N was finding it harder to remember Team Plasma, since his two-year departure from Unova in order to find himself. It was all starting to blur together. The only thing his mind seemed to remember clearly was the girl he'd battled. The girl who had almost singlehandedly defeated all of Team Plasma, defeated him, and saved the Unova region from impending oppression. He kept thinking of Touko White, her bluer-than-the-blue-sky eyes, her incredibly fluffy brown hair, her bright smile, and her kind but firm attitude.

When N had first seen her, Touko seemed perplexed. He figured that Ghestis' speech had hit her hard. But that was to be expected. N overheard the brunette speak to her raven-haired companion, Cheren.

"Touko, why're you getting all worked up?" Cheren fixed his glasses, crossing his arms.

"Well, Pokémon abuse DOES happen." Touko sighed, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "It's really sad but true."

Cheren's eyes went wide. "You can't seriously believe that load of malarkey that guy was spewing about liberation, can you?"

She sighed, "I don't think that's the right course of action. But I do think there should be more rules put in place."

N was thankful that she hadn't noticed his staring. She seemed like a decent person, if there could be such a thing. Touko's Oshawott popped out of its pokeball, practically all smiles. Touko's own serious expression brightened exponentially as she picked the otter Pokémon up in her arms, resting her chin on its head.

Much to his surprise, the Oshawott was telling Touko how much it loved her, and how excited it was to be traveling with her. It said that it wouldn't want to be anywhere but with her. The words were obviously meant to be reassuring to the trainer, though N had doubted that Touko could actually understand the language. Somehow, though, it appeared she interpreted the message anyway.

"Your Pokémon… Just now, it was saying…" N hadn't remembered taking the steps toward the girl. The shock was still registering in his brain. A Pokémon actually loving its trainer?

"What're you talking about? Pokémon don't speak." Cheren spoke with a know-it-all tone of voice.

"Cheren…" Touko threw a sideways, slightly annoyed glance at Cheren.

"So, you can't hear it, either. How sad." N said, the message meant for Cheren in particular. "My name is N."

"I'm Cheren, and this is Touko." Cheren's voice still had the same tone, which made N wonder if that was just the way the raven-haired boy always spoke.

Shifting her Oshawott in one arm, Touko held out her hand, a big grin on her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you, N."

N looked nervously at her hand. Touko seemed to have noticed his expression, since returned her hand to just below her chest, cradling Oshawott like a baby. Cheren fixed his glasses again, continuing to speak.

"We're Trainers on a mission for Professor Juniper to fill the pokedex with as much information on Pokémon as we can." Cheren said with a note of pride.

N's gray eyes widened in partial horror at the statement. He'd expected as much, but the girl had somehow made his suspicions disappear for a while, albeit a brief while. He backed up a half-step.

"The pokedex, hm? You're going to confine many, many Pokémon to pokeballs for that, then. I'm a trainer, too, but I can't help but wonder… Are Pokémon truly happy that way?" N mused, his hand hovering over the lone pokeball which held Purrloin, a local Pokémon he'd caught in order to protect himself if need be, since Trainers were everywhere, constantly asking for battles.

Touko blinked, Cheren scoffed, and Oshawott cocked its head, shifting in Touko's arms. It spoke softly, but N caught it none the less. "What're you talking about? What's not to like?"

"Slow down, would you?" Cheren said, almost drowning out Oshawott's last sentence.

N turned to Touko, who was still looking very confused. He drew Purrloin, looking the brunette square in the eyes. "Touko, right? Let me hear your Pokémon's voice again!"

Oshawott sprang out of Touko's arms, shoving the dark cat Pokémon back when it headed straight for Touko's legs with claws drawn. Touko, like most trainers, exploited type advantages, but she kept a close eye on how Oshawott was, trying to keep the Pokémon from overdoing it. All the while, it was arguing with Purrloin.

"How can you be naïve enough to trust a human?!"

"How can you say such nasty things about people you don't know?!"

"Humans can only hurt you! Stop being stupid and realize it!"

"You're the stupid one! Not all humans are bad! Tou-chan's really nice!"

Soon enough, Oshawott had Purrloin pinned to the ground. With what was practically a slap from the Pokémon's tiny paw, the battle was over. Touko ordered Oshawott back and started tending to the scratches it'd received from the feline Pokémon, which had meandered over to N's feet.

"I never thought I'd hear Pokémon say such things…" The green-haired boy murmured.

With a few sprits of potion and a little yawn from the otter Pokémon, Touko tapped its pokeball lightly against its forehead, returning it to the capsule, and tucked the ball deep in her bag. She fished out another potion and tossed it to N, who gaped slightly as he caught the medicine.

"Touko…! Those aren't cheap!" Cheren scolded. Touko just rolled her eyes.

"It's common courtesy, Cheren. His Pokémon's really beat up." She faced N, her smile somehow brighter, offering her hand again. "Good battle."

He held the potion awkwardly in his hand, Purrloin hissing at his feet, staring at her thin fingers again. Touko dropped her hand after several seconds of waiting, seeming to understand that N wasn't in the mood for hand-shaking. N's eyebrows knitted themselves together as their eyes met again. Touko didn't seem like a bad person, but from what Ghestis had said about Trainers…

"A-as long as Pokémon are confined to pokeballs, they'll never be perfect beings. I have to change the world for Pokémon, because they're my friends." N spoke even faster than usual, some sort of heat flooding to his cheeks.

He scooped up Purrloin and practically ran away. At the time, he couldn't figure out why he'd run off so fast, or why he'd stammered. The image of Touko opening her mouth to say something lingered in his mind, however. Part of him wondered what she was going to say.

A/N: Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm still alive. XD This was supposed to be a oneshot. a ONESHOT. ONE STORY IN ONE FILE AND BLARG AND STUFF. It started getting too long. w I mean, it's just about three pages in word. I figure that several thousand-word chapters are more digestible than one long wall of words. And if you haven't already guessed, I took many artistic liberties with the storyline and dialogue. I haven't made it all the way through the game yet, you know. That's how I am with games, I'm a procrastinator. But that doesn't affect my ability to research, and it doesn't affect my ability to write. So here I am, writing what I crave to write. Reviews would be appreciated, but I'm not going to whine and beg ;D. Doing this for fun, nothing serious.