Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

A flash of light pierced the normally calm night, as a bolt of lightning shot towards the ground, soon followed by the loud roar of thunder. The sudden thunderstorm had come from nowhere, clouding the moon and stars in thick, dark and ominous clouds. The streets of Treasure Town had cleared mere moments after the clouds had rolled in. Most stores had closed for the night, which brings us to the newest building in town: Pheon's Tea Shop/Bar, depending on who you talked to.

The owner in question was currently cleaning up for the night. The chairs were stacked atop the tables, the floor had just been cleaned of any mess, and the liquor cabinet had already been locked with about half a dozen different locks and even more keys. At the moment, Pheon was fixing herself a nice calming brew of tea before bed. Even on a night such as this, such a drink would help her sleep soundly till morning.

"And to think..." Pheon muttered to herself as she poured herself a cup of tea,"...I always used to bug her about this. Mom always said a nice brew never failed to put her in a good mood. I wonder what she would think of me now, seeing me with my own shop centered on something I thought was trivial and useless." While it was true that this store had since become a tribute to her dearly departed mother, it had started out with another purpose. A sort of…cleansing purpose.

Unbeknownst to Pheon, a dark shadow had begun to pass over her shop. Like a fog rolling by, a strange dark mist began to seep in from under the door. As if gifted with a life of its own, the mist slowly crept across the floor towards the main counter. Pheon remained oblivious as she tossed her tea cup into the sink, before getting up and heading for bed. The dark fog continued to travel behind her, like a dog on the heels of its master. Rising up from the ground, several strands of this ominous mist seemed to converge into the form of a single clawed arm, which slowly reached out for its victim's neck. Inching closer, and closer...

"HI-YAH!" In one swift motion, Pheon spun around to deliver a kick to whatever was behind her. To her surprise, her foot hit nothing but air. She reluctantly lowered her leg back down, her sharp eyes glancing over every inch of the shop for head or toe of any unwanted visitor. After a second or two, she sighed as her muscles relaxed.

"Must've imagined it." Brushing it off as pure paranoia, she once again set off towards her room. The moment she turned around, the mist slithered out from the shadow of one of the tables, once again reeling up and reaching a dark hand towards the female Blaziken. The claws of the hand seemed to extend as they came closer towards the waiting flesh...

With speed that would rival a Ninjask, Pheon's right arm shot over her left shoulder, grabbing the assailant just below the wrist. With one swing of her arm, her attacker was hurled across the room in the same way one would throw a frisbee, eventually stopping after colliding with a row of stacked chairs. The remains of said chairs littered the floor in chunks, completely torn apart from the force of the throw.

"I knew I wasn't imagining things! Thought you could sneak up on me did you?" Instead of responding with words, a pulse of dark energy shot towards her. Pheon quickly ducked to avoid the attack, only to have the blast continue behind her and smash against the shelves behind the counter, causing its cargo to smash and spill against the floor.

"Hey! You're gonna pay for that!" Slighting ticked off by having some of her inventory destroyed, Pheon lashed out with a fireball across the room. She saw a dark figure leap from behind a table before the fireball collided with it, causing the wooden construct to burst into flames. Another energy blast streaked from her mysterious attacker, this one much bigger than the last.

Time seemed to slow down considerably as Pheon caught sight of the oncoming projectile. Like a master acrobat, the storekeeper back flipped into the air, seeming to hang in mid-air as the blast barrel past her and smashed into the far wall again, before landing perfectly behind the counter. Touching ground, she fired another fireball towards her attacker. She didn't disappoint, as the attack hit its mark and blew the table to pieces, followed by a grunt of pain from her would-be assailant.

"I still got it." Waiting a moment for any response, she climbed out from behind the counter and made her way across the room towards what remained of the tables and chairs among the flames. The thought of "So much for cleaning this place up "passed through her head as she walked past the splintered pieces of debris littering the floor.

"Thought you could just waltz in here and catch me off guard? HA!" Kneeling down, she grabbed the end of what remained of the table and began to lift it off the intruder. "To even think that a petty criminal could ever hope to win against-"

When the table was finally lifted off, a look of shock appeared on Pheon's face. Underneath the tabletop was...nothing. Where there should have been an unconscious body was empty space. The flames were spread around the spot in the shape of a body, not to mention the lack of fragments, all pointed to there being someone here not too long ago. So where was he now!?

"Right here..." Before she could even turn around, she was blown back by a blast to her back, throwing her hard against the far wall. As she struggled to raise her head, a dark shadow seemed to hover above her, peering down on her with a pair of bright blue eyes.

"What was that you were saying? Just a petty criminal?" The shadow laughed at her before continuing. "Believe me, criminals run in fear at the sight of me. I am fear itself!"

Picking herself up, she ignored the pain of that last attack still coursing through her body. "Is that so? Well...I'll give you something to be afraid of!" Cloaking her fist in the flames emanating from her wrists, she lashed out with a fire punch to her attackers gut. Imagine her shock, when her fist passed right through the phantasm, causing her to stumble forward and almost fall flat on her face.

"Wha-?"

The shadowy entity only chuckled at this display. "Sorry, but your attacks won't work on me. Luckily for me..." Pheon barely had time to gasp, before she felt a clawed hand wrap tightly around her neck. Like she weighed next to nothing, she was lifted into the air, her feet dangling inches off the ground.

"...The reverse isn't true." Forming another arm out of his seemingly misshapen mass of shadow, a dark ball of energy formed in the palm of his clawed hand. "Let me give you a taste of my power!" With that, he released her from his grasp, before driving the attack forcibly into her gut. The ball of energy seemed to explode on contact, the force of the blast once again throwing her across the room and through several sets of stacked chairs and tables, adding to the already large pile of destroyed furniture. The loud crash that followed would have normally resulted in people rushing towards the shop, but the noise of the fight was being drowned out by the heavy rainfall and constant crashing of thunder.

Not a further sound was made, as the shadow seemed to drift through the air towards the pile of smashed wood that had once been tables and chairs. Before he came close enough, splitters of wood and sawdust seemed to explode into the air, as Pheon pushed her way out from under the debris. She was bruised from the crash, but still strong enough to fight; both wrists were spewing flames as if to show this.

"Impressive. Not many can get up when I put them down."

"It'll take a lot more than the likes of you to make me give up!" She practically spat the sentence into his face as he just looked at her, as if mocking her with his very glance.

"I wouldn't expect anything less...from the 'Black Phoenix.'" He smiled as he saw the look of pure shock spread across her face, her eyes widen in shock, the flames dying down on her wrists as she took a step back in shock.

"But...how..."

Taking advantage of this momentary lapse, another orb of energy formed in his "hand". This orb was different from his last though, as swirl of crimson tinted its core. With a grin plastered on his nonexistent face, he hurled the orb towards the shocked Pokémon. By the time she noticed, it was too late, as the orb grew to ten times its size, completely enveloping her in darkness. As it dissipated, Pheon's unconscious body slumped to the ground with a loud thump.

"To think, they said you were the best there was. Guess they were wrong." As he hovered over her unconscious body, he turned his gaze to his left arm. The misshapen mass of shadow seemed to bend and twist, before taking the form of real flesh and blood. The phantasm flexed his new limb, testing its worth.

"My power is slowly returning, but I will need more if I am to accomplish my goals." Sticking his new arm out infront of him, a purple aura of energy began to emanate from the appendage, before an identical aura surrounded Pheon's motionless body. The two auras pulsated in time with the other, before tendrils of energy seemed to rise off of the unconscious Blaziken, flocking to the shadow like a bird to water. A look of fear and torment ran across Pheon's face, as her deepest fears played out in her mind.

"Yes...that's it. Your fear feeds me... Let your fears overtake you...and make me stronger!" The dark being's laughter echoed through the building, oblivious to any outside by the loud crack of thunder.


Silvia was silently humming to herself as slithered through town. Aaron and her had left early in the morning to get a start on their missions for the day. Despite the high difficulty level on most of them though, the missions couldn't have been easier. With a criminal slipping and knocking himself out, a hard to find item on the first floor and with almost no resistance from inhabiting Pokémon, they had been able to finish before midday. Such a day like this had put both of them in a good mood, as now they had an entire weekend to themselves. Silvia's first stop in town was Pheon's shop, a usually bustling place by this time of day before a weekend. She wondered if Pheon would find their current missions as funny as she-

"Huh?" Silvia stopped dead in her tracks as she arrived at her destination. Instead of the usual chime of chatter echoing from the windows on the side of the building, a deathly silence seemed to hover over the structure. Not a light peeked out from within, which confused Silvia. In the months that Pheon had lived in town, not once had she not been open, even working one day when she sounded like she was going to cough up a lung.

"She never said anything about closing today." Making her way to the front door, she knocked against the door with her tail. The moment her scales touched wood, the door slowly creaked open, emitting an almost horror movie like sound. This unnerved her even more, as she knew her Blaziken friend had an almost insane habit of locking her doors every night.

Sticking her head inside, she peered through the room for any sign of life. What she saw caused her to gasp in shock. It looked like a warzone! Shrapnel from broken tables and chairs littered the floor, with what remained lying forgotten in the corner. The remains of what had once been the liquor cabinet lay hanging open like an open wound, spilling its contents onto the floor below. Nothing inside resembled what it had once been less then 24 hours ago.

"This can't be good. Pheon? Pheon, you here?" When she got no answer, she pushed her way inside. Slithering around the broken chunks of chairs and tables, she scanned the room for any sign of red or blond feathers. As she approached what had once been the main bar, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Sticking out from under a pile of destroyed tables, was a Blaziken arm.

"Pheon!" Without a moments hesitation, Silvia rushed over and shoved a broken tabletop over, revealing Pheon's injured body. Cuts and bruises seemed to cover almost every inch of her body, even on her eyelids. For a moment, Silvia worried that she may be dead, but that fear soon passed as she noticed that Pheon was still breathing.

She needed to get Mary. That became clear almost immediately. Silvia had no idea how to deal with injuries this bad, but a Chansey like Mary would know exactly what to do. Although it pained her to just leave her friend lying there, she turned and raced out the door, heading straight for the nursery where Mary worked.


"Straight. I win again." Everyone groaned as Aaron won for the fifth time in a row. Shortly after they had come back from their series of incredibly easy high level missions, Decibel had invited him to a game of cards with Jet, Eric and the owner of the Croakgunk Trade shop, Lector. It soon became apparent though, that whatever luck had helped him on his missions, had also followed him back to Town.

"GEEZ! Not even a HERD of Rapidash have this much LUCK! Sunni's going to KILL me when she learns I just lost the REWARD from our last MISSION!"

"You lost WHAT?!?!" All the color immediately drained from Decibel's face. Slowly, he turned in his chair, coming face to face with a severely pissed off Sunflora. Her arms were crosses infront of her chest, and she glared at him with a look that could split stone.

"Uhh...did I just say that OUTLOUD?"

"Decibel...why you-"

Whatever anger she was about unleash upon the Loudred was suddenly cut short, as an alarm rang through the guild. Everyone immediately got up and headed for the main chamber, where someone was currently being carried in on a stretcher by a pair of Magnemites, with Mary right behind. It didn't take long for everyone to recognize who the patient was.

"Hey, isn't that Pheon? Shhh, Shhh." Lector made a strange hissing sound as he spoke.

"It is!" Eric's bell chimed in time with his current state of shock. "I wonder what happened to her?"

"MAYBE she got into a FIGHT with an unruly customer." Decibel suggested.

"No way! I saw her hurl a Machamp through a window!" Jet piped in.

As the others discussed what they thought had happened, Aaron noticed a familiar figure follow Mary down the stairs. "Silvia!" She looked up as he ran over to her.

"Silvia, what happened?"

"I...I don't know. I saw that her shop wasn't open, which was unusual, so I poked my head in to see if she was there. I found her like this."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little uneasy." She glanced up as Pheon's unconscious body was carried into one of the extra rooms. "I thought today was our lucky day. I never expected this to happen!"


Time seemed to crawl by, as the minutes felt like hours and the hours felt like days. Aaron and Silvia had returned home shortly after Pheon had been admitted, where Mary had promised to call them if anything happened. At the moment, the two of them were just trying to pass the time on what had started out as a favourable day, which had been meant to lead into a free weekend for the both of them.

Silvia was trying to catch up on where she had left off in her book, but she seemed unable to focus. She had already reread the same paragraph at least three times. Meanwhile, Aaron was leaning against the wall while using his claw to carve out a piece of wood. It was a hobby he had developed while they still had lived in their old homes, though he too seemed unable to focus as he had nearly worn the piece down to nothing.

After another failed attempt at trying to concentrate on her book, Silvia final gave up. As she placed it back on the table beside her, she turned to Aaron. "I just can't believe it. Who would attack Pheon? I can't think of anyone who didn't like her, except for a few customers she may have thrown out."

"Whoever it was, Magnezone said he'd put all his forces on finding them. Knowing him, he won't stop until he finds something."

"But, what if he-"

Both of them froze as the sound of three solid knocks echoed against their front door. Tossing his failed piece over his shoulder, Aaron walked up and swung the door open. They were both expecting Mary with news of Pheon, but who they saw was certainly a surprise.

"Hello Aaron, zzzt."

Well, speak of the devil. "Officer Magnezone. What a surprise."

"I apologize for bothering you at a time like this, but may I come in, zzzt?"

"Of course." Stepping back to let the giant hovercraft pass, Magnezone floated down the hall towards the main chamber.

"Hello Silvia, zzzt." Magnezone greeted her as he entered. Silvia climbed from her chair as the huge Pokémon floated over to the center of the room.

"What is it? Did you find anything about who attacked Pheon?"

"Actually, no. I'm here because we found something while going through the wreckage of Pheon's tavern. Something I think you two should see, zzzt" It was then that they noticed the parchment curled up in Magnezone's left "hand". He quickly unfurled it and laid it before him for them to see. It didn't take long for them to realise what it was.

"This is..."

"Yes, a wanted poster. Your wanted poster to be exact Silvia, zzzt."

"But-but why would Pheon have this? She didn't come to town until after I had been cleared."

"I believe I may have the answer to that as well. We also found this, zzzt." With a click, the large officer removed something he had stuck to the side of his metal body with his strong magnetism. He handed the object to Aaron, allowing the Zangoose to get his first good look at it. It was a badge, but none like any he'd ever seen before. It was composed of a single piece of metal on a blue backing. Engraved onto the medal were the numbers "4594" as well as the initials "S.S".

"I've never seen a badge like this."

"Few have. For you see, that badge belongs to an elite guild of assassins, of which most of is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. The only thing known about them is their name, "The Swift Strikes", hence the initials. Most underground communities fear them, as they've been known to be some of the most brutal, as well as efficient of killers.

"Pheon...an assassin?" Silvia could hardly comprehend such a thing. Here was Magnezone, telling her that the Blaziken she had known for the past few months had once been an assassin? Not only that, but Pheon's last mission had been to take out her! Or...was it still her mission? Could this entire thing have been an elaborate plan in order for Pheon to get close to her?

She was jarred from her thoughts, by another knock on the door. Slithering up to it, she eased it open. Standing infront of her was an extremely exhausted Jet. He looked like he had run straight here from the guild, and running was something the crab Pokémon didn't exactly excel at.

"Silvia...Mary...need...see...Pheon...wake..." Jet was gasping for breath, making half of what he was trying to say a garbled mess.

"Jet, breathe!"

Stopping, Jet took one long gasp of air, before once again speaking. "Silvia, Mary told me to come get you. She said Pheon's awake and wants to talk to you." Once he had finished his message, he noticed that all three of them were staring at him. "What?"

"Pheon wants to talk to Silvia…alone, zzzt?"

"Yeah, that's what she said. Why? Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no problem at all." Silvia response was something that neither Aaron, nor Magnezone were expecting.

"Silvia, if what we just learned is true, being alone with her for any amount of time could be dangerous. This could very well be a trap!"

"I don't care. I need to know the truth, and the only way I'm going to get it is from Pheon herself." With that, she slithered past the still confused Jet and made her way towards the guild. She didn't get far, before she heard the sound of someone running up behind her. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was.

"Aaron, I said I'm going."

"And I won't stop you. Just consider me back-up in case something happens."

"You mean in case she attacks me."

"Whatever you wanna call it, I'm still going with you." She didn't argue with him further, as they both set off for the guild. Behind them, Jet was still lost on what they were talking about.

"Um...did I miss something?"

End Chapter