A/N: Hello again everyone. Your friendly neighborhood Doctor is back once again with another chapter of Evolution for you guys. Now, given the nature of the... shall we say, urgency of how the last chapter ended. I think we'll just forgo our usual nonsense up here at the beginning and dive right into the madness, shall we? Relevant Team summaries will be at the bottom of the chapter for you guys who need them. Otherwise, enjoy :)

An eerie amber glow illuminated the night sky, mixed with the thick scent of ash and smoke as Tyler and Wendy burst outside through the front door. With their Pokémon in tow, they all turned towards the barn, seeing the roof ablaze and spitting violent plumes of smoke and soot skyward. They both slowly froze to a halt, a mixture of fear and shock freezing them in place. Just the sight enough was intimidating to behold, but knowing what was inside of that barn, knowing the potential losses weren't just limited to their own made every flickering flame shooting from the roof's windows that much more harrowing.

"Glae…" Yuki worriedly looked up at her trainer and Tyler couldn't hide his own sense of dread. Obviously, any one of the Pokémon in that barn being stolen would be a horrible loss on top of the barn being destroyed. But as Tyler saw the same fearful look in Yuki's eyes, in Wendy's eyes and even in Pulse's normally stoic eyes as well, it was clear that they each shared the same thought as to what would be the worst thing to lose in that barn.

"We'll find her Yuki," Tyler said trying to calm himself just as much as Yuki. "And we won't rest until we do."

"Cee-onnn…" Yuki still sounded worried as she looked at the vicious oranges and yellows leaping from the barn, and Tyler couldn't blame her. Her unborn child was somewhere inside that building, a terrifying thought by itself; but her own Ice typing had to add another level to her fears. Even with her so plainly wanting to save her egg, if the already menacing flames got any worse, would she even be able to save her child?

"Quit your gawking and let's go! Every second counts!" An angry voice boomed past the stunned group and stormed ahead of the group with a shotgun clutched in both hands. Tyler snapped back to reality and he too chased after Wendy's father, hearing everyone else join their pursuits. As they approached, Tyler saw that same group of white-clad figures exiting the barn with a few Pokémon alongside them. From the distance, he couldn't be certain if they were some of the Pokémon staying in the barn, or accomplices in this attack. Either way, he could feel his blood beginning to boil at the sight of them.

"HEY!" Mr. Riding yelled and raised his shotgun and aimed it towards the white-clad figures. A brief flash of white light and a staggeringly loud bang made all four of the figures flinch and turn towards its source only to recoil from a second blast from the shotgun. None of the figures or the nearby Pokémon appeared hurt, but they were definitely startled by the sight of people and Pokémon charging towards them.

"I'll blast a hole in each one of you if you've stolen even a single Pokémon!" Mr. Riding bellowed his threat as he pumped his shotgun and raised a third shot towards the group. But before he could fire again, a thick cloud of black smoke suddenly obscured his vision of the figures. He fired into it anyway, the blast again ringing faintly in Tyler's ear as its end result became lost in the dark. But he wasn't about to let that stop him, firming his grip on the pump with his right and grabbing a Poké ball from his belt with his left.

"Vito! Blow the smoke away with Whirlwind!" He threw the Poké ball forward and out came a bird with wings as dark as the night sky, accented by red plumage underneath them and a thick white crest of feathers on its neck and breast.

"Honchkrow!" The Pokémon called out and soared towards where the smoke sat on the ground.

"Caelum, help him out with a Tailwind!"

"Star-raptor!" Tyler's own avian ally joined Mr. Riding's and the two birds swiftly approached the cloud of smoke. The two Flying types furiously beat their wings and summoned powerful gusts of wind to blow the cloud away. Unfortunately, the white-clad figures that had summoned the cloud were no longer there, having disappeared in the short time it took to rid the smokescreen from sight.

"Shit! They got away." Tyler loudly growled as both birds finished blowing the smoke away.

"Then we shift gears to saving the barn." Mr. Riding slowed down and grabbed two more Poké balls from his belt. "Riptide! Mr. Diddles! I need you both now!" Two more of Mr. Riding's Pokémon materialized from their balls and appeared beside their master. The first being a bipedal blue alligator-like Pokémon with yellow colored scales under his jaw and in a V-shape across his stomach, and red spikes along its back. In stark contrast to the gargantuan gator, a literal pile of pink goo plopped to the ground beside him that was barely as tall as his ally's knee.

"Riptide, use Hydro Pump to put out the flames! Mr. Diddles, you use Transform and then do the same!" The two Pokémon shared a quick glance with each other before the Feraligatr's jaw unhinged and spat out a torrential blast of water from its mouth towards the building. Meanwhile, his sludgy partner glowed a faint white and its body morphed into a nearly perfect copy of the original gator beside it. He then perfectly mirrored his partner's attack, firing his own blast of water towards the barn as both attacks hissed against the flames.

"Where the hell is Kee and his army of Water types when you need them?" Mr. Riding ground his teeth together in frustration.

"I'll call him daddy." Wendy quickly grabbed her phone from her pocket and dialed her friend. Tyler meanwhile simply looked at the blazing barn, unsure of what he could do to help as he lacked a Water type himself. He looked around and saw a nearby pond designed for Water types that had a few startled onlookers watching the fire along with them.

"Hey! We need all the help we can get over here!" Tyler rushed over towards the group that included a trio of Woopers and a Quagsire among some fish Pokémon that wouldn't be able to leave the pond. "You see what they're doing? Do that!" Tyler added pointing at the two Feraligatrs. One brave Wooper quickly waddled out of the water while the other two and the bigger Quagsire watched. The Water Fish Pokémon climbed one of the gator's heads and spat out its own significantly smaller blast of water towards the flames, which was barely able to reach the blaze.

"That's one, what about the rest of you?!" Seeing their friend helping spurred the remaining Water Fish Pokémon into action as all three of them made their way over to help. Getting these little guys to help out even a bit was a good start, but now he was right back to wondering what more could he do to help.

"Kara, Kora! Both of you use Rain Dance!" Two more Pokémon materialized next to the team of Water types combating the fire. The two slug-like Pokémon looked virtually identical to each other in Tyler's observation, except one had a pink and brown body where the other was blue and green. Despite their physical differences, both Pokémon began glowing with a faint blue aura around their bodies as the night sky thickened above the barn before it began raining over the barn.

"Julia!" Mr. Riding looked at his wife as she now stood beside him, panting to catch her breath. "Are the Weilands coming?"

"Yes." Wendy's mom nodded. "They're on their way. And the Fire Department should be too since I tripped the alarm in your office.

"Kee's on his way too." Wendy announced as she pocketed her phone.

"Arceus please get them all here soon." Mr. Riding ground his teeth again as the rains intensified overhead.

"Okay you two, now use Muddy Water!" Julia commanded her two sea-slug Pokémon and they each stiffened their bodies and fired off streams of murky brown water towards the base of the barn.

"Glaceon…" Tyler heard Yuki's dread-filled whimpering beside him, looking cautiously towards the flames.

"I know you want to help Yuki," Tyler reassured her, bending down to a knee and lightly petting her forehead. "I do too, but there's not much more we can do except wait."

"Glae…" She whimpered again and Tyler pulled her into a hug.

"I know Yuki… I know."

"Glae – ceee!" She looked up at Tyler, tears brimming in the side of her eyes.

"Please try to stay calm Yuki." Tyler held her tighter in his arms. "Your egg is going to be okay."

"Glae-cee-ONNN!" Tyler could feel her fear just as much as he could see it as Yuki squirmed against his grip.

"Yuki, stop! You cannot go in there!"

"G-LAE! GLAE-cee-ONN!"

"It's not safe for you to go in there!"

"GLACIE! GLACIE-CEEEON!" Yuki's fidgeting got more intense, her legs kicking against Tyler's stomach.

"I get it Yuki! You want to make sure your – AUGHHHHH!" Pain stabbed into the back of Tyler's left hand as Yuki bit him, forcing Tyler to break his grip on her for just a moment. But in that brief moment, Yuki kicked herself out of her master's restraint and rushed the barn's front door. But just as she approached it, a loud cracking noise above her head made her stop and look up to see part of the barn's siding jutting out above her. A moment later, a powerful blast of flames shot out from the new opening, and with a second loud crack, a large chunk of debris began to fall towards her.

"YUKI LOOK OUT!" Tyler stood up and sprinted towards her, his vision solely focused on his princess that he failed to see the molded ball of blue energy hurtled beside him that crashed into the falling debris above her. The flaming chunk of wood burst apart as the attack hit it, raining down in larger embers as Tyler scooped Yuki up in his arms and brought her back towards the rest of the group.

"Thank you so much Pulse." Wendy let out a sigh of relief while Tyler angrily set Yuki on the ground with a furious scowl.

"What did I just fucking tell you Yuki!" He exploded at his princess, firmly holding her in place with both his hands. "It's not fucking safe for you in there!"

"Glaceon! G-lae-cee-on! Glae-ceee!" Yuki cried back at him, tears falling down her cheeks.

"I get it okay! You're worried about your egg! We're all worried about your egg! We all want to save it! But look at what you're up against Yuki!" Tyler grabbed Yuki by the scruff of her neck and pointed at the barn. "That barn is a raging inferno! You are an Ice type Pokémon! If you even step foot inside that barn right now, you'll fucking melt before you get halfway to your egg. And then who's gonna raise it huh? Who's gonna raise your egg if you're not around?"

"Glaceon!" Yuki again struggled against Tyler's grip, but this time he held onto her. "Glaceon Glae, G-lae Glae Glaceon!"

"Yuki honey, please!" Wendy crouched down next to her and wrapped her arms around the frightened Eeveelution as well. "Listen to Tyler. You can't go in there, you'll get hurt!"

"Glacie-onn~" Yuki continued to fight against the two humans holding her back.

"Yuki I swear to God, I will lock you in your ball if you don't listen to me this instant!" Tyler bluntly shouted at his Glaceon, who froze at her master's threat. She looked at him hurt, almost betrayed that her trainer could be so cruel as to lock her in her ball at a time when her child needed her the most.

"Glaceon…" She quietly sobbed as the flood of icy tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

"Yuki, I get it." Tyler frowned himself as he clasped his hands over her paw. "I understand completely how you feel right now, we all do. But if you go in there and get hurt, I'd never be able to forgive myself."

"G-… Glaceon…" Yuki sobbed a bit louder.

"You're my princess Yuki. I care about you just as much as you care about your egg, and I'd never be able to forgive myself if I let you go in there and you got hurt or worse, if you died in there trying to save your egg." Tyler lifted Yuki's drooping chin up and wiped some of her chilled tears from her cheek. "So I'll go in for you."

"WHAT?!"

"Are you insane?!" Mr. and Mrs. Riding screamed together.

"Did you not just see what almost happened to you? Mr. Riding continued, pointing at the blown-out window on the second floor above the barn door. "If it wasn't for Pulse, the two of you would be buried under flaming rubble right now!"

"Look we're running out of time as it is." Tyler confronted Wendy's father with a serious expression. "Your incubator is on the second floor, which means if that roof fails or the floor gives out, every one of those eggs in there is at risk, not just Yuki's."

"I'm well aware of that Tyler. But I'm gonna turn your words against you; it's just as dangerous for you to go in there as it is your Glaceon." Mr. Riding held firm in spite of Tyler's bravado. "I don't want to admit it, but I don't think the barn is gonna last much longer as it is. The last thing I want is my daughter's boyfriend foolishly throwing his life away to try and save an egg that may or may not be in there!"

"That's exactly why we need to find out for ourselves! If her egg is still in there, there's a chance we can save it!"

"And what if it isn't Tyler? What if that egg was poached by those thugs we saw earlier, then what?"

"Then we go chase them down, find them, beat their asses out their skulls and get the egg back!"

"Listen to yourself! You're not a superhero Tyler! You go in there, there's no way you're coming back out unscathed."

"I sense that the egg's aura is still inside the barn." Tyler heard Pulse's voice broadcast a message to his head. He could tell from how Mr. Riding's expression soured that he must have heard the Lucario's message as well.

"I know you heard that too, so we both know there's still a chance to save that egg."

"Daddy, if Pulse can sense the egg's aura, that means he can find it." Wendy added on, further deepening her father's worried frown.

"Two minutes, that's all I'm asking for." Tyler insisted again. "That's all the time Pulse and I need." Mr. Riding's expression continued to warp further towards discomfort. He let out a quiet groan through his clenched jaw that gradually grew louder as Tyler continued to stare a hole through him.

"OKAY!" Mr. Riding finally cracked. "Two minutes, that's it. If you can't find it after that time, Pulse, you do whatever you have to to make sure he gets out of there, understood?"

"You may count on me Sir Arthur." Pulse bowed to Wendy's father.

"Riptide! You're going in with them!"

"Gatr!" The giant blue alligator nodded as he halted his stream of water and looked at his new partners.

"Two minutes, you understand?" Mr. Riding reiterated and Tyler nodded again. "Don't make me regret this boy."

"You won't." Tyler turned to the two Pokémon beside him. "Let's go Pulse!"

"Wait Sir Tyler." Pulse held up his paw and closed his eyes. "Allow me a moment so I can see without the need of sight."

"What?" Tyler watched as the Lucario's body began channeling a glow of purple energy, which began to coalesce around his eyes. Even though he could see Pulse's eyes were still closed, his aura began to mold into an eye-like shape, finishing with a white iris that narrowed and focused on Tyler.

"I am now ready." Pulse placed his paw inside Tyler's hand. "Do not let go of me Sir Tyler. I will guide us to the incubator while our ally fights the fire."

"Got it." With that, Pulse and Tyler both made their way towards the barn's open front gate. Everything inside was already aflame as Tyler looked at it. The pens on both sides of the wide aisle each had their own small fires burning the hay strewn about inside them. A thick cloud of blackened smoke hung to the ceiling above them as they stepped further inside, already choking a weak cough from Tyler's throat and stinging in his eyes. Once again, Tyler was thankful for and jealous of Pulse's ability to manipulate aura to aid him as they pressed towards the back of the barn.

"Here!" Pulse pointed towards a corner of the barn and Tyler saw the outline of a thick gray wall with a doorframe built into it. As Pulse pointed it out, the Feraligatr behind them rumbled as he spat out a powerful torrent of spiraling water towards the wall, parting the flames around it and the door. Pulse and Tyler both made their way to the door and Pulse held his free paw to the knob. His paw glowed a vibrant yellow and Tyler watched as the Pokémon blew a hole in the door where the lock was, then kicked it open with his leg.

"Impressive." Tyler chuckled but regretted it as it allowed the smoke to choke him once again.

"I learned it from you on the cruise ship Sir Tyler." Tyler heard a brief whimsy in Pulse's voice before returning to seriousness. The two of them stepped into the stairwell and began to climb the steps. Again, Pulse broke open the door to the second floor and the two of them stepped onto the floor. As they did, Tyler heard a loud crack behind them and saw a blue fist with glowing white claws punch through the floor by the concrete wall. A blast of water widened the hole even further until the Feraligatr forced itself through the hole by scaling the wall with its claws. Again, Tyler was quite impressed, though this time made a note of keeping his thought to himself.

Now on the second floor, Tyler was really starting to feel the effects of being inside this inferno. The heat was becoming unbearable, the smoke was as suffocating as it was blinding, forcing Tyler to crouch down in an effort to try and see. Somewhere hidden amidst this superheated hell was Yuki's egg; and even if it meant being cooked alive, he was going to find it.

"Where's the egg Pulse?" Tyler looked to the Lucario as he searched the room with his aura.

"There is an egg in the incubator." Pulse responded, pointing towards another thick cloud of smoke.

"You sure? I can't see anything."

"There is definitely an egg still in here. And I can sense traces of Yuki's and my own aura in that direction."

"You heard him big guy, clear us a path!" Tyler called to the Feraligatr behind them. Again, the Feraligatr's jaw unhinged and soaked the area in front of them. The cloud of ash parted to steam and briefly cleared up the area around the incubator. As Pulse had said, there was still an egg in the incubator, but only a singular one amidst a pile of broken glass. Tyler let out a curse at that, remembering there were close to a dozen eggs in there the last time he'd seen it. Those poachers had to have taken the eggs that were here. Had they taken Yuki's egg? Pulse said he could still feel his and Yuki's aura from this area. The Feraligatr's watery blast parted the smoke again, allowing Tyler to more closely focus on the one remaining egg in the incubator. Its body was mostly brown at the top and bottom, with only one discernable accent to it being a cream-colored zigzag stripe across its midsection.

"There it is!" Tyler let go of Pulse's paw and rushed the incubator. Yuki's egg was still here! Thank God, or Arceus or whatever divine being was watching over this incubator. He stepped over the broken glass and reached for the egg. Surprisingly, it seemed to flinch as Tyler touched it with his hand almost like it was afraid as he started to remove it from the incubator.

"Easy now little guy. It's gonna be okay, you're safe now." Tyler rubbed his hand reassuringly against the top of the egg. "Your dad and I are here to save you, and soon you'll be reunited with your mommy." The egg trembled briefly, though the more Tyler spoke reassuringly to it, the more the shaking lessened until stopping completely.

"I got it Pulse, now how do we get out of here?"

"Follow me." Before Tyler even saw Pulse move, he felt his paw in his hand once again. With a firm grip, they made their way back towards the Feraligatr in the back of the room who was still trying to combat the flames. Though as they approached, there was a loud creaking noise beneath them, and a crack formed in the floor. Tyler felt himself being pulled back as another loud crack echoed through the barn and the Feraligatr fell through the floor.

"What happened?!" Tyler asked as an updraft of smoke and embers blocked him from seeing down the hole. "Is he okay Pulse?"

"It appears so." Pulse peered into the hole, his aura-laced eyes seeming to cut through the smoke as Tyler heard the sound of wood being shoved around beneath him. "Yes, he is moving. But I am afraid that we have another problem to contend with."

"What's that?

"The hole he made when he fell, it is too wide for both of us to safely cross, especially if you are holding an egg." Pulse frowned

"Fuck!" Tyler cursed again and the egg shook in his arms. "We're so close Pulse, what do we do?"

"HEY!" A faint voice sounded from outside the front of the barn. "You guys okay in there?! We heard a loud crash!"

"Mr. Riding!" Tyler coughed out as he turned in the direction of the voice. "Wait, Pulse, guide me to the breeding pen on this floor. The one over the front door."

"Okay." Again, Tyler felt the warmth of Pulse's paw in his hand and wrapped around it as the two quickly braved the flames once again. Smoke filled Tyler's lungs, making the otherwise short trip across the room exhausting and left him feeling light-headed. But with Pulse's guidance, they were both able to reach the pen. Tyler tried to catch his breath, coughing again as the Lucario's fist molded a golden aura around it again and pressed it to the window. The glass shattered, opening a hole in the side of the barn that Pulse forced Tyler's head through it. Tyler had never been more grateful for fresh air than he was at that moment, gulping breath after breath to purge the ash and tar from his throat.

"Tyler! You guys okay in there?" Mr. Riding called out again. "We heard a crash."

"Yeah. *cough cough* Pulse and I are okay." Tyler managed to wheeze out. "Your gator fell through the floor, *cough* but he's fine."

"Gatr!" Riptide roared his booming voice as he stumbled out of the barn door beneath where Tyler and Pulse were on the second floor. A few smaller bits of wood still pressed into the scales of the bulky Water type's back, but that and a layer of soot over his tail seemed to be his only ailments.

"What do you mean fell through the floor? Can you get down?"

"No! The hole's too big to cross. But we did find the egg." Tyler added and the ground team cheered gleefully.

"Then I have an idea of how to get you down." Mrs. Riding shouted. "Pulse, could you punch a hole in the wall for us big enough for Tyler to fit through?"

"You will want to stand back Sir Tyler." Pulse protectively pushed Tyler away from the windowsill with his paw. He did exactly that, crouching low to the ground as Pulse pulled both of his paws together to his side. A small and vibrant blue ball of energy molded in between them, growing in size until it was the size of the egg in Tyler's arms. Pulse threw his attack forward, cracking another large hole in the side of the wall in front of them. He reset his paws, repeating the process a second time, a third time, and finally a fourth time when there was a large enough hole that Tyler could potentially fit through.

"Okay Sakura, your turn!" Tyler crawled his way towards the hole as he heard the unmistakable pang of a Poké ball being opened. He watched as the silvery-blue burst of energy morphed into a reptilian creature with turquoise colored scales across its four-legged body. As it let out a low roar of its own, an enormous pink and white spotted flower bloomed across its back being held up by a thick brown trunk and framed with sharp looking green leaves at its base.

"Venusaur." The Pokémon looked at Mrs. Riding expectantly.

"You see that man up there?" She asked, pointing towards Tyler and the Pokémon nodded. "I need you to use Vine Whip to get him down from there. But don't squeeze him too tight. He's carrying a very important egg.

"Saur." The Pokémon looked towards Tyler and a pair of vines with rounded bulbs at the tip shot up towards Tyler. The egg squirmed slightly in his arms as the vines began to wrap themselves around the two of them.

"Just a little bit longer buddy." Tyler lightly rubbed the top of the egg. "We're getting you out of here. You're safe." The egg shook again, though this time it felt like it was sinking deeper into Tyler's grip. He smiled at the feeling, knowing that all the danger this little guy had been feeling was now about to end.

"Ready Tyler?" Mrs. Riding called from outside the barn.

"Ready!"

"Okay Sakura, heave-ho!" Tyler felt himself be lifted up by Sakura's vines and pulled towards the opening Pulse had made in the wall. The embrace of cold air chilled his entire body as he was freed from the building, but Tyler was never happier to feel so cold in his life. Slowly and carefully, the ground got closer and closer to them. Yuki could hardly stay still in Wendy's arms, shaking with joyful relief and a smile that sparkled like diamonds. As soon as his foot touched the ground, Yuki shot towards him like a blue bullet, jumping and dancing around him while the vines unraveled.

"I told you Yuki." Tyler chuckled as Yuki started running around him in circles. "We got your egg."

"Glaceon! Glaceon! Glaceon!" Yuki sang, sitting down on her haunches before Tyler as the last of the vines left his body, letting Yuki see her egg safely in her master's arms.

"See? Everything's gonna be okay now." Tyler knelt before his Glaceon and set the egg gingerly on the ground. Yuki hopped up to her four legs excitedly, prancing about once again as she saw the egg… but then stopped as she continued to look at it. She looked puzzled, almost doubtingly at the egg in front of her. Tyler shared her uneasiness, but for different reasons. She knew this was her egg right? Her egg was perfectly pictured in his head from the day he first saw it; a milk-chocolate brown with a cream-colored zigzag stripe in the middle. That's what was in front of her, so why was she not happy to be with her child?

"What's the matter Yuki?" Tyler asked her as a worried frown set in on both his and Yuki's face. Could she tell if something was wrong with the egg?

"Glaceon…" Her voice sounded distant as she continued to inspect her egg. She then leaned towards it and sniffed it, sneezing as she inhaled some of the soot that was on the shell.

"Is that all Yuki?" Tyler chuckled feeling slightly relieved as he began to rub the shell, cleaning a thin layer of ash from its surface. "You just couldn't smell it because of all the ash?"

"Glacie~on…" This time Tyler could sense what he thought was sadness in her voice. But why was she sad? They'd saved her egg, it was right on the ground in front of her… Or was it like he thought and that maybe there was something wrong with the egg.

"Hey Arty, you wanna take a look at the little guy? I think there might be something wrong with it."

"Let me see." Mr. Riding briskly walked over and knelt beside the egg. He reached down to inspect the egg in his hands, but they too stopped right before reaching it. Tyler watched as the same concerned look fell over his face. Was there really something wrong with the egg?

"Um… Tyler." Mr. Riding began and his voice felt distant and somber like Yuki's was. "This isn't Yuki's egg."

"WHAT?!" Tyler yelled as he felt a knife stab and twist into his chest. "B-b-bu-but how?! It has to be right?! Look, it's brown and it's got the zigzag stripe, a cream-colored stripe on a brown egg. That's what Yuki's egg looked like!"

"Glaceon…" Tyler looked at Yuki, her ears slackened and her tail drooped between her legs. Tears already flowed down her cheeks, only this time he could feel her sadness was infinitely greater than before.

"I knew we shouldn't have kept her egg in the barn with the others." Mr. Riding cursed as he picked the egg up into his arms.

"What do you mean?" Tyler looked around at everyone. Wendy's mother looked almost vacantly at Tyler, unsure of what to say. Wendy meanwhile looked completely heartbroken, leaning into her mother's shoulder with her own eyes welling up with tears and squarely fixed on Yuki. "That's an Eevee egg, isn't it?"

"Unfortunately, Tyler, it isn't. What you're looking at is actually a Zigzagoon egg." Mr. Riding finally explained as a second knife stabbed this time into Tyler's stomach. "About a week before you and Wendy came to town, we had a trainer come in with a Linoone that had gone into heat. Mr. Diddles helped relieve her of her itch and in the process, they made an egg, this egg. However, the trainer didn't want it, so we decided to raise it and were planning to put it up for adoption once it hatched."

"But… but that's Yuki's egg." Tyler continued his disbelief. "Pulse traced its aura up to the incubator, and it was the only one left in there… It has to be her egg. It's the same pattern, it's the same colors! It's her egg!"

"Eevee eggs and Zigzagoon eggs are very similar to the untrained eye Tyler." Mr. Riding sighed as he looked at Yuki, who had sense lay down on the ground shaking in sadness.

"Glae-… Glaceon…"

"But experienced breeders like myself can tell the difference in the shades of brown of the egg." He cradled the egg in one arm and pointed at its top. "A Zigzagoon egg like this one is a darker chestnut shade of brown. Whereas an Eevee's brown is a warmer shade of brown than this, closer to milk chocolate."

"Yuki…" Wendy sobbed from her mother's shoulder, while Tyler dropped to his knees.

"No… no that's… but I saved her egg!"

"I'm sorry son. But I'm afraid you didn't."

"Yuki… I…" Tyler slowly turned towards Yuki and their eyes met. "I…" Her sadness filled him in an instant. "I'm so sorry…" He choked out the words through a sob before lunging towards Yuki and holding her in his arms.

"I'M SO SORRY!" Tyler wailed into the ground, his eyes clenched shut but his tears still found a way through them. He'd failed her; he made her a promise, and he'd broken it. Yuki cried into Tyler's shoulder, her tears chilling him to the bone. He wept as she wept, the two of them collectively mourning the loss of their child. There was no other option left but to mourn. Those thugs in white must have taken the egg with them and disappeared into the nearby forest. They could be miles away by now and they'd have no way of finding them. Even by himself, the frustration and sadness he felt were anchoring him to the Earth. But with Yuki openly weeping for her lost child underneath his arms, he felt like he was drowning in her sadness.

And then amidst his personal emotional ocean, Tyler felt a force blow against him like a powerful wind. But this force wasn't contained to the pit of his stomach or bleeding out of his heart like the despair he and Yuki felt, Tyler literally felt this sensation blowing over his entire body. His eyes opened, blurred with his own tears as he felt the wave of wind wash over his body a second time, and a third as he looked up from Yuki. A fourth time and he saw the grass ripple beneath her body to his left blow into her. He felt something inside of him, another emotion that wasn't his own amidst the seas of sorrow surrounding his Glaceon. Rage; a razor-sharp, malevolent red rage that parted the disparaging blues in his and Yuki's world.

A fifth wave of this red rage crashed over Tyler and he turned to his left, and the chilling grip of fear rooted him in place from what he saw. Pulse, Wendy's Lucario, a Pokémon he'd known to be a calm and collected voice of reason was visibly shaking inside a thick coating of his manifested aura that burned like an intense flame. Reddish-purple wisps of his aura pulsed around him at a constant rate. But the most frightening thing about Pulse's state of being in Tyler's observation were his eyes. Pulse's eyes were a blood-soaked red, dilated and intensely focused. Tyler had never seen him like this before, and judging by the looks on everyone else's faces, neither had they. Even Wendy looked afraid, like she was looking at an entirely different Pokémon from the Lucario she'd known and loved for years. And then he looked towards Tyler, staring a hole clean through him.

"Move." Pulse's voice sounded ominous, more like a commandment than a suggestion. Tyler quickly obeyed, backing away from the Lucario as he took a step towards Yuki. His heart felt like it was in his throat as Pulse knelt beside his frosted princess and placed a paw on her side.

"Wuh-… What is he doing?" Tyler looked at Wendy with a nervous expression, but she just shook her head.

"I don't know, I've never seen him like this." Wendy tried to take a cautious step towards her Pokémon, but stopped as Pulse's aura began to surround Yuki's body as well. "P-pulse? What are-"

"I am finding our child!" His voice roared inside Tyler's head, the boy reflexively covering his ears at the loudness of his rage while Wendy flinched her own response. "You forget, Yuki's egg is not exclusively her own. And I will not sit idly by and watch everyone around me suffer in heartbreak when there is still a chance for our egg to be rescued."

"But Pulse, those thugs who took her egg could be miles from here by now."

"Their distance is of no consequence." Pulse bared his fangs with an irate scowl. "As long as I can still sense that egg's aura, I will track it down, and I will find it."

"Pulse you don't have to force yourself to-"

"I do not have time to argue with you master. This is something I must do."

"Papa Tom is on his way here. We can have the Rangers search for-"

"Master!" Pulse barked at Wendy and she flinched from his outburst. Silence hung between them momently as Pulse tried to restrain himself before speaking again. "This egg, it is not just Yuki's child and nor is it mine own. It is also yours and Sir Tyler's child. And without our egg, our family cannot be whole. That is why I must do this master. Now, if you will allow me the silence necessary to focus my aura, I will do what I must to reunite our family."

"R-right… I'm sorry." Wendy apologized as Pulse closed his eyes again. Yuki looked up at Pulse, a few tears still brimming up in her eyes. Yet even amid his intense focus, Pulse still found the time to brush them away with the back of his paw. Only the sound of the barn burning behind them was audible, and even that felt somehow distant as everyone's attention was squarely focused on Pulse. His aura completely enveloped Yuki as well, Tyler noticing that she seemed less tense as Pulse's presence enveloped her. Eventually, she closed her eyes too, and as she did their combined aura appeared more controlled and stable than the wild wisps that had radiated from Pulse earlier.

Suddenly Pulse's eyes opened and he spun on his heel, disappearing in the blink of an eye as he raced off towards the Riding family house. Tyler and Wendy started after him, thinking he'd found something, but his voice told them to stay put for a moment. They shared a quizzical look with each other, but obeyed as the Lucario rounded the edge of their house. A moment later they saw him returning towards them, albeit carrying something almost as big as him in his two paws lifted above his head. It was one of the daycare's ATVs. Tyler didn't notice his jaw had slackened in disbelief until Pulse placed the vehicle on the ground in front of all the humans, looking only slightly winded from his display of physical prowess.

"Sir Arthur, I would ask your permission to borrow-"

"Take it." Mr. Riding stopped Pulse with a raised hand. "Don't worry about us. We'll deal with the barn; you guys go find your kid."

"So… I'm guessing you've found a trail for us to follow?" The Lucario nodded at Tyler's question.

"Indeed, it is faint. But I have found a trail that leads into the forest." He now pointed towards the tree line beyond the barn.

"Then we can't afford to waste any more time, right Pulse?" Tyler watched as Wendy climbed onto the ATV and turned it on, the motor loudly roaring to life as a pair of headlights lit up like a beacon of white hope.

"What do you say Yuki?" Tyler asked his Glaceon as he mounted the ATV behind Wendy. "You ready to teach those bad guys what happens when my princess gets pissed off?"

"Glacie…" Yuki quietly stood up and looked at Tyler, Wendy, and Pulse. She still looked uncertain at them, but each of member of her family continued to show strength in their stare looking back at her. Their strength instilled confidence in her, and she shook the tears still clinging to her cheeks free, a look of motherly conviction in her eyes. "GLACEON!"

"That's my girl." Tyler cheered as Yuki hopped onto the ATV between Tyler and Wendy.

"Lead the way Pulse!" Pulse took off as Wendy revved the ATV's engine to life, as the four of them began the pursuit of their missing child.

A/N: Okay, another chapter in the books and this one makes 44. So, you may have noticed that by comparison to a lot of the chapters of late, this one is shorter. In fact, it's a lot shorter than what has been my normal chapter length. Well, the operative word phrase there is "has been". Since I've been getting back into actually reading stories on this site and others instead of just writing, I've been noticing that I personally don't enjoy reading lengthier chapters. And as I'm sure those of you who followed this story since the beginning know, I have a tendency to let my chapters balloon to... shall we say borderline obscene lengths at times. So, I'm trying to put a stop to that starting with this chapter. I hope to be shooting for around this length in the future. And who knows, it could be possible that this shorter length leads to me updating more frequently down the line. But at least I didn't make you guys wait more than a month for an update again right? Anywho, this is DrPhill26 signing out, wishing you guys all well and hoping that I'll get to see you again next time.

Tyler's Team: Magnus (Quilava, Male), Caelum (Staraptor, Male), Felix (Gligar, Male), Yuki (Glaceon, Female)

Wendy's Team: Pulse (Lucario, Male), Tess (Ampharos, Female), Yuri (Lilligant, Female), Flynt (Aron, Male)