It was another new day and another new fire in some other part of the city, the crew of Crimson Light heading out once again to conduct a rescue operation. The red ship that the rescue team was well-recognized for was streaking across the skyline, heading straight for the site that was currently ablaze with purple fire, structures on the verge of collapsing, people from all around watching from afar.

Crimson Light's ship skidded to a stop in the air when it finally arrived, facing the scene directly. A turret unfolded from the top of the craft.

"Firing instant nullifier," HUE announced from his controls, commanding the turret to shoot out a stream of antimatter at the flames, putting them all out while supporting some of the weakening structures with a blossom of crystals.

Two people were also in the process of being dropped off from the docking bay of the ship, fully decked out in gadget-laden mech suits.

"Tribore, what do we got?" Gary asked over his communicator.

"Let's see," answered Tribore as he landed on the pavement. "we got about 30 barrels of nullifier gel, a hundred thousand antimatter blasting capsules, a new geodesic lightbulb in the quarters hall…that thing scatters light on every wall…like a lawn sprinkler…on Shimmers Day…"

"I'm talking about what's happening outside!" Gary interrupted, his patience having just taken a jarring hit.

"There's a whole building up to the brim in Tenebrus flares – nothing new," Tribore replied with mild annoyance as though he was offended. "The way it's going, it might collapse in a short while."

Fox also shortly landed next to Tribore, flexing the arms on his mech suit in an impromptu warm-up test. "Fox is on the scene! All systems go!"

Seeing Fox already running at the building while going full-on mission mode got Tribore spurred to try and keep up too. "Tribore Menendez is on the scene too – here first, by the way! All systems go!" he parroted similarly.

When they approached the front steps to the building, Gary was also outside too, standing right between them as all three faced the cosmic inferno. Holding his pistol up at the ready, Gary prepped into a runner's stance. "Alright guys, we're going in!"

Inside the blazing building, the three were busy fighting off living flares of Tenebric energy while they scoured the floors for trapped civilians. One flare, taking the shape of a gremlin-like creature, opened its jaws and dove forward to strike at Gary, but the blond human timely shot at it in the head with his pistol, encasing it in spikes of crystals.

Gary looked at the downed apparition while blowing away the vapor from the barrel of his pistol. "Now you be a good flame and stay down while we put you out," he said in a low, faux-intimidating tone, reminiscent of someone playing pretend as an action-hero. He turned back to begin shooting at more living flares coming his way.

At the side, Tribore was busy firing his mech-suit blasters on all cylinders at other apparitions, a little bunch of civilians standing behind him. As every shot he fired encased the blazes in crystals, he took the time to talk to the people behind him despite not turning around to face them. "Everyone, the way out's on the other side! Stay on your toes!"

His reassurances were cut short when he noticed the people gasping and looking upward. Tribore looked up as well to see that the upper walkway above them was starting to crumble. "Fox!"

"Here I come!" Fox charged, letting out a climbing bellow. Leaping forward, he skidded right between Tribore and the civilians just as a giant piece of the walkway above broke off, catching it with his arms, shoulders, and back just as it fell.

Outside the building, up above at the top, another group of civilians were approached by a descending Hawk. Quinn was piloting inside, using her speaker to address the group below her. "Don't panic, everyone. Crimson Light is here." She directed the craft to descend onto the rooftop slowly, opening the back door to the holding bay. "Everyone get inside the shuttle in an orderly manner."

Meanwhile back on the bridge of the Crimson Light's ship, HUE was busy monitoring everyone's progress. He heard Quinn reporting to him through the comms. "I've got everyone off the rooftop. I'm heading back now."

"Understood," HUE replied, "exercise caution on your way down."

HUE continued to monitor the progress of the rest of the team, seeing them all in good standing. He did, however, turn around to notice Little Cato still sitting in one of the co-pilot chairs, his tail rapidly swinging left and right, a leg constantly thumping away at the floor, and his ears flattened against his head. The Ventrexian's posture indicated a state of stress, likely restraint and anticipation. HUE turned back to face the monitor, but was promptly surprised by Little Cato stomping right by his side and slamming his hand on the keyboard in an attempt to get in on communications too. The loudness from the slamming startled Mooncake who was close by.

"Do I get to help out yet!?" Little Cato impatiently said a little too loudly through the comms on HUE's monitor, with Mooncake nervously floating behind him.

Outside, Gary heard Little Cato's demanding question. He sighed, but tried to hold his own voice firmly as he felt he had to keep putting the foot down for the time being. "No, Little Cato. We've been over this. Right now, you gotta take it slow."

Joining the comms was Quinn who was still piloting her Hawk. "Just keep watching us and study how we operate. Just think of it as part of your training."

Little Cato, for sure, still felt that he wasn't up for any of that nonaction. "But –" he tried to protest, right before he saw the icons displaying his teammates' ID photos and audio wave patterns blinked off the screen. He let out a loud groan, slamming a fist on the rim of HUE's keyboard, startling Mooncake again. "Hey! I'm not done yet!"

"Really, can't you do anything else with that energy?" AVA cut in over the intercom.

HUE turned to Little Cato who was at the corner putting his hands through his mohawk. "Little Cato, I know you are just eager, but your behavior is not doing you any good."

Several days earlier…

"Well, everything's settled. Little Cato's now officially a member of Crimson Light."

Gary was accompanied by Tribore and Quinn as they stood in the spacious and decorated office occupied by Governor Jack, facing said governor sitting at his desk. The governor had called this private little meeting to discuss Little Cato's application to Crimson Light being finalized. Being a sort of special favor, Jack pulled some strings to ensure that Little Cato was accepted into the system that was the Infinity Guard, and he knew just as well that Gary wanted that for him as much as Little Cato wanted it for himself.

"Thanks so much, Ja – I mean, Governor," Gary said in response, that familiar twinge of excitement in his voice. "Little Cato's a smart guy. I know he'll impress you big time."

"No need to thank me," Governor Jack quipped humorously. "Just make sure he does well enough to impress you first."

Tribore was preoccupied with looking at some of the decorations in Governor Jack's office while Quinn was examining the holographic tablet that displayed Little Cato's information. "Well, from what we've seen from his assessments, he's got a high aptitude, but he hasn't done enough training." She looked over to Gary. "I really don't know about this."

Governor Jack opted to respond to Quinn for Gary. "Well it's no secret that Crimson Light's always been in need of more rescuers, meaning you're always open for new recruits. What's one more? Am I right?" He pressed a button that projected holographic images around the office, displaying still pictures of several armored Tenebri surrounded by destruction and chaos.

"Recently, the terrorist group Mad Tenebri has upped their attacks against the public. As a rescue team under the Infinity Guard, it's your responsibility to stop them. You'll need all the help you can get to observe their activities so you can act accordingly…" He focused his attention directly on Quinn and Gary, even getting Tribore to stop eyeing the deco and look at him too. "…and capture them at all costs."

Gary, Quinn, and Tribore descended down the front steps of the tower as they got ready to leave and go back to Crimson Light HQ.

"So Little Cato's going to be doing the same daredevil stunt work as us," Quinn mused out loud to Gary, "I hope you're happy."

"Of course I'm happy," Gary replied, not perceptive of the slight reservation in Quinn's voice. "I'm like, over-the-moons-of-the-galaxy happy. You didn't think I would be?"

"Gary, you're supposed to be Little Cato's guardian," Quinn refuted, "You should know better than to put him in a spot where he could get hurt or worse."

"Well, Gary's the leader here, Quinn," Tribore interjected, "and if he's got a vision for the kid, the kid's got a vision that can't be denied too."

"Well thanks, Tribore. So much for being my backup," Quinn snapped, hurrying down the steps. "One day, that vision's gonna turn into a nightmare when the leader's got a big dream and a bad team."

Gary flinched, the comment feeling like it may have actually stung a bit. He hurried down the steps after Quinn. "Wha –? Hey Quinn, come on," he tried to reason, reaching out his hand to her.

Things went off almost without a hitch during the next day. In the hangar bay of Crimson Light, Little Cato was soaking in the welcome he was receiving…to several different degrees. Gary gave him a big hug and an enthusiastic welcome speech along with a handshake. Quinn gave a more subdued but tangibly warm acknowledgement of his membership. HUE gave a simple congratulations. Mooncake gave him a hug on the face. KVN overdid his welcome. Tribore simply gave him a simple gesture of acknowledgement without really saying anything. Fox gave him the single word 'welcome' and went on his way.

Easing Little Cato into Crimson Light's routine was fairly easy. The only problem was how to manage and redirect the young Ventrexian's energy. He was too often too eager to get in on the action as soon as he got onto the field, with Quinn and HUE having to remind him that he was still just a rookie, that he needs time to learn how to work around the field, especially when it involved the Tenebri.

Surprisingly enough for everyone, even for Quinn and Little Cato himself, Gary agreed with Quinn's thinking. He only succeeded in getting Little Cato to agree for so long thanks to him being, for all intents and purposes, his dad. Though that didn't stop Little Cato from feeling the urge to butt heads with him the more days that went by.

Present day…

Little Cato was back on the co-pilot's seat, fidgeting more intensely than ever. The pent-up energy had already crept up to his facial expressions and threatened to explode from him like it were a ticking time bomb of its own.

"I can solve outlasting problems out in the field, so how can I not solve this?" HUE remarked as he was unable to ignore the scene Little Cato was making behind him.

"Chookity chookity," Mooncake sounded in agreement.

"Maybe it's time you got some hands-on training of your own," AVA suggested.

Back in the building, Gary, Tribore, and Fox were still in the middle of escorting the civilians to the exit when they were interrupted by a blast of dark energy emanating from the next floor above. All three turned to look up to see a pair of menacing armored Tenebri standing above, looking down at them with their visors that resembled a malevolent grin.

"Oh geez! You're the Mad Tenebri, aren't you?" Gary exclaimed.

"That's right!" the massive one decorated in turquoise lines answered. "Our shadows are the blackest in the galaxy!"

"You'll never stop us from conquering the light!" the slender one with teal lines joined in. "But you can try anyway, little rescuers!"

The two of them then started siphoning the surrounding flares of burning darkness into themselves, generating a growing bubble of nebulous void that released a wave of black auras that somehow proved blinding to the three men of Crimson Light down below, forcing them to shield their eyes. By the time they looked back up, the two Tenebri were gone.

"They're hiding themselves in the flares!" Gary informed everyone over the comms, including HUE, Mooncake, and Little Cato still on the ship's bridge. "Just keep trying to put them out!"

HUE examined some more analyzed scans on his monitor. "Oh dear, that's not good…"

Hearing that made Little Cato rush back to HUE's side, making sure to watch for Mooncake this time. "What do you mean? What is it?" he asked the robot as he leaned in.

"The data I extracted from the building's warehouse list specify large amounts of combustible substances stored in the central levels. Also…"

The monitor switched displays to show live surveillance footage of a room containing said combustible substances…with a lone Ventrexian banging at a sealed exit door.

"Someone's still trapped?" Little Cato gasped. "Dang it!" Without hesitation, he turned to the door at the back of the bridge, opening it to exit.

"Little Cato," HUE took notice, "What are you doing?"

"Gary and the others are tied up at the moment, so they can't go anywhere." Little Cato had just exited the bridge and was proceeding down the hall.

HUE had stepped outside the bridge's door to observe Little Cato heading to the airlock. "So you are going to conduct a rescue operation? Even if you go, how can you do it successfully without any rescue gear to equip yourself with?"

"You'll see." Little Cato replied.

Back on the scene, Gary had just finished escorting all the available civilians outside the building while Tribore and Fox continued to suppress the surrounding flares with crystals. He ended up patching in with HUE when he was called by the robot on his communicator. His eyes widened when he heard the report.

"What!? But how's he supposed to do that?"

At another part of the building, Little Cato braced himself, holding a grappling device in one hand at the ready and an anti-matter pistol in his other hand along with a canister strapped on his back. His entire body was drenched in a viscous purple liquid.

"This is Little Cato, dispatching under Crimson Light," he whispered a pep talk to himself, "Time to snuff out the darkness! I'm gonna save this guy so good, I'm gonna save him so hard!" He raised the hand holding his grappler and pulled the trigger, shooting a line upward and through a window. He waited for a moment as the line reeled itself in, then pulling him off the ground and up to the broken window.

Little Cato braced himself as the pulling line than propelled him through the window with a shattering smash, sliding across the floor underneath several writhing apparitions made from Tenebric flares. He shielded his eyes with his arms when he ended up sliding right through a passing flare. Little Cato skidded to a stop, the purple liquid covering his body evaporating away with a steaming hiss. He jumped onto his feet to see that the void-like flares were now facing him, poised to attack him like easy prey.

"Go on! Try and get me!" Little Cato taunted the apparitions, firing his pistol at each of them to incapacitate them with crystals. "No matter how bad you might be, you can't touch this cat!" Once he took care of them and got them all out of the way, he raced down the next hallway, deeper into the building.

Meanwhile, Quinn had just dropped off another batch of civilians on the ground outside the burning building. She closed the rear bay door of the Hawk as she ascended with it, her work not yet done. She heard Gary's voice patch in to her comms. "Hey Quinn, Little Cato's going through the central level right now. Watch out for him, will'ya?"

"Huh!?" Quinn gasped. "Little Cato's in there? I thought he was supposed to be watching from the ship!"

"He was," Gary responded, "but then he had a real smart idea. Just ask HUE."

Little Cato smashed right through the door to the storage chamber, clearing a way out for himself and the Ventrexian trapped in the room. He rushed over to the startled Ventrexian who stood just a bit from him. "Are you okay?"

The Ventrexian was a male with dark reddish-brown fur and a patch of combed yellow hair on top of his head. He wore a brown work shirt with a light-green right shoulder pad, blackish-brown pants, yellow gloves, and a pair of yellow-tinted safety glasses. He looked rather jumpy, judging from his reaction when Little Cato barged in. When Little Cato asked him if he was okay, he gave a nod.

"Okay then! Time to get you out of here!"

Little Cato took the canister that was previously strapped to his back, unsealed it, and flipped it upside down over his head, pouring more of the viscous purple liquid from before onto himself until his whole body was once again covered in it. He almost considered leading the Ventrexian civilian out with himself from behind, but he had to think again and fast when he noticed the flames starting to coalesce over the containers of explosive substances sitting on the shelves.

"Hang on tight!" he shouted to the other Ventrexian as he scooped him up into his arms and dashed out the door. Skidding into the hallway back the way he came, Little Cato didn't stop but instead sprinted as an explosion erupted from the warehouse storage room, blowing through the open door and flooding down the hall, appearing to chase after both Ventrexians. Little Cato pushed his legs to the limit as the fire behind him seemed to catch up. Then…

Quinn was hovering in her Hawk in front of the part of the building where the central floor was. She had hoped that this plan Little Cato came up with worked. It had to for his sake. She was almost thrown off course when an explosion erupted out of all sides of the building's central floor, shattering all its windows in the process. Quinn had to close her eyes to avoid getting blinded by the explosive fire's light. Yet that didn't keep her from catching a last-minute glimpse of a line shooting right for one of the Hawk's stability fins, seeing that it was a grappling hook. From the other end of the line swung out Little Cato holding on to said line with one arm while carrying the final Ventrexian civilian in the other.

"Gary!" Little Cato proclaimed over the comm, "Rescue successful!"

Gary listened as Little Cato told him this with a few victorious laughs, followed shortly by hearing his little yelps of pain and remarks about the fire's heat. He smiled with pride. "Great work, Spider Cat. Beautiful job. You're far from the kitten you used to be."

HUE spoke to Quinn over the comms as he relayed the details to her. "I already explained it to Gary: When Little Cato knew he did not have rescue gear, he improvised with containers of nullifier gel from the ship's supply, using said gel to act as a protective coating for his own body while he went among the flames. With that, the basic grappling tool and anti-matter weapon, and using my calculations, the chances of survival based on his plan were the highest. Hence why it worked."

Even Quinn found herself smiling as she was carefully landing the Hawk, Little Cato still hanging from the wing on his grappling line while still holding on to the Ventrexian civilian.

Right after they landed, Little Cato had set the Ventrexian down on the grass on his back. His eyes were closed, indicating that he had passed out shortly after Little Cato escaped the building with him.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Little Cato called to him as he slowly opened his eyes. "You're safe now! Are you all right? Hey!" Quinn stood behind Little Cato, looking at the other Ventrexian in order to assess any possible required treatment.

The Ventrexian opened his eyes a little further, tiredly taking in his new surroundings, trying to figure out where he was, where his rescuer had taken him…then his eyes snapped open, a feeling of shock jolting in his chest. Deep within him, a shadow arose from the depths of his being, crawling its way into his consciousness. He convulsed, his eyes widened and mouth gaped open in stunned shock, his voice suddenly caught in his throat as he struggled to even make a sound.

"Huh?" Little Cato looked confused by what he was witnessing at this very moment. He leaned in closer to examine what was happening to the Ventrexian, noticing too late that wisps of nebulous void began to erupt from the civilian's body. "W-what?" Little Cato gasped, "what's happ –!?" He didn't get to finish that sentence as Quinn automatically grabbed him by the back of his collar and yanked him backwards away from the other Ventrexian, just in time for said Ventrexian to explode with dark energy. Little Cato landed on his back with dark flames licking at his body, prompting Quinn to spray him with nullifier gel to put them out.

"Tenebrus!" Quinn exclaimed loudly, turning her anti-matter pistol at the enflamed Ventrexian civilian and firing shots at him, knocking him back down to the ground with patches of crystal on parts of his body where he had been shot.

Little Cato scrambled back on his feet, clutching his body after the dark flames had been put out. "That guy…" he looked to Quinn, "…was he a Tenebrus the whole time?"

"I don't think so," Quinn answered Little Cato, keeping her pistol pointed and ready without taking her eyes off the Ventrexian-Tenebrus, "more like he just turned into one right now." The two watched him get up on his knees and elbows, the crystals on his body immediately cracking apart as his emerging powers repelled them. "Becoming a Tenebrus is a sudden mutation," Quinn further explained, "gaining the power to use dark energy mostly happens at random."

The Ventrexian, reeling from the Tenebrus powers he newly felt coursing through his body, trembled as he stared at the grass below him. "Wh – is this? N-no, no way, it can't be!" his voice quivered. "Wha – what's happening…to me!?" The dark flares erupted from him again, shooting from his body into the air like a rapidly sprouting plant in the shape of a distorted feline creature.

"Quinn, Little Cato, get back!" HUE called to both his teammates as he pressed a button to activate the ship's turret. The turret fired at the apparition, exploding it in a cloud of antimatter which then encased it in crystal.

That strike, however, didn't last as a stream of dark energy suddenly shot out from the burning building nearby and landed directly on the crystallized spot, shattering it. Little Cato and Quinn swung around to look up at the source, seeing a massive and bulky figure clad in black armor with turquoise lines riding out on an ATV and onto a bridge-like ramp of dark energy, followed closely behind by another more slender black-armored figure with teal lines riding a Motocross bike. By the time they both touched down on ground level, they were already circling around Quinn and Little Cato, surrounding them with the trails of dark-colored flames left behind by their vehicles.

As the two Mad Tenebri were riding, the teal one zipped by the Ventrexian-Tenebrus and snatched him up, hoisting him onto their bike so that he sat behind the rider. Both the teal and turquoise Tenebri then stopped, skidding next to each other while directly facing Little Cato and Quinn in front of them.

"You're not laying a hand on any of our kind!" the turquoise Tenebrus yelled threateningly with both clawed arms raised in a battle stance.

"You better remember that for next time!" the teal Tenebrus similarly warned, the Ventrexian-Tenebrus still nestled on their bike behind them.

They both then sped away, leaving behind a nebulous cloud that blew in Quinn's and Little Cato's direction, pushing them back a little bit. When the two lowered their arms that shielded their eyes once the coast was clear, they glimpsed the Tenebri riding away down the next street into the distance, presumably out of the city, leaving behind only two trails of dark-colored fire in their wake.

"Who the heck are they?" Little Cato asked dumbfoundedly, not a hint of fervor left in his voice.

"That's the Mad Tenebri," replied Quinn.

"Mad…Tenebri?"

"Yeah. They're a terrorist group specialized in arson attacks. Burning up the city for fun's their M.O."

Little Cato silently stared into the distance where the fire trails continued to lead.

"Little Cato…Little Cato…hey Spider Cat, wake up!"

Little Cato's eyes slowly opened, his mind gradually re-registering the world around him as he returned to consciousness. He saw that he was lying on a bed, his bed specifically, in a bedroom that he remembered was his. He was back at home, in the apartment that belonged to Gary, the man he lived with for 13 years.

Little Cato yawned as he sat upright, rubbing an eye while looking out the shuttered window. The sunshine outside was already so bright.

"Hey, Spider Cat, you up yet?" Gary's voice called from outside the bedroom door.

"Uh, yeah. Did I oversleep?"

"Nah, not really. Things were gonna be slow today, so I let you sleep in for a bit longer. Breakfast is on the table already, so come on over when you're ready."

"Okay, thanks." Little Cato looked back out the window again. He sighed. It was just another new day, and yet he felt like it just hasn't been the same.