Welcome to the sequel of Protect the Pokémon! It's not necessary to read that fic, but the events that take place in it will be referenced back to in this story.

A BIG thank you goes to user Esmeraude11 for wanting this sequel in the first place and for giving me enough ideas to actually get this fic off the ground. You have some potent muse-like qualities, my dear.

Duke Devlin was in trouble with his supervisor, Maguire, again. He'd been promoted after his successful infiltration of Team Rocket and for taking the initiative and bringing an end to their raid of the Kaiba Estate Breeding Grounds sooner than had previously been anticipated, possibly saving a great many of the baby Pokémon from being harmed or kidnapped, and keeping the facility itself under-wraps. But somehow his supervisor had gotten a lot of the credit and was promoted as well. To make it worse, the guys upstairs had decided that, since the two of them obviously worked so well together, they should be kept in the same relation to each other.

Apparently they'd forgotten the months before the Team Rocket incident when Duke was on report for one offense or another nearly every week due to his supervisor's inability to reconcile himself with the "radical" ways that Duke would execute his missions and comport himself in general.

Duke ran his hands over his face. But he'd really done it this time. Maguire had come out humiliated and oafish-seeming from a meeting presenting the supposed winning strategy used in apprehending Gozaburo Kaiba and securing KEBG. This was the first time that Duke had been invited as a guest speaker of sorts to supplement the presentation. The minute Maguire had finished his trumped up, greatly falsified exhibition that had emphasized and put great importance on the Bureau of Pokémon Affairs' involvement, Duke had stood up and exposed it all for the load of crap that it was. He couldn't help himself.

The degree to which the BPA was wrapped up in red tape had led to civilian involvement, vigilante justice. Yes, the BPA had aided Seto Kaiba in the preservation of his assets, but not until the final stages when the CEO and the other non-agents had essentially had the situation under control, not until after the Kaiba Corporations headquarters had already had a giant hole blown in it after an Electrode attack, resulting in multiple casualties, human and Pokémon alike, not until twelve-year-old Mokuba Kaiba had been attacked in his own home. The list went on. The BPA had been portrayed as an inept organization through one of its star agent's own words.

"I'm dead," Duke groaned. He'd been right, but he was dead. Frankly, in his opinion, the wild Pokémon on and around the Kaiba Estate probably deserved more credit for helping than the BPA.

Duke turned his head to look at the Murkrow seated beside him. Scarecrow, as he'd named it, had been one of those wild Pokémon who'd come to the rescue when it looked like Team Rocket might come out on top. It had gotten attacked by a nasty Wartortle, damaging one of its wings. One of the things that the BPA did deserve some credit for was that it had provided medical attention for all the Pokémon that had been harmed in the battle, no matter what side they had fought on or who their trainer was or wasn't. Scarecrow had healed up nicely and was perfectly capable of flight even though some of the feathers on its left wing were permanently out of place. It would be back in the forests surrounding the Kaiba Estate right now if it weren't for the fact that it and Duke had bonded while it was recovering.

Holding out his arm, Duke said, "Step up." Scarecrow settled on his forearm and looked up into his face. "Do you have any idea of what we're going to do when we're tossed out on our asses?" Scarecrow chortled a little and ruffled its feathers. It had gotten pretty used to how things existed in Duke's world, especially in regards to Maguire, and actually found it amusing to a degree. Most of the time it was serious and watchful, a lot like Duke, but they both could find moments of lightheartedness.

Duke scratched Scarecrow's shoulder, moving down its left wing to play at arranging its frazzled feathers. He and his Murkrow were distracting themselves with the game, Duke tugging gently at the bent feathers, Scarecrow nipping at the fingers with its beak, when a shadow stood over them on the wooden bench they were sitting on.

Duke stiffened, believing that Maguire had finally come out of his nearby office to fetch Duke for a sound tongue-lashing and demotion. Instead, he got an eyeful of spiked hair and purplish eyes.

"I'd remember that Murkrow anywhere," Yami greeted, a grin on his face. "Hello, Duke."

"Yami Moto," was all Duke said in response. He felt his lips turning up at the corners, but it was difficult to marshal up any enthusiasm as he stood and shook the other man's hand. Luckily, Scarecrow made up for it, hopping onto Duke's extended arm and using the bridge of their hands to make his way over to perch on Yami's shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

Duke hadn't seen Yami since the wrap-up of the investigation and prosecution against the members of Team Rocket. The first time they'd met, Yami's shoulder had been busted, the arm completely free from the socket. He'd been tackled by the same Wartortle that had then damaged Scarecrow's wing when the wild Pokémon had come to the rescue. Yami had told Duke as they'd watched the Murkrow and other Pokémon being treated that he owed a lot to that Murkrow, it probably having saved him from an even worse battering by distracting the foaming Wartortle. When Duke had decided to foster and then adopt the healed Murkrow, he'd sent a brief note informing Yami, and that had really been the last piece of communication they'd had. There really had been no reason to keep up the contact.

Yami's grin turned almost sour, or at least mildly self-deprecating. Ironic perhaps? Scarecrow made a questioning caw and snapped at one of the points of Yami's hair. "I just finished most of the training program to become a fully-fledged agent here. I'm reporting for an orientation lecture and then am going to go see about getting a partner assignment," Yami answered, tilting his head away from the Murkrow's persisting beak as it went after one of the yellow lines, seeming to like the flash of them.

Duke held out his arm for Scarecrow to move to. The Murkrow obligingly moved over, though it seemed reluctant to give up the bright strands of Yami's hair. "That's right," Duke murmured. "I guess it slipped my mind that you were one of us now."

Yami had joined the BPA a few months ago, interviewing for the job just days before the raid on Seto Kaiba's breeding grounds and clinching for himself the position when he and his brother had taken out several Team Rocket members on their own with a mere six Pokémon between the two of them. Only five Pokémon, really, considering that at the time they'd had an inexperienced Pidgey that neither trainer was willing to put in harm's way at such a young age. Duke had never heard of anyone passing through the BPA training so quickly, so no doubt word of Yami's overall success during the raid had reached the ears of the higher-ups and gotten him in some sort of advanced program, something along the lines of what Duke had gone through to achieve his rank so early on.

"It kind of slipped mine for a while as well," Yami admitted. "I didn't really expect what it would be like to leave my family and Pokémon behind. I don't feel like I'm actually me anymore because of it."

It was the usual reaction from the newbie agents. They missed their mommies and daddies. The pet-Pokémon they'd kept whom they'd ignored for the most part now became their hearts' fondest memories and ultimate symbols of home and love. Everything from their past lives now had a golden glow of nostalgia surrounding it.

Normally, Duke looked down on the ones who had this reaction, but Yami had proven his mettle that night at KEBG, and as far as Duke knew, he'd never used his reputation as one of the best trainers around to get any favors. He was a good guy. Duke hoped he made it work here.

Since the place itself didn't work.

A while ago, Duke had gone on report, as assigned by Maguire, of course, for trampling the morale of the new recruits and trainees. "Trampling" seemed a little harsh to Duke, but he had finally noticed the trend in people dropping out of the various Bureau programs after having gotten into a chat with him. He guessed they just couldn't handle being part of a useless, corrupt agency after being confronted with the truth of it. It had taken a while, but Duke had finally learned to catch himself before he went off on the Bureau in front of the newbies. Yami would be spared the diatribe. Until he was firmly rooted, that is. Then Duke would have no qualms about exposing the quagmire of bureaucracy and gibberish Moto had become a part of.

Duke's impending doom was still on his mind, and if he wasn't going to unload on Yami how much the BPA was a disappointment in nearly every respect, he didn't have much to say to him.

"Well, I'm kind of waiting for a meeting with my supervisor," Duke said. "It was good to see you."

Yami didn't seem that put off by Duke's dismissal. A little resigned, perhaps, but not insulted. It looked like the life of a Bureau's agents was already sneaking up on him.

"Right. I won't tie you up anymore then. See you later, Duke." Yami waved goodbye as he headed off for one of the countless orientation lectures that he would be subjected to for the next several weeks.

"See you, Yami." Duke rather doubted it, though. There were different types of agents in the bureau. The kind that Duke was and the kind that Yami would become, lone agents versus those paired with partners, rarely associated on a day-to-day basis.

Once he was alone, Duke sat down again and rested his head back against the wall. Yami had actually been a pleasant diversion from the coming explosive annoyance, but he'd already slipped back into the dismal state of mind working at the Bureau had put him in, had started slipping into even during their stunted conversation.

"Devlin!" Maguire finally seemed ready to ream him a new one.

Duke shared a look with his Murkrow before slowly pulling himself up from his seat, Scarecrow swaying gently on his arm.

As he entered the office he was greeted by a horrible screech from Maguire's wretched Chatot. Duke could hardly believe that Maguire had the gall to berate others for the things they said when his Chatot, the disgusting bird, had a Bureau-wide reputation for its bad mouth that it could only have learned from Maguire himself.

"Son of a bitch!" it squawked when Duke threw himself into his customary berating seat.

Maguire had been on the phone with his own boss. From the look on his face and the ready cursing of his Pokémon who knew its trainer's moods quite well, Duke was glad and ready to bet that he wasn't the only one who would have been chewed out by the end of the day.

Duke's superior still seemed locked in the call he had just ended, but as Maguire began to lose his shell-shocked expression, noticing Duke and replacing it with puffy red outrage, his Chatot said one of the only things Duke had ever agreed with it saying.

"Uh oh."

One month later:

Duke was no longer able to take it. He'd handed in his forms three weeks ago. He wasn't resigning from the BPA itself, just from his department, Maguire's department. He was transferring out after his and Maguire's final confrontation. A disciplinary committee had early gotten involved after one of the windows in Maguire's office had been busted out under circumstances neither of the involved party had wanted to give details about, for their Pokémon's sakes if not for each other's. Needless to say, one of them had to go after that.

It had taken time to find a place where Duke could actually go, and that was following a week crammed with training and retraining programs to make sure he was up to BPA standards. But leaving the position of special agent was a difficult one for reasons beyond that, on a personal level for Duke. Special agent meant special treatment. Not a great deal, but only special agents were allowed to have their Pokémon out at headquarters so as to minimize injuries to people and Pokémon, only special agents had access to certain areas, cases, and resources of the bureau, and, unofficially, only special agents had the "benefit-of-the-doubt" ploy when finagling with human resources and other departments. Who could say no to someone who had 'special' in their title?

And if that weren't enough, where Duke had ended up was going to be a trial. It had been decided that Duke was an asset best kept active in the field, which was a boon, he had to admit (what else could they do with him, after all?). But he wouldn't be alone anymore, or be allowed to get away with the same repertoire of stunts that were normally his forte. There would always be someone watching him now, and more meetings with his new supervisor were requisite, thanks to his lacking 'special'. Duke just hoped he got along with this one considering all the contortions and essential demotions that he was taking part in so as to get away from Maguire.

But Duke didn't have much hope. He was beyond jaded at this point in his career. So why did he stay? Why didn't he just leave the Bureau of Pokémon Affairs when he still found so much wrong with it and so far got along with no one in it?

Because it was the only option if he wanted to help Pokémon. Vigilantes, no matter their field, never stay free or true for long. Either they're caught, by one side or another, or they just plain go bad themselves after a time. It still tempted Duke to leave the BPA and fight those who would abuse and enslave Pokémon the way he felt he needed to, but common sense and routine always ended up keeping him where he was. He both looked forward to and dreaded the day that his head wouldn't be enough to keep his heart from sending the rest of him gallivanting off into the sunset just to end up surrounded by the night.

Duke was going to continue to try to work it out with the BPA for now, but this last altercation with Maguire felt like the first big nail in the coffin of his career.

Good thoughts, Duke reminded himself as he came to his new supervisor's door and knocked. She'd originally been an Officer Jenny who'd wanted something bigger. The name 'Jenny' still stuck, though, as did a lot of talk from some of the more elitist agents who didn't think a commonplace cop deserved or was capable of holding a superior position. Duke hadn't shared those views, necessarily, but he had no clue what a police-trained supervisor would allow to let slide and what she would be strict about, 'cause Duke had no doubt that his rule-bending was going to be continuing, probably might even get worse. Even at this moment, Duke was ignoring the no Pokémon rule and had his Ditto masking as his red and black diamond-patterned headband.

Agent Jenny stepped out of her office and closed her door before Duke even thought of taking a step inside. He had to compliment her on the suave execution of what was obviously an attempt to block his view of her office.

"Ma'am." He nodded to her. "Duke Devlin, reporting in."

She nodded in response, her tied back aqua hair bobbing. "Thank you for being prompt, Agent Devlin. I need to say a few things to you before I introduce you to your partner."

Here we go. Duke braced himself. He had an idea of what she was about to say.

"Don't ruin this for your partner." Her eyes were hard and unforgiving.

That… hadn't been what Duke was expecting. "Pardon?"

Agent Jenny shook her head slowly while still holding his eyes. "I know your version of the bureau's standard operating procedure. It isn't SOP at all. That may have flown when you were a special agent and on your own, but you won't be risking just your own Pokémon and your own job anymore—"

"I don't risk my Pokémon!" Duke rejected. He put a hand to his quivering headband.

Jenny held up her hand, stopping him from going on. "You'll have your opinions on the subject, and I'll have mine." Not a good sign for Duke and hers relationship as superior and inferior. "But you can't deny that you do go above and beyond when it comes to your duties." She did not mean that in a good way. "You're under my supervision now because you've moved to a partner-based position, and I, to be frank, couldn't believe it when I was told you were being moved to this department. I didn't believe that you were cut out to be paired with someone."

She still didn't, Duke realized. This wasn't going well. It was going worse than even Duke had anticipated, especially because he couldn't fight against what she was saying. He didn't feel like he was cut-out to work with a partner, either.

"Because of your record and because your partner is a new agent with no prior history with the bureau to defend himself with, I can't emphasize enough that if you continue with your maverick tendencies, you will ruin his career before he's even had it."

Duke did not sign up for a new responsibility! He just wanted to get away from Maguire. How could the bureau judge one partner by the other partner's action anyway?

He wanted to say all of this to Agent Jenny, to defend himself against the BPA's policies, have her look at the positive, near-heroic points of his record.

All he could do was nod again and say, "I understand the situation."

"For his sake, I hope you do," she responded. Taking a step back, Agent Jenny turned the knob and opened the door. "Meet your new partner."

Duke recognized the ridiculous hair even before Yami turned in the chair he'd been waiting in for the last half hour and said, "We meet again."

Thanks for reading! Just a reminder, in both this fic and its predecessor, Yami has his own body and is Yugi's older brother.

Also, my original fic for the most part only dealt with first generation Pokémon, with a few exceptions, but no such stops exist for this fic. Everyone is up for grabs!