Rays of Light

by CJFANG

After the incident in Altomare, Latios and Latias, wait for Ash to come back. However, they find out they will do more than wait, after a special someone pays them a visit, which brings more characters and fun... and more chaos. Sequel to TRIGGER. DISCONTINUED

7. Intensity

"Black hearted evil

Brave hearted hero

I am, all I am, all I am!"

DB: Oy! Would you turn that down?

CJ: (turns off the stereo) What's got you so ticked? Isn't your work going okay?

DB: Almost. I just can't get this one scene to work and that song is not a match for the mood!

CJ: I thought...

DB: Ah ah ah! This is something you haven't seen yet! Just, do the intro, I need to get back to work.

CJ: (shrugs) Well, anyway, this is the next chapter for Rays, and that means more mysteries, more action, and more fun. Enjoy!

Chapter 6 Intensity

*Ahh...hahhh...ahh..hahhh...*

"Increase the sedative; this one's a fiery one."

"This is not the time for puns doctor. Number 81923 has survived its third battle while in its second stage of evolution. It has survived around thirty five battles by now; all of them were of different elements in the battle arena, excluding the Fire-type battle it just partook in."

"Yes, he's also fond of our friend, number 84714."

"Both of them are quite intriguing. Never have we ever acquried such powerful pokemon. 84714's genetic capabilities are far beyond what we can fathom doctor. In addition to 84174, 81923's flames are virtually unquenchable. He brought the other Fire-type test subjects to their knees with his own flames."

*Growl*

"Ah, 81923. How nice of you to join our little conversation."

*Grrrr*

"I'm sorry 81923, it's not time for your next battle. Go back to sleep."

*Whirr...KA-CHAK*

*Whine*

"Doctor, I'm very concerned about numbers 81923 and 84714. They are both strong enough to break free from our base of operations."

"Well, that is if they cooperate with each other of course. All we need to do is put them both in a cage and see who wins the battle."

"A cruel way to decide which is stronger, is it not?"

"Hah, cruel? Look at us my friend, we're nothing but scientists torturing pokemon and pitting them in battle. These two are no different."

"Yes doctor."

"Number 81923...the ultimate flame pokemon might just be born here in this lab. Maybe we should make our lives easier and give our friend a name."

"Doctor, last time we gave a pokemon a name, it died the next day. It's not lucky to give them names now."

"Ah, yes I remember our little Tyranitar. Sad, our whole team was very confident in that pokemon."

"Doctor, did you forget who it was that killed him?"

"How can I forget? The monster that tore him to shreds is lying on the table in front of me."

"These two specimens are growing stronger with every battle. Who knows what they'll be capable of later on?"

"Exactly why we should name them. Let's start with number 84714. Hmm...Let's see...Maria. Fitting for a female."

"And number 81923?"

"Number 81923...We shall call him-"

*ROOOAAAAR!*

"Doctor! The sedatives...!"

"Hmm...like a fire that can't be doused. Number 81923, can you hear me?"

*Grrrr*

"I'll take that as a yes. Number 81923, your name shall be..."

~!~

"Blaze?" asks Kara's voice. The Typhlosion groggily opens his eyes with a snorty growl.

"Ugh...what time is it?"

"You slept right through breakfast. It's almost lunchtime now," Kara answers, squatting down near him and gently poking at the Typhlosion with a harmless twig. "Never known you to sleep this late."

"Where's Ray?" Blaze asks while rolling over and standing up; Kara simply stands.

"He's sleeping; got back at around four in the morning. Now come on, I have something to tell you about our boy Ash Ketchum," Kara answers, tugging at the larger pokemon. The fiery pokemon stretches and yawns, slowly following the Lucario towards the entrance to Lorenzo's.

"What's the whole deal with that human anyway?"

"Well..." Kara pulls a folded up piece of paper from a pocket in her vest, unfolds it, then reads aloud; "Ash Ketchum, trainer from Pallet Town, involved in the incident with Mewtwo and Mew, chosen one of the Orange Islands where he met the three legendary birds plus Lugia. He also met one of the three 'dogs' as well as time traveled with Celebi, met the very two Guardians of Altomare...and also claims to have seen Ho-oh after starting his journey, but nobody's been able to confirm it."

Blaze's eyes widen. "Wait...what?"

"Its true, with his luck he might've even met Arceus one day had he not gone with that Cyphrus kid." Kara defends, "Also, we traced back his ancestry through a blood sample acquired while he was here. He's a descendent of Aaron," Kara finishes, folding the paper back up and putting it away.

"You mean The Aaron? Wait, hold up...he's the chosen one, a descendent of Aaron, sheesh he really could ha...what?" Blaze asks, noticing that Kara was starting to giggle.

"Our Ash boy is pretty important after all."

Blaze rubs at his temples and closes his eyes. "This is too much for my head take in after just waking up."

Kara rests a caring paw on the Fire-type's shoulder. "Go wash up, I'll talk to you after lunch." she smiles before leaping up to a nearby tree. "Oh! And Maria says hello!" she yells down before leaping over the wall of the garden and out of sight.

Blaze watches where she was and chuckles out a smile. "Haven't seen that firecracker in a while." he says to himself while walking over to the fountain.

'This place needs a lava pool and it'll be perfect! Though, that'd probably ruin the rest of the garden...' Blaze thought, glancing down at his reflection in the clean, clear water. He notices that his reflection changed itself into a frown.

"Like a fire that can't be doused huh?" He asks aloud.

"Of course, you were made that way 81923," says a voice echoing in his head. It sounds a lot like Blaze's, but seemed huskier... more dark.

"Shut up. I can never get rid of you can I?" Blaze asks aloud, knowing full well where and whose voice this was.

The dark voice releases a roaring laugh. "Very funny Blaze," it says, mocking his name, "I'm pretty surprised that you can actually resist most of my influence. Not bad for a weak runt like you."

Blaze refuses to be infuriated by his own voice; sighing and splashing cold water from the fountain into his face. He shivers as it seeps into his fur and runs down his body.

"Get out of my head Inferno."

"I'm never gonna leave your head, you're stuck with me for the rest of your life. Might as well hand over your wife to the real person that you are."

The water in Blaze's fur quickly evaporates as the Typhlosion growls and raises his body heat.

"You're not the real me. This is my body."

"Oh? Am I not? Now tell me, who kept you alive for this long? Who gave you your fighting reactions and instinct? Who helped you survive?" The voice roars.

Blaze clenches his fists, but quickly releases them and looks at the Soul Dew in the middle of the fountain. His eyes narrow.

"You may have given me power and instinct, but we wouldn't have gotten out of that lab without me. We wouldn't have survived at least half the battles without my mind and skill. Even the doctors said that our power was a power of two Typhlosion if not ten times that."

The voice releases a deep, angry growl.

"We wouldn't have made a friend like Maria, you wouldn't have been able to see the true beauty of what was outside that cage. Admit it Inferno, I am the true Typhlosion that is standing in front of this fountain."

A brief second passes before Blaze's reflection gives him a dark smirk and begins to laugh. It was still a Typhlosion, but seemed like an entirely different one...most notable were its sinister green eyes instead of Blaze's normal red ones.

"Listen to yourself, you got too soft. But I have to admit, you have a strong mind. I'll leave you at that Blaze. I'll be the beast under your skin; you know you can't live without me." The reflection stops laughing and gives Blaze a psychotic look, like it was ready to leap out of the fountain and cut him in two. "When the time comes, I'll assume my rightful place as the owner of this body my brother!"

Blaze bares his teeth and slashes through the water. "YOU ARE NOT MY BROTHER!"he roars while his back bursts into flame. He watches as the reflection re-appears, showing only the angry Typhlosion looming over the fountain. It takes him a second to realize what was happening and calm down; but his own reflection caused him to clench his teeth. Inferno was right, he couldn't live a day without him. In fact, the very reflection he was looking at looked more like-

Blaze tears his vision away and clutches his head.

'No. I am not like him. I'm different...

'...I've changed.'

Blaze relaxes his tense muscles and puts out his flames, then looks into his paws. For an instant, he could see them stained with blood and the garden replaced with a dark, gore-filled arena.

He quickly leans over and dunks his head into the cold waters of the fountain, holds still for a second or two, then resurfaces; telling himself the water running down his face was from the fountain and not his eyes.

He re-opens his eyes and looks at the Soul Dew, noting its perfect form and color. He gives it an envious stare before stomping off towards Lorenzo's, muttering "Lucky, I wish I was that pure," as he went.

~!~

"Ray? Ra-ay," Kara giggles while slipping under the blankets beside her snoring fiance. He groans while rolling onto his side; facing away from the canine. The sun, pouring in from the windows, shines off the snoring blue-and-white dragon.

"Just five more minutes..." he slurs in between his snores.

Kara grins and slips her arms around him, gently nibbling on his ear. He sputters a little while his snores become lighter, then shivers when Kara started to teasingly lick his ear too.

"Okay, okay... I'm up." Ray grumbles, his golden eyes forcing themselves halfway open.

Kara stops her antics and leans over to kiss his cheek.

"Morning..." His voice says in her head.

"Good morning," Kara thinks back. She lets go as the dragon swings his free wing and blows the blankets off them.

Ray floats out of the bed, deeply yawns and stretches a kink out of his neck.

"After you wash up, we can have lunch at Lorenzo's. See you soon," She says, smiling a toothy grin at him. The Lucario walks out of the room and the sound of the apartment door shutting is heard.

"That's the first time she's woken up before I have." Ray chuckles before floating to the sliding door, opening it and camouflaging himself before rocketing out of the apartment.

The edges of the city blur into a single mass as he flies away from the city he loves; becoming visible once he's over the open ocean. The Latios flips over before plunging into the water, spinning around and causing a small whirlpool to form before re-emerging. He gives a refreshed shout and flies above the clouds, flipping himself over to dry off in the sun and warm up.

"Ahh...this is better than a shower! Plenty off room to stretch out!" Ray says aloud, flipping over again once his underside was dry. He thinks about his words then laughs, "Then again, a shower with Kara isn't that bad either!"

He laughs a little more before flying back to Altomare, his body dissolving away into a faint haze and stomach growling for food.

~!~

"Thanks for letting me use your fireplace Mr. Lorenzo," Blaze says. He made sure that his fur was free of ash and small wood particles before climbing out of it.

"Oh it's no problem. You actually taught me how to clean a fire pokemon! We don't have many of them in Altomare!" Lorenzo laughs, watching the large pokemon exit the fireplace from a fire cleaning. Instead of washing their fur, which is incredibly uncomfortable and dangerous for some fire pokemon, they seek out a safe area when they can ignite themselves and burn away anything dirty on them. Fireplaces are a convenient place for them since they are already designed to handle fires.

"That's so cool," Josh remarks in his human form. He and his sister were eating inside today, disguising as humans.

Blaze smirks as he rests a paw on his plate and leaves it there for a minute. He then places a cold potato on the plate, grinning as the potato instantly cooks from all the heat that was radiating from it.

Once he makes sure his body cooled enough from the fire cleaning to be safe, he sits at the table and proceeds to start gnawing at his food.

"Careful Blaze, you might end up melting the plate one day," Ray says, walking in as a human.

The whole group converses about their previous days while eating, but Lucy was strangely quiet.

"Something wrong Lucy?" Ray asks. She looks up, then turns away.

"I have to ask you something after lunch Uncle Ray." The others all glance at Ray in verying degrees of seriousness. Ray shrugs it off.

"Okay, sure," Ray says, finishing off his own baked potato. He glances over to her plate and finds that she hadn't eaten anything...she hadn't even touched her silverware.

"You should probably eat, we're doing our first combat exercise today," Ray remarks.

"I'm not that hungry..."

Ray's eyes narrow as he gets up. He walks over and pulls her out of her chair. "Let's talk now," he says, only waiting for her to nod before leading her into the garden.

~!~

"Uncle Ray, is it possible to..." She stops, "meet someone in a dream like you'd meet them in real life?" Lucy asks, still in her human form as she and her uncle walk towards the Soul Dew.

Ray gives her a puzzled expression, "Want to give an example?"

Lucy puts her hands together. "W-well...last night, I had a dream that I met Ash. He looked older and was in some kind of armor. We hugged each other before he disappeared, but there was blood on his armor and when I woke up there was blood on my body," she explains.

Ray stops dead in his tracks, giving his niece a serious look. He grabs her hand and pulls her to the Soul Dew. After reaching in and touching it, he closes his eyes. "Did he look like this?"

The area around them warps out of view as they enter a sort of staticy form of sight-sharing. It took Lucy a few seconds to realize who she was looking at, but she finally recognizes Ash lying prone atop an abandoned building; firing his sniper rifle at whatever was below and out of sight. In a brief flash of lightening, his face becomes visible and confirms what Lucy guessed.

"Y-yes!" She exclaims, watching as kept firing his rifle. The vision ends and the garden returns; bringing back Ray and the Soul Dew.

He removes his hand from the water and looks back at his niece.

"Lucy, you've done something way more advanced than sight-sharing. You both physically met each other in your dreams."

Lucy's eyes grow wide. "You mean..."

Ray nods, "That blood that you had, it's proof of the exchange with Ash. That dream was more than a dream."

"But...does Ash know that?"

"Of course not!"

"Then...what do I do when I see him?"

"I don't know," Ray says as he walks up to his niece, then puts a hand on her head and playfully ruffles her hair. "But I'm sure you'll know." He smiles.

Lucy returns it, her bubbly personality quickly returning.

Ray feels something vibrate in his pocket and removes his communicator to find a text from Blaze waiting for him. He reads it as his expression quickly changes into one of concern.

It happened again. Permission to RTB?

Ray quickly hits reply and types the following message;

Permission granted. Say hi to Sara for me, get some rest.

A few seconds pass before he gets a reply.

Thanks. Will do.

"Uncle Ray? Who was that?" Lucy asks. Ray gives her a fake smirk,

"Blaze. He wants to check up on his wife, so I'm giving him the day off."

Lucy smiles, "Blaze is such a fun guy, I hope he can live here with us one day...will you live with us too Uncle Ray?"

Ray's smirk turns into a gentle smile. "Sure. Why not?" He asks, drawing her into a hug. The tender moment is interrupted when her stomach lets out a cranky growl.

"Go on, get something to eat." Ray laughs, letting go of a slightly pink Lucy. She turns around to leave, but glances back over her shoulder.

"Thanks Uncle Ray!" She exclaims before running towards the door, then flying along in her Latias form.

Ray's smile changes into a frown as he looks back at the Soul Dew, and changes into a Latios before reaching in and resting a clawed paw to it. His eyes start to glow as the orb shares what it saw this morning...just a Typhlosion talking to himself.

Ray shuts his eyes and retracts his paw. "I wonder when..." he mutters before shaking his head.

~!~

"JT!" DJ yells, pulling the trigger of his pistol. It recoiled, making the same noise its real counterpart would make. He shot a man with a shotgun, knocking him backwards. The man never met the floor though; he just disintegrated into blue pixels which faded away.

"Thanks DJ!" The younger boy yells back. JT would've taken a virtual shotgun blast to his back had DJ's reaction been any slower. The two were inside a factory/warehouse area, taking cover behind a cluster of empty oil barrels. The rest of their team was already taken out, along with every Houndour save Iris and Scar.

"Iris! Scar!" DJ bellows, "Get back here!" The two dogs end their torrent of fire on some Ariados, but wait to make sure the bugs vaporize into blue pixels before returning to their trainers. "We're out of ammo; we're counting on you two!"

Scar gave DJ a smirk, "You humans and your ammunition, you can count on us!" The two dogs howl a war-cry before lunging towards a Manectric.

"Come on DJ, let's grab some other guns," JT advises, getting a nod from his friend in agreement. DJ quickly scrambles out to where shotgun-man was and finds his weapon lying on the ground. He quickly picks up the weapon and checks the magazine; finding it fully loaded.

"Alright, we've got eight shells in here," DJ announces, sliding the magazine back in and pumping the shotgun. "This oughta give our Houndour some help." he finishes with a big grin, "We're back in business!"

JT grins as well and picks up an abandoned crowbar. He smacks it against his hand, finds it nice and sturdy, then rests it to his shoulder.

"What was the mission again?" DJ asks, getting ready to rush out with his pal.

"Survive as long as possible," JT replies, getting his buddy to nod.

"Oh yeah," He answers, popping up and pulling the trigger of the shotgun, smirking as the spread of bullets takes out two humans and a Raichu.

The smirk is short lived as one of the large garage doors lifts open to allow the next swarm of enemies in; another mix of pokemon and humans.

Iris and Scar return to their partners, growling at their new enemies.

"Oh give me a break!" DJ yells, firing off two more shots. Both are complete misses as the enemies dive for cover.

Scar bounds out from cover and lunges at a Spearow, sinking his teeth into the bird's neck. The small bird proves stubborn, however, as it manages to fly up into the air with the dog still hanging from it. The virtual humans take aim and shoot them both out of the sky.

"Scar!" DJ yells before gritting his teeth, "Bastards!" In a fit of rage, DJ fires off his remaining rounds into the crowd, taking out a few but one of his missed targets shoots back. DJ takes a bolt to the chest, grunts, and then dissolves into particles.

"Not good," JT says, ducking back behind the oil barrels. Iris leans up against him, listening to the cautiously approaching footsteps. At least the virtual enemies didn't know that he didn't have a firearm.

"What do we do now JT?" the pokemon nervously asks.

"Survive!" He yells, rushing to a nearby pipe and slamming it with the sharp end of his crowbar.

The humans and pokemon begin attacking the sudden, massive steam cloud; providing cover fire for the Glaceon and Persian that ran in. Pitiful whines from the cloud quickly follow as blue pixels come flying out.

Iris growls before launching a flamethrower out of the cloud; not aiming at all, but hoping she'd hit something. She glances over and, through the occasional break in the fog, can see JT looking for a better weapon.

"Hurry!" she exclaims, only to turn back and see a Luxray pounce on her then sink its teeth into her neck. She disappears a second later.

JT turns around in time to see his Houndour fall apart and the Luxray get shrouded in the fog. 'Great...those things have X-ray vision...' He nervously thinks. Luckily though, the enemy pokemon gave itself away by using Spark; a move that caused its body to glow with electricity.

The human rolls out of the way of the tackle, then swings his crowbar around and slams the creature in the back of its skull; destroying it instantly.

"Gotcha you sonuva-" JT's words end as a fuzzy feeling rushes over him. He accidentally rolled out of the fog and took several shots to his side; enough to 'kill' him. He tumbles forward, but instead of landing on hard concrete, he lands on something much softer. He blinks and groans a little before getting up; finding himself in the computer room.

The muscular man nods his head. "Not bad." He praises, ignoring the sore Porygon evolutions behind him. "You guys advanced to a higher level faster than I thought. We'll stop for lunch with this; good work."

The rest of the Hell Hounds, the name that DJ created for their gang, yelp and cheer for JT as they walk towards the door. "Nice crowbar action there," DJ says, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Finally, a human with courage," Scar sarcastically laughs.

"Good job JT," Iris happily says, nuzzling the side of his leg as the group heads for the elevator.

JT can only sheepishly laugh, "Aww, come on guys, I didn't do that great."

The Hell Hounds enter the elevator and hit the button to go back to the barracks. The whole group converses and laughs about both the highs of the survival match and the mistakes that were made.

The man in the operating room smirks at the closing elevator doors. "Just like you said M, they've got potential."

"Thanks for trusting me on the one Ed; you did well training them."

"No problem M, that's what I do. I'm thinking about letting 'em use live ammo in their next practice. So...what's for lunch?"

~!~

"Alright, before we go to sword practice, we'll need to learn and engage in close combat; both as human and pokemon." Ray instructs. His sheathed sword had its tip resting in the earth and his hands were resting on the end of its hilt; it looked more like a gentleman's cane than a weapon right now.

The two younger Latis and sitting in front of him as humans, both with a determined expression.

"Since you two will spend most of your time as humans outside of the garden, we'll spend today on human hand-to-hand combat skills. Okay, first off; you guys are going to run four times around the garden using that tree," he stops to gesture at the tree that they slept in last night, "as your lap marker. After four laps, come right back here, and I do not want to see either of you walk one step. Nothing but run."

The two nod and start running, but at a faster pace than Ray expected.

"I don't want either of you to stop, so go at a good pace!" he calls. The two slow down a little, and then have trouble with their legs.

"This is to get you used to human legs. Don't be surprised if your heart rate increases and your breathing gets more ragged." Ray explains, watching them go around the garden.

Kara approaches Ray from behind and stands beside him. "You're going to need my help for this, right?"

"Of course, I can't do this without a fighting pokemon to help. Besides, you know more about hand-to-hand combat than I do," Ray answers, not turning to look at her.

Eventually Josh and Lucy return, leaning over and grabbing their knees while breathing hard.

"Tired?" The two nod. "Good. It means that you guys were trying." Ray says, "Now I want you to lie down, but hold yourselves up off the ground."

The younger Latis take a second to catch their breath before doing what he says, but leaving either their bottoms or backs poking up into the air.

"Make your whole body flat. Move your feet back as far as they can go. Once they won't go any further, you're in the right position."

Lucy and Josh quickly correct themselves.

"Alrighty. Now, I want you guys to lower yourselves as close to the ground as you can without touching it. Then, push yourselves back up to this position. That's one push up."

The two do as he says and easily perform a push up.

"Good. Now I want you two to do twenty push-ups. Do them while looking at me; don't look elsewhere. Ready? Go."

Josh and Lucy begin doing their push ups, both going at their own speed. They do well at first, but around ten they start to struggle with continuing."

"Come on, you guys can push up you own body weight twenty times, can't you?" Ray asks, squatting down while looking at them.

After Lucy's twelfth push-up, she collapses onto the ground; her arms too tired to go on. Arm strength just isn't a Lati's forte.

"Come on Lucy, you can do it." Josh cheers, "Just a few more." He does all twenty and quickly lets himself fall into the grass. Lucy struggles back up and does one more before collapsing again.

"Well, for your first time you guys did better than I did. From now on however, you two will do simultaneously and in synch. If one of you falls or stops, both of you will start over from zero." Ray instructs, "You both need to learn to carry each other's burdens as siblings, understand?"

Josh and Lucy nod at him before standing up.

Ray gives a quick gesture at their clothes. "Change into something more fitting for combat practice before we continue."

The two look at each other before glowing brightly. After the light dies down, both are in much lighter clothes; Josh's vest and T-shirt changing into a black undershirt and his jeans into ocean-blue cargo pants. Lucy's white tank top remained, but her skirt morphed into a pair of red sweat pants.

Ray shrugs, "Better. Now, let's start with a simple punch." Kara and Ray face each other as Ray holds up a small, punching-bag like object. He nods and Kara nails it perfectly center with a single blow."

"See how she's putting her whole body into it?" Ray asks as Kara slams the target again, "She brings back her fist, then hits the target. This is the usual punch and is sure to help out a lot. With enough momentum or built-up strength, you can knock someone out with just one punch and end a fight before it can even start." He explains before picking up another target and tossing it to Kara.

"Now, hit the target with your right five times, then switch to your left and repeat. Grazing blows don't count; you've got to hit it at least somewhat dead-on. Josh, you're with me; Lucy you work with Kara."

Josh nods before bringing back his hand and slamming the target with all he had.

"Good," Ray praises, "But watch your balance. You put too much energy into your fist, and you'll stumble forward and become vulnerable to a counter."

Meanwhile Lucy reared back her fist before throwing it, but barely hits.

"Lucy, make sure you hit the target dead on," Kara gently corrects, "A strong blow that misses is morse than weak one that hits."

"Oh, forgot to mention; make sure you exhale a little while you punch. It's to expel energy through your body and into your attack," Ray adds. "Now, let's try this again!"

Josh and Lucy use their new advice and well and quickly begin throwing master punches. Gradually they move to kicks, then elbows, knees, and many others over the course of an hour.

Kara nods once the two are at a satisfactory level, and stop their training. "Okay, now. You guys are going to memorize a form that I created." Kara explains, "It's a simple set of six repeating moves. Just watch me and do what I do."

Ray seems to grin as he holds his target in front of the pokemon. She punches the dummy with her left hand, then her right, and then spins around to roundhouse kick it with her right leg. Just after hitting the target with her foot, she stops and brings it back across; striking the target again. The second Kara's right foot touches the ground, her left one springs up and does the same that its partner did.

Kara stops the shaking target before performing the same combo again; this time going a little slower so Josh and Lucy can easily see it.

"Easy, you guys will know this by heart after ten minutes." Kara says, stopping her demonstration.

The two take turns giving Kara's combo a go; quickly understanding just how to balance their body and control their blows so they don't topple over.

"We have fast learners," Kara whispers to Ray, watching as Lucy perfectly mimics her soon-to-be aunt.

"I know. They've already exceeded my expectations. We have a gifted niece and a gifted nephew in front of us," Ray replies, smiling.

~!~

"This is Shadohm. We've gathered near the crime scene investigation building." The small cloaked figure says into his communicator. "Standing by to engage."

"Good. After this, we can blame the other authority branches and cause chaos throughout the Altomarian government. This shouldn't be too difficult; our investigators will help point the blame. Just remember to make it look like official pokemon did the work. You are given permission to proceed."

The small figure puts his communicator away and nods to another cloaked FUZE member. He returns the nod before lowering his head. The group of FUZE members fades into hazes and reappears on the roof of a nearby building. Some of them lower their heads to look through the skylight at the men and women inside.

"Almost seems like a waste, doesn't it?" Shadohm asks, "Ready Ephesus?"

The hooded man beside him, and easily the biggest in the group, pounds his fists together.

"I thought you knew me better than that." He laughs before punching through the glass and leaping in. His sheer bulk lands on and crushes a table; the shockwave knocking away several officers.

As he charges off to deliver a crippling blow to another officer, the rest of the FUZE agents land inside. One quickly runs off to fulfill his assignment, and Shadohm notices an officer training a pistol on the fleeing FUZE agent. A Thunderbolt erupts from beneath his hood and slams the man into a wall; reducing him to a crumpled, twitching mass.

Another hooded figure beside Shadohm quickly rushes toward another officer and slashes him with the sharp blades attached to the sides of his cloak sleeves. The man screams before falling to the floor, bleeding from the single gash across his chest.

One of the officers tries using a baton, but another large FUZE member rips it from his hand and beats him to death with his own weapon. Within seconds the crowd of officers falls to various injuries; burns, shocks, broken bones, or slash marks.

Once satisfied with the level of damage in the room; they all charge down another hallway, meeting up with the one who left before.

"Mission accomplished?" Shadohm asks, leading the charge down the hallway.

The figure nods, "The security feed to that room was erased and the guards there won't remember a thing."

Shadohm nods before blasting a Thunderbolt down the hall and blowing apart the door in their way. The group of seven barge into the CSI-head's office; finding him pinned to the wall behind one of the doors.

Shadohm walks over to the bald man, watching him look on in terror.

"Y-you're-!"

"Your worst nightmare," Shadohm finishes, extending a hand from beneath his cloak and forming a Shadow Ball in its palm.

"Sweet dreams."

~!~

Two hours after the first lesson...

"Hyah!" Josh yells throwing out a punch. Lucy quickly steps back and forms and 'X' with both of her arms; catching Josh's fist in the crook of the 'X'.

She quickly pushes his arm up to the sky, then retracts her arms and nails Josh in the gut while he was open.

Josh gasps as the wind gets knocked out of him, the groans as Lucy roundhouses Josh in the face and knocks him on his side. He quickly springs back up as Lucy throws another roundhouse kick; but this time he grabs her leg and gives her a tug, knocking the girl off balance. To finish his counter, Josh slams the top of his head into the bottom of her jaw.

Lucy stumbles back, dizzy from the hit but unharmed. "You alright sis?" Josh asks; walking over in concern for his sister. She quickly answers with a punch to the face.

He falls backward and groans, then laughs as Lucy topples forward and lands on him. "Better than ever big brother," she laughs before rolling off him; both gasping for air.

"Alright you two, that's enough sparring." Ray laughs, placing his hands behind his head. They look up and find clouds gathering. "Huh, looks like it's going to rain for once."

Kara glances up too, from her spot beside one of the ponds.

"Before the rain starts, I want you two to have one more fight." Ray instructs.

Josh and Lucy nod before getting up and into a fighting stance, facing each other.

Ray smirks, "But this time, I want you guys to work together and try stopping me."

The two looks over at him, watching as he tosses his sword to Kara, who catches it perfectly without so much as a flinch, and then he grins and cracks his knuckles.

"Bring it you two."

Josh and Lucy both spin to face Ray and wait for him to drop into his stance before they charge. Lucy aiming for his head with a side-kick and Josh going for Ray's side with a roundhouse

Ray doesn't so much as blink as he blocks both attacks; his right hand grabbing Lucy's sneaker and left hand clasping Josh's ankle. Even though his arms were crossed, Ray still summons all of his strength with a yell and pulls both younger fighters towards each other.

They only avoid a collision when Lucy manages to flip herself above Josh; but the two are still sent flying away as Ray quickly changes into a throw. Lucy goes crashing to the ground, but Josh manages to roll and not only absorb the energy, but land in a crouching stance.

Once his balance returns, Josh runs up to and throws a punch at Ray; who dodges by simply leaning backwards. Josh's second blow is caught by Ray, and with a twist of the older Latios' torso; Josh gets thrown again, this time at his sister.

Lucy, who had just gotten to her feet, manages to catch Josh and help him upright; but can't react in time when they see Ray in the air just above them; swinging his legs around for a drop-kick.

The two younger dragons are both knocked to their backs, and unable to do anything as Ray lands on his hands, cushions his landing by bending his arms, then springing back up and landing just above their heads.

He reaches back and grabs them both by their shirts, then tosses them in separate directions again with another yell.

Josh and Lucy groan a little as they stand up; watching Ray cross his arms and smirk. "Come on you two, you can do better than that!"

The two, in annoyance, rush forward with fists reared back. Ray steps out of the way and listens to the crack that rings out when their fists connect.

The two stagger back with a yelp, shaking their hands as they throb in pain.

Ray laughs, "Alright. That's enough for today. Next time, I want you two to actually hit me! I need to make a call, I'll be right back." Ray walks off, leaving his relatives to scowl and fume at their uncle.

Kara giggles, "He's just having fun with you two; keep practicing so you can give him a real good time." The two huff as they walk over to the pond and dip their hands in, sighing as the cold water numbs their pain.

"He's good," Josh mutters.

"Be glad it wasn't me. He's not even a fighting-type." Kara remarks, gently smiling down at the two. "You two will get tough enough to beat him, someday."

Ray, in the shade of a tree, dials a number on his communicator and holds it to his ear. "Ed?" he asks, making sure he put the number in right. "Hey, what's up? Got your notice." he asks, rotating his free shoulder.

"It's the progress on your little pups in a cardboard box you brought in," Ed's gruff voice croaks in reply.

Ray lets out a wavering laugh. "How'd they do?"

"Well, they're no longer pups in a cardboard box."

"Statistics?"

"Ten simulations, law enforcement level. They've already graduated to live ammo simulations."

"Already?" he shouts, earning a strange look from the others. He took no notice, mostly because his back was turned.

"Yeah, when M said they had potential, he wasn't kidding. They survived for twenty minutes in the warehouse survival trial."

"That's pretty good," Ray remarks, leaning against the tree he was standing under.

"No shit; they just came in two days ago for Pete's sake. Then again, they're all pretty tight with their pokemon. Plus the alpha male is one good battle away from evolving according to the com-eh, Metagross."

"Jees, quite an achievement for street rats," Ray says, putting his free hand in his pocket and half-listening to Kara giving the fledglings a few battle tips. "Any info on 'em?"

"Let's see...Jay Taylor and Daniel James. Couldn't get any background on those two or any of them. The alpha male, Scar, and the only female, Iris, are the two real powerhouses of the pack. Those four are the key players of the Hell Hounds so far; watching each other's backs pretty well, but also able to co-op with the rest of their team just as effectively. Get the whole bunch together, and I won't be surprised if they're our next 'all-trades' squad...just the key four, and we've got a small group that can do a lot of damage."

"I see; looks like I did well. Anything else?"

Ed seems to laugh, "We had meatloaf for lunch."

Ray returns the laugh and smirks before ending the call and putting his communicator away. He turns to find the others watching him.

"What now Uncle Ray?" she asks.

Ray smiles, "You both have had enough of me for today, come back tomorrow if you want another shot. Now we move on to the fun stuff; swords." Out of thin air, three swords flash into existence and clatter to their feet; mush to Josh and Lucy's surprise.

"Come on, get up. Let's not waste time, I feel a storm coming," Ray urges, walking back to the group. "Since I doubt you two have even held a sword before, let alone use one, we'll use the steel training swords for now. They're more like clubs instead of swords; hit yourselves with them and it'll hurt, but you won't cut yourself."

Ray stops and looks down at the swords, "Lucy, you've got the twins; Josh the loner. They may not be real, but you've still got to treat them with respect."

Josh is the first to retrieve his sword, its blade in the shape of large scimitar and heavy with dense metal. He gulps while grabbing the hilt with his second hand to help handle the weight; noticing that it and the guard looked similar to a katana, only much larger to match the blade. "Heavy enough?" he rhetorically asks.

"Uhm...Uncle Ray?" Lucy asks, getting him to turn.

"Yea?"

"Are my swords...supposed to be like this?" Lucy asks, gesturing at her bizarre looking swords. They both had a long, slender blade, but there was a hook up at the end. Resting in the butt of the hilt is a small blunt spike and the guard over her hands is another, much smaller blade that had a hook at both ends.

"Yep. Now listen carefully; each Lati in our families had a certain specialty in swordsmanship. Ralph's was power; no other Lati could match his strength and no shield could stop his blade. Ruby's specialty was defense; no attack could past her dexterity. Josh, Lucy, these swords are exact duplicates of your swords; only with blunt blades so, like I said, you don't accidentally cut yourselves. I'm going to teach you both everything I know about your respective blades, after that, you two are on your own."

Ray lets a blunt duplicate of his katana appear in mid-air and takes it by the hilt.

"What's your specialty Uncle Ray?" Lucy asks, holding her swords so their hooks rested on the ground and crossed at her knees; already looking like a pro. Josh, instead of letting his heavy sword hang, rests it against his shoulder.

"Me?" Ray smirks, resting his sword to his shoulder as well, "I have the specialty that determines the outcome of all battles; speed."

The two gulp, feeling anxious once again.

"If you two think you can take me on later, I always accept friendly challenges." Ray says, giving them a grin Kara would be proud of. "As for now, you've gotta learn how to use them. Kara, you teach Lucy; Josh, you're with me."

The Lucario nods before leading Lucy to another spot that was a safe distance away from the guys.

"Alright, Ralph's sword is heavy; but you've gotta learn how to swing it as fast as possible. Here," Ray gently guides Josh into the proper stance; one foot slightly ahead of his body and one foot slightly behind, and his arms spread so they wouldn't cramp, but still balancing the heavy blade.

"Take a step forward when you cut down. This sword is meant to slash, not stab, so only stab if you have to. Oh, and I want you to try left-to-right and right-to-left slashes. Bring your arm back so the blade starts at an ear, then slash diagonally; start at the left ear for a left-to-right and vice versa." Ray explains, watching as Josh does a simple downward cut, but almost sends the weapon into the grass.

"Whenever you attack, you need to step forward. Stay stationary and all that force is either going to damage your wrist or toss the blade from your hands."

Josh nods before trying the down-cut again; this time stepping forward. Unlike before, the blade cooperates much better this time and doesn't try wrenching itself free. He goes on to bring the swords to his left ear and swing diagonally, stepping forward again.

Ray stops him before he could try again. "That was good, but keep an eye on where your legs are. You've gotta make sure that your forward leg is aligned with the same ear you start with; otherwise you risk having the blade slip and losing part of your foot."

Josh cringes a little at the thought of slicing off part of his own foot, but still nods and takes the correction into account while trying again; doing it perfectly.

Ray nods in approval. "You've got the hang of this already; but then again, it's natural for us since sword bearing is in our blood. Try a rising cut; where you start with the blade at your hip and slash diagonally upwards. The sword's heavy, so it won't be easy, but try it!"

Again Josh does as he was told.

"Oh, right, for up cuts you need to keep your footing opposite that of downward cuts. Put the blade at the hip of the leg that is behind you when you cut upwards; if the blade slips out of your grasp, it just fly over your forward foot and miss."

"Like this?" Josh asks, doing it perfectly.

"Yup. Now do a left-to-right slash, right-to-left slash, downward frontal slash, left-to-right up cut, right-to-left up cut, and finish with another downward frontal."

Ray watches him do it once, then turns and heads over to Kara and Lucy.

"Kara, you mind helping out Josh?"

Kara give him a toothy grin. "Of course." she replies, heading towards the young man.

Ray turns to Lucy. "Alright, these swords...well...they're unique; I might not be able to help you out as much as I can with Josh." he admits, walking behind her and gently resting his chin on her head and his arms over hers. "But I do know that these are the basics for them." he finishes, gently guiding her through the various slashes.

"Just like Josh, watch your footing on the vertical cuts, or you'll hit yourself!" Ray adds, stepping away as she mimics what he led her through.

His face turns a little disappointed, and he forms two practice daggers in his hands. She stops as he quickly leaps forward, slips his daggers into the hooks at the end of the blades, and pulls; sending the weapons clanging into the grass behind him.

Lucy gulps, "Sorry Uncle Ray!"

Ray didn't say anything at first, letting his daggers vanish and levitating the swords back to her. "If you hold them gingerly, they're gonna get taken away and used against you." he explains, letting her grab them again. "But don't hold onto them so tight your knuckles turn white. Hold the hilts like you would an umbrella on a breezy day; tight enough to keep it from blowing away, but not so tight that your hands start hurting."

Lucy nods before getting back into a comfortable stance and starting to slash at the air again.

Ray nods, much more pleased this time around. He turns around to see a scene that really made him smile; Josh already using his slashes lik a pro, cutting and dodging invisible opponents while easily moving around.

Kara was watching him with her arms crossed and pleased grin on her face. She glances back at them and finds Lucy beautifully swinging her swords in a dance behind Ray's back.

Kara and Ray's eyes meet and the both nod before turning back to their students.

"Jeez Lucy," Ray laughs, seeing how easily her blades moved around, "You look like you've held these swords before."

Lucy stops and looks at her hands, "Y-yeah, it does now that you mention it... it's weird."

Ray chuckles, re-forming his daggers and getting into a combat stance; the left blade held upside down while the right is right side up. "Well, in that case, get ready for your first practice fight!" he exclaims, grinning as she drops into a stance as well, "Bring it niece!"

~!~

"Hey Josh," Kara says to the Latios in disguise. The boy stops and curiously looks as his soon to be aunt.

"Yeah?"

"Get ready, you're going to get your first swords sparring session!"

Josh give her the raised eyebrow treatment as her arms fall to her sides and she stretch a kink from her neck.

"Aunt Kara?"

"Hmm?"

"Who am I fighting?"

Kara gives him a toothy grin before pointing a paw at herself.

"Who else?"

For the first time, Josh gives her a confident smirk, "Okay." His smirk fades away when he realized that Kara was lacking one important thing... a weapon.

"Uh, you don't have a sword..."

Kara rubs her paws together before giving him a determined look. "Or do I?" She slyly asks, extending an arm forward, holding her palm to the sky.

Josh looks on in interest as a blue aura flame appears in her hand, then in surprise as it condenses into a small blue rod; just long enough to qualify as a hilt.

Kara spins the item to aim it at the ground and from the free end a large guard suddenly grows from the rod. Then out of the guard erupts a massive blade, incredibly long and wide; it almost dwarfed his own sword.

The new weapon smolders with aura flames for a few seconds before it settles down and Kara grabs the hilt with her second hand. She gives the massive, blunt great-sword a few swings before giggling and resting it on her shoulder.

Josh's mouth dangles open at how easily Kara made and swung the massive weapon; the blade had to be at least half her height.

Kara laughs at his expression and hefts the blue sword off her shoulder, easily getting into a stance. "Come on; let's see if you have the talent to stop this!"

~!~

"Cease fire! Cease fire!"

The gang members stopped firing their handguns and look at their work. They were in the shooting range, firing a various human-shaped and pokemon-shaped targets. Unlike their earlier training, this time the guns were real and the rounds live.

Ed gives the rag-tag team a smirk. "One hundred percent of the targets hit, eightieth percentile for bulls-eyes...great job. We're moving on to shotguns, but I'm giving you all a few minutes' break." He says, tromping off to retrieve the larger weapons.

"Best shooter!" DJ proclaims, patting the back of a boy smaller than him. The smaller boy smiles and waves it off before setting his gun down and starting to chat about the target practice.

From the pokemon end of the range, a Houndoom watches the humans in between spouts of Flamethrower. "These humans never cease to amaze me."

"I can agree with you on that," another Houndoom says, trotting next to him right before spitting out a Fire Blast and obliterating six targets at once.

"Hmm, not bad Iris," The first Houndoom says.

"You aren't so bad yourself Scar," Iris compliments before nuzzling him. She glances back at the rest of her pack, her pride surging at the newly evolved Houndooms. The rest were practicing their physical attacks, using their fangs, claws, and even tails to destory the target dummies.

"Our pack has grown stronger since that other Alpha has been left behind. That swine was no good for us," Scar growls, remembering what the former Houndoom did to all of them.

Iris gently licks his cheek, even as he bares his fangs. "Scar, relax. He is long gone now; let us not remember the pain he has put us all through."

"I can not relax! If he was strong enough to subdue our pack to such a weak state, what is he going to be like when we face him later?" Scar exclaims before growling again, this time keeping his teeth hidden. "As the new Alpha, I can not let our pack be reduced to such a state ever again!" He barks before frying a pop-up dummy with a Flamethrower.

"You won't. You have earned the trust of our pack; we are more than willing to follow your orders. Now stand strong as Alpha and lead our pack to a brighter future!" Iris exclaims before releasing a Flamethrower of her own. It wasn't quite as strong as Scar's, but it still smashed the targets it collided with.

Scar breathes out a cloud of smoke before giving a faint, hurt growl. "It is survival of the fittest, when I grow weak, cut me off."

Iris puffs out her own smoke before rubbing her muzzle against his neck. "Scar, no matter what happens; you will still be our leader and you will still be my mate."

Scar gives her a gentle lick and rests the side of his head against hers. "Thank you."

"Whoa Scar, didn't think you'd be that close to Iris."

Scar turns and scowls at his human counterpart. It seems as if they had another successful firing run; they all had confident smiles on their faces. Scar didn't even seem offended, actually taking pride in his mate. "Human, you have no idea."

JT punches DJ in the shoulder, "Aw knock it off DJ; you're just jealous that you don't have a girlfriend yourself." Dj returns the punch and smirks at his friend.

Scar and Iris watch the humans gather. 'These humans and my pack...we have grown quite the bond.' Scar thinks to himself. Iris seems to pick up on his thoughts, and gently leans against him.

"Scar... are you jealous of these humans?"

Scar quickly turns to her and barks, "No!" Iris quietly giggles, getting Scar to sigh. "I am..." he admits.

"Come on you two!" JT shouts, snapping up their attention. "We get our first mission today!" The two Houndoom quickly bound after them.

Like so many times before, M's voice rings out once they board the elevator.

"Well, well, it looks like you all are ready to get out on the battlefield already. I knew you all had something special. You'll be redeployed into Altomare, we think we have a gang that is holding off against the Altomarian Authorities and FUZE. You belong to LANCE now, whether you and them were rival gangs does not matter. FUZE has been stepping up their law enforcement since this morning; I want you to find this gang and bring them back to us, make sure you fend off any FUZE agents that attempt to take them. Remember, you are undercover LANCE agents, so do not mention LANCE until you have retrieved them."

The team listens with anticipation, watching the doors close by themselves and the button for the highest floor press itself. "A team of Psychic pokemon is ready to transport you to Altomare. I'm going to have one of my best agents with you. Good luck to you all, and try not to make a mess."

The elevator arrives at its destination soon after that, once again revealing another gigantic room; big enough to stack half an Onix on top of another. Dominating the room is a hologram of the whole world, with various blinking dots of either red or green. Extending from each dot is a small thread of light that connects to one or several floating screens; each one displaying the statistics and mission of whatever LANCE agent is at the corresponding point.

The rest of the room is stark white metal. Lining the walls on both sides are slightly elevated hexagons; each of which is accompanied by a fully evolved Psychic-type and a small computer console. Every now and then, a combination of humans and pokemon would appear on one of the hexagons and depart down a door at the other end or would bustle past the new members, step on one of the hexagons, and get teleported away.

Out of one of the hexagons emerges a large Typhlosion, who gives a thank-you to the Gardevoir that teleported him back to base. He gives the gang a toothy grin before pushing past and into the elevator they used.

"Dang, he's scary." JT says, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

DJ chuckles, "We're lucky to have him here on our side." He turns back to the room and finds an Eevee sitting in front of them.

"Who's this little guy?" JT asks.

The Eevee immediately glares at him. "Little? Guy?" The Eevee snorts, fuming at the crowd "I happen to be a 'she' thank you very much!"

"Are you supposed to be-" One gang member gets cut off by the small Eevee.

"The agent M was talking about? Yup!" The Eevee chirps, giving them a small smile.

The Houndoom aren't impressed. "A small one like you is supposed to be one of his best?" Scar snorts.

Iris gives him a scolding look. "Scar please."

"Would you stop mocking my height?" The Eevee shouts, giving the larger pokemon a death-glare. Scar scowls back but doesn't say anything. "So you're Scar, fitting." She says, sticking a tongue out before turning to the female dog. "Iris? His mate? Nice to meet you, you're a lot more polite than your husband."

Iris gives her a devilish grin. "Yes, but I also have my limits."

The Eevee doesn't even seem to hear her words, instead turning around and leading them towards the same Gardevoir that let Blaze into the base.

The Gardevoir notices the feisty Normal-type and smiles, "If you're looking for Blaze, you just missed him."

"Oh no, I'm helping out a bunch of juvies with a mission." she says, gesturing towards the crowd behind her. "Wanna fill me in, operator?"

The Gardevoir points at one of the lights on the world hologram, a red one near the coast of some landmass. "You're going to Altomare, also known as the floating city. You should be able to work well there," she says, quickly typing something into her computer. "DJ? Since this is your gang's first mission, you'll need these."

Her eyes glow before several ear-buds materialize from nowhere and fly into the ears of both human and Houndoom. "These communicators will keep you in contact with me during your mission; should you require any information at all, or need to relay information back, you'll use these. Now then..." she trails off while the team assembles on the hexagon. "This is a simple recovery mission. The gang you've been assigned to escort back here was last seen in the warehouses near the south end of Altomare. Just find them and bring 'em back here. Be on the alert though; FUZE is already there."

"So find the kids, bring 'em back here, and whip the ass of any FUZE guys that get in the way." DJ paraphrases, "Simple enough."

The Gardevoir nods, "You'll be arriving at a temporary LANCE mini-HQ about a mile away and receive directions there...now get ready...don't leave the platform!"

Before any of them could get transported, JT speaks up, "Wait, what's your name?"

It takes a few seconds before the Eevee realizes he asked her. "Me? Oh!" She smiles and cutely cocks her head, "I'm Maria!"

~!~

Blaze's footsteps echo in the hallway as he walks up to the door that led to his own room in the LANCE base. He never was very stealthy, if only because he's so massive.

"Sara?" Blaze asks white entering, looking around and finding a slightly smaller Typhlosion on the couch. She turns her head from the TV that was displaying the news, smiling as she watches her mate come to her.

"Blaze, I missed you," Sara says letting Blaze sit next to her on the couch in front of a large TV.

"I missed you too," Blaze says as he nuzzles her mate before kissing the soft fur on her maw. Sara shifts herself so she comfortably fits into his arms. Blaze laughs at the look of themselves; he was holding his mate while she held their most precious thing in the world, their egg.

Blaze was at a loss for words as he watches his wife look up at him with ocean blue eyes that slightly calmed the very fire that was brewing inside him.

"So, why did you leave your mission?" Sara asked, tilting her head.

"Ray told me to take a break for a day so I can spend more time with you," Blaze smiles.

"Blaze, is there something wrong?"

Blaze immediately raises an eyebrow, "What?"

"You look troubled," Sara said.

Blaze sighed; one thing that ticked him off was that Sara was so good at figuring him out. "It happened again."

Sara tilts her head and sighs before nuzzling him. "Another tough day? Well, they're getting less frequent at least, so that's good."

Blaze nods, wrapping his paws around her hips. "Yeah, I guess…"

Sara could sense that he still wasn't relaxing. "Blaze, don't worry so much, I hate seeing you like this." She licks his face, calming Blaze even further.

"I'm sorry," Blaze felt the words leave his mouth.

Sara nuzzles him a little more, "It's not your fault. Now come on, let's just sit back and relax." Blaze lets his eyelids droop, tunnel visioning his sight on her and their egg. "I love you so much."

Sara smiles, running a paw down the side of the egg. "I can't say how much I love you Blaze…"

Blaze places a paw on the same paw that was on the egg, filling in the spaces between her fingers. A large blare from the TV ruins their moment, causing them to turn towards the sound with a scowl. Both of them growl, but were interested as an Altomarian reporter was in front of a law enforcement building.

"This is breaking news! The chief of the CSI branch has been murdered along with all of the officers inside! Their pokemon were never released from their pokeballs, therefore unable to help the CSI members. FUZE is now conducting a full investigation, and they have already found suspects. It has turned out that the SPAHT, or Specialized Pokemon and Human Team, has been behind all of the killings of the incident that happened not so long ago! Here is Sadie with a close up on the FUZE ambassador..."

Blaze widens his eyes, Sara looked up at Blaze.

"Isn't Altomare where you've been working?"

Blaze nodded, "Yeah."

The image changes to show a woman with short black hair and golden eyes standing on a podium, garbed in a tight-navy blue office suit and skirt, complete with a tie that was an unsettling blood red. Her hair hugged her head, and her golden eyes seemed to pierce throuhg the TV and into the Typhlosions' very being.

Blaze narrowed his eyes at his first look at the ambassador from the organization that they've been eyeing closely. An unnerving woman for an unnerving group.

She wraps long fingers around the edge of the podium and gives the gathered, off-camera crowd a grave look.

"It is such a shame; I don't know why noble men, women, and pokemon would attack their own fellow partners in the branch of Crime Scene Investigations. Since the loss of the CSI was so great, the mayor himself has asked me to temporarily take over for them as of now. I am greatly sorry for your loss; I will do my best along with other Altomarian Authorities to bring the ones responsible to justice!" The woman nodded her head as the crowd replies with applause. She walks off, her heels causing a faint almost arrogant clicking noise as she walked, and is replaced by a tall, broad-shouldered man whose also dressed in a fancy suit and tie; pitch-black and blood-red his color choice.

"Sir, what do you have in explanation for this?" some unseen reporter asks.

"We've received a possible explanation for this event. It seems as if SPAHT forces were afraid that FUZE would take over their position and were greatly jealous of the CSI branch for working so closely to FUZE. In an effort to fend away FUZE, they murdered their own comrades."

Blaze raised an eyebrow, "This doesn't make any sense…" Sara frowns.

The camera pans back to the reporter, "Not only that, but it is truly evident that SPAHT forces did this, various pokemon attacks and bullet markings of the SPAHT standard issued caliber were found. Here is the list of men and pokemon who committed such atrocity-" Blaze turns the TV off while shaking his head. Sara looks up at Blaze, her expression was asking for an explanation.

"Your guess is as good as mine about this stuff, I'm not that involved in this." Sara let out a sigh, heating up the air around them in the process.

"Okay…" Blaze puts muzzle next to her ear before speaking with a calm low voice, "Don't worry about it; it'll all change once I get back there."

Sara giggles, "If you say so, but don't over do it okay?"

Blaze smiles, softly fondling her ear with his tongue. A pinch of red revealed itself under the nicely groomed fur of Sara. She put her paws on those of her lover and gives a pleading look.

"Alright, beautiful." He grunts, letting his paws slid off of her hips so she could get up. After her, Blaze stands and walks over to their bed. The living quarters they were given were a small, studio-style apartment; that is only one room. He yawns and lies down, pulling the fireproof blanket over him.

"Wanna come in? It's kind of lonely in here."

Sara smiles before picking up their egg and walks over to slip under their blanket. Even though the cloth wasn't necessary to keep their heat in, they still wanted to have the privacy of the blanket covering them. Blaze rolls to his side, putting an arm around Sara as she lies down next to him on her side also.

She extends her paw, stroking the side of his face. Blaze notices that their egg was between them, so he didn't really mind when Sara's paw went to their egg to cradle it in her arms. This time, Blaze moves his paw out from under the blanket and softly caresses his mate's face.

"That's more like it…" His eyes drooped before falling to sleep in a matter of seconds. His paw slipped down to hug the egg also, smiling in his sleep. Sara smiles also, a small tear of joy formed at her eyes.

"Blaze…" She says his name before kissing her mate.

The natural body heat of the two warms up the bed really fast, causing Sara to fall comfortably into a deep sleep with her husband.

~!~

"Shh!" A boy wearing a baseball hat, a large sweater, and jeans puts a finger to his lips, motioning to his fellow gang members; all wearing an identical black hat. Each had a pistol, and the lot of them are hiding against the walls of a warehouse. Various pokemon are hiding with them, all different types.

"Dammit, we're cornered dude!" One guy hissed. A Manectric was releasing a low growl right next to him.

"Shut up! I hear something…" The boy closest to the door puts an ear to it, furrowing his brow.

"I think they're-" He was cut off as a strange grey arm punches clean through the brick wall next to the door; knocking open a hole that blinds the group with fresh sunlight.

By the time their vision returns, half-a-dozen FUZE men are standing between them and the exit. The arm is now holding the unfortunate teen in the air and is connected to an absolutely massive person. The captive is a tall six-foot-two, but was barely two-thirds the height of the giant holding him in the air.

The young man frantically kicks at the giant, but doesn't get any reaction from him. Ignoring the flailing hostage, one of the hooded FUZE men takes a few steps towards the rest of the gang. "Should any of your wish to not see your friend crushed, you will lower your guns and return your pokemon to their pokeballs."

One of the members spits on the ground, and keeps his gun aimed at the FUZE men, "Sorry, but we can't do that! It's survival of the fittest in Altomare, that's our motto!"

The lead FUZE member releases several laughs, enough to get his whole body shaking. He glances away to check on the hostage, who had stopped due to exhaustion.

He turns back to the stubborn gang before continuing, "I like the way you all think. You all might be great lab rats for the test project we have back at our little base, but I think we'll just get rid of most of you and keep this boy right here!" He raises a gloved hand, and releases a large stream of black leaves from his sleeves.

The gang instinctively winces as the attack rushes at them, but just before the attack connects, a window bursts apart as two Flamethrower attacks come barreling in; incinerating the leaves before they could reach their target.

A few of the FUZE agents step backward in surprise, then start looking around when they hear a voice yell; "Hell Hounds! Sic 'em!"

Several of the windows burst into shards as black forms leap in. A few windows behind the FUZE agents do the same as well as one of the skylights. The shapes land to reveal either teens dressed in black T-shirts and pants with their faces hidden behind black bandanas or Houndoom... but there was also an Umbreon in the mix as well.

"Sorry guys, but I'm afraid they are coming with us," One of the bandana guys proclaims.

"And I'm afraid you must die!" a FUZE agent yells, thrusting his robe sleeves forward and releasing another torrent of black leaves at the intruders.

Several of the Houndoom return fire, literally, and burn the leaves into ashes. Just as the Flamethrower attacks end, the Umbreon goes barreling towards the hooded men, a Shadow Claw attack present on both of her front paws.

She swings at the FUZE member holding up the gangster, but because he moved at the last second she only succeeds in tearing the bottom of his robe. The Umbreon's attack is followed up by several pistol shots from the masked intruders, but the bullets just bounce off him.

While the giant goes after the masked agents, another FUZE rears back before whipping forward, releasing a nasty purple orb from beneath his hood. The Umbreon sees the attack coming and starts glowing white, and then suddenly a Vaporeon is using Hydro Pump to rocket upwards and avoid the attack. She twists around and fires a Hydro Pump at the ceiling, pushing herself towards her opponent. With the acceleration, she spins around and brings her tail right into the enemy's face; knocking him to the ground.

Meanwhile, several Houndoom are putting their Flamethrower attacks into overdrive to keep the giant at bay. The massive foe had already hurled his captive at some of the masked intruders (luckily some of his gang members intercepted and caught him before he could hit anyone) and has both arms up to shield himself from the inferno.

The fight is clearly not in FUZE's favor however. Using a very effective combo of distracting a hooded man with pistol shots, then letting the Houndoom ambush the foe with a Faint Attack has already taken out all but two FUZE agents; only the giant and the leaf-thrower are still standing.

Leaf-thrower growls while dodging more of the bullets. "No matter how many of us go down, you cannot best FUZE!" he shrieks, launching more leaves only for them to get burnt away again.

The leader of the Hell-Hounds laughs. "Who said we wanted to win?" he asks before shrilly whistling.

Understanding his cue, the Houndoom plus a Flareon quickly spew out a smokescreen, filling the warehouse in seconds. By the time it clears, both the Hell-Hounds, their pokemon, and the gang have vanished. Leaf-thrower snarls in anger before obliterating some nearby boxes.

Already several blocks away are the gang plus their saviors. Everyone was panting from the frantic run away, but is fine apart from a few scratches.

"You saved our asses, thanks," wheezes the gang leader. He looks up and sees a Leafeon standing at the front of the Houndoom pack.

The Grass-type takes a deep breath before exhaling a green powdery substance. Almost the whole gang falls to the Sleep Powder, but the leader fights to stay awake. "Wh-Who are you?" he asks before finally succumbing and collapsing into a snoring pile.

JT smirks while lowering his bandana, "Targets secured. Nice work Maria."

The Leafeon laughs before transforming back into an Eevee. "Now you understand why I am one of LANCE's best agents," she laughs.

DJ smirks while tapping his communicator. "LANCE HQ? This is DJ; mission complete and we're ready to come back with our targets."

~!~

From the ground of the secret garden grew a single flower, its six pink petals a daring contrast to deep green of the grass. It serenely stood near the shadow of a tree, quietly standing there until a single drop of rain fell on it. Two more came close after before a light drizzle followed.

Out of the angry gray clouds above, a single fat raindrop begins its earth-ward journey. It kept falling closer and closer to the ground until a round metal blade smacks into it and destroys the drop.

Josh makes another diagonal slash, careful to not stumble forward and become a target for Kara. She growls before holding her great-aura-sword at an angle to block her nephew-to-be's attacked. The dull blade connects to the aura weapon with a hollow thump, and instinctively Kara shoves Josh's weapon away.

The Latios uses the energy of her push to spin around and bring another attack in from the side, moving so fast that Kara is forced to block again. This time she's in a position where she can't push back, so the Lucario is pinned in one spot; holding back a big heavy weapon.

Josh struggles to push his sword past Kara's and land a blow. He expected his soon-aunt to perform an agile maneuver and break free of the pin, so Josh can't react quickly enough when Kara suddenly drops to the ground and sweeps his legs out from under him.

He falls to his side with a gasp, but still manages to bring his blade up in time to block a donward slash from Kara. "You're good Josh!" Kara smirks, starting to apply pressure and force Josh to grab the blade on its 'non-lethal' side to hold her back.

"Thanks!" he grunts, "You...too!" Josh shuts his eyes before his body brightly glows, forcing Kara to back away and shield her eyes. When she opens them, a Lati is floating in front of her; smirking as he pointed his sword at Kara's neck, then flying backwards as if he was leaping.

"That was dirty!" Kara shouts, fuming at the cheap trick he used to free himself.

Josh only laughs; swinging his sword around so it rests in the crook between wing and body. He wraps his paw and claws around the hilt, realizing that it felt just as natural to hold in his pokemon form as it was while human.

"Now, I've got perfect balance! Just try knocking me over!" Josh proclaims, sticking a tongue out.

Kara's scowl turns into a smirk. "Challenge accepted!" she yells before leaping forward and slashing.

Josh angles his blade in a way that both blocks Kara's slash and causes it to slide away. Thinking he could land a fast hit, Josh tries bringing his blade across the Lucario, but the lag in getting the heavy implement moving from a standing stop gives Kara enough time to raises hers and block.

Realizing this wasn't going anywhere, Josh leaps back again, then goes rushing forward; trying to slash at her in a fly-by. Kara dodges by bending over backward and contorting past the blade's reach, but Josh flies away, then turns invisible as he starts turning around.

Kara quickly closes her eyes and opens aura-sight, easily seeing the blue rocket that was her opponent. His sword was getting dragged along behind him and he was moving pretty fast. She gets a nasty idea immediately and quickly digs her feet into the earth, then lowers her center of gravity. Just as Josh started to approach, Kara holds the broad-side of her blade in his path and braces the weapon with a paw against the backside.

Josh desperately tries to slow down, but was simply moving to fast to stop or turn away. He collides with the make-shift aura wall and ricochets off; landing on his back in the grass, his sword clattering out of his paws and to his side.

"Oww..." Josh groans, seeing Staryu.

Kara sticks her tongue out this time as she walks up to the stunned Latios, pleased that he was visible again. "Gotcha," Kara sweetly says, holding her sword at a slight angle. "Game over."

Josh gulps, but his eyes widen along with Kara's as one of the Lucy's hook swords extends from out of nowhere, grabs hold of Kara's sword, and pulls the Lucario off balance.

"Big brother!" Lucy yells, jarring him from his dizziness. She was still human, and had broken eye-contact with Ray to protect her bro. That doesn't mean that Ray just decided to give her a break, as the older latios (still also a human) rushes in and almost slashes Lucy across the chest had she not leapt back in surprise.

"Helping team-mates is good, but don't lose sight of your opponent!" Ray instructs; releasing a flurry of short, quick dagger slashes. Lucy keeps her distance from her uncle and blocks all of the strikes; keeping her fast-attacking uncle at bay.

Josh takes the opportunity Lucy handed him and flies backward, picking up his sword in the process. He back flips upright and falls back into a levitation stance, waiting for Kara to make a move.

She smiles and reveals one of her canines. "Well, this is getting interesting!" she says, before giving the younger Latios a challenging glare.

"Tch," Ray scoffs, rushing towards Lucy faster than anything she had seen before. She tries to block by making an X with her swords, but it gets turned against her when Ray puts his daggers in the hooks and tugs outward; pulling the swords apart and crossing her arms.

The older Latios kicks forward, pushing her back into the grass. He laughs and twirls his daggers in triumph, only for his face to fall when he hears a Latias cry out. The red-and-white dragon appears before him and flies straight at him, the hooks swords trailing behind her.

Ray leaps and rolls to the side to dodge his angry niece, smiling as he does so. "Well, looks like someone's taking this to the next level. In that case..." Ray lets his daggers vanish and a training katana appear in his hands, readying himself as his niece loops back around.

Instead of her charging back at Ray, she turns and flies towards Kara instead. The Lucario brings up her sword to try to and block, but Lucy easily hooks Kara's weapon and jerks it from the canine's hands. Lucy looks back with a triumphant smirk, watching as the shiny blue weapon fades out of existance.

Josh tries to take advantage of the situation, rushing towards Kara with his sword ready for a stab, but Ray steps between the two, angling the katana to catch Josh's sword and nudge him just off course. Josh is still heading for Kara, but now the Lucario has enough room to contort out of the way.

Josh grits his teeth and skids to a stop in mid-air, taking a few seconds to regain his balance. Lucy floats next to him, panting as tiredness continued its creeping victory.

"This isn't working as well as I thought it would be," Josh said, struggling to keep hold of his sword; he was surprised that his energetic sister was starting to slow down. Lucy's grip on her swords slackens for a second before tightening up. Josh readies himself too, preparing for an attack.

Ray smirks while spinning his katana around. Another aura ember appears in Kara's paw, this time growing into a duplicate of Ray's katana. The two partners have their backs together, but heads facing the younger dragons. Ray grins while angling his blade so the flat side reflects the Latias and Latios.

"Well...your move..." Ray resists a laugh, "birdies."

Josh and Lucy fume, then dash together towards their opponents. Kara and Ray rush forward also, and the sound of metal clanging against metal drowns out the now pouring rain for a split-second. Josh and Lucy fly backwards, skidding in the wet grass with their swords clattering along beside them.

Josh could feel the raindrops pattering on his head and opens his eyes to see his uncle and aunt standing in front of them, still feeling the force of the collision. He turns to look at Lucy and can see several bruises on her body, and can feel a handful on himself. How those bruises even got there, he had no clue.

"Had enough?" Ray asks, speaking loudly only to be heard over the rain.

Josh pushes himself upright while shutting his eyes, trying to focus on regaining enough strength to keep going. After a couple seconds, he reopens his eyes to show a raging fire. Adrenaline began coursing through his body and his paws move out to his sides and Lucy's hook-swords fly to them. He snatches them both from mid-air and brandishes both at his uncle and aunt-to-be.

"You're strong Josh, just like your dad."

Josh smiles, taking pride in what he heard. "Thanks Uncle Ray, but don't think that means I'm going easy on you!" He yells, flying forward; swords getting pulled along behind him.

The two veteran fighters slash downward at Josh's wings, only for the hook swords to spring up and block both attacks. Josh grits his teeth as he struggles to levitate under the pressure Kara and Ray are exerting on him. "Sis! If you plan on helping, now's a really good time!" he yells.

A Latias war-cry echoes across the garden as Lucy comes flying in above her brother, his massive sword held in her paws. Giving herself a Psychic boost, she swings the swords horizontally and hits Kara in the shoulder.

She winces and lets up on Josh's left sword just enough for him to hook her sword and toss it away. With one sword free, Josh swings around and nails his uncle in the jaw; getting him to groan slightly.

Ray leaps back to regroup with Kara, who had re-formed her aura-katana, and get ready for another set of attacks; but none came. Josh collapses in heap on the ground, just before Lucy falls on top of him. She rolls off her brother and into the grass beside him; both Eon-pokemon fast asleep.

Kara lets her sword vanish and rubs at her shoulder while Ray rubs his jaw. "If that was a real sword..." she trails off, walking towards the sleeping siblings with a warm smile on her face.

"They really went past what I was aiming for," Ray says, grunting slightly as he pokes a forming bruise. He shakes his head, "Damn." He transforms into a Latios and gently nuzzles his relatives. Ray smiles while hoisting Josh onto his back.

"Can you pick her up? These two shouldn't sleep in the rain." Ray asks. Kara nods before picking up Lucy, cradling the smaller dragon in her arms as they head inside and out of the rain.

~!~

"Ugh...what the..." Josh grumbles, waking up and finding himself still a Lati, but lying on his back under a gray blanket.

"Big brother, good job!" he hears Lucy exclaim, and turns to see her lying beside him. The two seemed to be on a futon that was folded down into its bed-mode.

"You too sis. It wouldn't have gone so long had you not surprised Kara and gave me time to escape." Josh replies, "Now...where are we?" The two look around and find a window splattered with rain and impossible to see out of, a lamp at both sides of the futon, and a few plants in the corners of the room, but the light came from a ceiling fan above them.

"Don't get up; you guys are in bad enough shape already!" exclaims a voice they both recognized. They turn and see Bianca coming in with a tray in her hands, on which are two bowls of hot soup. Sparks followed at her heels with the spoons and napkins.

"Where are we?" Josh asks to his human friend as she sets the tray between him and Lucy.

"You're in Ray and Kara's apartment!"

The two Latis immediately blush, remembering their first experience here.

"They're out doing something; they'll be back soon though." Bianca adds, smiling as the Pikachu places a spoon beside each bowl and a napkin on the laps of the two dragons.

"Can you sit up somehow?" she asks.

The Latis curve their bodies to prop their necks against the wall behind them, wincing from the effort on their sore muscles. They were uncomfortable, but they soon forgot about it after their first spoonful of the clear, green-tinted soup.

"I love you Bianca," Lucy says, shuddering as warmth spreads through her body.

Bianca laughs while Sparks hops up to her shoulder. "Don't thank me; Ray's the one that made them! They're filled with different berry juices and ingredients from the poke'mart. You two should feel restored by the end of the bowl, but don't get up. You've got to get more rest after the training you guys went through today."

The two quickly realize what she meant, even though the soup made their muscles stop aching; they could still feel exhausted from the day. Josh glances upward and spies a clock hiding near some of the plants. "Eight o'clock?" he exclaims, "Wow, we've been out for a while!"

"Yes, but you both still need to sleep more. I'm going back to the grandpa's so I can get some sleep, but Ray said you both can sleep here for tonight." Bianca replies, gently lifting Sparks off her shoulder and tucking him close to her stomach while pulling in the raincoat that she was wearing. "I've got work tomorrow, but I plan on being in attendance as well!" she happily says before heading for the door. "See you two later!" she finishes with a wave.

The Latis wave back until she disappears from view and they hear the click of the main door.

"I can move things with my mind," Josh brags to Lucy.

"So can I," Lucy retorts, just as abruptly as her brother.

"Think Uncle Ray can teach us?" Josh asks.

Lucy smiles, "Of course he will, but it doesn't hurt to try on our own." She looks down and starts staring at her spoon; a few seconds pass before it shakily lifts into the air on its own.

"Big brother! Look!"

Josh was looking and smiling. "Nice!" he says, then stares at his own spoon. His lifts into the air, shaking just as much as Lucy's, and hovers for a second...then the two objects clatter to the tray as the Latis grab their heads.

"Owww..." Lucy moans.

"Let's not try that again," Josh says, lifting up the tray and sitting it on the ground. "I'm tired..." He yawns, then suddenly sinks under the covers and falls asleep.

Lucy laughs at her brother as she nestles into the sheets; whispering, "Ash...I'm coming," as she dozes off.

~!~

"Not a really good day for an investigation, there's rain everywhere," Ray thinks aloud. Kara is sitting on his back and both are floating above the crime scene, invisible of course.

"True, but hey, FUZE brought in a canvas to cover up the broken windows, so I guess its okay." The Lucario replies.

"This is a complete fake. Look, only FUZE members are coming in and out...I think I even saw a guy drop some bullet casings on the ground."

"I know, and look at the slash marks on those walls. Scyther almost never cut horizontally; they always cut downward..." Kara adds, "Those almost look like...they're either Absol or Gallade slashes. Its hard to tell."

"Alright you two, that's enough for today. We've got a start, thanks for the support." A female operator's voice says through the commmunicators in their ears.

"Just doing our jobs. Ray and Kara out."

The two fly out of the building, high above the press and people in the rain trying to get answers. As they headed back to the apartment a lightning bolt flashes in front of them. Nothing unusual there, but through the heavy rain the light seemed to take on bizzare shapes and forms. It only happened once.

The Latios and Lucario land on their balcony, stopping only for Kara to get off and Ray to open the door.

"These FUZE guys...they aren't normal...you're only supposed to have one unique life-force in your body, but these guys seem to break that rule. Weird huh?" Kara comments.

"That's definitely not normal." Ray replies, "But first we have to answer, just what is FUZE? We've seen the human ambassador, but I'm wondering if the group is even human."

"Probably not." Kara answers, waiting for Ray to enter the apartment before blasting most of the water out of her fur with an aura pulse.

Ray laughs as some of the water splashes inside and gets him anyway, and then floats down the hall to check on his relatives. He slowly opens the door and pokes his head in, finding them both asleep. He clicks off the light with his mind and leaves, turning around to find a vest-less Kara coming from the bathroom. Her fur may have been mostly dry, but she still has a towel draped over her shoulders and covering her lady parts.

"They asleep?"

"Yep. We should probably hit the bed too; we've got a lot to teach them tomorrow."

"That was an intense fight," Kara admits, leading Ray towards their room, "They put up a good fight for beginners."

While his fiancé slips under the covers, Ray psychically removes the water from his down and drops it in a nearby plant. Once dry, he too climbs into bed. "Yeah, I know. Josh said something about Ralph sharing info with them...that probably helped out."

Kara looks over at Ray, whose gaze was directed up at the ceiling. The two lay there for a period of silence before Kara speaks up again. "I wonder how Blaze is doing."

Ray grunts, closing his eyes. "He'll be okay; his will is strong enough to keep Inferno at bay."

"Think we should tell Josh and Lucy?"

"I'll tell them eventually, but for now, all we can do is just hope that the Blaze side of him wins the battle." Kara looks up at the ceiling with worry.

"...does Blaze know that..." She stops before ending.

Ray sniffs, "No. It's best off the he doesn't know."

~!~

CJ: (Glances over and sees that DB is still typing away, then shaking his head and deleting what he wrote) Since he's still busy I'll do the ending as well. As you've seen, more mysteries abound! Well, they're going to stay that way until a future chapter airs. Oh yeah! SPAHT stands for Specialized Pokemon And Human Team

DB: Yup, so check back when the next chapter arrives! Maybe the question will be answered? Or maybe three more will come and take its place? Who knows?

CJ: Aren't you still writing?

DB: Doesn't mean I can't talk too. I can multitask.

CJ: Then why'd I have to do the intro?

DB: There wasn't really enough for just one person, was there?

CJ: Good point. Well, anyway, leave a review and be waiting for the next chapter! 'Till then!

(Both wave good-bye, although DB's eyes are still glued to the computer screen.)