Flocon cautiously exited the building. "I hate this." he mentioned as he stepped onto the cobbled streets. A breeze rustled through his fur as he looked about.

Fringe followed shortly after, casting a flat gaze towards the Ninetales as he readjusted his shirt. "What's the matter?" he asked as they began to walk, though Flocon seemed to have difficulty keeping up.

"It's been three days, but no sign of Requiem…" his voice trailed off. They're plotting something, they have to be. But… how, where and when will they strike? he thought as he hummed a bit in thought, his tails swooshing through the breeze like a makeshift flag of sorts.

Fringe looked around him, spotting Irukan watching over them on a nearby rooftop. He turned back to Flocon and said, "That is why we take precautions." the statement was meant to be informatory, but it didn't stop Flocon from deflating a bit as the Banette pivoted on his heel and began walking.

Flocon looked around for a moment. I thought he said he'd ask another teammate to watch over us, where are they? He thought as he tried to focus his sight through the light mist. However, it was to little avail as all he did was slow his pace in his attempts to do so.

Fringe looked back, confused about why Flocon was lagging behind him. Once he saw what the Ninetales was doing he called back, "We have a meeting to get to, and I have somewhere to go afterwards." as a reminder before turning back around.

Perking up and looking over, Flocon paused for a minute with a look of worry. Fringe paused once more and gave him an unamused stare, enough reason for Flocon to sigh and start following at a more reasonable pace.

Flocon was constantly alert throughout the whole walk there, and the silence from Fringe wasn't helping him at all. I want to scream, just so badly, just let it all out. he thought as they arrived. It was only a few blocks away, but it felt as if it had been miles.

Stepping into the reception area, they were greeted by a friendly Audino. "Do you have an appointment?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Flocon sighed as he brushed past a few chairs, the place was noticeably empty. "The name's Flocon." he said.

"I'm with him as well." Fringe added on with Flocon just sort of nodding along.

Audino nodded and pulled out a file. "Ah, yes," she remarked as she held up the page with his name on it. Reading it for a moment she told him, "Room 103, off to the left, it should be the second door on your left." she pointed over to the left hallway as she finished.

Flocon nodded and began walking without another word. A chill breeze gently floating through the windowless hallway, lit only by the lamps hanging from above.

Huffing as he walked into the room, he called out, "Just show your face and let's get this over with." as he climbed onto the table and laid down.

Fringe walked in and with a motion to the Chansey doctor he said, "Look, we know you're a member of the Stray Cats, so just do what you need to do."

The Chansey smiled as a light enveloped her, with her form quickly turning into that of a Zoroark. "Very well," she said. "Shall we begin then?"

Flocon nodded and replied, "So, you just need to check my eyes, right?" he asked, any hostility he had suddenly dropped from his tone.

Zoroark nodded. "It's very simple, odds are you'll only be here a few minutes." she said as she lit a bullseye lantern with a special lens to focus the light a bit more. Picking it up, she shone the light in Flocon's eye.

The Ninetales closed his eyes instinctively and said, "What the hell was that for?" with a pained voice as he flinched away.

Pausing a moment to direct the light away, she told him, "I need to get a closer look at your eyes, so I need you to look directly into the light." she picked up a magnifying lens and said, "I'll back the light up a bit."

Flocon paused a moment and slowly opened his eyes, a bit of distrust in his pose was evident to all. Fringe sat in a chair and asked, "So, why do I need to be here?"

"Hm?" Zoroark turned her head to face him and replied, "I didn't know that, we're not privy to a lot of information-" she quickly turned away, cutting off her explanation.

Fringe smiled internally, she clearly said something that she shouldn't have said, and he was fine with that.

Flocon finally faced towards her as she shone the light back into one of his eyes. The Ninetales cringed a bit, but didn't make any outwards protests towards the action beyond his initial groan.

Going in a bit closer, she remarked, "It's very clear that you have mostly blue eyes, I'd say it accounts for about seventy-five percent of the color of your irises, but the other twenty-five percent appears to be orange flecks…" her voice trailed off as she considered the information. "This isn't normal heterochromia, not to any extent. I believe I have a possible explanation but I need to light the iris from another angle."

Flocon looked over to her questioningly as she picked up the lamp. "Yeah, we know the first part by now, but what does it mean?" he asked, clearly a bit frustrated as he punctuated his sentence with a short huff.

The doctor nodded as Fringe watched in silence. Zoroark turned to Flocon and told him, "It may not work perfectly, but look straight up. Banette, would you mind holding this for me?" as she held the lantern at an arm's length.

Fringe looked over to her and tilted his head, after a few moments, he got up and grabbed the lantern from her with a quizzical glance.

"Very good, now, hold it so that the beam of light goes perpendicular to his eye."she said, Fringe did so and after a few minutes of adjustment, Zoroark said, "Perfect, now, let me see here."

Pulling out the magnifying glass once again, she took a moment to clean the lens. She looked incredibly determined and confused at the same time. She went over to Flocon's eye and began to investigate very closely.

A few minutes passed until she muttered only one word, "Interesting." then a long pause as she went a bit closer to Flocon's face. She backed up and grabbed a higher magnification lens. Taking another moment to clean it off, she returned to Flocon to check once again. A few seconds of checking about in one eye eventually lead her to say, "Other side now."

Fringe sighed as he walked around in a half-circle to Flocon's other flank.

Zoroark followed suit, inspecting Flocon's eyes once more, she seemed to focus in on a few spots in particular. Long moments of silence filled the room with only the occasional grunt made by one of the three inhabitants to fill it.

Eventually she backed off and said, "Pass me the lamp." with her arm outstretched.

Fringe handed her back the lamp and sat back down. "Thought we'd never be done." he muttered with a dry chuckle as he tended to his arm.

Zoroark removed the shade and lens from the bullseye lantern using a damp cloth and said, "Well, it certainly is odd, and I'm not sure there's a good explanation either. I'll tell you what I found…" she sat forward, with her head resting on interlocked claws.

A long wait passed between the trio, as Flocon finally figured out that he was able to look back down now. Using that as a sort of cue, she began her explanation with a question, "You know what stroma are, correct?"

"Not a clue." Fringe replied. Flocon mirrored the response with a shake of his head.

"Well, simply put, they're the lines in your iris." she said with a motion that indicated connecting two points. "Every stroma goes from just beyond the circumference of the pupil, to just before the outer circumference of the iris. And they go continuously."

"So, what does this have to do with me?" Flocon asked with a tilt of his head.

Zoroark sighed as a shorthand for, "Shut up and let me get there." though it was much more polite to simply imply it. Taking a few moments to turn over the explanation she said, "Where the color of your eye changes, so too do the alignment of your stroma. Simply put: they don't match up when they should be."

Flocon and Fringe sat in silence for a moment, the former looking much more disbelieving than the latter, who seemed to be contemplating what this new information might mean.

And they remained so until Fringe finally spoke, "Well, that raises a lot more questions."

"How do I know you're not lying." Flocon squinted his eyes as he demanded an answer.

Fringe got up and inquired, "Do you mind if I see for myself?" towards Zoroark.

She shrugged and said, "If it'll make you believe me, sure." as she rose from her chair to grab all the things she'd need. "I can't have you handling anything more than the lantern when you're not trained to, this will mean it'll be a bit harder to see."

Repeating the same process as they did before, Fringe seemed a bit defeated. "I was almost hoping what you said was a lie." he remarked.

Zoroark raised a brow and replied, "I'd rather you not imply I'm breaking the law."

"You disguising yourself isn't illegal?" Flocon asked.

The doctor shrugged. "Not at all, impersonation is a natural extension of our illusory abilities, it'd only be illegal if I lied to you about the diagnosis, or if I faked having a medical license." she explained with a smug undertone.

Flocon started to reply, but relented at the last minute. Then the only difference was whether I paid or not. They would've spied on me either way. he considered with a deflated look.

If Fringe figured this out, it was expertly hidden as he continued normally. "I believe we shall be on our way then." he said as he motioned for Flocon to follow him.

Zoroark waved goodbye to them, remarking, "Thank you for making this easy."as she watched them leave the room.

A minute passed before a tentacle shot out from under the seat where Flocon once sat, a Malamar rising from below. "You should not have shown yourself." he remarked in that familiar voice as he found his footing.

Zoroark rose from her chair. "I don't remember being paid to hide. Just to get the information you wanted." as she rose from her chair to meet the tentacled pokemon at just above eye-level. Her arms were crossed, and a sly grin spread across her face.

Taking this information in for but a moment and leaning next to the exit, he intertwined his tentacles and remarked, "You're a clever bastard, very well," he had a hint of a smile smeared on his beak, an amused look told by his otherwise placid eyes. "It's a damn shame they'll be dead soon enough."

Shrugging as she exited. "Not my job to inquire about that." she said as she turned back into a Chansey and exited the room, nodding towards the Malamar before walking down the hall.

Grinning ever so slightly, he muttered, "Many pokemon would do well to learn from someone like her." as he lessened his presence and walked out.

Walking out into the streets once more, they were met by Bancho. "I'm glad to see you made it." Fringe said as he turned back to Flocon. "I have to get some work done away from the base, I'll be back in the afternoon."

And you had to leave me with him. Flocon thought as he watched Fringe leave. "Well, back to base then." he said towards Bancho with a slightly nervous smile.

Bancho nodded and began walking.

Flocon followed him. Nothing, huh. He thought as they walked in silence.

The streets were rather busy at this time of day, so the Ninetales had to stick close to his fellow. His eyes fell to the floor.

"What's bothering you?" Bancho asked after a few moments. His eyes glued forwards.

Flocon looked up and said, "I'm not sure anymore, I just don't feel very well." he looked around and saw that the streets had cleared out. He paused and felt something crash into him, sending him to the ground.

The Ninetales looked around in a panic, Bancho stopped to watch as he completely ignored the pedestrian that tripped over him and was now cursing loudly at the Ninetales for pausing so suddenly.

Flocon got up and moved slowly backwards before darting to his left and crashing headfirst into a Mightyena who gave him a concerned look before fleeing into the crowd.

Bancho went to grab the manic Ninetales as he flailed about wildly in the crowd. The Pangoro grabbed a leg but Flocon whipped around and fired an Aurora Beam, knocking Bancho off his balance. "What's gotten into you!?" he exclaimed as Flocon tried desperately to flee in every direction. Causing a mass panic as he started to shout wildly.

Irukan watched in horror as Flocon darted left and right, attacking anyone who tried to grab ahold of him. "Wait a minute, those patterns." she remarked as she observed his movements. "They seem too disorganized for him to have snapped, it's almost as if he doesn't see any of them at-"

"Koh-ho-ho…" Irukan heard from behind her, a haunting voice rang in her ears as she dared to look behind her. "Irukan H. O. Minaar, was it? How lovely it is to see you again." he said, a devilish smile on his face. She knew it from the second she saw him in that alleyway all those days ago.

"I see you've already made the connection." he remarked as he began to advance on her, flashing a bladed tentacle as he stated, "But that's not important. Tell me, which do you value more? Your life, or his?" as he motioned down towards the streets.

Irukan paused. She couldn't make either decision.

"Speak soon, or I'll kill you both, and that Pangoro friend of yours… make your choice turncoat." Ein's voice was deathly quiet as he spoke, as if he had to hold himself back. He was about halfway to her as he spoke and he showed no sign of relenting.

Irukan hyperventilated as she put herself against the edge of the railing on the building. She looked down and immediately regretted it, but anything to buy herself more time.

Anything.

No.

Not again.

She promised herself.

She would never.

Make the same mistake.

She steeled herself and looked Ein directly in the eyes. He didn't pause, but he slowed his approach, cautious as to what the Dragalge might be plotting.

Irukan paused for a moment. "You're a man of your word. So do it. Kill me." she said with a cough.

Ein chuckled under his breath as he released his hold on Flocon. Ein lunged for her exposed throat.

But she knew he would do that.

She coughed once more, and spit a vile venom at him and dodged as he grunted in pain. He tried to recollect himself. "All three of you it is." he hissed as he used a psychic blast to wipe the venom from his eyes.

Flocon began to yell out in pain. And Bancho fell to the ground

But Irukan didn't stop as she lunged back forwards and bit him, he dodged her, just grazing his shoulder with a fang. But it was enough to at least deter him.

He released his psychic grip on the two and focused on dodging the Dragalge's next attack. A Poison Tail which he swiftly evaded.

He stared at her for a moment from a distance that neither of them seemed keen on closing, he slowly backed away. And left her sight, leaving them alone for the time being.

Tears dripped onto the ground as Irukan swore under breath, "Never again shall I let myself fall so far."

Bancho got up and immediately slung the flailing Ninetales over his shoulder. "You're getting an earful when we get back." he growled.

Flocon just sighed in response and accepted what was to come.

I actually managed to get this out despite the events that happened last week. Hopefully the next chapter will be less of a struggle.