A young man with blond hair and blue eyes leapt off of his Braviary, looking up at the tall charcoal building looming over his head. He rubbed his thumb against his fingers, not ready to go inside. Normally, after the young man was done with a mission, he was excited to run back inside the dark city and let the man inside know how he did, but today was different. For the first time, the young man felt as if he had failed.

"C'mon, Draven," the young man said to himself, "let's see what he has for you this time."

His Braviary nudged his leg. Draven looked down and frowned at the feathered Pokémon. As much as he wanted to say the words, this is all your fault that we're in this mess, he couldn't. Braviary did as much as he could back in Sinnoh. Neither of them were prepared during their last mission.

The young man remembered vividly what happened back at that run-down motel. He found his target, Swanna Girl, and he had her where he wanted her. Right when things were about to go his way, she escaped with Braviary Man's partner, Braviary. He picked her up and flew out of the building before he had the chance to finish the job he was supposed to complete.

Somewhere here in Unova, he thought to himself, she's causing trouble. I just know it.

Draven thought he could be able to find her by now. Just a few days after that incident, and the young woman somehow managed to stay under the radar. It bugged Draven knowing she could do that. Regardless, the blond walked into the building, preparing himself for the biggest reprimanding of his life.

The buildings in Black City were enormous. Draven felt small because of it. He walked up and down staircases and trudged down hallways. While he did, he noticed how tall the walls were. Draven had grown up in this very building his entire life. He thought that one day, when he was older, he would feel as if he didn't feel so small. That day never came.

A chill shivered down his spine as he opened the door to find an older man wearing a gray polo, khakis, and a lab coat thrown over it. Draven stopped to look at the man's worn down face, looking into the colorless eyes that were there. His heart started to pound as the older man looked over at him and stood up.

"Did you get the woman as I asked?" the older man asked as he grabbed his white cane and held it in front of him.

Draven was silent. This was the third time he managed to let Swanna Girl out of his grasp. The first was back in Hoenn, but back then, he found it to be unfair if he'd kidnapped her as she was actually doing some sort of good. It shocked Draven that she was actually capable of doing that, but he remembered watching her as she rescued a small little Pokémon from a forest fire. It was a small act, but if she didn't do that, then there would've been more deaths that had happened during that time. Draven decided that it was best to get rid of the fire rather than kidnap the young woman.

His hands clenched into fists at the memory. As wrong as it was, he should've done something right at that very moment, especially after the last two encounters he had with her. Draven remembered how it was Swanna Girl who accused him of being a villain, but she had no idea the justice he was doing. The work that Draven and the older man were doing, it was going to save thousands of lives, unlike what criminals, like Swanna Girl, did in their spare time.

"You failed," the older man figured out. "Don't you realize how important it is that we have her here?"

"Why does she matter? She should be killed on the spot!" Draven screamed at the older man. "I don't get why she can't be killed now. She's killed thousands! First, in Castelia, then she runs around Team Miasma doing who knows what. She deserves to—"

"And she will be punished for her crimes later," the other man's deep assured as walked towards Draven, using his cane to sense the area around him.

Once the older man passed Draven, there was a bit of a pause. Draven didn't turn to look at the man as he stared down at his own two feet. The older man didn't have to say much for Draven to immediately regret his words. At least the older man would never see his reaction, but that didn't mean Draven felt horrible about them. All he wanted to do was make that man feel proud.

The moment the older man passed Draven, the young man turned around and followed him. His eyes locked on the back of his head, seeing the grays of his once colored hair. If it wasn't for some old pictures he had seen a while ago, Draven would've never guessed that the older man had brown hair.

It was odd for Draven to think of this man like his father. He had to have been nearly three times his own age, but that didn't matter. It was this man that had raised Draven, gave him his first Pokémon, even sharing the dream he had for the world. Draven nearly smiled as he followed the man, remembering all the plans they had made together.

A world without criminals. A world where people and Pokémon alike didn't have to worry about crimes happening. Everything will be in peace, order, and live in harmony with one another. Draven realized the only way to do that was to get rid of all the criminals in this world. He could do that, carry out his mentor's wishes, make him proud.

There was just one thing standing in their way. Well, more like one person.

The two stopped in front of a door. Once there, the older man pulled something from his pocket. Draven grabbed it from him and stared. It was a piece of paper with two pictures glued to it. The first picture was of a woman in her mid-twenties. She had long black hair and striking gray eyes. In her arms was a toddler, who had matching eyes and shaggy brown hair. It was a picture of reference, being that his father never had the picture of the person they wanted. Beside it, glued to the same picture, was a picture of a little baby girl. Like the woman and toddler in the other photo, she had huge gray eyes and very thin black hair that started to grow.

"You understand why we need her," the older man explained. "My nephew won't use his powers willingly, but we can make him if we have her. If she's dead, then he won't help us, and our plans will be for nothing. Have her alive, and he'll be more cooperative, understand?"

Draven's eyes locked onto the small boy being held in his mother's arms. Everything about this family seemed so peaceful. Just looking at the picture, they all seemed so innocent, almost as if they could do nothing wrong. But Draven knew better. There was evil in this world that corrupted them. Draven remembered the man telling him that a long time ago. After all, it's because of their parents that the older man became blind.

It was one of the few obstacles that stood in their way. Draven tore his gaze from the paper with the two pictures on it and looked at the older man. Nothing was going to stand in his way. The young man was certain about it. In the end, Draven promised himself he would get what he wanted, no matter what the cost.

And then, when everything was over, the Grays will get the punishment they deserve.

(-o-)

Braviary had always popped out of his Poké Ball the moment he thought I was asleep. Some mornings, I'd catch Braviary returning into his Poké Ball. Usually, I'd ignore it. I had to as I thought it was something he always did as Rudi's Pokémon, but after today's battle with Blair, I started to second guess myself.

I waited until Braviary thought I was asleep. Braviary popped out of his Poké Ball as usual, poked me a few times, and snuck out of the room, convinced I didn't see him. He was wrong.

The moment he left the room, I sat up in my bed and grabbed my glasses on the side table. Once they slipped onto my face, I grabbed the single Poké Ball off the nightstand beside me and pushed myself out of bed. It was weird not having one of my own Pokémon by my side. Not like Braviary wasn't technically mine, but it still felt like he belonged to Rudi.

Not having one of my original four Pokémon to battle with earlier made me realize that wasn't the case. Braviary and I just had to figure out how to battle together. The first way to figure him out was to find where he was going.

In case things went south, I had another Pokémon with me. I just kept him inside for safe keeping.

I walked out of the room I was staying at and looked down at the two different ends of the hallways. It was easy to forget how big this place was when it felt like ages since I last stayed here. For months, I've been used to staying in small spaces, like run down motels that had barely any room to train to a small shack that was bigger on the inside, but still not ideal to home the many members of Team Miasma. Being in a place with few people in it, yet have a ton of space made me feel out of place.

Despite being here for a short while, I had a gut feeling I knew where Braviary had disappeared to. I took a deep breath and walked a few doors down, finding a room with sign on it that seemed untouched. The door was closed before, but now, I noticed it was cracked ever so slightly, as if someone had quickly shut it without paying attention as to what happened.

Before I could walk inside, my hand brushed against the paper sign. My touch must've been stronger than I thought as the door pushed open, causing me to see some old posters that must've been forgotten to be taken down, hiding the red walls that I remembered. The bed was shoved in the corner, with bedsheets bundled up to the side, but that wasn't what caught my eye.

Sitting in that bed was Braviary. His back was towards me, and his white head was lowered so that all I could see were his red feathers and tail. My lips pressed together as I started to realize something. Braviary had known Rudi his whole life, or at least, Rudi's whole life. The two trained together, battled together, and did probably almost everything together. Losing him must've been like losing his other half.

It was no wonder Braviary didn't battle well beside me. I wasn't his Trainer, at least, I would never be the same as having Rudi as a Trainer.

Tears stung my eyes as I walked over and heard a soft muffling sound coming from Braviary. I placed my hand on his back, feeling the smoothness of his feather on the palm of my hand. The Pokémon quickly stopped whatever he was doing and turned his head back towards me.

"You miss him more than any of us can imagine, don't you?" I asked.

Braviary was hesitant. I could see him narrowing his eyes at me for a moment before he slowly nodded his head. There was a low noise that came from the back of his throat, almost as though he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself from doing so.

"It stinks," I admitted. "You know, I only knew Swanna for a few months, but when she died, it was the worst feeling ever. I can't imagine how she would have felt if the roles were reversed, especially since no one can replace Rudi."

I paused for a moment, allowing Braviary to understand what I was saying. He slowly turned around to face me, but he didn't lower or softened his glare.

"I know he entrusted you with me, but if you don't want me to be your Trainer, I understand that. Just know that if you let me, I'll try and be a good Trainer and want to finish what Rudi started. After all, we were close too, and not having him around anymore...it sucks."

Instead of keeping eye contact like I had always done, I lowered my face. My hands fell down onto Rudi's old bed while I dropped to my knees. There was no time to be sad, not when there was work to be done. If Braviary wouldn't cooperate with me, then there was no way these villains would be taken down.

Either Braviary would help me in this, or he wouldn't.

My answer never came as there was a knock on the door. In one swift motion, I stood up and turned around just as the lights were turned on. Standing in the doorway, was a young man with dark brown hair and gray eyes, holding two mugs in his hand. Seeing him took me off guard a bit, especially since he wasn't wearing a trench coat or his black t-shirt I was accustomed to seeing him in. Instead, my brother decided to wear a long sleeved gray shirt, and had a pair of fuzzy black pants on.

"Sorry to interrupt. I noticed your door was open, but you weren't in it," Lethe explained. "Mind if I come in?"

I shook my head and sat on the bed. Braviary hopped off the bed, but instead of leaving like he could've, the Pokémon sat right beside me. His head nudged into my legs until I finally decided to lower one of my hands and stroke him on top of his head.

Braviary hummed in response.

"You drink coffee, right?" Lethe asked as I felt the bed lower beneath me.

"Yeah," I said as I looked at him, finding him sitting beside me, holding a mug out to me. I smiled as I took the mug from him, and, without thinking, I took a quick gulp from it.

The second the drink touched my lips, my eyes widened as a rich taste slid onto my tongue. It wasn't the bitter taste I was used to. My mouth spit out whatever was inside that mug back into it. Immediately, I tried to wipe whatever was in that mug out of my mouth with my hand.

As I did that, Lethe cursed. "Merde! That was my drink. I should've been more careful."

Lethe took the drink from my hand and quickly exchanged it. My nose scrunched in disgust as I wrapped both hands around the new mug. Braviary didn't seem to mind as he ended up laying his head on my lap.

"What in the Distortion World was that?" I asked.

"Hot chocolate," Lethe explained, "though, I tend to add a dash of sugar and add some peppermint to sweeten it a bit."

"Sweeten? Isn't hot chocolate supposed to be sweet enough?" I asked before downing the bitter goodness of coffee down my throat, trying to get rid of the taste, hoping I had gotten rid of the actual substance out of my mouth.

"Yeah, but there's something about using Miltank Milk that doesn't suffice, you know?" Lethe asked.

I lowered the drink from my mouth and shook my head. "No, I don't. I can't drink Miltank Milk."

Lethe frowned. "Oh. I didn't know—oh no! Please say you got it out of your system then? I'd hate for that to be—"

"I'm fine," I interrupted before I lowered my gaze and stared down at the mug. The black liquid rippled a bit as I tried to steady it, but nothing happened. "I just thought you knew since you could, you know, see into the future."

My brother took in a deep breath before letting out a long, audible sigh. "They're involuntary. I don't know everything. Even if I could know, I wouldn't. It's—it's not really a blessing as much as it is a curse, you know?"

"No," I honestly told him, "I don't. You never told me anything about it. All I know is that your eyes turn color in the person you see through, but that's it. You're going to have to explain this a bit more to me."

I looked up, finding my brother drinking his overly-sweeten hot chocolate. His eyes closed as he drank and the moment he took the drink out of his mouth, he kept his eyes closed. Not once did he look over at me. Instead, he just looked straight ahead.

"Mom told me that the first-born male on the Gray side would always have the ability to see into the future. It would be random when we'd get these visions, but regardless, it's still the future that only we could prevent. However, if we changed something one time, there was a consequence," Lethe explained.

"If we'd change the future just once, we'd die before the age of twenty-five. To make matters worse, there are people who know about this curse and see it as a gift. I learned that after joining forces with Team Oblivion because people will try and harness that power or will even try and steal it for themselves.

"It's dangerous," Lethe said as he peeled his eyes open, dropping his head to look down at his mug. "Knowing that I'm going to die because I tried saving someone else from something, it's cruel. I don't know if I'm going to die tomorrow, or if I'll be one of the 'lucky ones' and die just before I turn twenty-five."

I lowered the mug of coffee down to the floor before I turned to look at Lethe. "Are you sure there's no way to stop it?"

Lethe nodded his head. "Every member of our family has tried. It doesn't work. Whatever curse was set in our family...there's no stopping it. I'm going to die an early death, and it's all because I tried saving those who I thought deserved it."

A knot clumped into my stomach. I should've known having a brother, even for however long this relationship would last, would've been too good to be true. While I wanted to argue with him about it, I could tell in the tone of his voice there wasn't any questioning it.

"Is that why you pushed Joy away?" I asked. "Did you not tell her?"

Lethe turned to look at me. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, unsure what I was talking about. My lips pressed together as I realized he must've not caught me that day I saw him sitting on the bench with Joy.

"Back in Celestic Town, I saw you and Joy talking with each other," I finally told Lethe. "You kept telling her that she was meant to be with someone from Sinnoh, but you seemed to be pushing her away more than anything. If you have feelings for her, you should—"

My brother threw his head back as he stared at the ceiling for a bit. He groaned as he did, before looking back at me, frowning. "Why does everyone assume I like her or vise versa?"

"Because you two seem close," I suggested. "I mean, I don't really catch on to who likes who, but—"

"Sylvia," Lethe cut me off, "just stop."

His words took me off guard. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. While he might not want to talk about it, I felt like he should've.

After all, Joy was only safe during the day of the Celestic Town incident because he took her away. From what I've heard, she was now safe in Sunyshore City. Her parents didn't want her anywhere near Unova after all I've done. In all honesty, I didn't blame them. She was put under my care, and I didn't watch out for her like I should've.

Lethe did. Despite being part of an organization that probably forced her through some unspeakable things, it was because of him she was out of there. He kept an eye out for her since I joined Team Miasma. Seeing the way he treated her in Celestic City, I knew he'd do everything in her best interest.

It was something I could never do. Because of that, I would be more than supportive if they had just said something about their relationship.

Instead, Lethe just looked at me and shook his head. "Just trust me on this. She's just a friend. We're just friends."

"And I hated Rudi when I first met him," I told Lethe. "After helping him stop Team Miasma, I realized he wasn't as bad as I thought he was. I know you probably think that you can't make up for your past with Team Oblivion, but—"

"Stop it! She's not my type, okay?" Lethe snapped, before drawing in a deep breath and taking another sip from his drink to hide his face growing red.

It wasn't growing red out of embarrassment, I realized. Lethe's face was nearly fuming in anger.

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. "You have a type?"

Lethe lowered his mug from his face. "Yes, why is that so surprising? And before you say I'm talking myself out of a relationship here, I know I'm not. She's not the kind of person I'd want to be with if I could grow old. Joy's nice, but she's just not my type."

His words shocked me a bit. "So, if Joy isn't your type," I asked, "then what is your type?"

"Why does it matter when I won't have long to live anyway?" Lethe asked before changing the subject he looked down at Braviary. "You're probably bored out of your mind listening to us talk like this, aren't you?"

Braviary lifted his head off my lap and nodded his head. Seeing as we did interrupt him from his nightly rituals, I started getting up, but Lethe grabbed my arm, signaling me to stop.

As I sat there, I turned to look back at Lethe. He grabbed a Poké Ball out of his pocket and tossed it in the air. The bright light escaped the Poké Ball, causing a purple feline Pokémon to pop out of it. Once out, the Poké Ball landed back into Lethe's hand, where he swiftly placed it back inside his pocket.

The Pokémon looked a bit confused as to why she was out of her Poké Ball as she yawned. "Stunky?"

"Why don't you two train a bit. Sylvia and I will be out when we're done," Lethe suggested.

For a moment, I thought Braviary would've shooed Lethe and me out of his old Trainer's room, but instead, Braviary nodded his head in agreement. Seeing as training wasn't such a bad idea, I grabbed the only Poké Ball I had on my and tossed it in the air.

When the white feathered Pokémon appeared in front of me, I smiled, scratching him just below the beak, knowing it was his favorite spot. "Do you want to train with them, Swanna?"

My Pokémon nodded his head in agreement and followed Braviary and Stunky out of the room. I smiled as I watched them walk out of the room.

"So, Rena called me, telling me what happened earlier," Lethe said. "Her and her secretary seem to be doing everything they can to find the two Lunar Wings to save two of your other Pokémon, or you have to find some Legendary, hoping it'll somehow help you."

"That's what I've been told," I answered, looking down at the mug that I had set on the ground. I frowned when I noticed there was no coffee in it anymore. It wasn't like I needed it, but a nice drink would've been nice. "I just wish this wouldn't have happened while I'm still trying to stop Team Miasma and that phony."

I felt something touch my shoulder, but I didn't move. All I could think about were my two Pokémon still stuck inside their Poké Balls. If we didn't find these feathers soon, I would have lost three valuable members of my team: two to that device, and one to Gila.

It didn't make it any better that I had to choose which Pokémon was escaped at a time. If I had it my way, I would've taken their place or something. The decision of choosing Swanna seemed like a no-brainer to everyone who heard about my decision; however, it was hard for me to make that call.

Swanna wasn't even the Pokémon who was with me the longest. Sure, it was because I had a Swanna, I could kind of still be Swanna Girl, but that meant Audino and Mienshao, were still suffering.

For all I know, Swanna would be the only one I saved. Then what? All of my Pokémon were special to me. Like Swanna, Audino had once belonged to my mom. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to run my own Pokémon Center for a while.

Then there's Mienshao. I might have caught her after battling, but she was the first Pokémon I had ever caught in the traditional sense. That only happened because Rudi took me out on a date. Beyond that, Mienshao was a fighter. She did her very best in everything she did.

If I had to choose between one of them to save, I don't think I could.

"I know where a Lunar Wing is," Lethe interrupted my thoughts. I turned to look at him, but Lethe didn't seem to ecstatic about what he was about to say. "There's just one problem."

"It doesn't matter what the problem is," I told him. "My Pokémon could very well die in their Poké Balls if I don't do something about it. They need out of there. I will do anything to get them out of there."

Lethe took a deep breath. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Tomorrow night then. You may want to wear your old Swanna Suit though."

"But, I don't have my old Swanna Suit," I told Lethe as he stood up from the bed. "Team Miasma burned my old one and replaced it."

My brother turned his back on me. "I mean, you may want to use the Swanna Suit they gave you."

It was as if someone had used Blizzard inside of the room. My arms wrapped around myself as I watched Lethe walk out of the room, not saying another word.

Of all things, I didn't want to wear that suit Team Miasma forced me to wear as Swanna Girl. It wasn't a true representative as to who I was. But if I was going to save my Pokémon, and stop them, then it looked like I had no choice.

Author's Note:

*Hides begins chair, holding a frying pan close to my chest as I peek out to see a crowd of angry Oblivionshippers*

....So...who likes hot cocoa? Or are you more of a coffee drinker like Sylvia?

Either way, I'm gonna hide from the angry amount of fangirls and fanboys. As I do, I'm going to finish up the last 6ish chapters left in the book. Updates should resume to an every other week schedule, starting the week after Christmas (assuming I can personally get to some editing on future chapters and write the bits that need to be written). Hope you all have a wonderful week! Bye!