(Day 42)

Steven stirs, eyelashes fluttering upwards, revealing steely gray eyes. Taking a moment to take in the familiar ceiling of his room, he feels something shift against his side. Looking down, he finds fluffy raven black hair in his view. 'Lucryn?'

Sunlight streams through the window, basking Lucryn's face in a warm light. Asleep, Lucryn looks less mature, he looks…like a child. Still…reaching out, Steven smooths out Lucryn's furrowed brows. 'Even in sleep you don't look peaceful.'

Thinking back to last night, he can't pinpoint what changed. Having a panic attack, letting him touch him right after, none of it makes sense. 'Just what changed?'

Playing with Lucryn's hair, Steven relaxes, the peaceful morning rather new to him. Normally he's always on the go, relaxing like this really is nice. Lucryn shifts in his sleep, his head on Steven's chest turning downwards and away from Steven, the child's arm sneaking around Steven's waist and hugging him tight.

A soft smile falls over Steven's face, 'If only he could always be like this.'

*BANG!
The door flies open, Lance walking in. Lucryn is up in an instance, his lips drawn back, eyes gleaming with bloodlust, startling both Steven and Lance. Lance pauses, glancing from Lucryn to Steven. "Okay…good morning…erm…"

Lance, the ever confident one stumbling over his words has Steven laughing slightly, breaking the silence. Lucryn calms as he gazes between the two, hopping off the bed, he walks right past Lance and out of the room. Lance waits for Lucryn to leave before turning to Steven with a mischievous smirk. "Care to tell me how you convinced Lucryn to sleep with you?"

"Shut up." Steven says, getting out of bed and stretching. Unbuttoning his shirt, he lets it slip off of him.

"Oh, are you going to seduce me now?" Lance asks with an even bigger smirk. Steven's cheeks redden slightly as he glares at Lance.

"Who's seducing who? You burst into my room just now." Steven spits out.

Lance laughs, his eyes alight with amusement, momentarily dazing Steven. 'Darn it, this guy is so annoying!'

"What do you want? I need to get a shower." Steven coldly says. Lance straightens up, returning to his confident and commanding aura. Truly looking like a powerful warrior king as he stood there, wearing a rather formal outfit.

"I've been informed of an uprising occurring in Sinnoh and requested to go provide support immediately." Lance summarizes, getting a nod from Steven. Turning his back to Lance, Steven pulls out a new outfit.

Turning back, he gazes at Lance, eyes serious. "So, why did you come to tell me this?"

"Cynthia's requested I take Lucryn with me." Lance states.

"No." Steven says, eyes cold as he gazes at Lance. "He gets into enough trouble here. Sinnoh isn't as calm as Hoenn and there's no way he's getting in the middle of a dispute."

Lance raises his hands in surrender. "Calm down, it was a direct order."

"Lucryn isn't part of the military." 'not yet' Steven states.

"I know." Lance says. "However he is a contracted, as such, the military does have the right to assign them missions, up to two a year."

"He's a child!" Steven can't help but yell.

Lance sighs. "I know."

"Darn it, just go." Steven spits out, storming into the bathroom and closing the door. Even though he's clearly angry, he still gently closed the door, Lance unable to help but smile in amusement. A moment later his lips droop, turning around, he says.

"We're leaving immediately." The commander aura is back on in full swing as he walks out of the room, looking down at Lucryn who stood right outside of the room, leaning against the wall.

Lucryn nods in response. Lance strides down the hallway and outside, Lucryn needing to take three steps to equal one of his. Outside, Lance cooly says. "I'm summoning my Dragonite, he'll fly us to Sinnoh." As an afterthought, Lance adds, "He will not harm you."

Lucryn nods, taking a step back all the same. A large summoning circle appears, Dragonite stepping out of it. Opening his mouth to roar, Dragonite suddenly stops, looking quite awkward as he stands there mouth half open. Closing his mouth, Dragonite bows his head a little bit as if trying to appear smaller.

Lucryn's half crouched, marks warming as he feels deeply threatened by this beast before him. "Drago" The creature says, lowering his head even more as he watches Lucryn. Lucryn rises, hesitantly moving towards Dragonite as Lance explains how to mount the massive creature.

Lucryn doesn't need any advice on how to get on Dragonite, that's no problem. The problem is Dragonite is strong, dreadfully so, and Dragonite can fly. On the ground Lucryn has better odds of escaping, in the air…

"Hurry, we need to go." Lance orders. Lucryn lightly jumps, climbing swiftly to Dragonite's back. The warm scales beneath him doing little to offset his growing dread. Lance jumps on behind him, explaining to Lucryn how to grip onto Dragonite to ensure he doesn't go tumbling off.

Dragonite spreads his wings, in one powerful flap their skyward bound. Lucryn hates it and loves it immediately. The world is so beautiful from above, but his freedom, he feels like it's been stripped from him as the world spans beneath him. 'Was I ever free to begin with?'

(7 hours later)

Dragonite is fast, that's one thing Lucryn's confirmed as he sees Sinnoh's land stretching out beneath him. Of course, Lucryn can tell that Dragonite is far faster than what he's shown. 'It seems I've slowed him down.'

Dragonite flies over a large city, Lucryn watching the land from above. 'It's all so small and insignificant seeming from up here.' Turning his head, Lucryn looks at Lance who is staring ahead, eyes hard and unyielding. Lance's eyes lower, meeting Lucryn's.

"We're here." Lance states, Dragonite descending, landing in a large compound located near one of the largest cities in Sinnoh, Jubilife City. As Dragonite lands in the dirt field right next to the compound, a team of seven men wearing military uniforms appear. The military uniforms are a mix of black and green. Green being the color of the Eleventh Battle Division, the Guardians of Sinnoh.

Lance's own formalwear consists of black pants, a black buttoned up shirt and a red suit jacket, red the color of the second battle division, the swords of war.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice sir!" The lead man says, saluting, fist placed over his chest as he bows. The other men perform the same action. Lance nods to them, gesturing for Lucryn to follow as they enter the compound, the lead man briefing Lance on the current situation.

"Let me get this straight. An elite alongside over twenty contracted trainers are currently refusing to follow military order and are being detained for the moment? On top of that, the pokemon in this area are being more aggressive?"

"That is the current situation sir. The elite, Mason, is a newly appointed Elite to the Eleventh Division. He demanded to be released from mandatory military service."

"Military law requires two years of service if you are a contracted. How long has he served?" Lance asks, glancing through a folder handed over to him.

"He has completed one year."

"His reasons for not finishing his service?"

"He stated that it is unfair for contracted to be forced to enlist for two years when only 30% of uncontracted are required to enlist. He also stated that he has plans to marry an uncontracted human he met during his service and doesn't desire to risk his life anymore."

Lances eyes lower, only Lucryn catching the glimpse of coldness within them. "And the others?"

"They have a variety of reasons for wanting to end their service, however, each of them states that the underlying reason is feeling they are being mistreated due to forceful enlistment and having no say in the matter."

Lance nods, finished flipping through the papers. "I'll meet with them later, first I'll have a look at the surrounding area to see if there's a cause for the heightened pokemon aggression. If there are any new leads on the pokemon hunters that were sighted outside of Jubilife contact me immediately."

Turning, Lance strides out, Lucryn tagging along behind him. Summoning Dragonite, Lance hops on Dragonite's back, gesturing for Lucryn to hurry. Lucryn expressionlessly climbs onto Dragonite's back, sitting behind Lance this time. Lance says nothing, Dragonite taking off. Soaring once more above the city, Dragonite does some lazy circles as Lance observes the city below.

"What do you think Lucryn?" Lance suddenly asks, looking back at Lucryn. "Why would the pokemon be mounting more offensive attacks against humans?"

Lucryn doesn't respond, Lance sighing, before giving an answer. "Not many pokemon are highly aggressive unless their territory is invaded or they're under attack."

Tapping his leg, Lance studies Lucryn. "The fact that these pokemon are launching attacks of their own choosing most likely means we (humans) have done something to them. With the sighting of pokemon hunters, it's likely they've managed to infuriate them and the pokemon are taking out their anger by indiscriminately attacking humans."

Lucryn yawns, he already understood this much from the discussion between Lance and the military group. Lance continues on. "Do you believe stopping the pokemon hunters will stop the pokemon from attacking?"
Lucryn's lips curl up. 'No, catching them won't fix anything.' "It won't." Lance affirms Lucryn's thought. "However, they must not be allowed to run free. Remember this Lucryn. Pokemon Hunters are to be thrown into prison, they can't be allowed to wreak havoc and shatter whatever peace remains between pokemon and humans. Of course, catching the hunters may give us a clue as to the reason behind the pokemon's attack and guide us to a possible solution."

Lucryn nods, Lance smiling a tad at him before schooling his expression back to his cold and commanding mask. "Our goal is to catch one of the pokemon that is aggressing."

Lucryn blanks. 'What?' His mind filters through the reasoning behind it. 'Won't catching one of the pokemon make the others angrier?'

"Dragonite, look for Sneasel's or Poochyena, if you see either, snatch one." Lance commands, Lucryn amazed by the sheer arrogance in Lance's voice.

With Lance's strength, he has the right to be this arrogant. After some time surveilling, Dragonite hurtles down, tears streaming from Lucryn's eyes due to the sheer speed as the wind whips around him. Unable to help it, he leans forward, arms wrapping around Lance's waist as he holds on tightly, knowing if he doesn't he'll definitely tumble off.

Dragonite roars, deafening Lucryn's ears and making him tightly screw his eyes shut as he trembles, feeling threatened.

Lance notices the little arms wrap around his waist, but his focus is on the current situation. As they near the ground, the situation becomes clearer. A group of Poochyena howl as they launch attacks at the city wall and the military men defending it. A portion of the wall crumbles due to a Mightyena's use of the move Sucker Punch.

A group of Sneasel's is also causing chaos, using hit and run tactics on the guards to cause them injury and weaken the defensive line.

Lance summons Tyranitar, ordering the large pokemon to restrain the lead Mightyena, Dragonite commanded to restrain one of the many sneasels running amok. 'Pokemon from Johto and Hoenn, not natives of Sinnoh, how strange.'

Over time, many pokemon normally only sighted in one region have become noticeable in other regions, but that doesn't mean the reason for them being in the region is normal. 'I'll need to look into this as well.'

It takes only a moment for Tyranitar to pin down the lead Mightyena, Dragonite knocking out a Sneasel with Thunder Punch.

Sensing how intimidating the newcomers are, the Sneasels and Poochyena's run off, leaving only the two captives. Lance doesn't stop them from running, instead he goes to hop off of Dragonite, half falling off when he realizes Lucryn wasn't letting go and let himself be dragged off of Dragonite's back with Lance's movement. Landing unsteadily, one of Lance's arms are behind him, holding onto Lucryn's waist.

Gently removing Lucryn's hands from around his waist, he ignores the eyes of the military men regrouping nearby, turning around. The sight of Lucryn has his eyes narrowing. Tears stream down Lucryn's face, his eyes expressionless, but the layer of mist over them softens them, making him seem more approachable.

Opening his mouth and closing it several times, Lance's aura changes back and forth from being a commander to being sorry and concerned. Finally Lance settles on being the commander, schooling his facial features he sternly says. "There is no place for crying right now."

Lucryn's eyes narrow, not looking intimidating at all, more like a cat cutely showing defiance as he thinks. 'Not crying, it's your fault it looks that way!'

"Dragonite, Tyranitar, interrogate the two pokemon." Lance orders, his two pokemon beginning to converse with the two still defiant pokemon they've pinned down. Lucryn didn't watch the two large pokemon, but the scent of blood and growls of pain let him know the interrogation wasn't all that nice.

Time slowly passes, military members coming and going, giving reports to Lance and receiving instructions. By the time the sun had set, Dragonite and Tyranitar had successfully gotten the info Lance wanted from the two pokemon.

Lucryn looks at the two pokemon lying on the ground, blood matting their fur. They truly looked miserable. "Take them to the pokecenter on the outskirts of the city, have them healed and released." Lance orders Dragonite who swiftly picks both up none too kindly, flying off with them.

Lucryn looks curiously at Lance as Lance returns Tyranitar. Looking down at Lucryn, Lance frowns. "What?"

Lucryn blinks in response, Lance sighing as he gestures for Lucryn to follow. "Time to rest. Come along, tomorrow we'll be hunting down the pokemon hunters, there's been some leads on who they are."

Lucryn nods, following behind Lance as they head into the city, bidding goodnight to the men still working to repair the damage done by the pokemon to the city wall. Entering a large military building, Lance guides him to a room with two bunk beds. "Choose any bed, these are temporary quarters for military patrols coming and going. No one will come in and bother us." Lance said the last part more for Lucryn than anything.

Lucryn looks at the tiny room, noting that there's no windows whatsoever. 'Military life doesn't seem fun anymore.'