The minute Rudi walked through the front door of his apartment, I knew things weren't well. He placed Braviary's Pokéball on the small table by the front door before he walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

He didn't even need to say one word. His actions was all it took for me to realize what had happened. My body trembled a bit, realizing my mistake. Rudi gave a quick squeeze in the hug as his way of comfort, but one thought echoed through my mind. How was I supposed to call Joy's parents that their daughter has been kidnapped by an evil organization on Christmas of all days?

I'd never be trusted with another trainee ever again.

"We'll find her," Rudi promised.

I tried nodding my head in his chest, realizing what had to be done. I pulled away, seeing the worried look in his eyes. When we first met, he'd try to be confident, make a sly comment how everything was going to be alright, but seeing him now, I realized that wasn't the case anymore.

Rudi knew that at this point, he couldn't promise the impossible. At least, he couldn't what happened that day I found him in the Giant Chasm.

"I know," I said, drawing a deep breath. "In fact, I think it's time we become Swanna Girl and Braviary Man again."

His eye's widened in shock. The words that came out of his mouth weren't the ones I was expecting. "Wouldn't it be Braviary Man and Swanna Girl? I mean, I have more experience."

Laughter escaped my lips as I almost forgot the arrogance that came with his alter ego. "Whatever, look, I'm just saying that maybe it's time to go back to being superheroes."

"Are you sure?" Rudi asked. "I mean, for that to work we shouldn't be keeping secrets from each other."

"I completely agree!" a voice declared.

We turned to see Hilbert, the brunette boy I met just a few hours ago, walking out of where the kitchen doors were. I slapped my hand on my head, realizing how much trouble I was about to get in.

To get into Rudi's place last night, my boyfriend gave me the spare key to his apartment. The plan was to give them back to him afterwards, but I'd yet to do that. It was already midnight, meaning Rudi did everything in his power to chase this Team Oblivion to try and find Joy.

Seeing that I had brought back another man, about our age, wasn't good.

I already knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"Sylvia," Rudi whispered, "why is the Champion in my apartment?"

"Look, it's not what you—Wait, what did you just say?" I asked as I dared to look at him.

My boyfriend wasn't disgusted or confused at all. Instead, I just watched as his eyes widened in awe. I quickly looked back at Hilbert, who wore a plain white tee and blue shorts for pajamas. Sure, Hilbert was a strong Trainer, but I think I would've known if he was the Champion.

Wouldn't I?

Hilbert walked over towards us while he stretched his arms up above his head. "Just call me Hilbert. And as to what I'm doing here, my friends and I need your help. Well, yours and Sylvia's that is."

Rudi still didn't looked fazed as he remained in awe in the presence of Hilbert. "You're the Champion."

I sighed before quickly slapping him on the arm to snap him out of it. I didn't think I'd ever seen Rudi like this before. Well, with the exception of whenever he was talking about Castelia Cones, but other than that, I've never had to snap him out of it for anything.

"Ouch, what was that for?" Rudi whinnied.

"I didn't hit you that hard," I told Rudi before turning my attention to Hilbert. "Are you really the Champion?"

The brunette shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "I was before Team Oblivion came around. It was either sit at the Pokémon League all day or try and stop them with Hilda and N."

"Team a-what now?" Rudi asked.

I sighed. "I think it's time to bring you up to speed."

(-o-)

My fingers wrapped around the warm mug as the strong smell from the black liquid inside lifted up into my nose. I exhaled, as I dropped the white mug onto the counter. Even at three cups, the effects of coffee wasn't working.

Coffee always worked, whether it be a stressful night at the Pokémon Center or to wake me up in the mornings. I didn't understand why it wasn't working now.

Due to the nightmare the previous night, I could barely get an hour of sleep. When I did, all I could see was Taipan's lifeless face haunting me. The only good thing was that I woke up before Rudi could take notice. I'd been in his small apartment kitchen since three in the morning. It was now four thirty, and I still couldn't get the effects of the bitter goodness to work.

Maybe another cup.

My hands reached for the bag of coffee beans to put in the coffee maker when I felt someone's hand tap me on the back. I jumped, spilling the coffee beans all over the floor.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" N's voice asked.

I turned around, seeing the green-haired man looking a bit confused as he was standing a bit too close for my liking. Instead of saying anything, I knelt to the ground, saving as many of the coffee beans as I could.

"It's fine," I claimed, "just don't sneak up on me like that."

The minute I finished cleaning the beans, keeping the good ones in the bag while the bad ones still stayed on the floor, I looked up to see N still standing there.

"I don't know much about human interaction, but I've hung around Hilbert and Hilda enough to know that you don't look okay," N observed.

I rolled my eyes as I stood up, placing the bag on the counter. "If you're not familiar with it, then are you an alien or something?"

Sarcasm...the number one reason I didn't like being sleep deprived. It was one thing to be grumpy in the mornings—which I never was as I was a morning person—but it was another to be sleep deprived and up so early in the morning. This never happened until the day those nightmares came. Since then, mornings were always the hardest.

Not getting up, that was, but rather being in a foul mood.

"No, at least, I don't think I am," N explained.

"You'd know if you were one," I dryly said as I turned around to make my fourth cup of coffee.

In the corner of my eye, I saw N walk to the side of me as he leaned on the countertop, staring at me. While I trusted Hilda and Hilbert, I wasn't sure what to make of N. He seemed odd. Part of it could be that he had a bit of an age difference from his two friends, making me wonder why he was even traveling with them in the first place. Another part of it could be his mannerisms.

Who wanted their hair looking like a Christmas tree?

Guess I just needed sleep; I wasn't me without it. It always ended up the same. No sleep meant grouchiness, sarcasm and the occasional hallucinations.

I needed sleep.

No! No sleep. Not when the nightmares come.

Gosh, this was driving me insane. My eyes turned to the coffee maker, wishing for the next cup to be made faster.

The coffee maker spat out the last bit of coffee from the top, allowing me to take the coffee pot from it and pour what was inside into my own mug. A part of me wanted to just drink from the coffee pot itself, but it wasn't my own coffee maker. Besides, I needed to think about the other guests here.

In a few seconds, I downed the entire drink, not feeling any of the effects of caffeine working in my system. I groaned.

"Is that not good?" N asked.

Holy Miltank, it was like talking to a toddler.

Make it stop!

"No, it's just not working," I groaned. "I need to wake up and this coffee isn't working."

N gave me a weird look. "Is that supposed to wake you up?"

"Yes," I explained as I poured myself my fifth cup of coffee.

"Shouldn't you be asleep? It's early for people to be up," N observed.

"Because I can't sleep," I snapped. "If I do, I'm going to have a nightmare. If I have a nightmare, I'm going to bother Rudi. I don't want to bother him with another issue when we have to deal with these Team Oblivion people."

N's eyes widened a bit, as if he was shocked that I had snapped. That would be two people in less than twenty-four hours that I had lost control in front of. I laid down my mug and threw my head back as my hands ran through the knots of my dark-colored hair.

"Sorry. It's just frustrating," I apologized.

"Why don't you tell him?" N asked.

"Because it's not his problem," I explained, "and I would appreciate it if you didn't say a word to him. I just want to solve this stinking problem on my—"

My eyes widened as I realized something. I straightened up and quickly rushed out of the kitchen. With the events that had happened yesterday, I had completely forgotten about the mysterious Poké Ball I had received for Christmas yesterday. The note said it would help me with sleep. I wasn't sure if it was true or not, but either way, it was worth a shot.

I walked into the living room, finding Hilda curled up into a ball on the couch while Hilbert was sprawled out on the floor. Being as quiet as I could, I tip-toed around them, finding my way to the door where my bag with my Poké Balls were at.

If that note was right, I didn't have to bother anyone with these silly nightmares of mine.

My hand reached into the bag just as someone said behind me. "What are you doing."

I turned around, seeing N standing behind me once again with his hands behind his back. It took everything inside of me not to scream, but even that was hard.

N really needed to wear a bell or something.

"Don't do that!" I whispered loudly. "Can't you see there's people trying to sleep?"

The man looked back at his two friends, just in time to hear one of them snoring a bit.

"Hilda's a heavy sleeper, and Hilbert won't let himself wake until the sun's up, so you're good," N said in a regular voice.

I shook my head. "It's called being respectful," I whispered. "Besides, none of this is your concern."

"Is it about the nightmares?" N asked.

"Yes, and like I said, that's none of your concern," I whispered as I grabbed Musharna's PokéBall from the bag. "I'm sorry, but this is something I don't want anyone knowing about."

N nodded his head. "I understand."

His comment took me by surprised. I watched as the green haired smiled before explaining a bit.

"I'm sure you have your reasons for not telling your friend about your nightmares, but I think if you need to tell anyone about it, you should be talking to someone," N said before looking at one of his friends.

I followed his gaze, finding my way over to Hilbert. Of course, of all people I should be telling about my nightmares, it should be the ex-Champion of Unova. What a wonderful idea to tell someone other than my boyfriend.

I rolled my eyes in response.

"He's been having nightmares too," N explained, "and it's been taking a toll on him. He gets frustrated a lot."

My head snapped over towards N. "You think they have something to do with this?"

N nodded his head. I shook my head in response.

"There's no way. Look, I've been having these nightmares since Rudi and I shut down Team Miasma. They come and they go, so it's no big deal. I just don't want people worrying about me," I whispered. "Now, if you excuse me, I've got to catch some shut eye."

I turned around and walked back into Rudi's room where I tucked myself into the sleeping bag I had Musharna work her magic to push me into my first peaceful night of sleep in a long time.

Author's Note:

Just like I did back in SGBM, every 5 chapters we'll be seeing someone else's POV. Who's POV would you all like to see in this sequel?

Hope you're having a wonderful day. Take care!