"Was the smoke exit kinda overkill?" Aurian asked, wincing as she sat down back at the campsite. The two changed back into their standard clothes, and waited patiently for Brock and Max to return.

Ash laughed. "Yeah, but the looks on their faces totally made up for it."

"Agreed. You all right?" Aurian continued.

"Yeah, I'm fine- nothing but a few bruises here and there. But you're hurt," Ash said, crossing his arms. "What happened?"

Aurian shrugged, then winced. "Took a hard kick to the ribs. Think it's either a bad bruise or a small fracture."

"Want me to heal it for you?"

She narrowed her eyes, moving her hand over her ribs. "You still have that much aura left over? Damn, your hendō's at least twice as strong as mine was. Go for it."

Ash gently prodded at her side until he found the spot she was talking about. Aurian sucked in a breath through her teeth as he found the right area. Ash activated his aura-sight and took a deeper look at the wound.

"Two fractures. Here we go."

Aurian tensed as her patonai's aura filled the hairline fractures and solidified. She could feel her bones re-knit together within the span of a few minutes.

Ash pulled away, a sheen of sweat covering his forehead. "You're good to go. That's nothing compared to the leg break I had during our Armada exams."

Aurian was careful not to laugh too hard. "That," she shuddered, "was nasty, and you know I'm not normally squeamish about those kinds of things. I'm still amazed that you splinted it with aura and kept fighting."

"Wasn't as bad as Lily of the Valley," Ash replied, lifting the edge of his shirt. Four jagged scars- one farther away from the rest- slashed across his chest in an elongated claw mark, leaving a permanent reminder of everything he had suffered through.

Aurian sighed. "At least we had each other. The first month we traveled together was really hard."

"Yeah. I probably wouldn't have survived that first night without your help."

The girl winked. "You repaid your debt during our first escapade in Sinnoh. They came real close to killing me out there." Aurian paused. "I still have nightmares about it sometimes. Nothing like having your aura sucked out by a strand of Red Chain... I can still feel it sometimes."

"Like a phantom pain?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Takes everything I have not to start screaming bloody murder. If you hadn't found me when you did…"

"I've never asked, but how close were you?" Ash's eyes turned grave.

Aurian's eyes started watering. "I would've been a goner in forty-five seconds, Red! If that's not a near-death experience then I don't know what is!"

Ash put an arm over Aurian's shoulders. "That's why I'm here- we're patonai. We've got each other's backs through eternity and whatever comes after."

Aurian grinned. "And we've got the wicked mark that came with it. Who knew that Aura Guardians were tattoo people?"

"Riley said something about that," Ash pondered, pulling down his shirt to peek at the blue-toned mark that covered his heart. "He said it's more of a resurgence of aura within the body centered over the heart. Not even the most experienced wielders knew what it was. It just... happened."

"If we ever run into opponents of the Guardians and they see that... it won't be pretty. We've got the Crest emblazoned on our fronts, and we'll be dead if the wrong person finds out," Aurian said. "That's how the ancient Guardians were killed off, right? All the Alliance had to do was slice down the middle of their shirts to confirm their captures, and bam! Instant execution order. I've always wondered what happened to start that war..."

"We can't know, it's in the past. We'd need a Celebi, and that's like asking for ten miracles," Ash replied. "Maybe Riley's research will figure something out."

"But you've met a Celebi, right? Can't you call on the bond you've made with it and it just... poof?" Aurian asked, stretching out on her back and tucking her arms behind her head. "Time travel on demand?"

"Can't you just disband all of Team Rocket's Pokémon at once with your magic powers?" Ash said.

"Touché. It'd be a lot less trouble on our parts," she replied. "One wish and no more war or strife."

"And Celebi wouldn't appreciate being treated like a thing instead of a person," Ash said. "Last time that happened..."

"Near apocalypse? Not the first time I've seen that happen," she answered with a lazy wink.

Ash gave off an exasperated sigh. "Does the whole 'how-many-near-apocalypses-you've-been-in' contest really have to keep going? Hasn't three years been long enough?"

"It'll only keep going until I win," Aurian snarked.

"I had a huge lead on you before we joined G-Men, and you know it. What was the score... sixteen to six?"

"I've gained on you since initiation. You're the 'Chosen One', of course you have an advantage. It's a shame that brains didn't come with the package."

"Hey! I'm plenty smart!" Ash countered with a pout.

"You still don't know basic multiplication," Aurian taunted.

Ash's pout grew larger. "Whatever. I'm going to bed. It's dark, and we need sleep after what just happened."

"Changing the subject? Rather unlike you, Red."

Ash rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. You need sleep. Those ribs won't heal without rest."

"Fine. Expect a multiplication tables test within the next few days."

"Yes, Sensei Katrian," Ash sighed. "Anything else you need me to study for?"

Aurian shrugged. "No more homework, class is dismissed."

"Awesome. I'm beat. See you in the morning?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Don't let the Caterpie bite."

Ash opened an eye lazily as Pikachu curled up at his side. "Ri?"

"Yeah?"

"They're on to us."

"W-what? Are you certain?"

"Did you see how Max and company reacted when we walked into the Center? They found some sort of data on us."

Aurian uncurled her hair from its long braid. "And we've got to deal with Rocket and Plasma at the same time, along with round two tomorrow. Lance hasn't sent any more information on Rocket's little project- should we be worried?"

"No news is good news," Ash yawned, "I suppose. Should we drop a few more hints? It'd be nice if we didn't have to worry about concealing who we were."

Aurian stretched out on top of her bag. "Tiny ones, yes. If they find us out too quickly, we'll have to withdraw. I'm not losing this competition for something other than a battle gone dreadfully wrong, and I know you feel the same, Red. You're even more competitive than I am, when it comes down to it. Wait... with the number of people involved in this, it boils down from three hundred sixty to ten with four or five rounds. You can't get an even number of competitors from ten. What happens then?"

Ash's eyes widened. "Damn... the only way to do that would be a Free-for-all."

"Remind me?"

"They pit all ten of us in one giant arena against each other. It's essentially a ten-way one-on-one battle with alliances. Guess they'll take either the top four or the top two, depending on how long the League wants to drag this out. Good thing we have experience in melees," Ash answered, wide awake. "Never thought I'd live to see the League sponsor another one of these."

Aurian paused. "Free-for-alls... those were the ones where some of the competitors were seriously injured, right? Aren't they supposed to be illegal?"

"Yeah, but... doesn't it sound just like the League to pull this back out as a surprise? They could bribe some of the leading competitors to lose quickly or take out another trainer. This is almost perfect for us, since we could spy to find the Team infiltrators and take them out then," Ash said.

"You do realize they could be doing the same for us? I'm pretty sure that Rocket and Plasma know that there's opposition here, and they'll do anything to recruit us or end us."

Ash sighed. "Remember what happened the last time we opposed Giovanni?"

"We barely escaped the Rocket base alive?" Aurian said.

"Exactly. We did gain some insight on their origins. Something about a Rebel League and an alliance..." Ash said.

Aurian blinked. "Wait. Rebel League, Andan Alliance. Didn't Riley's notes say something about some group called Andan almost destroying all of the Guardians because of the patonai's Crests marked on their chests?"

"How the hell did we not notice that?" Ash asked. "That was too obvious. Sounds like a Rocket move."

Aurian shrugged. "Not sure..." her extended reply was cut off by her Pokégear ringing.

"It's Michael."

Ash plugged in his earbuds, passed one to Aurian, and poked the screen. Michael's face came up, along with part of Noah's chair.

"Hey guys. Don't worry about Noah, he's in on almost everything. Apparently his dad is a high-rank member of Silph and knows all about the G-Men and our missions. You know the armor on the combat uniforms that we use?"

The trainee grinned. "That's Dad's invention. He used to tell me bedtime stories about your adventures. Hey Red- did you guys really take down the remains of Plasma with nothing but half-healed teams and a makeshift pipe bomb?"

"That's a story for another time, Noah. Michael, what's the news?" Ash said.

Michael sweatdropped. "Well, it's a bit of good news and bad news…"

"Good news first," Ash said.

"We have a definite location for Sector A9."

"And?" Aurian asked.

"New Island. Fitting, right?"

"Great. And the bad news?" Ash started tapping his foot.

"They've made a serious mistake in the binary. There's a major section of code missing."

"What's the problem?" Aurian asked. "How bad can one omission be?"

"That's the thing... the programmer found that any concept of ethos has been completely ignored in MissingNO's programming. The thing is a time-bomb for mass genocides of the human race. It can't tell the difference between a human or Pokémon, a friend or an enemy," Michael sighed. "Rocket has an operative hidden within the tourney that you two didn't catch. He's looking for just the right time to release MissingNO for optimum damage."

Michael clamped his hands over Noah's ears as Ash muttered a string of words not meant for the presence of polite company. "What can we do?"

"Still waiting on intel back from Lance," Michael answered. "He'll probably send an emergency action squad back into Rocket HQ in order to tweak the programming enough to prevent MissingNO from unleashing a mass genocide. He's calling it Operation Surskit. The programmers at HQ are already working on a bug like Stuxnet- remember the glitch in Galactic's system they implanted three years ago?- that can infiltrate their systems undetected. All we need is..."

"Someone to take it in," Aurian breathed. "Lance is considering us, isn't he?"

Michael nodded. "He didn't say it directly, but yes. Dragonite Squad is great for assassin-esque jobs, but you two beat them out in your last covert ops test. Grab some disguises, download the bug off of a series of USB sticks onto a control panel, and get out. Couldn't take more than fifteen minutes, tops."

Ash turned towards Aurian. "We outranked Dragonite Squad in stealth? Big win for the Armada."

"Yeah, they're the commando-style ones that love this kind of thing. We're just the leftovers they call when things get irrationally messy," Aurian sighed. "Not that I'm complaining about the Armada's position, I really do love what we do."

Michael laughed. "Good save there, Blue. I bet Dragonite won't be pleased with that. Lance just released the division rankings this morning. Anyways, I think he's only gonna use you two for Operation Surskit if Dragonite Squad falls out over that vacant captain position, which probably won't happen. Expect a call or an email from him in the next day or two with directions and more information. Any luck on finding that Rocket hidden operative?" Michael asked.

Aurian shook her head. "No, but there's no way they didn't make it past prelims. It'll be easier to find him now that there's not three hundred sixty of us running around the island. If we don't find him by the free-for-all, then we'll be in trouble."

"There's a free-for-all this year?" Noah piped in.

Ash nodded. "That's what we think will happen. If there is one, then the Rocket operative will stick out almost as much as we will- he'll be the only one with melee experience."

"Brilliant," Michael said. "You do realize that League officials may be doing this to draw you two out of hiding?"

Aurian gave a half-shrug, careful not to re-injure her ribs. "We'll take that chance."

"Your skins out there, not mine. We'll call again when we know more. 'Night!"

She ended the call and tucked the machine back into her bag. "The stakes just got a lot higher. You still up for this?"

"We're the only ones who stand a chance at stopping that Rocket operative from finishing his mission... but who is he?" Ash asked, lying back down.

"I'm not sure. I'll keep a read on suspicious-looking auras. It'll be like playing that insane version of Where's Wooper that we had to pass in order to rank in to the Armada," Aurian replied.

Ash paused, and the rims of his irises glowed blue. "Max and Brock are coming back."

"Gotcha," Aurian nodded and watched the aura fade from Ash's eyes. "Who do you think we'll battle tomorrow?"

"Not sure," Ash said as Brock and Max returned to the campsite. "Hey, guys! Didja have a nice walk?"

Max nodded. "And you'll never believe what we saw! There were these two people in grey ninja costumes that stopped a Plasma invasion like hi-ya!- and hoo-ya!"

Ash laughed at how his trainee attempted to imitate their kicks and punches. "Really?"

"Yeah," Brock said. "Not gonna lie, it was insane to watch. Those two were intimidating. They're the good guys, I know, but they can really do a number on you if you're not careful."

Aurian smiled. "Sounds like they were cool. Red and I were wondering how they pick who we're gonna battle tomorrow."

"It's a random scramble," Brock said. "There's a rule that says that victors who won right after each other won't battle against each other, so you don't have to worry about facing off."

Ash sighed. "Whew. That wouldn't've been good. I'm honestly terrified of Blue during a full battle. The girl can pull tricks like nothing you've ever seen before."

Aurian smirked. "You're completely overstating my abilities, but thanks. This kid," she said, catching Ash in a half-nelson and ruffling his hair, "is crazy once he lets loose."

"Hey!" Ash said, frantically smoothing his hair back down into its standard ponyta-tail. "Hopefully I won't have to let completely loose. Strange things happen when I have to push myself that far."

Max laughed. "I guess. What time do you two battle?"

Aurian shrugged. "Not sure. We get an alarm first thing in the morning with our times. They're being really secretive about all this. Guess the League wants to see how we react to surprises."

"That's the thing about these kinds of competitions," Ash yawned. "Anything can happen. They're testing adaptability."

Max stretched. "It's getting late- see you all in the morning?"

Brock nodded. "See you all tomorrow, I'm heading back to the Center."

"Yeah. Night, all!" Aurian said as she rolled over. Ash followed suit, and the sounds of snoring soon filled the campsite.

The gang groaned while the sun shined in their faces and Aurian's Pokégear blared.

"It's too early," Max muttered.

Aurian sighed. "Up and at'em. I have a battle in thirty-five minutes, according to this damn thing."

Ash's Pokégear started ringing. "Mine's five minutes before yours."

"Early battles aren't fun," Max said.

Ash poked his trainee. "We have the entire day afterwards to train! How is that not fun?"

Max sighed. "I want things to pick up- you know, like multiple battles in a day."

"That'll come soon enough," Aurian muttered. "I'm enjoying this. Tourneys aren't normally this relaxing."

"Wait, Blue... we go after each other again?" Ash said. "That's good for Round Three, I suppose, but I'm up first this time."

"Bet Misty'll want to know this. Wanna meet up with everyone?" Max asked, starting to walk towards the Center.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, that sounds nice."

"Could we avoid the route with the flowers this time around?" Aurian asked. "I love how festive they look but those lilies are really making me sneeze."

Ash nodded. "Yeah. I know a shortcut- we'll get to the main path in half the time if we take it."

"I'm all in," Max said. "The faster we get there the faster you get to kick butt!"

Ash laughed and ruffled his trainee's hair. "Couldn't've said it better myself."

The path that Ash chose was definitely less traveled- the road itself was cracked in places, the bushes were slightly overgrown, the trees reached high above the rest of their counterparts. Strange shadows covered all who dared to take the shortcut.

"You sure you know where you're going, Red?" Max asked. "This is kind of creepy, to be honest with you."

Ash nodded. "Yep. Took this shortcut when I was almost late to a meeting when I competed in the Sinnoh League."

Aurian grimaced at his odd choice of words… "Wait, the only meeting he had at his Sinnoh League happened when Tobias tried to kill… oh."

This is where it happened. The catalyst of the events that brought them together occurred somewhere on this back road.

"Wow, he's brave for coming back here. I haven't gone home in three years and here he is walking over a bridge in his past, for lack of a better way to say it. I'm proud of him."

Max noticed that his mentor took an unusually long look at a specific shadow-shrouded spot off the road before moving on to the main path, where Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and started dashing towards a familiar red-headed figure.

The group noticed Misty and company once they were halfway to the Center.

"Oh, we were just going to find you!" Misty exclaimed when Pikachu leapt onto her shoulder. She happily passed him back to Red with a smile. "When do you guys battle?"

Aurian looked at her watch. "In fifteen minutes."

"Ten for me," Ash offered. "We've really got to get going."

Brock nodded. "We'll save seats for you four after you finish. Misty doesn't go until after lunch."

"See you later?" Ash asked.

"Yeah," Misty said, the faintest of blush appearing on her cheeks.

Aurian raised an eyebrow at Ash as the two of them walked to the entrance tunnels they used the day before, their trainees trailing behind while arguing over which Hoenn starter was better.

"I know what you're thinking, Blue."

"And?" she said.

"She's only falling for Red because she thinks I look like... you-know-who."

Aurian nodded. "It's a reasonable assumption, but don't forget what Steven always says about assumptions."

"I would say it here but we've got young ears around."

Aurian nodded as they entered the waiting area. "Gotcha. Go get 'em, champ. Who do you have on you?"

"Pikachu, Gallade, Charizard, Feraligatr, Braviary, and... Gengar."

Aurian frowned. "Go for mixed-offense for special and physical. Use Braviary, Gengar, and Pikachu. There's no telling what's out there."

"Roger," Ash winked. "See you in a bit?"

"Yeah. Knock 'em dead."

The crimson-eyed trainer entered the tunnel and walked out to face his opponent, Max close on his heels.

"Blue?" Maddy asked once the two left the room.

"What's up, Maddy?"

The trainee frowned. "Has anyone ever... you know... been seriously injured in a League match?"

Aurian shrugged. "Depends on if you're counting before or after the regulations passed a decade ago. Why're you asking?"

"I've got a really bad feeling about Red's battle," Maddy said, anxiously twirling a strand of hair that escaped her ponyta-tail.

"Tell you what," Aurian said, "we'll keep an eye on this together. How's that sound?"

Maddy nodded. "Sounds good."

The pair turned their eyes to the big screen, where Ash had entered the stadium to resounding yells of "Red! Red! Red!" and "Aronshu show 'em how it's done!"

"One round in and he's already a crowd favorite. Totally unfair," Aurian muttered, much to Maddy's amusement.

"Joining us today all the way from Saffron City, please welcome Sabrina Natsume!" Shauntal yelled.

Aurian's eyes widened. "Crap! Crap crap crap crap crap! This isn't good!"

"Why not?" Maddy panicked.

Aurian leapt up from her chair and started pacing. "Red had a huge disadvantage the first time he visited her gym, and it's only gotten worse since then..."

Maddy tilted her head. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"You know how you were asking about serious injury at League tourneys?"

The trainee nodded.

"Those new rules that Flint pioneered might be shattered in about ninety seconds..."

Ash paled as the referee droned on about the single battle- two Pokémon each. "Dammit! A psychic? She'll know my weaknesses in a second. A damn shame that Guardians are sensitive to psychic Pokémon and attacks. L-looks like I'll just have to deal. Good thing Ri told me to bring Gengar and Braviary- they'll be my saving graces. Hide your nerves, Ash, it won't do you any good to let her see how freaked out you are. Breathe, breathe, breathe! Aah, not working! Let's get this over with…"

Sabrina narrowed her eyes in Ash' direction. She gave a confident smirk and tossed out an Exeggutor.

Ash took a deep breath. "That thing has seven weaknesses, two of which are covered by Gengar. Braviary can take out the thing if we need to, but I don't want to open with Gengar- if I lose him, then I'm sunk."

"Go, Arius!"

A massive Braviary burst from the Pokéball in Ash's hand and let out a menacing screech.

"Begin!"

Sabrina raised an arm towards Ash, and the Exeggutor shot a Sleep Powder towards the Unovian Pokémon.

He gritted his teeth. "Two can play at this game," he thought. "Arius, dodge and Sky Drop!"

The Valiant Pokémon shot past the cloud of powder and rocketed towards its opponent. Braviary caught the dual-type in both talons and tossed it upwards, only to catch it again and slam Sabrina's Pokémon into the ground.

The attack was so rapid that Sabrina didn't have time to order her Pokémon to attack back. The giant tree stood up, shook itself off, and fired off a Mist Ball towards Arius.

"Take it, Arius! We'll let Defiant do its dirty work."

The bird took the Mist Ball and rocketed through the air, narrowly stopping short of a support beam. A red light enveloped Ash's Pokémon, and its talons grew three inches longer.

Ash flashed back to his and Aurian's emergency mission in Johto six months back. They'd been backed into a corner and he was down to Arius and Pikachu. He'd used the same tactic back then...

A faint gleam of surprise entered Sabrina's eyes as he returned to the present and Sabrina smiled, acknowledging Ash's battle prowess. The Exeggutor nodded, and attacked Braviary with a Psychic.

A dark pink light pinned Braviary's wings to his body, causing the flying-type to plummet downward.

Ash winced as his ally hit the ground.

"You okay, buddy?"

Braviary nodded while he rocketed back into the sky.

"Good. Brave Bird, quick!"

A harsh blue-white light covered Arius, and he collided with Sabrina's Pokémon with pinpoint accuracy.

Sabrina winced while Exeggutor aimed a Sludge Bomb at the flying-type, who deftly dodged the attack.

Shadow Claw and finish it off! Come on, Arius, give it all you've got!

Sabrina's eyes widened in shock as Braviary rocketed towards the dual-type, a purple-hazed claw extended. Exeggutor fell to the ground, defeated, with a slash mark similar to the one that marred Ash's chest marking Braviary's victory.

"Exeggutor is unable to battle! Round one goes to Red and Braviary!"

The crowd's raucous cheers threatened to throw Ash out of his focus. Sabrina tossed out an Alakazam, who gazed at Ash in an attempt to gauge his power.

A presence threatened to enter Ash's mind, and he threw up an internal aura shield to block it.

"No! This happened to Aurian when we fought Rocket back in Johto- that Hypno nearly shattered her Aura core. I can't let this get to me. Sabrina's not that brutal. She wouldn't kill me, but she wouldn't have any problems with maiming or injuring. This is looking "

He bit his lip as he gazed out at the field.

Gengar. I have to call him out. He's my only choice here... right?

Aurian stared at the screen, her brows knit in worry.

"Everything all right, Blue?" Maddy asked.

"No, actually," the older trainer answered. "Red and I don't deal with psychics very well."

Maddy shot a confused look at her mentor. "Why not?"

"It's the way that we're made," Aurian quickly answered. "Some people are more susceptible to certain types than others. Unfortunately for the two of us, that means that Psychic attacks have the potential to really screw with our minds. Red can pull this off, but it might be tricky."

"We never learned about trainer weaknesses to Pokemon moves in school," Maddy mused. "Why not?"

Aurian shrugged and hid a wince. "It's not common knowledge. Come on, we need to cheer a lot harder for this idiot."

"Right," Maddy replied. She didn't say anything else, but quietly wondered if Blue meant to say more than she mentioned.

Ash stared at Sabrina, who shot him a confident smirk.

"Arius, return!" he said, recalling the massive bird.

"And Red recalls his Braviary!" Shauntal announced. "What will he do now?"

Ash took a deep breath and unlatched an Ultra Ball from his belt.

"Achak, let's go!" he announced, releasing his Gengar.

Sabrina stepped back as the ghost manifested in the stadium. Gengar loosed a bellow that made Alakazam shrink back in fear.

Ash grinned as the Alakazam stopped its attempts to enter his mind. "Achak, Shadow Claw!"

Alakazam managed to dodge by the skin of its teeth. The psychic-type started sweating as Ash's Gengar kept up its relentless attack pace.

Excellent. I'll keep playing this game and wait for Alakazam to exhaust itself, then knock it out.

"Shadow Ball, keep it up!

Achak launched rapid-fire attacks in a circular pattern, forcing the Alakazam to duck under the shadows. Once the psychic stopped to take a breather, Gengar manipulated the attacks into two rings which ensnared Sabrina's Pokémon.

Sabrina's eyes widened as she watched her teammate struggle. A panicked grimace crossed her face for a split second then vanished, replaced by an eerie calm.

Ash blinked. It wasn't an Alakazam that stood in front of him but hundreds of assorted Psychic-types, all readying to attack him.

"No no no, not now!" he muttered, clenching his hand into a fist. "It's not real, it's not real..."

Max looked on in terror as his mentor struggled with an internal battle.

"Red, you okay?"

Ash shook his head.

Pikachu finally had enough of Ash's flashback and yanked on his ear. Ash winced and returned to the present, where Achak kept dodging streams of pink energy sent out by one Alakazam.

"Dammit, I can't keep doing this whenever I sense a psychic!" he muttered. "I need to end this..."

"Achak, momentarily halt the psychic bond so she has to communicate verbally."

The Gengar motioned with its hands as if it was raveling a spell. A small wisp of black energy exploded in the charging Alakazam's face, sending the psychic-type careening back towards a wall.

"No!" Sabrina cried. "Why can't I hear him? Psywave!"

Ash smirked. "Dodge. Achak, Finish this with Shadow Punch!"

The ghost vanished on Ash's command, leaving only a faded shadow that weaved erratically through the ground. Alakazam frantically looked for his opponent. Achak reappeared directly in front of Sabrina's frontrunner and landed a right hook to the psychic type.

Sabrina stared as her Pokemon fell to the ground, unconscious.

"And the winner of the first battle of the second round is Red Aronshu from Kanto!"

Ash let himself sigh in relief as the crowd went wild, repeating their earlier cheers with more enthusiasm than he thought possible.

So much for obeying Lance's orders to lay low. Hopefully Blue doesn't have as much difficulty with her opponent.

The undercover G-Men member gave a quick wave as he returned Gengar and walked back to the holding room, Max jogging at his side.

"Red? What happened to Sabrina back there? I've never seen her that scared."

"I'll tell you once we're out of the public eye, okay? I didn't even know if that would work..."

Ash opened the door to find a dumbstruck Maddy and a wide-eyed Aurian.

"Holy hell, Red! What was that?" Aurian exclaimed, tapping her foot.

"I may or may not have blocked Sabrina's psychic extension to Alakazam?"

"And I'm a three-headed Rayquaza- really, Red?" his patonai exclaimed.

Ash threw his hands up. "I panicked, okay? It shouldn't be permanent."

"Some panic," Aurian muttered.

Ash grinned. "We wouldn't've been able to pull that off for much longer. You ready, Blue?"

"Guess so," Aurian shrugged. "Maddy, they're about to call us out. Be on your guard- remember what happened last time?"

Maddy nodded. "Yeah- Paul tried to take us out. Should I stay in here?"

"No," Aurian protested, "you're staying with me. It'd look suspicious if I competed without you at my side."

Misty watched as Blue walked out of the tunnel to the supportive yells of the contest-goers. The Sinnoh native wouldn't have any problems with her next opponent, she thought.

Red, on the other hand... something happened to him during that match after Sabrina tossed out her Alakazam. The way his cheekbones tensed, the way his eyes seemed to glint with worry, if only for a minute…

He was scared.

From what Misty knew about him, Red didn't scare easily.

"Did you see..?" she turned towards Brock.

He nodded. "Yeah. Seemed out of character for our mysterious friend."

"You think he's okay?"

"I'd think so. Looked like that Alakazam was doing a bit of probing before Sabrina called his first move."

"Probing?" Misty asked.

"Mental investigating using psychic abilities. It's normally painless but it's been proven to cause some weird side effects to those sensitive to the process."

"Like?"

"We only briefly covered it in medical school... but if the Pokemon acts with malicious intent, it can attack any part of the brain it desires."

"Well that isn't good."

Brock rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"He had good reason to be scared, then."

"Definitely. Makes me think he's had an encounter with this before..."

The two trailed off as they watched Blue take out her opponent's final Pokemon with a Close Combat from her Mienshao.

"They're good."

"Too good," Brock said. "I have a few ideas on why they're that good... walk with me?"

Aurian and Maddy returned to the waiting room, triumphant.

"The way you knocked out that Chesnaught? That was awesome!"

"Thanks, kid," Aurian replied. "I had just as much fun battling as watching your reactions!"

Max nodded. "That was great!"

"Good job out there."

"Hey Red, can we... talk for a second?" Aurian asked, biting her lip.

"Yeah," Ash said. "Hey guys, go find Misty and Brock. We'll meet you up there."

"Okay," Max said, dejected. "Maddy, I think I saw Brock up in section C. We can grab ice cream on the way up."

"I'm in as long as we don't end up behind Cynthia in line," Maddy replied.

Aurian watched the two depart and then led Ash to the basement of the stadium.

"All right, Aronshu. What happened back there?"

Ash sighed. "I screwed up, okay? I flashed back to Johto and panicked!"

"Oh," Aurian said with a wince. "Damn. That was rough. Yet another of our near-death experiences. We made it out, though- and we're just as fine now as we were after we finished healing from our injuries then."

Her patonai nodded and tried to keep a straight face. "Yep. All I saw was Rocket's psychic legion attacking us and... what went down after the first wave..."

"Hey, we're all right now... but you revealed to Sabrina that you're more than a competitor," Aurian said while wrapping her patonai in a hug.

Ash peeked over his shoulder and saw the gym leader approaching. "Oh, speak of the devil!"

Sabrina stopped in front of the two of them. "Good evening."

Aurian nodded. "Hello, Sabrina."

Ash gave a half-hearted wave.

"Red, I'd like to know how you knew to halt the bond between Alakazam and I."

"I was taught well."

"By the G-Men, I presume," she answered.

Ash's face drained. Aurian stiffened and bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Sabrina smiled at their reactions. "You do know that your strategy was originally devised by the original members of the Armada, correct?"

Aurian tensed. "Interesting."

"I've already been given a stern debrief from Lance. I won't tell or my status as gym leader will be given to someone else," Sabrina droned. "I've had my differences with your organization in the past, but I'm willing to set that aside. Lance is right- something's brewing."

"Pardon my asking, but what caused your differences?" Aurian said. "Please don't feel obligated to answer."

Sabrina smiled, a razor thin motion that unnerved the patonai pair.

"I do admire your methods, but they're slightly… gung-ho for my taste. There aren't a lot of instances where your Armada negotiated before taking action against someone."

Ash nodded. "Duly noted. Thank you, Sabrina, for not outing us. Do you know anything about what's going on?"

The gym leader shook her head. "If I did, I would've let someone know. Also..." she trailed off, eyes flashing. "Be careful. People might start getting suspicious."

Sabrina turned on her heels and walked away, the sound of clicking stilettos echoing across the barren hallway.

The two patonai sat in silence, the sound of a roaring crowd above drowning out their thoughts.

"We need to go back to the campsite," Ash said. "Lance is probably waiting on us."

Aurian sighed. "He won't kick you out for this, will he?"

"No, I don't think so. Remember what happened to Hiori when he went back home to Sinnoh and the whole debacle with finding his sister? He wasn't discharged over that. He accidentally revealed the location of HQ to a few Grunts- this isn't nearly that serious..."

The two patonai went up to the stands and explained that Red needed to take a walk to clear his mind after his last battle. Everyone else nodded and asked the two to come back soon to commentate.

Max tailed his mentor back to the campsite, where he sat down near his things with Blue. They waited for a while- so long that Max had nearly given up hope of discovering new information when Red's Pokegear rang- Max tried to listen as best as he could.

"Do you have earbuds on you?" a voice asked.

"Yes," Ash answered.

"Good. Use them."

Red plugged them in and offered one to Blue.

Max winced as he heard the voice yelling through the headphones- crap, he couldn't make it out!

Red withdrew. "Arceus, Lance! A little warning?"

Max's jaw dropped. Another direct communication with Lance?

Blue sparks started flying off the tips of Red's fingers as he spoke. "Yeah, I am! Pardon me for flashing back to Johto!"

Silence from the other end of the line. Blue took Red's hand in her own.

The blue sparks... wait...

"The same as the two G-Men back at the stadium when Plasma attacked..."

"Yeah. Does that at least explain things?" Red asked.

Max saw Blue glance in his direction and caught his attention with two hand signs- the first meaning stop and the second- drawing her finger across her throat.

Don't leave or you're dead.

"Mm. What's the collateral damage?" Blue said, turning back to face the Pokegear.

Red sighed in relief at whatever the voice said next.

"Sabrina identified the bond break as a G-Men tactic," Red started. "Will anyone else know?"

G-Men? I knew it!

The voice continued on for a bit.

"That could be a good thing with the unrest around here," Blue protested.

The two trainers both nodded in unison.

Red flushed. "I'm really sorry, Lance."

Looks like Lance is really involved in this. Interesting...

Blue shot the camera a questioning look. "Really?"

"So we're clear on what to do from here?" Red asked. "Lay low, don't do anything flashy, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious?"

Lance finished his sentence and then hung up.

Red sighed, his shoulders relaxing.

"Wish I could ask Koga about that 2001 incident," Blue muttered.

Red grinned. "Must've been pretty bad."

"Understatement of the century."

"Well," Red said, "we're in the clear. Kind of."

His patonai nodded. "Yeah. Not sure how you managed to get out of that one... hang on. Max, could you come here, please?"

Max gulped as he sauntered over.

"Relax, you're not dead," Red said.

The smaller Maple managed a laugh. "So..."

"How much of that did you hear?" Blue asked.

"All of it."

Red stood and started to pace. "What do you know?"

Max frowned. "You're both with the G-Men... and... you're the two people that stopped those Plasma grunts from wreaking havoc last night?"

Blue nodded. "Correct."

"You're also the group who took down the Rocket members we found outside the Center. You're here for Lance so he can keep an eye on things without looking suspicious."

"Right again," Red replied. "Anything else?"

Max shook his head. "No. That's it."

"Listen," Red said. "I hope you know how deep into this you've gotten. There's potential for a war between multiple criminal organizations and the League and Blue and I are staring it in the face at the moment. If anyone asks you about us, tell me immediately so I can figure out if they're friend or foe. Are we clear?"

Max nodded frantically. "Yes sir!"

"I know you're gonna want to tell Brock and Misty about this," Blue said, "but this needs to stay between the three of us. Clear?"

"Crystal."

"Honestly, though, I think Brock's close to figuring out what you just discovered on his own," Red sighed. "If he figures it out... we'll call a conference and figure out what to do from there."

"One question..." Max said.

"No promises on answers," Blue replied.

"How high up are you?"

The two G-Men made eye contact and nodded.

"We can't give you specifics but we can say that we're both leaders. That's all."

Max stayed quiet for a while. "What now?"

Red shrugged. "Back to the tournament, I suppose. Misty would be really mad if I missed another one of her battles."

Later...

Ash lay on his back in his sleeping bag, asleep.

He dreamed again.

This time around, he found himself in Cameran Palace back in Rota. He was wearing something similar to what he wore for the tournament there- blue tunic and boots, black pants, a floppy hat with the symbol of the Guardians on it, and gloves. Upon closer inspection, his were the gloves that he used to save Mew at the Tree of Beginning.

"Okay- how'd I get here?" he muttered, turning around. The room was empty, the decor was different... a bit older, somehow...

A voice echoed from the shadows. "It's good to see you."

"Who's there?"

The voice laughed. "Not yet, son. I promise everything will be made clear soon."

"Son? You're my..."

"Father? Aye. May I ask how you've been?"

Ash frowned. "Interesting choice of a time to pop back into my life, but I'm all right. My hendo's out of control, though. Any help with that?"

"Hmm... you have the crystal around your neck. That should help a lot, but you've nearly filled yours in one go."

"Is that problematic?"

The voice chuckled. "Slightly. Nothing you can't handle. If you find yourself without any other options, your patonai can absorb some of your power."

Ash put a hand to his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"She'd remind you, I'm certain. I must go now- and you must, too."

"Wait... if you're my father, then can you at least tell me where you are so I can come find you?"

Bright blue eyes appeared in the darkness. "It's more complicated than you know, Ashton. I'm so sorry."

Something shook his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to find Aurian frantically trying to wake him.

"Ash, we have a problem."

(A/N): Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for hanging in there while I finished this! So so so sorry to keep you waiting but I hope the extra-long chapter made up for it.

Review response time!

EmeraldDragon1: Hey, great to see you again! Thanks for the encouragement! I'll have a ton of time to write now that I'm not dealing with school for the summer. :)

darkrai6543: You rock, whoever you are. Thank you so much for your awesome reviews and kind words.

ThirteenMoney: Yeah, couldn't resist putting that in.

SerenaTheHedgehog: Yep! Figured I could put my own spin on this and (hopefully) make it still fit with the Guardian Lore that's been created on here.

Nightshade1712: Thanks and congrats on the Darkrai! Train it well and it'll do great things in battle.

emoseawesome: Welcome to the Primary family and thank you for your awesome review! Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations!

And a big announcement... we hit 50 reviews and 20,000 views! Thank you all so so so much for reading and persevering through my crazy schedule! Since we've hit two big milestones, I've decided to launch a little contest. There's a poll up on my profile and I need your help! Who should Ash, Aurian, Michael, and Misty battle next? There will be three options for each- here they are!

Ash vs. Barry

Ash vs. Nando

Ash vs. Ritchie

Aurian vs. Lt. Surge

Aurian vs. Jimmy (Pokemon Chronicles)

Aurian vs. Trip (Unova)

Michael vs. Olympia (Kalos League)

Michael vs. Skyla (Unova League)

Michael vs. Janine (Indigo League)

Misty vs. Sakura (Johto)

Misty vs. Korrina (Kalos League)

Misty vs. Conway (Sinnoh)

Here are the rules: pick only one battle match-up per main character. The results will be announced on July 1st or with the next chapter update, whichever comes sooner. Vote away, and thanks for your help!

PL, signing off!