Mixed Emotions

By: Mew Ami

A/N: I'm so sorry that it has been forever since I updated. Back in February I was on a role with this chapter, but then my hard drive died. So I had to send it to HP to replace it with a new one. When I got it back they couldn't restore my data so this chapter was gone. So I started over and I was a role until I hit a massive writer's block and school and work got in the way. You don't know how many times certain parts in this chapter were rewritten. So here it is at last! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Six: Younger But Wiser

Touko and Kuro hurry along the path trying to get Nacrene City before night fall. They make it to the gate just before sundown. They walk inside in the gate and enter the city. Kuro and Touko then begin looking for the Pokémon Center. Both of them are really hungry and tired from walking all day.

As the two them search, Touko and Kuro notice a lot of outdoor shops. The street lights come on and shop keepers are starting to close their shops. Touko walks over to a shop keeper and asks for directions. The shopkeeper steers them in the right direction and Touko and Kuro finally make it to the Pokémon center.

Once inside the center, Touko goes over to the front desk and gives her Pokémon over to Nurse Joy. Then Touko and Kuro go grab something to eat in the cafeteria. When they get their food, they find a booth and sit down.

"It feels great to sit down again," says Touko and then takes a huge bite out of her sandwich.

Kuro just nods his head in agreement as he's eating his food.

"I'm so glad we don't have to camp out tonight. After sleeping in cave last night, it will be nice to sleep in a nice cozy bed."

"You didn't have to sleep in a cave last night," says Kuro. "You could have slept outside under a tree."

"It was raining."

The teenage boy just laughs and says, "What are you a cat?"

"Maybe."

Kuro smiles and says, "I'm glad we're friends now."

Touko blushes slightly and nods her head. She feels her face is a little flushed and she has no idea why. There's just something about that smile.

"Excuse me," says a voice. The two of them look up and see Nurse Joy standing there holding a tray. "Here are your Pokémon, Touko." She places the tray on the table and Touko grabs them.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," says the young trainer.

"You're welcome. Enjoy your dinner," she says and then grabs the tray and leaves.

"Well, I better go them some food. Kuro, you can let them out of their balls?" says Touko after Nurse Joy leaves. She then gets up from the table goes to get some Pokémon food.

Kuro grabs each pokeball and lets out Touko's Pokémon. They appear on the floor and look slightly confused.

"Touko is getting you guys some food," he says to them.

Oshawott jumps on the table and says, "Likely story."

Kuro says nothing to him. Why bother? The otter Pokémon will always dislike him no matter what.

"Oshawott," says Touko. "Please get off the table."

The otter Pokémon turns around and sees that she's carrying three bowls full of Pokémon food. He jumps off the table and lands on the ground. Touko bends down and place the three bowls on the ground. She then sits down to continue eating.

"You really should teach your Oshawott some manners. People might think he's rude or inconsiderate," says the teenage boy and takes a sip of his pop.

Oshawott looks up at him and spits water at his face.

"Oshawott, say you're sorry!" says young trainer in a stern voice. Her Pokémon looks down at his food.

"It's fine, Touko," says Kuro.

She looks at him and says, "You sure? He got your face wet."

"Don't worry about it," he says and grabs some napkins from the napkin suspender to wipe his face.

"Okay then."

"So are you nervous about your second gym battle?" asks Kuro changing the subject.

"A little. I heard she's hard and seeing how I lost to Cheren I might need to train some more."

"I'm sure there are a ton of trainers around here."

"I hope so. I'll deal with that tomorrow. I'm tired from all the walking from today."

"Me too."

After they finish eating, they go get two rooms to stay the night. They then head off to their rooms and call it a night. The next morning they get up and get ready for the day. They meet up in the hallway of the center's inn. They then head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

As Touko and Kuro make their way to the cafeteria they see a bunch of people gather round a TV in main area of the center. They walk over to the group of people and see that they're watching the local news.

"The police are now conducting an investigation of the robbery," says the newscaster. "Because of the investigation the museum and gym will be closed until further noticed."

Touko and Kuro glance at each other in confusion. They turn their attention back to the TV, but the newscaster is now talking about a different story and people begin to walk away. However, one person remains in front of the TV.

A smile appears on Touko's face because when she recognizes the person and she says, "Bianca."

Her friend looks back and says, "Touko…and some other guy!"

The young trainer laughs and introduces her travelling companion. "Bianca this is Kuro. I met him on way here and we're traveling together."

"It's nice to meet you," says Bianca.

"Likewise," says Kuro.

"When did you get here?" Touko asks her friend.

"Two days ago. I would have gotten here a day sooner, but I got side tracked. What about you guys?"

"Last night," replied Touko. "Weird how we didn't run into each other last night."

"Yeah I know."

"So, what got stolen at the museum?" asks Touko changing the subject. "Kuro and I didn't hear the first part of the news report."

"Oh, a rare stone got stolen last night," answerers her friend.

"Man, why now?" Touko somewhat whines. "I was hoping to challenge the gym leader today."

"Today?" says Kuro. "I thought you were going to train."

"I am. Last night before I went to bed I decided to train in the morning and challenge the gym leader in the afternoon."

"Maybe this is a sign that you should train the whole day."

The young trainer frowns and says, "Are you saying that I'm a bad trainer?"

"No, you just need some work."

Bianca just giggles. She thinks Kuro teasing her friend is cute.

"I guess," says Touko trying not to get angry at his remark.

"Since you need to train I'll stay out of you way."

"What?"

"Well, I might get on your nerves again. So I'll just explore the town while you train."

"I can go with you, Touko," says Bianca. "We need to catch up!"

"Okay then," says the young trainer. "Meet you back here for dinner, Kuro?"

"Works for me."

"Great!" says Bianca. "Have you guys eaten breakfast yet?"

"Nope," replies her friend.

"Well, lets go eat then!"

Then the three of them go off to eat. After they finish breakfast, they leave the Pokémon center. The girls go off to the outskirts of the city to look for trainers. Kuro on the hand head heads off to look at the shops.

He walks around the shops and as he windows shops he over hears a lot people talking about the robbery at the museum. He ignores it because everyone is basically saying the same thing. However he eventually comes across a food stand where the owner is talking to a skinny man.

"So how's your wife taking the robbery?" asks the man who owns the stand. He happens to be talking to gym leader's husband, Hawes.

"She's really stressed," replies Hawes. "Her and the police are going over the surveillance videos right now."

"So what was really stolen? The news said it was valuable stone."

"They're correct. It's a white stone and it came from Relic Castle."

'Relic Castle? Could it be?' Kuro thinks to himself. He gets closer to the stand and pretends to look at food as he eavesdrops.

"How valuable is it?"

"Hmm well to tell you the truth it's not really valuable. We just kept it on display because it was a beautiful stone. The media made it sound special to make the news report more exciting."

"The media will do anything to grab attention."

"Oh, I forgot one thing. When we seeing how much the stone cost a historian looked it. He said that the stone resemble an ancient stone that was use to revive a legendary dragon Pokémon."

Kuro eyes widen.

"Interesting," says the man. "Well here you go two breakfast bagel sandwiches."

"Thanks, how much?"

"It's on the house. Tell Lenora I said hi."

"Well, do," Hawes says and goes off back to the museum.

The teenage boy backs away from the stand before the owner sees him. He then continues walking down the street. As the teenage boy is walking he wonders if that's the stone he's looking for. Well looks like he'll just have to sneak into the museum to find out. The teenage boy turns around and heads toward the museum.

Kuro arrives at the museum and sees a bunch of cops standing outside. They look like they're taking a break. Kuro just walks past them and decides it's probably best to sneak in through the back door. He gets to the back of the museum and sees the back door. Kuro walks toward the door, but he stops in his tracks, when he sees a cop coming out of the back door.

Kuro starts to back away, but the cop sees him.

"Sir," he says. "Are you lost?"

"Uh," says Kuro trying to think up of a good lie. He doesn't want the man to think that he's a thief. He glances around and sees a Purrloin sitting on top of a wall taking a nap. "My Pokémon!"

"Huh?"

"I was looking for my Pokémon," replies Kuro and points to the Purrloin. "He ran away from the Pokémon center last night."

"Oh," says the man.

Kuro walks over to the wall and looks up and says, "Purrloin! Please wake up!"

The cat Pokémon opens up its eyes and looks down at the teenage boy. It gives him an angry look.

The teenage boy holds out his arms and says, "Come on. We need to go back to the Pokémon center."

Purrloin sits up and now gives Kuro a curious look.

"Please," says Kuro and winks at the cat Pokémon.

Purloin shrugs and jumps down into Kuro's arms.

Kuro turns and sees the man is still looking at him. He just gives him a smile and quickly leaves. Kuro then takes the Purrloin to a park nearby and finds a place where he can talk to it in private. He sees a bench and places the Purrloin down on it.

"Sorry for waking you," he says. "I needed you for an excused to get away from there."

"..It's fine?" says the Pokémon in confusion. The boy is acting like he understands Pokémon.

"Yes I can understand you," says Kuro. "Well, thank you for cooperating with me."

"You're welcome."

The teenage boy is then about to leave, but something dawns on him. "Hey can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you normally hang out around the museum?"

"Yes. There are really nice places to take naps."

"Okay then were you by chance hanging around there last night?"

"Yes."

"Did you happen to see a man break in and leave with a stone?"

The Purrloin thinks for a moment and replies, "I did see a man and he had a Yamask with him. He used the Yamask to get into the museum."

"Did you see him leave?"

"Yes, but I didn't see a stone in his hand, but there was a small bag in his hand."

"Was he the only person you saw during the night?"

"Yep."

"I see, well thank you for your help."

Purloin jumps down off the bench, "No problem." It then leaves to go find a new place to take a nap.

Kuro remains standing there and goes into deep thought. That man has to be the thief. The only thing left to figure it out is the stone's identity. There's no way he can sneak through the museum seeing how there's cops anywhere. He could go looking for the thief, but he's probably long gone. Oh well, maybe there will be a chance to run into him on the way to Castelia City.

Meanwhile, Touko finishes a battle and is jumping in the air because of victory. It's her third win of the day. She runs over to Bianca and they give each other a high five.

"That was an awesome battle, Touko!" said Bianca. "I thought he almost had you."

"Me too," said Touko and then turns her around. Larvesta is sitting on the ground staring at her. She picks him up. "Thanks to Larvesta I wouldn't have won!"

"He is so cute!" says her friend and grabs him out her arms. "Where on earth did you find him?"

"Um well that's a long story."

"I would love to hear it seeing how about over lunch? We still need to catch up."

"Good idea," says the young trainer and holds out her arms. Her friend then returns her Pokémon to her.

The two friends then return to the city and find an outdoor café to eat at. They let out their Pokémon so they can eat lunch as well. Touko notices that Bianca still only has two Pokémon, but one of them is different.

"Your Tepig evolved into a Pignite?" asked Touko.

"Yep during my match against Lenora yesterday."

"Really? How did it go?"

"It was really hard. My Munna was able to take down her Herdier, but her Watchog is very strong. He knocked out my Munna. I then sent out Tegpig and he was getting frustrated during the battle. His frustration was the reason why he evolved."

"Oh, wow. Lucky."

"Pokémon are a mystery. Now tell me where you found that Larvesta! Also you haven't told me how you met Kuro either!"

"Alright calm down. I was focused on finding trainers to battle so I forgot that we were going to catch up."

Touko then goes into detail about meeting Kuro. As she talks she notices a smile on her face. Touko ignores it and continues on about her issues with Kuro and meeting Larvesta. Once she finishes the story, her friend's smile is even bigger.

"Why are you smiling, Bianca?" asks the young trainer and then takes a zip of her drink.

"Because!" replies her friend. "Don't you see Touko this boy is your future lover!"

Touko then spits out her drink and the liquid sprays all over the table.

"You okay?"

"Yes," answers Touko and gets a napkin to clean up the mess. "Bianca, why on earth would you say such a thing!"

"Because isn't it obvious? Boy meets girl. Girl has issues with the boy and then the two fall in love."

"You read too many romance novels."

"So? Touko by the way you described him I think he has a crush on you."

Touko is quiet for a second. Kuro does joke around with her about her being attractive to him. Could that mean that he does actually have a crush on her?

"Hmm? I think I'm right," says Bianca noticing her friend's silence.

"No you are not!" Touko nearly shouts. "We're just friends."

"For now," says her friend and just smiles.

Touko gives her friend and angry look and takes another zip of her drink.

"Your friend may be right," says a familiar voice.

Touko turns her head and sees Kuro leaning over the café's fence. He had a smirk on his face.

The young trainer gives him an angrier look and says, "Don't encourage her, Kuro. We're just friends."

"Of course we are," he says. "I just like to tease you because your reactions are so funny."

"What are you doing here?" asks Touko changing the topic.

"Just taking a walk around the city. Oh, I also heard the museum is back opened."

"It is!"

"Yep. The cops couldn't find any clues so they left the museum."

"No clues?"

"On my way here I stop to look around in a store and they had a TV. On the news the reporter mentioned that the cameras caught a ghost Pokémon stealing the stone. So it left no clues behind."

"Really?" asks Bianca in shock.

"Yep. Humans can be so cruel to their Pokémon."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because isn't it obvious? A human clearly had the Pokémon stole the stone for him."

"So?" says Touko and shakes her head. "You don't anything about that Pokémon. Wild Pokémon have been known to steal things."

"I think a human forced it to steal the stone."

"Okay then if it did belong to a human I'm sure the Pokémon wasn't force to steal."

"You're too naive."

The two of them just stare at each other. Bianca can sense a tension forming between both of them and decides to change the topic.

"Touko," she says in a panic voice. "Now that the museum is open the gym is probably open as well!"

"You're right!" says Touko and looks at her friend. "I can go challenge Lenora today!"

"I thought you were in training," says Kuro.

The young trainer looks back at him and says, "I did and I won three matches today!"

"Do you think that's enough?"

"Of course! Bianca, I'm going to head over there after we're done eating. Would you like to come and cheer me on?"

"Of course," she says.

"What about me?" asks Kuro.

"I guess you can come to," replies the young trainer.

"Would you like to join us for lunch, Kuro?" asks Bianca.

"Sure," he replies and leaps over the fence. He then takes a seat next to Touko.

After lunch, the three friends head back to the Pokémon center. Touko then buys some potions while her Pokémon are healing. Once her Pokémon are healthy again, the three friends go to the museum. When they get there, they see that the museum is really busy.

Touko is worried that these people are here to challenge Lenora, but Kuro ensures her that they're just probably here to get the scoop on the stolen stone. So they go on inside and of course Kuro is right. There are ton of people surrounding the podium of the stolen stone.

The three of them ignore it and make their way to the gym. Bianca tells them that the gym is actually upstairs. They head on upstairs and walk through an archway which leads them to a library.

"A library?" says Touko and then looks at her friend. "Bianca, this doesn't look like a gym."

"It's hidden."

"Hidden?"

"Yep behind a bookcase."

"Okay so where is it?"

"Well,"

"You forgot didn't you?"

Bianca nods her head.

"Bianca!"

"Sorry!"

"It's fine. Do you remember how you found the bookcase?"

"There are books scatter across the library that will lead you to the bookcase."

"Cool! So with the three us it shouldn't be any problem finding it."

"Uh," says Bianca and bites her lip.

"What?"

"You should do it yourself," says Kuro.

Touko glances at him and says, "What? Why?"

"It's your gym battle. You should be doing it yourself," he replies and finds a table to sit down at.

"He's right, Touko," says Bianca. "Besides we're rivals remember?"

"I guess so," says Touko in a disappointment voice.

"Good luck!" says her friend and joins Kuro.

Touko goes off and explores the library. She walks past several books and has no idea where to start. She wonders if she should just look at every book, but that would take too long. Then again that's probably her only option.

As the young trainer looks for a place to start she sees a girl reading a book. She wonders what section she's in so she looks at the sign that's above her. The sign tells the young trainer that she's in the history section. The young trainer looks back at the girl and sees her put the book back. She then walks away.

Touko quickly walks over to the bookcase and grabs that book. She read the front cover which says the history of the Unova Region. She opens the book and flips through the pages and sees no clues. Touko puts the book back and wonders if this section has the first clue. She basically grabs the books that only pertain to the Unova Region. Touko eventually finds a book about the history of the Nacrene City. She opens it up and a piece paper falls to the ground.

She bends down and picks it up. She then reads the paper which says, Pokémon trainers! I am the gym leader, Lenora and welcome to my gym! In order to find my gym you must find all the notes hidden in the library. Each note will have a question and you have to answer them! Good Luck and here is your first question! Question number one: What are the first Pokémon you encounter as a trainer?
Here's a hint: look in the trainer's guides section!

"This is great," Touko thinks to herself. "Lenora made it easy to find these notes."

The young trainer puts the note back inside the book and places it back in the bookshelf. She then walks over to the trainer's guides section. She stops in front of a bookshelf and thinks about the question. Is it possible for every Pokémon trainer to encounter the same Pokémon? The answer would be no, but what if she's referring to more than one Pokémon? Then it hits the young trainer! Lenora must be talking about the starter Pokémon!

Touko then scans the bookshelf and finds a book about starter Pokémon. She opens it up and flips through the pages. She stumbles across another piece of paper and takes it out of the book.

The piece a paper says, Good job on answering the first question! So here's the second question!
Question number two: Fire burns inside my body while my head gives off smoke. What am I?
A hint: I am not Pokémon!

Touko closes book and places the note back inside the book. She then puts the book back on the shelf. The next book has nothing to do with Pokémon so what could it be? Seeing how it has something do to with fire it must involve some kind of machine? Touko walks around the library until she finds a section that has books about machines. She basically looks at every book until she finds the next message which happens to be a in a book about steamboats.

Once again the message has her going to a different section of the library. After finding the message, it informs her that she is close to finding the hidden passageway. There is one more message and it happens to be the history section.

Touko slaps her head out of frustration. Lenora basically has these secret messages to have people look at her library. She closes book and puts it away. She then goes back to the history book and finds the book with the final message inside.

The final message says, Congrats! You found all four hidden messages! Now in back of the book is a special button! Press it and you can finally challenge me to a gym battle!

The young trainer puts the piece of paper and then flips to the back of the book. There she sees a button and presses it. Suddenly the bookcase moves to the right which reveals a trap door. The young trainer puts the book back and then leads down on the floor. She opens the trap door and sees steps leading to a basement.

"Guys!" says Touko calling out her friends. "I found it!"

Bianca and Kuro come over to the history section. They see Touko standing in front of the steps.

"Yay you found it!" says Bianca.

"Yep so let's go," says Touko and walks down the steps. Her friends then follow her to the basement.

At the bottom of the steps is a door. Touko opens it and walks into the gym. She sees Lenora standing in middle of the gym's battle field.

"Welcome," says Lenora when sees Touko and her friends. "And congrats on finding my gym. Now, which one of you is here to battle me?"

"I am," says the young trainer. "My name is Touko White."

"I'm Lenora and it's nice to meet you," says the gym leader and walks over to them. She then recognizes Bianca. "You're friends with her?"

"Yep!" replies Bianca cheerfully. "I'm here for moral support."

"What about you?" asks Lenora and looks at Kuro.

"I'm also here for moral support," he replies. "I'm not a trainer."

"You have some nice friends Touko. Shall we start the battle?" asks the gym leader and returns her attention back to Touko.

The young trainer nods her head.

"Alright so how many Pokémon do you have?"

"Three," replies Touko.

"Ok we'll make it even and do a two on two battle. So pick your Pokémon wisely."

Lenora then steps back on to the field and walks on over to the other side. She then turns to face her opponent and gets ready for the battle.

Touko steps on to the field and also gets ready for battle. She decides to go with Larvesta first seeing how he's stronger than Pidove because of his pervious trainer. Then her second Pokémon will Oshawott because the strongest out of three.

"Ready?" asks Lenora.

"Yes," replies the young trainer.

"Let the battle begin!" shouts the gym leader and throws out her first Pokémon which is a Hardier.

"Go Larvesta!" shouts Touko and throws her Pokémon into the air. Larvesta comes out of his Pokémon and gets into a battle position.

"You can do it, Touko!" shouts Bianca with encouragement.

Touko ignores her friend's comment to stay in focus. She is not going let herself get distracted because it could make her lose. This battle will not only give her a gym badge, but it will prove that she's getting better as a trainer.

"Alright Larvesta use string shot!" she orders her Pokémon and he obeys. He spits a long sticky string and it zooms down field heading towards Herdier.

"Herdier, jump out the way!" yells Lenora and it obeys and jumps up into the air. The string shot attack misses and it lands back down on the ground. "Now, use work up!" Hardier glows a bright yellow as its attack power increases.

"Larvesta, use string shot again!" shouts Touko and her Pokémon uses the attack once more.

Once again Herdier gets out of the way and Lenora orders it to use take down. Herdier jumps back up into the air and glides towards Larvesta. It then strikes Larvesta's head with take down which causes him to fall to ground.

Touko takes a deep a breath and reminds herself to keep cool. The battle is far from over and she still has a chance at a winning. She notices that Herdier is still close to her Pokémon so she orders him to use ember. Touko's Pokémon gets back up and uses ember. The attack hits Herdier, but not hard enough to make it fall to the ground.

'Damn it,' Touko thinks to herself. "If Herdier was a little bit closer to Larvesta then that move would have done more damage." Then an idea hits her!

"Larvesta, use string shot!" she shouts.

"You're going to have to think of a new strategy. My Pokémon is way too fast for it to affect." says Lenora.

"We'll see about that."

Lenora ignores her comment and shouts, "Herdier jump out of the way! Now use work up and then use take down!" Her Pokémon obeys and jumps into the air and lands after the string shot misses. It then comes charging down the field.

'Prefect,' Touko thinks to herself.

The dog Pokémon gets to its opponent is about to strike. Touko then orders her Pokémon to use string shot one more time. Her Pokémon obeys and the move finally hits the dog Pokémon. The string wraps around its body immobilizing it.

"Now, use ember!" shouts Touko and Larvesta breathes out the fire attack. It strikes the dog Pokémon and knocks it out.

"Herdier return," says Lenora and holds up its pokeball. A red light appears and Herdier returns to its ball. She then gets out another pokeball and throws it into the air. A Watchog then appears onto the field.

Touko is quiet please with how this battle is turning out. Looks like people impressions of Lenora is wrong. She's too easy!

Lenora just smirks when sees a smug look on Touko's face. Time to change things up!

"Alright Watchog!" she yells at her Pokémon. "Use retaliate!"

"Retaliate?" questions Touko.

"Touko!" shouts Bianca. "Watch out for that attack!"

Touko glances at her with confusion and then looks back at the field. She sees Lenora's Pokémon charging at her Pokémon. Touko is about to warn her Pokémon to get out of the way, but it's too late.

The attack hits Larvesta right his face causing it to go flying into the air. Touko ends up catching him and sees that he's out cold. She looks up at Lenora and sees a huge smirk on her face.

"Thought you had this battle in bag, huh? Well sweetie this battle has only belong."

"What was that attack?" asks Touko and slightly looks angry.

"Retaliate is normal type move that becomes twice as strong when a teammate faints," explains Lenora.

Touko mentally kicks herself for over estimating Lenora. Now she feels nervous because both her and Lenora are down to one Pokémon. If she makes a mistake during the next round then it could be all over. She'll then have to trainer harder and rechallenge her. No! Touko shakes her. She won't let happen! There is no way on earth that she's going to end up rebattling a gym leader!

She returns Larvesta back to his ball and gets out her next Pokémon Oshawott.

The young trainer leans down on the ground and says, "Oshawott we have to win this match. I'm really counting on you."

The otter Pokémon smiles at her and gives her the thumbs up.

Touko nods her head and stands back up. Then Oshawott and her get ready for the final round!

A/N: Will there you have it! I hope you guys enjoyed chapter six. I left it on a cliffhanger because the chapter would have been longer.

So since it's summer I'm going to my best to try to get more chapters up! I have to get this story going plot wise. So thank you for the reviews, alerts, and favs! I really appreciate them!

Also to the anon reviewer who mentioned that they like me not making Touko the strongest trainer alive. I'm glad you like it! My goal is to show Touko evolve as a trainer as the story goes on.