Sorry for the long wait guys! I was really, really busy, but I'm gonna get moving now! I let my friend Darkblur lay off this chapter so he could focus more on his own chapters, so don't be surprised if this doesn't have the DB touch! Oh! Here's a (couple of) song(s) that actually inspired me on this chapter (I'm gonna do this often, so that you can somewhat see what goes on in my head when I hear these songs)
Ultramarine Meditation – Blessed Pop by III (Megaman ZX tunes remastered "Aile Disc")
The Field by The Sound Providers (the best chill underground rap that actually doesn't have to do anything with sex, drugs, partying, or alcohol.)
~!~
Latias sighed as she floated down and set her small feet like appendages so that she could stay on the ground of the white void that they were in. They as in Ash and Lucy.
"Ash…" Latias cooed his name, and bent forward to levitate so that she could get her face closer to the figure sleeping on the nothingness of the void. Ash was fitted in a white T-shirt and shorts, looking completely different from the last time she met him in her dreams. This time, he looked peaceful while he slept on his side with his eyes softly closed with a slacked jaw.
She looked at his form, and already saw the differences between the Ash now and before. The Ash before was just a scrawny and cute boy, and the Ash now is a slightly taller, slightly bigger teen. Despite the small physical changes, she saw the same, old, playful Ash Ketchum who was sleeping. She didn't know why or how he was sleeping, but she didn't really care. She was happy that she got to see him again.
Despite Lucy's bravery before, her heart was thumping so that the only thing that she could hear in this void was her own heart pumping erratically as she raised her paw and moved it close to Ash's face. She took her claws to slowly rake through his hair, and then use the soft side of her index claw to stroke the side of his face. This only made her heart beat even faster, and without her noticing, she let her eye lids droop so that they were half lidded. That was when she slowly tilted her head and moved her face closer slightly slacked her jaw and closed her eyes as she moved in for the-
"Sis! C'mon, it's time to get up!"
~!~
Lucy woke up with her eyes shooting open, frightening Josh for a quick second.
"I was thinking about waking up early so we can get through our lessons with Uncle Ray done early. Sorry, was I interrupting something? You must've had a good dream cause you were smiling like a Ludicolo there," Josh chuckled. He stopped when he saw Lucy's surprised look scrunch up so that she looked like she was going to cry.
"Uh… sis?" Josh asked, backing up a bit when Lucy shot up in the air, shouting while she clenched her eyes and let a couple of tears drop from her eyes.
"BIG BROTHER YOU IDIOT!" Josh didn't even hesitate to fly out of the garden, and that seemed like the smartest choice since the fuming Latias followed suit, and both of them flew out with the wind following them…
Uncloaked.
~!~
Chapter 7: Inconspicuous
~!~
"This is what you wanted to see right?" Ross asked, "Sorry our museum curator is sick and can't give you the tour."
"Oh my, its quite alright," The FUZE ambassador happily replied. Last night's storm has already blown past and the morning was much more pleasant. So much in fact that the ambassador traded in her heavy coat for a more comfortable, tight, midnight-purple one-piece and navy-blue heels. Her flame-red hair tied back in a ponytail.
"Yes well, if you'll step this way, the DMA will be just ahead."
She smiled while following the young man, closely followed by a tall person in another of the FUZE cloak and hoods; but unlike the other agents, this one was a dark, bloody red with a steel-silver stripe down the center. He didn't speak, but seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on Ross.
Just a few steps and a corner later, the three were looking up at the large metal machine. "Why, isn't this a sight for sore eyes!" She said, giving Ross an eerie smile.
Ross only chuckled while leaning against the railing, "I take it you've seen this before?"
"Oh yes I have. Many, many times when I was younger," The ambassador replied, reaching out a hand to touch the machine, but she froze when Ross cleared his throat.
"Please don't touch. I'm sorry ma'am, but you're lucky to even be inside this museum! It's getting some serious renovations after a little...eh, incident that happened here."
The woman hissed under her breath, giving the young man a glare, but she quickly regained her composure before he could notice a thing. "Oh I've heard about that. I am very curious as to what exactly happened."
"Well, nobody really knows. I work here and I don't even know!" Ross laughed while crossing his arms.
The ambassador snarled on the inside, but she still politely said her next words. "Well, thank you for your service, its reassuring to see this artifact is still intact after what happened. Farewell!" she chimed, leaving with her bodyguard in tow.
After leaving the museum, they shielded their eyes from the sudden bright lights of the sun. Purple cloaks glided towards them, but they dispersed when she waved her free hand.
"That man didn't seem suspicious to you?" The red cloaked man asked, his voice incredibly low.
She knowingly smiled, "That boy knew nothing. I knew we shouldn't have bothered with him but gone to see Lorenzo instead."
Back at the museum, Ross locked up the doors before heading to the front desk and picking up the phone. It was old...old enough to have a rotary dial, and completely untraceable. "Lorenzo?" he asked after dialing and hearing the other end pick up, "Yes...yeah she came. Pretty creepy woman too...Just as you planned, huh?...Yeah, I'll stay low for awhile. You owe me man...okay. Bye." Ross hung up the phone and huffed. "The things I get myself into..."
~!~
"No! Oh Arceus no, leave him be!" A young man cried out, sliding on his back away from the FUZE member in front of him. The imposing figure wore a dark blue hooded cloak with a bright yellow stripe down the middle. Floating in the thug's gloved, three-fingered hand was the man's pokeball. The figure flexed its fingers, sending jolts of electricity into the ball, and consequently into the pokemon inside, before it got teleported.
"FUZE thanks you for your generous donation," he grunted, retracting the hand into his sleeve. "And I should also congratulate you on being the last gangster to survive. Once you're done with, we can finally get along as planned."
"Kazoo." Spoke a voice in the cloaked man's head, "Quit goofing off and finish your job. We're done with the DMA inspection."
The hooded man smiled behind the black nothingness under his hood. "Lighten up Magnus, I'm having fun," Kazoo said to no-one in particular, then laughed a laugh like an old man would before looking down at the gangster.
"You've got five seconds."
The younger man whimpered before hurrying to his feet and darting further down the alley. He managed to get to the corner and escape the hooded man's view.
"1… 2… 5." Kazoo cackled before a lightning bolt launched from under his hood, curving itself around the corner. What followed was a shriek and a bright display of electricity.
Kazoo effortlessly glided around the corner to see the gangster, twtiching on the ground and in serious pain. "My, my, I thought for sure that was enough to kill you. But don't worry; I'll make sure to correct that..."
The gangster felt his legs start to bend on their own; going in a direction they weren't supposed to. They snapped and his loud scream rang out once more, startling a flock of Pidgey to the point of flying away. Silence followed right after an eerie laugh.
~!~
Blaze smiled as his paw ran down the side of his lover's sleeping face. His hand trailed down to see that the egg was still intact, wrapped in a blanket that was the arms of its mother. Life couldn't be any better… Then those thoughts flooded his mind. What would happen if the new born also develops an alter ego? What would happen if Inferno takes over while he's taking care of the baby? What if-
"Blaze?" Sara asked, frowning. She cradled the egg on her lap with her free arm.
"Yeah?" Blaze asked while reluctantly meeting her gaze. Sara put a paw on his shoulder.
"Is… it getting worse?"
"I… I don't know." Blaze clenched his paw into a fist, looking away, "I'm sorry you had to fall in love with some freak of nature with an alter ego."
"Blaze, please. Look at me," Sara commanded with a soft tone. Blaze reluctantly met eyes with her. Sara was relieved to see the ruby eyes instead of the sickly green eyes of his alter ego. She rubbed her mate's shoulder while raking her claws against the skin under his fur.
"You're the one I fell in love with. You can beat him, so stand strong like the Blaze I know. I'll help you as much as I can to do so," Sara gave him a determined smile. Blaze closed his eyes and opened them again.
"Thanks. I love you," Blaze said as he nipped his mate's nose and hugged her. After a minute, the intercom softly spoke with a Gardevoir's voice.
"Anybody involved with Altomarian affairs, please report to the briefing room." Blaze sighed, letting of Sara.
"Sorry, but I've gotta go," Blaze said, giving her a serious look. Sara put her muzzle on his, sliding a tongue inside his mouth to stroke his tongue quickly. Before Blaze could be tempted to start out a making out session, she broke the kiss and nodded.
"Take care." Blaze sniggered, fired up by the little pep talk from his mate. She really does work wonders…
"Don't worry. I will!"
~!~
Blaze stomped in to find the Hell Hounds and Maria already gathered, the only real piece of furniture in the room being a raised, circular table that was displaying a map of Altomare; patched with various colors.
"Took you long enough," Maria, a Leafeon lying in the sunlight from a window, remarked.
"Well, sorry for having a wife and egg to look after," Blaze chuckled, oblivious to the grave looks on the Hell Hounds. "So what's up?"
The only unfamiliar face, a young man in the usual LANCE uniform, glanced up from his PDA. "This morning, all of the gang members disappeared. And I mean disappeared they all just dropped off the map," he replies, tapping a button on the device in his hand and changing the map. "They were present until roughly 12:50 AM this morning. Then, poof. Nada."
The Typhlosion scowled. He would've said that maybe the equipment's malfunctioning, but the gear used by the Lance Intelligence Operations, or LIO for short, never broke down. If they every did, then they would immediately be fixed.
JT and DJ, as well as the rest of their group, were frowning at the news. The gang they saved yesterday is safe, far from Altomare, but they were upset that they couldn't save anymore. Some were fiddling with their red neck bandannas, others with their black outfits, and still others with their silver belts of ammunition for the firearms on their backs...
"Strange... FUZE is definitely behind this, am I correct?" Maria asked. She had changed to an Espeon, taking in as much info as she could as her intelligent side came out.
"Yes."
"Just making sure," Maria replied through a yawn.
"It's because of this that FUZE has shifted to one of our main priorities, and we're prepping intelligence officers to get ready to join you a-s-a-p."
"We better get going too," JT growled.
The man scoffs, "Why wouldn't we? This is your home turf. All of you, along with Ray and Kara who are already there, are to provide support for the intelligence officers when they arrive. After securing their base of operations, your job is to aid in the set-up and then, if they haven't arrived yet, guard duty."
"Doesn't sound too bad... boring, but simple."
The man fiddled with his PDA before continuing. "Until we can gather more information on FUZE in general, nobody is allowed to directly engage them. Only fight with them if citizens or other LANCE personnel are under attack, or, obviously, if they attack the intelligence base. Under NO circumstances are any of you to attack a FUZE member; unprovoked."
The Hell Hounds grumbled at this... they were anxious to get back at FUZE for bothering them.
"As could be inferred from what I said, you'll arrive in Altomare before the officers. You shouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd, but they will arrive at the base at three-PM. Please make sure you have it operational by then. Also, you will be split up during teleportation so as to not draw attention to LANCE. You will be given the rendezvous address in the transport hub. Good luck out there."
All of the agents nodded before turning and leaving.
~!~
"So… Let me get this straight. You followed Jabir and pretty much chased him around the ends of Altomare, yelling his name while you were uncloaked?"
All three Latis floated in the secret garden, the eldest of the three watching his nephew and niece with crossed arms. Josh and Lucy were floating, with their arms outstretched and a bucket filled with water held in each paw. Their muscles burned and screeched in pain, but Ray was flat out refusing to let them stop.
"H-how much longer?" Josh grunted, his arms started to shake from the weight.
"Told you five times already, until I say so." Ray retorted before giving Lucy a small smack of psychic-energy for bending her arms.
"Which is when?" Josh asked, his eyes clenching shut.
"When you two get smart. Put them down and get ready to pick them up again."
The two younger Latis gave a sigh as they let their arms drop, relieving them of the pain. They had already endured that three times, with barely ten seconds of rest in between them. Ray had declared that today would be spent working on their endurance, as well as writing, reading, and psychic techniques. With his current mood, things weren't really looking bright for the two of them.
The two siblings were definitely not used to physical work with their arms; the main reason why Ray decided to punish them this way. Not only would it make their arms tougher, but it would help them balance and levitate as well. Well, that was his excuse anyway.
"Alright, three, two, one, UP!" The two groaned as they lifted the heavy buckets again.
A drowsy Kara stumbled into the garden, giving a big yawn that showed off all of her sharp canine teeth. She marched up to the large Latios, a bit peeved that he didn't wake her up this morning.
"Ray, have you seen the news lately?" She asked, just before collapsing onto the dragon's back.
"Yes." Ray replied with a short, mad, one word answer.
"They said that a Latios and Latias were seen this morning flying around, just to let you know. Oh, and something about the names Josh and Lucy," She said, but then decided that was the wrong thing to say when Ray let out a frustrated sigh and slapped his forehead.
"Come on you two! It's too bad if you liked your previous names, cause it looks like we're going to have to change them! Down!" Lucy was a little appalled, but Josh didn't care. He was too focused on not dropping the buckets of water. The fact that they had to keep the water level was the worst part. Any spillage would result in one more session.
The younger dragons sighed as their arms go limp, the weight actually pulling them down a few inches.
"Good morning you two," Kara said while resting her head in between the crook of Ray's neck and wing. She got a grunt and a whine as an answer.
"Alright, back up," Ray said, "If you both can do this one without bending your arms, we'll stop afterwards."
The two sighed while raising their arms, struggling to do what Ray wanted.
"Come on, you guys can do this!" Kara cheers.
"I don't know...if I can..." Josh grunts. The two Latis closed their eyes in an effort to help concentrate on holding the weights up.
"Come on; don't give me a half-assed effort! Give me one hundred percent! If I had to do this in my own training, you do too!" Ray exclaimed. Lucy and Josh are shaking, almost violently, barely managing to keep the buckets up.
"Halfway there!" Ray said.
Kara grins with pride, knowing her niece and nephew are doing their very best in overcoming this obstacle. "Come on! You got this! Beat old Uncle Ray!" she cheered.
Josh and Lucy re-open their eyes, revealing the determination within. Both had to grit their teeth, but they kept their composure; staring down their smirking uncle.
"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three." By three the younger Latis were back to clenching their eyes and heavily breathing. "Two...One...Now lower them slowly!"
Josh and Lucy try, but the buckets go clunking into the grass and spraying water everywhere. All four share a much needed laugh.
"Take a flight and wash yourselves off! Once you come back, you'll receive your new names!" Ray said, hiding a smile. The two could only nod as they wobbily flew off towards the ocean.
"Did you really do that while training?" Kara asked with a skeptical look on her face, sliding off of Ray's back.
Ray grined and shakes his head, "What are you kidding me? No way!"
"What happened?" Kara asked, and then Ray let out a sigh, but then grinned.
"It's actually funny now that I think about it. Well…"
Meanwhile, the two younger Latis let out a sigh of relief as they floated on the surface of the ocean; the cold water cooling off their burning arms.
"I can't feel my arms anymore," Latias whined.
"Your fault," Latios grunted before flipping over so that his front could be submerged in the water.
Lucy mimics him, before mentally saying, "Well, it wouldn't have happened if you didn't wake me up!"
"Oh come on… As if I knew that you were having a little make out session with Ash or something," Josh replied, sighed.
The next thing either one knew, they're lying in the cool grass of the garden. Both quickly take to the air in surprise, finding a sweatdropping Kara and chuckling Ray nearby.
"You teleported us?" Latias angrily chirped.
Ray chucked a little more before gesturing them to follow. "Come on, aren't you anxious to know your new names?" he asked. He pointed to Latias,
"Yuna." And then Ray pointed towards Latios.
"Roxas." Ray then changed into his human form and led them out of the garden. Latias had a surprised look, it didn't seem that bad. Her name actually seemed better. Latios kind of liked his new name also. They managed to catch a wink from Kara before she turned around to slip a paw into Ray's hand and walk out. The two couldn't really care as much because they were just happy that their uncle was in a better mood. Aunt Kara sure worked wonders.
As the Latis changed into humans, Ray felt something rumble in his pocket. Taking note, he removed his little device and started reading the new message as they leave.
After finishing it, his eyebrows lifted up a little. "Huh...weird..."
"What's wrong?" Yuna asked.
"Apparently all the thugs in Altomare are gone," Ray frowned, hiding his device away again. "An intelligence team is being sent here along with Blaze, Maria, and the entire HH pack."
Roxas gently taps his aunt's shoulder to get her attention, and asks, "Who's Maria?" Kara replied with the "I'll tell you later," look.
"Well, we've got no specific orders, so no reason to let that interrupt our plans," Ray huffed, turning around to walk backward, but also looking at his companions. "Okay. You two remember using psychic abilities yesterday?" Both of the young dragons nodded, and luckily no-one else was in the streets this early, so it was safe to talk about such private subjects.
"Well, we're going to eat breakfast with our minds today," Ray smirks. Roxas and Yuna look at each other with a smile. This was what they've been waiting for.
"You two look excited," Kara chuckled.
Roxas and Yuna nodded. "Yeah this is so cool!" Ray laughed.
"Here's the condition though," Ray warned, "You absolutely can't use your hands or any parts of your body to help and you have to use the utensils."
Undeterred, the two teens shrug off his warning. "Bring it Uncle Ray!" Lucy demanded.
If only they knew what they were getting into.
~!~
"Such a nice sunny day," a melodious female voice chimed, wafting out from under the hood of a light-green cloak with a dark-green stripe going down the center. Whoever it was stood just a little over five-feet tall and was rather slender, compared to the more bulky form of the other FUZE members. "It's just too bad the pimps and gangstas don't get to hang here anymore," she added, sighing and leaning against her companion; a slightly shorter FUZE member in a black cloak with an electric yellow stripe down the middle.
A snort came from the black hood as he gave her a rough push away, then he crossed his arms.
"Aww, what's wrong honey?" she cooed.
"How many times have I told you to not call me that?" the black cloak angrily snapped.
The green cloak giggled before draping an arm over the black one's shoulders. "Sorry my dearest little Shadohm," she said, shaking with giggles.
"You do not say my name aloud!" the black cloak almost roared, "Dark-rai, what is taking them so damn long?"
Both of them straightened up immediately at the sound of clicking heels, and they turned to see the FUZE ambassador walking up to the bridge they're on; followed closely behind by the red and steel cloaked figure.
"So impatient Numbers zero-six and zero-seven, forgiving us for moving soo slowly," She said, giving the smaller one an icy glare. If he flinched, the cloak didn't show it. In fact, he seemed to stare her down... despite the fact he was the smallest of the four.
"At least you got your asses over here. Now let's go... plant face," he gestured at the green cloak, "already ruined my day."
"You're only making me want you more," The green figure purred, getting the black one to glare at her instead.
"Before you two draw attention to ourselves," the red cloak rumbled, his voice so deep it seems to make the very stone of the bridge vibrate. "Shall we be off?"
The ambassador already started off, her three cloaked followers trailed after like colored shadows.
"So when do we move to phase two?" The black cloak asked.
"Would it kill you to get some patience?" The red cloak snorted.
"I try but plant face keeps wearing it away," Black cloak replied, which only got the green cloak to start giggling.
The ambassador clicked some of her nails together to get the attention of her subjects. "I can't wait either zero-six," she cooed, which made the blood of the other three turn ice-cold... which wasn't helped by the malicious smile crossing her lips, "The Altomarian government is almost completely corrupted... we keep claiming more and more power...its only a matter of time before we can proceed..."
~!~
On their way to the makeshift HQ, DJ and JT met up with Lloyd, Blaze, and Maria; and those three could almost cut the tension of their Hell Hound company with a knife. They and their Houndoom glared daggers at any FUZE member they passed, but true to orders they didn't pick any fights.
In a cruel twist of fate, LANCE picked their old hangout for the base. As the group of seven enter and find the remaining Hell Hounds already there, hard at work too, DJ and JT had to shake away the memories surrounding this place.
"I assume this place has some value?" An Umbreon Maria asked, taking note of the gangsters' odd behavior.
"Yea. A lot of it bad." DJ grunted, before heading off to help.
Lloyd shoved his hands into his pockets, finding a lighter and cigarette; which he promptly used. "Not too bad a place though," he cluelessly remarked, breathing in a drag.
JT shook his head before heading off to help as well. "We've got the equipment set-up. Keep an eye out for LIO will ya?" he asked.
Lloyd gave a thumbs up before leaving with the Typhlosion and Espeon. The doors shut with a loud resonating clang, leaving the gang alone.
"So what's eating you?" DJ grunted to his friend after noticing how distracted he seemed to be.
"It's just not right for all of them to disappear that easily. Even the low-time guys weren't that pathetic, and the big fish should've taken fifty FUZE guys a pop to go down... something just isn't sitting right about that."
"This only shows that FUZE is not to be underestimated," Scar grunted, sitting a foot away.
"Yeah, I know, but don't forget what Ed said. Overestimating your enemy-"
"Is as bad as underestimating your enemy," Iris finished for her partner.
DJ nonchalantly points his thumb at the hound. "What she said."
~!~
As Lloyd kept an eye open for the intelligence officer, he quickly became distracted by an attractive young lady walking toward him. He quickly kicked a leg up behind him and stubbed out his cigarette before she arrived. "Well hey there," he said once she got close enough. Blaze and Maria rolled their eyes before wandering over to the other side of the street.
"Well hey yourself," she chirped, stopping just in front of Lloyd and leaning against the railing on her hip. Her waist long green hair blew to one side thanks to an ocean breeze, which accompanied by her slender form, lightly tanned skin and beautiful almond-like eyes made her incredibly attractive.
"I've never seen anyone dress like you before, you new here?"
Lloyd was right about her clothing; the bright colors adorning her made her stand out against a crowd. She had on a bright-red mini-halter, leaving her upper back and entire stomach area bare. She also had shorts that match the color of her top, stopping halfway to the knee and giving her a fiery look, which Lloyd liked even more. Around her waist was the most bizarre skirt the man has ever seen, snugly holding her, but having two large flaps of fabric on both sides and weird point in the front where it suddenly dipped downward. The design was mimicked by a shawl draped over her shoulders, and both shared a cloudy white color. The final article, apart from her pink sneakers, were two deep-red sleeves, long enough to hide her hands when her arms were down.
"Well, actually...I am!" She hesitated before finishing, but she ended with a cute embarrassed giggle. "I was actually hoping for someone to like, help me look around you know?" She puffed at some of the hair hanging in her face.
Lloyd inwardly cursed at his luck, he was pretty unfamiliar with this place too... and even if he wasn't, he needs to stick around for the intelligence officer. But then again; Blaze, Maria, and the Hell Hounds could easily hold down the fort... if questioned, he could always just say that he was doing a little recon.
"I'm new here too, wanna check this place out?" Lloyd suggested.
The girl only laughed, "Sorry, but I want to find someone who actually knows their way around."
'Damn' "Suit yourself."
"Oh, but thanks for the offer! Once you learn your way around, I'll gladly accept!" She said before continuing on.
Suddenly an idea sprang into his head, one that would win him at least a few points with this babe. "Uh, I do have some friends here that know their way around."
She stopped and turned back.
"Find your way to a gondola shop run by a nice old man named Lorenzo. He can help out. Just tell 'em Lloyd sent ya," he finished with a wink.
"Thanks. Name's Miashi." She winked before giving a flirty hair flick and walking off.
Lloyd stared at her visible lower back, admiring the perfect tan across her skin. Sexy. 'Man, the girls here sure are hot.'
"You done womanizing yet?" Maria asked, getting Lloyd to turn and see a Leafeon lying on the railing next to him, soaking up as much sun as she could get. When she was relaxing in the sun, Blaze and Lloyd both joked by classifying the Leafeon as a liquid.
"You kidding me? This place is filled with pretty ladies," Lloyd smiled at a passing pair of teenage girls, who smiled back and winked.
Blaze was keeping himself occupied by puffing out smoke rings. "There's not enough interesting fire pokemon here," Blaze snorted,
Maria scoffed, "You too Blaze? Yeesh."
"Hey, hey, come on. Not like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd sniggered.
"Hey!" JT called, getting the three to turn. The young agent was approaching with Iris just a step behind. "Anyone show up yet?"
"Clearly not," Iris grunted.
JT ignored her comment and looked around. "HQ said they'd be unsuspicious right?"
"That's what they said," Lloyd replied, still looking across the crowd for another cute girl. "Man this place is... ah shit..."
"What?" JT asked, trying to see whatever made Lloyd upset. It became obvious when the crowd suddenly parted to allow her through; an eighteen-year-old girl garbed in a red jacket with blue sleeves, and long blue pants with a single white stripe up both sides. Her long blue hair reachs almost to her waist, curling into a white tip at the end.
It wasn't so much the girl marking the crowd split as it was the enormous pokemon stomping along beside her. The Garchomp picked at its teeth with an almost bored look on its face, same as his partner, as the two approach.
"Hello," The girl said, her voice incredibly monotone.
"I thought the LIOs were supposed to be inconspicuous," Iris whispered to JT, who simply shrugged.
"It's hot... at least tell me we've got AC in this place," she said, again in a monotone, while absently brushing at a strand of hair in her face.
"Of all the LIOs..." Lloyd facepalmed, "Come on Lea, let's go before we attract anymore attention."
"Okay..." Lea shrugged, putting her hands in her pockets. The pokemon watched as the three humans plus Iris returned to the base. They then shared a laugh as Maria hopped onto Blaze's head as an Eevee.
"Man, I love it when our trainers get together," Blaze chuckled.
"So do I," The Garchomp smiled, a little more lively. "Nice seeing you jokers again."
"Don't think you're not one of us Damien," Blaze snortted, "Whose idea was it to hide whipped cream bombs in the supply closet?"
Damien crossed his arms and glanced away.
"So-o-o... Kara's here," Maria quickly blurted. Blaze let out a sigh, she absolutely loved to make it awkward for the Garchomp.
Damien quickly tried to say something, but only choked out "Really?"
Blaze nodded, "Try not to act too awkward. Okay?"
The Garchomp's face turned crimson as he nodded, but inwardly thought, 'Great...'
~!~
"Ack!" Yuna shrieked as she spilled milk on her lap for the fourth time. Of all times to screw up with psychic abilities, breakfast was the worst. Roxas's shirt was covered in bacon grease, and pieces of eggs. The rest of the family was struggling to keep from laughing as they screwed up their handling of their utensils over and over again.
"Ha, now, focus on just the utensil first! You guys are moving too fast!" Ray laughed as he gave out directions. The two were going at it for thirty minutes now, and they still haven't been able to eat a clean spoonful, or fork full. As for the mess, Ray caught everything with his psychic powers before they hit the ground or any fabric. However, he let food fall onto the siblings' bodies.
Roxas was completely new with human utensils, and the fact that he's using psychic abilities didn't help him either. He struggled to hold the fork down on a piece of ham, desperately trying to cut a piece off with a knife, but it was useless. The fork slipped, the knife wasn't angled properly, and he was left in a frustrated mess.
Yuna on the other hand, was doing pretty well… until she came upon the cereal. Whatever grip she had on that spoon of hers, it was pretty loose. It always dipped and spilled, and it always shook when she concentrated too hard. Neither of them could enjoy their breakfast.
"I give up," Roxas said as he sat back, letting his fork and knife clatter on the plate. Yuna at least tried to drink the milk from the bowl, but it ended up washing her head in milk. The two human form Latis sat with crimson on their faces from the laughter of the group. After everything settled down, Kara laughed,
"Don't take it too hard, you two actually better than Ray thought!" Ray couldn't help but turn away and laugh over his shoulder. Revenge was sweet. He let out a quick cough before he got the attention of both of them.
"Alright, I guess that's enough for today for breakfast! Here, I managed to catch all of the food you guys dropped in this plate back here. Take a good look at how much you guys dropped!" Ray said as he used his telepathy to carry a gigantic dinner plate with a gigantic mountain of food. Roxas and Yuna both groaned and put their hands to their faces in even more embarrassment.
"Are you serious?" Roxas muttered under his breath, taking a piece of bacon and chewing on it, not really enjoying the bitter taste of their failure.
"Aw come on, it wasn't that bad…" Ray said before taking a good look at the plate before bursting out in laughter. Kara gave Ray a huff and a small nudge with her elbow. Yuna was a little sad while KRoxas was pretty ticked off. Their first attempt barely had any success.
"Alright you two, once you're done, I want you two to try to move your plates over to the sink with you minds. That should be a little easier since it doesn't involve something complex like stabbing a piece of an egg with a fork or balancing milk on a spoon." Immediately, the two got up, lifted their plates with their hands and dropped them into the sink. Roxas was glaring daggers towards the exit while Yuna was sighing and walking with her brother.
"Hey, hey, what's the matter?" Ray asked with a smirk.
"Uncle Ray, we absolutely sucked!" Yuna turned around and said with a frustrated face.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to be so depressed about it," Ray said with a cocked eyebrow.
"Why? That was absolutely terrible! I don't even want to learn telepathy anymore!" Roxas retorted with a shout, but before anybody else could say or do anything, a piece of bacon slapped right into his face so quick that Pikachu missed it when he blinked. Kiba's stance crippled for a second as he let out a shriek from the meat that covered his face.
"Hey. There's gonna be none of that here. I expect a lot out of you, so you better be ready to meet those expectations! And besides, if you learn telepathy, maybe you can learn how to catch bacon with your mind instead of catching it with your face. Your hands would probably be too slow anyway," Ray said with a serious stare. Roxas let the bacon slide from his face, blinking at the sudden attack from his uncle. The bacon left his face and fell to the floor, but before he could do anything about it, it managed to hang in the air by itself. Even though some of the bacon grease fell from the sudden stop, the bacon was surely flying.
"Big brother, Uncle Ray is right. I mean, we shouldn't give up that easily right?" Yuna said as she concentrated to move the bacon back to the amounted plate. She let out an exhale of relaxation, putting a lot of effort in moving the bacon to the other side of the room.
"See? Your sister has the right idea," Ray smirked. Roxas gave Yuna a look that told her, 'You're not helping!' but then he let out a grunt.
"Yeah. She always does huh?" Yuna gave Roxas a grin,
"Come on big bro! It'll be fun!" Yuna's smile always seemed to brighten up the room, and Roxas couldn't help but give her a smile back, even though it was slightly crooked.
"Yeah, I'll do my best sis."
"Good! Now, head out into the garden, we'll continue with our next exercise!" Ray gave the two an even bigger smirk. He changed to his Lati form, and stuck out two claws towards the siblings' direction.
"And you two better come with the right attitudes! Next up is catch with a five pound weight!" Roxas and Yuna couldn't help but groan, their hopes for the next training session just plummeted.
~!~
"Peh, leave me to do the guard work," a Houndoom huffed. He was the youngest of the pack, and he was probably the most hot-blooded and the less sophisticated too. He was lying down at the back entrance, which was replaced since the last one was blown up. The people on the street gave him a quick glance and then turned away because of the menacing look Houndooms naturally carried. It's not that he cared in the first place, they were humans after all. It was probably because he was a shiny.
But then, something caught his nose and immediately, he sat up straight. The smell was unmistakable; it was the smell of a… one of those things.
"Well, well, well, I'm surprised to see another shiny fire type over in this island," A feminine and seductive voice spoke loud enough so that it was projected over the voice of the humans. The Houndoom shot up and twisted his head to the right to see the thing that he smelled. A Ninetails was swaying her tails and slowly walking over and circling the hell hound. The strange thing was that this Ninetails had an eerie silver color instead of its golden original color. Not only did its fur seem a different color, but the cobalt blue eyes seemed out of the norm also.
"Well, you're not the only one," the Houndoom nervously chuckled. The Ninetails gave off a slow giggle, brushing a white tipped tail across the muzzle of the Houndoom.
"Cute. What is a dog like you doing in the streets like this?"
"W-Well, I would like to ask you the same question," he replied, trying to resist her and to do his job. His back was buckling from her touch; it was as if each stroke of her tails had a different effect on his fur. It wasn't working, and then he thought of Scar and then straightened up and cleared his throat to sit confidently. The Ninetails stopped her caress assault and came close to the Houndoom so that her nose was an inch away from the Houndoom's.
"Hm? Well, you sure do fit your stereotype. I see that you're guarding a door, where does it lead to bad boy?"
"To my master's place, he wanted me to guard the back because of the recent stuff that's been going on. He's afraid of the gangsters running from the FUZE guys." the Houndoom tried to avoid her eyes, but failed a couple times. The Ninetail's eyes seemed to be half-lidded in a flirtatious manner, which didn't help at ALL. The Houndoom huffed, he gave the excuse that he was told to say, and he did it slowly and calmly. The sole thing that kept him from tackling the bitch and having his way with her was the picture of Scar and his intimidating glare with the words: "Compromise us and your head will be mine."
"Is that so? What a brave hound. Well, that's too bad because I was looking for a dog like you that wants to go have some fun. Your loyalty is admirable, I like you." Before the Houndoom say any words of thanks, the Ninetails closed her eyes, pushed her nose onto his, and put her mouth on his. The Houndoom's left eye twitched, and the fox decided to take it a step further by sliding her tongue into his mouth and giving his tongue a couple of fiery licks before retreating.
"I have to know your name, maybe we can meet again," the Ninetails said while sitting a considerable distance from him, much to his dismay.
"It's Dim," the Houndoom said quickly, a gigantic blush spreading across his dark face. The Ninetails giggled,
"Such a cute name for a Houndoom. I like your kind of dog, but I guess I'll have to find another one. I'm pretty sure we'll meet again though, catch you later big boy." The Ninetails started to slowly walk away with her tails swaying as if to taunt him for declining her offer. That made him gulp and blurt out,
"Wait!" The Ninetails did a slow turn around, giving the Houndoom one, half-closed eye.
"Hm?"
"Wh-what's your name?" Dim's voice quivered. The Ninetails stopped swaying her tails and paused, looking away for a second, but then smiled and swayed her tails again.
"It's Rao big boy. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find me. After all, I am the only one of my kind," The Ninetails giggled before heading off away from Dim. Dim gulped and did his best to look away, but he looked as much as he wanted to since she wasn't looking. That was way too hot for him to handle.
"Dim, come on in buddy. We're done inside," a Hell Hound popped his head out of the door, making the Houndoom jump and snarl at the human.
"Arceus, Tim, don't do that!" Dim barked. Tim raised his hands and backed off.
"Sheesh, take a chill pill." The Houndoom sighed, he was paired with the youngest of the gang, Tim. He was the most energetic of them all, which Dim liked. He would rather have someone fun than someone who's too serious. However, this was DEFINATELY one of the times when he wished that he didn't have a partner. He trotted inside to meet a finished work space and his pack. Dim sat in front of the group with a blush on his face, and his front legs and paws seemed to intentionally close to his lower body.
"Dim, you smell of a female. Did you encounter anyone outside?" Iris asked. Scar glared at the youngest of the group. The whole pack knew that he was a sucker for females, and that usually got the pack into trouble. Dim gulped,
"Yes, but I didn't say anything about us, I gave her the same exact thing you told me to say."
"Good. Well, take a small rest Dim. Our next job will be given to us shortly," Iris said while turning to JT.
"S-Scar?" Dim said with a wavering voice.
"When you speak to me, speak confidently pup. What is it?" Scar asked with his menacing look.
"Next time… send a human," Dim said while averting his gaze. Scar paused, and then took note of his gigantic blush.
"As you wish." Scar turned away, and then Dim let out a large sigh and collapsed to lie down.
"Man, this sucks. Why am I the only one who has lady problems?" Dim let out a puff of smoke with his blush still in its deepest color.
~!~
"Alright, before we end up breaking someone's wing from catch, we're gonna do something less serious." Ray smiled as they sat around the dark wooden table in the shop. Roxas and Yuna both huffed, catch didn't go as well either. Yuna almost ended up breaking Roxas's wing from an accidental throw. The three blinked as he reached from under the table to bring out a metal rectangular prism. The top undid itself, and the sounds of wooden blocks hitting each other followed. Yuna and Roxas stared at the jumble of wooden blocks.
"Uncle Ray, are we playing-"
"Jenga?" Roxas finished Yuna's sentence. Ray smiled, putting the blocks on top of each other in trios in an alternating arrangement (AN: Okay, come on, who hasn't played Jenga before?).
"You two know how to play right?" Ray asked; making sure that the wooden Jenga tower was perfectly rectangular.
"You try to remove a block without crumbling the entire tower right?" Yuna asked. Clearly, they haven't played this game in a while.
"You guys got the gist of it, but let me lay down some ground rules. No physical contact with the Jenga tower, and if you start to move one piece, you have to stick with it. Another rule is that you can't pick up the tower and take off a piece at the bottom, that's cheating. Now, I'll start it off. Whoever loses has to do a punishment," Ray snickered. Roxas and Yuna both fumed,
"That's not fair! We know who's going to win!" Roxas exclaimed. Ray then glanced at the two siblings.
"Between you two?" Yuna and Roxas slowly turned towards each other, giving each other a blink before they narrowed their eyes and growled as they closed the distance between their faces. Today, the two were a little ticked off at each other, and this was one of the perfect ways for revenge. Ray inwardly patted himself on the back; this is where sibling rivalries come in handy.
"I'll start it off," Ray said, unbeknownst to the two. He took out a middle piece near the bottom with his mind, setting it on the top. The two siblings break from their glaring contest and snap back to the Jenga game. It was Roxas's turn, and he licked his lips before starting. He eyed the right piece near the top of the tower, easily taking it out with his mind. He smiled, he was getting better at this! He set it at the top, right next to Ray's piece. He gave Yuna a smug grin, which said 'Beat that!'
Yuna returned the grin, and took out the left side on the same section that Roxas just pulled the block out of. She set it next to his piece, completing their first section. Yuna stuck her tongue out at him, and Roxas just chuckled at his sister.
"Jeez you two, already we have the top part of the tower getting hold up by a single block in the middle!" Ray laughed. He reached below the one block section, and took out the middle block. Already, the tower was about to crumble. Ray set the block at the top, starting a new section. Roxas exhaled, careful not to breath too hard on the tower, and started his procedure of taking out the middle piece of the section before Ray's. Luckily, the block slid right out with ease, but Roxas's block shook as it was placed next to Ray's block, and almost toppled the tower over.
He let out a sigh of relief as he finished. Yuna gulped, and started her removal of a block on the right of a section near the bottom. To her dismay, the block wouldn't budge without tugging on it with her mind. She gulped again, and then realized that the block wouldn't come out! She slowly tried to pull out the block. Nope. She tried to pull it out with medium force. Nope.
Finally, Yuna decided to attempt a handkerchief trick by pulling the block out really quickly. The block came out, but the tower didn't stay upright. In fact, the tower crumbled, and Yuna watched in horror at the blocks clattering to the wooden table in a mess. Yuna still held the block with her mind, but she ended up letting go of it, letting the hollow sound of wood on wood echo through the shop. Roxas and Ray yelled out in excitement, the previous tension was too much for them to keep in their bodies.
Ray snickered at his punishment idea. No matter what kind of puppy face Yuna met, Ray kept his evil motives alive by reaching inside a refrigerator inside the shop and pulling out a trio of Figy berries.
"Lucy, you have to eat three of these at once." Roxas covered his mouth to try not to laugh, but his scoffs penetrated his hand and rang in Yuna's ears.
"But Uncle Ray, they're too hot!"
"It's a punishment," Ray said with a ring in his voice. Yuna whimpered before picking the Figy. She clenched her eyes closed as she dropped them in her mouth and started to chew it. Two seconds in, she was doing fine. The berry actually tasted really good. However, in a matter of five seconds, Yuna was already at the sink. Her brother was laughing his head off, watching his sister rinse her mouth with the coldest water she could gather from the tap. Her face was literally submerged in the water, and her screams went past her gurgles from the water.
After a matter of five minutes, the trio went back to the table. Roxas had to keep his laughter under control, but found it hard because of how red her face got from the Figies. He never though her face could get more red than her Lati color! Yuna glared at him while hissing in air to cool off her tongue and throat, but she was met with laughter again from the funny hissing. Ray chuckled as the Jenga tower was set back up.
"Alright, round 2!" This round lasted a little longer than the other since the two got the hang of it already. By the time that it got a little more harder. Yuna just let out a sigh of relief as she set another block on the top. This required a lot more concentration, but this was too fun to care. Roxas was also glaring at the tower as he put a piece on the top. Ray was still relaxed, having fun at the game.
"Roxas, your turn again," Ray said as he yawned. The Latios gulped, five new layers of blocks were on the top, and the bottom blocks were held up with only one block each, criss-crossing as they held the tower.
"Alright, here it goes…" The younger Lati took his time, and he gritted his teeth when he found a block that wouldn't budge. Yuna was grinning, but Roxas didn't give up. He ended up wiggling out the block halfway. Yuna was panicking a little; she didn't want to eat another set of berries. So, what she did was slowly chant:
"Jenga… Jenga… Jenga…" Yuna whispered as Roxas whimpered. Yuna kept on chanting, but he was already more than halfway.
"Haha! Looks like I have this one in the bag," The Lati bit his tongue. He could taste that awesome victory that was coming right around the corne-
"Hey guys! Guess what? Pikachu and I made it into LANCE!" Bianca, Kara, Sparks and Amy both burst into the house, creating a racket. This made Roxas turn right around, and knock the entire tower over in a quick second.
"NOOOOOOO!" Roxas immediately put his paws to his face and let out a giant scream and a groan. Yuna let out a cheer and did a little dance around the room. The four that just came in just watched in silence, taking one step back just in case they had to leave.
"Eat it!" Yuna shoved a small twig with a triplet of Figy berries.
"Um… are we missing something here?" Kara asked, cringing at the sight of the spicy berries. Ray gave everybody an innocent smile.
"Just a friendly game of Jenga."
"IT BURNS!" Roxas yelled out as he put the palms of his paws upwards towards the ceiling as he screamed in agony. Yuna was cackling with evil laughter, and Ray was already on putting back the Jenga tower.
"Who are you people? And what have you done to my friends?" Bianca asked the Latis. Pikachu was already out of the shop with Amy, and Kara was slumped over Lorenzo's comfy rocking chair while she sighed and turned the TV on, trying to block out the Latis and Bianca. Let's see… Food channel? Nah, just ate. Tourist travel channel? Nah, I already know this place inside and out. Pokemon battling? Too many amateurs. Breaking news? Nah, I alr- wait, breaking news?
"Yes! This is breaking news! It seems that one of the FUZE members has been hanged on the clocktower in central Altomare! The FUZE has not yet been identified, but from this angle, we can see… Oh my Arceus…" Kara's eyes widened at the sight she saw next. The FUZE member was hung when the hour hand was at twelve, and the clock has seemed to have stopped by then. The camera zoomed in closer and closer, and the uncloaked FUZE member's features were soon very visible.
"Ray, Ray!" Kara called back to her partner without letting her eyes leave the TV screen. Ray was over quickly, and his reaction to what he was seeing was no different than Kara's. The Lati siblings and Bianca looked on in both horror and surprise at the look at the FUZE member.
~!~
"Hey, Hey! Everybody! Get a load of this!" JT called out as a mini TV was on a stand of equipment. The pokemon and the humans gathered around and stared at what they were seeing. The FUZE member had his robe torn, and his hood was no where to be seen. Around his neck was a thick cord of rope, and his body hung limp from the sheer force of falling and snapping his neck. What made all of them cringe wasn't the sight of him being hung, it was the sight of the FUZE member himself. What they saw wasn't human, but it was a pokemon.
Or so they thought.
The figure had a tan coloration; its eyes resembled a Sandslash's while it had the protruding appendages of a Gabite. It had the hair of the Sandslash on its back, and the claws of a Sandslash while retaining the same figure of a Gabite. Its tan tail was limp along with its body, and the entire body was covered in cuts and bruises and marks of a fight. Pinned to his robe was a rag of white with a red question mark that was messily splattered on.
"What the fuck is that?" DJ exclaimed. Everybody else's expression asked the same thing.
"I've never seen anything like it, I have no clue," Lloyd almost whispered. Lea had her emotionless look still on, but by the way she was leaning forward, it seemed like she was showing a little interest. Maria and Blaze gave each other one long, hard stare before whispering to each other.
"Do you think…?" Blaze started.
"Yeah. No doubt about it… I'm surprised that it still exists…" Maria frowned. The two looked back at the TV with grim faces.
~!~
"You have failed me."
"M-my lady!"
"Darn, what a pity. Now we have no choice but to go with plan B."
"I prefer plan B anyway, it's more chaotic."
"Silence!... Now, explain this you wretch!"
"T-there were thugs d-down below in the s-sewers… We thought that they left, or that we c-captured them!"
"Again, your cockiness got the best of you. No matter. We have a simple solution for you."
"N-No! P-Please!"
"You asked for it hun~"
"It is the right punishment."
"Skin… him…"
"NO! No, I can atone for what I have done! I will find these thugs and-"
"Your second chance was given. You have abused it, and now you are forcing us to take drastic violent measures. This won't go without attention."
"You can make up your mistakes by becoming a test subject once again… away with him."
"No! No! Stop! Number 01, please! Anybody, just stop it! NO!"
"I… love… his… screams…"
"Peh. Whatever. You creep me out."
"May I ask what we're going to do next?"
"… Why, I guess we don't really have a choice but to take it the hard way. Either way, we WILL prevail. Our plan has been set into motion, and no one can stop FUZE now."
"Great," In the darkness of the room, one of the hooded figures stepped forward. The only thing that was shown underneath that hood was a sadistic grin, shining in the pitch black room.
"Just what I've been waiting for!"
~!~
Well, that's it for now! Sorry for the late, late, late, late, late update… I feel really bad… Gah, whatever. It's not like a lot of people are reading this anyway, but thanks to all of the reviewers who are! If you want this story to continue, please review! Because it's pretty discouraging to a writer to not have reviews on his stories, to be honest. Hey, but thanks to everybody who reviewed! At least three reviews, and then I'll continue! (I'm just making an excuse so I can have time to write… maybe.)
Somebody please tell me that they see the KH reference here, with the name that I gave Josh. I thought that Josh and Lucy sounded too normal, so I decided to give them more pizzazz.