Blue.

Blue.

Their world was slowly turning blue.

This shade of blue, the rich and imposing shade of blue only meant one thing: they were starting a new game. Everything up until this point would be deleted in favor for a New Game. Naturally Cheren was the first to notice it when he stepped out of his spot in Victory Road. He was expecting to have the harsh glare of the sun attack his eyes from being in the dark for so long, but instead he got that cobalt blue sky. The blue sky of previous data about to be deleted. As Cheren's hands clentghed into fists at his sides, he could practically feel the pixels that made up his current body begin to flicker in and out of existence. It was inevitable. Once the main game was over, there was only so much the almighty Player could do before he or she got bored and decided to start over.

Despite the knowledge of this inevitability Cheren still brought a hand to his face, lifting his classes and rubbing his eyes with his fingers. When he re-adjusted the frames and looked down at his hand and noticed that the appendage was slowly flickering away. The peach-colored bits of data peeling and scattering off, revealing a bright green wire-frame underneath. Cheren also saw a small, lonely little tear in his palm before it faded away and floated into the sky as a mass of binary He sighed, bowed his head, and put his hands into his pockets. Once again he would be the "jackass" rival- the one that only a handful of Players liked. Once again, he would be the power-hungry and aloof boy he once was. Everything he had learned and fought for was, in the end, completely and totally pointless. A part of his mind wished he could do something about it, but he knew it was futile. His programming dictated his personality and character, he was powerless to influence a damned thing.

Cheren sighed again and closed his eyes, letting the eerily calm feeling of his very being breaking down fill his senses.

Professor Juniper turned her head away and bit her lip as Bianca's desperate cries filled the lab. The young blond girl was surrounded by her Pokemon, all six of them slowly starting to flicker away. Bianca herself was clinging desperately to her Emboar, as if her death-grip on the mighty fire type would somehow stop him from fading away into nothing. The Stoutland at her side whimpered sadly and nudged his Trainer in the side gently, almost reassuringly. Bianca tore her red, tear stained face away from Emboar and looked at the canine Pokemon, and with one trembling hand patted his head. She sniffed again and stepped away from her starter, wiping at her eyes and nose with both hands in an attempt to dry her tears. It didn't work out very well, and the fact that her Chandelure had vanished seconds earlier didn't help in the slightest.

Sorrowful, bloodshot green eyes looked over to Professor Juniper, almost like Bianca was looking for an answer -any answer- as to why this was happening.

"Why?" Bianca finally asked in a quivering voice, hands gripping the front of her skirt as she sniffed again. Professor Juniper sighed and shook her head,

"I wish I could tell you, Bianca." The normally chipper woman said solemnly. She glanced over to the now empty spot where her father had once stood, all that remained being the faint flashing of the coding that made up the world they lived in. She swallowed thickly and turned her gaze away.

Bianca knelt down in front of her fading Simisage and wrapped her arms around his body, muffling her sobs in his now barely-there green pelt. Simisage cooed softly and stroked his Trainer's head, although he didn't last very long before he burst into a would-be glorious shower of zeroes and ones. Bianca stared wide-eyed at the spot where her loyal grass type once stood before slowly wrapping her arms around herself. She let out a long, sorrowful cry to the area above her before slouching forward, her forehead almost touching the floor of the lab and her fingernails digging through the material of her sleeves, biting at her skin. She didn't even care as her skin began to flake away as her remaining Pokemon became jumbled clouds of shortly-lived coding and pixels.

It was happening again. Everything was restarting; resetting to zero and beginning anew. Despite the knowledge that this would happen eventually, N did not want to accept it. What was the point in feeling all the emotions he had, going through all the changes he had, if in the end it would all be wiped clean? The only good thing about starting over was that we would be able to meet Hilda again. But wait... the person he met in his "next life" (if you wanted to call it that) could very possibly not be the Hilda he knew. His counterpart hero could be someone else entirely. Someone with a new face, new Pokemon, a new name, a new personality... and in the end N would be none the wiser. He wouldn't know that his cherished friend had been replaced with someone new entirely.

It was pointless to think about it. Despite his accomplishments, he couldn't do anything. His accomplishments were only relevant in the made-up world where he resided- they meant little to nothing in the "real world," where the Player was waiting for all the data to reset.

This knowledge made N want to cry and scream and break something, and yet miraculously he kept his anger and sorrow locked inside him. Losing his temper would mean nothing. Just like everything else he had ever fought and believed in.

N Harmonia was nothing. Nothing but a collection of data; a mass of coding with pixels slapped on top. Something created not from two humans, but rather a game programmer in the "real world." His was a existence that was destined to repeat over and over and over again until the Player got bored and stopped playing.

An endless cycle for a life that was doomed to remain on the same path no matter times he started over. What a sad fate.

Hilda was the hero of this story, the one who had reawakened Reshiram and put an end to Team Plasma. It was almost ironic that she herself would have her end given to her so easily. All it took was the Player hitting a certain button combination and bam, she would be gone forever. The whole situation was like a black comedy.

The brown haired girl gripped the two hands that she held tighter- her left clasping Emmet's and the right Ingo's. She had grown quite close to the two Subway Bosses, although that was only because of the Player's persistence in beating them on the Battle Subway. Apparently the Player decided that Hilda's current team wasn't strong enough, and didn't want to bother with an alternative way to strengthen the team. Hilda closed her eyes and swallowed, a thick and imposing lump stuck in her throat despite her very best efforts to get rid of it.

What would she be like in the New Game? Would she still have the same body? Would she have the same name? What starter would she pick this time? Would the Player even bother guiding her to the Battle Subway? There were so many questions, questions that Hilda wanted answered almost as much as she wanted to continue living in this current save file. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs with the hope that her voice would somehow reach the Player and convince him or her to stop. This. Hilda knew that it would be a useless attempt. She didn't even have a voice as far as the Player was concerned.

She felt her body begin to fade from existence and tightened her grip on the twin's hands, hardly noticing the tears that were slowly streaming down her cheeks.

"I don't wanna go..." Hilda croaked, her voice thick and heavy with emotion. She glanced up at Ingo, then to Emmet. "I-I want to stay here with you guys..." She continued, a chocked sob escaping from her mouth as she bowed her head, tears dripping onto the floor of the subway car and splashing in tiny little flickers of binary. She was breifly overtaken with the sight of her boots starting to flake away when she felt Emmet wrap his free arm around her and bury his face into the crown of her head. He was trembling. In a rather out-of-charatcer move, Ingo slowly mimicked his brother's action, sliding his hand out of Hilda's grip and wrapping his arms around both his brother and the young girl who stood between them. Hilda sobbed and sniffed pathetically as she began to feel the two men she was sandwiched between begin to fade away.

If they were going to be deleted, they would be deleted together. It was a silent agreement between the three of them. And maybe, Hilda thought with a tearful smile, maybe this would somehow make sure the three of them meet next save file. That maybe this act of friendship would reach the Player and encourage him or her to guide Hilda to the subway once again when her adventure was over. That would be nice. Maybe next file Hilbert would be the chosen hero, then she could spend as much time with Ingo and Emmet as she wanted. Gear Station was the only other place her character showed up, after all.

Hilda closed her eyes and smiled a faint, content smile as she felt all three of them begin to disappear into nothing as the data of the current save file was permanently deleted.

Select New Game...

"Hi there! Welcome to the world of Pokemon!"