A/N: Thanks to paperchickadees, monsuno power, and saturns moon for the reviews! This chapter is a bit late, as I am trying to have this be updated every friday. Also it should go without saying that this is a separate continuity from my other fics, so this is just after season 3 (maybe after a month or so).

Enjoy!

A whistle resounded in the air, along with a few shouts.

The field had a pristine coat of paint applied to the lines as a man mowed the grass noisily. On the completed half was a high school team doing drills. The coaches continued to shout orders around after every play, signaling the attempts that the players had kept failing.

Two sat in the stands, watching the group from afar.

Trey tried not to fidget. Not because of who he was with, but because being here reminded him of the time he was in high school. Of course, he went straight into the academy for S.T.O.R.M. afterwards, which was both a blessing and a curse. The time of high school, however, was such a simple time, that the memories suddenly made him hesitant on this idea of recruiting civilians.

But if Chase Suno's group were to be stopped, then this was the path that they needed to take.

"... And you're sure that's what it'll be?"

Trey turned to the teen that spoke up, who was still watching the group with an intense stare.

"You're sure that's what the job is about? That this... S.T.O.R.M. place isn't just the local patrol and that there's more out there?"

The commander nodded, looking back out to the field. The afternoon sun was starting to get lower, creeping towards the horizon as the sky grew orange.

"Believe me, it's real. And more then you can probably handle," he said, "But. There's a reason that I came out here to find you. I had a feeling that you would be an excellent asset to the team we're forming. That's something you've done from the look of it. Teamwork."

The teen laughed, tipping his cap down lower.

"Looked at my transcript did you? Makes sense I suppose," he sighed, watching his teammates continue playing,"... Why should I risk it though? I got a full ride for college coming my way in a few years if I play my cards right."

One of the coaches blew their whistle. The team immediately started to head off towards the locker rooms, giving a few hollers. Soon, they were left in silence.

"Are you really wanting to wait that long though?" Trey asked, remembering the things that were written in the file about this student, "S.T.O.R.M. can give you everything and more if you decide to join. Right now. And if you want we can start forwarding your family money now if that's what you want. Why wait for college when you can go straight into work?"

The teen paused drumming his fingers against the bleacher seat. He turned back to the commander.

"What's the catch though?" he asked, "You told me what S.T.O.R.M. does, and about these... Monsuno. But you never said what I would be doing. And there's no way you would be so eager as to just hire some random kid with all that man power already at your disposal. So, what's the real reason you need me?"

Trey sighed. The kid was perceptive. Good.

"Well. There's a group out there like you," he said, "A group of teens that have been disrupting peace. The commandant wants them eliminated, but they're getting stronger."

The teen hummed, "So its a fight fire with fire thing right?"

Trey nodded, "Yep. And while I have a leader already chosen from the S.T.O.R.M. academy, we need a full team to take them on. And I'd like you to be on that team Ruben."

The sun had set, the moon already shining overhead. Trey leaned back in his seat staring up at the darkening sky. With the field cleared, he stood up and signaled the dark-skinned teen to follow him. Hesitantly, he did.

When they got down to the field, everyone had left, including the one who was mowing the field. Trey still waited, wanting to be absolutely sure that no one would see. He tightened his grip on the core in his hand.

"... Well? What was it that you wanted to show me?" The teen asked, "You better not be joking, cause if you made me miss a whole practice-"

"Riccoshot, launch!"

The core slid along towards the goal post, clattering loudly, and letting loose the light within.

Riccoshot appeared, huffing deeply as it shook the ground. Trey signaled it to stand down, knowing that someone could be in earshot. He turned back around, the teen standing there awe struck with both horror and fascination.

"It's not just some made up story," Trey said, holding the core up. Riccoshot came closer, its steps shaking the earth, "Monsuno are something to be controlled. Something that needs to be kept away from the public. That is our job. And that's what your job will be."

The commander took a core from his pocket, holding it up for the other to see. The teen's eyes lit up immediately, as if entranced by the energy inside.

Riccoshot let out a blast towards the sky, lighting up the sky with sparks. Trey held its core up, the monsuno retreating back into energy and inside the metal holder. He held it for a moment, still feeling somewhat hesitant now. But after what he said to Charlemagne, he couldn't back down now.

"So. Will you do it?" Trey asked, then held out the other core, "It could all be yours. Money. A reliable team. A partner who you can entrust your life to. If that's what you-"

The teen immediately stuffing his hands in his jacket pocket and walking in the other direction. Not saying another word.

"H-Hold on!" Trey said, standing up and grabbing the core, "Are you seriously not going to at least consider my offer?"

The teen stopped, the shouts of the high school students in the distance, probably alerted by the sparks that had flashed in the air just moments ago. Trey would have to hurry lest he get caught.

"It's a good offer, but it's not for me," the teen said, 'I've got more important things to consider than my own fate in that organization of yours."

Trey sighed, feeling Warwing's core vibrate a little. As if it didn't want that teen to leave it behind. He gripped it tighter, knowing that he needed to get this kid to accept. (Especially since the commandant would skin him alive for showing a monsuno to a civilian without any results of recruitment!)

"You can't just turn you're back like this... This kind of offer doesn't come ever day! You were meant to have it," Trey shouted, "You need to-Don't you believe in destiny?"

The noise started to get distant. The players most likely heading back towards the school as one of the buses drove up. The teen continued to walk away.

"If that were the case, I'd rather stay here," he said, "I'm the type of guy to laugh in the face of destiny."

HLP

He stared up at the sky, watching the clouds cover the full moon briefly before clearing again. The area was silent, not a single soul around besides the ones inside the warehouse. Just behind the closed doors the cheers could be heard from the crowds. The distant sound was reminiscent of when he would be waiting before a game with his teammates, ready to rush out to victory.

"Hey. Alpha," Kilo said into the communicator, "Is that three star on their way yet?"

He waited for a response, tapping his foot on the ground. Patience wasn't one of his strong suits. Still, he was getting better at waiting ever since meeting his supposed rival from Team Core Tech.

Though the initial meeting between them and the Strike Squad didn't exactly pave a smooth road for teamwork, both groups had slowly started to gain more common ground.

(it also helped that Charlemagne wasn't threatening to throw them in prison if they failed every single day)

A loud 'BANG!' from inside the warehouse.

Kilo jumped, feeling the wall he was leaning against shake. He took a step back, waiting for another sign.

He really hoped that the other two weren't the cause of it. Otherwise they could be in some real trouble.

(No doubt Suno was rubbing off of Alpha the wrong way).

The door swung open, the crowds of people now trying their best to pile out as fast as they could. Kilo took a few steps back towards the shadows, not wanting to be spotted.

"Hey! Guys! What's going on?" he said into the communicator. It was still silent. He grit his teeth a little, deciding to climb back up to the second floor. Despite all the potential suspects that were running out and away from their reach, he needed to make sure his teammates were alright.

It didn't take Kilo very long to get back up to the second floor, though he could hardly see where to go. Smoke had filled the room as it shook, blasts from monsuno going off into different directions.

"Alpha? X-Ray?" he shouted, knowing that now wasn't the time for stealth. He took a few cautious steps forward, only to have the floorboards collapse under his feet.

Kilo let out a surprised shout, quickly relying on his reflexes as he grabbed onto the support beam. It held fast, but only just. He glanced down briefly to see a red monsuno letting out a roar as a dark smoke surrounded it. Gritting his teeth, Kilo managed to haul himself back up.

"Kilo!"

He looked over to see X-Ray making his way back over.

"What happened?"

The teen with glasses gave him a baffled look, "I have no clue! I was waiting for Alpha's signal when something happened in the arena. We need to find Alpha!"

Kilo nodded, and the two of them made their way cautiously over the support beams, watching as the occasional blasts from below tore through the ceiling and made the building quake. Eventually, they spotted their red haired leader, standing as he looked down into the arena.

"Alpha!"

He let out a gasp, and turned to the pair as they got closer.

"What're you two doing here?!" the red-haired teen shouted.

"We're here to get you out!" X-Ray exclaimed. The warehouse shook again, and Kilo looked back down at the arena, seeing two figures- a muscular man and a blue haired girl- fleeing from the red monsuno as it went wild. From the corner of his eye, he was able to see one more figure in black standing on the edge of the depression.

"We need to get out of here! It'll probably go down any second now!" X-Ray repeated, not bothering to look at the destruction.

"Hold on!" Alpha said, "There's something going on with the monsuno!"

A shrill cry got their attention. Looking back down, the smoke started to clear enough to see two monsuno still below. One being the Eklipse monsuno from before. But the other was obscured by the black smoke in the air, its silhouette being the only thing visible.

They all gasped, seeing the dark smoke suddenly sink into the red monsuno, its cries becoming even louder. It's flesh slowly changed until the group's view became obscured.

The whole building shook again, a panel from the ceiling falling dangerously close.

"We'll worry about that monsuno later," Kilo said, taking a few steps back, "Right now we have to go!"

He tugged on Alpha's arm until he reluctantly turned away. X-Ray stopped for a brief moment, throwing something down before following quickly after.

The three of them bolted for the exit, sliding back down through the vents as the ceiling started to crumble away. Just as they got to the bottom and started to run, the sound of the warehouse collapsing was heard. Shouts from the onlookers of the monsuno fighters were echoing in the area, along with police sirens.

"Back to the cloud hopper!" Alpha ordered not bothering to slow down. The three of them ran, knowing that the local enforcement would be the ones to deal with things now (which could be a good or bad thing).

As soon as the cloud hopper got into view, the three of them let out a collective sigh.

"That could've gone better," Kilo said, shoulders slumping.

"I'll say. I guess that's what we get for going to a monsuno fight that isn't controlled," X-Ray agreed, his feet dragging along as they got back into the ship.

"... But it was."

The two looked up to Alpha, who had a serious look in his eyes as he stared intensely at the floor, "There was someone else there. Down in the arena with those other two."

"Really?" X-Ray asked, then started to look around the cloud hopper.

"I'm sure of it," Alpha continued, then looked down at Tripwire's core, "The two fighting didn't even throw their cores. Someone else did before the fight could even start..."

Alpha tapped his foot, and started to pace around.

"... There had to be a third controller in the crowd. And that guy Kaito tried to fight the monsuno with his own. But something was wrong," he mumbled. Kilo raised a brow, ignoring X-Ray as he started to look for Tango and Bravo.

"Oi! Tango! Bravo! We're back!" the teen with glasses shouted. The two were sitting in their respective seats, looking bothered. Bravo was the first to look up.

"Oh... How did it go?" he asked, hesitating for a moment. Alpha sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm not sure... I think there's something big going on," he said, "Call it a hunch, but I think that something else might be going down at these fights. More then we think."

Eventually, the leader looked to the other two, noticing their expressions, "... Did something happen while we were gone? Did Team Core Tech call in?"

Tango grimaced, and stood up. She fiddled her fingers together, a nervous habit that meant that something was bothering her.

"... We did get a message," she said, "But... We couldn't get a complete signal... And it wasn't clear what was going on."

"What do you mean 'what was going on'?" X-Ray asked.

"The message was choppy," Bravo said, joining into the conversation, "And we were only able to see Bren, none of the others were on screen. But it sounded like a distress signal to me."

Tango started to fiddle her thumbs together again, "We even tried to call back, but every time it failed."

Alpha folded his arms together in thought, letting out a hum.

"Do we know where the signal came from?"

Both Bravo and Tango shook their heads, and they all turned to X-Ray as he typed loudly away on the communication computer.

"Uh. What're you doing?" Kilo asked.

"I decided to throw down a tracker," X-Ray said, not looking up from the screen, "I just kinda reacted. And it looks like I actually got something."

The other four crowded around, watching as X-Ray pulled up a map of the town. A dot shone on it, along with a smaller one that blinked every so often.

"So we know who cause that chaos now?" Alpha asked. X-Ray shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't say for certain. For all we know it got stuck on one of the others down there. But we at least have a place to start," he said.

"What about the signal from Bren's message?" Tango asked, "Can you find out where it came from?"

"Give me a moment," the brown-haired teen said, "If I were here when you got it I'd have the exact location, but since I have to work with what little connection you had this might take a moment."

Tango let out a sigh, slowly sitting back down. Alpha grumbled, then looked back over to the control panel. His eyes flicked back over to the screen with the other two dots on it.

"I... Think we should try to trace it," she said, "the signal from Team Core Tech that is. If they were meant to be here and something or someone attacked them before, then it can't be a coincidence."

"Now hold on there Tango!" X-Ray said, looking away from the keyboard, "I think you're jumping to conclusions here. What if they're just trying to prank us or something?"

"I dunno. That explosion in the background was intense," Bravo said. Alpha let out another hum.

The ship was quiet after that, except for X-Ray tapping away at the keyboard.

"We really ought to track TCT down, but we already have a signal on the one from the fight..."

Alpha trailed off. Kilo thought back to the monsuno that had been fighting, as well as the dark figure that had been watching. There was no telling who it was, but obviously they had some interest in monsuno.

"Something going on with these monsuno fights... And on top of it, Team Core Tech not responding... It seems too coincidental, even for them," Alpha said, "I have a feeling something big is going on here. Something bigger then just illegal monsuno fights."

Kilo walked over, clapping a hand on his shoulder, "I believe you. I saw someone standing on the edge of the arena looking down. I couldn't see who it was, but they probably had something to do with it."

Alpha stared for a moment before inhaling slowly. It was clear that he had seen something else before Kilo and X-Ray had met up with him. And whatever it was, it had to be important enough for him to be so bothered.

"Something weird did happen to that monsuno," X-Ray mumbled, stopping for a second.

Suddenly Tango stood up.

"But we can't just leave without finding Team Core Tech! The least we could do is gather information on where they could be," she said.

"That's not what I was implying," Kilo said, "We don't have to just work all in one group to be a team."

They all were silent, then they slowly grinned to one another. Back during their training under Charlemagne, it was always insisted that they had to work together except when facing against Team Core Tech (in which case they had to beat them no matter what).

But it was different now. Now they could play to their strengths rather then be held back. Alpha stood a little closer, a determined look in his eyes.

"Alright guys. Here's the plan."

A/N: Review Review Review!