Chapter 3: Secrets and Surprises


Using one hand to shield his eyes from the sun, Lance stared at the brown, dinosaur-like Pokémon that was flying approximately two hundred yards in front of him. He had been tracking the intruder that had broken into the Dragon's Den for about fourteen hours nonstop, and the signs of this strenuous activity were clearly showing on his Dragonite. The large yellow dragon was covered in a layer of sweat, and was breathing heavily from having to carry around his trainer for so long without any breaks.

However, the Aerodactyl they were chasing seemed to be in an even worse shape than Dragonite. Even in his weakened state, Dragonite was still gaining on the Fossil Pokémon slowly but surely.

After a few more minutes of flying, Lance grunted, and leaned down close to his Dragonite's head in order for his partner to hear him over the wind. "Let's end this chase now Dragonite. Do you think you can fire a Hyper Beam?"

Dragonite grunted in response, but began charging a small ball of yellow energy in front of his mouth. In his exhausted state, it took a while for Dragonite to gather enough energy for a relatively powerful Hyper Beam, but after about a minute, he was ready. Taking a deep breath, Dragonite focused in on the Aerodactyl, took aim…

…And was suddenly hit in the head by something small and sharp. The attack really didn't hurt him much, but it was enough to move Dragonite's head ever so slightly downwards, causing his Hyper Beam to fly wide of its target.

"Mur, Murkrow!" A black bird cackled as she flew away from Dragonite. Dragonite growled, but was unable to muster up enough energy for another attack to knock the annoying bird out of the sky.

"Stupid Murkrow," Lance grumbled. Somehow, the black bird heard him, and circled around in the air, facing the Johto Champion once again. With another caw of her name, she dove, aiming straight at Lance. Lance reached for a Poké Ball on his belt, but his reaction speed was sorely lacking compared to Murkrow's speed, and the Darkness Pokémon slammed into his chest. Fortunately, Lance was able to hold onto his Dragonite and not fall and splatter into a million pieces on the ground below. Unfortunately for him, he had to deal with one very pissed off Murkrow, who, soon after hitting him, had begun jabbing and scratching at his face thousands of feet above the ground. In fact, he couldn't even call for a second Pokémon to help him out as it took both arms to shield his face properly from the psychotic bird.

Not only that, but Dragonite seemed to be in trouble as well. He was serving wildly in the air for some strange reason. At the same time, the air around them had begun to get colder by the second, dropping about ten degrees in a very short amount of time.

This continued for about fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity to Lance and Dragonite. At one point, Dragonite swerved sharply downwards, but was a bit too slow to avoid the thing coming straight at them, and it ended up nicking Lance's left elbow. He cried out in pain and surprise from the unexpected attack as his elbow was suddenly covered in a small layer of ice.

"An Ice Beam," Lance managed to mutter before Dragonite performed another aerial maneuver, this time a roll to the right that forced Lance to hold onto his friend's back tightly with his legs, in an attempt to dodge another attack.

Eventually, there came a point in which Murkrow suddenly stopped his attack on Lance for no reason at all. It was almost as if one moment she was there, and the next she had disappeared into thin air. Surprised, Lance cautiously pulled his arms away from his face just in time to see Murkrow frantically flying off to the left as fast as she could possibly fly. He barely had time to wonder why she would suddenly give up her attack when Dragonite roared, bringing Lance's attention back to the battle at hand.

The Aerodactyl that they had been chasing all day had turned around and was heading straight at them. On his back sat a man entirely dressed in black, including a black jacket, a black shirt, and black pants. He was also wearing a tattered black scarf that covered his mouth and nose, while a mass of long black hair that could have hid his eyes sat on top of his head, if he was standing still that is. Right now, however, his hair was being blown back by the wind, revealing two piercing blue eyes. There was also a small black Sneasel on the back of the Aerodactyl, which Lance assumed had been firing the Ice Beam attacks at them.

Lance barely saw all this, however, as his attention was mainly focused on the giant, brown Aerodactyl flying straight at him. His body was already surrounded by long, swirling, golden bands of energy, and as Lance watched, the Aerodactyl's entire body was surrounded by a pink bubble of energy with golden streaks spinning around the aura.

Dragonite tried desperately to pull up to avoid the attack, but once again he was just a bit too slow. The attack grazed his scaly belly, the spinning energy bubble around Aerodactyl dealing huge amounts of damage and bringing a cry of pain from the Dragon-type Pokémon.

"Dragonite!" Lance shouted as his Pokémon wobbled in the air, trying to take control of his flight path again. For a few tense seconds, Dragonite struggled in the air, flapping his wings wildly, before he finally straightened out. He exhaled loudly, and gave Lance a thumbs-up. Lance smiled at his partner, and a split second later, the small black bird slammed into him again. He never saw the Murkrow coming, and when the Darkness Pokémon hit his shoulder, the impact slid his body to the side, destroying his center of gravity on Dragonite.

Lance flailed his arms, desperately trying to regain his balance, but the Murkrow refused to give up, continuing to push against him mercilessly until Lance finally slipped off of Dragonite's slick back.

For a second, it almost felt as if he was floating in the air. It was a sort of weightless feeling, almost like he was floating on a cloud. Then, a second later, Lance plummeted to the ground, leaving behind a laughing Murkrow and a startled Dragonite.

After his initial shock, Dragonite sprang into action. Tucking in his wings, he dove after his master and friend in a desperate attempt to save his life. Lance flailed his arms as he fell, trying to grab onto his partner and stop his aerial plunge. Dragonite extended his own arms as far as he could strech, and after a few seconds of struggling, eventually managed to grab hold of Lance's gloved hand. Just as Dragonite began to straighten out from his plunge, however, a beam of blue, icy energy and a black ball crashed into Dragonite's back.

Dragonite roared as his wings were partially frozen by the beam, preventing his attempts to ascend back into the air. Instead, the duo continued to fall as the man on the Aerodactyl silently looked on. The last thing he saw of the Johto Champion was him and Dragonite disappear into the canopy of the forest below.


"Look who finally showed up," Cole grunted. Cinder glared at him as she walked down the last few steps of the stairs, her shoes making a tapping noise as they touched the wooden boards. She had dawned a red dress for the occasion along with a pair of shiny red flats, which Anna had forced upon her. Her unruly hair had been curled somewhat, and hung down her back.

"Now, now, no need to get your sister all riled up again." Soot said, stepping up behind Cole and putting a hand on his shoulder. Soot had also dressed up for the occasion, dawning a wrinkly white collared shirt and a pair of black pants. Cole, meanwhile, had refused to follow the rest of his family, and instead was wearing his usual clothes.

Cole chose to grunt in response to his father, and shrugged Soot's hand off of his shoulder.

"Geeze, would you stop being such a drama queen Cole?" Blayze asked, who was currently sitting upside down in a chair, with his head dangling over the edge where his feet would normally be, and his feet reclining against the headrest. He was wearing a dark blue suit jacket over a gray T-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. On his feet was a pair of flip-flops, which had a flame design on the top of each.

"Blayze dear, you look absolutely ridiculous," Anna said, shaking her head at her son's choice of apparel. She was wearing a blue dress similar to Cinder's, except hers had tiny sparkles dotted all over the fabric, creating a twinkling effect. She had put her hair up in a bun, but it was already coming loose. Her high heels also made a clacking noise as she descended the stairs, which was arguably even louder then Cinder's shoes.

"Are we all ready to go?" Anna asked as she passed Soot, Cinder, and Cole to retrieve her tiny purse from a nearby hook on the wall.

"Just about," Soot said. "I need to go check on the…you-know-what's. I have a feeling that it will happen soon, if not tonight then tomorrow."

At this, Anna's brow furrowed as she frowned, appearing to think deeply about something. "Tonight of all nights? I was really looking forward to a family night out."

Soot chucked, a deep noise that resonated from the back of his throat. "You know how these things go. Cole will run off the first chance he gets, Cinder will most likely be dragged off by some random trainer from the Gym, and Blayze will get distracted by something and ultimately separated from us. Nah, it's better if you four go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

Anna sighed, before motioning with her arm for Cinder, Cole, and Blayze to follow her. "Good luck with…well, you know." She said to Soot as she crossed the threshold of the front door.

"There's no need to worry. Everything will be just fine." Soot replied, waving his family off.

"Hey, what were mom and dad talking about back there?" Cinder whispered to Blayze as she walked beside him, Cole trudging ahead of them on the road with his hands stuffed in his pockets and Anna behind them, her heels clacking loudly on the paved driveway.

Blayze shrugged, the sleeves of his suit jacket falling over his hands. "No idea. But then again, I have no idea what people are talking about most of the time anyway."


Blackthorn City was bustling with people by the time Cinder, Blayze, and Anna arrived. Cole had disappeared a while ago, melting into the thong of people that came every year to celebrate the sheer beauty and power of the Dragon-type. Venders had set their stalls up everywhere, and were selling various foods and souvenirs, such as masks and small models of Dragon-type Pokémon. Everything was brightly lit thanks to hundreds of lanterns that lined both sides of the streets, casting a pale orange glow over everything and allowing people to see in the darkness.

Various trainers and their Dragon-type Pokémon had chosen to attend the festival, drawing the fascination of the young children who resided within Blackthorn City or other close towns, such as Mahogany. They were constantly running around, laughing and screaming with joy as they saw new Pokémon around every turn.

And to think the main events haven't even happened yet, Cinder said, her eyes wide with the sights and sounds that enveloped her. No matter how many times she went to the Dragon Festival, she was always amazed by the event. It seemed to have some sort of magic quality to it, enchanting her. She barely even noticed where she was going as she wandered off, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells all around her.

"Hey, look at that thing," Blayze exclaimed, running over to a vender's stall and gazing at a small figure of a Kingdra that was swimming by itself in a tiny bowl of water. Soon, the crowd had swallowed him up; he too lost in the magic of the event.

Unconsciously, Cinder's feet led her to where the main events of the Dragon Festival took place; the area outside of the Blackthorn City Gym.

The Gym itself was a large, almost mansion-like building. It was mainly a pure white color, with no signs of dirt or discoloration on the walls, only to have a splash of color added to it thanks to its red shingled roof. The front had a pair of blue, sliding glass doors, with two tall decorative marble pillars forming an imposing backdrop on each side. Four more pillars were attached to the front of the gym on each side of the door, making ten pillars in total. Above the doors was a pair of windows, mainly rectangular in shape except for the top, which had a semicircle added to enhance their appearance. Finally, a good deal above those near the top of the building was another window, this one circular with a series of black lines that swirled and intersected with each other in a flower pattern. A large black gate surrounded the perimeter of the Gym and its yard and various fountains, blocking it off from unwanted guests. Today, however, the gates were wide open, allowing anyone who wanted to freely enter and leave the area.

There was also a large stage that had been set up to the left of the gym, and was filled with twelve chairs, six on each side of a large, wooden podium. This is where various prominent members of the Dragon Temple would sit and talk about the different legends of the Dragon-type, show off some of the Dragon Temple's treasures, or just announce various things.

"Well, well, who do we have here?" a voice said in front of Cinder, causing her to rip her gaze away from her majestic surroundings.

"Clair!" Cinder shouted with joy as she recognized the blue haired Dragon trainer in front of her. She immediately bounded forward and trapped the Blackthorn City Gym Leader in a hug, which Clair quickly returned.

"Ah, it's been a while my little pupil," Clair said, releasing Cinder from her hug and stepping back, looking the Fire-type trainer up and down. "I heard what happened to Typhlosion at the Kanto League. How's he doing?"

Being reminded of Typhlosion was the last thing Cinder had wanted on this night, and the thought of her best friend lying all alone up in her room sent a wave of guilt, worry, and sadness through her body.

"He's fine…" she managed to mumble, hiding her eyes from Clair. Clair stared at the red-haired girl in front of her, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound very convincing to me. Did something happen that I'm not aware of?"

"It's just that…I had a battle with Cole the other day…and I ended up using Typhlosion against his Charizard. Things went horribly wrong for us…and Typhlosion…he…he got hurt." Cinder managed to stammer out, trying with all her might not to lose it in front of the woman who had taught her all about Dragon-types right before she had gone on her journey.

"Is he going to be alright?" Clair asked.

"I think so…at least, that's what the doctor said…" Cinder mumbled, wiping her eyes.

"Well then, I wouldn't worry too much about him. After all, Typhlosion's a fighter. He'll pull through in the end, just wait and see. Now then, let's get your mind off of unpleasant things. How's that Bagon I gave you all those years ago doing?"

"He's doing great," Cinder said as she managed to smile a little in an attempt to forget about Typhlosion. Taking out one of the Poké Balls from the bracelet she was wearing, which she had swapped all of her Pokémon onto from her belt, she enlarged the red-and-white sphere, releasing her Bagon in a flash of white light.

"Bagon!" the tiny dragon cried happily as he jumped up and down.

"He certainly looks strong," Clair said, petting Bagon's large, steel-hard head. Bagon smiled happily at the attention he was receiving, waving his stubby arms in the air. "And his head is hard too. I would definitely hate to be on the receiving end of one of his headbutts."

Cinder smiled slightly, pleased with Clair's praise of her Pokémon. "Yeah, he certainly has come a long way since you gave him to me five years ago. I remember when he wouldn't even listen to me when I first met him."

Clair nodded, her attention mainly focused on Bagon, who was smiling at the Gym Leader. "You have another Dragon-type on your team, right?" Clair asked, scratching Bagon's back and head.

Cinder nodded, unclipping another red-and-white sphere from her wrist. Pressing the center white button, she enlarged the Poké Ball, tossing it towards the ground. It split open, releasing Gabite in a flash of white light. He growled slightly, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he took a battle stance.

"Geeze, would you relax Gabite?" Cinder said, smiling at the Cave Pokémon's reaction. "Don't worry; we're not battling or anything. I just brought you out to meet my old teacher, Clair." Cinder motioned with her hand at the blue-haired Gym Leader, who gazed at Gabite critically. Gabite returned her gaze, crossing his arms and curling his upper lip back to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth. The two remained like that for a while, just staring at each other, not doing anything. Bagon looked between the two staring combatants, looking worried, while Cinder bit her bottom lip, concern in her eyes.

Then, after what seemed like a few years, Clair smiled, the corners of her mouth pulling up, and laughed. Gabite exhaled, and grinned at the Gym Leader, keeping his arms crossed. Both Cinder and Bagon allowed themselves to breathe a small sigh of relief that nothing bad had happened. Gabite sometimes had a hard time restraining himself from battling a tough opponent.

"Well Cinder, it seems you've got yourself quite a fighter with this one," Clair said, looking over Gabite. "Although he needs to learn to lighten up a bit, don't you think?"

Cinder laughed as she scratched the back of one of Gabite's engine-like attachments to his head, which caused him to smile slightly. "Yeah, but at least he's not as bad as Monferno and Combusken."

"Are those two still at each other's necks?" Clair asked, still looking at Gabite while absentmindedly scratching Bagon's head again.

"Yeah. Combusken got really jealous the other day because I was using Monferno to fight Cole. Monferno ended up losing, but I know that the results would have been the same if I had sent Combusken in."

"You shouldn't doubt your Pokémon's abilities," Clair said sternly, looking over at Cinder. "If you put them down like that, then they won't be able to battle at their full potential because of the doubt you put on them. Who knows what could have happened if you had used Combusken? All I know is that you shouldn't say those kinds of things. Believe in your Pokémon, and they might just do what you might think is impossible."

"Unless, of course, it really is impossible," Cinder mumbled, causing Clair to sigh.

"Something troubling you Cinder?" Clair stared at Cinder, causing the younger girl to squirm under her gaze.

"It's just that…I haven't had much luck when it comes to my career as a trainer. I've spent hundreds of hours training my Pokémon, strengthening our bonds, working out strategies, and across four different countries, and for what? An eighth place finish as my best that I can achieve because something always happens. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Typhlosion at all, it's just that every time I come so close to winning, something always happens to make me lose."

"That's the whole point of being a trainer though. You must learn from your mistakes, your bad luck, and your losses in order to be able to become strong. Have patients Cinder. I'm sure that your time will come soon. Now come on, cheer up. Tonight is supposed to be a night of celebration. So come on, I only have a half an hour before I have to be back here for the special ceremony."


Twenty minutes later, Cinder, Clair, Bagon, and Gabite were relaxing under a shady tree, staring at the swarming crowd around the various venders and watching a parade rumbling down one of the main streets of Blackthron, heading towards the Gym. There seemed to be all sorts of different kinds of people at the festival. Cinder could see two people who were wearing large cowboy hats, a girl with a dark hood covering her face, a slightly chubby guy with sunglasses and a blue shirt with what appeared to be flowers printed on it, and even a group of darker skinned individuals who seemed to be speaking in some foreign language. The four of them had spent their time wandering randomly throughout the festival, watching various trainer's battle, fending off venders who wouldn't except no as an answer, and fighting their way through the crowd.

Clair sighed, smiling. "It's nice to relax every once in a while, don't you think?"

Cinder nodded, staring at a large paper Gyarados in the parade, which people were standing under and moving in such a way that it looked almost as if the blue dragon was swimming or flying through the air.

"Hey," Cinder said suddenly, looking around. "Where's your cousin? I thought that he was going to be at the festival this year, but I haven't seen him anywhere."

Clair frowned, looking up at the sky. "I've been wondering the same thing myself. You see, there was a little…incident last night, and Lance had to leave Blackthorn City for a little bit. I expected him to be back by now though, so I'm wondering what happened to him."

"Why did he have to leave?" Cinder asked, staring at Clair.

"Can't really tell you that," Clair replied. "Even though I trust you Cinder, it wouldn't be good to spread the news of why he left to random people. I'm not saying you would gossip, but you never know who might be listening in on your conversation. Even now I may be saying too much to you."

Cinder frowned, but didn't press the matter further. Instead, she stood up and stretched, Gabite and Bagon copying her. "Anyway," she said after a minute, noticing the parade had almost passed where they had been sitting, "shouldn't we be heading back towards the Gym? I mean, you have that ceremony thing to go to, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Clair said, turning her attention away from the sky, her eyes twinkling mischievously for a second. "Come on Cinder; let's get down to the ceremony. I think you'll be presently surprised at what I have planned."


Aerodactyl was panting heavily by the time the dark clad man reached his destination: a brightly lit city which stood out like a beacon in the inky darkness of the night. And at this site, the man smiled, silently reaching down to his belt to make sure that the item he had stolen was still firmly attached, just like he had been doing every five minutes since he had left the Dragon's Den. After all, he had broken into one of, if not the most famous temple for Dragon-type Pokémon in the entire world, fought off the Champion of the Johto League, and flown hundreds of miles in one day in order to ensure that he completed his job, and he was not about to let a single loose string stop him now from delivering his prize to his Boss.

Circling three times high overhead, Aerodactyl silently landed on the roof of one of the skyscraper's in the city, and promptly collapsed from exhaustion. The dark haired man quickly jumped off of his mount, walking over to pet his Pokémon's long snout.

"Excellent flying there today Aerodactyl," the man whispered, retrieving the Fossil Pokémon's Poké Ball from his belt. Aerodactyl grunted in response, panting heavily as he was recalled into his red-and-white home via a beam of red light. Replacing the ball back on his belt, the dark haired boy quietly unclipped two other Poké Balls from his belt, smiling to himself all the while.

"Murkrow, Sneasel, would you please deal with our guest?" With a flick of his wrist, the thief tossed the two Poké Balls, releasing his two Dark-type Pokémon in a flash of blinding white light in the semi-darkness of the rooftop. In a second, Sneasel had leapt behind a nearby air-conditioning unit, crying out his name as he began to fight some unseen foe. Murkrow followed close behind, her eyes glowing a mysterious shade of purple as she blasted the unseen visitor out from behind his hiding place with just the force of his mind. Sneasel pounced on the boy a second later, pinning him to the ground.

Seeing his Pokémon pull off a flawless detainment, the thief allowed himself a small smile as he crossed the short distance between the two humans. Seeing her job done, Murkrow quietly landed on her master's shoulder, glaring at the boy they had just detained.

"Well now, what is a boy like yourself doing up here on the roof of a skyscraper?" the thief asked, staring down calmly at his captive. The boy didn't respond; instead, he simply glared at the dark-haired man, his light blue eyes glinting in the lights from below. It was at this point that the thief chose to look over the boy, trying to determine more about him. He was dressed in a similar way to himself, as in all black clothing, but he was lacking a black cloak like the one around the thief. He did, however, seem to have a jacket, which helped to protect him from the cold wind at the top of the skyscraper.

"Not talking, eh?" the thief grunted, motioning with his head for Sneasel to drag him to his feet. Sneasel was all too happy to oblige as he pulled the boy back by his brown hair in order to lift him up, bringing a cry of pain from the captive. Sneasel smiled, pulling harder until the boy was kneeling on his knees, his hands frozen behind his back thanks to a Psychic attack from Murkrow.

Seeing his Pokémon was unable to lift the boy any higher, the thief quietly reached down and grabbed the boy by his jacket, nodding to Sneasel. Sneasel grunted, but jumped back from the brown haired boy, allowing his trainer to lift the boy from the ground and set him back on his feet.

"Now then, I think you had better come with me," the thief said, smiling slightly. "After all, we can't have you out here freezing on the roof, now can we?"

The boy chose to spit at the thief, hitting his shoe with a wad of saliva. The black haired man narrowed his eyes, glaring at the insolent boy. However, he simple snapped his fingers, and calmly took a step back.

The brown haired boy stared at the thief for all of three seconds, wondering what he was up to. Then, Sneasel jumped forward yelling savagely, and promptly slammed his right fist into the boy's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to double over. Sneasel then slashed at the boy's face, raking his two claws on his left hand across his soft flesh.

The boy screamed in pain, and most likely would have fallen over if it were not for Murkrow keeping him upright with his mental powers. After a few minutes of panting, the boy straightened up, glaring at the thief. Two gashes ran across his face; one from the top of his right check, over his nose, and ending at the bottom of his left check and the other less than an inch below and parallel to the first one. The lower gash even managed to nick the top left of his upper lip. Both of the cuts were expelling blood, sending tiny rivers of crimson running down his face. Luckily for the boy though, both Sneasel's claws had barely scratched the surface of his face, and as a result the cuts were a lot less damaging than they could have been.

"Now march," the black haired man said pleasently, nodding his head towards a dark structure that vaguely resembled a small shed that was on top of the skyscraper. This shed, however, was actually the entrance to a stairwell the thief was all too familiar with. At first, the boy resisted, but after a few more fresh scratches from Sneasel on his wrists, he finally began shuffling forward. Sneasel followed close behind him, with the dark haired man bringing up the rear, his arms folded behind him with Murkrow resting on his shoulders.


Jessica Stevens yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. She was pulling a late night shift in order to finish all of the paperwork that was due in the morning, but unfortunately, her body kept on demanding that she get some rest. She had been going at the forms for about four hours nonstop by now, and she was both mentally and physically exhausted.

Still, there wasn't much she could do about the deadline. With a sigh, she pushed her glasses up from the bridge of her nose, pushed back the sleeves of her white jacket, and attacked the documents with a vengeance.

All in all, it was a pretty normal night for the junior secretary.

So one of the last things she was expecting at ten at night was for a bloody boy to be tossed unceremoniously into her office and land at the foot of her desk, groaning. Needless to say, she immediately jumped up, one hand going into the pocket of her white jacket and grasping one of her Poké Balls. She silently started backing into the corner of her office, staring at her now open, and seemingly empty, doorway.

"Relax," a voice said behind her. She immediately spun around and jumped back, bringing her arm up to release her Pokémon in order to defend herself. When she saw who it was, however, she sighed in a mixture of relief and anger, placing her Poké Ball back into her pocket.

"I thought I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that Damon!" she snapped, before turning around and sighing. The thief smiled, stepping out of the corner of the room he had been leaning against, Murkrow still on his shoulder. Meanwhile, Sneasel stepped out from the hallway, snickering quietly.

"Ah, come on. It was just a joke," the dark haired man said, smiling. "Besides, you have to learn to be able to detect the presence of others. I mean, if I had been someone trying to kill you, you'd be dead by now. And I can tell you for a fact that they wouldn't have told you they were there by throwing a boy at you."

Jessica glared at him for a few more seconds, before sighing again. "Who is that boy anyway?" she asked, motioning with her hand at the brown haired boy who was currently bleeding on the tan carpet of her office in an attempt to shift the topic.

"No idea," Damon replied, looking down at the boy, who Sneasel was currently nudging with his foot. "Sneasel, stop that, would ya?"

"Well, that brings up a lot more questions," Jessica grumbled, crossing her arms. "The most obvious being: what the heck is he doing here?"

"I'd like to know that myself. I found him sneaking around on the roof. Either he's a very, very lost kid, or he was planning on trying to sneak into the building or something. Either way, he's a horrible person to send on a stealth mission. I could even hear him shuffling around with Aerodactyl practically crash-landing on the roof."

"I guess you had better bring him down to the questioning room," Jessica sighed. "It's things like this that makes you wonder just what we've gotten ourselves into, you know?"

"Yeah…" Damon replied, his voice trailing off as he stared absentmindedly at the wall. Jessica smiled sadly at him, before walking over and grabbing his right hand with her left. Their fingers intertwined with each other's, and after a few seconds, the dark haired man looked sadly down at her.

"Hey, cheer up. Soon we'll be finished with this operation, and we'll be home free. You'll see," the blond girl said, squeezing his hand slightly.

"I sure hope you're right," the dark haired boy mumbled sadly. "But there's a lot that still needs to happen. Both of us could easily die by the time all this is over."

"Don't say those kinds of things," she mumbled, staring directly into Damon's eyes. He returned her gaze, and the two of them stood there, hand in hand, just gazing at each other. A few minutes passed, although it felt more like an eternity to Jessica, before Damon finally released his hold on her hand and looked away, breaking the trance. Jessica sighed.

"Sneasel, would you be so kind as to get that boy out of here? He's bleeding all over the carpet," the thief grunted to his Pokémon. Sneasel nodded in response, and hooked his left claw under the back of the brown haired boy's shirt. He then began to drag the boy out of the room, leaving a faint trail of red streaks, no doubt from where Sneasel had decided to make him walk a bit faster with a few slashes to his wrists, as he did so. "Murkrow, keep an eye on those two, would you? We can't have Sneasel injuring that boy any more than we have to."

"Krow," she replied, spreading her wings. With a few flaps, she was off, flying out of the office and closely following her partner.

"So," Jessica began as she sat back down in her high-backed, black rotating chair. She folded her hands in front of her on her mahogany desk and fixed her gaze on Damon before continuing. "How did the mission go?"

The thief stiffened slightly, biting the bottom right corner of his lower lip before replying, "There were a few…difficulties that I encountered."

Jessica raised a single eyebrow, but didn't say anything, choosing to let Damon continue with his story.

"I managed to retrieve the target just fine, but then some unforeseeable obstacles got in my way…namely the Champion of the Johto Region."

Jessica's eyes widened with shock, before her features assumed a slightly quizzical look, her head tilted to one side slightly as she waited for him to continue.

"Lance trailed me for a good ten hours before I finally was able to perform a successful sneak attack, using three of my Pokémon to take out one of his. And even then I wasn't able to make his Dragonite faint. I was, however, able to freeze its wings, and the two of them plummeted into the forest. That was the last that I saw of them."

"So you're telling me that you were able to escape the clutches of a Champion, and may have even killed him?" Jessica said, trying to hide her shock and anger from her voice. She wasn't very successful.

"No, I'm almost sure I didn't kill him," Damon replied, wincing. "The trees would have broken his fall, and I can assure you that his Dragonite would have done everything in his power to save his trainer, even if it met the death of him. Besides, the last thing we need is the media to look into the murder of a famous figure, and possibly uncover information about us."

"Still, I can't believe you managed to fend off Lance of all people," Jessica mumbled, closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair. After a few minutes, she leaned forward, and looked at Damon again. "So, what happened to the Dragon Fang?"

"Its right here," the thief replied, grabbing the pouch from his belt. He carefully set it down onto Jessica's desk and untied it, letting the fabric uncurl itself. The black cloth shifted, and revealed a dirty, old claw.

"Excellent!" Jessica exclaimed happily as she gazed at the claw for a few seconds before covering it back up with the cloth. "I'll go give this to the Boss straight away. He'll be pleased with your work."

"I would certainly hope so," the dark haired man replied. "I almost re-killed my Aerodactyl by pushing him so hard. He's going to need a few days to recover after today."

"I'll be sure to tell him that," Jessica said, standing up and winking at him. "In the meantime, you should bring that brown haired boy down to the questioning room and take your Pokémon to the healing center. And don't forget to go and get some sleep! You look absolutely exhausted."

Damon chuckled wearily, and began to turn to leave. However, Jessica held up her pointer finger, insinuating that their meeting was not yet concluded.

"Is there something else?" the man asked.

"Just one thing," Jessica said as she walked up to him and softly kissed him. Damon returned her kiss, wrapping both of his arms around her as he did so. After a few seconds, Jessica broke away and laughed, softly pushing on his chest with both of her hands. "Now go and get some sleep you big lug."

The dark haired man smiled, before turning and leaving Jessica alone once again in her office.


Cinder yawned slightly as one of the elders droned on and on, the microphone in front of him on the podium amplifying is hoarse and gravelly voice. However, it did nothing to help clarify his monotone speech, which ran together to make an incomprehensible speech.

It was always a gamble attending the annual reciting of the history of the Dragon Clan. Sometimes, like this year, they would have one of the elder members talk on and on about their history, and half of the time one wouldn't be able to recognize a single word that they said. Other times they would have an apprentice at the Gym or one of the newer members recount the history. That was slightly better, but sometimes the younger speakers would get so nervous they would start rambling on and on, until they and everyone else were completely lost.

But occasionally, if they were lucky, the Dragon Clan would hire a professional speaker. Cinder could still vividly remember the speaker they had in the celebration six years ago, where not only had he captured the audience's attention with his powerful and magical voice, but he also had a few of his Pokémon help to give a visual representation by using various attacks to create moving pictures of dragons, ancient Dragon Tamers, the creation of the Dragon Clan's temple, and whatever else he needed. At the end, the audience had gone absolutely wild, cheering for the amazing speaker. No one had been able to top him since.

Cinder yawned again, covering her mouth his her hand. Blinking sleepily, her mind began to drift as she began to think of other things. She began to wonder how Typhlosion was doing, which inadvertently lead her to thinking about her battle with Cole. From there, she began to remember various defeats she had been handed throughout her journey as a trainer, including battles against various league trainers, some of her old rivals, and even Gym Leaders, most notably her losses against Blaine, Juan, and even Clair.

In fact, Clair was still to this day the only Gym Leader that she had challenged to a battle at one point or another for a badge, but had never been able to win against. She had challenged her former teacher to four different battles, and lost each one by a great margin. Finally, she had decided to give up and challenge another Gym in Johto, a Grass-type Gym that was to the north of Azalea Town and on the edge of the northeastern part of Ilex Forrest. She promptly thrashed the Gym Leader, winning her final badge needed for the Johto League.

Thinking of Clair indirectly lead Cinder to ponder what she had last said to her. Clair had said she had a "surprise" waiting for Cinder, which could either be a good thing, or something very, very bad.

Finally, after going on for about twenty more minutes then he needed to, the elder smiled and stepped down from the podium. The crowd gave a half-hearted applause, mostly because they were relieved that the speech was finally done. The elderly man then shuffled to his seat, sitting down to rest his weary legs. A younger man from the Dragon's Den then stepped up to the podium, and began to speak to the assembled crowd.

"At this time, everyone here is invited into the Gym to witness the annual Battle of the Dragons, and then to our closing segment of fireworks."

With that, the man stepped back down, and the crowd began to slowly move to the large mansion that served as Clair's Gym, murmuring quietly to themselves. Every year two Dragon-type trainers, usually from the Dragon Clan, would help to end the Dragon Festival by having a two-on-two battle with each other. It was mainly just to show off their skills as a Dragon-type trainer, as the winner didn't really receive anything special, but it was still considered an honor to be selected as one of the battlers.

Slowly but surely the crowd made their way to the Gym's battlefield. Thankfully, the battlefield that had been built for the Battle of the Dragons had been built to accommodate a large crowd such as the one that it currently found itself facing, and was built with plenty of seating arrangements on the bleachers that went along the two long sides of the rectangular room. Cinder found herself sitting near the middle rows of bleachers, to the far left side of the battlefield.

The battlefield was slightly different from the normal battlefield of the Blackthorn City Gym. Instead of a rectangular pool of water surrounded on all sides by large strips of land, this battlefield had five, smaller pools. One was in the middle of the field, while two more were positioned on each side of the battlefield near the corners. The rest of the battlefield was that of a normal, brown, standard battlefield that the Pokémon League was known for.

Ten minutes or so passed as the last few stragglers made their way to their seats before the referee stepped up to the referee platform.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the annual Battle of the Dragons! I'll be your referee for this evening, Mark Gladstone. Now then, please give a warm welcome to our two battlers this year; Clair Aberle and Lance Barton from our very own Blackthorn City!"

The audience immediately erupted into applause and talk, chatting over each other about this year's two contestants. Indeed, it wasn't often that one would be able to see a powerful Gym Leader such as Clair go up against a Champion like Lance. And the fact that they were cousins only added to the excitement of the upcoming battle.

The roar of the crowd got even louder when Clair walked onto the battlefield. She waved cheerfully at the crowd, before walking over to the referee and whispering something in his ear. Mark seemed a bit confused as to what Clair had said, and whispered something back to her. Soon, the rumble of the crowd died down as people struggled to hear what the two of them were discussing. The conversation lasted for over a minute, the crowd holding its breath as it waited to discover what the two people were talking about.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mark said, speaking into his microphone once again. "It seems as if one of the competitors, Lance, is unable to participate in this battle due to official reasons."

The crowd instantly erupted in a flurry of questions, conversations, and even booing. Mark held up his hand and shouted for the crowd to be quiet in an attempt to restore order. Finally, after about a minute, the roar died down, and Mark began to speak again.

"Seeing as how her cousin was unable to make it, Clair has kindly arranged for a backup opponent to face her in his place."

With this, a few quiet whispers went through the crowd as people quietly chattered amongst themselves as to who they thought the identity of the backup opponent would be.

Mark waited for the crowd to quiet down again, before continuing. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Clair's opponent for this year's Battle of the Dragons, Cinder Flair!"


Yep, I think that's a pretty good place to stop. So, looks like Cinder's going to facing Clair in the Battle of the Dragons. Who saw that coming? Probably a lot of you, but still…

And so it looks like Damon managed to escape from Lance, and made his way to wherever it is he was going. That's probably not a good thing, especially for Lance, seeing as how he's now stuck in a forest somewhere, possibly dead.

Then there's the mystery of the brown-haired boy. Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure what came over me when I started writing his part. And for a while I really didn't know what I was going to do with him. But luckily, after thinking about it for a while, an idea popped into my head, and I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have him become an OC I was planning on introducing later in the story. So yeah, be on the lookout for him in some later chapters.

Plus, we get another new character added to our story. And I can assure you guys that this will not be the last time we hear of Jessica Stevens.

Oh yeah, I'd also like to thank Rocky373, Cerulean City, Aron, and TimeBender for helping me to think of Lance and Clair's surnames. You guys rock.

Anyway, that's about it. Don't forget to review, tell me what you liked, what I can improve on, blah blah blah… But seriously, tell me if I did an okay job with the Jessica and Damon scene. That was my first real attempt at writing a romance-like scene, so I would greatly appreciate some constructive criticism.