Mirene: It's been a deadly long time, I understand. But what I'm still smiling like a stupid idiot on my stool right now because of all the amazing reviews and fans I've received over the time span since the last chapter. I wanted to update quickly so badly but I never found the time just when I felt inspired to write for this (which tbh was every time I got an email alerting me that someone had taken the time to write a sweet review). But now I'm here! (: And I hope you'll enjoy this. I don't own Pokemon!

Chapter 6

Touya was sitting on a rock by the beach, a thick suitcase beside him, staring at the cold, crashing waves. He should have seriously thought things out before we went and left, didn't he. But what other choice did the brunette have? Had he stayed any longer, Cheren would have surely killed him in his sleep or something.

He had about less than one month. Less than one month to travel to the Plasma kingdom, less than one month to impossibly infiltrate the castle, less than one month to find Touko and safely rescue her from her future execution. Less than one month! Under all this pressure, he might just crack.

"God, Touko, I'm so sorry..." he whispered to the cool breeze, his only friend. It had been three days since he had left the organization. Three days and he was already tempted to go back—but he was sure that Cheren had already branded him as a traitor. No doubt they're coming to get his head. The only choice he had now was to fulfill his mission and atone for what he had done.

Standing up with a stronger resolve, he began pulling his suitcase and walking toward the nearest pokemart. If he was going to do this, he might as well be as prepared as possible. Upon entering the store, he stacked up on food and drinks, a first aid kit, most of the necessities a person could think of. Turning around to look for pokeballs, he remembered that this store wasn't a part of their base and frowned. If he ran into any good pokemon, he wouldn't be able to get any. He should have stocked up before he left. But as always, he didn't really think about it.

Paying for his items at the register, he noticed the worker suddenly tense up. Turning around, he saw three grunts walk into the chip aisles, barking about what to get. Realizing why the person became so rigid, he leaned into the woman's ears and whispered. "May I purchase some pokeballs?" Her eyes widened until he discreetly pulled out his APO badge. With a relieved sigh, the girl nodded and gestured for him to wait on the side. He did.

"Ah man, I'm so tired. The king has worked all of us day and night without stop," the first grunt mumbled in a grouchy manner, holding a few XL bags of cheesy pika puffs in his arms. "To track down that stupid criminal organization. Damn, if that APO didn't exist, we wouldn't have to be living off cheap chips in the middle of the night trying to search for them. Don't even have the time to stop for a decent meal." The evident rumbles of all their stomachs proved his complaint to be true.

The second grunt thought carefully as she pulled out a few bottles of water from the fridges. "I bet it's because of that APO leader they caught a while ago. It's only been about a week and yet look at all the controversies she's stirred up. Her capture leads to her execution, which leads to us destroying the APO so that the execution can be cancelled. N is head over heels for that bitch." Touya accidentally growled at the crude term used to refer to his crush.

"Oh?" the third grunt noticed Touya. "What's up? Got a crush on the APO leader too?" All three of them cackled. "Not that a crappy outsider like you would even know what we're talking about. Ah, go pay for the food, Miru."

"I forgot my money," the second grunt giggled cunningly, smiling poisonously at the poor cashier lady. "You don't mind, do you sweetie? We do work hard to protect you from dangerous pokemon after all."

'As if the taxes didn't pay you all enough already,' Touya thought angrily as the cashier nodded softly. The grunts soon left after grabbing a few other things they needed and within five minutes, they had all driven off on their motorcycles. Stepping forward, he took his wallet out and gave the girl some money. "I'm paying for them."

The shy girl blushed and shook her head, placing her hands out in front of her to reject the offer. "Pl-please don't bother. It's alright. If I don't give them trouble, they won't give me trouble. The same goes for you as well, right?" She lifted her head to smile, pulling out her identification card, revealing herself as an APO member. "Mister trainer."

"Thank goodness you're part of us. I would've stepped in to help, but I can't afford to attract too much attention just yet."

The cashier nodded in understanding eagerly. "Are you going to go on a mission? Please, let me offer you these supplies for free," she scrambled to take his things to bag it, but instead got money shoved into her hands.

"I can't do that, because I'm not going on this mission as a member for the APO," he lightly smiled, a sliver of sadness in his expression. "I'm going out for personal reasons." The girl said no more and accepted the cash. "May I get three pokeballs?"

"But you paid enough for ten-"

"Three is enough. Keep the change." The girl nodded, knowing he simply wanted to pay for the rude grunts from earlier, and ran to the back. She returned with three ultra balls in her hands and gave them to the male trainer. "Thank you... Erm..." He waited and the girl finally caught onto what he was getting, flustering in the process.

"Ah! S-sorry, m-my name is Yuna, nice to meet you... s-sir." She added the sir because of the high rank she noticed on his member card. "You?"

"Touya." He smiled at her before checking his watch, his mood falling. "It's getting late. I should go." He tipped his hat to her still red pinkette, who was now nervously straightening the wrinkles on her magenta summer dress. "Thank you, Yuna," he said before leaving.

"Have a safe trip," she called out, waving her hand. After he left her sight, Yuna rubbed her hand at the place where Touya had touched while giving her the money. "It's warm," she whispered softly to herself before getting ready to close down the shop.

Touko sighed, tired and honestly, a tad bit confused.

It had been almost a week since she had last seen N, and the last time she did, he was utterly confusing. First he was nice, then he was possessive. Which one was he really? She had been contemplating this for the past few days and had come up with only one reasonable theory. The only way to explain it would be that one was a facade, and the other was real. He was trying to trick her into something... but what? And why? She already knew his mean side, and now his nice facade comes out? Or is it the opposite?

Then again, why should she care? She would be escaping as soon as possible anyways. No, or maybe this could be a weakness she could use. To save her pride, she should at least return to the base with some kind of information. Right? Of course it's only right.

During the past week, she would always be searching for a way out. But without the help of her pokemon and the infinite number of grunts always out there to stop her from leaving, it was close to completely impossible. The circumstances looked as though she would be staying here permanently. The only upside was that there had been no sign of N so far. She only ran into grunts and those two loathsome goddesses every so often. Not even Ilysium came back a second time.

Plus, it was dreadfully boring. Sometimes she would try to goad the grunts into playing sports with her, but they were completely deaf and still. The only reaction she had gotten from them so far when she wasn't trying to escape was seeing their veins pop on their forehead. Shooting hoops would only keep her interested for so long. Around the second day or so, she had even thrown a pathetic tantrum just to see what happened. She was bound for the entire day with tape over her mouth, plus a very degrading lecture from Anthea. So she just decided to stay calm until she could leave safely.

It had been only one week... And yet it felt like years had passed already.

"I hate this stupid kingdom. I hate their king." Her arms crossed around her legs, which she had pulled in towards herself. The ball rolled away, only stopping after it had hit the wall. Burying her face into her knees, she shed a tear. "I just want my mother back... Mom..."

That was when the door abruptly opened and slammed into the wall, startling the brunette. Touko quickly wiped away her tears and patted the air out of her light, silk gown, raking her fingers through her hair to get rid of the unseemly tangles. Footsteps came from the far side of the room, swiftly coming towards her. The brunette flipped around to come face to face with a weary-looking N, who plopped down right next to the confused girl. Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly tried to scoot away from the man when he suddenly spun on the floor and laid his head right on her lap, his cap covering his face. What's more, the man was actually grinning.

Grinning.

She didn't know what to think.

So she didn't.

"Get the fuck off of me!" she yelled, picking up his head with the tips of her fingers like it was garbage and threw it onto the hard ground, scrambling up and slowly backing away before realizing what exactly she just did. It felt nice to know that she scored one on him, but she was practically defenseless at the moment. Just a few days she had almost gotten raped by this man, who's to say that he won't finish what he started? Her body shivered in disgust at the thought and prepared itself for the worst.

But to her surprise, the green-haired man laid there like a statue. The only thing that stopped him from seeming dead was the light chuckle that escaped his mouth when his lips parted. He threw his arm over his hat above his forehead. "They told me you were more obedient now... I can see that was an exaggeration."

'Not exactly,' she thought. It wasn't fair though, how could her strength be put up against double-in-size pokemon in numerous numbers? If it wasn't for her compassion for pokemon and total disadvantage, she would have been gone by now, much less obedient. Since she had been thinking of ways to escape, just being obedient until the chance arose was the best choice. However, she may just have screwed up a week's worth.

"Tell me, Touko... Is this not enough for you?" She didn't really catch on to what he was trying to get at, and so a moment of silence passed between them before he tried to clarify. "This... All this. When will you finally give in and be mine? If you're willing, then all the troubles will be solved," he said with a tiresome sigh.

Her eyes squinted in disbelief. "Give in? I will never give in," Touko spat in contempt, though admittedly from the other side of the room. "You think you just keep me locked up for a week and expect me to give in?" Biting her lip in order not to curse, she clenched her fists at her side tightly. "I'm the leader of the APO."

"I know that," the king drawled from his area, putting his cap back on and slowly getting up. He winced before rubbing the back of his head for a second, staring at the girl he had wanted for so long. "We all know that. But can't you forget your position? For me?"

"For you?" she said through gritted teeth without a shred of sympathy. "What exactly do I get in return then?"

"Your life."

Touko was almost taken back when he said that.

Almost.

Except she already knew that dying was a possibility. Now she only wished that she had updated her will—it hadn't been touched since a year before her mother died, and well, almost everything went to someone that was now deceased. She always thought that she would die before her mom ever since that time... "My life isn't as valuable as you think it is."

N shook his head. "In three weeks' time, you're going to be publicly executed. No one will join your small group of pokemon slave workers anymore. The APO will surely die when they see your death. Everyone you ever loved will crumble and once they let down their guard even just a bit, Plasma will crush them... And no one will be left alive."

Touko had to bite her tongue to keep from barking back her opinion. To be honest, though she didn't care much about her death in particular since there was no way she could die just yet, she was curious about her so-called execution. "However... I've managed to get in an alternative with the royal sages. It will have the same result—only you won't be dead."

Touko knew there was going to be a catch to this. A big one. "And that alternative would be something worse than death, I presume?"

"Quite the opposite," he smiled, walking forward. Unfortunately for Touko, N had already instructed the grunts outside to close and lock the door from outside before he walked into the room. "You'll be alive, and well, and..."

"And?" she questioned, but to her mistake. Within the next second, the secretly athletic man flew towards her and before she could even react to his strange quickness, he had held her arms in place by wrapping his arms around her body and delved into her sweet, luscious lips. His tongue forcefully entered her mouth after he had bit her bottom lip so she would open her mouth to him, and suddenly something bitter flooded her mouth.

His massive strength held her in place despite her thrashing, which only made her fall backward while he was still dominantly on top of her, tongue forcing the strange liquid down her throat. That was when she felt the solid capsule also get pushed down, and her mind had concluded that she was being drugged. 'Shit!' Her thoughts were getting blurrier and blurrier, and her vision was becoming thoughtless... No, it was the other way around. She didn't know anymore. The bitter taste was gone and all she could taste now was N, his mint-flavored tongue roaming her mouth still.

"If you bear my child, and bear a male heir... You can live, Touko."

The dark embraced her and she embraced it back.

Bianca smiled happily, staring at the screen where the little red beeper was traveling towards , a little red beeper also known as Touya. At first, he had stayed almost forever at Undella Town, and the blonde wondered if he would ever get a move on or if he needed some help. She didn't recall anyone being a member there, so there was no way to contact him unless she ordered someone out to get him. The only way to do that, however, is to get Cheren's approval, and that would be impossible.

It was a good thing she had sneaked a tracking device chips on him without him knowing by super gluing three of them onto his shoe, hat, and suitcase. Otherwise everyone but Cheren would be worrying with worry-filled stress. Although the girl knew Cheren also secretly worried about the careless male.

Now, she could see Touya travel up the map, getting closer to N's castle, even if it was just a little bit. The next town he would hit would be Lacunosa Town.

"Bianca," Cynthia suddenly appeared through the doorway, stepping in with all her clothes and such. "I'm leaving in an hour since I've already given most of my contact and research information to Juniper. She needs to get something to Touya too, so I was just wondering where the brat is right now." Her eyes quickly scanned the wall-sized monitor. "Ah, by the time I go, he'll be halfway to Lacunosa. Alright, is there anything you'd like to give to him as well?"

Bianca quickly stood up and ran towards the far side of the room, opening a desk and pulling out a box that looked rather heavy in her hands. She handed it to the Sinnoh champion, smiling. "Can you give this to him then? It's top-secret, but very important."

"I understand. Goodbye, Bianca."

"Thank you, Cynthia. Stay safe."

She smirked, snapping her fingers. Within seconds, the spiritomb had appeared beside her, bobbing up and down. "Looks like you managed to get away easily, little one. I assume Touko is safe?" Bianca didn't know how the long-haired blonde could understand the ghost pokemon, but she guessed that it was just their strong bond. The violet creature shook left and right, indicating a no. "But she's alive. I understand, if you stayed too long you may have never gotten out of there, right? We'll have to leave it up to Touko to get Garchomp back."

"Ah, Touya is further up the route again. Please hurry, Cynthia."

Cynthia nodded, giving a mock salute. "So long, Bianca." And the woman disappeared behind the doors.

Bianca sighed as she slumped into her chair, wondering if her little gift will be useful to Touya or not. It would be if only he knew how to use it before, but now he'll simply have to learn how on his own.

Ilysium was sitting inside a room, a large, dark room with a cup of crimson red tea sitting cold in front of him. He had sipped it only once, and it had already left an everlasting bitter taste in his mouth that was almost unbearable.

"Drink, Ilysium."

"Oh, yes... Of course, sir," the silver-haired man said politely, taking the cup into his hands but not daring to sip the acrid liquid. "May I ask why you've called me, sir?"

The pause before the other spoke lasted about a minute. "Do you remember when N first took you in, Ilysium? Do you remember what I told you on the first day?"

"I must always pledge loyalty to Plasma, sir."

"Good," the other man chuckled, causing the younger one to feel anxious about why the former king had called him to his presence. It was rare to ever even see him nowadays, let alone actually sit down with him to have a cup of tea. "Actually, there's something I've been wanting to know. I want you to do it for me. A mission, you might call it. I do hope you'll accept..."

Sensing the eerieness in his voice, Ilysium had no doubt that if he said something wrong by mistake, his head would be on one side of a guillotine, and his body on the other. "I will always place Plasma first," he said after a quick few seconds to choose his words carefully. This sentence seemed to please the one who beckoned him.

"It has something to do with that new toy N has taken a liking to..."

"T-Touko?"

"Yes, that's her name: Touko. I want you to get her out of that prison of a room... And I want you to bring her to my floor in three days, exactly at midnight. I will be waiting by the elevators to pick her up for no more than five minutes. Clear enough?"

Though he didn't have any idea as to why this man wanted Touko, he would simply have to agree for now and perhaps consult N about it later in secret. After all, though he may have said that he pledged his loyalty to Plasma, the only person he only felt loyal to was N. For now, Ilysium would just have to accept the assignment.

"I understand. Thank you for allowing me to be in your presence tonight, but now I must take my leave. I will do my best to complete the task you have placed upon me, Sage Ghetsis." He stood up and bowed, lowering his head.

"It'd be best if you met my expectations," the former king warned before also standing up and leaving the silver-haired man to be escorted off his personal floor by the shadow triad, smirking darkly as he left to his room to further prepare.

Mirene: So I'm putting in some darkness now, and here's when the drama genre is going to really start appearing. Sorry for taking so long to update again, and I sincerely hope you will all review on your thoughts and concerns for this chapter. And now I've got to knock out for sleep, if you'll excuse me. Have a great night, because I really need one. Bye! (: