Rena always had a problem controlling her temper. She tried to find ways to control it, but it'd been a couple of years since she had a solid grasp on what "control" was. Instead of figuring it out, the blue-haired woman sat at her desk. Blueprints scattered across her desk as she carefully studied each and every one of them.

If Rena wanted to help her brother on saving Unova once again, she would have to figure out how Nox's invention worked. Her nose scrunched in disgust as she thought about her rival. She never trusted him, and now, she not only had to figure out his invention worked, but she had to protect him as well. The idea was unsettling for the inventor.

From the moment the two started working together, they didn't get along. Rena was the one who hired him, but only because it was part of a deal with a mutual friend of theirs: Jonathan Knox. If Rena had it her own way, she would've just hired Jonathan, but he refused to work unless his best friend worked alongside them. Things were fine at first. Between the three of them, they could figure out how to solve the simplest of problems.

Well, most problems that was.

Rena cursed under her breath as her vision started to double from staring down at the blueprints for too long. She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes as she thought how impossible it was to even create a device to pass through walls. While she could've asked her rival for help, Rena refused to. If anything, she wanted to prove that she was the better inventor and to get back at him for all that he'd done in the past.

"Having trouble there, Ms. Blue?"

The inventor looked up to see the one person she didn't want to see. He wore a wrinkled t-shirt and jeans as he held two cups of coffee in his hands. For once, the man seemed to be in a good mood as his green eyes looked at Rena.

"It's Ms. Rhea to you," the blue-haired woman sneered before looking back at the blueprints that had been made by the man walking in.

Isaac Nox ignored this as he walked over towards the desk. "Oh really? I thought you liked the nickname."

The tension grew in the air as Nox placed one of the mugs down and looked over at Rena. Inside his mind, he knew what he did, and Rena wasn't going to waste a breath on it. Instead of acknowledging that the man was in the room, Rena kept working, even though she knew he would be the best person to help her with her project. After all, he was the one who invented the Intangible Box. All Rena would have to do was ask for help and see what he knew to stop Team Oblivion.

There was just one problem. Since the day she fired him from her company, she made a vow never to ask him for help ever again, no matter how much she'd need it.

Nox knew what was bothering her and quickly changed the subject to one he knew both of them weren't ready to talk about. "You know why I did it, so don't you deny it."

"You had no right to do it though," Rena rebuked as she started to roll up one of the blueprints from her desk.

The man smiled, knowing he was finally getting somewhere. "Oh really? What would Jonathan think?"

That was the last straw for Rena. For the past three years, both inventors vowed never to talk about their friend that they'd worked alongside for years. While Jonathan really had nothing to do with their tension, it was an unspoken rule for both of them never to talk about him. They had their reasons, personal reasons.

Rena stood up from her desk and started to scream. "Leave John out of this!"

Seeing Rena riled up, Nox took a drink of his coffee. Once the warm liquid was swallowed, he frowned. "You know I can't do that. Jonathan was my closest--"

"Shut up!" Rena continued to scream. "Like you even cared!"

The blood started to boil inside Rena, just like it would every time she was about ready to unleash the Primeape that was hidden inside of her. Her hands clenched into fists, as she was about ready to pounce on him.

Only, there was a little voice inside her head, warning her to stop. Rena did everything she could to stop her rage from getting the best of her. She had a problem and was fully aware of it. It just took the young inventor some time to try and stop it.

Luckily, she had one friend that was always there for her. Rena turned around and tried blocking out the man that was causing her anger.

There was a time where Nox wasn't like this, and even Rena was aware of it. After all, she did hire both Nox and Jonathan to work for her company. Everything was fine at first, until Nox slowly realized how to get on her nerves. It was Jonathan that prevented Rena from doing anything crazy, but even that was a struggle.

Rena was always struggling as she wanted to fire Nox as soon as their fights began. Had it not been for how close he was to Jonathan, she would have. People had just assumed them to be brothers, but even Rena knew that they weren't. Despite all that, she couldn't fire one without the other one leaving. They were just inseparable, like two heads on a Zweilous.

Then, the day came that the decision was made for Rena.

"I miss him too, you know," Nox sighed.

"It was all your fault," Rena retaliated.

Nox frowned. "You know that's not true."

His words cut through Rena like a knife. She couldn't control it anymore as she whipped around and slapped her hand onto her desk. There was only one person that could help control her anger.

That person wasn't there anymore.

"Screw you!" Rena screamed. "You knew how I felt, and yet you never gave me that choice to express my feelings that day."

Nox crossed his arms. "Didn't express your feelings, really? The way I remember it was that you expressed them pretty well."

"That's not true! You kissed me in front of him! What in the Distortion World was I supposed to do? You held me back! I had no way of telling him how I felt that day!" Rena screamed.

Her words got to Nox as he had to finally face reality of what happened that day. Both inventors knew who was at fault.

Rena tried calming herself down with the tricks Jonathan had once taught her. She looked down at her hands. The blue-haired inventor didn't realize it, but she was muttering the words to her favorite song. It was a technique her closest friend had once taught her before he left her company.

While she did, the memory of what happened flashed into her mind. All Rena was going to do in her workroom was add a few more adjustments to an invention she had been working so hard on with Nox and Jonathan. Together, their plan was to release it to the public.

Then Nox had come into the room. When he had, Rena motioned him to come closer to help her with the last finishing touches. What happened was something far worse. Rena tried shaking the image out of her head, but she couldn't. Instead of helping her, Nox had pulled her closer to him and kissed her.

At that moment, Jonathan Knox had come to check on them. Seeing his two closest friends kissing like that must've killed him more than anything as he ran out. He hadn't said a word, but Rena didn't need him too. She tried to pull away to persuade him that it wasn't what it looked like, but Nox had only pulled her closer.

Rena vowed she would get her revenge on Nox after that day. Her heart was forever broken as she would never had a chance to tell Jonathan how she had really felt. For once, Rena had torn down the barriers around her heart for the man. Seeing how Nox took that away from her angered her.

Yet, Nox was right there, and she knew she could get her revenge. Rena could easily stage an accident for him right there in her workroom. Of all the things to happen, she couldn't. She hated to admit it, but her friends needed Nox for that invention he made that Team Oblivion got their hands on.

Knowing she was so close to ending his life, Rena growled. "Just get out before I do Team Oblivion a huge favor in killing you."

Rena raised her head to see the man smirk. "Like you'd do that," he said.

For Nox's sake, it was a good thing that there was a table standing between Rena and him, or else she would've killed him with her own two hands right there.

"Weren't you the one who knocked me out with a wrench the other day, for Arceus's sake?" she questioned.

Nox rolled his eyes. "Do we have to bring that up again? Look, I was just saving my hide from them. No hard feelings."

"No hard feelings?" Rena repeated as she dropped the blueprint she was still holding in her hands. She might not have been able to kill him, but that didn't mean she couldn't hurt him. Slowly, she slipped one of her heels off of her feet so that he wouldn't notice. Just one more word from him, and she planned on using it. "No," she continued, "that's not how it works around here!"

Nox looked at Rena, squinting. "Are you sure about that?"

That was the last straw. Rena chucked her heel right at him. The black shoe hit the target, which just so happened to be the middle of his forehead.

"Ouch!" Nox whined. "What in the Distortion World was that for?"

"For being an idiot!" Rena shot back, as she slipped off her other heel and prepared to throw it as well.

"Guess you don't want my help on the IB, do you," Nox claimed. "After all, I am the inventor of the thing."

Rena growled, but as she did, her phone rang. Of course someone would be calling to interrupt the two inventors fight, but for Nox's sake, that might have been the best thing. She sighed before throwing her other heel in his direction before she grabbed the phone from the table.

(-o-)

As I walked into the room, all eyes fell on me, almost in disbelief. I took a deep breath as I scratched the back of my neck, feeling a bit uncomfortable. The uneasy feeling didn't last long as Rudi ran up towards me and pulled me into a tight hug as if I was going to be lost forever if he'd let go. I wrapped my arms around him and laid my forehead on his shoulder, just as I felt him take a breath of relief.

If I could, I wasn't going to tell them what I did. In my back pocket was my phone. I thought I lost it while being forced in Team Miasma's new hideout, but one of the grunts found it. Before I was allowed to leave, I had to go through a lot in order to make sure I'd go through with my end of the bargain.

The minute I called Team Miasma for help was the minute I would be forced to help them in return. In other words, Team Miasma would help when this thing was practically over.

One phone call, that was all I get. I only had one chance to ask for their help.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Rudi warned. "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

Rudi wouldn't let go of me, but I didn't blame him. For over  twenty-four hours, I was with Team Miasma. They thought I was with Team Oblivion.

By the time I was able to leave, I flew to the nearest Pokémon Center to heal my Pokémon. Reports of Braviary Man had scattered the news. Being that he was looking for me, I called the one person that could reach him. Once called, I came straight back to the hideout, finding everyone in the training room.

"As much as I like seeing this little reunion, we have other problems to worry about." Hilbert's voice cut through.

I pulled away from the hug, digging my hands in my pockets. In the corner of my eye, I could see Rudi scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. As much as I hated to admit it, Hilbert was right.

Hilda stood beside him and flicked the brunette on the side of the head. Hilbert shot Hilda a nasty look, but he didn't retaliate.

The girl rolled her eyes, before muttering something under her breath. Rudi and I watched as Hilbert's eyes widened before he glared even more at her, muttering something back to her. Hilda smirked.

"Continuing onto what really matters here." Hilbert coughed, causing Hilda's face to drop in disappointment. "We need to get back to training and figuring out when Team Oblivion will strike next."

Everyone looked at me, and it was at that moment I realized I had to tell them what happened because they thought I had just escaped Team Oblivion's clutches.

I nodded my head in agreement. "We won't be alone this time. While the Krait Twins seemed to have taken me, it wasn't because of Team Oblivion, but Team Miasma."

Rudi looked at me. "I thought they disbanded."

"I did too," I softly agreed as my stomach tightened. There wasn't any way around it, so I looked down at the ground. "Apparently, they've been looking for someone instead. The important thing is that they don't want to side with Team Oblivion. They'll help us out. So at least now we have eyes and ears everywhere."

"What deal did you have to make with them?" Rudi whispered.

I avoided his gaze. I'd tell them that much, but I wasn't ready to tell them what kind of deal I made.

"It doesn't matter," Hilbert said. "If Sylvia thinks we can trust them temporarily, that's good enough for me. Hilda, N, and I've been battling Team Oblivion for years now."

Hilda sighed. "That still doesn't help solve the major problem here. I mean, we don't know where they're at, and they're not making their attacks known to the public. It's still impossible."

The brunette looked over towards her counterpart, but he didn't return the gaze as Hilbert just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me.

"Where is N anyways?" I asked.

Hilbert shrugged. "Probably visiting his sisters to see if they have any information. He'll be back soon."

So Team Plasma was still out there? I shifted uncomfortably at this new information. There was no way I was going to trust that man. After all, he seemed off. He was definitely hiding something, especially seeing how awkward he could be. N had to still be a member of Team Plasma, that was the only explanation. As a member of Team Plasma, no, the leader of Team Plasma, he couldn't be trusted.

I took a deep breath, realizing I couldn't say anything about this yet, not when Hilda and Hilbert would defend him. Instead, I'd just have to get Rudi alone and let him know what I think. Right now, he and Rena were the only ones I could trust.

"Sylvia! Thank Arceus you're alright!"

We all turned around to see Rena running as fast as she could towards us in heels. For a moment, I was impressed that she could even run in them, but that was short lived as she ended up tripping over her own two feet and came crashing down to the ground. Behind her was a dark haired man with green eyes, holding a travel mug in one hand and a laptop in the other. He walked past Rena without giving her a second look. It took me a bit until I realized he was Isaac Nox. Something seemed different about him. Just by the way he walked, he seemed a bit more confidence than usual.

It didn't matter who he was. Seeing Rena trip and not doing anything about it was just plain rude. I quickly ran towards Rena, whose face turned red as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry about that. I'm such a klutz sometimes."

I helped her up to her feet. Rena then glared at the inventor, before shaking her head.

"Look, I'm glad we're all back together," Rena quickly said as she faced me, "and I know now is not a good time, but I think we need to rethink on how we do things."

"What do you mean, rethink," Hilbert demanded. "What do you think we've been doing for years? Eating cookies and watching Team Oblivion destroy whatever they can?"

"No!" Rena snapped as she looked at him. She paused a bit as she started to tap her hand on her leg. "Look," she calmed down a bit. "Nox and I were talking and it made me realize something. What if Team Oblivion has a controlled randomized pattern that they're going by?"

We all stared at her, not entirely sure what she was getting at. Rena drew in a short breath, as if frustrated that we weren't understanding.

Rudi looked at his sister. "First off, that seems to be very impossible to figure out, and seconded, how did you figure this out?"

His sister's face turned red, causing me to do a double-take. I didn't think I'd ever seen Rena blush before. As if taking notice, the blue-haired girl looked down.

"I was doing some thinking, remembering some people in my life," Rena claimed, before shaking her head and looking over towards Hilbert. "It doesn't matter though. What does matter is that maybe we need to look into other names. For all we know, they could be hiding anywhere."

Hilbert frowned. "That would make things a bit more difficult."

Nox cleared his voice. We all snapped our heads in his direction, seeing the older man leaning against the wall as he held a laptop in one hand and his mug in the other. He lowered the drink to the ground before turning his laptop in our direction.

"To you, yes, but you now have a mastermind on your team," Nox stated.

Rena coughed, but Nox didn't seem to notice.

The man turned the laptop over, showing a map of Unova. The map had a trail that flickered on it.

"You can thank me later," Nox claimed as he smiled. "Because I think I know exactly where these people are located at and have calculated where they're going to strike next."

Author's Note:

By far my favorite chapter to write (which is surprising cuz I so loved writing the White Forest scene with Rudi and Sylvia). I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

No question for day, but I hope you're all having a wonderful day! Bye.