SOUL

Soul opened his eyes and craned his neck to look over at the clock, It was already 3:30! He was still lying in bed with his arms around Sapphire, she looked so peaceful lying there in front of him, it seemed like a crime to wake her now. He slowly slipped his arms away from her only stopping when she stirred, slowly turning over onto her back. Soul silently tip-toed out of the room and into the kitchen to make his lunch for the day. He quietly made his way over to the front door and slipped out unnoticed. Once outside, Soul bolted towards Frieden, Gate B.

When Soul arrived at 3:58, he was gasping for air with his hands on his knees. He heard a voice sound from the gate.

"'Bout time you got here! Where the hell were you?" sneered Jackson, an old, less-than-attractive lucario that lived on the Sectatores side of the wall and always seemed to be trying to find something to get Soul fired from his job. He had a crooked scar spanning the length of his face and he had a missing a finger on his left hand.

"Mind your own damn business Jackson." Soul retorted. Jackson just glared back at him. Soul opened the door to his booth on his side of the opening as Jackson did on his side, Soul handled Pokémon coming from Sectatores into The Union and Jackson handled the ones going to Sectatores from The Union. As he sat down he sighed, getting ready for another long day. "Look alive Jackson! Here they come!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've been doing this job much longer than you have Soul!"

"Doesn't mean you're any less of an ignorant bastard." he mumbled under his breath. The first traveler approached, he was about Soul's age, early 20s, carried a suitcase, and was a geodude.

"Excuse me sir?" He asked, slightly offended.

"Oh, sorry. I was talking about my fool of a co-worker over there." Soul explained.

"I heard that!" called Jackson angrily.

"That was the point!" Soul shouted back, "Anyways, how may I help you sir on this fine morning?"

"Oh, uh, yes thank you, I am traveling over and would like to visit my father at 74 Taslers Ave. for 2 weeks." said the geodude.

"Alright, so I guess that answers the 'business or personal' question, if you would slide the case under the glass."

"Of course." he slid the suitcase over to Soul. Soul opened it only to find a book, a flashlight, a couple pens, a stack of papers, and a few miscellaneous items like paperclips and tape.

"Alright, you're clear to pass, make sure you check back with this gate when you return."

"Will do, and thanks again!" as he walked away Soul started to document where the geodude was going, his gender, and the amount of time he was spending there. Whilst Soul was distracted filling out the official papers he heard a commotion coming from Jackson's booth.

"Hey! Ya got to go through that booth first! You just can't go on and walk through here like ye own the place!" There was a hooded figure standing about ten feet away from Soul's booth facing The Union's side. "Well? You gonna say somethin' or are ya just stand there wastin' my time?" the figure started to walk toward the gate again, Jackson was out of his booth now and was walking up to the mystery Pokémon.

"Are you even listening to me? Ay, I'm talking to you!" Jackson reached out and grabbed the cloaked Pokémon's shoulder, its hood came down and revealed a young blaziken. The blaziken spun around and swung his arm so fast at Jackson, Soul had barely realized it happened. The blaziken's fist made contact with Jackson's jaw which sent him sprawling onto the ground, he took off his cloak that revealed a counting timer and a large bomb strapped to his chest.

The timer read 5 seconds.

"I'm out of time! Long live Sectatores!" screeched the blaziken, Souls eyes widened in horror, he dove behind his desk just as the deafening explosion shook the world around him. He felt a huge wave of scorching heat and debris fill his office and the 'indestructible' wall above him crumbled and collapsed on top of him.

"Sapphire..." he whispered before he was encased in a concrete tomb.