The minute Rudi and I walked into the Pokémon Center, a sixteen-year old girl with pink knots ran towards me wrapping her arms around me. I smiled as I returned the hug, feeling the girl tearing up on my shoulder.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Rudi smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets. For a moment, we just stood there in the middle of the Pokémon Center. As we did, I could feel some Trainers giving us weird looks, but I didn't care.

What mattered now was that Joy was back safe and sound.

"I'm sorry," I heard Joy cry.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," I told her. "You're safe now, and we're going to keep you safe."

Joy didn't say a word. All I felt was her head nod as her arms refused to let go of me. Who could blame her? It had been three months since we'd seen each other. I could only imagine how scared she must've been. No one deserved to go through that.

When Joy was ready to let go of me, Rudi and I ushered her to a nearby table and got her some food. It was either bad Pokémon Center food or wait two hours to get back to the Rhea's. I wasn't sure how well they fed Joy, but seeing how she was anxiously waiting for the food. I could tell she was probably malnourished.

Musharna sat on her lap, sleeping peacefully while I let Audino and Swanna outside their Poké Balls. Seeing the girl, they stayed as close to her side as possible. Joy always loved working with them, and seeing some familiar Pokémon had to be good for her.

Joy smiled at the sight of the Pokémon and pet them until the food arrived. Only then did she rip her attention away from the two familiar Pokémon and started to dig into her food.

I didn't eat much of what was in front of me, making me regret every Lava Cookie I ate earlier. It didn't matter as I watched Joy devour every bit of food on her plate as if she hadn't eaten in years. Then again, knowing how Team Oblivion was and seeing how skinny she looked, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't feed her.

When she finished, I pushed my plate towards her. Joy didn't say a word as she started eating what was left over. Rudi just looked at her in shock. Then again, seeing a sixteen year-old out-eat Rudi—a twenty-one year-old with a rather large appetite—well, it was a bit shocking.

At least she was safe.

Joy slumped back in her chair wearing a huge smile on her face.

"That was the best meal I've had in ages," Joy beamed.

I smiled. "I'm just happy you're back."

Joy's smile slowly disappeared as she looked over at Rudi, who sat right beside me. "Back when I was with, um, Oblivion, they kept mentioning how you and Swanna Girl kept ruining their plans. Every time you did, they'd, they'd..."

Instead of finishing her thought, Joy looked down at a her hand, before she started to rub the black bruise that was on it. It didn't take long for her to pull part of the oversized, long black sleeves of her shirt over her hands, as if she was cold.

It was then I realized how different she looked. Besides the obvious change of clothing, which was an oversized black long-sleeved shirt and dark jeans, Joy looked nothing like she did before. Her pink hair fell in knots. Cuts and bruises covered parts of her skin that was exposed, but that didn't mean there weren't more of them. There were bags under her eyes, and for a while, I started to notice that she wasn't making eye contact. I couldn't imagine what she went through. Whatever happened to her wasn't her fault. It was Rudi's and mine.

At least she was safe, I reminded myself. I'm going to keep her safe.

"Joy, if we'd known Team Oblivion would've done that, we wouldn't ha—" Rudi started before Joy interrupted her.

"No!" Joy's voice snapped as she looked up at Rudi. "I'm glad you didn't hold back. They deserved every last thing they got."

Her voice, it was full of hatred, something I'd never imagined Joy to have. I should know. She lived at the Pokémon Center with me, and even on the bad days, she kept a cheerful attitude. It was impossible to make her sad or angry. Joy was just joyful.

I must warn you, her cheerful demeanor has changed.

Lethe tried to warn me in that letter. I just didn't believe it. In my mind, there was no way of breaking Joy's optimistic personality.

Joy looked over at me with her glossy blue eyes. "That's why you do it, isn't it? You became Swanna Girl to stop bad guys from hurting other people. I can't believe I didn't see it before. You help Pokémon as a nurse just like you help people as a superhero."

My mouth fell open. It shouldn't have been a surprise, seeing as Team Oblivion had her for three months, but I was still shocked.

Before I could answer, Rudi laughed. "I've told you, Swanna Girl just shows up. I think I'd know if my girlfriend was her."

I elbowed Rudi in the arm and shot him a look. The man gave me a look as if asking what he did. I sighed, realizing what had to be done.

"What he means to say," I covered, "is that he's trying to keep that a secret because I don't want people finding out."

Rudi looked at me in disbelief, but I gave him a reassuring smile. Of all people, I trusted Joy. She looked up to Rudi, as I remembered those countless times she'd listen to him reminisce those days. Joy didn't mind. I could tell she enjoyed them. It was just I never interjected in those stories, letting her believe that Swanna Girl wasn't me. I turned my head to look at her, seeing her face drop a bit. I guess a part of her didn't want to believe it.

Maybe I should've told her in the beginning.

"Joy, I'm sorry," I apologized as I grabbed her hands with mine. "Those stories Rudi has told you are all true, but I never wanted that life. It's like you said. I only do it so that I can help people, otherwise, I would've never become a super in the first place."

The sixteen year old just shook her head. "It's not that, it's just, Team Oblivion did some things...I don't—I mean, I should, but—I...How can someone be so mean?"

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Rudi look down at his empty plate while I squeezed Joy's hands with mine. "I don't know, but you're safe, and you never have to see any of them ever again."

The young girl nodded her head as a tear escaped her eye. "Thanks, but is it crazy for me to hope they're not all bad? I mean there's no way that every—"

Joy didn't have time to say anything else as a scream was heard. Rudi and I quickly turned around to see five members of Team Oblivion standing there. I recognized the one as Lethe, who always seemed to be there whenever Team Oblivion attacked. He stood in the back, avoiding everyone's eyes as he nervously twisted one of the three Poké Balls on his belt. Other than him, there were two female grunts and two other men.

The Trainers quickly ran to the back of the Pokémon Center while Rudi and I stood our ground.

I looked back at the young Joy, realizing we had just gotten her back. There was no way I was going to let her go now.

"Joy, I need you to hide. Take Musharna and Audino with you," I instructed as I pulled out my pen with the Key Stone on it. "If you need anything, they'll protect you."

I tossed her the Key Stone, which she quickly caught and took off with Musharna and Audino behind her. I wasn't sure if that Key Stone would work, but I needed to try. Hopefully it wouldn't come down to it in the end.

If anything happens to her...No, I couldn't think like that, not right now.

When I turned around, I grabbed my phone and quickly called Rena's number. I kept it in my back pocket, knowing she'd hear what was going on when she picked up.

Right now, I had other things to worry about. I turned around to look at the five grunts. My free hand grabbed Mienfoo's Poké Ball. Rudi did the same with his Braviary and newly-caught Ralts.

All five of the grunts started to take off to where Joy was running, but I couldn't let them take her, not when we just got her back. I sprinted in front of them and without hesitating, I punched one of the women right in the jaw.

Despite the little training I had, the woman fell backwards. One of the male grunts rushed to her side to see how she was doing, giving me time to throw Mienfoo out. Once out, I noticed a Shadow Ball hurtling towards us. Mienfoo and I jumped out of the way while Swanna flew and deflected it with a Wing Attack before flying in front of me.

I turned to look, seeing Lethe standing right in front of me with his Stunky and an Umbreon. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Rudi battling two grunt on his own with Braviary while Ralts was making sure the other two grunts—the one I had punched and the one that had come to her rescue—didn't leave the area. At least Rudi and I had the same goal in mind: make sure Team Oblivion didn't get Joy again.

Everyone else seemed to have evacuated the Pokémon Center already, which was a relief. If one person saw me fighting like this, my days of being a Pokémon Nurse could be over. I didn't want that to happen.

"Just you and me now, Sylvia," Lethe claimed.

As much as I hated to hear him use my name, I was glad he didn't call me Swanna Girl when I wasn't in that attire. It just surprised me that he was willing to fight after he had let Joy escape. That was, unless that was all a trap. They wanted me out in the open, unprepared. Luckily for me, help was on the way.

"I don't care who you are," I said loudly enough, so my phone could pick up the words from my back pocket. "But you crossed the line the minute you took Joy away. Now, you're all going to pay."

Lethe stood there dumbstruck for a moment, allowing me to call my first attacks: an Ice Beam from Swanna and a Force Palm attack from Mienfoo. Both Pokémon leapt into action, hitting their targets head on.

Neither of them move as their Trainer just stood there for a moment. I was about ready to have them attack once more when Lethe finally opened his mouth for an attack.

"Shadow Ball!" He yelled.

Both his Umbreon and Stunky started to charge up the attacks. Before they sent them flying, I decided to counter it with an attack on my own.

"Mienfoo, jump behind Swanna. And Swanna, use Protect!" I yelled.

My Pokémon did as they were told, protecting themselves from the attack. The two Shadow Balls flew towards my Pokémon, hitting the protective shield before blowing up into smoke. When the smoke faded, I called the next attack.

"Mienfoo, jump on Swanna's back and fly up!" I called.

Swanna ducked down to let the fighting Pokémon hop on his back. Once on, he flew up, gaining the advantage.

Lethe didn't call for an attack as he just smirked.

Whatever he had planned, we had to be ready for it.

"Use Ice Beam and Swift combo!" I yelled before whispering. "Then move into an Aerial Ace and Force Palm on the opponents before the smoke's gone."

My Pokémon nodded as they threw their attacks from the air, which hurled towards the two Pokémon. Lethe did nothing to protect his Pokémon as the attack hit right away.

Only, when the attack disappeared, both Umbreon and Stunky were gone, causing a bit of confusion for Swanna and Mienfoo as they couldn't perform their next attacks. I looked around, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Funny how illusions can play a trick on people," Lethe schooled. "Makes my job so much easier."

Before I could ask what he meant, I felt something hit my back, throwing me down to the ground. I looked up, seeing Stunky clinging to me. While Stunky waited for an order, I quickly jerked my body to fling the Pokémon off of me. Thank goodness Stunky's didn't weigh much.

I stumbled onto my feet, seeing Mienfoo taking the opportunity to battle Stunky on her own while Swanna was too busy trying to battle a Zorua that I didn't see before. I would've helped my Pokémon, but someone grabbed my arms and slammed me into the wall.

By the time I could process what was going on, I saw that one of the blonde haired, female grunts had pinned me to the wall. Her one hand dug into my shoulder as she pulled back her other one into a fist.

"Your boyfriend's a lot stronger than you are," the girl said. "To think you're supposed to be some sort of superhero."

I tried yanking myself away, even stomping on the person's foot, but the blonde grunt did nothing. When I turned my head, I noticed Rudi struggling as he was fighting three grunts on his own. His Braviary was helping his Ralts battle some of their Pokémon, trying to get them to stop, but it was too hard.

"Let her go," I heard Lethe warn.

I looked behind me, seeing the blonde haired grunt scowling as she had almost punched me in the face with her fist. She looked back and shot Lethe a look. He didn't do a thing. All he did was stand there crossing his arms over his chest.

"You take orders from me, not the other way around, Lethe," The grunt hissed.

I turned to look at the boy as he cracked his knuckles. In a blink of an eye, I found myself free from the grunt's grasp, realizing that Lethe had tackled his own teammate off of me. When I looked down at the ground, I found the two wrestling on the ground.

"Go!" Lethe yelled.

"I must ask you, whose side are you on, Lethe?" The blond grunt asked as I slowly started to back away.

The brunette grunt slowly loosened his grasp on the grunt, making me realize my hesitation could've very well been the death of me.

I quickly turned away and ran towards Rudi, who was somewhat losing the battle against the three grunts. He was being held from the back while another grunt punched him like a punching bag. The third grunt just watched in amusement.

No one messed with my boyfriend.

I snuck up behind the grunt that was throwing all the punches and kicked him right behind the knee. He stumbled forwards a bit, giving Rudi time to jerk his way out of the other one's grasp and throw a punch at him.

"You're going to regret that," the grunt I kicked claimed as he turned towards me.

Knowing that they were using Rudi as a punching bag, there was no way I was going to regret it. But I quickly figured out what I meant as he swung his leg around and knocked me onto my back. My head slammed on the ground, luckily not hard enough to crack it open, but enough for a pounding sensation to come thrashing through.

"Stunky," I heard Lethe's voice yell, "Use Confuse Ray!"

I tried sitting up, only to find a gold sphere circling around my head. When it disappeared, I felt disoriented. The room started spinning.

Somehow, the five members multiplied into hundreds and Rudi was nowhere to be found. I looked, seeing Swanna and Mienfoo had both fainted, but the Pokémon around them didn't stop fighting.

I had to help Mienfoo and Swanna. I turned around, and stumbled onto my feet, only, tripping and nearly fell head first onto the ground.

The room started to rock back in forth, just like the boats at the Castelia City port would do. I smiled. Rudi took me on a date there once. It was nice as the two of us just sat there, enjoying the view. I remembered how the boat would rock back and forth.

Someone grabbed the collar of my shirt, distracting me from my daydream before throwing me into something hard. I looked around, noticing a table was underneath me. Where was I? For a moment, I was on a boat with Rudi. Looking around, I found people fighting in a Pokémon Center.

That was when a man with long green hair held my shoulders and looked me in the eye. He seemed familiar, but he kept multiplying into three men and shrinking back into one. It gave me a headache just looking at this guy as he had a stern look on his face.

"You need to snap out of it," the man said. "This isn't you."

I tilted my head, looking a the man, realizing who he was when I caught a glimpse of the odd necklace around his neck. My eyes widened as I balled my hand into a fist and tried punching him in the face.

"You're him! You're the leader of Team Plasma! Get away!" I screamed the moment the green-haired man grabbed my hand.

"That's not true," N painfully protested.

I took my other hand and tried punching him, this time, landing the attack right into his chest. N didn't seemed to be hurt, as he started to twist the arm he grabbed. I yelped in pain, before he pushed me on top of the table.

The ceiling started to spin faster and faster.

"You're under a confusion attack," N diagnosed. "You won't remember any of this."

Before I could as what he meant, I noticed him trying to force his hand in my mouth as there was something in it. I tried pushing him away, but N was stronger. Weird. He was built like a twig, but he held me down with ease. I didn't have a choice but to swallow whatever kind of berry he had shoved down my throat.

It was then the room stopped spinning. N let go of me, making me realize my mistake. I jerked up looking around, seeing Hilda, Hilbert, Rena, and Nox all fighting crime. Well, Nox had his Klinklang out to help him, but other than that, Team Oblivion seemed to be losing the fight.

That was until I saw Nox's Pokémon faint. One of the members grabbed him and shoved him through a wall as they disappeared.

Ponyta crap! This couldn't be good.

I pushed myself from the table before stumbling a bit. Someone grabbed my arm. When I looked back, I noticed N shaking his head.

As much as I hated to admit it, everything was already too late as every member of Team Oblivion had somehow disappeared. I looked around, seeing the state of all my friends. Hilda and Hilbert looked at me, both with a scared expression while I saw Rena rushing over towards her brother, who was leaning on one of the tables, holding his head.

Hilbert didn't stay afraid for long as he marched up to me with an angry expression. "What in the Distortion World was that? You seriously called us for five grunts? You should've been able to take care of them yourself!"

I flinched as I looked down. This was all my fault. I was too weak. I should've figured it out sooner.

"Hilbert, it wasn't her fault," I heard Hilda's soft voice defend.

"Excuse me? She jeopardized everything. They have the inventor, and if that's not all, she had to let everyone know N's here," Hilbert fumed. "She's going to get us all in trouble!"

"It's okay," N said.

"It's not!" Hilbert yelled.

During the fighting, I saw something in the corner of my eyes. I turned around seeing a purple feline Pokémon nudging the limp body clad in black. The person didn't move, and while the trio of friends were arguing about my mistake of calling N out for his past crimes, I carefully slid off the table I was sitting on and walked towards the figure.

My eyes widened as I found a boy laying on the ground with his sunglasses still covering his eyes as his black beanie was thrown off his head, showing off his shaggy brown hair. I knelt down, pressing my two fingers on his neck, feeling a light pulse.

The Team Oblivion member wasn't dead, but he was unconscious and needed some sort of medical attention.

"Guys, I think you need to see this," I called.

When I looked back, I noticed N, Hilbert, and Hilda all walking towards me before they stopped to look at who was lying on the ground.

"They might have gotten Nox," I heard Hilda's positive voice break the silence.

"But we might have just gotten their most valuable member," Hilbert finished. "We can work with that. After all he's done, I think it's time that karma made a visit."

"No! Don't you dare hurt him," a voice begged.

We all turned around to see the young Joy standing there, with her hands covering her mouth as if she was scared to say anymore.

Only, Joy didn't stay quiet as she slowly dropped her hands from her mouth. "He's good. I know he is."

"Lethe's a criminal," Hilbert snapped. "He's a part of Team Oblivion. End of story."

Joy's eyes started to water as she shook her head. "Don't, please, don't do it. He's good. I know he is."

I stood up and walked towards Joy but by the time I got close to her, she pushed passed me and ran towards the teenager.

I'll try and keep her alive as much as I can. It's hard to see someone my age get hurt, I remember Lethe once telling me.

Poor Joy. I watched as she protectively stood between N, Hilbert, and Hilda, extending her arms as if they weren't going to get past her. Her face was full of determination, as if they weren't going to hurt the boy.

What did Team Oblivion do to her to change her?

"I'm sorry, Joy," Hilbert claimed as he walked towards her, "but we need answers."

"I can give you answers!" Joy shouted. "I was there! Just let him be!"

"You were nothing more than a prisoner," Hilbert disagreed, "and it's all because of him. Can't you see he works for them? Why are you defending him?"

"Because he saved my life!" Joy claimed.

Just then, someone burst through the front doors of the Pokémon Center. I turned my head to see an Officer Jenny standing there beside another Officer Jenny, one that I recognized too well. Mistralton City was far away from Nacrene City, being on opposite sides of Unova. How Officer Jenny from Nacrene City was here was beyond me.

Her eyes narrowed on the green haired man. "That's him," she claimed. "Natural Harmonia Gropius, you are under arrest for leading Team Plasma."

The other officers walked around Lethe and Joy before grabbing N and handcuffing him. My eyes widened as I watched the scene. Not one officer seemed to have taken notice of Lethe's limp body on the ground. Then again, they probably just assumed for him to be dead.

I watched in shock as N didn't struggle. The green-haired man dropped his head as he let two of the officers flanked his side and another one handcuff his hands behind his back.

"No! You've got it wrong!" Hilda protested as she lunged herself towards the officers.

She would've probably gotten there too, but Hilbert grabbed Hilda's arm and yanked her back. N didn't even look at her as he looked back at me instead. His eyes were full of confusion as to what was going on.

"Keep them safe," N begged.

I didn't say a word as the officers pushed him out of the Pokémon Center. Despite the crime scene before us, both Officer Jennys turned around and took him out of the Pokémon Center, leaving all of us with Lethe.

When I turned to look at Hilda and Hilbert, I noticed Hilbert holding back his friend, preventing her from making matters worse. She did everything she could to get out of Hilbert's grasp, but it was worthless.

"You've got the wrong idea!" Hilda argued. "N's the good guy here! He's not who you think he is!"

It was then I realized they knew N must've worked for Team Plasma at one point, but being that they worked with him, and seeing how much Hilda was trying to get the police to stop, I started to realize something else.

N might not have been who everyone thought he was. After what happened today, it was clear to see that he wasn't bad. There was something clearly off with him, but recalling his actions as he saved me from being completely lost, it just proved his heart was in the right place. Maybe he had changed since his days of being in Team Plasma, or maybe there was something no one seemed to know about him other than Hilbert and Hilda.

Someone groaned behind me. I turned to see Rudi and Rena standing behind me. Rudi had his arm around his sister who was helping him stand as he clearly looked beat up.

I turned to look back to see Hilbert still trying to comfort his friend, which seemed weird. Hilbert always had a cold personality. When he was around Hilda, it was as if he wasn't as much as a cold human being as much as he was trying to stay strong for her.

Guess that would've been because she had been battling this fight longer. The longer someone was involved in this line of work, the harder it must've been for them. I turned my head to see Joy trying to wake Lethe up, but he didn't stir.

It was then a question came to mind. A question I think that was on everyone's mind.

"What are we going to do with Lethe?"