Wow, a second episode done. I think a small part of my just died. And then revived itself. No, that was just gas. Anyway, Asmodeus's plan is put into action. But is the rest of the gang dumb enough to fall for the ol' switcharoony?

Episode 104: Infiltration

It had been two hours since Flame had slammed a door in my face and vanished. Everyone was starting to get worried, even Scyther looked a little uneasy.

"Where the hell is he?" Scout asked as he looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Do you think the Persian got him?" Blacky muttered, voicing all of our fears,

"Shut up nimwad," Spiral replied, "he said he was going to think a little, so he's probably sitting around somewhere."

"Besides, he can handle himself," I added.

"But Flame was afraid of the Persian," Scyther sighed, "maybe a search party should be sent out."

We all sat in silence untill a noise from the lobby entrance caused us all to spin around and there he was, like nothing had happened.

"Miss me?" Flame asked with a smirk.

"Where the hell were you?" Scout said loudly as Blacky tackled the Charmander to the ground.

"Outside. Where else would I have been?" He muttered sarcasticaly as he tried to heave Blacky off of him, "a little help here would be nice."

We were too busy sighing with relief to pay him much attention, untill he started screaming for air. It took the combined efforts of both me and Spiral to pry the hyperactive Umbreon off of Flame.

"We were worried sick!" Spiral chastised him, as he set up and caught his breath.

"I'm fine, Okay?" He countered, "yeesh. What is this? An interrogation?"

Now I started to think that something was up. Flame was not usually that hostile, especially not to the kits.

"You sure you're fine?" I asked, "you seem a little edgy."

He was silent for several seconds, scratching his chin before replying, "can you blame me?"

Scyther stepped up to me and nodded towards the door before leaving. I followed suit and we stopped on the corner of the street, out of earshot from those inside.

"Does Squirt think something seems odd about Flame?" He asked, so I wasn't the only one.

"He could just be a little shellshocked after seeing Pika get mutilated like that, I know I would be if I were in his position," I suggested, I even shuddered at the thought.

"Still, Scyther is going to keep an eye on Flame. Something doesn't seem right," Scyther sighed.

We both turned away and headed back inside, but a sudden feeling caused me too turn back and look towards the forests that surrounded the city.

"I think I'll agree with you on that one," I told Scyther as I turned back and headed inside, walking a little faster than before. Those dark trees scared me, they hid many secrets. One of which had nearly killed Pika.

The next day, Flame was still acting a little odd. The first real clue that something was up was when he actually ate some Pokéfood, instead of calling it poison and trying to kill the person who gave it to him.

"I thought you hated that stuff," Scout said as we watching him devour an entire bowlfull, I was suprised he actually managed to avoid eating the bowl itself.

"First time fore everything," Flame grinned as he wiped his face and went back to dozing.

Blacky and Spiral were playing, like they used too when we first found them. I had to admit, they had both grown up a lot since them. Blacky had retained his innocent and happy outlook on life, apart from the two times when he went psycho and blew things up, while Spiral had definatly matured a lot. It was somewhat scary. I could hardly believe that I had played a part in raising them.

Then we were all distracted by the door opening and Joanne walking in, carrying a heavily bandaged Pika.

"Look who finally decided to wake up," Joanne smiled, the first time since the incident.

"Hey guys," Pika said, with a small cough afterwards for good measure.

Then came our second clue that Flame was a little looser in the head than normal. When Pika was set on the ground, Flame actually hugged her.

"I thought you'd died on me," he muttered, while everyone else just looked on. Scyther glanced at me, his eyes seemed to be saying 'I told you so'

Pika didn't seem to be complaining about the hug, she took it with her usual grace and gave the demented Charmander a nasty kick to the kneecap. He collapsed to the ground and Pika glared at him.

"Maybe next time you'll get the hell out of the way when you get attacked," she muttered as she limped away.

Flame pulled himself up and I could have sworn that he was prepping a fireball. But the moment passed he was back to his unusually calm self. he scratched his throat and walked off, towards the room that we had been given to rest in. He had been scratching there a lot since the incident, as though something there was irritating his flesh. I spotted a small amount of orange powder on the floor and went to have a closer look.

There was only a small amount of it but it must have come from Flame. The strange texture made my hand itchy as I picked up a little of it, which explained why Flame was scratching all the time.

"What you got there, Uncle?" Spiral asked as she plodded up, the only other Pokémon that wasn't busy celebrating Pika's awakening.

She took a glance at the powder and raised an eyebrow.

"Why is there brick dust laying on the floor?" She asked.

"It came off of Flame," I replied, "at least now I know what it is. Why would Flame be covered in brick dust?"

"Something is definatly wrong here. Flame was cleaned when he came in here when Pika got injured," Spiral muttered, "so he shouldn't have any of this stuff on him. And there hasn't been any building work done around here in ages, so where would he have got it from?"

I glanced across at her, "you've definatly gotten smarter since we saw each other last."

"Well I was left on my own for over a week, I kinda picked little bits of info up from people who come in here. Who'd have thought that some of it would come in handy?" She said with a small laugh at the end.

"Smarts always come in handy, if you know when to use them," I replied in my sage tone, "but we still have to figure out what is wrong with Flame."

Somebody walked over and we both looked up.

"Hey, you seen Flame around?" The Pikachu asked, that cute one that Flame had been talking to back in Vermillion.

"That room over there," Spiral nodded in the direction of the room, "why do you want him?"

"I need to apolagise if I caused him any harm back in Vermillion," she answered while I tried to remember her name.

"You're Cresent right?" I finally asked as she started to walk away.

"Last time I checked," she replied, glancing over her shoulder as she walked away, "why?"

"Just making conversation."

"Well save that for later, I'm kinda in a hurry," she said as she vanished into Flame's room.

"How the hell does Flame attract all these people?" Spiral asked me, a question that had been bugging me for a while.

"If I knew that, I'd be in heaven."