Chapter 3: Who Are You

"Tell me who are you? 'Cause I really wanna know." ~ Who Are You, The Who

"When fate throws a dagger at you, there are two ways to catch it;

By the blade, or by the hilt."

~ Chinese Proverb

AN: Okay, so I know I said I'd probably get this to you guys on Monday, and I haven't written anything else this weekend (chapter 6 just keeps getting longer and longer and I've given up trying to keep track of what my characters are doing). BUT! But-but-but! I was at Anime Boston on Saturday... and I was just sitting in one of the hallways, trying to explain to my friends why I was so happy about getting a beautiful drawing of a certain angel in a trenchcoat... AND THEN SOMEONE COSPLAYING CASTIEL WALKED BY! Middle of my sentence, I bolted to my feet and went after him. Got a picture; the guy had the most perfect confused look on his face. And then I HUGGED HIM! I couldn't help it. I 'sqwee'd. A lot. So thank Castiel for the earliness of this chapter ;)

Four Days Later

Darius frowned as he watched the dark-skinned waiter watching Lysandre. The young man seemed to be trying to avoid going near the president of Lysandre Labs, but the man kept singling him out, asking for coffee and water only when he was in the area.

/The child is directing quite a bit of anger at that man./ Rayquaza observed from the back of Darius's mind. The young man simply 'hmm'ed into his ump-teenth cup of coffee.

/That's not just anger though, is it?/ He asked the dragon, trying to identify the dark swirls buffeting between the two subjects of his attention. /He's scared of Lysandre too./

/Very good./ The dragon said with a smidgen of amusement.

/Either way, something about those two is bugging me. Something more than just their interactions./ Darius complained, settling his cup on the small table beside his chair. He continued to watch as Lysandre once again caught the young waiter with a wave.

"Are you a pokemon trainer young man?" Lysandre asked abruptly, startling the boy into almost spilling the coffee in his hands. Darius leaned forward slightly to hear better; this was the first time the man had actually spoken to the boy. The younger of the pair's fear flared momentarily before settling into what felt like wariness and calculation. The hand not holding the coffee pot drifted down to the three pokeballs, two red-and-white and one pure red, that were clipped to his belt.

"I suppose I am." He said, his voice impressively level considering the tension Darius could feel radiating off his slim frame.

"It is plain to see in the way you move. And yet you work at such a mundane job?" Lysandre queried, leaning forward towards the young man, who took a step back. "I say this because I have noticed how uncomfortable you seem in this place. You don't feel like you are wasting your precious youth doing nothing in this dead-end career? You don't feel like you are wasting your talents as a trainer?"

As the man continued to speak, the young man's face remained impassive, but Darius could feel, underneath the wariness, a rising sense of revulsion, which only grew stronger the more words came out of Lysandre's mouth. It got to the point that Darius was beginning to feel a little impressed with how well-hidden the boy's emotions were. But enough was enough.

/Something else is going on here./ Darius grumbled to the dragon sitting in his hindbrain, even as he surreptitiously rose from his seat and approached the pair. Lysandre was sitting with his elbows on his knees, fingers laced together as he watched the waiter for any sign of reaction. The boy in question was leaning slightly back, Darius quickly making note of his stance, which meant he could bolt at a moment's notice. Lysandre had been right when he said the kid moved like a professional.

"Lots of people have pokemon with them without actually becoming actual trainers." Darius commented, standing off to the side so he could easily see the faces of both his targets. Lysandre's faint amusement shifted slightly, becoming somewhat brittle as annoyance swirled beneath his façade. The waiter on the other hand had lost almost all of his fear; while he was still wary of both Lysandre and Darius, he also echoed with curiosity. Mainly aimed at Darius. Interesting.

"You refer to yourself, perhaps?" Lysandre asked drily. Darius shrugged, pinning a smile on his face, despite his urge to glare and growl at the man.

"In fact, I do. I work together with my pokemon, and we travel, and we do quite a few other things that trainers would do. But I avoid battling people, and I mainly travel because I have a regular job which requires it." If you could call working as an agent for the International Police a regular job. Something about his words must have rung with whatever Lysandre was trying to get at, because the brittle annoyance faded into anticipation. Darius tried not to shiver at the predatory swirl that cloaked the man.

"Ah, but I see you take great pride in that role." Lysandre observed, eyes twinkling dangerously. "Surely you do not wish for that career to end? Don't you wish you could stay like that? Doing what you take pride in, forever as young and vibrant as you are now?"

Darius remembered finding Cyrus, trapped in the Torn Dimension by Giratina, where Space and Time were unstable at best. For Darius, months had passed since the Ruler of Distortion had pulled his uncle into the realm in fury. Cyrus looked as if not a day had passed. Until Darius saw his eyes. Haunted and empty in a way that made his past scowl look like a cheerful grin. Minutes and seconds diluted into hours and days by Giratina's desire to see Cyrus suffer for the threat to his realm and for the damage caused by the Red Chain's manipulations. Trapped in isolation for untold years, perhaps even centuries. For neither Cyrus nor Giratina wished to tell of what warped form of time had carried on.

Something of Darius's thoughts must have shown on his face, because he felt a pulse of fresh fear coming from the dark-skinned youth, directed at Darius himself, and Lysandre was frowning, brittle annoyance almost fully replacing his earlier amusement.

"Forever is a very long time." Darius muttered darkly, staring at Lysandre in challenge as the waiter fidgeted nervously, obviously wishing to leave but not wanting to draw attention to himself. Finally however, Lysandre sighed in acquiescence and rose to his feet, both younger men backing off a step as Lysandre collected his bag and nodded.

"It seems your minds will not be swayed." He stated before turning and walking to the exit. Darius watched his retreating back until the door closed behind him and he strode down the sidewalk, out of sight of the large windows. Once he was well and truly gone, Darius turned to the waiter, whose fear had settled into nervousness. And he was still as wary as a cornered animal.

"You were afraid of him." Darius stated immediately. "Why?"

"You obviously didn't like him either." The boy shot back defensively. Which didn't answer Darius's question.

/The child has a point./ Rayquaza spoke up once more, having been silent through the entire confrontation. Darius tried not to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"You have a name?" He asked instead, deciding not to pursue the boy's reluctance to discuss his reasoning. Again, a pulse in that ever-present wariness, as well as a hesitation before he replied.

"Some people call me Ark." He said, his tone challenging, despite the almost minuscule flair of his fear. Daring him to challenge the statement, and yet afraid the challenge will be accepted. Which implied a lie.

/Bet you I could count the number of people who call him that on one hand, and it's not even close to his actual name./ Darius muttered mentally to the amused dragon. /I suppose two can play at that game./

"Some people call me Titan." Darius informed the boy with a smirk that bordered on predatory.

/Careful hatchling, your supervising officer would not be pleased if he heard you using that name when on vacation./ Rayquaza teased while Darius scowled at the dragon's favourite nickname.

"Something tells me that's not your real name." Ark muttered, frowning as his wariness increased almost two-fold, and a flicker of fear reappeared. Cautiously, he took a step back from Darius, settling once more into the stance that would allow him the quickest escape. Which would probably include splashing the almost-forgotten pot of hot coffee in his hand at Darius. Noting his reaction, Darius softened his smirk to something a little less predatory.

"I could say the same of you." He informed the nervous boy. "And now you're afraid of me. You're very suspicious and twitchy for a simple waiter."

"What makes you think I'm afraid of you?" Ark demanded, taking a step away from Darius, who sighed. He could feel suspicion rising in the other patrons, and he'd already drawn negative attention by introducing himself as Titan.

"Listen, I'm going to leave now. We keep this conversation going much longer and the other customers are going to call the restaurant manager and the cops because it looks like I'm harassing and or threatening you. Have a good day Ark." And Darius turned and walked out of the café before Ark could recover enough to call him back.

Archangel sighed as he stared at his useless communicator. There was so much going on, but there was no way he could inform anyone. Without Watcher's backup and Tower's data, everyone in Kalos had potential to be a suspect. Momentarily pushing the unsettling thought from his head, he plucked the three pokeballs off his belt, releasing Thanau and Broga. Amersu stayed in her pokeball though, stubborn as usual. Archangel didn't even try to force her out, instead just clipping the ball back to his belt. He'd been unsure on how to react to Lysandre approaching him. Perhaps to a bystander who didn't know what the man was planning to do, the conversation would have seemed innocent enough, but for Archangel, he could still feel his skin crawling. And speaking of bystanders…

"What kind of a name is Titan?" He asked Thanau, who was in the process of showing Broga how to sneak up on a hapless Spewpa cowering in the bushes. Broga glanced over at the sound of his voice, but Thanau growled, bringing the little frog's attention back to their impromptu training. Ark sighed, seating himself down among the leaf litter to watch as Thanau crept forward a few feet, waving his tail at Broga to indicate the other pokemon should try. A twig snapped under one of the froakie's pads however and the charmeleon growled, stalking off in another direction and trying again.

Archangel let his thoughts wander as the two pokemon continued to prowl around the perimeter of the clearing. Titan had looked like a good candidate for a high-ranking member of Team Flare. Except for the fact that he'd stepped in to argue with Lysandre. Unless it was some kind of ploy? But something was still bothering Archangel. Something about that blue hair…

The young man, whom Archangel belatedly realized had the most impressive shade of blue hair the agent had ever seen, glanced down at the mug in his hands. He seemed surprised that it was empty, and held it up so Archangel could add more coffee to the small dregs that remained from the last cup.

Of course; he'd met Titan a week after his little trip. Ark vaguely remembered the suspicious young man asking about legends in the Kalos region. Hadn't he said it was for a report of some kind? What if he'd been telling the truth? A report for Team Flare, on the pokemon they planned to manipulate? But then why the interest in recent events? Perhaps he'd been checking up on how much attention Team Flare had drawn to themselves already? But he'd asked about a week previous specifically, and Archangel knew Team Flare had been quiet during the time around his arrival. Unless they'd actually done something critical to the plan and Titan was making sure no-one had heard about it.

The teen frowned as he watched Thanau pin Broga down, having been showing the smaller pokemon how to free himself from larger opponents. Something about that train of thought still wasn't sitting right in Archangel's subconscious. Absently, he pulled Amersu's pokeball off his belt once more, holding it up so he could see the pokemon within. Amersu was pointedly watching Thanau and Broga, but Archangel didn't mind. He was getting used to being ignored by her.

"I don't suppose you know what Titan's agenda is." He groused to the exasperating pokemon. Light blue eyes darted up to meet green however at the mention of the stranger's name, and Amersu smiled, tucking tiny green hands over her mouth as she giggled silently inside the red sphere.

"You think Titan's funny?" Archangel asked, startled that he'd actually gotten a reaction out of her. Amersu continued to watch Ark, lowering her hands to reveal her smile once more. However, she made no attempt to enlighten him further. Not that she could, really, inside the Pokeball as she was. Archangel sighed, breaking their mini staring contest to watch a Fletchling hopping about in the higher branches of a nearby tree. Amersu had no reason to like Team Flare, as much misery and pain as they'd caused her. Which meant if Titan was one of them, she probably wouldn't be giggling at the mention of his name. But that led back to his original question; if Titan wasn't a title for a sub-leader of Team Flare, then what kind of a name was it? Unless…

The first time they'd met, Titan had been asking about suspicious activity and old legends. Which was exactly what Archangel had done previously. As Archangel had pointed out, he didn't like Lysandre, though that one was harder to explain since there was currently nothing connecting the man to Team Flare. And how he'd introduced himself afterwards…

"Some people call me Ark."

"Some people call me Titan."

Ark wasn't exactly an average name, though it was less strange than Archangel. And the way the other had said 'Titan', it didn't sound like a nickname, more like…

"It's a codename." Archangel voiced out loud, glancing back down to Amersu to see what she thought of his conclusion. Her slight giggle was answer enough. Groaning, Archangel pressed his free hand to his forehead. Now the question was, who did Titan work for? And how much did he know?

AN: Hey all. Teehee, I wonder how many of you have figured out where Ark came from yet? And just what Pokemon Amersu is. Heh, her name is a hint, if you've managed to figure out my little naming conventions ;) Anyway, it seems obvious to me, but maybe that's just because I'm the one writing it. Anyway, Spring Break is over, so I won't have as much time to write (that and I've already cut deeply into my backlog of chapters... oops). Don't worry though, I'll make sure I never give you another delay like before. Ever. Again.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Leave a review! Please and thank you!