Last time: A human child named Nero had woken up in an unknown place and had encountered three people who offered him a chance of a new life, Nero had taken this deal and was sent somewhere but was not the same as he was. Nero is now a Pokémon.

"I'VE BEEN TURNED INTO A POKÉMON?!" screamed Nero who was now a Pokémon, how could this have happened to him. He didn't know how or why he was now a Riolu. After what felt like hours of panicking he calmed himself down a little, then panicked for a quick second and back to calm. "Okay, this... this is all just a dream, yay!" Nero said as that was the only thing that would make sense to him. Nero walked to the nearest tree and readied to punch the tree and with full force, he hit the tree with a hard punch, a hard punch that may have broken some of his fingers and there was a loud snapping sound that could have been the bark of the tree breaking off from the punch or one of Nero's fingers, don't punch trees kids. Nero then let out another scream this one was of the pain he felt from the tree he just punched.

"Okay not a dream, NOT A DREAM!" Nero said realizing that he was not in a dream but rather he was a Pokémon now. How could this have happened to him and why? He then lays on his back on the grass looking up at the sky, it seemed to be around Noon, and Nero was just wondering what was going on. "You have woken up at the hidden Lake in Athena forest and been turned into a Pokémon, Nero." Said a voice that sounded young like it came from a little girl. Nero looked around but nothing. "Who said that? Show yourself! ... please." Said Nero who was a little freaked out, he didn't know what to do, what he was supposed to do, or what was going on, he looks like a pokémon now, how did this even happen to him? That was what was going through his head the most.

"In the lake, Nero, so I may help you." said the voice again. Nero was confused and needed answers so he did as he was told and walked to the lake and looked into the water. Seeing his own reflection all he could do is just reject the fact that he was an even when he couldn't and then he noticed something and an extra pair of eyes over his own that glow like a star in the sky. Nero's head felt like it was being crushed by something and got away from the lake then the crushing feeling was gone like it didn't happen when he looked back at the lake he heard the voice again. "Hello, Nero, I hope what I have given you will be most helpful for what is to come in your time being in this world." Said the voice again, where and who was it, that is what Nero wants to know.

"Who are you? Where are you? What did you do to me?" Nero asked the voice.

"I am a guardian, a guardian of knowledge. Where I am is that I am here and nowhere, I am seen but not seen. And for what I did to you is simple, I have given you knowledge of this world for you. That's all I can say to you Nero, I am sorry but you need to start this journey alone from here. I truly wish I could help you but I can not." said the voice sounding sympathetic like it truly wanted to help in any other way.

"Can you tell me why am I here?" Nero said, sounding concerned about why he was there. The voice stayed silent, and Nero waited for an answer. He waited for a little while more, the seconds of waiting turned into minutes then hours. The sun was now setting and Nero waited to get an answer from the voice and all he got was nothing. Nero then turned around and walked to the forest that the stone path leads but before he entered he turned back at the lake and said "Can you tell your name, please?"

"Uxie." Said the voice. Nero then entered the forest that the voice that he now knows as Uxie called Athena Forest. His mistake however was entering the first at night.

Location: Athena Forest

Nero walked through the forest suddenly regretting leaving when the sun was out of the sky. As Nero looked up at the night sky he wondered what he was supposed to do. Before he knew it Nero heard a noise, the noise of his stomach growling like a wild beast. He looked down at his stomach and realized that he hadn't eaten anything all-day, as he was thinking of looking for something to eat. Something fell on his head; it was an apple. Nero picked up the fruit and wondered where it came from as he was surrounded by oak trees, but none of them had any apples on them. He looked up and saw three squirrel-like Pokémon with grayish-brown color fur, with a large fluffy tail, which is dark-grayish-brown at the top. Nero knew what Pokémon it was, Skwovet. Nero thought they gave him the apple because he was hungry, like most Normal-Type Pokémon they were nice to others.

"Thanks for the apple," Nero said to the Skwovet politely.

"No problem, you looked hungry." Said the Skwovet in a squeaky voice. This made Nero stop what he was doing or even think. "We thought that you looked a little hungry and giving you one apple wouldn't hurt. You should head home soon too, there is a rumor that a Witch lives in these woods. So I wouldn't stay too long." Said the Skwovet that then left with the other two. All Nero could process was that those Pokémon can talk.

"Those Pokémon talked... THEY TALKED!?" Nero said he was confused, to him that wasn't normal then again turning into a Pokémon wasn't considered normal either. Nero then walked to a tree and sat down on the side of the tree looking up again, thinking if he made the right choice coming to this world. Nero came from a world of Pokémon, full of adventure and dreams, he thought that one day he would go out on his Pokémon journey only for that dream to be ruined by the "Caretaker".

Not too long ago Nero was facing the man who was known as the Caretaker of the orphanage he lived in and what he told him. "I'm sorry Nero, but due to you not having any parental guardian you can't become a Pokémon trainer. But don't be sad. You get to stay here~" Said the Caretaker with his voice not full of any sympathy for the boy but just pure joy as he said every word.

As the memory ended Nero snapped back into reality as he got back up and started eating the apple. "I don't know why I'm here but I know I am here now, I'm no longer just going to stay somewhere kept hidden from the eyes of others. I'm going to live my own life. You don't scare me anymore you creepy caretaker, I am Nero, I will live on my own way and make my path." Nero thought to himself as he finished the apple and as he took the one last bite of the fruit he heard an explosion not too far from him. The sound of the explosion nearly gave the boy a quick shock and made his heart skip a beat from how surprising the blast was, he wanted to run away from the sound but something caught his attention; he could see a blue light not that far that was telling him to follow.

As he was getting closer to the light Nero was now at the edge of a large clearing in the forest hiding in a bush to stay out of view, he saw a few Pokémon all over knocked out on the ground and only three standing all but one looked to be bug-like Pokémon one was a large spider-like Pokémon that had a red body and yellow and purple legs; This was the Pokémon Ariados the Long Leg Pokémon and the other bug Pokémon was a large bee with two large stingers for hands or something; This was a Beedrill the Poison Bee Pokémon. The only other Pokémon that wasn't a bug looked to be a feline-like Pokémon that stood on two legs, Its fur is mostly white with deep red, scar-like markings on the face, chest, and forepaws. It has two long, and black claws on its forepaws. It has pink eyes, long ears, and a small red nose. It was also carrying a brown satchel bag. This is a Zangoose the Cat Ferret Pokemon.

The Zangoose dashed at the Beedrill and slash the Bee Pokémon with its sharp claws forcing the Pokémon to get knocked back from the hit. "Why you- HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG?!" Said the Aridos with a tone of anger. "You're just one Pokémon and you took out an army of six Lv. 13 Beedrills and we haven't even hit you once."

"That's simple, You guys are just too easy to beat." Said the Zangoose in a cheerful tone as if to make fun of the bugs which only annoyed the Spider-like Pokémon. "You bandits have this coming, you stole from anyone who comes near here and you guys are 'Bugging' a family that lives in the forest." He said with a tone that sounded smudged making the Aridos angrier and almost made Nero chuckle as he did find that joke a little funny. The Aridos noticed one of the Beedrills on the ground. Its main stinger started to glow like it was charging an attack. Nero saw and noticed the Beedrill he wanted to warn the Zangoose about the attack, but if he did then the Bugs would see him and attack him and he didn't know how to defend himself in this new body of his. Nero noticed some small stones on the ground, he hoped that his throw was still as good now as when he was human. Nero picked up one of the small stone and ready to throw, he focused and threw the stone at the Beedrill and landed a hit on the Bee Pokémon's eye making the Beedrill flinched and he fired a beam of energy that missed the Zangoose and it had hit the other Beedrill taking it out from the attack.

"Alright, I got it!" Nero said with joy as he revealed himself, he then realized that he just revealed himself to everyone and the Beedrill he hit noticed him too and was furious at him. "Oh, man I'm stupid." Before the Beedrill could even move the Zangoose did a quick turn and threw something at the Beedrill that once came into contact with the bee Pokémon it had exploded taking out the Beedrill causing it to faint. The Aridos then took this moment and charged at the Zangoose and stung him on the arm with the stinger on its head while shouting "Poison Sting." It did little damage to the Zangoose.

"That was stupid, don't you know that us Zangooses are immune to poison." The Zangoose said as he slashed the Aridos in the face taking them out. "That was easy, hey thanks for the help kid." The Zangoose said walking up to Nero.

"D-did you kill them?" Nero asked.

"What? No, that's illegal, just knocked them out. They'll be getting back up soon so I have to capture them now." The Zangoose then grabbed something out of its satchel bag, the object he grabbed looked to be a badge that was round with twin wings on the side. It's the color bronze with a small light red pearl. The gem in the badge released a small light and shined on all the fainted Pokémon were surrounded by a blue light that formed a ring around them, once the light surrounded them the Pokémon started to glow red and in a moment they all disappeared. Nero looked confused, the Zangoose noticed this and told him. "If you've never seen a capture from a badge before, it sends Pokémon to a location where they are detained and then put on trial for their actions."

"That's cool, what is that badge?" Nero asked.

"What, you've never seen an Exploration Guild Badge before?" Said the Zangoose.

"Um... no."

"It's a badge that Explorers use to identify what guild they are a part of. It also can capture other Pokémon or let you contact other Explorers who you've teamed up with in-" said the Zangoose thinking that Nero understood only for Nero to give back a confusing look while he was talking. "Sigh look kid I don't have time to explain to you, why don't you just go home to your family."

"I... don't have a home," Nero said, looking down remembering that he didn't have anywhere to go, now that he thinks about where he would have to stay.

"Wait seriously! Are you Wild? Don't you have any family?" The Zangoose said, expecting an answer only to get silence from the Riolu boy. "Don't you have a mother?" Just more silence. "A father." Just more silence. "Brother?... Sister?" Just more silence. "A grandmother I can leave you with?" Just more silence, Nero didn't have anyone. The Zangoose looked like he didn't want to leave Nero, but he wanted to ask him a question. "Look kid, I don't know you but I want to know are you a Wild? You don't act like one, you talk normally and you didn't just attack me without warning or no reason, you even helped me too."

"Um ... no, I'm not a Wild. I used to live in an orphanage."

"An orphanage? Well, that's something, where is it? I can help you get back there."

"No!" Nero said quickly. "No, I- I don't know where it is anymore and I don't ever want to go back there." The Zangoose knew that Nero didn't want to go back for his own reason. He could tell that they were painful reasons. "Um, do you know where a safe place is?" Nero asked.

"I know a place where you can stay, my teacher lives in this forest and I don't think she'll mind you staying with her." The Zangoose then began to walk into the forest with Nero following behind him. "Oh, right. My name is Bianco by the way, Bianco the Zangoose and you?"

"Nero, Nero-" He paused for a second before continuing as now he knew what to call himself. "-The Riolu."

"Well, Nero, thanks for helping me earlier," Bianco said as they continued walking.

After some time of walking through the forest, both Nero and Bianco made it to a hut, it was in the shape of a smooth dome, made of wood, and had a circular door and two windows. There was a small path that led to the house, Both Nero and Bianco walked up to it and knocked on the door. When the door opened Nero saw another Pokémon, this Pokémon looked like a cat with purple fur. Its ears are large, and it has purple eyes with white pupils. There are tufts of fur near its eyes, and a small, red gem embedded in its forehead. It also had a pointy witch hat on its head. This is Espeon the Sun Pokémon.

"Hello, Bianco, you're late. I thought you'd be here earlier." Said the Espeon with a sweet almost motherly voice, the Espeon then noticed Nero. "Oh, and who is this young one following you, a friend?"

"Not really this kid threw a rock at a bandit that was going to shoot me from behind." Said Bianco as he then turned to Nero. "This is my teacher Apollonia."

"Oh, what did she teach you?" Asked Nero.

"Just some basic knowledge about guilds, town and city life, and some other things." Said Bianco.

"And how money works, the laws and how to follow them, how to cook, how to read and write -Those were the hardest to teach him really- Oh and did I mention proper manners." The Espeon said chiming in.

"Hey! Don't call me out like that!" Said Bianco.

The Espeon giggled a little and asked for them to come in, Nero looked around and saw it was a nice home, the center of the hut had a single support beam to keep the roof up so it wouldn't fall. Nero could have sworn that it was a tree with the bark ripped off. There was also a table in the center of the room too like it was attached to the support beam, in the back of the hut Nero could see a small stove that that a pot of food on it with the lid off to let any steam out and to cool down the food, the floor was hardwood and to the left, he saw some blankest on the floor most likely where the Espeon sleeps and to the right, Nero could see an open trap door and he could see someone another Pokémon hiding in the trapdoor this one was small with brown fur and eyes, it had long pointy ear atop its head it also had a fluffy tail it was almost like a mix of a cat, dog, fox, and rabbit all mixed into one. This is an Eevee the Evolution Pokémon.

"Halo, dear we have guests, it's Bianco and he brought someone new too, so come and say hello." Said Apollonia, making the Eevee come out from the trapdoor and walked up to both Nero and Bianco.

"Hello, I'm Halo." Said the Eevee named Halo sounding a little quiet and very polite.

"Hello Halo, my name is Nero," Nero said to the Eevee and turned his attention to Bianco. "So why did you bring me here?"

"Only place that I know that's safe in this forest, the forest is much more dangerous at night plus I was already on my way here since I have a message to give to Apollonia." He said, pulling out an envelope that had a wax seal on it. After giving the envelope to Apollonia's eyes started to glow purple and so did the envelope that began to float and open, this was the result of her psychic powers that the Espeon had. As she read the letter her face had a quick expression of shock and changed to a concerning expression, she placed the letter back in the envelope and sent it to the trap door that led to a basement under the hut. "What was in the letter? The Guild Master didn't want me to read it."

"Oh, nothing important." What she said was officially a lie but Bianco didn't want to annoy or provoke her. "Now why not we all eat some food. Nero, you look like you're starving." Apollonia said heading to the small pot that had food in it. She grabbed some bowls and started setting the table.

"So why do you live out here in the forest?" Nero asked.

"Oh, mostly just to get away from personal things and affairs that I don't like to talk about but also to just live in peace with my sweet daughter," Apollonia said, getting the table ready. "Dinner is served." Everyone sat down at the table to eat the food that the Espeon put out. Nero looked at the food thinking of what it would taste like, the apple he had earlier tasted the same as when he was human so he knew his sense of taste hadn't changed much. Nero takes one bite of the food and tastes the amazing flavor of the food it was the best he ever had and has he continued to eat Apollonia looked at Nero, the gem on her forehead glowing as she was reading the mind of Nero seeing his thoughts and past, everything Nero knew about himself, Apollonia now knew too. A single tear left her right eye which caught her daughter's attention and asked her if she was okay. "I am all fine sweetie just... sometimes tears will just leave your eyes without you even knowing hahaha." She said with a weak laugh.

Unknown to the others at the table she had read the mind of Nero and saw his memories and thoughts all of which made the Espeon very sad for the young Riolu or really the human who turned into a Riolu. After everyone was done eating, Apollonia asked both Bianco and Nero to stay the night so they would get a safe place to stay.

"You'd really let me stay the night? Thank you." Nero said to Apollonia with so much joy that he doesn't have to stay out all night. "I guess it's also for the best I ran into some other Pokémon who told me there was a witch in this forest."

"Oh really? That's strange I have heard of this witch." Apollonia said to Nero just trying not to laugh at what she was telling him. "I heard that this witch is a small Pokémon that walks on all fours, has purple fur, a gem on her forehead, and wears a witch's hat at all times." As she finished Nero then noticed that she described herself and then put two and two together and realized that she was the witch he was told about. "Hahaha, it's okay many Pokémon here think my work is witchcraft, Nero, anyways come and help me get you a blanket for you to sleep on, we have some in the basement," she said as she and Nero went to the trapdoor.

The basement was small but still had a lot of stuff some barrels that may have food and other substances and even boxes full of such things as blankets and pointy witch hats, There were other things that Nero didn't recognize and before he could view the basement more he heard the voice of Apollonia in his head. "Nero, I need to tell you that I know... I know you're a human. Before you tell me anything, understand that I read your mind earlier and I know so much about you now." As she was finished Nero noticed that she wasn't speaking any of this with words from her mouth but was rather speaking this with her mind.

"Promise me this; you won't tell anyone that you're human, Pokémon many don't understand what humans are or what they did. Legends say humans did bad things to Pokémon and then just left us all, I don't believe those legends. Just keep it a secret, you've been through so much, you've suffered for no reason that you know of, so here." She then used her psychic power to put an iron ring with a black gem engraved in the ring around his arm that shrunk down to fit his arm and handed him a blanket "That ring will prevent other Psychic types from reading your mind without your permission, I have seen your past Nero so I understand as to why you choose to come to this world. I don't know why, but I can tell you this: You have a good soul, you're truly kind to others and know the difference between right and wrong." Apollonia said this time to him, sounding caring and kind, just like a mother, making Nero know that he was safe.

Once they left the basement to join back with the others upstairs to help clean up what was left of dinner, all without knowing what was happening on the outside. On the outside of the hut, a small creature watches the home while sitting on a tree branch not too far from the hut, waiting for something or someone. Without even a second of waiting a small bird-like being landed right next to the one stalking the hut.

"Our orders from our lord was to find information about the guild, rumors are that the 'Witch' of the forest was a member of the guild we're looking into." Said the Bird-like creature, turning to face the stalker. "Ivan, I know you're a fighter, but it would be best if the Zangoose and Riolu left-"

The stalker named Ivan snickers at the bird's words. "No, I will fight them in the morning, I am a warrior of the Ice Lands. It will be more fun that way," said Ivan, who sounded sinister almost like a maniac to bring nothing but harm and the bird knew that, they knew Ivan just wanted to fight and destroy anything in their way.

The Next Morning.

Nero was in a large dark hallway, the walls were covered in strange symbols he had never seen before, the only thing he had noticed about the symbols was that they all had some sort of eye shape in every one of them. At the end of the hall was a large stone door that had countless scratch marks all over some were small and were almost unnoticeable while others were large and deep into the door like someone wanted in. Nero turned around and behind him was just more of the hallway like it was endless. Nero felt like this place was watching him, thousands of eyes seeing his every move. Nero went up to the door and for some reason that he didn't even know, he knocked on the door three times. Nero then heard from the opposite side of the door, from the inside he heard three knocks. "Wake up, Nero." Said a voice that had sounded old and tired, like it wanted to sleep.

The sun was rising to start a new day, inside the hut Nero was the last to wake up as thanks to the small Eevee waking him up by using her paws to push him while saying 'wake up' to him and all while everyone else was already eating breakfast. "You're up," said Halo the Eevee.

"Oh sorry, I must have overslept." Said Nero as he was getting up to eat with everyone. While eating Nero was thinking about that dream he just had, the dark hallway, the door, and that voice he heard, what does it all mean. Nero has never had a dream like that before. Apollonia noticed the look of concern on Nero's face and asked him if he was okay. "Oh, It's just that I had a weird dream last night." He then went into detail about his dream, Halo and Bianco had the same thing on their mind as the dream did sound weird and a little scary but they knew it was just a dream, but Apollonia had a feeling about this dream, she then remembered that letter, the letter only had one thing written on it.

Last night after everyone had gone to sleep she had destroyed the letter and anything with it and that letter only said: 'One of the keys is missing now' and a signature at the bottom that was written in the same cursive font as the letter, a name: 'Julius'.

A little after eating Halo was outside playing with a ball throwing it around, normally for the Eevee she would either play alone or with other Pokémon of the forest who didn't know that her mother was the witch of the forest, but now she was playing with Nero the Riolu who was also having fun with the game they were playing. Both Bianco and Apollonia were still inside talking about one thing, about a certain Pokémon: Nero.

"You seriously want Nero to stay with you? I don't understand why?" said the Zangoose, sounding a little confused.

"He's just a kid with nowhere to go, I can help him, take care of him and even teach him a thing or two, and he and Halo seem to be getting along very well." Said the Espeon, but really there was more to this, Bianco didn't know about Nero being human and that was just one of many reasons such as Nero showing up at this time and there was the dream he had. Nero was a mystery and everyone needed answers.

Both Bianco and Apollonia walked out of the hut to tell Nero that he would be staying with her for some time, calling them over and as they walked to them Bianco noticed something and jumped past them Bianco's claws then glow white like they were made or light or covered in some sort of energy, he then yelled out "Slash!" and then used his claws to destroy three projectiles made of ice that was heading to the children. "You got some nerve aiming an attack at children, show yourself, NOW!" He yelled out in anger.

A small creature came from the tree, it had a small bluish-black slim body and stood up on two legs, it had a cat-like face with a yellow oval bump on its forehead and chest, one of its ears was red but was longer and almost looked like a feather, and had three sets of tails that looked like three red feathers this was Sneasel the Sharp Claw Pokémon. "My, my, my, my. You are skilled if you could have seen my attack coming." said the Sneasel with a cocky tone.

"Tch, Now we see where that 'Cold' attack came from. Why are you here and why did you attack us, Sneasel?" Said Bianco as he took a fighting stance and Apollonia jumping in the air to land right next to him.

"My friend, my name is Ivan, and you see I seek information about a certain guild: The Grand Light Exploration Guild, to be more exact, and both you and Espeon are members of that guild." Said the Sneasel named Ivan, now with a sinister tone.

"Judging by your actions just now, I'd say you're a wanted criminal. Normally I hunt Pokémon like you down, but I've never seen one come to me for a brawl."

"That is correct, but it is not just you, but everyone here. You, Espeon, Eevee, and Riolu Vs. Me. I want a good fight."

What is with this Pokémon? He's acting like someone who's addicted to fighting. Apollonia thought to herself. She then noticed another Pokémon in the trees, a bird-like Pokémon that looked like a crow with a fedora on its head, she noticed what it was. This was Murkrow the Darkness Pokémon. "Seems you didn't come alone."

Ivan turns his head to his partner in the tree before looking back at them. "Don't worry about him, I just want to fight you all alone." He said in a threatening tone showing his claws ready to slash at them. As soon as he pulled out his claws a dark ball that looked like it was made of blackish lightning around it came from the trees where everyone heard "Shadow Ball!" The ball then hit the Espeon, a direct Critical Hit, then the others went to help as it looked to be a powerful hit that she had taken. Ivan was a mix of shock and annoyance. "AL! What the heck you Bird brain! This is my fight!"

"Ivan, forget about that 'Warrior's pride' you have and take. This. Seriously. We have a mission to-" As the Murkrow was talking it was hit by a white and blue beam from Ivan who screamed out "Ice Beam!" which had frozen the Murkrow in a thick layer of ice, trapping him. A 1 out of 10 chance. What luck really.

"Stupid bird, now back to-" Ivan was cut off as he had to dodge a slashing attack from Bianco who had charged at him while he had his back turn. "-THE FUN!" Ivan then started to throw slashes from his clawback at Bianco to make it a true fight. Slash after slash they used mostly their claws to attack each other trying to land a hit on the other like real fighters who were putting everything on the line.

Nero and Halo helped Apollonia back up from that hit; they all looked at Bianco who was handling on his own in the fight, Bianco then grabbed Ivan by his arms and threw him to the ground. Apollonia told Nero and Halo to run inside the hut, Nero and Halo did so as they were told to run to the hut but stopped due to a blast of fire that hit the wall of the hut setting it on fire, they all heard someone saying "Flamethrower!" they all saw where the attack came from and used it, it was Ivan, the Sneasel.

"How- How did you do that?" Bianco said as he was shocked, he then noticed something about Ivan, red lines started to spread around his back and his arms and legs that looked to be glowing like fire. "What are you?"

"I am a Cross-Void, something that is real and false," Ivan said, getting back up. "I am a Sneasel, well I was originally an ordinary Sneasel until I was made into this, given the power, the power of another Pokémon, the strengths and weaknesses of that Pokémon, their attacks and abilities. We also get a little bit of their appearance too, like the lines of Salandit the toxic lizard Pokémon." He then shouted "Flamethrower!" Hitting Bianco with a beam of flames hitting him and knocking him down, after the attack, he turned to the children and began to walk towards them.

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT THEM!" Apollonia shouted at the Sneasel as she dashed to him, her tail looked to be turning into metal. "Iron Tail!" she then did a full three hundred and sixty-degree turn hitting Ivan with her metal-coated tail. It only threw him off-balance for a second before he attacked back with his claw turning dark and slashing at her knocking her back and down to the ground. Ivan then continued to walk to the children, and as he does his face showed a clear sign of annoyance and disappointment as Nero and Halo looked to be the last two left to fight.

"Stay back," Nero said as if it would help, but even he knew that wouldn't work, Ivan had jumped into the air and started an attack with his claws releasing the same energy as he attacked Apollonia, both Nero and Halo had dodged in time but now they were separated as they had to move into different directions. Ivan turned his head to Halo as if she was his next target. Ivan walked up to her with his claws raised in the air, Nero wanted to save but she was too far away, how could he get to her. Nero felt something like it was a boost or something and uncontrollably he said "Quick Attack!" And dashed past Ivan and in a split second grabbed Halo getting her away from the evil Pokémon, this action had surprised Nero as he didn't even know how to use attacks and he finally did one.

Ivan wasn't impressed about what Nero had done as he was more focused on trying to hit the children, he then readied himself for a ranged attack, this one was of the same move he did earlier to his own teammate, the attack Ice Beam and he was targeting both Nero and Halo with this move. Nero was now trapped at the moment, what should he do? He had nowhere to run, he couldn't fight back and expect to win, Ivan was too strong for him to take on and how would he fight back? He still didn't know how to fight.

"Nero, open the door." Nero heard before everything changed. He was back in the dark hallway, the one with all the markings and the door that was damaged. Nero walked to the door, it was calling him to the door. Nero then put one of his hands on the door it was beginning to open like it wasn't made of the stone material it was made out of. The room behind the door had a bright blue and red light, the origin of the light was from the center of the room was a brazier which had a calm looking blue and red the two colors sharing the fire. As the light from the room exited by the door the markings on the wall started to glow the same blue light and they began to leave the walls of the hallway leaving the walls blank and turning from a dark dull color into vermillion stone walls. Nero didn't notice this as he walked into the room.

When Nero entered the room he noticed two objects on the ground, one was a sword with a rusty broken blade, and the other object was a beaten up and equally rusty shield, he picked up both items, holding them felt right and almost like it was familiar like he held them in the past. Nero then walked to the fire and tossed both items into the flame, and the calming flame then burst and shot out of the brazier, the flame rose as Nero looked up to see if the fire hit the ceiling of the room, but saw that the room was larger than he thought it was. The flame kept rising and rising, non-stop. When Nero looked back down he then noticed the once markings were now in the room circling Nero and the flame, Nero then heard the howl of a beast, he then saw that the flame and returned to its normal form, something came out of the flame it was a wolf-like being made of the twin colored fire.

The other items that Nero put the flame earlier had left the flame along with the wolf, both items were floating with the wolf. The once broken and rusty sword was now a beautiful one-handed short-sword with a large but dullish bade that looked as if it was made of gold with most of the center of the blade and the core of the guard covered in a peach color marking and the edge of the blade looked to be blue, the guard had what looked to be blue gemstones engraved into the guard, the handle was made of gold as well and the pommel of the sword was a golden ring with what looked to be another gem but it looked like it can be seen through.

The shield was now much better than the beaten up and rusty it was. The shield just like the sword looked to be it was made of pure gold, it looked as if it was a normal shield the one knights would use in classic fairy tales that were told to children, with the edges of the shield being a vermillion with what looked like to be like red claw marks on the sides and near the center of the shield, at the near bottom looked to be as what Nero can only describe as a bird, trying to fly up the shield.

Both items were breathtaking, then Nero noticed something, both items had was looked to be a symbol, both had a symbol of what looked to be a wolf with each having a crown atop of their heads, the sword had a blue wolf with a crown that looked to have wings on the guard facing down the blade and the shield had a red wolf that had a normal-looking crown, it was in the center of the shield being like as if it was the heart.

Nero then grabbed both items, once again feeling as if he had held them before like as if he had been holding them his whole life. "Young Nero." Said the same voice Nero has been hearing in the hallways. "This world is a dangerous one, at times you will be alone, so take this, a sword that is made to battle those who abuse their power and a shield defend those who could not defend themselves, but remember this a sword and shield is not just used for what they are used for. A sword can represent Justice and law while a shield represents order and protection, what you do with them is up to you." With that, everything turned white.

Nero was now back to the real world outside the hallway. He saw Ivan firing his attack the Ice Beam was about to hit both him and Halo and out of instinct Nero tried to use his left arm to block the attack but before the attack came into contact with Nero, a red glow formed in front of him and the same shield he saw in the hallway appeared in its place and blocked the attack, keeping both Nero and Halo safe. Nero was shocked and confused about where the shield came from but it kept him and Halo safe from the attack, he then felt as if the shield was a part of him, that he could use it. "Metal Burst!" Said a voice that came from the shield, it had the same young voice as Nero. The shield glows red and bursts out a metal ball that had hit Ivan and once it came into contact with him it had exploded like it was a bomb.

The smoke from the blast started to clear showing Ivan, his face which was not less than a minute ago showed annoyance and disappointment now had excitement as he thought it would have been easy but it looked to be a challenge now. He charged at Nero and started throwing attacks of slashes, Nero had to use the shield to block the attacks. It seemed to be working as the item had taken most of the damage. He didn't know how much he could have taken before he would get taken down but he needed to fight back. His shield then started to turn color as it started to look silver and just like before the voice that sounded like Nero had said. "Metal Claw!" Nero then swung the shield like it was a claw that had hit Ivan slashing his face by just a little, who then began to scream in pain. "WHAT DID YOU DO- YOU LITTLE- YOU-YOU!" As his face turned back to Nero he looked like he was unharmed except that one of his eyebrows looked like it was also cut clean off. "You cut off my right eyebrows! Now they're uneven!"

"S-sorry," Nero said sounding really apologetic about what he did. Ivan then readied another attack but was stopped by a projectile that had hit Ivan and exploded on impact. He turned to where the origin of the attack came from and was shocked to see Bianco standing up and looking as if he wasn't injured from the attack he had taken earlier, before much else he was hit from behind by someone shouting "Iron Tail!" and was knocked back he then saw Apollonia standing up just as Bianco. "You guys are back up?!" Said Nero who was surprised by this fact after seeing the damage they had taken.

"Thanks to some handy dandy Revival seeds!" Said Bianco who Ivan then realized that he must have had tons of items saved up for fights after all. Now more driven Nero was still willing to help fight off the enemy Pokémon with everything he had. As if on cue after feeling he could go on the offensive his shield started to glow all red and then started to change to blue and its shape, was now in the form of a sword, the same sword he had seen in the room in his vision.

Nero held the sword in one hand or well paw, the sword felt like it did not weigh it like it was made of a single piece of paper or a small feather. The sword looked amazing in the daylight as the light shined as its gold and silver looked well polished it was like a mirror.

Ivan then charged at them with more attacks that kept on coming, that wouldn't stop. Nero then wanted to throw another attack swinging the sword but Ivan was too fast for the sword's speed. Nero then felt something from the sword, it felt like it was apart of him. He then took one deep breath and let it out and just as his shield he heard a voice that had sounded like his own from the sword. "Sacred Sword!" The blade of the sword then started to glow blue, Nero then raised his sword into the air, Ivan had thought he could have dodged the attack as he did earlier but was so wrong as Nero had swung the sword straight down with extreme speed and had hit Ivan, the sword did no real damage to him physically and was knocked out from the final attack. "And it is over." Said Bianco.

Nero then looked at the sword and wondered where this power had come from, the shield and the sword that had helped him in this fight. The sword had disappeared from his hands and into what looked like blue dust. "What was that?" Nero said to himself.

"That's a good question kid, but first let's send both this one to prison-" Bianco said before some object was thrown at Ivan and landed right next to him, it was a golden ring but after a second it started to glow gold to a dark purple and then the ring-opened some sort of portal on the ground and Ivan had fallen into it and right after he went through it a quick moving shadow had flown past them with speed and they all saw that the Murkrow had gotten out of his frozen state. The portal then closed before anything else could have been done. "NO! We had him!" Said Bianco showing anger about the enemy who had escaped from him. Everyone then remembered something, they all turned to look at what was left of the hut as the fire had finished and most of the top of the hut was gone.

"And there goes my house, great, it was a gift from a friend... dang." Said, Apollonia who did seem upset over her and her child's home being nothing but mostly burnt ash.

"What are we going to do now, mom?" Halo asked her mother as they had lost everything.

"It'll be okay sweety, I know someone who can help us," Apollonia said implying someone who she knew who could help them and Bianco know who she was talking about too.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about," Bianco said showing that he was nervous about something. "Your sister, yeah." He then started to let out a nervous chuckle like he was hiding something.

"Yeah, she'll help us find a more permanent place to stay or let us stay with her until we get to her, everyone grabs anything you can and we'll head to her home in the local town of Hermes."

"Town of Hermes?" Nero said confused about the town.

"The name of the town means messager who can travel anywhere," said Bianco who was gathering some things to take with them. "It's only about an hour away, by foot, we should be there by noon." As he finished everyone joined in on gathering more supplies to take with them. Apollonia was upset about the loss of her home but was happy that her child Halo was alright, and as for her daughter, she did seem upset about her home being lost Apollonia read her mind and saw that things would get better if they hope hard enough and that smiled at her to see she still had hope. "Guys, I know things seem bad but we just have to 'light things up'," Bianco said in a pun that had annoyed Halo and Apollonia but got Nero to give a light chuckle.

"Please don't laugh at his puns." Said, Apollonia.

"Let the child laugh!" Said Bianco.

The end of Chapter 1