Chapter 13

"Abram, use Razor Wind! Green Ivy, use Vine Whip!" White commanded Fiona's pokemon as she stood next to Amos.

The Absol and Bulbasaur gave loud cries as they used their assigned attacks against a cream puff-like pokemon. The wild pokemon seemed to have wandered away from its native route to Route 5 since the route its kind inhabited was just beyond the next town. Fiona wanted to catch the pokemon, but she was unable to give her pokemon orders since she had no voice, so White and Amos helped her command.

The Swirlix gave a cry and tackled Abram. However, the Fairy Type merely bounced off the Absol's chest. Though the wild pokemon had the type advantage, Abram had almost ten times the strength the Swirlix did. Because of this, the Dark Type simply looked at its chest and scratched the place the Swirlix hit it.

Amos felt Fiona tug on his coat sleeve. He turned to see her holding his Pokedex out to him. He had let her borrow his Pokedex so she could see her Bulbasaur and Absol's moves. She was pointing at the Swirlix's health bar, which showed that it was halfway to fainting.

"You can't use the pokeball yet," He told her for what felt like the twentieth time. "Let's wait until the bar turns red."

Fiona looked disappointed and turned back to White. The little girl was anxious about getting a new pokemon. She had been wanting to throw a pokeball at the Swirlix after every turn.

"Abram, Toxic!" yelled White after checking with Fiona on the next attacks. "Green Ivy, Leech Seed!"

The Absol growled and its horn began to glow purple. It jabbed the Cotton Candy Pokemon with it and leapt back. As the Swirlix gave another weak cry, the Bulbasaur shot seeds out of its plant bulb. The seeds landed in the Fairy Type's puffy, sticky fur. Vines instantly grew from the seeds and twisted around the Swirlix's body, binding it where it stood. The vines glowed as it drained some of the wild pokemon's health, and transferred the energy to Green Ivy.

This time, Fiona actually shoved the Pokedex in Amos' face, showing him that the Swirlix was now in the red zone. He heard White snicker as he sighed and pulled a pokeball out of his bag.

"You know how to use this, right?" He asked Fiona as he handed it to her. "Just press the button in the center and throw it at the wild pokemon."

Fiona nodded eagerly and stepped closer to the Swirlix. She pressed the center button, and tossed it a bit clumsily at the pokemon. The Fairy Type was sucked into the open pokeball, causing the pokeball to immediately snap shut and start rattling. It shook for a few seconds before breaking open and releasing the wild pokemon.

The Swirlix broke free of the vines and lunged at Green Ivy. It wagged its tail at a great speed, and it stirred up a mysterious wind that glowed pink. It then directed the wind at the Bulbasaur and blew the small pokemon into a tree. It yelped and collapsed onto the ground. The Fairy Type cringed a little as the poison from Abram's Toxic attack. One more move and the Swirlix would faint.

"Try this pokeball, Fiona," White said to Fiona, handing her a bright pink pokeball. "This one will work a bit better under these conditions."

As the young girl threw the capturing device at the wild pokemon again, Amos recognized the pokeball as a Heal Ball. It worked best against pokemon with low health and a status condition. If it successfully captured the pokemon, it healed the pokemon's wounds.

The Swirlix was once again sucked into the pokeball and fell back onto the ground. The Heal Ball rattled back and forth as the Fairy Type moved around inside. After a few moments, the pokeball clicked and became silent.

Fiona squealed and ran over to the pokeball. Amos straightened up as White followed Fiona over to her new pokemon. Unlike everyone else, Abram didn't look very happy at the idea of a new team member. However, the Absol still trailed after the little girl with Green Ivy. The Swirlix looked a lot happier and friendly now that it was fully healed. The puffy pokemon licked Fiona's face and wiggled its tail, making the red haired girl giggle.

"The Pokedex says that its a male pokemon," White explained, handing Amos back his Pokedex. "I hope it's ok that she gets her own pokemon..."

"I'm sure it's fine, White," he assured her. "I'm kinda curious on what she'll name it."

"Agreed, and I'm sure we'll have an answer shortly."

Fiona had just taken out a notepad and pen that they had gotten for her. Since writing was her only way of talking, everyone had decided that she should always have a notepad and pen at hand. The young girl had been very happy to get the notepad.

After writing something on a page, Fiona got up and ran over to the trainers. White took the notepad she was handing to her and read the writing on it.

"That's a very nice name, Fiona," White told the young girl encouragingly as she handed the notepad to Amos. He squinted to read the messy little kid writing.

I'm gonna name him Mister Poofy.

"That's a cool name," said Amos, giving Fiona back her notepad. She smiled at him sheepishly before skipping back over to her pokemon.

"You know, Mira was around Fiona's age when she got her pokemon, and she kinda regrets the names she gave them." White informed Amos, smirking a little.

"Well Ferggy and Mister Poofy are unusual names," he admitted. "But you're not gonna make her change the name, are you?"

"No, of course not! Mister Poofy is her pokemon, not mine! By the way, speaking of Mira, where is everyone? We were all supposed to meet here."

Today was the day that they all started traveling. However, they decided to split into groups when they were traveling on the routes. Everyone wanted to go see something different, so they were going to see how splitting up worked out. White was going to be the one deciding the groups.

"Well Danny is attempting to avoid Sky Blue, and Margaret is always with Danny, so they're both probably together," Amos suggested with a shrug. "Mira and Leia still hang out without each other, and Sky-"

"Is most likely sitting at the bottom of a pond?" snorted White. "I must agree."

Everyone had noticed that Sky Blue had already gotten Danny living in fear, which surprised them quite a bit. From what Amos could tell, the rookie was trying to avoid taking battling lessons and being the one-eyed trainer's apprentice. Unfortunately, the word "no" isn't usually in Sky's vocabulary.

"They're all probably still getting here," Amos continued, looking around at the trees. "After all, this route is a place to train."

He heard the older trainer grunt in reply. He had noticed that White had been a little more on edge for awhile now. She was more jumpy, even anxious.

"You're scared, aren't you?" the young trainer asked her quietly.

"What?" His friend snapped sharply. "No, I'm not!"

Amos raised an eyebrow and replied, "Whitney, nobody would blame you for being nervous."

She hissed and crossed her arms. Even though he was one of the only boys that White wouldn't hit, he still stepped away from her.

"I just don't want to fail anyone," White finally told him, not looking him in the face. "Every time I go on a journey like this, I lose someone. Sky Blue has already been ambushed, and I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Did you ever find out who attacked him?" Amos interrupted her curiously.

"Not really," she admitted. "Sky said that the attacker wore a cloak, so he never saw her face."

"Her? The attacker was a woman?"

"Apparently so. He also said that the attacker's voice was a woman's. Besides that, there are no clues."

"To be honest, I doubt that woman will come back now that you're here." He said, reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder.

But White shrugged his hand away and growled, "You'd be surprised how many times I've failed Sky Blue and Mira! I'm responsible for their suffering!"

"No you're not, White."

"Yes I am! They would both be better off without me!"

"And yet they're still here by your side. From what I can tell, it's because of you that they're here with us. They both love you, White, even more than the rest of us."

As Amos said this, an odd feeling settled in his stomach. The feeling was waying heavily on his chest. He didn't know why or what made him feel like this.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up," White spoke after a minute, bringing Amos out of his thoughts. "But it's gonna take a lot more than that to get me off the ground. Besides, I think I hear someone coming."

Sure enough, he could hear something or someone running through the trees. Even Fiona stopped playing with her pokemon to see who it was. Amos could hear the shrill voices of pokemon.

"FLETCHER, STOP CHASING THEM!" cried Petunia's voice.

"No way!" Fletcher snapped back.

"STOP ARGUING WITH THE FEATHER BRAIN AND HELP ME!"

Samson the Charmander was being chased by Fletcher the Fletchling for the third time in two days. Petunia the Squritle was clinging to Fletcher's tail feathers, while Samson was running around with what appeared to be a sword in a sheath.

"Hey, quit it!" White growled at the Fletchling as Samson hid behind her. "Your trainer told you not to go chasing pokemon around for fun!"

Fletcher glared at the trainer, but it pulled a convincing face of remorse when Margaret ran into the clearing.

"Oh Fletcher, what did I tell you about attacking other trainers' pokemon?" Margaret huffed weakly, holding out her arm to the Fletchling, who hopped onto it.

"Where's Danny?" Amos asked the rookie.

"Well, Loopy ran into one of those invisible walls and spun away with Sowny," she sighed. "Danny went to go look for them."

White snarled furiously, "I told Sky to break all of those barriers!"

"White, those barriers are invisible," he pointed out. "You don't know they're there until you hit them."

"That's not an excuse! I'll make him go back and break them all!"

"I'm afraid I broke some of them already, if not all of them."

Danny had found his way to the meeting place. He was holding Sowny, who had recently evolved into a Swadloon. Loopy was hiding in her trainer's coat hood.

"I kinda wish you had left them there." White said stiffly.

"And let another unfortunate trainer keep running into them?" asked Danny, handing Sowny back to Margaret. "It was easier just to do it myself."

"Sky Blue probably left them on purpose," Amos sighed. "It's normal for him to do that."

"Whatever, let's move over this depressing subject."

"Your own foster brother is a depressing topic to discuss?"

"Sometimes. Now, I'm guessing this is Spirit, right?" White asked Danny, taking the sheathed sword from Samson and bringing the conversation to a halt.

The rookie simply nodded in reply and took his Honedge from the older trainer. Danny's Honedge, Spirit, was one of the weirdest pokemon Amos had ever seen. Spirit was an eerie pokemon, especially with it one blue eye on its hilt. It had no mouth, no body parts, it was just a regular sword with an eye and a life.

"Who else are we waiting for now?" Margaret asked, looking from one trainer to the other.

"We're still waiting for Mira, Leia, and Sky." replied White. "They're always late, well, Sky Blue and Mira are, anyways."

"Can't we leave Sky Blue behind?" Danny asked hopefully.

White snorted and answered, "Sorry, but if I gotta suffer through this, he has to suffer too. It's only fair."

"So what did he do to deserve all this, exactly?" said Amos, raising an eyebrow.

"You really need to ask? Well, it's either he comes with us, or he goes back to burning down people's houses."

"Um...he burned down people's homes?" Margaret repeated quietly, sounding perplexed.

Before either White or Amos could respond, Fiona ran over to Margaret and Danny. The small girl was carrying her new pokemon, and held Mister Poofy up to the other trainers.

"Who's this?" inquired Danny, kneeling down to look at Fiona's fluffy pokemon.

"That's Mister Poofy." Amos explained.

Margaret looked even more confused and asked, "Mister Poofy? She caught it by herself?"

"Yes," answered White. "She chose the attacks, me and Amos just helped her give them out."

Amos saw the rookie adjust her maroon glasses as she looked the cotton candy-like pokemon up and down. While Danny and Sky Blue were having their battle, Amos and everyone else had gotten to know Margaret. When he had first approached her, she had gotten extremely nervous and kept speaking very quietly. Her voice had gotten stronger the more they had gotten to know each other.

However, there were two things that he had noticed about her that he found strange. One was that she was never seen without a cloak or a long jacket, and even Danny admitted that she wore jackets and cloaks even in hot weather for some unknown reason. The second was that she almost seemed to be able to hear the voices of pokemon. He was not entirely sure if he was right, but when her pokemon spoke, her responses made it seem like she understood them.

A thudding noise echoed around the forest after a moment. They all turned after hearing grunting and growling. A light blue alligator-like pokemon, and a dark greenish yellow dinosaur-like pokemon came into the clearing. Amos recognized the two pokemon as Mira's Feraligatr and Haxorus.

"We're here!" Mira chirped, dismounting from Ferggy the Feraligatr. "Sorry about being late!"

"Somebody was a bit wall-happy and set up lots of invisible obstacles," explained Leia as she leapt off Francesca the Haxorus.

Amos saw White roll her eyes at this as Margaret spoke up and said, "Well I guess that just leaves Sky Blue."

"I still say we should just leave him behind." Danny snorted.

"I agree." said Amos without thinking.

"Awww, but I want him to stay!" whined Mira, tugging on White's gloved mechanical arm.

Before White could reply, there was a loud pop as Sky Blue, his Squritle, and Shane teleported next to Francesca. Amos had noticed that Sky was using the same two pokemon quite often. He was still using his Gallade for support, and Scotty was becoming his assistant pokemon.

"Ok, let's get this party started!" The one-eyed trainer announced, throwing his satchel at Amos as Scotty gave a loud, "Aye!"

"Sky, you're carrying your own stuff, don't go dumping it on others." White growled as she took Sky's satchel off Amos and weighing it with her arm. "Seriously, what's even in here? It weighs a ton!"

"I keep all my stuff in there, obviously." Sky Blue retorted.

"I saw him shove some weird mechanical things in there," piped up Leia. "They looked like half finished technology."

"That it explains it, then." the older trainer snorted, throwing the satchel back to its owner. "Just keep your luggage to yourself. Now, should I start so we can all get away from each other?"

When everyone nodded or gave a yes, White started to speak again.

"Right, now it's been decided that most of us are traveling in groups of three," she continued, looking at each trainer in turn. "But there will be one group of two. The only person who gets to choose their group is Fiona, since she is the youngest."

"Aw, why can't we choose who we want to go with?" interrupted Sky in a whiney voice.

"Because then you would possibly end up by yourself." Amos answered without thinking. He felt his face turn red as the people around him exchanged looks. The only other trainer who didn't look shocked was White, who merely smirked.

Thankfully, Sky Blue had thicker skin than he looked, and simply replied in a sarcastic hurt voice, "Wow, dude, that's just harsh, I thought we were bros!"

"S-Sorry," he stuttered. "T-That came out harsher than I meant it to!"

"It's ok, we know," White assured him. "No holding back insults here. Anyway, speaking of that, I think it's best to ask who hasn't made an enemy among this group already. Raise your hand if you haven't made an enemy."

Only person besides Fiona who raised their hand was Margaret. Nobody had really noticed her raised hand since she only lifted it a little bit. However, it still surprised most of the members of the group.

"Wow, you're not even annoyed at one of us?" demanded Mira after seeing Margaret's hand.

"Um, no, n-not really," the rookie replied shyly, looking at the ground. "I found you all very nice..."

Amos glanced at White to see that she actually looked impressed by this. He too was actually a little amazed that Margaret didn't hold any negative feelings toward any of them.

"Are you serious?" said White, raising an eyebrow. "I ought ta give you a medal or something. Most people get annoyed with at least one person in this group. Well, don't worry, I won't put you with any of the weirdos today because of that."

"Who exactly are the weirdos in this?" Sky Blue asked, raising his hand.

"You're at least smart enough to figure that one for yourself, Sky. Then again, maybe not..." Amos heard White add quietly to herself.

"Can you name the groups, please?" Leia spoke up.

"Oh yeah, right. Well we're not switching around until we all reach Cyllage City, so please try and get along with your group members. So Sky Blue, Leia, and Mira are all one group. Amos will be traveling with me, and Danny and Margaret are together. Fiona can choose between coming with me and Amos or Danny and Margaret."

Fiona, who was sitting on the ground with her pokemon, looked up at the young adults as White said her name. The auburn haired girl looked from the two Unova trainers to the two Kanto trainers. She then pointed to Danny and Margaret.

"You want to go traveling with them for a couple of days?" White asked Fiona. The little girl nodded in reply.

There was a loud crack that made all of them turn around. Shane had teleported between Mira and Leia, and pulled them over to Ferggy and Francesca.

"Ok, let's go so I can leave this region!" Sky declared as his Gallade swiftly darted into the forest ahead of his teammates.

"Hey, wait!" cried Mira desperately, who immediately leapt onto her Water Type and rode after her foster brother. "We're supposed to be a group!"

"Not to mention that you forgot your Squritle!" Leia called out, getting onto her friend's Dragon Type.

She was right. Scotty, who had been attempting to become friends with Petunia, had just noticed that his trainer and teammate had left him behind. The Squritle made a loud cry and ran in the direction of the rest of his group.

"Oi!" Amos heard Scotty shout. "Trainer Sky, Sir Shane! Wait for me!"

"Ok then," White started awkwardly after the first group departed. "That was...odd. Well, at least we got one group down."

"Err, yeah," said Margaret, shifting uncomfortably. "Um, White, may I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Amos did not hear the rest of their conversation. He was watching the place where Sky Blue and the others had disappeared. The strange feeling in his stomach had not lifted. It seemed to feel even heavier every time he saw or thought of Sky.

"You're jealous, aren't you?"

The younger trainer swiveled around to see who had spoken. Danny was standing behind him, watching the younger teen. White and Margaret had walked away from the two boys to discuss something.

"W-What?" Amos stammered, stepping back a bit.

"You're jealous of Sky Blue," Danny repeated, tilting his head toward the direction that the first group had went. "It's sorta obvious."

"How do you know?"

"I know the symptoms, I can read the signs. I'm jealous everyday, so I should know." The rookie paused before adding quietly. "Some say that I'm being eaten from the inside out by it."

"Oh, I see," said Amos, unable to think of anything to say.

Danny looked away from him and stared at the ground instead. White had told Amos about Danny, so he knew what he meant when saying that jealous was eating him from the inside out. Being the younger brother of the most famous pokemon trainer in the world couldn't have been fun. Amos was an only child, so he didn't know what is was like to be overshadowed by a sibling.

"So," he started, moving to a different subject. "You know why I'm...jealous?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at this question and replied, "Well I've seen how you act around White, so I don't blame you for being envious of Sky Blue. How long have you known White, and how long has she and Sky known each other?"

"I've known White for over a year, and she's known Sky for ten years."

"I see...well look on the bright side. He might be good with the women, but White wants to pretty much pound him ten feet into the ground. At least she likes you."

"I guess..." Amos trailed off, looking over at White, who had taken out her Charizard while speaking with Margaret.

He didn't realize how much he cared about White. She had gone through so much pain in the past, and he felt protective of her. But he also had forgotten that Sky Blue was almost just as close to her, maybe even a little more. The two older trainers had known each other for over ten years, and had went through lots of obstacles and trials together. They had learned, suffered, cried, grieved, celebrated, and grown up together. On the other hand, Amos had only known White for over a year, and he had gotten to know more about her than most people ever did. The two of them had even kissed, twice (which had earned him the nickname "Kissy Boy" by his Watchog). However, Danny did have a point about one thing. White now wants nothing more than to punch Sky into the ground. Amos was one of the few boys she didn't beat up.

"Ok, I'm ready!" Margaret announced as the two girls came back over to them just as White's Charizard flew into the sky.

"What were you two doing?" Danny asked his friend.

"I just asked White if Abel could deliver some letters to my family."

"Margaret, you had three letters, one for your brother and the other for your grandmothers," started White. "Who did the third letter belong to? It only had a drawing of a starship on it."

Margaret turned pink and stammered, "Oh, t-that was just to...a friend, yeah..."

White did not look convinced, but did not continue the conversation. She shrugged and tossed her bag over her shoulder.

"So where are you guys going to go?" Amos questioned the rookies as they gathered their pokemon and Fiona.

"To be honest, we haven't planned on visiting anywhere specific," Danny answered, picking up Fiona, who had raised her arms up to him.

"We'll probably just see the sights along the way," added Margaret. As she said this, Amos saw her hold Danny's free hand. This action did not go unnoticed, because Danny blushed and White was smirking slightly at both of them.

"W-Well," the other boy stammered. "W-We should get going..."

"Alright, we might see you guys around," White told them, looking from one trainer to the other. "Fiona, make sure you behave, ok?"

The auburn haired girl nodded and let White give her a hug. Amos couldn't help but smile at the two girls. The older trainer and the little girl had become like sisters. Hopefully they both would stay together for as long as possible.

When Danny, Margaret, Fiona, and their pokemon left, White turned her back on Amos and took three pokeballs off her belt. She pressed the buttons and Archy, Hamycus, and Tiny all burst out. Archy already had White's guitar case on his back.

"Amos, there's one thing I kinda left out about the groups," White said to him as she got onto her Arcanine's back.

"What do you mean?" He asked, taking out three of his own pokeballs and pressing the buttons.

Liliana, Arianna, and Pepper were released from the devices. Tiny and Archy both made loud cries and ran to greet their families. Pepper was one of Tiny's six Eevee pups, and all the pups had been given to different trainers. Amos had Pepper, Sky Blue had Toro, Hugh had Sora, Mira and Leia shared Lily Rose, and N had Silky and Minty.

"Well," the older trainer started slowly as Amos got onto Liliana's back. "There really are three trainers in each of the three groups."

"What?"

"My brother...he'll be traveling with you and me..."

A shiver ran up Amos' spine after hearing this. He had tried to avoid Natural Gropius for over a year. After N and White's sibling relationship was mended, N had become very protective of his little sister. He had also made it quite clear to both Sky Blue and Amos that he would destroy them if they hurt White in any way.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he won't threaten you or anything," White assured him after seeing the look on his face.

"No, it's fine..." He muttered as Archy and Liliana began striding through the forest, Tiny, Pepper, Arianna, and Hamycus trailing behind them.

"So," his friend continued on, looking over her shoulder at him. "You haven't told me much about your life as a Coordinator."

"There's not a whole lot to talk about..."

"Oh really? Well an amateur like me doesn't know that much about contests. Tell me, which of your pokemon do which types of contests?"

"Err, well, Arianna and Pepper do their best in the Cuteness Contests," Amos explained, feeling a little awkward about talking about his strange hobby. "Hydreigon does well in the Coolness and Toughness Contests, Liliana does well in Beauty Contests, Packs is best in the Cleverness Contests, and Oliver does good in Toughness and Beauty Contests."

"Heh, I never thought Oliver would enter in a Beauty Contest," White said jokingly, chuckling a little.

"His Water Type moves work the best in Beauty Contests, but I can understand why that's a little weird..."

He saw White shrug a little at this. She didn't continue talking about Oliver after that. She seemed content on finding something. She kept looking around at the trees and the forest floor.

"So have you made a contest combination of your own yet?" the older trainer asked after a few minutes.

"Not exactly," Amos admitted. "I've been working on one, but it still needs work..."

"Oh? What's it called?"

"So far I've just been calling it Meteor Shower," he explained, looking over at Pepper, who was chatting to Tiny and the other small pokemon. "It's a combination of Draco Meteor and Rain Dance, and only Hydreigon and Pepper are capable of doing it. The problem is that Pepper still hasn't been able to make a big enough storm."

White tilted her head a little, apparently deep in thought. She then said, "I can understand why Pepper would have a hard time with a move like Rain Dance. Moves like Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Hail, and Sandstorm aren't always as easy as they seem. But I think if you practice hard enough, I'm sure you can pull it off. And if you can't, I'm sure I can find a way for you to cheat."

Amos blushed and smiled sheepishly before saying quietly, "Thanks, White."

He saw White smile back and turned to look ahead. Liliana snickered a little and give Amos a "you love her and you know it" look. He knew the female Arcanine would like nothing better than to see her trainer date her mate's trainer.

"We should be close now," the older trainer announced after a couple of minutes.

Amos looked up after this. He then noticed that the trees were heavily draped with icicles and snow. The area had more snow then the rest of Route 5, and he soon saw why.

An ice sphere like an igloo was in the middle of a snow filled clearing. Ice spikes were all over it, and vines were twisted around the spikes.

White leapt off Archy's back and approached the sphere and kicked it.

"Oi, Ne-Ne!" She yelled. "Time to go!"

There was no response. Then the sphere shattered. Shards flew everywhere, and vines fell to the snowy ground. Sparks from the flames flickered all around.

A young man with long tea green hair was kneeling down in the space that the sphere had covered. Next to him was a unicorn with a mane of fire, a dark gray fox, a light blue fox-like creature, and a pale tan and green fox creature. Amos recognized them as Rapi the Rapidash, N's partner pokemon Zoroark, and the two baby Eevees the ex-Plasma king had raised, Silky and Minty.

N stood up, his gaze sweeping around the clearing to see who was present. When his eyes landed on Amos, he raised an eyebrow and turned to his sister.

"I'm glad to see you didn't bring that lunatic of yours," the man said coolly, wrapping his cloak more tightly around himself.

"The lunatic has a name, you know!" White snarled back.

The siblings' conversation was cut short as Tiny and Pepper gave loud cries as they were reunited with Silky and Minty. The four pokemon greeted each other with happy barks and licks. Rapi and Zoroark approached Archy. The three pokemon had all been on White's team a year before. Hamycus, the only pokemon without a family, trotted over to White and leaned against her leg.

"Well I don't have to introduce you guys, right?" asked White, looking from N to Amos.

Amos shook his head and N snorted. When no objections or threats were exchanged, White continued on.

"So, N, you will be coming with me and Amos," she explained. "We're traveling in groups of three. Sky Blue is with Mira and Leia, and Fiona is with Danny and Margaret. We won't run into Danny and Margaret unless we're really unfortunate. I'm also hoping that you won't try to kill Amos while we're traveling."

N looked up to meet White's gaze. The look on her face made it clear that she would not allow such violence to happen during their trip. Amos was at least glad that the young woman was going to be with them.

"I won't hurt him," N promised reluctantly, but added under his breath, "yet."

"Now that that's done," White continued, ignoring her older brother. "Are there any questions? Comments? Concerns?"

Nobody said anything until the ex-king of Team Plasma spoke up and said, "Whitney, I have a concern."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Was it a good idea to bring the...madman, back to this region?"

White's eyes narrowed when N said this. Amos was sure that N meant Sky Blue when saying "madman".

"Amos, please excuse us for a few minutes," she growled. "I need to talk with my dear brother."

Amos watched as White took N by the arm and dragged him a short distance into the trees. He was left alone with just the pokemon. He could hear the Gropius siblings hissing at each other.

"You're not gonna eavesdrop on them at all?" Liliana asked, sounding disappointed.

"No, I'm not," he answered, his face turning red from embarrassment. Amos had found out about White and N's sibling relationship because he eavesdropped on the siblings' secret, private conversation in a dark alley in Castelia City.

"Ya sure 'bout that?" piped up Arianna, the little pup's tail beginning to wag. "It sounds pretty juicy!"

Archy's ear twitched in their direction. From what Amos could see of the battle scarred Arcanine's face, Archy looked uncomfortable, even a little nervous.

"Ugh, whatever," the female Arcanine scoffed, trotting near the edge of the clearing where N and White had disappeared.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Amos yelped, who was still on Liliana's back as she settled down in a place where they could hear the conversation.

"Eavesdropping, obviously." She replied with a smirk. "You can put your fingers in your ears or whatever, but I'm gonna listen."

The young trainer was about to retort, but White's voice came into ear shot.

"I don't care what you think, Natural!" He heard her hiss furiously to N. "Sky Blue is just as normal as the rest of us!"

"He wasn't so normal eight years ago!" N snapped back. "Yes, Whitney, I know all about the incident! I know what he is, what he's capable of! He's lucky to be where he is right now! Not many people like him are as fortunate!"

"He's changed, N! Sky is still my best friend, and I wasn't going to give up on him! For people like Sky, having at least one loyal and caring friend or family member makes them the luckiest person on earth!"

Unfortunately, Amos was so intrigued by this conversation that he didn't walk away. It sounded like Sky Blue was more than a lonely orphan. What else was he? What was the incident that White refused to speak of?

N then spoke again and hissed, "You say he's changed, yet you still won't leave him alone with his thoughts for long periods of time!"

Silence fell between the siblings. Amos could hear White breathing heavily. He could tell that she was furious and desperate at the same time.

"Would you say that you share a sibling relationship with Anthea and Concordia, like I share a similar relationship with Sky Blue?" White finally demanded in a low and quiet voice.

Her brother was silent for a minute, but replied quietly, "I suppose so."

"Then let's say that either Anthea or Concordia was in Sky's place, and you were in mine. Would you abandon your foster sister and let complete strangers take her away to give her unnecessary treatment?"

"No, I wouldn't, but the point is that you're making him stay in the region that all of that stuff started in! He is in dangerous territory!"

"He's lost an eye since visiting Kalos, plus he was ten years old last time! He'll be fine as long as he's not alone!" She paused and then added softly, "You've got to trust me, Natural! I'm not about to let past events repeat themselves!"

Amos heard N sigh in defeat after a moment.

"Fine, we'll do it your way," the man huffed. "But White, they only wanted to treat him because he had, and was capable, of hurting people."

Liliana, who had her ears facing the direction of the voices, turned to look up at Amos.

"I'm beginning to lose faith in your friends again," she sighed, standing up and moving away from the edge of the forest. "Seriously, what else do we not know about those trainers?"

"I'll tell you one, I wonder why they still allow you within a five foot radius of their private conversations!"

Tiny had noticed the trainer and his pokemon eavesdropping on her trainer. Her pups watched them with interest. Though Minty and Silky looked like full grown pokemon, they were still just as innocent as their brother.

"Well do you know what they are talking about?" Amos asked, and then added defensively, "And for your information, it was Liliana's idea."

"I'm not surprised!" Tiny snorted.

"Mom, do you know anything about what they said?" piped up Silky. "I heard a bit of the conversation too!"

"Me too!" Pepper chimed in, and Minty gave a little squeak at her siblings' loud voices.

The Espeon was silent for a moment, but then admitted, "No, actually I don't. Blue Moon never spoke of the matter. I only know that White and Sky were forever scarred. Only White and Sky's pokemon teams at the time know the whole story. That was before my time."

"Do...do they know?" asked Minty shyly, tilting her head toward Rapi, Archy, and Zoroark, who were all talking together. Arianna and Hamycus had also joined the two Fire Types and the Dark Type.

"Rapi and Archy do, I'm not sure about Zoroark, N might have told him," Tiny sighed. "But don't go asking anyone about it."

White and N just then came back into the clearing. Both of them looked annoyed and a little furious.

"Ok, let's just go," White growled, moving away from her brother and Amos, and climbing on Archy's back.

N glared at Amos before going over to climb on his Rapidash and returning the rest of his pokemon to their pokeballs. However, the younger trainer wasn't concerned about his crush's older brother at that moment. He was trying to process what he had just learned.

Something happened during White and Sky Blue's first Kalos journey eight years ago. The entire trauma seemed to circle around the one-eyed trainer, and it sounded like Sky had actually hurt people. But why?

As the three trainers began to ride through Route 5, Amos hoped that he would someday, if not soon, find the rest of the pieces to this mysterious puzzle.

~~~

....Ello.

Sorry for the wait, school started this week, so I tried my best to finish this chapter. I was supposed to update yesterday, but this took a lot longer than expected. It was kinda a rough week for me.

So, Fiona caught a new pokemon, N reappears, and Amos finally finds new pieces to a new mystery. Plus the battle between Whimos and Skite officially starts now X3 I'm gonna try my best and make all the shipping fans happy (including myself :P). I will admit that Skite is a cute shipping, but I'm still a Whimos fan all the way.

Moving on: I am now adding pictures to chapters. For those who can't or couldn't see, the last chapter had a picture of Spirit the Honedge, and the picture on this chapter is of Mister Poofy (I just love that name, lol). None of the pictures are mine, they belong to their rightful owners.

Another thing: when Amos became a Coordinator, readers were kinda wondering why he became someone who showed off a pokemon's appeal. Well it's because if I could choose to try and be either a pokemon trainer or a coordinator, I would try out Pokemon Contests (contests win over gym battles by just a little bit). A lot of the pokemon anime shows I saw were pokemon contests with either May or Dawn. I had forgotten how much fun and fascinating those contests were, and I loved watching them. I wanted at least one SWS(2) character to be a Coordinator, even if it was just temporary (I'm not sure if Amos being a Coordinator is temporary or not). So that's the story behind that.

I don't want to bore you guys, and I don't have anything else to say right now, plus it's midnight where I am. If I think of something, I'll add it later. I'll try and update as frequently as I can, it might take more time now that school has started.

I'll see you guys later! :3

(Edit: I accidentally kept writing Route 5 as Route 1 -_- If you see that I missed renaming a Route 1, please let me know. Thanks! ;3)