I'm back! I'm sorry I've been so damn long… I'm trying, I swear I am. I have so many things to keep up with and it's like… UGH. I'm going to try get back on track now. I sorta know where I'm going with this chapter, so I… yeah. Let's pray.

Episode 5 – No time for settling

"Last episode we saw our group arrive in Unova, where yet another family reunion occurred – Alicia Ashmore-Pierce revealing herself as Gem's first born child. The home that this family lived in for their early life together was then revealed to be the new base camp for the group, where private conversations could be held, and if necessary the group can hide out. However, we come back with some drama between the two Ashmore-Pierce siblings…"

"What is wrong with you Ethan?! You really have gone fucking insane!" Alicia barked, fists clenched by her sides. Ethan groaned, resting his head on his hands as he shoved his shirt to the side and shook his head repeatedly. "You… You dumb fucking idiot!" Ethan looked up a little after this sentence, about to retort before realising his sister was practically crying – fat tears welling up in her eyes. He froze mid-sentence, moving his arms just as Alicia jumped at him and started punching him in the chest over and over, and yelling curses at him. He had no idea what to do except wrap his arms around her and try to soothe his smaller sister's anger, fear and upset.

"Alicia… I'm sorry… please calm down…" His chest was going a little numb, and some old bruises would definitely come back up if she kept hitting like she was.

"I-I bet you can't pull out of this now or you're going to end up dead without even a way to f-fucking fight back…" Alicia growled, sobbing a little and hitting his chest continuously still. "Why are you so dumb?!"

"Alicia… Shhh… please…"

"D-Dammit how did this happen… m-mom was here… b-but of course she was busy… dammit… if we were around more you'd be safe dammit…!" Alicia whimpered, looking at him.

"I am safe! I will not die, Alicia!" Ethan retorted, looking at her too as he wiped her tears. She lightly smacked his hand away and wiped her own tears away from her eyes and cheeks, snivelling once more before composing herself as she sat up.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't tell mom and dad." She said sharply, staring him right in the eyes.

"Because you know I can take care of myself, and don't want to make them panic and be unhappy during the time they get together." Her brother replied simply, blue eyes piercing her yellow orbs. She flinched a little, he'd inherited their mother's glare more than she had, but also… he was right. "Tell me one of your secrets."

"Why?!" She asked, jumping a little and stepping back.

"Insurance."

Alicia flinched a little, but giving a bitter nod she leant over to whisper into his ear: "I see thing from the future that I shouldn't… I've changed things that were meant to happen to save my own interests… and I hear voices… whispers… or a dark voice… no one knows. And no one else ever better know. Got it?"

Ethan nodded, hugging her gently to him, partly to hide his stunned face. "I got it sis… I'm sorry, but I need to know you won't tell…" She simply nodded, hugging him back and standing up, walking back towards the door of the room.

"I know, Ethan. Just remember… Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead." She left the room, Ethan remaining sitting as his face became more than simply stunned.

How much did she know?

~X~X~X~

(Pool – 3:00pm)

"Geronimo!" Tamira yelled as she jumped into the pool, which she had done countless other times in the past two or so hours. Their author and her husband simply sat watching everyone as they played, making sure nothing went wrong with all the Pokémon and preteens playing in the water.

"Mira! That went in my eyes!" Mara whined, splashing her as soon as she came back to the surface from her cannonball jump. The twin whined just as much, and a splash war quickly began between the two.

"What's the plan after here then mom?" Ethan asked, sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, his trunks black with white tribal designs on the sides of the legs. Alicia was swimming with Karyn nearby, whilst in her own red swimsuit, getting to know the girl she'd be bunking with for that night. Karyn herself was asking the majority of the questions, all about god knows what due to her overly inquisitive nature.

"Well, we have to give them the time I agreed on to explore Nuvema itself – not that that will take you guys all that long," Gemma began, "Then… well… For the first contest we'll have to head up to Accumula, but the first gym is all the way over in Aspertia… So we'll have to get a boat to Castelia, pass through it to another port, then get the boat back to Aspertia… It's going to be a long trip to the first gym."

"Castelia?" Ethan asked, sitting up a bit more, "Does that mean I can see them?" Nathen chuckled behind his wife, and nodded to his son, making the teen hiss a happy 'Yes!' right before the troublesome twins pulled him by his ankles into the water causing spluttering galore.

"Got 'im!" Tamira cheered, laughing and swimming off as quickly as she could. Tamara tried to swim off just as quickly, but she was a little slower, making Nathen raise an eyebrow as he started at her slightly slower and weaker pace. From what he'd known of the two, they'd always been equally matched; this was odd.

"Keep talking whilst I catch those two little rascals," Ethan chuckled, swimming after them. Gem rolled her eyes, leaning back more against her husband's chest.

"We'll have to go to the lab whilst we're here, get them anything else they may need from Juniper," She continued, talking loud enough for her son to hear her even on the opposite side of the pool.

"Wait, Juniper? She was the one who was around the Great-Grandpa and Grandma's era!" Karyn exclaimed, sitting up against the edge of the pool, her legs floating just under the surface straight out, "How can she still be around?"

"Well, it could be her descendants, Karyn," Ethan said, currently holding the two girls around their torso with one arm each as they struggled, him holding on easily as he tread water.

"Actually, it's just her. I, uh… I got lazy and I created another time paradox or rip in time to make sure that we deal with the set of gym leaders I'm familiar with… Heh," The authoress said, scratching her head, "I am not making a whole new set like I did with Sinnoh, nu-uh. Too much time."

"…Okay you're getting tickled." Nathen said, rolling his eyes as he started to tickle his wife. She squealed, making Ethan facepalm from the embarrassment, whilst Alicia just giggled.

"This is worse than mom and dad, and they're terrible," Tamira said, pulling an exaggerated 'bleh' face as she continued to struggle against Ethan (who had managed to keep hold of both even with his facepalm). "Dammit Ethan! Let us gooooooo!"

"Nope! It's too much fun keeping you captive," The boy grinned, chuckling as they continued to struggle fruitlessly. Karyn giggled, starting to play with Jayden as well as talking to Alicia still.

"We're all gonna wanna get out soon before we actually become prunes, you know that right?" Alicia said, jumping up backwards to sit on the side of the pool, splashing some water towards the others with her feet, "I'm already wrinkling up."

"I'm not! …Oh, yep I am!" Tamira said, looking at her fingertips.

"I'll go make everyone something to eat. It'll be getting late soon, so we can eat then get everyone to bed, and then tomorrow Gem can set you all off to the lab before you all go to get the boat." Nathen said, standing up.

"Oi, stop bossing my charges around," Gemma pouted. Nathen just shook his head with a soft laugh and walked back inside to start cooking.

"I swear if we have to deal with you being all lovey the whole way through this journey I'm going to lose the ability to puke," Tamira groaned.

"Amen to that!" Ethan chuckled, heaving the twins onto the sides of the pool and then clambering up onto the edge himself, standing up, shooting a shot of heat through his skin to dry off, "Dry! I'm going to go help cook!"

"Put some clothes on!" Karyn giggled, swimming to the nearest steps and clambering out that way.

"Yeah yeah," He was clearly rolling his eyes, picking up his shirt and jeans as he walked past them where they were flung over a chair.

"Seriously bro! None of us wanna see you strut around the house in only your swimwear!" Alicia called after him.

Two pairs of cheeks went red.

~X~X~X~

(8:00pm – Twin's room)

"I certainly would not have minded Ethan walking around shirtless for the rest of the day," Tamira giggled as she laid in her PJs: a baggy red shirt; a too long pair of baggy green trousers; and even a black nightcap.

"Mira!" Tamara said, her cheeks going red as she pulled her black shorts on under a long green nightdress, held on her shoulders by thick straps.

"Oh you know you feel the same." Her twin's cheeks only grew redder in response, making Tamira laugh and flop over onto her back, the end of her hat falling forward onto her face which made her pout. Tamara rolled her eyes, flipping the hat off her sister's face and then sitting on her own bed, crossing her legs and holding her skirt down with one hand whilst leaning on the other. "Think the Pokémon are all okay out back on that ranch thing?"

"Of course they are, Mira. God, this house is huge though isn't it?" Tamara smiled, looking around the room they were sleeping in. "To be honest we all could have comfortably slept in just one of these rooms."

"That is very true. And Jayden's in one on his own. That'll be interesting." The more mischievous of the two said, rolling her eyes, "Ethan's also alone in his room. I bet it has a window." Her twin looked at her confused, before Tamira teasingly wiggled her eyebrows making the girl's red cheeks go even redder as she threw a pillow at her.

"Tamira! No! That's creepy!" She squealed, Tamira laughing loudly at her as she threw the pillow right back.

"Take a joke," Mira grinned, squeaking and holding her hands up in her defence as pillows began to get flung back and forth. Laughter echoed around the room as a pillow fight began.

(8:01pm – Alicia's Old Room)

"How old are you?" Karyn asked, pulling her brightly coloured pyjamas on – a pair of orange shorts and bright pink t-shirt, the latter covered in blue hearts.

"Eighteen, why?" Alicia pulled back the covers on her bed, sitting on it with her hands behind her.

"And how old were you when you lived here?"

"Hm… I think we left somewhere between my fourth birthday and sixth… again, why?"

Karyn pointed to the painted on, childlike designs on the wall: A huge illustration of a child's idea of a house and a stick people family; another illustration in the same style of various Pokémon; "So those have been there up to 14 years? You'd think on coming back they'd change the walls."

Alicia looked where the girl was pointing, smiling lightly to herself, "I suppose… I guess mom was too nostalgic to get rid of them. I vaguely remember them taking my drawings and turning them into this… Ha."

"Oh!" The ginger girl said, clambering into her covers from the bottom up, then tucking the covers back in. "Is your hair natural? And your eyes?"

"You don't half ask a lot of questions… No, my hair is dyed to be like mom; she used to dye parts of her hair red and black. But my eyes are natural, one of her many forms had yellow eyes and those genes passed to me," Alicia lay herself down under her own covers, "Why do you get into bed that way?"

"Dad used to play a game where he'd chase me to bed so I'd go to sleep," Karyn giggled, "The quickest way into 'safe' – the bed – was through the bottom because it was closest to the door. It became a habit."

"Cute," Yawning, and pulling her covers up to her nose, Alicia turned on a small flame shaped light on her old end table, giggling as her Blazolf and shiny Embolf both jumped into the bed with her. She then flicked off the main light switch. "Go to sleep, brainbox."

"Oh shush up, uh… uh… Goth-girl?" Karyn said unsurely, making Alicia laugh as she closed her eyes.

"You need to work on the nicknames thing kid. Try again tomorrow. Night!"

(8:04pm – Jayden's room)

"Jaydy Jaydy!"

"Hiya!" Jayden grinned, waving to the girl on the other side of the video feed. Kiana, his little sister of about four, waved both her small hands back at him, brunette curls bobbing as she bounced a little on Nevee's lap.

"Hiya Jaydy! Pokémon?" Kiana asked cheerfully. It was now daytime all the way back in Kanto, so the girl was wide awake to be able to chat with her brother. The quirky boy grinned.

"Yep! I have a Pokémon now! He's a little Chimchar called Charlie, but he's out on a Pokémon Ranch right now so I'll have to show you tomorrow night, okay?"

"Awwwwww! Okaaaaaay," She puffed her cheeks out alongside a pout, which Jayden returned.

"I promise, alrighty? Is Jax there?" He smiled, bouncing a little on his bed. Nevee smiled behind her daughter, leaning down and pulling up a smaller child, no older than one and with the same brunette hair, up onto her lap. The baby boy was happily sucking on his thumb, his other hand being waved in the air by Nevee. "Yay!"

"He's good as gold still Jay," His mother giggled, holding the baby close, "Hope you don't mind he sits playing with your old toys all day,' this was answered swiftly with an 'of course not!', 'We read to him out of the little books of your stories for them, but little Kiana here says we can't do the voices right."

"Heh, only I can do the voices," Jayden grinned, "You still sleep though, right girly?"

"Yep!" Kiana giggled, clapping. The new trainer's grin grew.

"Kiddo it's time you got to bed if your journey properly starts tomorrow," His mother smiled, blowing a kiss, "Kiana, say goodnight to your big brother."

"Nighty night Jaydy!" The little girl blew a big kiss and waved both hands at him as he smiled, blowing a kiss of his own back at his family.

"Night night! I'll see you tomorrow night!" He beamed. Nevee smiled, waving Jax's hands and then cutting the call off, the screen blipping to black. Jayden smiled, slipping under his covers and curling up, allowing himself to sleep.

(8:09pm – Ethan's room)

As Ethan buttoned up his black nightshirt he looked around his childhood room, the wallpaper on the walls as unchanged as the paintwork in Alicia's room – a childish space pattern. He chuckled lightly, tugging on skull patterned baggy trousers, clambering onto his bed.

"Well, my tastes really have changed since I was young," He chuckled to himself, letting his Charcolf jump onto his bed and his lap, where he began to pet him. "This old place… I can't believe it. Well, from tomorrow it's time to actually explore."

"Char!" The wolf Pokémon barked, nuzzling against his palm.

"Six regions I've been to so far… Monoko, Pokoh, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kanto… Now Unova is crossed off the list. Hopefully these guys will be going off to Kalos next or I'm going to get so bored." Ethan chuckled to himself, laying back properly and looking up, laughing at the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling. "Goodnight Charcolf."

"Olf!"

~X~X~X~

(9:23am – Nuvema Town Centre)

"Whyyyyyyyyy did you make us meet out hereeeee?" Tamira whined, glaring at Gem as she stood in front of a semi-circle of her charges.

"Because if I said you could just wait downstairs at the house you'd take forever to get your asses out of bed. I know you guys' habits by heart, I've been watching you for ten years already," Gem said, rolling her eyes with her arms crossed.

"That… sounds really creepy when you say it like that…" Karyn muttered. The authoress sweatdropped, scratching the back of her head.

"…Uh… yeah… It did… well, uh, never mind that! Look, we're going to the lab today, and then depending on time we may be heading off up towards Accumula, but if it's too late we'll leave that 'til tomorrow and stay one more night in the house," Gemma continued, leaning back against a small wall, "At the lab you'll be able to get some more free supplies, and just get to know the professor in case we need her anywhere along the road,' she then looks to Karyn, 'I'm sure she'd also be glad to talk to you about her research." Karyn giggled a little shyly, nodding.

"We ready to go now then?" Ethan asked.

"Yep! I'm popping into the sky for a while now, so you guys make your way over there." She promptly vanished into thin air. Alright then! Shoo! To the lab!

"Give us chance!" Tamara pouted; everyone then moving off towards the laboratory as instructed. Eh get used to it, I was ten times bossier last generation. I was in the sky a lot more. You have it easier than your parents.

"I have to put up with you all the time anyway," Ethan said, hands in his pockets. Oh shush you.

~X~X~X~

I'm sorry this took so long! Again, everything's been a little crazy – from exams to mini breakdowns, etc. It's been a mad time. Really. Hopefully I'll actually stick to keeping up with at least once a month updates now, and actually try to put a proper plot in the chapters, I understand this feels like a filler. My confidence has evened out, so I'm a liiiiiiittle better at being motivated – my exams are nearly over too. Next up is DtF, which I have a little started on, so let's pray for a quicker update there.