Please Don't Go-Chapter 6

A FerrisWheel Shipping Fanfiction

Chapter 6

Touko knew what she felt the moment she entered Nimbasa City.

Irritated.

Team Plasma had shown up once again, this time giving an old man a hard time.

"Give us the egg, geezer!" One of them yelled.

"We, in the name of Team Plasma, will make sure that Pokemon will grow up without human interaction, the way it's meant to!" The other added, making a lunge for the object in the man's arms.

First, it was little girls. Then Bianca. Now it's the elderly. Is there anyone the carni freaks won't harass?! Touko thought, running to the old man's aid.

"Isn't a little too early for you carni freaks to be harassing the elderly?" Touko asked, her Snivy jumping down from her shoulders and ready for battle.

"A trainer?! No matter!" One said, pulling out a PokeBall. "Those who get in our way will lose their Pokemon to us as well!"

"Go ahead and try." She turned back to the old man. "You should probably leave now." The man nodded, and ran further into Nimbasa City.

Another easy win. Seriously, Touko thought, These guys go down faster than a sinking rock.

And they sure are fast runners.

"You're not getting away that easily, freaks!" Touko gave chase, but lost track of them after they entered the amusement park. She wasn't running that quickly, still groggy from it being early morning (the sun hadn't even risen yet), so it was only natural that she lost them.

"It's too early for this." Touko mumbled, rubbing her eye. "Why is it that those carni freaks can't give me a break for one day?" Touko stopped suddenly, remembering what place she was now standing in: Nimbasa City's amusement park.

"Th-this is the place," She quietly stammered to herself, somewhat in a daze. "This is where..."

"Touko?"

A familiar voice snapped Touko out of her thoughts, stopping an onslaught of memories before it even started. She slowly craned her neck around to see the green-eyed man the voice belonged to leaning against a giant inflatable Pikachu.

"...N?"

"It's good to see you again, Touko. Are you feeling alright?" N walked up to her and put his hand on her forehead. It may have been the lack of good light, but to N, Touko looked very pale, thinner, and had dark circles forming under her eyes. She didn't feel warm though, even with the pre-dawn light revealing a pale-pink blush on her cheeks.

"Peachy." Touko replied coolly, gently pushing N's hand away from her forehead. She then remembered why she had come here. "Did you happen to see any carni freaks running through here, by chance?"

"What's a carni?" N asked, confused at the new term.

"Oh, well, they're people who work at a carnival. And they are usually either strange in appearance or in personality."

"What's...a carnival?"

Touko raised an eyebrow at him, but suddenly realized that he was serious. "Well, I guess you could say that is something like this place." She gestured to the amusement park around them. "But they aren't permanent like amusement parks. They usually come to a town only once a year. They have many attractions - like food stands, game booths, rides, shows - all kinds of fun for carnival-goers."

N nodded, his mind filled with the imagery it created to match Touko's description. "Well, I don't know about any 'carni freaks' running through here," He said after a while of indulging in his mind's imagery. "But I did see some people from Team Plasma."

"That's them." Touko said. "Where did they go?"

"That way." N said, pointing east. "Let's go find them together!" He suddenly grabbed Touko's hand and pulled her along with him. Touko was shocked at the man's swiftness, trying to keep her now sleeping Snivy from falling off her shoulder. She was even more shocked that he would grab her hand like that. They barely knew anything about each other and already N would pull this stunt?

"I don't see them," N said, stopping in front of the entrance to the Ferris wheel. He let go of Touko's hand and rubbed his own, which was feeling tingly from holding someone's hand for the first time. More so considering it was her hand. He looked up. "A Ferris wheel. The outcome of many elegant formulas and mathematics connecting in perfection and harmony. So beautiful..." He trailed off in a state of wonder. He turned to Touko, suddenly remembering that he wasn't alone. "Maybe we can spot Team Plasma from up there!" He grabbed Touko's hand again, pulling her toward the entrance.

Touko, having enough of his random actions, pulled her hand back. "N, are you trying to make me go on a date with you?"

"What's...a date?"

"..."

Touko was stunned by the question. What kind of childhood did he have if he doesn't know about carnivals or dates??? "Eh..." She frantically searched her mind, trying to find the most innocent way to answer his question. "Er, well...it's basically when two people, usually a boy and girl, go do things together."

"Like what?"

"Usually? Get something to eat, go see a movie, ride a Ferris wheel..." Touko trailed off, looking at the slow spinning contraption. "And, on dates, the pair find out more things about each other."

"Things...like what?"

"I dunno. Their favorite color, food, pastime; just the general stuff."

"Oh, I see..." N looked longingly at the Ferris wheel before turning back to Touko. "Can we go on a date then?"

The pale-pink blush on Touko's cheeks suddenly got redder. She and N were barely even friends and he just asked her to go out with him???

"It's just that..." N said, his voice full of innocence. "I want to know more about you. And the way you described a date, I just thought that would be the best way to do that..." N scratched the back of his head and looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks.

A small voice in the back of Touko's head was saying that this was a bad idea, but she ignored it, her mind flashing back to the day he said she was interesting.

Snivy was still asleep, so Touko quietly returned him to his ball before answering N. "...Okay."

N's face lit up, completely enthralled that she accepted his offer. He gently took her hand in his again. "Let's go."

After putting their money into an automated machine (a new installment that allowed people to ride the Ferris wheel when the workers are off duty), N and Touko climbed into the cart, sitting opposite of each other. After the ride began, the two said nothing for a while. N was watching her curiously, waiting for something to happen.

Touko, underneath the calm she kept on her face, was freaking out. She had first passed N off as personal space-invading creep who thought he could talk to Pokemon. Now, she was alone with him. On what he believed to be a date. And, to make her panic even more, on the exact same Ferris wheel they had met in! She felt like she was having a heart attack.

"Is this..." N asked curiously. "How dates usually go?"

Touko coughed. "No. By this time, the pair would usually start asking questions about each other,"

"Like what?"

"Like..." Touko trailed off, looking for an appropriate question to ask amid her swirling thoughts. "What's you're favorite color?"

"Blue." N replied. "What's yours?"

"Green. What's your favorite gemstone?"

It had continued like this for a while. N's favorite gemstone was a blue topaz, his favorite food was berries, and his favorite pastime was just sitting and talking to his Pokemon friends. Touko's favorite gemstone was an emerald, her favorite food was also berries, and her favorite pastime was....

"I...actually can't remember." She admitted. "It's been a while since I had some down time, what with dealing with the carni freaks and all."

"Touko," N said, looking at her with somewhat saddened eyes, "Why do you call them 'carni freaks'?"

"Well, the first day I encountered them, I had thought that they were from the carnival. And I felt like they were freaks because of all the nonsense they kept spewing about Pokemon liberation and justice, when they really aren't as just as they claim to be."

"Would your opinion...about them change...if I told you..." N mumbled quietly.

"Speak up, N." Touko said, leaning closer to try and make out his words. "I can't understand what you're saying when you mumble like that."

Their car had reached the top of the Ferris wheel, making it much easier for the two teens to see the beautiful landscape around them. But they were more focused on each other at the moment. N suddenly took a deep breath and stood up, making the already small area that much smaller.

"Touko, I am the King of Team Plasma."

The morning sun peaked over the horizon just then, illuminating N's now very serious face.

Touko was speechless. Her mind went completely blank, free of the earlier panic, trying to process what N had just told her. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, one thought surfaced in her mind.

Team Plasma is full of a bunch of carnival freaks...and N is their ring-leader???

"Wh-what?" That was all she could manage to squeak out in her state of shock.

"I am the King of Team Plasma." N repeated, still very serious. "I was asked by Ghetsis to help him save Pokemon - to liberate them - so that my Pokemon friends may finally be truly happy."

Ghetsis...and N...are working together???

"...No."

"No?" N raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"No...no...no..."

The Ferris wheel stopped and the door to their car clanged open. Touko began backing out of it slowly, keeping her eyes on N in case he tried something.

"No no no nononononono." She kept sputtering, her eyes wide with fear. "No, y-you can't be..."

"Touko?" N said, his seriousness gone when he saw her eyes bulge wide with fear, reaching his hand for her. "What's wro-"

"NOOOO!!!" Touko screamed, turning away from him and running with all her might. However, N was faster than she was and grabbed hold of her arm.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" She screeched, quickly pulling her arm free before backing away from him. Snivy, who had heard her scream even in his PokeBall, quickly let himself out. One look at his trainer's terrified face was all he needed, so he quickly stood between her and N, hissing madly at the man that did this to her.

N just kept staring at her, his own fear showing on his face; fear that he had done something wrong to make Touko act like this.

Her screams had attracted someone else as well: The Plasma grunts from earlier.

"King N!" One of them said, both kneeling in respect for their king. "You're safe, my Lord!"

N wasn't making it up then. "N-no, you-you can't...Y-you're nothing l-like th-them..." Touko stammered, the cruel reality that N really was king of the Plasmas sinking in. "P-please no...."

"The trainer from before!" One said, rising to his feet and pulling out a PokeBall. "Allow us to defend you, my King!"

N held his arm up. "I am your King, which means I am the one to protect you." N said calmly to his subordinates. "My battle will allow you to escape." He looked once again to the terrified Touko. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Touko said nothing, everything that had happened becoming too much for her to bear, feeling tears well in her eyes. Snivy, in seeing her distress was the one who answered, chirping angrily and taking his battle stance.

N was slightly offended at what Snivy yelled at him, but the dominant emotion he felt was confused sadness. He could see that Touko's eyes had become shinier, tears threatening to spill from them. Had he really done this to her? "...I'm sure I won't defeat you here and now, but this battle is to allow my knights to escape. Please understand!"

N pulled out a PokeBall, and the battle began.

------------

Snivy panted a little. He had just defeated all four of N's Pokemon by himself without Touko's guidance and instruction. She was still in a state of fearful shock all throughout the battle, her fearful, tear-stained eyes never leaving N's face.

"So, I really did lose to you again..." N said calmly. "You didn't even need to instruct your Pokemon on what to do." He composed his face and stared at Touko coldly. "This doesn't change the fact that I will still change the future. And to do that..."

N walked up to Touko and stopped directly in front of her face, his cold stare bearing into her eyes. This was unlike the other times he had gotten too close to her. This time she was actually scared for her life.

"I will become the strongest. I'll defeat the Champion. Then and only then will I be able to make trainers release their Pokemon. My friends will finally be free them from their prisons. If you want to stop me, your only hope is to collect all the Gym Badges and defeat the Pokemon League. Try to stop me, if you dare..."

The sound of a cracking whip broke N away from Touko, and he turned to see her Snivy using its vine whip to get his attention, warning N that he had just crossed the line and that he should back off now before Snivy made him. N took a few steps back, but kept his eyes on Touko's. "Make sure your conviction is strong enough. Otherwise, you will have no hope of defeating me."

With that last remark, N turned on his heel and ran away.

Snivy snorted, happy that the creep was gone. His attention now turned to his beloved trainer, who had fallen to her knees, tears trickling down her face.

"Why....why...?" She kept mumbling this, still can't believing that this had happened. She thought that she trusted him, even though she knew so little about him. She had thought she was starting to feel a special connection with the boy on the Ferris wheel, a connection she both wanted but didn't want at the same time. The Ferris wheel was supposed to be a romantic place to be, a place where happy memories are formed.

But for N to admit to her that he was her enemy, in the most romantic place she could think of...the thought alone made her want to cry and cry until she couldn't anymore. And for him to say that he and Ghetsis - the man of her nightmares who verbally threatened her - were working together...this thought threatened to throw her off the deep end.

But, even after getting this news, Touko still didn't want N to leave.

"P-please..." She whimpered, holding her hands to her face. "Please....don't go...."

------------

"What have I done?"

N had fled out of Nimbasa City after leaving Touko at the Ferris wheel, hiding in the wooded area to the west. He was holding his head in his hands, angry at himself for leaving Touko in her current state. "What have I done to her?"

Why did he even invite her to go to the Ferris wheel with him? Since he saw her in the park that morning, he was acting on his impulses all the way up to when he admitted to her who he was. Touko's eyes, which showed no emotion, changed at that moment. And, for the first time, N could finally know how she was feeling.

She was afraid, terrified at the person N really was.

And he hated himself for making her feel that way and making her cry.

DON'T TOUCH ME!!! The memory of her terrified scream played over and over again in his mind and made his heart hurt like it was being stabbed every time he remembered it. N punched a tree trunk in frustration and self-loathing. Why did Touko matter so much to him? Why did it crush his heart to see her crying? He had been so sure of what he had wanted, what he had planned for ever since his childhood. Then why...why did everything have to change for him when he first met the girl with blue topaz eyes???

A 'whoosh' of cold air. N straightened himself and made his face form its calm mask before addressing the three shadowy figures.

"Have you been doing as I asked?"

"Yes, Lord N." One of them said. "Lord Ghetsis also believes that the girl will be a hindrance in the advances of Team Plasma."

"I see..." N said coolly. "Then I have a new mission for you. Continue to watch the girl, but watch those who are closest to her as well. Learn about them and discover what you can about the girl, not just whether she will continue to get in Team Plasma's way or not. Am I making myself clear?"

"...Yes, Lord N." Another 'whoosh'.

Why, Touko? N thought, slumping to the ground. Why are you so afraid of me?