was fast," I commented.

"Yes, it's very easy to find the gene. It is very unique from all of the others. And we found it."

I took a step back. "Really?"

"So, I have to ask, are you okay with being given the serum?" Looker questioned.

"Yeah, of course I--" I began, but I was interrupted by Looker abruptly leaping on top me, nailing me to the ground. I yelped in fear, and he pulled something out of his coat pocket, and wiped something wet against the inside of my elbow.

"Get off of me! What are you doing!" I cried out desperately, trying to throw my arms around to get him but he had me in a vice grip.

I realized what was happening a moment too late, because he was already shoving a needle into my arm. I shrieked in pain, and I could feel as the serum entered me. It had a powdery quality to it, and it was already spreading, slowly but surely, up and down my arm, soon to be the rest of my body. It was taking me over, and it'd undoubtedly engulf me within a few minutes, tops.

"I had to do it before you could freak out," he explained as he pushed himself off of me. "You would have made a big deal about it, and we needed to do it now for our plans to work properly."

My arm felt heavy, and it was almost completely unresponsive when I tried to move it. It honestly felt like that part of my body was asleep. And not pins-and-needles asleep. Actually asleep, not awake.

I pushed myself up with one arm, my other one completely limp.

Looker had packed my tent in an near-impossible speed, and helped get my backpack on my shoulders. He had even put Oshawott into his Pokéball and placed it on my belt. My left shoulder, which the serum had taken up all of, slumped lazily, and that feeling was spreading the more I stayed still.

"Go," Looker said. "Outrun it."

He didn't have to tell me twice. I was running as if my life depended on it, and I couldn't yet tell if it did or not. My other arm was starting to show the effects of the serum, and it took all of my willpower to keep from losing control of it. Then came my legs. I felt like I was running upstream. The force I was putting in was unbelievable, more than I've ever used to run in my entire life, but I was getting almost nothing out of it.

Then I could hear voices. Familiar voices.

"Cheren! Bianca!" I screamed into the night. "Help!"

I collapsed completely, both from exhaustion, and the inability to move my legs at all anymore. Blurry figures began to make their way into my sight, which I could only assume to be Cheren and Bianca. The world was spinning so much that I felt tempted to close my eyes, but I refused, not yet giving in.

"Are you okay? Touko! What happened?!" one of them said.

"Help," I croaked out. And then, my fighting was rendered useless, because the serum engulfed me completely.

It felt like it hadn't even been a second, when a voice creeped into my head. "Naturallllllll," it whispered to my brain. "Naturalllll." The voice snaked its way into every corner of my mind, engulfing my every thought. It was both eerie and relieving. Eerie because I had no idea what it meant. It could mean that something was becoming natural, it could be referencing something in nature, or it could be telling me to act natural. There were so many possibilities. But at the same time, it was relieving to hear the word, because it made me feel whole, and calm, and okay, even though I was aware that I was very much unconscious and that a man had just stuffed a needle containing a strange substance into my arm. I was relieved, because it felt naturalllll.

Naturallllllll.

Eventually, the unidentified voice in my head had merged with my own, and I could hear myself saying it too. I couldn't tell how long I was doing it, but eventually, the unexplainable urge to say it was gone and my eyes began to open.

The bright light above me hurt my eyes enormously, and I quickly threw my hand in front of my face to get it away. A second later, it clicked in my brain that I had full control of not just my arms, but my entire body. I began to move around, testing the waters. I felt just like I did before Looker even gave me the serum.

Squinting my eyes against the light, I pushed myself up and out of bed. My eyes began to adjust and it soon had hit me that I had no idea where I was. I was surrounded by the unknown. It appeared to be a hotel room of some sort, and I tiptoed out of there and into an even larger room, with two familiar faces sitting on the couch.

"Bianca, don't worry. He was just scared about his little girl leaving him," Cheren was telling her, and I desperately wanted to know what the conversation was about.

"But I don't think he was," Bianca sighed. "I think he really just didn't want me to go on a journey."

"Bianca, you don't understand--" Cheren tried, even reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder, but Bianca cut him off, jumping off of the couch. "He doesn't care about me!" But then she turned around and saw me standing there. "Touko!" she gasped in surprise.

"Who do you think doesn't care about you?" I asked simply, staring at her.

"But--you were asleep..." Bianca whispered in disbelief.

"Bianca. Who do you think doesn't care about you?" I snapped.

"My dad," she answered quietly. "He doesn't want me going on this journey..." She looked ashamed, probably because I had caught her in such a fit of discontent that she normally liked to keep private.

"Do you see what's wrong with that?" I stated simply. "The man who has been there beside you your whole life, always telling you that he would love you no matter what, who swore that you would be his little girl as long as he lived?"

"I--I--" Bianca stammered.

"He's being overprotective, yes. I'm sure even he can admit that," I said. "But to say he doesn't care about you...Bianca, that's just crazy. If anything, that means he cares about you even more."

"He has a funny way of showing it," she muttered so quietly that Cheren couldn't hear it, but I felt that my sense of hearing was modified in the serum. I gave her a look of disapproval.

She winced a little, but nodded. "Okay...so you're awake?" She wanted to change the topic as soon as possible, so I didn't press for more information.

"Yes," I said. "What time is it? How long was I out?" I looked around for a clock, but immediately stopped when Cheren answered.

"Almost three days."

I stared in disbelief at them. "What?"

"You passed out as soon as you got to us, so we brought you to Accumula Town to see a doctor. She said that they couldn't help you unless you weren't swallowing food or drinks, so we gave you some apple sauce and you swallowed it easily. So they told us that we could take you back if it had been three days and you were still asleep." Cheren turned to the clock, and quickly did the math. "It's been two days and fifteen hours."

It was hard to believe that it had been all that time, because I felt perfectly fine. My muscles weren't sore from staying in the same position, my voice wasn't hoarse from lack of use. I would have thought they were kidding had they not acted so freaked out when I came out of the room.

"You picked a bad time to wake up too," Bianca joked lightly. "We were just about to meet up with Professor Juniper. She even told us that whether you woke up or not, she didn't want you there because she wanted you to rest. You know, what with your disease and everything."

"Disease?" I questioned.

"Yeah, isn't that why you fainted?" Cheren asked.

I suddenly remembered what I told him when Looker took my blood in the first place. That excuse was coming back to bite me in the butt.

"Well, yes. But my doctor showed up and told me just to make sure he was going to give me a shot to keep me from having any episodes that the disease causes. A side effect of the drug was fainting, so I think it was just the medicine that made that happen. I feel much better now."

"Oh, well that's good," Cheren said with a shrug. "Make sure you get some rest while we're gone though."

"Okay..." I sighed. I didn't want to rest. I felt awake and alive, and I wasn't going to sleep any time soon, but I knew I shouldn't tell them that.

Bianca stood up and grabbed her bag. "We'll be back as soon as possible. Okay?"

"Okay," I said. They bade me farewell, and then left me alone. I sprawled out on the couch, and realized there was a Pokéball on the coffee table. I could tell it was Oshawott's, so I turned on the TV and let him out.

He looked excited to see me. "Yep, I'm awake," I told him.

"Thank goodness, I was really worried about you."

I stopped in my tracks, already turning off the TV when I just turned it on.

"Touko...?"

I slowly turned my head toward my Pokémon, who was looking at me with a mixture of shock and excitement on his face.

"Can you understand me?"

My hands were over my mouth, and I had tears of joy in my eyes. Slowly, I nodded my head. "The serum worked," I murmured to myself.

Oshawott hopped onto the couch with me, and climbed onto my shoulder. He leaned against my head, snuggling against me, and we stayed there for an hour, at least, because Oshawott had fallen asleep against me. When the hour was up, and I still couldn't sleep since my thoughts were pounding in my head the whole time, I gently shook him awake, and he groggily opened his eyes.

"Morning," I told him. "At four in the afternoon."

He laughed a little, but it was obviously tired on his part.

I brushed my hair out of my face and plopped Oshawott down in my lap. "This is going to take a lot of getting used to."

His face lit up a little, remembering. "Yeah..."

I took a deep breath. "Oshawott... This is all so crazy to me. I need help from you to make it easier."

"Of course," he agreed. "And call me Milo, by the way."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Milo?"

"Yeah. Milo," he repeated.

"Why Milo?"

"Because I like the name," he explained simply. "And
as the first Pokémon in existence who can tell their partner what they want their nickname to be, I reserve the right to take advantage of it."

"Okay, Milo it is," I laughed. Then there was a knock at the door, and we both turned around.

"Must be housekeeping," I guessed, and Oshawott—Milo—moved away from me so that I could get up. I walked to the door and opened it. I wasn't even surprised to see Looker there.

"Milo?" I called. "I think it's safe to say it's not housekeeping."

"Hello, Touko," he greeted me, stepping in before I even invited him. I closed the door behind him. "It's good to see you up and about."

"Yeah, no thanks to you," I snapped.

"I apologize," Looker said, although he didn't look sorry at all. "I knew that you would put up a fight, and I needed you to wake up in time to begin your first mission."

I stopped acting rude immediately. "First mission?" I repeated.

Milo perked up, and I could hear him moving on the couch. When I turned around, he was peering over the couch curiously.

"Yes," Looker said. "I assume everything went well."

"Aside from being injected with a strange liquid and held comatose for nearly three days, yes." I could hear Milo chuckle behind me.

"Perfect," Looker said with an excited smile, ignoring everything I said except for 'yes'. "Well, get comfortable. Here is your mission." He took a seat at the dining room table, but I stayed standing.

"The plan is for you to allegedly join an evil organization called Team Plasma and disband it. Their goal is to liberate people and Pokémon. They believe humans are using Pokémon as slaves."

"That's crazy," Milo muttered. I just stayed silent, waiting for more instructions.

"They recently crowned a king to be a representative for their work. He wishes to be kept a secret, so no one knows who he is. However, we managed to hack into their files. His name is N, and he is traveling alongside them, but separately, spreading the ideas of their organization."

"Okay, so what do I do to get in?" I asked.

"You find him. He's around your age, and is working to remain anonymous. But he'll be wherever Team Plasma is." He took a deep breath, then added, "And by the way, Team Plasma is about to gather in the middle of town to spread the word about themselves, so I suggest running."

I jumped out of my chair, and grabbed my backpack and a room key. When I turned around, Looker was gone.

I didn't dwell on that too long. "Come on, Milo," I said, motioning for him to move. He jumped into my arms, then climbed up my shoulder. I was running now, making note of where the room was in the building, and where the lobby was based on the signs throughout the halls. We were in Room 112, so I didn't have to go down any floors.

As soon as I was out of the Pokémon Center, it was easy to see the group cluttered around a little hill, where a large group of people wearing clothes that resembled knights stood. Alongside them was one man with green hair, bearing an ancient-looking cape, and a glass eye.

I found a spot next to Cheren, who looked confused at the men standing before him.

"What's going on?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, hey Touko," he greeted me. "Some group called Team Plasma said they wanted to talk to as many people as possible. I figured I'd find out what it was about."

"Where's Bianca?" I asked.

"Shopping. I ditched her as soon as Professor Juniper left."

Milo and I both chuckled a little, and then the man began to talk. "My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokémon liberation." It took everything I could not to flinch at the statement. It sounded so horrid.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokémon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However... Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans...only assume that this is the truth?" He had a point. He had enough of a point that I looked to Milo for reassurance that I was right, who just rolled his eyes at my fear.

"Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers... They get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"

I couldn't. But Milo could. He was taking deep breaths to keep from shouting at the man called Ghetsis.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokémon?"

Everyone began to whisper to each other in fear and confusion, trying to understand Team Plasma's ideas.

"That's right! We must liberate the Pokémon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokémon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."

The knight men walked into a formation around Ghetsis, and left the scene. With that, most of the crowd scattered, aside from me, Cheren, and another guy who looked like he was deep in thought.

"Well, that's gonna be a tough group to join," Milo chuckled slightly, but he looked a bit freaked out, possibly because their words were convincing enough to scare everyone in the crowd, including me.

As soon as Milo said that, the boy standing a little ways away from us looked up and headed over to us.

"Your Pokémon..." he said in a smooth voice. "Just now...it was saying..."

I stared at the boy in shock, but Cheren ruined the moment, interrupting me before I could say anything. "Slow down. You talk too fast," he snapped, when in fact he was talking at a perfect speed, just with words Cheren would never understand. "And what's this about Pokémon...talking? That's an odd thing to say."

Milo snorted.

"Cheren, I'll meet you in the room. Can you start on dinner, please?"

"Uh--yeah...sure." He left the boy and I alone, giving me a weird look as he left us alone and walked to the Pokémon Center.

"I guess the two of you can't hear it either. How sad."

"Hear Pokémon talking?" I asked. His forlorn expression turned to curiosity, and he lifted his head up to show off his grey-blue eyes beneath his hat.

"You..." he murmured in disbelief.

"I hear it too."

"Y--you do?" the boy asked.

"She does," Milo added with a smirk on his face.

The boy looked completely delighted, and I could say the same for me. I wasn't alone. I wasn't the only person in the world who could hear Pokémon's voices.

"What's your name?" the boy asked, smiling at me elatedly.

"Touko," I introduced myself, shaking his outstretched hand.

"I'm N," the boy said, and I could feel surprise rush through me. N wasn't exactly a common name, even as a nickname. This had to be the same N that Looker told me about. What a small world.

"Well, this is Milo," I said, gesturing to my shoulder, but I could tell the shock of finding my target hadn't left me completely.

"What's wrong?" N asked me.

"Your name just reminded me of something," I said, but immediately realized I would need more explanation unless I wanted to explain my life story because of this. "I'm not sure what. I think I've heard it before somewhere."

"Well, okay," N said awkwardly. "Milo, what did you mean before with the Team Plasma thing?"

"Do you want to tell the truth?" Milo asked. I would have started screaming at him, but I could tell he had a plan, which I fed off of.

"The truth?" N asked.

"Okay, fine," I sighed, playing along. "I'll only tell you because it appears it was fate that had us meet...I've been thinking of joining Team Plasma."

"Really?" he questioned with obvious excitement.

"Yeah, it might sound a little crazy, but..."

"It's not at all! I think I could pull a few strings for you to get in," N suggested. Everything was going perfectly.

"Whoa, that'd be great!" I exclaimed. "How could you do that though?"

"Promise you'll keep this a secret?"

"Of course! I'm not messing with fate."

"I'm the king of Team Plasma," he whispered into my ear.

I fake gasped. "What?! Really?!"

"Yeah. I'll put in a word with Ghetsis. That's the guy who was on stage, in case you didn't know."

"That'd be so great! Could you please?"

"Yeah, sure. Meet me in the Dreamyard by Striaton City the day after tomorrow. At sunset, maybe? I'll tell you if you're in or not there. I should be able to get in touch with Ghetsis by then."

"Thank you so much for doing this N!" I exclaimed, and I was honestly grateful, because he was making my first job a piece of cake.

"It's no problem at all. I've never met anyone else who can understand Pokémon. I thought I was the only one."

"Me too..." I said with a sigh. "See you at the Dreamyard."

"The day after tomorrow," N repeated.

"At sunset," I finished with a grin on my face.

N walked away, waving goodbye to me. Eventually, he was out of sight, and I chose that time to state my opinion to Milo. "That was both the most amazing and gullible guy I have ever met."

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

Dedicated to Milo, the sweetest, most loving, most compassionate dog the world has ever seen. Rest in peace, boy. And live on in our hearts.

1/6/20