"Hey, you're getting better at this!" Hilbert congratulated as I was now the one helping him up from the ground this time.

I shook my head. Three days ago, the Krait twins escaped. After learning what was going on from Officer Jenny's office, I had to keep my guard up. Someone in this building was a double agent, and it didn't take long to figure out who.

"How long have you known N?" I asked as Hilbert swiped the sweat from his forehead as took a drink from his water bottle.

"A long time," Hilbert explained, "though, none of that seems to matter really."

"Why?" I asked.

Hilbert carefully placed the water bottle on the ground. "Because it's none of your business. Now, why don't we get you another opponent? I think you're ready to go two on one."

I crossed my arms, looking at the ex-Champion of Unova. It was suspicious how he was defending a guy who should've broken all means of trust. After all, wasn't Hilbert the one who ended Team Plasma once and for all? He should've known where N's loyalty truly lay.

Knowing that he wouldn't admit it just proves that I wasn't going to trust this guy either.

To think this was the guy who saved Unova single-handedly from Team Plasma. It didn't make any sense. Hilbert was smart, fighting with and without his Pokémon, but at the same time, he didn't seem extra-ordinary.

The ex-Champion raised one of his eyebrows as I squinted my eyes. It was always those that you least expected, wasn't it? I mean, Lyla ended up being Gila, which I should've realized sooner as the name even sounded similar. More so, Rudi ended up dating the one.

No. That still couldn't be true.

But I had the picture in my room.

Rudi wouldn't be that stupid, would he?

Well, he did get himself caught somehow by Team Miasma.

Then again, I did too.

But Rudi—

"What's wrong?" Hilbert cut me out of my own inner dialogue.

"Nothing," I grumbled, "I'm fine."

"Tauros crap!" Hilbert disagreed. "I've been around Hilda way too long to know that 'fine' never means 'fine.'"

"And why do you suddenly care?" I snapped. "After all, you don't seem to mind beating the pulp out of me every training session that happens. Besides it's like you said. It's none of your business what's going on, especially when we have 'bigger issues' to worry about!"

Hilbert took a step back. His eyes widened as he looked at me, before they averted to something behind me. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

Before he could say anything, I turned around seeing Rudi leaning on the doorframe, looking a bit confused as to what was going on. Of course Hilbert was relaxed now. He could pass me on to someone else, so I would no longer be a problem to him.

This only confirmed how much I started to distrust Hilda, Hilbert, and N. Especially N. He was the puppet master, wasn't he? All he had to do was make sure his friends didn't see what was really going on just so he could easily deceive them.

What if Team Oblivion and Team Plasma were working together?

"Everything okay?" Rudi asked, as his hands were shoved into his pockets.

"Peachy," I grumbled. "Everything's just peachy."

Rudi looked a bit worried for a moment, but it was soon replaced with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, Hilbert, you wouldn't mind if Sylvia took a quick break would you?"

"Go ahead," Hilbert walked past me. "Just make sure she's back by five for more training."

I rolled my eyes. Who did Hilbert think he was? My dad? Sure, he was older than me, I think, but it wasn't by much if he was. Hilbert had no right to even tell me what I could or couldn't do.

Rudi smiled as he walked over towards me and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the training room.

Oh Deerling, what was Rudi up to now?

(-o-)

We flew on our Flying-types for a while, not saying one word to each other. It wasn't until we were flying that I realized how much time I'd been avoiding him. The minute I found out about him and Gila, I stayed out of his way, afraid I'd blow up any minute. It wasn't that I had a short temper or anything, but every time I was with Rudi, I just wanted to scream.

The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize how little time Rudi and I had together since this entire Team Oblivion thing happened. It was just like our days of being Swanna Girl and Braviary Man all over again. We didn't talk much unless it was about shutting them down. It was a safe subject to talk about at the time.

I pressed my head into Swanna's white feathers. To think, for months we'd finally been together in a steady relationship. Was I really going to let that all fail just because of some picture Lethe gave me?

It was in the past wasn't it? I mean, surely Rudi had changed, I'd seen it with my own two eyes. What happened between him and Gila had to have been nothing.

"Right there," Rudi called as he pointed down.

I looked down, seeing a gigantic waterfall right in front of us. Braviary and Swanna both dove down, landing us beside it. I quickly returned Swanna back inside his Poké Ball and looked around.

Why would Rudi bring me here?

Rudi smiled as his Pokémon stayed out of his Poké Ball, which confused me. Usually he would've returned Braviary to his Poké Ball unless he was needed. I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I looked up at the waterfall, realizing the water somehow didn't freeze over due to the cold, allowing a school of Basculin to swimdown stream and into the river.

One of the neat things I learned about Basculin was that they were different colors. These different colors weren't because of gender, but rather just by the school they were raised in. Seeing as there were a bunch of them mixed together gave me hope that maybe they would stop fighting each other. Basculin were a pretty violent Pokémon.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" Rudi said from behind as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I nodded my head. "Is this why you brought me here? So we could look at Water Pokémon?"

Rudi laughed. "No, I brought you here for an adventure. Besides, you've seemed a bit tense lately."

Before I could say anything I felt his lips give a quick peck on my cheek before he let go of me and grabbed my wrist to pull me away. I followed him, slowly slipping my hand up so that he was holding my hand rather than my wrist. Once our fingers intertwined, Rudi gave my hand a bit of a squeeze.

He looked back at me, smiling as his navy blue eyes sparkled with excitement. Whatever he had planned must've took him a while as he looked pretty excited.

That was Rudi though, and I would've never guessed it back when I first met him when we were first superheroes. True, his mom did mention that he wanted to invent a Castelia Cone that I could eat, which was how we reunited in the first place, but I didn't think he would do anything beyond that.

Even back when I was in Kalos, he did sweet little gestures, even though it didn't seem to help the situation. If anything it was poorly timed. Not that it was his fault. I had to keep reminding myself that.

Rudi lead me away from the waterfall, and down by the river, where I watched as the Basculin swam a bit. For a moment, I thought I saw an Alomomola fly out of the water, creating a small ripple, but once it was there, the pink Pokémon disappeared. Maybe I was just seeing things.

I looked back up to where we were heading seeing two Pokémon dueling it out. One was a Mienfoo while the other was a Beheeyem. Rudi and I froze, as the Beheeyem Pokémon used one of it's Psychic attacks to toss the Fighting-type away.

My eyes widened as the odd looking Psychic-type Pokémon looked in mine and Rudi's direction before flying off, leaving the red and yellow Pokémon down on the ground. I couldn't believe a Pokémon would just fight another one and just leave when it was caught.

I didn't think as I ran over towards the Mienfoo. Before I could bend down to help, the Fighting-type Pokémon pushed her hands in front of me and sent a Swift attack my way. My eyes widened as the sharp stars pelted me, knocking me to the ground.

"Sylvia!" I heard Rudi shout before he bent down beside me. "Is everything alright?"

I could only feel minor scratches and scraps, so I was fine, but nothing came out of my mouth as I looked up to see the bipedal Pokémon running away, despite her needing medical treatment. Unless that Pokémon had some reason to distrust someone, there was no need for her to run away all of a sudden. Something just didn't make sense.

"You know," Rudi said, "maybe that Mienfoo is just shy."

I shook my head, feeling Rudi sitting beside me. "No, even shy Pokémon will let humans near them if they're injured."

Rudi sighed. "You really take your nursing skills very seriously."

"Yeah." I smiled as I leaned back on my hands, looking up at the sky and watching as the few clouds rolled by. "It's kind of hard not to."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask," Rudi started.

As he hesitated, I looked at him, seeing the blonde haired boy scratching the back of his head like he wasn't ready to ask his question, or knew how. How long has he been meaning to ask this question?

"What made you want to become a Pokémon Nurse?" He finally asked.

A smile crept up onto my face as I turned my head to look back up at the clouds, remembering the days before I officially became an assistant.

"My life has always been at the Pokémon Center. Well, for as long as I can remember, that is," I explained as I closed my eyes, remembering that one particular day. "On my eighth birthday, Nurse Joy planned on taking me out to Patrat's Pizza. But before we could leave, a group of Trainers came in with their Pokémon all in critical condition.

"Nurse Joy had dropped everything, and her Audino quickly pulled out the stretcher. The Pokémon these Trainers had were all pretty small. If memory serves me right, they were a Pidove, Lillipup, Tepig, and a Panpour. I could remember the look on the Trainers' faces when they gave Nurse Joy their Pokémon. They were all scared.

"But, Nurse Joy said something to those Trainers that really struck me. I know she said it every time a Pokémon came in, but it really hit me that day. Maybe it was the adrenaline that had kicked in since there were more Trainers, I'm not sure, but Nurse Joy said something that had relaxed them just a bit.

"She told them, 'Don't worry, everything is going to be alright. Between Audino and me, we'll bring your Pokémon back to perfect health. In the meantime, you are welcome to come to the back and watch.'"

I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath. "I was too little to go back and watch Nurse Joy help out with her Pokémon, but I was able to sit with those Trainers in the lobby area as only one of them went to the back to watch. Two of them seemed a bit more relaxed after Nurse Joy said that. As for the fourth one, I remember trying to calm her down myself. It was hard, but I mean, it felt good knowing that we were going to help those Trainers.

"It was then I realized I wanted to do the same. I mean, how could I not? For a moment, I forgot everything that Nurse Joy and I were supposed to do. Instead, we just spent the day there, healing their Pokémon. The minute they were better, well, those Trainers' faces lit up brighter than I'd ever seen before. 'If Nurse Joy could do that,' I remember thinking to myself, 'why can't I?' At that moment, I started doing my own research, and denied a Pokémon on my tenth birthday just so I could start my training to become a nurse. It's the one thing I'll never regret."

Rudi didn't say anything for a moment when I finished telling that story, but it made me realize how long it had been since I really thought about it. True, it was a pretty long story, at least, the way I told it, but I couldn't help it. That day was one of the most important days in my life.

On that day, I realized I wanted to make a difference, and I knew I could if I helped out. True, those Trainers probably didn't remember anything about what happened. Pokémon Trainers seemed to go to the Pokémon Center a lot, making their trip a quick stop before they head off to the next place.

Of course, I didn't care about that.

"Wow," Rudi finally said. I looked at him, staring right into his navy blue eyes. "That is just beautiful."

I blushed. "Jeez, it's really nothing."

Rudi cupped his hand on my cheek. He didn't have to say anything as I leaned in for a kiss. Despite how mad I wanted to be at him, it was that moment I realized Rudi wouldn't do anything to hurt me. At least, not on purpose.

I pulled away for a grasp of air and was about to pull in for another kiss when something chirped loudly. We stopped and looked, seeing Braviary sitting there, tilting his head. He didn't look too happy that we were kissing in front of him.

Curse Braviary to ruin another good moment between Rudi and me!

Rudi sighed. "Guess that's our cue to keep going."

In response, Braviary smirked at me as if he had just won the battle. Honestly, I didn't understand why the Pokémon always had to butt in whenever Rudi and I were having a moment. Part of me wanted to think it was a grudge for not being so nice to his Trainer the day we met, but what did I know?

Rudi stood up and offered me a hand. I gladly took it as he pulled me up and walked beside me. I watched as a smile grew on his face as if he was excited for what was going to happen next. Knowing Rudi, I didn't ask. I'd rather just be surprised.

We walked for a bit until I started to see these trees with white bark. Due to the cold temperatures, there weren't any leaves on them, but that didn't seem to take away from the beauty of them. I didn't realize when, but between the time Rudi and I had sat down from now, it must've snowed. Well, it wasn't snowing now, but the ground showed signs that it must've earlier.

Snow decorated the trees, along with icicles that came down to create diamonds of ice hanging from them. I smiled as I took my free hand and grabbed my scarf a bit closer to my neck.

"Pretty isn't it?" Rudi asked, making me realize we must've stopped to stare at the forest.

I nodded my head. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it."

Rudi smiled. "Wait until we get inside because you haven't seen anything yet."

We continued walking into the forrest, until I saw something move in the corner of my eye. I turned around, seeing a group of Shinx cuddling together in a tree. My eyes widened as I saw them. With the exception of the year I went to Kalos, I hadn't seen Pokémon unless they were only native to Unova.

"This is the White Forest," Rudi explained to me as he pointed up. My head lifted up to see a pair of Pidgey cuddling together in their nest. "I'm not sure why, but this is the only place I've found Pokémon from other regions making their homes here. It makes me wonder if there's other places."

"How did you find this place?" I asked, as I saw a Slakoth hanging from another branch, not bothered by the cold.

"I was talking to an old friend of mine who discovered it and brought me here," Rudi explained. "I wanted to take you here on Christmas, but we know how that ended up."

I sighed as I remembered hearing the news. My head dropped to stare at the ground, seeing my boots had somehow sunk under the two inches of snow.

"So, why now?" I asked, trying not to sound rude. "With everything going on that is."

Rudi squeezed my hand. "Because you were getting stressed. When you're stressed, you start blocking people out, ignoring everything around you. I just thought maybe you needed a distraction for a bit. Plus, this would be the perfect place to catch a new Pokémon."

Had he not said his last sentence, I might have disagreed with him. I wasn't stressed. I could deal with stress. I mean, I worked at a Pokémon Center and had saved Unova once before. Who could say I'd get stressed enough that I couldn't do it again?

Instead, I looked at him, as he held two regular Poké Balls in his hands with a mischievous grin on his face. Immediately, I knew exactly what he was implying.

"You're on," I challenged, grabbing one of the Poké Balls from his hand and taking off into the trees.

Author's Note:

Alrighty then, it's question time. As you can tell, Rudi and Sylvia are about to catch themselves a new Pokemon: If you could chose one Pokemon for Sylvia and Rudi to have, what would they be and why?

Love hearing from you all. Hope you're having a great day! Take care everyone.