Lee.

The brat smirked. "You're finally paying attention?" He asked cheekily.

I ground my teeth together angrily, trying not to lash out.

"What's your problem?!" I snarled across the cavern. "If my friend is in any danger from that attack, I'll..." I couldn't think of anything bad enough to do to him to atone for hurting Mark. "Blaziken! Use Blaze Kick!"

Mark's Blaziken, used to taking orders from me, obeyed without a second thought. He jumped up and lunged down at Toxicroak, doing a roundhouse and smashing into the pokemon with his blazing foot.

Fallon used the Water Pulse I had called for earlier, slamming Toxicroak into the rock wall behind him with the force of the attack. Toxicroak fainted, slumping against the rock.

The look of terror registered on the Team Galactic member's face was just what I needed. He returned his pokemon to his pokeball, and I couldn't hold it back.

I broke out in a sprint, grabbing the boy by the collar of his uniform and slamming his back hard against the rock behind him. I leaned in, nose to nose with him, trying to form a coherant thought.

"Give me...*huff*..." I wheezed, "one good reason...*huff*...I should not crack your skull against this goddamn stone."

It seemed surreal to be threatening someone who didn't look a day older than Riley, but I wanted answers from the prick. Not only blood, for daring to hurt my best friend.

The only answer I recieved was a look of terror. I shook him a little, to try and loosen his tongue.

"Who the (expletive deleted) are you?!" I demanded. "Can you tell me that?"

He looked close to tears. He drew a shaky breath.

"S...S-Saturn," He stammered. "Th-they call me...Saturn."

"Who's 'they'?" I was losing my patience. "You're from Team Galactic, correct?"

He nodded. "I-I'm kind of a new recruit..." He admitted. "...but, I was sent here to find where the Celestic Ruins are. T-to learn about the legendary pokemon."

My grip on his shirt loosened. Learn about legendary pokemon?

"...What legendary pokemon?" I asked. The adrenaline in my system eased down, and I didn't feel so much like breaking a bunch of laws by beating his ass to death.

Saturn gulped hard, glancing down. "D-Dialga," He told me, "and Palkia. The two pokemon said to have made the region. Boss said-"

"Who is your boss?" I felt my heart thud loudly in my throat. "What is Team Galactic trying to do?"

"I won't tell." He purse his lips. "I was sworn to secrecy not to tell who the Boss is!"

Saturn's rebellious gesture pissed me off. I tightened my grip on his shirt again, slamming him into the rock behind him.

"Goddammit, that was not a rhetorical question!" I shouted. "I was merciful enough not to beat the holy hell out of you, so answer my (expletive deleted)in' question!"

My voice was shrill and furious, neither of which were at all normal for me. My angry shouting echoed powerfully off the walls, both irritating my headache and frightening me.

Saturn turned white as a ghost. "I'm sorry, I...this was my f-first mission...please don't beat me up..."

My stomach tightened at the sound of his trembling voice. He sounded like my little brother...

I sighed, finally letting go of poor Saturn's uniform. The neck was stretched out, still molded in the shape of my first four fingers. Saturn stared at me with wide, surprised blue eyes.

In response to his stare, I frowned and glared down at him. He was actually a bit short, not including his hair.

"I...I guess it would be pretty low of me to beat up a child like you, just so I can get info on a criminal team," I admitted bitterly. I pushed him towards the entrance of the ruins. "Go. Go back to whoever sent you here, and tell them Leon Higgins is out for blood."

Saturn nodded, scrambling off out and back into Celestic Town. I had scared him enough, he was gonna do it. I returned Fallon to his pokeball, and glanced at Mark's Blaziken.

He couldn't be older than fourteen or fifteen. I shook my head, disgusted. To think, Team Galactic has children that young working for them...

"Lee!" Riley came running in, interrupting my thoughts.

I looked at him. "Hm?"

He looked like he'd seen a ghost. "You..." He sighed in relief. "Gardevoir returned without you, then Mark came back with his arm hurt...I thought..."

Realizing what he meant, I laughed. "Thanks for worrying, bud, but it was only a snot-nosed brat. I scared 'im stiff."

"Really?" Riley's face lit up. "Cool!"

Minutes Later.

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy, please, where's Marcus Lowe, with red hair and an injured arm?"

Naturally, with Riley and Blaziken trotting behind me, I headed off to the Pokemon Center to search for Mark. Nurse Joy was behind her usual help desk.

The nurse gave me a bright smile. "You just missed him," She told me gently. "He asked me to tell you to follow Riley to Cynthia's house."

I nodded, processing the info. "Okay. Okay, thank you so much, ma'am, have a good one." I turned on my heel, marching out.

"Wait!" Riley called behind you. "You don't know where you're going!"

"Then tell me."

Cynthia's house was the furthest north in the town, and looked a bit big, too. I walked in to find Mark sitting on a couch, with Flint sitting next to him, tying a bandage around his arm.

Shift, sitting limply in Mark's lap, perked up at the sight of me. "Ummmbreon!" She yipped happily, leaping off of him and bounding towards me.

I laughed, crouching down and petting her. "Hey there, Shift," I greeted her happily.

Mark rolled his eyes. "Dope," He muttered.

Flint glanced nervously from me to Mark, then stood up, wiping his hands on his gray jeans.

"Did I do it right?" He asked Mark. I hadn't yet heard the boy ask a question with such a serious face.

"Yeah," Mark answered, nodding. "Flint, go tell the others that Lee came back."

Obediently, Flint nodded, grinning a snaggle-toothed grin. "C'mon, Riley!" Him and Riley headed further into the house. To thr kitchen, I supposed.

Without a word, Mark tossed me Blaziken's weather-beaten pokeball. I returned Blaziken, then tossed it back to Mark.

I sat down on the couch next to him, noting four small spots of blood already on the bandage. He had his t-shirt sleeve rolled up, where anybody could see it.

"...Sorry, dude." The apology tumbled out of my throat without a thought. Shift hopped into my lap, and I absentmindedly stroked the fur on the back of her neck. "What did Nur-?"

"Not serious at all." He rolled his shoulder, and winced in pain. "Gonna have pretty sore muscules for a bit, and possible minor muscle tissue damage, so don't dare expect me to help you in a poorly-thought out battle anytime soon."

I stared at him in shock. "Permanent damage?!" I echoed. "What the hell, how can you say that with-!"

"Lee!" Cynthia cheered out. I jumped up from the couch, a little startled, catapulting Shift to the ground.

The blonde charged at me full speed, and when I raised my arms to block her, she wrapped hers around my chest and hugged me tight. She sighed in relief.

"Thank you so much," She thanked me sincerely. She hugged me tighter. "For saving my grandma. You and Mark are heroes!"

I must have been blushing hard. Mark hid a snicker behind his hand; he knew how much I hated hugs.

I carefully, gently peeled her away from me. "We didn't do that much. That brat was only, like, fourteen."

Near the doorway, I heard Lucian's chuckle. "That may be true, but age is only a number in a battle," He reminded me. "'That brat''s Toxicroak managed to decimate both of our teams."

I glanced at him. That's why he had to get us to help... I realized.

Cynthia grabbed me by the wrist, tugging. "Come on, Lee!" She egged me on. "My grandma wants to talk to you!"

AOF: Saturn's reaction to Lee may have seemed out of character, but if you had an enraged 18 year old bearing down on you, one hand placement away from strangling you, then you'd just about shit yourself, too.