Chapter 12

At the highest floor of a very tall building, a man dressed in an expensive black suit rested inside his not-so-modest office. The large room was dim, not a single source of light came from within the office, but the vibrant lights of Lumiose City far below were just enough to barely illuminate his surroundings.

The strange man was seated in a velvet office chair gazing out of the massive window making up most of the back wall. Calmly swirling the shallow glass of wine in his hand, his red goatee reflected the orange glow of his cigar as he inhaled deeply, releasing the smoke from his nose slowly before pulling the cigar from his teeth and ashing it whilst taking a brief sip of his beverage.

Resting in his lap was an oddly discolored Flareon with much darker fur than normal, almost appearing blood red opposed to their usual orange hue. Even though it's closed eyes, a faint purple glow could be seen in the shadows of the office.

Footsteps approached the entrance and caused the Flareon's ear to twitch, leaving a small flicker of purple embers behind. The man sighed tiredly and placed his cigar into a tray as a firm yet hesitant knock came from the cherry red doors.

"You may enter." The man calmly spoke with a tone of great enforcement and no patience for distractions.

The doors creaked open and let in a flood of light from the hall outside, reflecting off of the finely polished desk the man sat behind and the solid gold nameplate placed on top. "Lucas" was the first name engraved within, however the second half seemed heavily scratched as if out of resentment, only leaving the first letter even remotely recognizable. "L."

Through the doors stepped a young woman within her twenties wearing a light grey office uniform and her dark brown hair tied back. "Sorry to interrupt you, Master Lucas. But I am here to report that squad A has returned from overseas with the equipment you required. Shall we begin preparations for the next phase of our lord's plan?"

Lucas scoffed and scratched the Flareon's head softly. "No, we can not yet begin preparation until the vessel is under my control." Across the window appeared an aerial view of a large crowd gathered in one of the city parks, it zoomed in toward a teenage boy stood in the center before it started playing back as a video, showing the boy thrusting his hand out toward another young trainer who seemed to be shoved back in pain like they were just children playing pretend. But this was merely an illusion covering what truly occured. The video suddenly reversed to the beginning and a scowl crossed Lucas' face as a line wiped across the screen to reveal the raging energy surrounding the boy and the orb he shot from his palm. "I figured it would be easy to capture a simple child, but it seems I was mistaken." Another image flashed over the window of the incident that occured barely a week earlier followed by the boy plummeting from the top of Lumiose Tower. Lucas slammed his fist against the arm of his chair and snarled with a shadowing glow emanating from his fists. "We have little to no knowledge of the vessel up until this point so we can't underestimate it again."

"Shall I contact the primary lab and request a meeting, Sir?" The woman asked.

Lucas grunted. "Yes. In the meantime, we must keep a close eye on the vessel and learn how much of our lord's power he is capable of using. So far it may just be his instincts, but with that damned beast watching over him it's hard to say for sure."

The woman nodded and silently left the office, closing the doors and returning the room to the shadows once more. Finally, the Flareon scoffed and let out a yawn. "Must you be so loud? I understand we have been searching for our master for so long, but the boy clearly lacks any real experience using his abilities." The Flareon pressed a button on the armrest and rewinded the footage. "Look, his barrier instantly shattered as soon as he hit the ground, why you didn't try to capture him while he was hospitalized is anyone's guess, but if he really knew how to use his power then not only would his barrier remained from the fall, but he wouldn't have a scratch on him or at least would have been able to heal himself within a day!"

Lucas sighed and scratched the Flareon's head again. "I can see that, Flare. But even in his injured state we can't very well predict his actions after his massive power surge that night. It pisses me off just as well, but we have to approach this more carefully next time."

Flare scoffed and hopped to the floor. "Well good luck with that. You should have at least been smart enough to send more than just a couple of worthless grunts to capture him. It seems putting his beloved partner in danger is what set him off in the beginning." Lucas set down his glass and stood up, raising his finger to retort but was stopped as the almost demonic Flareon shot a glare back at her presumed trainer which seemed to hold a lot of influence over him. "You may have stood by our lord's side during that final battle, but remember that I was blessed by Master Kyreon himself. And even if you are my trainer, you are not my 'Master'." With a firm swish of her tail, Flare turned around and continued to walk away. "Are you coming to bed or not?!"

Lucas seemed to lose his composure for a moment and frantically nodded as he quickly downed the rest of his drink and followed her through a side door. Before leaving his office, though, Lucas glanced out the window and growled under his breath. "I will be the one to revive our true king."

"Lucas! Quit being a big, power hungry boss man and get in here! I need to relieve some stress!"

Flinching from her voice, Lucas swallowed hard and hurried into the bedroom, harshly shutting the door behind him.


Aura and Diamond walked down to the lobby of the Pokemon Center. It was still fairly early in the morning, exemplified by the sleepy Braixen trudging along beside her trainer, almost leaning on him for support. Diamond held a paw over her mouth as she let out an audible yawn.

"Still feeling a bit tired?" Diamond just nodded to Aura's question. "Sorry for waking you up so early. I just wanted to make sure we got to Alice's place on time."

The Braixen let out another yawn. "How are we going to even find her house?"

Aura pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. "While you guys were getting healed last night, Alice stopped by and gave me the address." Diamond just nodded again, slowly starting to lean against Aura more for support. After helping Diamond descend the stairs, Aura spotted Dan walking towards the front entrance with Nessa and Spyke by his sides. He called after them and hurried over with Diamond's paw in his hand.

Daniel turned around curiously and smiled as Aura approached steadily. He flicked his hand near his forehead in greeting. "Morning, you two. Getting an early start on your training?"

Aura shook his head. "Actually, no. We're just heading out to visit Alice so she can tell us more about the Guardians and our history. So where are you heading?"

Dan removed Missy's Pokeball from his pocket and stared at it. "I made an appointment with Professor Sycamore to hopefully get some insight into what kind of illness Missy has. Since we'll be staying in Lumiose for a bit longer, I figured this would be a good chance to ask him and maybe even provide some information to help future cases…" He frowned as he gently set Missy's ball back in his pocket.

Despite how tired she felt, Diamond listened carefully to their discussion and glanced away somberly. "I really hope the Professor can help Missy. She doesn't deserve to suffer like this."

Though her voice was faint and she hadn't used her own telepathy, Nessa's telepathy managed to translate enough for him to understand. "Thanks, Diamond. I'll see you guys later." Dan and his partners waved back as they exited the Pokemon Center and started in the direction of the lab.

Aura looked down at his mate softly. "Come on, we should get going as well. Alice lives closer to the hospital so it might take a while to walk there."

Diamond smirked following yet another loud yawn. "Can't we just call a taxi?"

Aura chuckled. "I've been stuck in a hospital bed for a week. I could use the exercise. But if you really have trouble walking all that way I could always carry you." He teased.

Diamond blushed and shook her head, unintentionally making herself dizzy and stumbling forward. Aura laughed and affirmed she was lucky that he was holding her paw or else she might have kissed the sidewalk, his comment earning him a firm elbow to his side from the flustered fox. He snorted as he held where she hit and apologized.

"Hmph…" Diamond scoffed and crossed her arms, though her cheeks reddened and slowly puffed out as she felt a finger prodding her hip, swiftly turning and flinching as Aura just stared into her eyes with a grin. The fox bit her lip and quickly stepped back whilst poking her fingers. "S-stop doing that." She stammered, once again finding herself instantly shifting moods.

Aura sighed and apologized, giving her a subtle wink and whispering "that's payback for the elbow" as he reached for her paw, allowing her to take his hand after a moment and the couple finally strolling down the city street.

It had been almost twenty minutes since they left the Pokemon Center, and the bright sunlight mixed with the city noises had fully awoken the Braixen from her tired state. Though as they passed through one of the denser shopping streets to Alice's neighborhood, Diamond's grip on Aura's hand gradually tightened as she would slowly pull herself closer to his side, meanwhile cautiously looking around at their surroundings.

Aura smiled down at the vixen, startling her a bit when he pulled his hand from her grasp only to wrap it around her far shoulder and hold her closer. "Still not the biggest fan of large crowds?" Aura asked.

Diamond's head sunk into her shoulders as she pressed her body a little harder against Aura. She nervously fidgeted with her necklace as she slowly nodded. "S-sorry. I know I should be used to it by now, but something about being surrounded by all these people right now is really bothering me," a bus suddenly honked its horn as it drove past, making Diamond wince as she whipped her paws over her ears and held them down, "or all this noise."

Curious about her oddly fluctuating demeanor, Aura could only assume it must be from past experiences leaving her in such an emotionally imbalanced state of fear. He slowed his pace and led the shy Pokemon to an empty bench and suggested they sit for a moment. She voiced her confusion but Aura just tenderly held her paws in his hands and shook his head. "Diamond. I want you to know that I will always be there for you. And even if you still don't like being in crowds like this, you should be proud of the progress you have made so far. Remember how you won us our first gym badge? Or how you and Prince went out on your own to bring Stan back to the hospital? You're strong when you need to be, Diamond. So don't feel bad about getting a bit shy around others. But I can understand why being around so many people would be unsettling for you," Aura paused to look out amongst the people, cracking a small grin in hopes of lightening the mood, "after all, you are much smaller than most of these people."

For a split second she looked almost angry at him, maybe even a little hurt he would point out her size as inadequate, but seeing the sly grin her mate displayed so confidently had somehow quarreled these thoughts and she simply gazed back with a sarcastic scowl. She lightly hit his shoulder and crossed her arms with a huff before scolding him. "I might be small now, but just wait until I evolve! Then I'll be almost as tall as you." She said, matter-of-factly.

Aura smirked at her newfound confidence and chuckled as he suddenly yanked her into his arms and hugged her tight. "Aww, but right now you're the perfect snuggle size!" He joked, not caring about anyone giving them odd looks. Diamond snorted as she laughed and forced him away, eventually scolding him again once he let go. "Heheh, sorry about that, but you know how I don't like to see you sulking like that," he stood up and offered his hand, "just make sure to save some of that confidence you had for our gym battle." Diamond giggled as she took his hand and they continued walking. "Hmm, it's pretty warm today, isn't it?"

Diamond glanced up at him, wondering why he'd bring up the weather so suddenly. She looked to the sky and shielded her eyes for a moment. "I guess…? I don't feel heat like you do though?"

Aura chuckled and pointed down the street to a round plaza lined with food vendors. "Well I was just thinking we could have a little treat before we get to Alice's place? You ever have ice cream?" After receiving a confused head shake from the fox, Aura grinned happily and led her into the plaza and located the nearest ice cream stand, buying them both a plain vanilla cone to enjoy as they continued down the streets.

A joyful smile spread across Aura's face as Diamond was quick to devour her frozen treat, not thinking about how fast it would melt from her body heat and how she barely even reacted to the cold as she ate. Thankfully, they were given some napkins to clean up afterwards as the fox's chin was coated in the white cream.

Eventually, after another ten minutes of walking, the two had finally located the listed address and approached the door. "You're sure this is the place?" Diamond questioned as she gazed at the rather tall yet slightly narrow building.

Aura glanced at the paper and confirmed they were at the correct place before knocking. They each furrowed their brows as a Pokemon inside let out a short bark letting them know they were coming. Diamond picked up the sound of someone quickly descending a staircase before they jogged toward the door. Finally they heard the door's lock click and watched it open, the two were greeted by a Lucario casually wearing a loose-fitting, mint-green aloha shirt. The Lucario cleared his throat and began to speak through telepathy. ("Can I help you?")

Aura cleared his throat as well. "Uhm, does anyone named Alice live here?"

The Lucario tilted his head whilst staring intently at Aura. ("Yes, but she is currently out at the moment…") He trailed off as his piercing gaze tightened on the trainer. "Your aura is overwhelming… Who are you?" He asked suddenly, dropping his telepathic link while just barely revealing his back fangs through a low growl.

Diamond's grip tightened on Aura's wrist as the trainer gulped nervously. "S-sorry. My name is Aura, and this is Diamond… Alice invited us over to talk about the guardians?" He explained awkwardly.

The Lucario immediately halted his intimidation act and showed an almost coy grin, slowly pulling his lips back to a large smile before chuckling lightly and moving his paw over his eyes. "Oh man, what a first impression that must have been." His body visibly relaxed as he politely took a step back and gestured for them to enter, all while he still snickered under his breath. Once Aura and Diamond had stepped inside, their "gracious host" shut the door behind them and sighed. "Sorry about my behaviour, Grand Guardian. I couldn't get a good read on your aura and was just being cautious," he extended his paw and smiled, "my name is Lee, Alice's partner. It really is an honour to meet you, sir."

Aura awkwardly chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck while taking Lee's paw. "It's nice to meet you too? I think I remember Alice mentioning you before?"

Lee crossed his arms and chortled. "She better have." Suddenly the Lucario's posture shifted and he coughed into his fist. "A-anyway, Alice is currently out picking up a few groceries and should return soon. Would you like something to drink? Maybe some coffee?"

Aura nervously chuckled again as he tugged at his collar. "Err… Th-thanks, and not to sound rude or anything, but maybe we could forget about the formalities? I get enough of that from my Riolu."

They both shared a short chuckle and Lee quickly brushed his forehead. "I'm glad you said that. I'm never one to act so formal, but Alice wanted me to make a good impression since you are the Grand Guardian. Anyway, you can take off your shoes and have a seat in the living room; I'll grab some refreshments and bring them out."

Thanking him for the hospitality, Aura slipped off his shoes and tucked them near the wall while instructing Diamond to wipe her feet thoroughly to be polite. The fox held back a giggle as the coarse floor mat tickled her paws but still made sure she wouldn't track any dirt through the house.

As the foyer of the home opened up to the hallway, Aura could see the back door past the narrow staircase and two wide arches on both walls. They walked through the first opening to their right and stepped into a well decorated lounge with a jukebox quietly playing music in the corner.

"Wow! This is beautiful!" Diamond gasped in awe as Lee paused underneath another archway connecting the lounge to the kitchen.

He crossed his arms and smirked. "Thank you. Alice and I have been going for a sort of… modern victorian style." He explained, pausing to think of the correct term.

Diamond softly ran her paw over one of the plush couch cushions. "It looks so nice in here!"

Lee chuckled and stepped into the kitchen. "Thanks. Would either of you want something to drink? I recently made some coffee, or could I interest you in a spot of tea?" He inquired in a fake british accent.

Aura smirked. "I guess if you're offering, some coffee for me would be fine," he looked at Diamond and patted her head, "and some tea might be a bit better for Diamond."

They received a nod from the Lucario. "Alice mentioned that Diamond had a sweet tooth, so we made sure to get some Pecha juice for when you came over if you'd prefer."

Diamond poked her necklace a bit nervously. "Thank you, but if Aura thinks I might like tea, then I wouldn't mind giving it a try."

Lee politely shook his head and waved, "It's fine, Lana and Alice both have a bit of a sweet tooth as well, but if you'd like some later then feel free to ask." Lee gestured to the sofa and offered them a seat before disappearing around the corner. The two sat down and Lee returned shortly after with a tray holding some cups with sugar and milk beside them and two pots filled with their beverages.

"Who's Lana?" Diamond asked, watching Lee pour their drinks.

"Lana is my sister. It's actually a bit funny, but Lana's trainer is actually Alice's brother. We were both raised by them since we were all pretty young, so one thing lead to another and we ended up as more than just their partners." He placed their drinks in front of them and offered them the sugar and milk. "But since Alice and her brother both had separate goals in mind me and my sister don't see each other too often. She's out earning gym badges while I'm here helping Alice at the hospital."

Aura nodded in understanding as he assisted Diamond with preparing her tea. "That explains why you weren't at the hospital last week. So where's her trainer anyway?"

Lee shrugged, about to answer when the front door opened and Alice's voice made him stop. "Lee, we're home! Sorry for the wait but the lines at the market were insane! Oh, is Aura here already?" She called, probably noticing his shoes by the door. Alice soon stepped into view, she was wearing a simple yellow sundress and had her green hair tied back in a ponytail, from her arms hung three large shopping bags. She smiled as she spotted their guests. "You are here! Oh, sorry if you were waiting long, I went to pick up something to make for lunch. I hope you don't mind imitation meat." She awkwardly chuckled, lifting the bags to her shoulders.

Before Aura could voice a response, a womanly Lucario slowly walked up behind her wearing a similar, light pink sundress with a ring in the middle for her chest spike to stick out comfortably. She had a paw resting on her rounded belly while her chest spike was actually barely visible through the special ring in her dress as the fabric was being pushed out by her more 'developed' breasts. A pair of blue bra-straps were also just faintly visible through the thick fur on her shoulders.

The female Lucario walked into the lounge and stood beside Lee, staring at Aura with a hint of shock and awe in her gaze. She blushed as she made an attempt to bow, but let out a sigh and just nodded.

"You must be Aura, our new Grand Guardian. It's an honour to meet you. I apologize for not bowing properly, I'm currently carrying an egg you see." She said, happily rubbing her belly.

Lee looked up at the other Lucario and laughed. "It's fine, Lana. Aura doesn't really like being showered with formalities."

Lana looked back at Aura and nervously bowed her head again. "S-sorry, Grand Guard-err-Mister Aura."

Once again Lee chortled and gently patted his sister's arm. "Just relax. He's not a stickler for this stuff." He shifted his gaze to Aura. "This is my baby sister, Lana." Lee grunted as Lana swiftly swatted his shoulder and scoffed.

"I told you to stop calling me your baby sister! Your egg only hatched an hour before mine did!"

Lee chuckled and apologized. "Anyway, as I was gonna say before they came home, Lana's trainer wanted us to look after her while he traveled through Kalos to enter this year's league."

Alice walked in from the kitchen and crossed her arms. "Johnathon's training usually involves some pretty dangerous stuff, so he didn't want to risk Lana or their egg being hurt even though pregnancy barely hinders a Pokemon until about a couple weeks before birth."

"John's aura can heal some very nasty injuries which is why we would always have such intense training, but he always made sure we weren't pushed too far and had plenty of rest between sessions." Lana added as Lee let her sit down in his chair. "But we both agreed that I should stay here for a while for the egg's safety."

"He must care for you a lot then." Aura noted. "I can say from experience that I would do anything to keep Diamond safe too." He affirmed, patting the Braixen's shoulder.

She flinched a bit and looked at Aura a bit confused, before flicking her ears up and nodding. "Y-yeah. Aura actually risked his life to save me. There was no way we would have both survived the fall if he hadn't used his powers, but he still came after me and held onto me the whole time…" She tightened her grip on her cup as her eyes glazed over with the memory of them falling from Lumiose Tower flooded her mind.

Aura wrapped his hands around her paws and made her look into his eyes. "Even if my powers didn't save us then, I was ready to spend our last moments together." Diamond smiled warmly at her mate who gently planted a kiss on the tip of her nose, making the others smile softly at their affection before Aura let go and sighed. "Sorry for that, we just seem to have these moments sometimes." He awkwardly apologized while rubbing the back of his next and blushing.

Alice shook her head. "It's totally understandable. You two have only been together for a short time and admitted your love while literally falling to your death. Anyway, I should get started on lunch, then we can get to the real reason you came over."

"That's right," Lana exclaimed, "Alice mentioned you only just learned you were a Guardian." Aura nodded. "Well there's thousands of years worth of history to learn in that case. So why don't we move into the kitchen and Alice can teach you a few things while she cooks?"

Before anyone could respond, Lana was on her feet and walking to the kitchen, urging the others to follow as Alice laughed from Lana's everlasting desire to teach others. So as they situated themselves around the kitchen table and Lee went to assist Alice with cooking, as she began telling Aura of their history and explaining more details about the Guardians themselves, Aura couldn't help but notice Diamond fixated on Lana with a rather wishful glint in her eye.


Daniel approached the large double doors of the Pokemon Lab, sighing deeply as he hesitantly reached for the door's handle. "What if the Professor can't tell us what's wrong with Missy?"

Feeling a small hand pat the back of his leg, Dan looked down at Nessa anxiously. "Don't worry, Daniel. Need I remind this morning you had said the Professor knows a lot about Pokemon, so at the very least he should be able to give us an idea about Missy's illness."

He sighed through his nose and bit his lip. "I know. But I'm just worried that if he doesn't have an answer then it's all over… I should have asked him about this sooner!" He growled as he clawed at his face.

A pair of vines lightly smacked the back of his head before yanking his hands down from his face. "Danny! I've known the Professor my entire life! He will have an answer, and if he doesn't, then he will find one!" Spyke shouted.

Finally gathering his senses, Dan tightened his fists grunted through his teeth. "Thanks guys, I needed that… well then, let's get this over with!" With more force than he intended, Dan shoved the doors open and marched into the massive foyer of the lab, seeing Professor Sycamore standing by the front desk, arms crossed and smirking directly at his guest.

"I wondered when you'd come inside." He said seriously. Sycamore walked forward and met Dan halfway along the dark red carpet from the entrance. "I saw you on the surveillance cameras outside, and heard about your predicament." They both stood in silence for a moment as Sycamore's stern expression softened into a kind smile, patting Dan's shoulder and turning away. "Well come on then, I'm going to need more details about this if we hope to find an answer."

Stunned for a moment, Nessa and Spyke had to give their trainer a little shove to get him moving, the trio followed the Professor down a hallway lined with windows looking into what appeared to be various testing and observation rooms filled with expensive medical research equipment. Eventually, they passed through a pair of open doors into a very fancy lounge area and were told to sit on one of the two red sofas while Sycamore occupied the other. He laughed from the noticeable awe spread across their faces.

"Impressive, isn't it? Here at the lab I made sure that not only are the Pokemon comfortable, but our staff as well. Our research can be very exhausting work so we held no expenses when it came to making sure everyone had a nice place to relax during their breaks." Sycamore tapped a button on a bright red rotary phone that was most likely just a custom designed modern office phone. He picked up the receiver and smiled. "Megan? Could you bring some iced tea to the lounge for me and a few guests? A young trainer by the name of Daniel and his two Pokemon, Kirlia and Chespin… That would be lovely, thank you." After the brief exchange, Sycamore hung up the phone and interlocked his fingers together. "Megan should be here very shortly, but please, enlighten me on your situation and why you would like my help."

Dan nervously looked at his two companions and took a breath to calm his nerves. "A few months ago, my Sylveon fell ill with a strange disease that seems to just keep sapping her energy as time goes on, she can still walk and speak but not for very long and is always exhausted, she's also sore most of the time and sometimes gets really dizzy and disoriented. Other than that, there doesn't appear to be any other symptoms. I was hoping you could help me figure out what is wrong with her before… before she..." A few lone tears fell down his cheeks as he concluded his explanation. Nessa gently rubbed her trainer's back while Spyke pat his leg reassuringly.

Sycamore looked at the young trainer with sympathy. "This truly does sound tragic. I can't think of any diseases that have every symptom you just listed, but we'll do what we can to help you and Missy. If what Missy has is a new illness, then it is imperative that we do everything in our power to learn about it and hopefully develop a cure or vaccine to prevent an outbreak. Though judging by the fact I haven't heard any reports about similar issues, it doesn't seem to spread easily if at all."

"Sorry for the wait, Augustine." A woman said as she rolled a cart into the room. Her black hair was done up in a bun with a hairnet keeping it together. She was most likely in her late twenties and wore a long, french maid dress. The woman paused, "Oh my, is this a bad time?"

Sycamore shook his head. "It's fine, Megan. Thank you for bringing the refreshments, though is the outfit entirely necessary?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood just a bit with a smirk.

Megan shrugged. "I think it adds to my character." She said, jokingly taking on a theatrical pose of sorts. Though soon shaking her head with a short chuckle and a sigh, Megan left them to their drinks and the additional sweets.

"Back to the matter at hand." Sycamore said as he poured them each a glass of iced tea before offering them some macarons and Pokepuffs to hopefully raise their spirits. "My schedule today is pretty open, so if you are fine with waiting a few minutes I can see about having my secretary move some things around to give us the rest of today to perform the research."

Dan wiped his eyes and nodded. "Thank you so much, Professor. I'll do whatever I can to repay you for this."

Dan's offer was met with a silencing hand as Sycamore shook his head. "You're repaying me plenty already. Like I said, while we analyze Missy and learn about her illness, we can use the information to hopefully create vaccines or even a cure for future cases. Now please enjoy the snacks while I speak to my secretary." Quickly finishing his glass of iced tea, Sycamore left the room for a few minutes and returned with a large grin. He apologized for the wait but they now had the rest of the day to proceed with the examination and learn what ailment the poor Sylveon was suffering from.

Leaving the lounge behind, Sycamore led them to a much larger examination room than any of the ones he'd seen earlier. "This is our primary medical research facility. Due to the costs of the equipment, we only have one room like this with some of the most reliable and state-of-the-art medical equipment on the planet." He lead Daniel to a dressing room and explained the need to wear safety gear and sterilize before going near any of the equipment, and once that was all dealt with, they headed inside a slightly smaller yet still massive room across the facility where Dan was instructed to let Missy out onto an examination table in the middle of the room.

Directly above the table hung a machine of intimidating size that suddenly began lowering wires and tubes shortly after Missy was placed below it. Dan was asked to step back for a moment as a man wearing heavy respiratory gear walked over with a gas tank and oxygen mask, locking the tank in place against the table and strapping the mask to her muzzle.

"We use a special mixture of Sleep Powder and Stun Spore to put Pokemon to sleep when we need to perform thorough research like this. Everything we put into the gas is made in our labs under extreme surveillance so we know everything that's inside." Sycamore explained.

Once Missy was fully unconscious, the man opened a second valve on the tank to release a steady source of oxygen while a woman rolled over an IV bag with a cart of medical tools. After the man handling the gas announced she was effectively unconscious and stable, the woman began to shave small parts of Missy's body to attach the IV and take a couple blood samples.

Finally, once the woman gave the all clear, Sycamore stepped up with Dan at his side and began attaching the multiple wires and tubes that hung down from the machine to the Sylveon. Some were attached via suction pads while others were inserted via needles. Lastly, and although it made Dan too uncomfortable to watch, one tube was very carefully inserted into her left ear canal while another was inserted into both her anus and vagina as one more extremely thin tube was slipped into her urethra.

Sycamore apologized to him, but explained how it was necessary to allow her to not only still function without difficulty, but to alo gather data from every possible part of her body.

Dan shook his head and took a deep breath, thankful that he had kept Spyke and Nessa in their Pokeballs for this. "I know… I'm studying to become a Pokemon Doctor so I knew this kind of stuff was necessary… But this is my first time actually seeing it… and with Missy no less."

Sycamore nodded but returned his focus to Missy. "Alright. Initiate the bioscanners! Thoroughly identify and log any and all bacteria in her system and prioritize any foreign or unrecognized organisms for possible connections to the illness!"

For countless hours, they remained in that room and ensured everything was under constant surveillance. Time felt irrelevant to the nervous trainer, anxiously watching his beloved friend's shallow breathing as she were unknowingly scanned from every possible angle both inside and out. A lump formed in his throat as someone mentioned her senses shutting down but was relieved as that was apparently an intentional effect and would only last for a few hours after the procedure.

As countless more hours had passed by unnoticed, the machine above them beeped rhythmically while the countless lab workers began to slow down until finally one long beep rang out through the room and the wires and tubes were being carefully removed from her body, returning to the machine above to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilized for later use.

While Missy's body was being disinfected once again and bandaged properly, one of the lab assistants came over and handed Sycamore a folder with only a fraction of the results as more time would be needed to perform a proper analysis on every bit of information gathered.

Upon opening the file and gazing over its contents, Sycamore furrowed his brow. "Well this is certainly strange but not entirely unbelievable." As Dan voiced his confusion, Sycamore held the paper out for him to see and began to explain. "Out of every Pokemon disease and sickness known to man, the only traits similar in any way are all from the Pokerus virus?"

"Then why does she keep getting weaker? Shouldn't Pokerus make them stronger?"

Sycamore looked unsure. "The Pokerus virus is very rare and can only spread for a short period after infection, it causes exceptional enhancements towards the infected Pokemon's cells on a molecular level while only having the potential side effect of shortening their life span by a small fraction. But the virus infecting Missy's body almost seems more like a parasite. It seems to cause a rather slow deterioration of her cells which Pokerus would normally enhance but while Pokerus only has a chance to shorten their lives by a very small amount, this one has just enough similarities to the white blood cells that it essentially confuses her immune system and its slowly being taught to allow harmful bacteria through while killing off valuable nutrients in small quantities."

Dan's heart began to race against his chest as his breathing became sporadic. Never before has he seen an illness that could cause this much damage to the extremely powerful and advanced genetics of Pokemon. Pokemon are quite literally almost indestructible, even the weakest of Pokemon's cells can regenerate at nearly five hundred times the rate of a human's; but then again, Pokerus is a virus only they can be infected by and it can physically alter their genetic makeup to get stronger, so it's not impossible that something could develop to do the exact opposite.

"Wait a second! Wouldn't the cure for Pokerus have an effect? If they share similar traits then maybe-" Dan was unfortunately cut off as Sycamore shook his head.

"Looks like they tried to administer the Pokerus cure the moment they learned of the similarities, but all it could do was slow down the process at the maximum dosage without being life threatening…"

"So there's no hope for her?!" Dan cried.

"I didn't say that," Sycamore pointed to the report covering their administration of the antidote, "this may be a whole new strain of Pokerus since the standard medication did slow it down a little, so it may be possible to alter the regular medicine to work for this strain." Sycamore closed the file and ushered Dan to return Missy to her ball and he thanked the Professor with teary eyes.

With hope for Missy's survival returning, Dan was escorted back out to remove the medical garbs and return to the main lobby, pausing as he spotted Aura standing by one of the large windows peering into the Pokemon habitat. "What are you doing here?" Dan asked as he approached.

Aura turned around and greeted his friend, gazing back through the window as he spoke. "When me and Diamond finally left Alice's place we heard you were still here, so we decided to come and wait for you. Maybe let you in on some of the stuff Alice told us while we walk back to the Center. Although, we were also hoping to hear some good about Missy."

Dan rubbed his eye. "Thanks. The Professor says that they might actually be able to find a cure, or at least a vaccine to prevent any future cases… Where is Diamond anyway?"

Aura gestured to the window. "See for yourself." Dan walked to the window and peered through it, he couldn't help but smile at what he saw. Diamond sat on the ground with two Delphox nearby, cradled in her arms was an adorable ball of yellow fur. "When Diamond saw that baby Fennekin she asked if she could go in there and play with it, the staff member allowed it and she's been in there for about twenty minutes." Aura tapped on the glass, catching the young vixen's attention. He motioned for her to come and received a smile. Diamond stood up and handed the baby fox to its parents, bowing in thanks and rushing back to her trainer.

When Diamond came through the door, she had a big grin on her face. "You have fun?" Aura questioned.

The fox happily nodded. "Yeah…" Diamond's smile shrunk, yet still showed happiness, "I wonder what it'd like, becoming a mother and having a kit of my… Would I even be a good mom?"

Aura kneeled down in front of his girlfriend and shrugged. "Who knows, maybe one day you and I will have a child?"

Diamond lowered her gaze. "Would that even be possible? We aren't even the same-mmph?!" Diamond's doubt was quickly silenced by Aura pressing his lips against hers affectionately.

As he pulled away, Diamond blankly touched her lips and looked into Aura's eyes. "You never know what could happen, maybe we are compatible or maybe we aren't, but I still love you all the same. We still have plenty of time to figure that kind of stuff out; and who knows, maybe in a few years they'll find a way to make it possible?" Aura stood up and took Diamond's paw. Let's get back to the Pokemon Center, we still have to go over some things before we challenge the gym tomorrow."

This seemed to catch Diamond's attention and shift her mood effectively. "Right. We still have your second badge to win!" Aura suddenly pressed a finger to her lips and shook his head.

"Our second badge." He corrected her with a smile.