Formulas in Chemistry 2

I was on a long foggy landscape with Biana and Cheren, looking out towards a foggy shape. I couldn't figure out what the shape was, or how to reach it, but I knew it, or they, were important. Suddenly, after stepping infront of me, Bianca and Cheren grasped one another's hand, gazing at me as though trying to tell me something. 'Satisfy yourself. Satisfy yourself.' And they were gone. Deep within, I felt almost heavy with loneliness, so much that I felt sick. I started to topple towards the annomynous shape, grasping the fog desperately. 'I... Will... Make it...'
   Suddenly, the foggy landscape disapeared, and in it's place was a soft beany cushion. Sitting up, I took it all in, realising that I was in the day-care that was on the route leading Striaton into Nacrene City. Beside me, a preschooler girl with short brown ponytails eyes glowed. "You're awake! I can't believe it! We found you on the ground in the park, and your face was twisted as though caught in a terrible nightmare..." The young girl trailed off, her eye's sparkle dimming with worry. "Are you okay?"
   Even though I still felt a little sick, I giggled. "Okay? Gosh, I've never been better." Although I had originally said it to reassure the younger girl, I felt a little brightenned myself. The girl, though, didn't look convinced, so I punched the air heroically. "See? All better. My nightmare was probably just a little present from this fellow anyways." At this I gestured toward another new member of my team, a Munna named Dream.
   The girl smiled as a blond haired boy approached us both. "Gosh, Zo. Did you wake the girl up?" The younger girl blushed in response. "N-No. It was just that she looked so... Scared, that I couldn't not give her a Chesto Berry to eat..." The young boy smiled in my direction.
   "Zoey wants to be a nurse when she grows up, but see, she sort of has a problem," the boy started, receiving a playful slap from Zoey. "That's my story to tell! But anyways... You see, my Grandma and Grandpa run the Pokemon Day-Care next door while my Mommy runs this Day-Care, right here. And since my family has handled the two houses for centuries, Daddy wants me to take over."
   "But then see, Zoey's Pa doesn't come from around here, and is actually really mean. The side of her family that does run the Day-Care couldn't care less about whether or not Zoey became a nurse, or police officer..." I raised my eyebrows when he stumbled over the word 'police', but Zoey took over right away. "And then Timmy here does want to take over, which Daddy doesn't approve of since he's not family." I heard some kid in the background yell something about how they should just get married, but the three of us ignored him as I pondered about what Zo and Tim had told me.
   "I guess I understand what you're saying, but... Why tell me, when I haven't even told you my name?" The two glanced at each other, and Zoey became a little flushed out. "I guess I just feel like I can trust you... Maybe it was because of how I found you, with your face all twisted and scared, so it was like I knew that you were human and had weaknesses too." Timmy, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes.
   "What is your name, anyways?" The young boy sounded suspicious, as though he believed that suddenly I was a spy of his friend's father. I laughed. "It's Blanco." The boy's nose scrunched up in response.
   "Doesn't that sound like a guy's name?" the boy asked. Gosh, he was treading on dangerous territory. "My dad's from a different region, so his taste in names is... Different," I replied, pushing my long wavy chesnut hair to the side. Suddenly, the door slammed open, and a pink haired woman in her twenties stepped into the playroom, followed by a braided blond probably a little older than myself. The elder of the two quickly darted by the children spread around towards the plump woman at the back of the room. The pink haired one spoke quickly, as the plumper brunette nodded with wide eyes, and I realised that the brunette was Zoey's laidback mother.
   After the two had finished talking, the newcomer nodded to her blond comrade, and the two of them started randomly picking up abandonned basketballs and trains, along with other various toys. After each of the girl's arms were full, the elder turned sharply toward the door, but the younger had stopped, her gaze resting on me. Her eyes widenned, and although it would be natural to wonder why a teen like myself would be doing here, I wanted to punch her out. The elder poked her head back in, hissing something to the other before they both left, but not without one last glance at me from the blond.
   Meanwhile, Timmy's lips had started to waver. "Th-They took my favorite train..." I glanced back down at him, and felt a rush of anger towards the two women. I struggled to put on a smile, ruffling the young boy's blond hair. "Don't worry, Tim. I'll get your train back." The two preschoolers eyes glowed with admiration while I swore to the Legendary Dragon and his Hero. How the heck was I going to get my hands on those two? I sighed, walking towards Zoey's mother cautiously.
   "Hello, how can I help you? Did you have a nice rest?" I'm not sure if the dream I had qualified, so I settled on changing the topic. "Um, hi. My name's Blanco... I'm really grateful to you and Zoey for bringing me here, but-" The plump middle-aged woman held up her hand, cutting me off.
   "Please, call me Brenda." I nodded, wiping the sweat off my forhead nervously. "Well, anyways Brenda, you see, I was wondering... Who were those two?" Brenda smiled kindly.
   "Those two were also care-takers. They ran out of toys, see." I cocked my head. "But, uh, Brenda... I thought this was the only Day-Care center in Unova." The plump brunette cocked her head, lost in thought.
   "Hmm, guess so. Pretty bright, aren't cha?" I half nodded politely. "Um, but doesn't that mean they must have some other reason for taking the toys?" Brenda stared at me blankly (ha ha, Blanco, blankly, get it?).
   "They couldn't possibly be trying to sell them. Those toys are the cheapest you can get. No mart would take them for over a hundred poke." Zoey then approached us, tugging on her mother's apron. "Daddy." Everyone froze. Timmy laughed out loud while Zoey giggled playfully.
   "You guys are way too serious! Lay back and laugh a little, would ya'?" Timmy explained. Brenda and I glanced at eachother. Brenda sighed. "Thanks, you two. But, Blanco? You're continuing on your journey, right? I know you'll be busy, but... Keep an eye out, ya' hear? There are plenty other scary things out there, and I just... I want you to be safe. 'Kay?" I nodded, too bewildered for words.
   Brenda patted my shoulder. "Good. Now go kickass, Nightmare Girl." And I left. Yes, I did say goodbye to Zoey and Timmy. Yeah, yeah, it was sappy. But I did leave at some point, and when I did, I think I was so surprised I jumped backwards. Infront of the entrance were Bianca and Cheren, in the flesh. At least they weren't holding hands.  
   "See, see, Cheren! I told you! I saw a bunch of care-takers taking Blanco into the Day-Care center!" Bianca chirped angrily, but Cheren just nodded. "Yeah, I know, but it's a little hard to believe that a bunch of care-takers were carrying our Blanco. You know, the one that used to punch bullies faces in when we were little?" Bianca nodded.
   "Yeah, guess that's reasonable." ACtually, I slightly wanted to punch their faces in right then, as they were sort of acting as though I wasn't there. "Uh, hello? For-mentioned girl that punches people's faces in right here!" Cheren shook his head quickly.
   "Sorry then, miss 'I punch people's faces in for fun!', but Team Plasma just ran by towards that cave over there." I cocked my head. Oh yeah, Team Plasma was what that weird 'yeah, let's liberate pokemon!' group called themselves, wasn't it? Immediately, I ran after them. I seemed to have a punching appointment with this bunch. Cheren also followed close behind, but Bianca stopped by the cave entrance. Cheren turned around as I stopped, one foot already in the cave.
   "What's up, Bi?" I asked, sheepishly pulling my foot out. Bianca shook her head slowly. "It'd probably be better if I stayed here, you know... To make sure none of them come out this way." I didn't exactly get it, but Cheren nodded.
   "That makes sense. Good call, Bi." The last thing I saw before entering the cave was Biana's face reddening. Remembering my dream, I smiled, rushing in behind Cheren. Inside, we found two Team Plasma members, along with the green haired man. "Ah, I should have known you would be with them, Ghetis," Cheren half hissed. I suddenly realized that the man had introduced himself as Ghetis, which, like the fact that they called themselves Team Plasma, I had seemed to have forgotten, or hadn't heard altogether.
   Ghetis chuckled, and for some reason I could have sworn I heard some kind of earie music in the backround. "My, my, you definately aren't my biggest fan. What have I ever done to you?" Cheren growled, and I felt the need to punch Ghetis's face in. "How would one ever become stronger without their pokemon?!" Cheren cried. I half glanced at him, my thoughts churning.
   'Since when was Cheren so obsessed with strength?' I thought, puzzled. But I decided to add my opinion in, too. "What are you guys even doing, rushing here so quickly?" Ghetis clucked his tongue.
   "No respect for their elders, kids these days. Ah well. What were we doing? Just freeing these poor pokemon from their naughty lil' trainers." The Patrat and Purrlion in the Team Plasma grubt's arms seemed to think otherwise, but I just growled, instead of giving the older man a well deserved slap. "And just where did these pokemon come from, old man?" Ghetis smiled, as if he was keeping a really good secret from us.
   "No where other than that nasty little Day-Care. Teaching such young children to abuse pokemon at such an early stage. For shame." Once again, Ghetis started to cluck his tongue, and then the cavern started to shake with such a force that one of the grunts were knocked off his feet, but not without gripping the distressed Patrat tightly, to prevent it from breaking free. Then we learned what exactly the source of the shake was. In the doorway stood Brenda, the head care-taker, in the flesh.
   "Ah, I come to find the thieves and find my lil' fighter, the Nightmare Girl!" Cheren glanced at me after Brenda laughed heartily, an eyebrow raised. I had a feeling he wasn't going to let this nickname go. Ghetis looked coldly at me, eyebrows raised. "So I suppose you won't politely let us go, and have to fight for your heavy friend here?"
   I hissed angrily. "Not that I would let you go anyways. Cheren, you get one, I'll handle the other!" Cheren nodded. "One step ahead of you, N-G." I rolled my eyes at his abbreviation of Brenda's nickname. Throwing Dream's pokeball with a battle cry, my grunt was finished pretty quickly. Ghetis's minion's eyes widened.
   "I get why they call you Nightmare Girl now..." One whispered. Gosh, if someone called me that one more time, they'd find themselves in a coma pretty quick. Ghetis, of course, did. "Farewell, Nightmare Girl. Sweet dreams." And he and his crew just walked away. Of course, Brenda retrieved the pokemon first, but they honestly just walked away. I probably could have caught them if I wanted to. But I didn't think it was worth it. Not then.

*    *    *

   "Thank you so much, Nightmare Girl and Friends!" Okay, this was getting really old. That is honestly all I could think as the kids of the Day-Care and their parents whole-heartedly thanked Cheren, Bianca, and I. We all said our goodbyes, and I started to head down the route towards Nacrene. Luckily, it wasn't too long and I was able to add two new members to my team, a Blitzel and Pidove(Striker and Columba). Columba, who was resting on my shoulder when we arrived, started tugging me by the hair towards a large museum, before I even had a chance to register myself at the local Pokecenter. It wasn't until I entered that I discovered that at the back of the room was the entrance of the Gym. Then this scientist dude gave me this tour around the museum, then revealing that the Gym Leader was his wife.
   "Oh, uh... That's nice.." I mumbled, only half listening, as my eyes were drawn to a black stone that the man had titled 'just an ordinary stone'. It was awfully strange, I guess, that I wasn't fascinated by the large Dragon Type skeleton, which I ordinarily would. Columba still picked curiously at my white and hot pink baseball cap, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from that rock. Meanwhile, my newly evolved Babe impatiently tapped the Gym Door, causing much interest from numerous tourists. Embarrassed, I quickly herded in my pokemon, stepping through the door only after they were contained in their pokeballs. As soon as I entered, I found myself lost in a maze of bookshelves and school kids. I sneakily crept around until I found that I couldn't find anyone who looked remotely familiar to the picture of the woman displayed in my badge case. It wasn't until a random school boy approached me that I realized something was wrong.
   "Are you a Gym challenger?" I glanced down at the boy, who smirked after seeing my expression. "I figured. Most challengers don't have any idea where they're going." I bit my lip, counting to ten silently to refrain from knocking the snob out.
   "Yeah, so? What are you going to do about it?" The boy looked slightly surprised at my comeback, and had to think a bit before responding. "Nothing." One thing was for certain, these guys weren't nearly as courteous as the Striaton employees.
   I shrugged. "Ah well. Guess I'll just have to sniff it out with this Lillipup nose of mine." The kid narrowed his eyes before crying out, "I bet you don't even know what you're looking for!" That was it. In a flash, I launched myself forward, landing a solid punch on his neck. It felt good, and I hadn't really realized what I had done until a school girl called out something, probably the kid's name.
   "I'm fine, Jess. You can quit being such a spaz." The girl puffed up her cheeks, placing her hands on her hips angrily. "No shit. You're nose is sorta bleeding." The boy wiped his nose as the girl swivelled on her heel, glaring at me.
   "Just who do you think you are?! You can't just walk into a Gym and start punching kids out!" Obviously, she hadn't heard what I'd said, but that didn't stop me from crying out my own reply. "Hey, it's not my fault that your little boyfriend here is a lil' bastard!" Before the girl could say anything in reply, a familiar voice broke through the sparking silence.
   "Blanco?! Is that you?! I swear on the Great Dragon, it is!" Rushing towards me was a scientist and colleague of Juniper's I'd met in Striaton, Fennel. Oh yeah, I battled a few nasty Team Plasma members there with Bianca, didn't I? Must've forgotten. The girl whirled on her heel towards the scientist, her nose fuming. " Do you know what this girl did, Dr.Fennel?! First she gave Phil a bloody nose, then she called him a bastard!"
   Fennel shrugged. "I don't blame her. I know I often would."
   "Fennel!"
   "Hey, don't get mad at me for being honest." Professor Juniper'S colleage turned to me now. "Spectacular, Blanco. Hey, are you lost?" The injured boy moaned something that sounded like a yes, but I ignored him, since there was no way I'd admit that in public.
   "I'm not exactly lost..." I replied, causing a snort from the kid on the ground. I so badly wanted to kick him. "But confused. Where's Lenora?" Fennel laughed, leaning on the bookcase beside her. With a groan, the bookcase shifted, revealing a hidden staircase. Oh gosh, of course. It had to be hidden, just like the freaking entrance to the Gym. Thanking Fennel(and kicking Phil), I went down the staircase, finding a woman surrounded by papers and books, with only a small lamp to illuminate the room.
   The woman glanced up, and instantly started pushing papers and notes out of the way. "My name is Lenora. You came to challenge me, right?" I nodded, that usual grin spreading across my face. "Then let us not waste any time. Begin the match!"

To be continued...