Hello! I have no regrets!

Sorry, anyway, I would like to make an announcement. This chapter is officially my biggest chapter Ever. Also, another announcement... which will be at the end of the chapter. sorry.

anyway, this one was quite a bit of fun to write. It added some new elements to my sequels, which now have an actual plan rather than being an idea, and let me tell you, it's going to be awesome. Hope you enjoy this! please tell me if something went wrong with the copy and paste thing, or if you notice any big errors. It helps me become a better writer.

also i need to give a lot of credit to Jack Storm 448, again. He has helped a lot throughout this entire story, and will probably continue to help.

Enjoy!

Jack sat on the ground at the edge of the clearing, rubbing his nose; apparently he hadn't quite mastered the 'running up trees' technique. Fortunately he decided, under duress, to take a break from that particular pastime; which gave me a chance to meditate.

I was thinking about what would be taking Ethan so long to get back while I was looking at my aura and sorting out all the new stuff that had suddenly been added.

The flame was floating around randomly and I kept trying to keep it in one place; I hadn't really looked into the flame to see if there really were other forms inside it, for the simple reason that I could barely hold it still long enough to do so. I decided to take a quick break before trying again, but then my thoughts were dragged to something else.

My eyes popped open and I looked at Jack, who was still looking decidedly sore from the whole tree escapade earlier; in more ways than one.

"Where's Roy?" I asked.

Jack furrowed his brow. "You know, I haven't seen him around much lately. Actually, I don't think I've seen him since two days ago; just after we arrived here. What about you, Acero?"

Acero shook his head. "I have not seen him since then either; I believe he went to explore the ruins of the castle, or something of the like, but I don't know where he's gotten to now."

I stood up in a half panic. "I have to go and find him."

"He's probably fine," Acero said.

I looked at him. "And what about those cultist guys that were with Hades?"

Acero nodded. "When you put it that way, we should probably go find him."

I looked at Jack. "How well do you think you'd be able to follow his aura trail?"

Jack scratched the back of his head. "Honestly, I think you'd be better at that than me. What I can do though, is see if I can locate his mind in the immediate area. Failing that, I might be able to find his tracks; if I can, then Lucy or Katana might be able to follow them. They're both pretty skilled trackers."

"Alright," I said. "Do you think it would scare anyone if I walked around like this?"

"I wasn't going to say anything," Jack deadpanned, "But you do kinda look like Arceus come to rain fiery judgment upon the earth. Besides; if something has happened to Roy, we'll want to go for 'inconspicuous' as much as possible. And inconspicuous, you are not."

I sighed and said, "In that case I should probably figure out how to change back now. It shouldn't be too hard."

I told Klang to wrap back around my arm so that it wouldn't get messed up when i changed back and then I went into my aura and located the flame. I touched it and then a whole bunch of different signatures popped up everywhere. I found the one that resembled my normal aura and touched that.

I felt a surge of energy and suddenly I felt weaker. I opened my eyes and saw that I had changed back, with Klang wrapped around my broken arm; I suddenly remembered how much it hurt…

I rubbed my arm and winced.

"Your arm still bothering you?" Jack asked. "You looked fine while you were in your 'Divine Form', thing."

I gave him a blank stare. "You don't think I noticed that either? It's like another body that I can take control of while my other one is stored somewhere."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting; although it sounds to me like a potential weakness…"

"Hm, I haven't thought of it that way. I guess it's because I have nineteen other forms apparently."

Jack's eyebrows shot skyward at that. "Nineteen… as in, 19? What are you ever going to use nineteen forms for… You know what, never mind that; we can discuss the practicality of multiple bodies later. For now, we should focus on finding Roy."

Jack closed his eyes and concentrated; I could feel his mind expanding, reaching out past me into the surrounding area to search for Roy's mind. After a few seconds, he scowled and opened his eyes.

"No trace of him," he said. "He's not within a mile of us, that much I know."

I nodded. "We should head back to the camp and see if we can find him there. If we can't we'll split up and see if that doesn't work."

"No need to be so pessimistic," Jack commented wryly.

I frowned at him and said, "Let's go."

We headed in the direction of the camp, along the way Jack reached around for Roy's mind.

We arrived at the camp, and saw everyone in a near-panic; when they saw us, a group of Lucarios rushed over to make sure it was really us. We pushed through the mob, answering as many questions as to our whereabouts as we could, until we got to the main portion of the camp. Over the time we were gone, it seemed that the camp had expanded with dozens of new tents and temporary huts.

Soon, we came across Thomas the Porygon2 and Quarrel who were working on clearing away more of the rubble from the castle; probably to make more huts, although it looked to me like we had more than enough.

"I see you've returned," Thomas commented; he didn't seem surprised in the slightest. "What kept you?"

Jack shrugged. "Stuff. Have you seen Roy around? And what's with everyone freaking out?"

If Thomas had eyebrows, he would've raised them. "You have been gone for twenty-one hours and thirty-eight minutes. At about the eight-hour mark, people started to notice that the three of your were missing; by ten hours, they'd started sending out search parties. Apparently the Lucarios, Jason included, were unable to locate you using their auras; something about 'intense interference'."

"Yeah, that was probably us," Jack deadpanned. "We were having a bit of a… thing."

"I can imagine," Thomas responded. "In any event, a good portion of the Lucario population of Alazin are currently out looking for you; as well as our entire team. I was the only one to stay behind, in case you came back; apparently it was a wise precaution. As the young Riolu, Roy, I have not seen him since the day we arrived."

Jack nodded. "Okay, thanks anyway." he turned to me. "I'm going to call my team back here. If that 'aura trail' is actually a thing, then see if you can find Roy's; it might give us an idea where to start looking."

"Okay," I looked at Acero, "You help me find Roy's trail." I looked back to Jack. "When you've gotten your team together come and help me."

"I'm just contacting them telepathically," Jack said. "I've got a constant link with all of them; trouble is, I don't usually pay attention to it so even if they try to get my attention it doesn't always work…"

"Okay then." I said, "Me and Acero are going to get a head start then."

Jack nodded and Acero and I headed off. I closed my eyes and I tried to locate Roy's aura, but there were already so many stale aura signatures around that it was extremely hard to pick one to follow.

As we headed further and further from the camp the stale aura began to lessen and it was easier to isolate individual tails. I found one that seemed similar to Roy's, but I couldn't be sure.

Me and Acero followed this one for a while but we came across a point where there was another one that merged with it. This one was different though, it seemed older; a lot older, yet young at the same time. I followed both trails for a while before I started sensing something powerful ahead.

I continued to follow the trails; though at this point I didn't even need to use my aura vision, I could feel the power and I was going in that direction.

"Hey, Lucas," Jack called from a ways behind us; I looked back and saw that he was alone. "Have you found him yet?"

I shrugged. "Can you feel that?"

Jack nodded, running up to us. "Yeah, I think so; I'm not sure what is is though."

"Does it feel..." I paused for a moment, "Ancient almost?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I don't know; what does 'ancient' feel like? It certainly feels powerful, that much is obvious; remember, I'm nowhere near as proficient with aura as you. After all, I'm not a Lucario myself; I was just trained by one."

I nodded and said, "I swear I've felt this somewhere before, but only for a short time..." Then I remembered. "It was when we were at the Hall of Origin! I know that much."

I turned toward the direction of the power and started walking faster.

I could see a tall wall of bushes through the trees. I picked up the pace.

I reached the wall of bushes and tried to push my way through to the other side but for some reason I couldn't. I could feel the power on the other side, and when I looked closer there were two aura signatures, one of them was definitely Roy. I pushed harder on the bushes but to no avail.

I was totally baffled. "How the heck, are bushes stopping me?" I rolled my eyes and opened up my aura and located the flame. I touched the Divine form and transformed with a bright flash of light. Klang turned from a splint back into a bracelet on my arm.

I walked back up to the bushes and attempted to punch through them, but instead my fist collided with a solid wall.

I stepped back and let out a frustrated sigh. "How!?" I shouted, "How in the name of Arceus are these bushes stopping my punch?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jack deadpanned. "You have to use HM Cut on them."

I glared at him and said, "I hate you."

"I love you too," Jack replied without missing a beat. "Anyway, no matter what kind of 'Super Bushes' they are, I should be able to teleport through them."

Jack disappeared with a rush of displaced air, but returned a second later with a confused expression.

"Okay," he said. "I went over there, but there was nothing there; I could sense Roy's aura, and the other one too, but it was just an echo. It didn't seem like anyone had been there in a while. I'm not sure what's going on."

I turned to the bushes and shouted, "I COMMAND YOU TO LET ME THROUGH!"

"Dude," Jack deadpanned. "What do you think shouting at the bushes is going to accomplish? They're bushes. Bushes don't have ears."

The bushes started to rustle and then they started disappearing into the ground. Soon they were completely gone.

Jack stared numbly at the retreating foliage. "I've been living a lie…"

I stared in the direction of where the bushes had been; instead there stood Roy and Dialga. Wait, Dialga?!

I stared blankly for a second and said, "What in the world?"

Roy's face lit up as he saw me. "Hi Lucas! Look who I met!"

He ran over to me and grabbed my hand, he didn't seem fazed at all that I had changed back to my divine from. He dragged me over to right in front of Dialga, who looked to be upwards of twenty feet tall and understandably towered over both of us.

I waved weakly. "Hi," I said, "How's it going?"

Dialga smiled. "Greetings, Guardian. It has been some time since we last met, has it not? Young Roy told me that you were well; and I see that you have mastered your ability to change forms."

I nodded. "Yeah, just recently actually."

"That is good to hear," Dialga replied. "You will have need of those forms before long, of that I have no doubt."

I nodded again. "So, I have a couple of questions." I said, "The first one is, why are you here with Roy?"

"He's training me!" Roy said excitedly, "He wants me to be his hair!"

"That's 'heir', Roy," Dialga corrected.

Jack snorted with barely restrained laughter. "Sorry, don't mind me," he said.

"Ah yes," Dialga said, turning his gaze on Jack. "The enigma. I had almost forgotten you; primarily because I wished to…"

Jack furrowed his brow. "I have a 'thing' about cryptic comments; what exactly do you mean by that?"

Dialga sighed. "Arceus might not be overly pleased about me telling you this, but although I can look into the past and future, I am unable to see yours. That is why I called you an enigma; you are the one question I cannot answer. It is a matter of… some embarrassment to me among my legendary brethren…"

Jack nodded. "Okay, that answers my question; and raises a few more in its place, but oh well."

"I must ask," Dialga said, "What was it you found so amusing a second ago?"

Jack immediately began studying the ground. "Oh, nothing."

Dialga gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't convinced, but the Legendary apparently decided not to press the issue.

"Anyway," I said, stepping into the conversation, "What do you mean that you're training Roy to be your heir?"

"I had thought it to be somewhat obvious, but Roy is a Guardian just as you are." he paused to let that sink in. "And because Arceus chose you to become his heir, and eventual successor..."

"Actually," I interrupted, "It's technically a punishment, but do go on."

Dialga scowled at me. "Because Arceus chose you, the other two legendaries of creation have been talking about taking one of the other guardians to be their heir. I shared their view and decided to take a head start. I chose Roy because of how young he is now, which leaves plenty of room for training."

I frowned. "So how long is he going to be training for?"

"That depends greatly on how long it takes for him to learn what he needs to," Dialga said, "It might take him only a few years, or it could take significantly longer."

I furrowed my brow. "How come Roy is getting training? Shouldn't Arceus be training me?"

"You're situation is different from Roy's," Dialga shifted slightly. "You are older, and you still have things which you need to do before your training begins. But trust me, it will happen."

"Well that answers some questions," I said, "But there's one that's been bugging me. Do you remember when Splay captured us?"

Dialga stared at me blankly. "Of course I do, I control time itself."

"Oh right," I said sheepishly. "Anyway, was it you that stopped time when we were escaping and we would've died from that tank?"

Dialga nodded slightly. "Yes, by Arceus's order. He and I both knew that it was not time for you to die."

"I appreciate that," I said.

"Back to the matter at hand," Jack said, drawing everyone's attention to him instantly, "Does this mean that Roy is going to be staying with you to train?"

"Yes," Dialga said. "For now. He is extremely undertrained and isn't even evolved."

I gave him a strange look. "Don't Riolu's evolve by a bond with another person or Pokemon? How is Roy going to evolve if you're the only one he's going to be around?"

Jack facepalmed. "Have you never even seen how close a mentor and their students can grow? Oftentimes, it's a bond every bit as strong as the one between trainer and Pokemon; or even father and son."

"Sorry, Legendaries just don't come across as the most 'bonding types' to me," I said. "It just seems strange that the only contact Roy will have with other living things is going to be Dialga. I mean, I love Ethan and all, but sometimes I just can't handle him."

Jack shrugged. "I get that with Jason all the time; but that's not really the point. Actually… I'm not really sure what the point was; I just thought you were being kinda rude to the Legendary Pokemon of time. Not a wise occupation."

I returned Jack's shrug. "True, I just thought it was something that should be addressed."

"Well," Dialga intervened, "If you are done arguing about what's going to happen to Roy, he still has training to be done."

"When will I see him next?" I asked.

Dialga thought for a moment. "Eventually."

"That wasn't vague at all," I said sarcastically.

"Jack is correct," Dialga said, "You should not mock the Lord of Time."

"You know what." I said, pointing at him, "I think being the heir to Arceus gives me a little more leeway than most others. And considering I've taken care of Roy for some time now, I don't know if I'm entirely ready to let you just take him."

Dialga smirked. "It is not up to you. You may think you're high up with the legendaries, but that's not how being an heir works. You are second only to us, meaning that everyone in the Legend council is your superior. You should treat us as such."

"He's got you there," Jack commented wryly.

I was about to make a smart retort but Acero grabbed my shoulder. "It's not worth it. You'll see Roy again."

I shrugged off his hand and said, "Whatever."

I turned my back on Dialga and walked off back towards the camp.

"You really should be more careful talking to Legendaries like that," Jack said, running to catch up with me. "Especially major ones like the Creation Trio. Not all Legendaries are so forgiving as Dialga was just then."

I huffed, "So what? Just because they're so powerful doesn't mean they just do whatever the heck they want." I paused, "I bet I could've taken him down easy."

"Three words," Jack deadpanned, counting them off on his fingers. "Famous, last, words."

I restrained myself from punching him in the face. "Great," I said angrily, "Who cares! He can't just do whatever he wants, he still has to respect others; even if they are lower than he is."

"But you have to admit," Jack insisted, "Saying that to their faces is probably not going to end well. It's my experience that the best solution is usually the one that involves the least number of people getting eaten."

I looked at him with a confused expression.

"Did you see those teeth?" Jack elaborated jokingly. "Seriously, I would not want to get on the wrong side of those; in more ways than one."

I rolled my eyes, "I'll have to talk to Arceus later or something."

"Probably not the smartest to bring this up," Acero piped up. "It might not go in your favor."

"Sure," I said.

We were getting near the camp and I transformed back into my normal form, with Klang around my broken arm.

As we went back into camp we noticed a helicopter flying over to us. I looked up and saw it go by overhead as it circled around to find a landing place.

I walked a little bit faster as I realized how much I actually missed Ethan; then I remembered my broken arm and I had a little anxiety attack.

The helicopter landed near the camp, and the moment it touched down the doors flew open and a few military soldier piled out, followed quickly by Ethan. He was wearing blue jeans and a red jacket; he also had a black backpack that looked like it was full.

I ran over to Ethan and gave him an awkward hug.

He gave me an extremely confused look. "What did you do this time?" he asked.

I sighed. "I bit off more than I could chew."

Ethan nodded. "I figured as much," He sighed. "This is not going to look good."

"On the plus side, I figured out how to turn back into my divine form thing," I said.

He nodded. "But you're not going to be walking around like that in public. It's only for emergencies that Spl- I mean Quarrel, can't handle."

I frowned. "Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically.

He patted me on the left shoulder. "You're welcome."

We walked over to the camp and I asked, "So, are there supplies coming? And why are there people from the army here?"

"Yes, supplied are coming by ground," Ethan said. "And as for the military, they are more of a scout patrol. they're making sure it's safe to drop stuff off." He scratched his chin, "Although I don't really understand why."

"Is there more military coming?" I was getting a little worried.

"Yeah," Ethan thought for a moment, "Quite a bit actually. Where's Jack?"

"Mostly, right behind you," Jack said, making Ethan jump a little. "I was just passing by, but I heard my name."

"Yeah, anyway, I need you and Lucas to keep an eye on the other people that are coming. There are going to be a ton of people from the army, I'm not totally sure why and it seems a little suspicious to be honest."

Jack nodded. "Actually, I was just on my way to go check them out. I feel like it's a bad idea to have a bunch of humans, especially heavily armed humans, walking around here freely; I mean, most of the citizens are still not completely recovered yet. And I don't think I have to tell you what humans like to do to Pokémon when their health gets low; especially rare Pokémon, like Lucarios."

Ethan put on a worried look. "Yeah. Stay on guard. I am really serious, this is the highest Lucario concentration in all of Kalos, and I was poking around in some of these guys' heads, it's very tempting."

Jack gave Ethan a sideways glance. "You know, there's an old saying; with great power? You ever heard of it? I try not to 'poke around in people's heads' unless absolutely necessary; it might be construed as an invasion of privacy, among other things."

Ethan nodded. "But if you saw the looks on these guys faces, and the feelings that were emanating off of them right before we took off, you would probably get worried."

Jack shrugged. "Okay, point taken. Anyway, if they really are thinking along those lines then we've got to make sure we keep track of all of them; and I do mean all of them. I for one can set up a psychic net around Alazin with some help from Solomon; it'll let me keep constant tabs on the location of everyone inside. And if someone's mind suddenly disappears from the net, I'll know someone got captured; or worse."

I looked at Ethan. "How soon are the rest of them going to be showing up?"

"In a few hours," He replied.

"We should warn everyone about this or something. Because if something does go wrong, I do not want Pokémon attacking Humans."

"Good point," Jack agreed. "But I can't help but think that if the citizens are too suspicious of the soldiers… it might cause more incidents than it prevents; I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I just want to put that out there."

"How about this," I said. "You tell your team, and they can kind of keep an eye out, but we don't need to tell anyone else yet. Not unless something happens."

"Except that sounds like the kind of decision that leads to everything going horribly wrong," Jack said, holding his head.

"Well what's your idea?" I asked frustrated.

Jack sighed. "I don't know; I'm just thinking rings around myself at this point… you should probably just ignore me for now."

"We just won't tell anyone then," Ethan said. "We'll only bring it up if there is an incident and it needs to be dealt with. No one needs to be suspicious and no one needs to know that we already knew this. It can just stay between us."

"What can?" Thomas asked from directly behind Ethan.

Ethan jumped and shouted, "OH MY GOSH!" Ethan turned around quickly, "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Thomas asked, completely oblivious. "I do not understand the question."

Ethan waved his hand in a dismissive motion. "Nevermind."

Thomas looked over at Jack. "He waved his hand in a dismissive motion; does that mean I am supposed to leave now?"

"Yeah," Jack replied. "Pretty much. Actually, would you mind rounding up the rest of the team for me? We've got a bit of work to do."

"Certainly," Thomas said, flying off.

"So," Jack continued, turning back to me. "Is that settled then? I'll be central command, and you guys and my team will keep an eye on things from the ground; basically acting as a rapid response team. If I sense trouble, I'll inform whoever's closest and they can handle it from there; maybe in groups or three or something. Sound good?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that sounds best."

Jack sighed. "I still feel like this is going to go horribly wrong somehow…"

"Don't worry," Ethan said. "It probably will."

Jack gave him a sideways glance, then he grinned and let out a lighthearted chuckle. "You know, that's the first comforting thing that's been said in the last five minutes; for a second there I was worried you were going to say some famous last words. Alright then, let's do this thing."

"They should be here in a few hours, so whatever we can do to get ready we should do now." Ethan looked around. "I guess that means you set up your barrier thing."

Jack scratched the back of his head. "It's really more like… radar, I guess; it doesn't keep anybody in, it just lets me see roughly where everybody is without actually establishing a psychic link with them."

Ethan gave him a blank stare, then a thumbs up, "Great, we should get to work."

"Probably a wise choice," Jack deadpanned.

The next twenty minutes were spent in preparation; Jack's team assembled by the castle ruins, and Jack and I gave them a rundown of what was going on. We would split up, as Jack had suggested, into four groups of three; with Quarrel, Ethan, and I on one team, Jason, Thomas, and Ivy on the second, Cap, Katana, and Aura on the third, and Lucy, Wendy, and Acero on the fourth. Solomon and Jack would stay at the ruins of the castle, roughly at the center of the city.

We sat around for about an hour, waiting and talking. Lunch came around and we ate various berries that the camp had gathered; the Kalos military people ate away from us. Eventually the helicopter took off and left the them behind. Around two hours later we could clearly hear the sounds of car engines in the distance.

"From what I can hear, there sounds like a lot of vehicles," I said to Ethan.

Ethan gained another worried look. "Yeah. They're mostly bringing a lot of wood, but there are other things too like steel beams and stuff. It wasn't that hard to convince them to bring extra materials."

Jack furrowed his brow. "Really? Define, 'wasn't that hard'."

Ethan shrugged. "I really don't know why, but they seemed way more willing to give materials away when I asked them."

Jack sighed. "This gets more and more incredible by the second; and by 'incredible', I mean that it doesn't add up and I don't like it."

"I have to agree," I said with a nod. "Why would the government be willing to give away hundreds of dollars worth of building materials to help a 'secret' pokemon civilization just because you asked?"

"I don't want to think that there's something bigger happening, but maybe there is," Ethan said. "They didn't need to send any military personnel, and they agreed to send expensive materials without much of an argument."

"I'm not exactly well-acquainted with the government," Jack commented, "But aren't they supposed to be kinda underhanded?"

Ethan nodded. "I think that's the stereotype with all governments. But yes, sometimes they are a little underhanded."

"Well, there's not much we can do until they get here and get everything unloaded," Jack said with a shrug. "And even then, all we can really do is keep an eye on things; so let's keep as close an eye on things as possible, and maybe we'll find something out that'll help explain all of this weirdness. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I said, "I think they are getting close."

I heard the engines getting louder and then Ethan stood up, when the soldiers stood up and started heading in the sound of the engines, "I think they're here."

Jack and I stood up with Ethan and followed the soldiers.

We saw the trucks long before they came into the camp. When the arrived there were dozens of them. About half of them had giant logs behind them, some had heavy construction equipment, and a few more were carrying steel; lots and lots of steel.

They parked a good ways from the camp, but they weren't alone. They were soon followed by a military convoy in H1 hummers with mounted turrets.

Ethan's worried expression returned. "There is way more stuff here than they promised; and they never said anything about a military group coming. I didn't even know that these few soldiers were coming until I got into the helicopter with them."

"Yeah, this is probably not good," I said.

"I've got to agree with you on that one," Jack replied. "But still, what are we going to do; send them packing? I don't think so, so the only other option is the one we've already decided on; watch, and wait."

Ethan nodded. "I'll go and figure out who's in charge. You two should come with me."

"Good idea," Jack nodded. "Lead on."

We headed towards the military convoy that had parked near the trucks that were carrying all the equipment; they were already setting up their camp.

When we got close a guy in a black suit stepped out from behind one of the Hummers. He had black hair that was slicked back, and a slightly disgusted face.

When he noticed us, his expression brightened and he walked over. He was looking at Ethan specifically and he stuck his hand out. "Hello," he started. "I'm Mark Blackwell,"

Ethan shook his hand. "I'm Ethan Wilson."

"I don't like this guy," Jack said telepathically. "I was joking earlier about the government, but this guy really is sleazy…"

"Was it his hair that gave it away?" I said sarcastically.

"...No," Jack replied, unconvincingly.

"I already knew that," Mark said to Ethan. "My daughter is a huge fan of your's."

"So he has a daughter," I said, slightly disappointed. "We can't mess him up; I can't do that to a little girl. Otherwise, I would seriously break his legs if he made one wrong move."

Jack gave me a sideways glance. "Isn't that kinda… extreme? I mean, ouch."

"It's okay… I think."

"Yeah," Ethan replied to Mark, "I have a lot of those. Anyway, I have a few questions."

Mark smiled and said, "Ask whatever you need."

"Well first off, why is the military here? This seems totally unnecessary to me."

"It's for safety measures," Mark paused. "You know, if the the Pokémon start causing problems."

Ethan furrowed his brow. "With guns? Are you serious?" Ethan's disapproval was very evident, and Mark's smile faltered.

"It's just a precaution, they won't be used unless totally necessary."

Ethan didn't seem convinced. "Yeah, anyway, my other question was why are there so many trucks, and there are way more materials than promised. Is something going on that I am not aware of?"

Mark shook his head. "They are just extra's in case there is more to be built than planned for."

Ethan gave another unconvinced look. "Okay, thanks, that's all I needed to know."

He was about to turn but Mark looked at Jack and said, "You must be Jack Storm."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I see my reputation precedes me. Yes, I'm Jack Storm; pleasure to meet you, Mr. Blackwell."

Mark gave an extremely fake smile. "You have such good manners for... " he paused, "Where you came from."

Jack's face split into a smile that was just as fake as Mark's, but also managed to be more than a little intimidating.

"And you learned that, where?" he asked.

Mark's smile faded. "I work for the government, we generally collaborate with other regions to make sure all..." He paused again, looking for the right word, "anomalies, are accounted for."

Jack nodded, and his smile hardened a little more. "I see; well then, I'll let you get on with… whatever you're here to do. Ethan, Lucas, I'll see you later."

With that, Jack turned on the spot and disappeared with a flash of lightning and a rush of displaced air. My eyes got wide and I looked at Mark, then I looked at Ethan; Ethan looked back at me, and his expression was also one of concern.

"Dude," Ethan said, "This is not good."

"I'm sure you're busy," Mark said, getting Ethan's attention; he seemed completely oblivious that he had just made the worst enemy ever. "So I'll let you get back to what you were doing. Whatever it was you were doing with your friends over there."

We didn't even respond we just turned and walked off; it took all my willpower not to turn around and lay him out.

"I'm gonna break his legs," I said to Ethan. "I swear."

Ethan glared at me. "If you do that…" He paused, and nodded his approval. "I would be totally okay with it."

We arrived back at the camp and started looking for Jack. As if on cue, we heard a sharp cracking sound from over by the ruins; we ran over, to see Jack standing in the middle of a pile of rubble holding a rock the size of his head.

We ran over and I said, "You have my permission to break his legs if you so desire."

Jack shook his head. "No; that would not only be wrong, but it wouldn't solve anything. Well, it wouldn't solve everything."

Jack tossed the rock he was holding up into the air; he waited as it fell back down until it was about at head height. At that point, well… I honestly didn't see what happened; one moment the rock was falling, the next minute it had exploded into a million shards of rock that flew in a shotgun pattern away from Jack. From my point of view, it didn't even look like Jack had moved a muscle; but his right arm was sparking, and his fist was steaming. The look on his face probably could've melted lead.

Ethan took a step back, I stood still and grinned.

"Like I said," Jack continued, "I don't think physical violence will solve anything. Still, he really shouldn't have brought my family into this."

I nodded. "I understand… not really. We should just make sure he isn't up to anything. Just keep an eye out, like we planned."

"I have been," Jack replied. "Nothing out of place has happened so far; everyone is where they should be, and no one's disappeared. I have to admit, I'm trying really hard not to mess with that Mark guy's head right now…"

I gave him a skeptical look. "If you did mess with him, what exactly would you be doing?"

Jack groaned. "Don't even tempt me… According to Solomon, my psychic abilities are beyond anything someone of my age should be capable of. If I wanted to, I could do anything from convincing him that he was a Magikarp, to making him feel like his heart was being ripped out of his chest."

"Oh…" I said. "Yeah that's probably not a good idea."

"Hey," Ethan said, "I just had a thought, apparently these soldiers intend on staying overnight, are we going to have a night watch? Or is there something else that we're doing?"

Jack furrowed his brow. "If I was going to do something dubious, I'd do it under the cover of dark; a night watch is exactly what we're going to have, and I'll be on it. Once I set up the link with Solomon, he can watch it during the day; leaving me to get as much rest as I need after the night shift."

"Are you going to be the only one on the night shift?" I asked, "Cause I would willingly join you."

"I'd be glad of the company," Jack replied. "I think I'll also be drafting Lucy and Thomas to join you; that way we have a full team, and the capability to split up if necessary."

I nodded. "I guess I'll be on the night shift then. And that leaves Ethan on the day shift. Which means you're almost powerless."

Ethan shook his head. "No, not entirely."

Ethan pulled off his backpack and set it on the ground. He undid the zipper and pulled out a pair of blue elbow length gloves.

"Do you remember these? When Darkrai gave them to me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, what do they do exactly?"

"They enhance my ability to use aura; and since I'm a descendant of Aaron, they boost my abilities quite a bit."

Jack folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Sir Aaron… the guy certainly gets around, doesn't he."

"What do you mean by that?" Ethan asked.

"I've heard his name mentioned a few times," Jack replied. "Mostly in old folk tales passed down by word-of-mouth among Lucarios; Sir Aaron and his Lucario, who I guess would be Leonidas, have been heroes of myth and legend to Lucarios for centuries. And I've heard more about him in the last few weeks than in any of the old legends."

Ethan thought for a moment, "Sir Aaron was a knight of Cameran Palace, he was also an aura guardian, these were humans that were able to manipulate aura almost as well as Lucarios; some even better than that. And with the assistance of these rare rocks called Aura Stones, an aura guardian's powers were multiplied. Leonidas was Sir Aaron's student, they grew a close bond which enabled them to perform Fuse Evolution. After the whole Splay incident stuff returned to normal, or as normal as it would ever get, new kingdoms began to rise up in different places; but Cameran Palace managed to stay mostly intact. When wars erupted in far away regions Sir Aaron got worried that they would spread to Cameran. Aaron decided to go and try to end the war, and he told Leonidas that he wouldn't be returning. Leonidas, of course, took this the wrong way and assumed that Aaron was abandoning Cameran to fight for other regions. It ended up that Aaron saved Cameran and ended the war, but at the cost of his own life. He sent a message to Leonidas with a time flower, explaining what had happened and why he had disappeared."

Jack nodded. "I knew most of that already from those legends I told you about, although they didn't mention Leonidas's name; or Splay, or Fuse Evolution… They forgot to mention a lot of stuff, actually."

"Yeah," Ethan said. "I only learned Leonidas's name from when he started showing up. I don't know what happened to everything else. The Fuse evolution stuff was passed down by his descendants, although no one knows who his wife was. I guess everyone just wanted to forget the whole thing with Splay and they destroyed the records of it. He did almost wipe out humanity after all."

Jack was about to respond, most likely with a witty retort, but he was cut off by Jason running over to us with the rest of Jack's team in tow.

"So there you are," Jason exclaimed. "We weren't sure where you guys had gotten to."

"Sorry about disappearing like that," Jack said. "I just had to blow off a little steam after meeting with the leader of those goons in military clothing."

"I take it things didn't go well?" Solomon piped up, floating to the front of the group.

Jack scowled. "You could say that; you could also say that we're going to be setting a night shift as well, as an added precaution. So we're going to have to shuffle the squads around a little. Solomon, that's officially your job; Lucas, Lucy, and Thomas are on the night shift with me. I'm going to go set up the psychic net."

Solomon nodded. "I'll get everything sorted."

The first day was pretty quiet for my squad; which was weird, considering there were two separate incidents. Jack called in Jason's squad to handle the first one, which turned out to be a simple misunderstanding, and Acero's squad handled the second; in which a soldier actually pulled a couple of Pokéballs on a lone female Lucario in a deserted corner of the city. Thanks to Jack calling for preemptive measures, the soldier never even got to send out his Pokémon.

But then again, it didn't really surprise me; like Jack said, the real trouble probably wouldn't start until after dark. Which was probably why he was keeping my squad away from action until then, seeing as I was the most likely one on the night shift to get tired; between a Dark-type and a robot.

As night fell I began to get a little more anxious. For some reason is was slightly nerve racking to stay up late waiting for someone to make a move.

It was a few hours after the sun had gone down and Jack, Lucy, Thomas, and I were sitting around a fire; the only fire that was left burning throughout the entire camp. The others had gone to bed already, in anticipation of another long day tomorrow.

"It's quiet," Jack commented. "Almost too quiet; I'm only registering a few conscious minds in the city right now, all of them soldiers, but they're all staying within spitting distance of their camp."

"Maybe that one soldier we stopped today went and told the rest that they'd better not try anything," Lucy said hopefully.

"Somehow, I doubt our luck is that good," Jack replied. "I've got a sneaking suspicion that something's going to happen soon."

"How can you tell?" Lucy asked.

Jack tapped his nose. "Call it a hunch; there's a few soldiers I'm keeping an eyes on who… We have a potential situation; one of the soldiers has left their base and is heading towards the residential area," Jack exclaimed suddenly. "Get going, I'll set you on an intercept course."

The three of us didn't waste any time, and started running/floating towards the residential district.

"They're moving fast," Jack said over the psychic link-up. "Two of them, both carrying multiple Pokéballs. Use caution, I'm pretty sure they're not just out for a late-night stroll."

Thomas and I continued to charge in a beeline towards the two soldiers, but Jack had Lucy break away and come at them from a different angle; hoping to catch them in a pincer maneuver if necessary.

Thomas and I stopped just outside their line of view as we heard a commotion coming from a nearby tent. Mark Blackwell was standing just outside the tent with a Pokéball in hand and a skarmory right beside him.

A few moments later a shout came from the tent and out came the soldier, dragging a young Riolu behind him kicking and screaming.

The soldier had a pistol drawn and was pointing it at the Riolu as he backed away. The parents came out, the female came out and was completely hysterical. the male was trying stay calm but panic was practically seeping out of him.

The Riolu's kicking and screaming was clearly causing trouble for the soldier and he smacked the Riolu in the head and knocked him out.

The soldier through the Riolu over his shoulder and nodded to Blackwell. That's when I stepped into sight.

My rage at this point could not be contained. I was spilling out aura like it was going out of style.

"What do you think you're up to?" I asked quietly.

Blackwell's eyes flicked over to me. "None of your business Lucario. Now leave before this gets out of hand."

Clearly it was too dark for him to see what I actually looked like, so he didn't recognize who I was.

"No I'm pretty sure it's my business," I growled.

The soldier stopped and let out his own pokemon, a Typhlosion. He motioned to the parents and told his Typhlosion to keep an eye on them.

"We are capturing a Riolu for my daughter," Mark said. "Is it against the law to capture Pokémon?"

My rage grew to a new level. "You what mate?" I said incredulously.

"Excuse me?" Mark said,

I took a step forward and Blackwell got a better look of me, and he laughed, "Your arms broken, do you really think that you could challenge me!"

I looked behind me and Thomas floated up next to me.

"Oh," Blackwell said, "You have a Porygon, I'm shaking in my boots."

I grinned and transformed into my divine form. The night was lit up and everyone was blinded for a second. When Mark looked at me again his jaw dropped. Klang transformed into a sword and settled in my hand. I lifted my sword and pointed it at him.

"If you or your friend here can beat me, I'll let you take the Riolu. But I'm warning you, there is a 0% percent chance of you winning." I paused to let him consider this. "Or, you can just return the Riolu back to his parents and maybe I won't shatter your legs."

Mark set his jaw and scowled at me. "You would be put down for that, attacking a human."

I laughed. "You wouldn't remember what happened, trust me. If you want a Riolu for your daughter, they you can go find one that isn't on protected Pokémon reserve."

"This isn't a Pokémon reserve," Blackwell said. "At least not for long."

He motioned to the soldier to give the Riolu back. The soldier rolled his eyes and muttered something to himself. He walked over and set the Riolu down in front of his parents. The moment he walked away they grabbed their son in a tight hug; even though he was unconscious.

"There," Blackwell said. "I returned the Riolu, I am leaving now."

He started to walk away. "I expect you to be gone by sunrise tomorrow morning," I snarled at him as he left. "You and all your military goons. And I never want to see you here again."

Blackwell turned around and said, "You can't command us, we will be staying here for as long as we like."

"Then I guess I will have no choice but to break your legs," I said, shrugging.

Blackwell huffed and turned around and stalked off, followed by his Skarmory and his soldier, who had put his Typhlosion back in his pokeball.

I watched them leave. They walked right past Lucy, who apparently left them alone.

"Well, that went well," I said sarcastically. "I wonder if they'll actually leave? Maybe I can get Ethan to have a word with someone, or we could contact the inter-pol and see if they can do anything about this."

"I certainly hope so," Jack commented telepathically. "And just for the record; if you'd actually tried to break his legs, I might have stopped you. Maybe."

"You couldn't have stopped me," I paused, "I don't think so at least; we haven't sparred while I was in this form. And I'm not sure how likely that is to happen."

"Not any time soon, I can tell you that much," Jack replied. "That form scares me."

"Nice," I said. "Anyway, we should be heading out now."

"We are heading back," I said to Lucy and Thomas. Lucy came out from where she was hiding and we headed back to the campfire with Jack.

and now time for announcement number 2.

Next chapter is infact the last chapter. which means it may also be long, or short, depends on what kind of cliffhanger i want to leave you guys on.

I would like to thank anyone who left reviews and supported this story. it has been very helpful.

If you would like to get an email or something about the sequel follow my profile... this is not a ploy to get you to follow me. (It kind of is though)

Stay... tuned? for the next chapter!