Shimmer Lake:

Freedom... Such a simple word, yet it brings great joy and peace to those within it's grasp. Those who have it drift along, happily enjoying life, completely unaware of how difficult it is to maintain. For a word, I suppose you could think of letters and a writer, the writer combining them respectively to form meaning. My kingdom is such a writer, in a way, and freedom is the word...at least for those outside of the walls...the walls of the castle within which my parents so stubbornly confine me. Freedom? Me? They tell me I have it... They say I can do whatever I want, so long as I stay here... I've become very familiar with the fact that I know very little about the outside world...besides those little facts that can be read out of a text book...but again those are just words. They cannot compare to the real thing. Just like "freedom", which is nothing but a collection of letters, randomly arranged on a page or voiced, unless its meaning is provided. So no, I do not have freedom. I cannot "do whatever I want". What I want is to go out and see the world... My parents have prevented that, and by doing so, they have prevented my freedom...

I sat on my bed, staring out the window of my room and down at the world below. It was raining, so there wasn't anyone out at the moment, but I still couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be out there...not in the rain of course. I hate being wet... But still, I couldn't help but imagine what it'd be like to walk outside the walls of the castle. To travel and see the sights of the world. To have an adventure. Just thinking about it gave me chills, but one big question still stood. Would it ever happen?

I sighed and turned away from the window, closing the shutters as I did so. It took some effort considering the window's size, but I managed. I paused and looked over the entirety of my room. The room itself was huge, with one big, triangular window that I had previously closed. Several dressers lined the walls in various locations around the room. I'd be lying to say that I kept my room clean, so they weren't very organized and accessories were practically flowing out of them. The reason for this? I didn't really care for anything my parents bought me, or rather what they sent other people to buy for me. I only ever wore my pink bow, which featured what looked to be a butterfly positioned on a leafy plant, and my silver heart shaped necklace with an infinity symbol embracing it. Inside the heart pendant was a mystical blue gem. I wore these and nothing else because they were the two things that my parents had given to me themselves. The necklace was a family heirloom, and the bow was the one thing that my parents actually bought for me without sending someone out for them. Now don't get me wrong, I loved my parents, and I saw them quite often, but I wanted nothing to do with their so called "gifts".

Anyway, the walls of my room were painted purple, my favorite color and the color of my eyes. The floors were wooden, polished and waxed to look nice along with the rest of the room. There was a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room which surprisingly provided sufficient light for such a large space. My bed was fairly large, with a support beam at each corner to hold up a canopy. The canopy and the covers were both purple, the rest of the bed being just regular brown wood. And finally, we have the gigantic door just across the room from my bed. It was the one thing that I hated about my room. Who would make a door that was just as challenging to open as it was to build?

I tore my eyes away from the door and held the heart pendant of my necklace with my paw. The blue gem in the center reflected the light that shone from the chandelier. I always loved what the pendant so obviously meant. "Eternal love..." I whispered to myself. I had a habit of doing that every time I looked at it. The phrase just had a certain soothing ring to it, and that and the pendant always calmed me down. I closed my eyes. "Hmph! Like I could ever find that!"

I opened them again with a sigh. "So long as I'm confined to this place..."

Suddenly I heard a knocking at the door. "Princess Valerie! Are you awake? If you are, could you come out here please? Your parents would like to see you." I let out a groan as I thought of an answer.

"Ugh, seriously?! If you weren't sure that I was awake, then why would you knock on the door?!" I yelled out, irritated. "And if my parents want me so bad, why don't they come down here and get me themselves? I have way more important things to do."

"Ahem, Ms. Valerie. I believe you were just talking to your pendant again. Am I correct?" I was a bit embarrassed at that. He had actually heard me.

"Ugh, fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it." I gave in as I jumped off of my bed and walked towards the door. As I put my paw on the door, I started muttering to myself. "Pfft. Stupid door!" I struggled to open it, but eventually it swung open and I walked outside. "Ok Clement, did my parents tell you why they wanted to talk to me?" I was a bit annoyed.

Clement was a pikachu, one of the workers here in the castle. He was in charge of waking me up and alerting me in, well, situations like this. He could be a bit obnoxious. "I'm afraid not Ms. Valerie. They said it was urgent and only for you and them to discuss." He explained.

"Ugh, fine. Off you go then." I said to him with a wave of my paw. He tilted his head.

"But Ms. Valerie."

"If it's a family matter, then I don't need you to come with me. Besides, this is my castle. I don't need a chaperone." I said to him as I turned around and walked off. I could faintly hear him mutter something about me being a spoiled brat, but I waved it off as I kept walking.

I do suppose I should say a few things about myself while I'm at it. I am Princess Valerie of the Veralos Kingdom and I am an eevee. My eyes are purple as I mentioned before and I wear my pink bow next to my right ear. My heart shaped necklace is always around my neck. I don't really know why my parents insist on keeping me locked up, but I've been in here as long as I can remember. I am currently seventeen, and on my eighteenth birthday, which is coming up in a month, I'm supposed to be crowned queen. I'm a bit uneasy about doing that though to be honest. I don't really want to just sit around and rule a nation. I want to explore the world.

Anyway, I kept walking down the halls, taking turns here and there to get to where I was going. It was a wonder how anyone could keep from getting lost here. It's like a gigantic, beautiful and expensive maze with thousands of rooms and doors. I don't really understand the reason behind all of the excessive rooms. Maybe it was for guests? But as far as I know, guests rarely came and in small numbers too.

Even I found myself getting lost on my way to my parents' office sometimes. Often I would end up in the dining room or the court yard, which is weird because the court yard is four floors down from the office. Eventually, I found myself standing in front of my parents office, fourth floor, left wing, second door on the right. Another annoyingly huge sized door. This time featuring a knocker, but I often ignored it. My room was on the third floor, yet you'd think my parents would make the trip to wake me up just because they cared. For a moment I sat there, just gazing up at the massive piece of annoying architecture that lie before me. I often thought of it as something that kept my family from me. Sometimes I wished I was normal, just like any other person who lived outside the walls. Who's parents probably paid more attention to them than mine did...

I shook these thoughts away and quickly knocked on the door. "Ugh, I wish these things would just disappear." I muttered as I did so. The door suddenly opened to reveal that no one was behind it. This didn't surprise me at all. See, my mother is an espeon, and she was at the other end of the room, so she most likely used psychic.

"Why hello darling. How did you sleep?" She asked as I walked up to my parents' desk. I mentally rolled my eyes as I approached.

"Well I would've told you if you had actually decided to come wake me up yourself for once." I replied, slightly irritated.

My mother sighed. "I'm sorry honey, but you know why we can't. We have-"

"I know, I know, I know. You have more important things to do. Why should I care?" I interrupted, knowing she'd respond this way.

"But sweetie-"

I just sighed. "Ya know, maybe we should just get on to the reason that you called me up here in the first place. I have other things that I'd rather be doing right now."

My mother just produced a noticeably sad look and tried to continue but my dad stopped her with a sideways glance and a paw to her shoulder. I didn't like to hurt my mom's feelings, really, but her utter disregard for how I feel about this just...I don't know. I looked back over at my mom and she nodded. She knew what I was trying to say without me actually saying it. I was sorry.

"Now, Valerie. We called you up here because there's something important coming up that we wanted to talk to you about." My dad spoke up.

I tilted my head in confusion. "My birthday?"

He just laughed. "No, a different kind of important. And just so you know, nothing is more important that what involves you." ...Ok fine, I had to give him props for that one, but he got lucky. "This involves our visitors from the Kalarios Kingdom. We want you to be on your best behavior for when the rulers and their guests arrive here for a ball we are throwing to welcome them. We are trying to ease the tension between our two kingdoms to prevent conflict."

"So you want me to be civil? Fine, I guess I can pretend." I replied, kind of disinterested. I never really cared for this sort of thing.

My dad tapped on his desk impatiently. "Valerie, this is serious. We want the other kingdom to take us seriously for things to work out between us. International relations are not easy ya'know."

"Fine, fine. Relax Dad, I've got this. I can handle being nice to these people. Besides, it'd be the first time that a lot of people from the outside came here, so maybe I could actually, ya'know, make friends." I replied. As one could probably guess, never being let out of the castle meant never being allowed contact with others my age, so friendship just didn't happen.

I thought I saw a bit of guilt in my parents eyes, but it was probably just my imagination. "Good, because our guests will be here tomorrow morning and we want to make a good impression." My dad said, looking hopeful.

"Yeah well, don't worry. It's not like I'll let you down or anything." I sighed as I walked off. "It's not like to have anything better to do." I said sarcastically.

My mom sighed. "Valerie...You do know that we love you. Right?"

I just stopped where I was and stood there without turning around. I let a few tears fall silently to the floor. "I know. I am very aware of that..." I told them before I pushed the door open again and walked out.

After the door closed behind me, I decided to go and relax in the courtyard so I headed down another mass of hallways, down some stairs, and I eventually ended up in a big room that had a clear view of the sky. This courtyard was the closest thing I had ever come to the outside world, and it was beautiful. There were patches of gracidea flowers everywhere. Trees containing every berry imaginable were located at various locations around the yard. Bushes with beautiful flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes were planted around the trees, and tall hedges lined the walls of the entire room. The sweet aroma that all of the flowers were giving off was always uplifting, which is why I always came here to relax. There was a white bench swing over near the corner of the courtyard. Vines covered in blue and white flowers wrapped all around the support bars and made for a very beautiful display. The grass here never seemed to die.

I walked over to the bench swing and sat down, looking up at the sky and then back down at the flowers. "Hmm...I wonder how the flowers look out there..." I said to myself as I took in the beautiful sights. Coming here not only helped me to relax, it also allowed me to think more clearly.

I often found myself daydreaming about love when staring at these flowers... I don't really know why, but something about them just made me want to create a fantasy. The only true fantasy I wanted was to be free outside the walls and to find someone I could be happy with. But finding love is hard when you can't even set foot outside. But still these flowers gave me hope. It was a wonder how they could do that.

I suddenly felt my eyelids grow heavy as I closed my eyes. I don't know if it was the peaceful tranquility of the courtyard, or the fact that go hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but so drifted off.

Dreamscape:

I was standing at the edge of the gates, looking through the bars to the outside, just staring at the town just beyond them. The sky was orange-ish, signifying a sunset somewhere. I couldn't remember how I had gotten here, all I really knew is that I was alone. I looked up at the bars, putting a paw on one of them. They were cold... That was odd since it was pretty warm outside. Wait... Outside? What was going on?

I looked around, yet I still didn't spot anyone, so I decided to walk back towards the castle to look some more. As it turned out, what I didn't expect smacked me in the face. I had walked right into a clear barrier. It was almost glass-like. I tilted my head sideways as I looked through it, only to jump backwards with an "eep" as I saw someone staring at me on the other side. This person...I had never seen them before. It was a vaporeon with pleading eyes... "W-what?" I asked out loud, wanting an answer to whatever was going on. I looked back over towards the gate to see a lone figure, but I couldn't tell what it was from where I was standing. I was too far to see it clearly, so it looked like a shadow. I let out a small scream and shot around when the vaporeon spoke.

"Chain...Eternal." It said. Something about those words sent a chill down my spine.

"What?" I asked the vaporeon, but I received no answer. Just a strange glance back at the castle. I wanted to say something else, but my vision was slowly growing black. It was then that I noticed that a dark shadow had jumped out of the barrier and right at me. I blacked out.

Exit Dreamscape:

I woke up with a start, panting slightly. My muscles were really tense. "Wh...What kind of nightmare was that?" I asked myself as I tried to calm myself with deep breaths. I looked up at the sky to see that the sun was pretty low on the west side. How long had I slept? It was already getting late, probably some time into the afternoon. I decided to set the dream aside momentarily and go get something to eat from the kitchen. The berries in the tree were all too high for me to reach and I didn't want to mess up the beautiful scenery.

The kitchen was just down the hall from the courtyard, making it easy to find from here. Luckily, there was no one in the kitchen at this time of day, so I had free range of anything that was in there. I walked down the long hall and entered the medium sized room. All around me, there were cabinets and drawers of all kinds, probably containing plates, cups, silver ware, and other kinds of kitchen equipment. There was a square island made out of polished wood in the center of the room with a bowl of berries on it, so I walked over to it, stood carefully on my hind legs, and took a few. My favorite berry has always been the sitrus berry, so I took a couple of those along with an oran berry and went back up to my room.

When I entered my room, I walked over to my bed and plopped down onto it while eating a sitrus berry. I often found myself falling into a routine, and it was boring. At least something interesting had happened today. Too bad it had to be so creepy. Who was that vaporeon anyway? And what was it about what she said that sent a chill down my back? I finished my berry and picked up another one.

I knew that it was probably just some incredibly strange dream that didn't mean anything, but it was still the most interesting thing that had happened to me in a while and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Before I realized it, it was already dark outside. I wasn't particularly tired, but I did promise to be civil tomorrow for the ball, so I decided to call it a night. I then slipped under the covers, closed my eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning:

"Princess Valerie! It's time to get up! You have to get ready for the ball! Hurry up, you mustn't be late!" I was awoken by the annoying voice of Clement shouting at me to get up. I took my pillow and covered my head with it, trying my best to block out the sound.

"Ugh, seriously?! Do ya have to be so loud!? Go away!" I shouted out to him, but he was annoying persistent.

"I'm sorry Ms. Valerie, but I believe you made a commitment. You must honor it and be on time to meet our guests at the opening of the ball. Please do remember that your actions as princess not only reflect on your parents, but the entire kingdom as a whole. Please get ready and meet your parents in the main room." Clement said before leaving. Ugh, thank Arceus.

I got up and jumped off of my bed before walking over to a mirror in the corner of my room. I was always a mess in the morning. I guess I had a habit of rolling around in my sleep. I put my left paw on the small table in front of the mirror for support as I used my right to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I then reached over and grabbed a brush from a basket on the table and began brushing the knots out of my fur. It was a good thing Clement left because this usually took a while and I wasn't particularly in the mood to deal with his annoyingly high pitched voice yelling at me through the door. When I finished brushing myself, I put the brush back in the basket and picked up my bow from the other side of the table. I carefully tied it on near my right ear (I had grown quite good at this after doing it myself every day) before I grabbed my necklace and put it around my neck. Then I went over to the large door, pushed it open with some effort, and headed off to the main room.

The main room is the room that opens on to the path to the gates. It was pretty much the biggest room in the house besides the ballroom. I walked in and met up with my parents in the center of the room. It seemed that the guests hadn't arrived yet.

"Good morning Valerie. I'm sorry we had to get you up early, but you had to be here before our guests arrived. It's better that they see us together." My mother explained. I just sighed.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense, but I still don't know why they couldn't come later." I said just as the doors to the outside opened.

"Well, it looks like your just in time. They're here early as it seems." My dad said as two ninetales and a vulpix walked in followed by about a hundred other guests.

"Wow. That's a lot of pokemon." I said to myself as I looked at the crowd that was being directed into the ballroom by a couple of the castle's workers. The two ninetales and the vulpix continued to approach us however.

"Greetings Laura and Stealth. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Said one of the ninetales before looking at me. "And it's a pleasure to meet you too Princess Valerie. I'm Blitz of the Kalarios Kingdom and this is my wife Blaze along with my son Zach." He introduced politely. These were apparently the royals of the other kingdom that my parents were talking about.

"It's nice to meet you too." I said with a fake smile. I wasn't particularly fascinated in meeting them. Truth is, I really didn't care at the moment. There were actually other people I could talk to and I was excited. Besides, royal business was kind of boring in my eyes.

"Ah yes, well it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Now why don't we let these two get to know each other while we go discuss important matters?" My dad suggested, regarding me and Zach.

"Hmm... Very well. I guess it would be better than dragging them into a conversation they would rather not be a part of. Lead the way." Blitz agreed before the four of the. Walked elsewhere. Zach and I, however, just sat there in a state of awkward silence.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not gonna like what they're discussing?" Zach asked, deciding to break the silence. I looked over at him quickly to see him staring in the direction both of our parents had gone with a frown on his face.

"Uhh, I don't know. Probably because royal business is annoying and they were rather quick to suggest that we not be a part of it. I mean I didn't want to be anyway, but..." I replied, even though his question was clearly rhetorical. He seemed to agree nonetheless.

"Ugh, trust me. My parents are annoying just in themselves." He said as he walked off in the same direction they had gone. This puzzled me slightly.

"Uhh, where are you going?" I asked him out of confusion.

He turned around and looked at me as if it was obvious. "To eves-drop of course. I want to know exactly what they plan to do. You can come with if ya want." He replied before turning around and proceeding. I decided to follow.

After Zach figured out that he had no idea where to go, I put my paw to my face and sighed. "Ya know, you probably should have asked the person who actually lives in this castle to lead you to the office. Stumbling around in restricted areas of the castle without a royal escort can get you arrested by the guards." I said to him as I began to show him the way. He just rolled his eyes.

When we arrived at the office, it seemed that our parents were already in the middle of their conversation. I carefully pushed the door open a crack so we cod listen in.

"Are you sure this is the only way? They're just teenagers." I could hear the voice of my father through the door. Zach and I exchanged confused looks.

"I'm afraid so. Our kingdom's are just too different to unite peacefully in any other way. In order for this to work, Zach and Valerie must marry in front of both of the kingdoms." Said the voice of Blitz. Woah woah woah, wait! WHAT?! Zach and I looked at each other in utter shock.

"No. This is not happening." I said to myself before I opened the door and dashed inside. "Woah woah woah, hold up! There is absolutely no way that is happening!" I shouted at the four of them, quite to their surprise. Zach walked up just as I had finished shouting.

"Valerie? What are you doing listening in on this? We told you to stay in the ball room." My mother asked me in a surprised tone.

"Hey, don't blame me if you were acting so suspicious. If I wasn't going to be included in this conversation, then why did you even tell me they were coming? And seriously? Marriage? That's the best the four of you can come up with?" I shouted. I was furious.

"But Valerie-"

"Well too bad because it's not happening! You four can either come up with something else or Kalarios can leave!" I shouted at them again before flipping around and walking towards the door.

"Ugh, yeah. Consider it a no from me as well. I don't want anything to do with this train wreck." Zach said before he turned around and followed me, the door closing behind us.

Back in the ballroom, I was still a little irritated about the whole situation. "Ugh, how could my parents even agree to such a ridiculous idea? I mean, no offense to you, but we barely know each other and I'm to young to be getting married. Besides, they owe me for keeping me locked up here my whole life." I said to Zach who's tails were currently glowing a bit. I assumed that meant he was irritated.

"Eh, none taken. I agree with you. We're too young and we just met. My parents are foolish and it's easy to see that they came up with the whole thing. It's utterly embarrassing." He replied. He didn't seem to like his parents much. "Anyway, it's likely that we just shut the door on the whole deal. They can't exactly force us to go through with that plan."

I nodded. "Hey do you-" I was about to say something but was cut off when the room suddenly went dark. Everyone in the room besides us gave out surprised screams. "Huh? Hey! What's going on?!" I asked out loud before jumping with an audible "eep" as someone grabbed my paw.

"Woah woah hey. It's ok, it's just me." Said the voice of Zach. I calmed down a bit. "You ok?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine I-" I said before giving out a startled cry as someone grabbed my leg. I was about to ask Zack for help, but the proceeding grunting sound he made told me it was futile. I then began experiencing the feeling of being dragged. What exactly was going on? I was starting to get nervous. "Ugh, hey! Let go of me!" I shouted at whoever had a hold of me before someone else stuffed something into my mouth and bound my arms and legs. They started dragging me again. I didn't know what was going on, but I was scared and helpless. The. It hit me. I was a victim of a freaking kidnapping! I struggled a bit before blacking out.

Author's Note:

Hey guys and welcome to my new collaborative fic with ratmaster006, "How I Met You". This story should prove to be a bit different than what you've seen from me in the past, so get ready for the awesomeness to flow. I'm particularly excited for this story, so I hope you like it. To prove that I'm excited, this release has two chapters at once, so enjoy! Also, my next project is to get the next chapter of Imagine out, so expect that soon. :)

Valerie: Seriously? Did ya have to let me get kidnapped?

Zach: Hey! It's not my fault. I couldn't see if anyone was going to attack me in all of that darkness.

Valerie: Ugh, fine. But you owe me.

Zach: Pfft. Whatever.

Me: Yep. Totally wonderful pair those two make.

Valerie and Zach: WE'RE NOT GETTING MARRIED!

Me: Ugh, fine! I'll see you next chapter my fine readers. *mutters to self*