I woke up with a long yawn hauled myself out of bed to get ready for work. Clara stayed in bed to catch a few more minutes of rest; lucky for her she could afford those extra moments since she didn't have to clothe herself before going outside. I prepared our breakfasts as Flare trotted out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to greet me with his customary lick on the cheek. I smiled and scratched him behind the ears. All in all it seemed like a regular morning until I looked out the window. I stared at it for a few moments, confused as to what I was looking at until I realized it was a pokemon. Out in the morning mist, right on our front lawn, sat a quadrupedal white pokemon with large pitch black claws. It's face was black as well, sticking out in the fog compared to the rest of its body. The oddest thing about it was the lopsided horn it had on one side of its forehead that jutted out a few inches before suddenly turning and curving back behind its head. It seemed to be staring directly at me, and we locked eyes for a few moments until I started to move towards the window. The pokemon darted off into the fog, disappearing quickly the moment I stepped to get a closer look at it.

"What was that?" Clara said from behind me.

"I don't know," I said, turning to see she had already made the bed and was standing right next to our table. "But it seemed to be watching us." I said.

Shaking it off, we slipped back into our usual routine and were soon walking to the police station. Something was off about the walk though; despite it being the middle of spring which was notorious for thick fog around here, it still should have burned off by the time we reached the station. The fog was just as thick as we headed inside. We took care of our morning duties before setting to work filing again, though today was a first in that it looked like we were finally on the last few stacks. Feeling energized from seeing a feasible end to the task, we worked quickly until it was time for Flare and I to head down to the school for crossing guard duty. The fog was still just as thick when we went out, but other than that nothing was out of the ordinary. The recess supervisor's Hoot-hoot didn't seem to have any issue keeping track of the kids in the mist, so I didn't worry about it. Once back, I resumed filing with Clara and by noon we had somehow finished the job. We sat back and marveled at the long table, now completely empty. We hadn't even known what color it was when we first got here, and now we were done.

"I thought that would take our entire internship." Clara said, smiling.

"Me too." I said, smiling back. "Though I'm worried what Chief Ramsey will find to replace it." I added chuckling, though I was cut short by a loud shriek from the lobby.

"That was Carol!" Clara said, starting for the door. I followed her out and rushed towards the entrance. Chief Ramsey was also jogging to check on the receptionist, as the other officers would be doing as well if not for being out on patrol. I swung the door open to see Carol crouched down behind her desk, but otherwise okay.

"Carol, what's-" I started, but stopped when I heard a low screech from the doorway. I looked over and the first thing I saw was the glass door covered in scratches, the second thing was the midnight black claws adding to them. After a moment I recognized the lopsided horn on its head and knew it was the same pokemon from this morning. As soon as I realized this it stopped mid-rake and locked eyes with me for a few seconds before running off into the thick fog again.

"What the hell was that?" Ramsey said from behind Clara and I.

"I don't know, I just looked up and all of a sudden it was sitting there staring in." Carol stammered out, peeking out from behind her desk. "Then it started pawing at the glass but when the door didn't open it started scratching at it."

I walked over to the door and examined the damage. "These are clean cuts." I mumbled to myself. "That thing's got claws that can cleave glass."

"Mark, it seemed to recognize you." Ramsey said. "Any info you can give us?"

"Not much," I said, standing up. "It was in my front yard this morning, but it ran off when I saw it just like it did now."

Ramsey sighed. "I've been getting calls reporting some monster out in the fog patrolling the town all morning, I guess that was it, though it doesn't really fit some of their descriptions" he said. "Question is what is it."

"I know a lot of pokemon, but I have no clue what that one is." I said, shaking my head.

"Alright then, Mark I want you to run down to your uncle's house and see if he knows anything about it." Ramsey said. "Leave Flare here with us in case it comes back to the station, and take Clara with you in case it comes after you."

I nodded. "That okay with you Clara?" I asked.

"Yeah, lets get going." She said.

I called a taxi with my cell, but opted to wait inside for it to arrive. I half expected the thing to jump me the moment I was outside, but nothing happened and the trip to my uncle's ranch was uneventful, sans the radio on my belt crackling as the Chief informed the other officers to keep an eye out for a black and white pokemon roaming the town. Ted didn't answer when we knocked, so we figured he was already out in the fields and headed behind the house. Looking out at the wall of fog in front of us we figured it better to wait for him rather than get lost in the fog. We sat on the back step for a while until a figure emerged from the mist, holding a bucket in one hand and a brush in the other.

"Mark!" Ted exclaimed as he approached. "Something must be up for you to be visiting at this hour." He said.

"Yeah, we have a problem over in town." I said.

"What can I do to help?" He said.

Clara spoke up. "There's a pokemon that seems to be following us, and we don't know what it is. It's white with black claws and a black face; and it has this weird horn on the side of its head." She explained. "Mark didn't know what it was so we figured you might."

Ted went silent and scratched his chin as he thought, and after a few minutes he looked up. "Well, I can tell you I know what you're talking about, but not much past that." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"A while back I took a trip to Hoenn for a breeding expo and saw a few there. It's called Absol. I remember thinking it looked cool, but never got much of a chance to learn about it."

I nodded. "Thanks," I said. "That's more help than you think, at least we know what to call it now." I said.

We chatted for a few minutes before saying goodbye and calling another cab. On the ride back to the station I nearly jumped out of my seat when I looked out the window just in time to see our Absol sitting on the side of the road, watching us go by.

"How does it know where we are?" Clara asked.

"I don't know." I sighed.

Back at the station, I filled Ramsey and Carol in on what little we had learned. "Well, what now?" Carol asked.

Ramsey thought for a few minutes before sighing and shaking his head. "Best I can do is keep the patrols out looking for it." He said.

"Wait a minute, I might have something useful I could try." I said as an idea hit me. Carol and Ramsey looked up, waiting for me to explain. "Simon, the postman, used to be a trainer before he came here. He might still have his pokedex from back then which could tell us more about Absol."

Ramsey shrugged, "It's better than nothing," he said, "You go ahead and take Clara with you again."

We headed out the door and down the sidewalk towards the post office, though I could feel anxiety slowly creeping in being outside. Clara tried to comfort me by saying she was keeping an eye out for him telepathically, and would let me know when she sensed him; which helped, but only slightly. I could have sworn I saw the pitch black crescent of it's horn out in the fog a few times on the way there, but Absol never made a full appearance.

"Mark, you're late." Simon said cheerfully as we opened the door, then he saw my face. "Wait, what's wrong?" He said.

"We have something following us." I said flatly.

"What exactly?" Simon asked, motioning Ruby and Jade over from in back.

"A pokemon called Absol." I said. "It showed up in my yard this morning, and has been following us since then." I said, pulling out my cell phone to check the time. "I also think it might be responsible for this fog, it's already well past two; it should have burned off by now."

Simon nodded. "Sounds like trouble." He said. "How do you want me to help? Need Ruby or Jade for extra protection?"

I shook my head. "Best they stay with you since we don't know what it wants yet. I was actually hoping you still had your pokedex from back in Unova so we could look it up."

Simon whistled ran his hand through his hair. "Man Mark, I'm not even sure if we got to Jhoto with that thing, I haven't seen it in years."

"So you don't have it?" Clara asked.

"I might." Simon said, "But that's a very slim might."

"I'll take might over nothing." I said, and Simon nodded. Jade and Ruby followed him out from behind the counter as he went to turn the little sign on the door over so it read 'Closed' from outside.

"Come on, we'll head to my house. You look like you need to relax for a while anyway." Simon said. I nodded and the five of us headed out. It wasn't long before we were at his front door and after fiddling with the lock for a bit he let us in. Jade led me to the couch and sat me down before checking me over for injuries.

"I'm fine Jade, you don't need to worry." I said.

"I've seen how you hide pain." Jade said flatly as she worked. "Just let me do my thing." I sighed and resigned myself to her, and after a few minuted she nodded and plopped down next to me on the couch.

Simon walked in holding a steaming coffee mug and handed it to me. "Here, try this." He said.

I took the cup and sipped it, savoring the taste for a second before taking a big gulp of it. "What is this stuff?" I asked.

"Tea made from Persim berries." He said, "It's supposed to help you relax."

I took another gulp of the tasty drink. "I don't know about relaxing, but It tastes great." I said.

Simon nodded. "You wait here, I'll see what I can do about my pokedex." He said, heading upstairs. I tried my best to relax and sipped my tea, and after a while I felt like I was loosening up a bit. Clara and Jade chatted in the meantime, and after a few minutes Ruby hopped up in my lap asking for pets, which I was happy to give. Whatever calm I had managed was shattered by Simon yelling from upstairs.

"HOLY SHIT!" He shouted. Jade and I sprung into action simultaneously, sending Ruby flailing across the couch. We ran up the stairs to find Simon in his bedroom staring out the window. Outside was a little bit of roof from where the first floor went further than the second, and perched on that was our Absol, staring in the window at us.

"The hell do you want?" I shouted at the pokemon, causing it to look at me. It stared at me for a few seconds before jumping off into the fog like it had before. I growled and rubbed my temples in frustration.

"I just looked down to check the drawer and then it was there." Simon said quietly. "I think I need some of that tea myself now, and maybe a new pair of pants." He added, slowly backing out of the room. He crammed something in my hands and I looked down and saw a red PDA. "Found it Mark, hope it helps." He said shakily. We headed downstairs and Clara and I stayed long enough for another cup of tea to try and take the edge off the bad case of nerves I was developing.

"Simon, I want you to stay home with Ruby and Jade for the rest of the day." I said as we headed for the door. "At least until I figure out what it's up to." Simon nodded and wished us good luck. On the walk back we passed the school during recess, and a brief chat as well as seeing the children playing outside did help me calm down a bit. I warned the recess supervisor about what was going on and told her to keep an extra close eye on her kids. To my relief she opted to cut recess short and ushered the kids inside to spend the rest of their break in the gym. We managed to get back to the station without incident, but the lack of anything happening only served to drive my anxiety higher.

"Any luck Mark?" Carol asked as we walked inside. I saw she had two pokeballs on the desk ready to throw.

"We got his pokedex, but it's still following us." I said, checking behind us, half expecting to see it sitting on the sidewalk. Nothing was there and I breathed a sigh of relief. Flare was laying down next to Carol's desk's keeping a close eye on the door.

"I'll tell Chief Ramsey." she said, picking up her phone. After a few short words she hung up again. "Only one of these is mine." She said, pointing to the pokeballs on her desk. "I have a Smeargle that's been with me since I was a kid. The other's my boyfriend's. He left his Stantler with me in case I needed some kind of protection. Never thought I might have to actually use him though."

I nodded as Chief Ramsey entered the lobby. "What's the news Mark?" He asked.

I held up the pokedex, "Hopefully this will tell us more about our.. uh... guest I suppose." I said.

"More like stalker." Carol muttered.

I shrugged and opened the pokedex, and to my surprise it started talking. "Gardevoir, The Embrace Pokemon." It chirped, causing Clara to flinch. "Psychic type. This pokemon has the ability to distort dimensions and has a spike in psychic power when protecting its trainer. Under such circumstances, Gardevoir has been recorded creating temporary black holes with it's power."

I blinked and stared at the screen, which was blinking with the text 'Form Identified'. "Well that was... informative." I said. I looked over to Clara who was trying to suppress a giggle. I shrugged and hit the navigation button and began scrolling through the list of pokemon he had seen. "Come on, please let it be here." I muttered as I scrolled further down. I passed the recent entry of Gardevoir thanks to Clara and kept going until I hit Snivy with no success. I sighed and closed the device. "No luck, I went all the way to Unova and didn't find it."

"Damn..." Carol muttered.

"Any word from the other officers?" I asked, looking up at Chief Ramsey.

He shook his head. "They haven't seen hide nor hair of the thing, they're convinced I have them on a snipe hunt."

I sighed. "Well, at least we know it seems to be following just us, and isn't overtly aggressive." I said, "So I don't think it's a top priority thing figuring out why its here."

Ramsey chuckled and nodded. "Now you get it Mark." He said smiling.

I sighed and chuckled a bit myself.

"Why don't you take a breather Mark, you're white as a sheet." Ramsey said.

I thanked him and proceeded to the filing room. Clara looked at me confused until I laid down on the oversized table there. "Not the best bed, but I could use the rest." I explained. Clara nodded and sat down against the wall next to me. I laid there for a while, trying to sleep with no success. Eventually I settled for just laying down and resting my legs, but something kept bugging me. I was forgetting something but I didn't know what. I had already gone to the two people nearby for help with no success, and it's not like Sarah was here to save the day, she was off in Hoenn.

"Sarah!" I exclaimed, causing Clara to jump.

"What?" Clara asked.

I yanked my phone out of my pocket and dialed her number. "Please pick up." I muttered to myself. to my surprise, she did.

"Hey Mark!" She said cheerfully, "You don't normally call me in the day, what's up?" She asked.

"Sarah do you have a Hoenn Pokedex?" I asked.

"Yeah, I left my Jhoto one at home. I wanted a fresh start, remember?" She said.

"Yeah, could you do me a huge favor and see if you can find a pokemon called Absol in there?" I asked.

"Hold on." She said and there was a thump as she presumably set the phone down. after about a minute she picked it up again. "Found it." She said.

"You have no idea how grateful I am." I said, sighing with relief.

"Don't mention it," Sarah said. "Alright, Absol, It says here it's the disaster pokemon..." She went silent.

"Sarah you still there?" I asked.

"Mark, please tell me you're just curious and haven't actually found one..." She said quietly.

I tensed up. "I didn't find it, it's been following me." I said, "What does it's dex entry say?" I asked.

Sarah was quiet for a long time before speaking up. "Absol, the Disaster Pokemon." She said. "Dark type. This pokemon lives up in the mountains and rarely ventures down from them. Every time one makes an appearance to a human, it has been followed by some form of natural disaster; thus it gained its entry due to its ability to either predict or deliver them."

"Shit..." I growled.

"Mark, I want you to play this one safe." Sarah said worriedly. "Don't try to be a hero, this isn't a bunch of Beedrill, this is a force of nature!"

"Sarah, I can't make that promise." I said. "Its my job to be the hero if it falls to me."

There was a frustrated sigh from the other end. "Alright, then promise me this. Don't be reckless, be careful in how you handle this pokemon, okay?"

"I can do that." I said. "Thank you Sarah."

"Don't thank me yet." She said, "Also remember it's a dark type so Clara can't touch it. watch your ass!"

"I will." I said.

"Good." Sarah said. "I expect a call from you tonight telling me you're okay."

"Will do, I need to get back to work." I said.

"Good luck." Sarah said, and hung up.

I looked over to Clara, who had a worried look on her face. "Don't worry, we can handle this." I reasured her, but mere moments after completing my sentence there was an earthshaking boom followed by the lights going out. Clara let out a small squeak and I felt my way through the dark until I had her hand. "It's okay Clara, we'll just feel our way to the lobby and then we'll be fine." I said.

"Mark wait." Clara said.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"She said Absol was a Dark type." Clara said quietly.

I nodded, though realized she couldn't see me nod. "I know, that's why we'll have Flare help us."

"No, that means I can't sense him." She said worriedly.

It took a few moments for that sentence to sink in. he could have been walking behind us the entire way to the post office and we wouldn't have known. He could even be in this room right now and we wouldn't know it. A sudden certainty hit me. "No, don't do this to me." I growled to no one. almost on cue, two red eyes lit up in the dark mere inches from my face. I flinched back, but the eyes moved closer.

"Human." An unfamiliar voice spoke up in my head. "There are three of them."

I blinked and stared at the eyes for a moment. "Three of what?" I asked.

"One of them is making the fog." The voice said, "the other two-" It began, but was cut off when the door flew open, letting in some faint light from the lobby and letting me see the silhouette of the lean pokemon crouched on the table with me.

"Mark, are you," Ramsey started, then jumped. "What the hell!?" He shouted.

The Absol leapt aside to the floor and rushed out past Ramsey into the lobby; all without making a noise. Ramsey made and instinctual grab for the pokemon as it passed but didn't even manage to touch it. Reality suddenly caught up with me and I realized I was panting and shaking heavily. Clara helped me to the door and out into the lobby, where she set me down next to Flare. I spent the next few minutes pulling myself back together next to Flare's comforting warmth as Ramsey investigated the source of the power outage. By the time I had gotten my pulse back to a normal level, Ramsey entered the lobby with a scowl on his face; though he didn't need to open the door as it was laying on the floor, its hinges cut clean out of the wall.

"Damn cable leading in to town is cut clean." He said. "telephone pole is pretty charred, I don't know from what, but I do know what cut that cable." He said, gesturing to the semicircles carved into the wall where the hinges had been. I nodded and sighed. "You seem the wrong kind of unhappy." Ramsey said, "Mind filling me in on why you aren't hunting that Absol down now?"

"I don't think it wants to hurt anyone." I said. "It didn't attack me, it just tried to tell me something with some kind of telepathy."

"What did it say?" Ramsey asked.

"Something about there being three of 'them' and one of them was making the fog." I said. "Considering Sarah said nothing about it making fog when she read its dex entry to me, I'm inclined to believe it at the moment." I said.

"Sarah?" Ramsey asked.

"Friend from the academy, she's in Hoenn right now challenging their league." I explained. "She's a genius." I added.

Ramsey nodded and sighed. "You know how much I would like not to believe you and put together a squad to hunt that thing down, but the fact that you're not in pieces when the thing could have licked you is enough to make me believe you." He said.

"What are we going to do then?" I asked.

"I'm still not comfortable doing this even though you're coming up on the end of your internship," He said, "But I'm assigning you the task of finding Absol, ascertaining who 'they' are, and then deal with 'them' at your own discretion." He said.

I stared at him blankly for a while. "You can't be serious." I said.

"Mark, do I look like the joking type to you?" He asked flatly. "You're dispatched on this mission until further notice. I would love to send one of my other officers to do the job, or rather two or all three of them, but you're the most combat equipped one of us and the thing has taken a liking to you. Mark, you're the only one who can do this job."

I looked down and thought for a while before meeting Ramsey's gaze and nodding. "Alright, I'll do what I can. first things first though; we need to get the light back on in the station." I said.

"I can handle that." Carol said, taking one of the pokeballs off her desk. "Come on out Smeargle!"

A flash revealed what appeared to be a bipedal dog with a beret, but the end of its tail was bushy and coated in some weird liquid. "Alright, how's that going to help?" I asked, not seeing how this pokemon could produce much light.

"Smeargle, use flash, we're gonna fix the lights in here." Carol said grinning. To my surprise, the liquid on the end of its tail began glowing brightly. one by one, the pokemon went to each of the lightbulbs and coated it with the liquid on its tail which still glowed after being smeared on them, while his tail never seemed to run out of the stuff. After a few minutes the place looked like the power was still on, at least in the lobby.

"Holy shit." was all I could say, dumbfounded by the feat.

Carol laughed and took a bow, which her Smeargle mimed in unison with her.

I looked over at the now well lit door and saw not only had it fallen over, but had cracked into several large pieces as well. "Carol, how did you not hear that?" I said, gesturing to the shattered glass.

"I did." She said, "It was already over before I could warn you guys though."

Confused, I looked over to the door to the offices and saw the bottom and top half had been separated by a clean cut and could open and close independently of each other. I motioned for Smeargle to follow me as I went into the offices and sure enough, the same cut had been made on the door to the filing room. "So that's how he got in..." I said to myself.

"He's a clever one." Ramsey mused, inspecting the damaged door.

"I think I know what to do then." I said.

"So you've got a plan?" Ramsey asked.

I nodded.

"Well don't waste your time telling it to me and go do it, Carol and I will hold down the fort here." Ramsey said.

"Thank you." I said, and led Clara and Flare out the door. To be honest, I had no clue what I was doing, I had only the vaguest outline of an idea. The first stop was the pokemart. I had never bought any sort of pokeball before and when I asked for the best kind they had, the clerk just gave me a weird look. "Look, just give me something that I can use to catch a stunned pokemon in the dark." I said, and the clerk reached under the counter and pulled out a dusty box.

"Ordered these from Sinnoh a while back," he said, "thought I'd make a mint off their rarity here. forgot how out of the way our town was though, so they're just collecting dust." He opened the box and there were two stacks of six black pokeballs. They were adorned with six large green spots, and a red button with a red band around the seams. "They're called Dusk Balls. Supposed to work really well in dark places, even better than Ultraballs." He said.

"I'll take them." I said.

The clerk chuckled. "You can have 'em."

"No charge?" I asked unbelieving.

"Look, if I make any money back on these I might be tempted to try something like that again." He said. "Consider it a 'free with purchase of' offer if you really need to pay."

"Well, now that you mention it, I'm going to need a Max Repel, if you have them in stock." I said.

The clerk pulled a little gold-tinted aresol can from under the counter and set it next to the box of Dusk Balls. He hit a few keys on the cash register before the tray slid open. "Alright, that'll be seven hundred, sir." He said. I winced at the price, but payed up anyway. I took a moment to marvel at how expensive life as a trainer could be before shaking it off and heading to my second destination with my new gains. We arrived at the pokemon center a few minutes later and after a short check up, healed my partners to make sure they could bring their A-game.

"Mark, you sure you can do this?" Clara asked on the walk home.

"Nope." I said, "In fact its not even legal for me to catch pokemon since I don't have a trainer's licence, only officer certification with an addendum for you."

"Then why are you doing it?" She asked.

"Because he may be clever but he's still acting like an idiot." I said. "We need his help but I'm not gonna let him run around and smash up our town in the process."

Clara nodded and went quiet the rest of the way home. Once inside, I made a light dinner for all of us, as it was getting dark already. It probably looked later than it was due to the fog, but we were hungry anyway. Once full, I got a fold-out chair and set it in the laundry room. I moved the washing machine and dryer as far back as I could, and moved the hamper and everything else to our bedroom. After that, I propped my front door open with a rock. I then moved all the furniture between there and the laundry room aside, making a clear, unobstructed path there. Finally, I called Clara back to her pokeball and sat down in the fold-up chair with the door to the laundry room open; with Flare sitting patiently behind the door. To my right was the box of Dusk Balls, with the tabs taped open and the cardboard divider in the middle taken out and tossed aside, giving easy access to all twelve. In my lap was the max repel; which I had been shaking all throughout set-up. I sat there in silence and watched the light slowly fade. After a few hours it was pitch black and dead silent. My ears were straining to pick up anything in the deafening silence and settled upon Flare's slow breathing. We sat there and waited. We waited until my ass went numb. We waited until my legs started to tingle. We waited until my back felt so stiff I doubted I would ever be able to stand again after this, but we kept waiting. Finally, he showed up.

To my surprise, I heard his claws click lightly on the linoleum of the kitchen floor; the sound was so minute it was no wonder that he could sneak up on us so easily, but not this time. I listened as he slowly walked over to us; he knew something was up but not quite what yet. I heard his claws click on the concrete floor of the laundry room as he advanced towards me. he stopped right in front of me, and his eyes lit up, level with mine. "Human." He said, addressing me flatly.

"Absol." I said, returning his monotone. As fast as I could I whipped the Max Repel up and took aim at his face, I was gifted with the purest look of confusion I had ever seen via those glowing eyes of his right before I filled them with the bitter substance. He let out a snarl and backed away, his eyes and nose now filled with pokemon repellant, but a thump from Flare told me the door was now shut and the Absol trapped.

"Human you tricked me!" He shouted in my head.

"You wrecked my station." I shouted back, then added, "Flare use Extremespeed!" There was a rush of air before a fresh snarl from the Absol told me it hit. I flung a dusk ball towards the snarling, and a flash told me I had hit him, but the ball shattered moments later, spraying me with shards of it.

"I came to you for help!" Absol yelled, and I could sense he was rushing towards me.

"Flare, hit him with Close Combat!" I ordered, but too late. I felt his claws sink into my side before being yanked away by the powerful tackle from Flare. Warmth spread down my side, but the pain had yet to hit me. I ignored the wound and chucked a fresh Dusk Ball, hitting him again, but once again it shattered.

"You bastard!" Absol snarled in my head and rushed for me again, I put my arms up blindly for defense.

"Flare, hit him with Close Combat again!" I said, just as his claws dug into my arm, followed by what felt like a sword slashing across them. I could hear the blood dripping on the concrete now. I had to end this fast. Flare defended me yet again with a powerful tackle, knocking the Absol away. "Hit him again!" I ordered, and a thump followed by an unfamiliar yelp told me I had him on the ropes now.

"I will end you!" The Absol shouted as he made one final charge towards me. I growled, getting fed up with his idiocy. This was the third time he had tried this attack and by now I knew what he was doing. I clenched my fist and waited for his footsteps to draw close before winding up and slamming my fist into him as hard as I could. I felt his claws land a few residual nicks on my arms, but his attack had largely been nullified. He fell to the floor sputtering from getting the wind knocked out of him. "How did you-" He began before I interrupted him.

"This is why you needed my help correct?" I said flatly.

"I don't need your help!" He snarled, still writhing on the floor.

"You just got punched out by a HUMAN you idiot." I shouted. He went quiet. "Either you're not strong enough or you're not smart enough to handle whatever you came here for, so you came to me; and I'm going to help you, but it's on my terms." I said, taking another Dusk Ball from the box. Absol growled weakly as I turned to face him, but was either unable to move or understood what I meant. I hoped for the latter, but knew it was the former. I tossed the ball unceremoniously at him and with a flash he was inside. I heard the ball scrape against the floor as it wiggled, and breathed a sigh of relief as it let out the ding of a successful capture. I was feeling lightheaded now, and could only guess it was due to blood loss. I leaned down with a grunt and fumbled around for Absol's ball for a bit before snagging it and snapping it to my belt. Flare could smell the blood and was whimpering at the door. I took my shirt off an ripped it into strips, doing my best to stem the flow of blood from my arms before I opened the door and called Flare over.

"They can patch me up at the pokemon center." I said, "But I'll probobly bleed out by the time getting there if I walk, same with calling for a cab." I stumbled and only managed to keep my feet thanks to grabbing the door frame. "You need to run me there as fast as you can Flare, I don't think I'll be conscious much longer." I slurred. I stumbled forward and felt Flare's plush fur and did my best to climb on top of him.

"The next thing I knew I was lying on a bed in the examination room of our pokemon center with some device hooked up to an IV in my arm. from the pressure I felt in my arm, and the red fluid in the tubes, I guessed I was in the process of receiving a blood transfusion. "Am I okay?" I asked groggily.

"You're gonna be fine, but you're gonna have some major scarring from this." Simon spoke up. I looked to my side, pretty sure I was hallucinating, but Simon was definitely there.

"How the hell did you get here?" I asked groggily.

Simon smiled. "We walked. Flare showed up at our door half drenched in blood and whining, Jade figured out it was your blood and Flare led us back here."

"Flare ran to you?" I asked.

"Jade said he wanted someone who could talk to be there when you woke up and he couldn't figure out how to get Clara out of her pokeball." Simon explained.

I nodded understanding. I looked down at my arms and saw each had three cuts going diagonally down them, presumably from his claws, and one cut going right across them in the middle. They were all haphazardly stitched up.

Simon saw me looking at them. "You have about a hundred and sixty two stitches in your arms alone, another twenty three on your ribs." He said. "Staff had to use up most of their suture kits to stop the bleeding."

I looked at the machine to my side again. "They aren't filling me with pokemon blood, are they?" I asked.

Simon chuckled, "No, Pokemon Centers have had to have human blood at the ready for a while now, ever since the likes of team rocket, plasma, magma, and what-have-you have been on the rise."

"Oh." I said.

"So I'm guessing that your buddy Absol was the one that cut you up." Simon said in a serious tone.

I nodded. "I instigated though, so I don't hold it against him."

"Just what the hell did you do to him?" Simon asked.

"He was following me because he needed my help, but he was also breaking nearly everything in his way. I had to stop him. I'm still going to help him, because whatever made him come here is still a problem, but I'm not gonna let him do it his way." I said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Simon asked, confused.

I grunted as I slid my arm down to pull the new pokeball from my belt and held it up for Simon to see.

"Holy shit Mark." Simon said quietly.

"I figured I wouldn't be able to find him and catch him, so I set a trap knowing he would come to me." I explained, "I used your repel trick, it worked wonders, at least at first." I held up my arms, "You can see what happened after it wore off."

"So what are you going to do now?" Simon asked.

"Find out what he was trying to warn me of." I said flatly.

After about an hour of waiting the nurse came in and disconnected me from the machine pumping blood back into me. She told me to get to a hospital as soon as possible to properly clean and stitch the wound, and I promised I would as soon as I can. After that, I had her heal up my new Absol, which was a lot easier for him than it would be for me. She handed me the Dusk Ball back and I noticed it was stained down one side with my blood. I couldn't help but chuckle at this and headed into the lobby. I sat down with Simon and called Clara out, who all but panicked at the sight of my arms. after some reassuring, she calmed down and sat next to me as well. With everyone relaxed and sitting, I called our new friend out from his pokeball.

The Absol hunched down and looked about wildly before locking eyes with me. "You..." He growled.

"Yes me, now before you carve me up again," I held my arms up to let him see the damage he had done; he recoiled at the sight of them and hunched down. "I'd like to get some information on 'them'"

"R-right..." The Absol said quietly. "There's three of them." He said. "A blue one is making the fog, a yellow one controls lightning, and a red one that breathes fire." He said. "I don't know you're human names for them, but I know they don't mean well for your pack here. Some men in black clothes used a weird device on them and ever since they've been attacking everything they see. I've been sticking close to them as much as I can, trying to warn people ahead of time of their approach. When I came here I knew you could potentially stop them, but couldn't get you alone to warn you. I kept either running into other humans or one of the three. The yellow one cornered me on one of your leafless trees with the long black vines between them and nearly fried me with his lightning."

"So you didn't cut the power intentionally." I said.

Absol continued, "The only reason they haven't wrecked this place yet is because they don't know there's people in the houses and I've been trying to keep them distracted."

"Alright." I said. "Since I'm still under my own authority, I feel it would be wisest not to defer to Ramsey on this one." I said.

"T-then you'll help me?" Absol asked.

"No, you'll help me. This is my town we're protecting, and I'm not going to allow you to keep cutting things up on a whim." I said.

The Absol nodded solemnly. "Thank you, human" He said humbly.

"Call me Mark," I said, "If only to differentiate me from other humans."

"R-right." Absol said. "Thank you, Mark." Then, after a moment asked, "What are you going to call me to differentiate me from other Absol?"

"Well, there aren't many Absol around here to confuse you with, but if you want a name I can give you one." I said,

"I would like a name, please." Absol said in his humble tone.

I thought for a while before finally thinking up a name I felt fit him. "How about Ebon?" I asked.

Absol seemed to smile, "I shall be Ebon then." He said.

"Alright, now that that's settled, How about we get you to a hospital?" Simon spoke up.

I shook my head.

"Why the hell not? You know those cuts are only gonna get worse as they are." Simon said.

"I can't go until I take care of those three pokemon." I said, "If I leave now they'll have way too much time to smash the place without me to try to stop them."

Simon scowled. "I see what you mean, and I have to agree." he growled, "But I sure as hell don't have to like it. We're going to help you though, Mark."

I nodded, "Thank you Simon." With a grunt I stood up. "Meet us here tomorrow at eight AM sharp, we'll begin the hunt then." I said. Simon nodded and with that we headed out. It wasn't a long walk home, but my arms began to itch along the way and time seemed to drag on because of it. Clara kept giving Ebon dirty looks the whole way home and Ebon took them with as much dignity as he could manage. Once we got inside, Clara rearranged the furniture back the way it had been and took Flare into the bathroom to wash the blood off; leaving Ebon and I together in the living room.

"Mark..." He spoke up once we were alone. "I need to apologize for harming you..." He said.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it, I started the fight, and I don't hold it against you." I said.

"No, I thought you were like those three, just trying to hurt me..." He said. "After you explained it to me I realized I was the one acting like them by destroying your stuff. You were acting justly, I was acting with anger."

I stared at him unbelieving for a few moments. "You're actually serious." I said.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked, looking up at me.

"I've just never met someone so quick to admit they're wrong." I said.

"I want to make it up to you somehow." Ebon said.

I shook my head. "You don't need to worry about it." I said.

"No, this is for my own honor." He said resolutely. "I'm going to stay and help you even after we take care of the three, if you'll have me assist that is."

I stared at him for a long time, thinking hard. "We'll see when the time comes." I said finally. "In the meantime just worry about taking care of the three pokemon."

Ebon looked down, crestfallen. "R-right." He said.

Just then I remembered promising to call Sarah tonight, and quickly dialed her.

"About fucking time Mark, it's past midnight here!" Sarah answered.

"Sorry, it's been kinda hectic since I called you." I said.

"Are you okay Mark?" She asked.

"I'm just fine." I said, chuckling nervously.

Sarah sighed, seeing through my lie. "How much blood did you lose?" She asked, half-sarcastically.

"Enough to pass out and need a transfusion." I said nervously.

"Damn it Mark." Sarah yelled, making me wince.

"I'm sorry!" I pleaded, "I didn't mean for things to go that badly, but the situation's under control now." I explained.

"What does under control mean?" Sarah demanded.

"Well, I caught him." I said.

There was silence from the other end for a few moments. "Come again?"

"I caught the Absol." I said

"Like in a net?" Sarah asked.

"You what I mean." I said with a sigh.

"How the hell did you do that?" She asked.

"Look, I'll explain everything when this is all over, but right now I just want you to know I'm alive and breathing with most of my blood inside me." I said.

"How long until it's 'all over'" Sarah asked.

"Hopefully by tomorrow night." I said, "And hopefully I won't need another blood transfusion when it's through." I added.

Sarah sighed. "Mark, I wish you all my luck finishing this, I just don't want to see you hurt."

"I'll make sure I'll be fine by the end of it Sarah, I promise you that." I said.

"Alright Mark. I'll talk to you later, I need to sleep." She said and hung up.

Clara and a clean Flare emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam and headed to the bedroom for the night. I followed after, and turned to face Ebon in the doorway. "You're free to sleep in here for the night if you want, it will certainly be warmer. Ebon nodded and trotted up to me, following me inside. I found I couldn't move the sheets without risk of popping my stitches, so resigned to sleeping on top of them instead. I felt like I was back at my uncle's house with a maimed foot with how slow sleep came, and then felt like I was back in the hospital when I felt something between my legs. I groggily looked up to see Ebon with his front paws on the bed, being careful not to catch his claws on it to my surprise.

"Mark, are you awake?" He asked.

I groaned and sat up. "Yeah, I am, what's up?"

"Something's been bugging me..." He said.

"Let it off your chest" I said.

"I really need to do something to make up to you, if not for your arms then for breaking your stuff then." He said.

"I already said don't worry about it." I said.

He shook his head, "and I already said I need to do it."

I sighed, "Alright, what do you figure you can do?" I asked.

The Absol looked down. "W-well I was trying to figure out something you would like." He said.

Feeling suspicious, I looked down at him. "And?"

"And I looked through your head at things you would like." He admitted.

I sighed. "Look, you don't have to do anything like that. I do that stuff with Flare and Clara because we both want to, not because I make them." I explained.

The Absol fidgeted and I swear I could see a blush through his fur. "I-I know that..." he said quietly.

I stared at him for a while. "So you want to do it?" I asked, uncertain.

He fidgeted even more, "Look, I haven't had a mate in a long time and I do like males, but that doesn't matter." He said, "I have to do this without enjoying it to make up for hurting you." He said resolutely.

"Seems easier said than done." I said, leaning over to see his pale pink shaft half exposed from his sheath. "Alright, I'll let you under one condition."

Ebon looked up hopefully. "What is it."

"Clara hasn't forgiven you for hurting me yet, once you make it up to her you can do what you want with me." I said.

Ebon looked down. "Oh..." he said sullenly.

Smirking, I nudged Clara awake. She sat up groggily and took a few seconds to take in the situation before sighing and glaring at Ebon. "So you want to play with my Mark do you?" She asked.

Ebon shrunk down. "Y-yes Ma'am." He said quietly.

Clara stared at him for a long time before seeming to make up her mind. "Alright, but you'll have to be punished to make up for it." She said. The smirk she was wearing gave away her true intentions, though Ebon couldn't see that with his head low.

"How do you want to punish me?" He asked nervously.

"Just stay put and let me worry about that." She said, getting up from the bed. Ebon turned to look at her. "Eyes forward." She snapped and Ebon obeyed immediately. Clara was openly grinning now as she took the lube we kept on top of the dresser and kneeled down behind the Absol. Ebon was visibly shaking now, fearing what torture she might inflict on him, and I couldn't help but chuckle at his expression after Clara began rubbing a lube-covered finger around his tailhole.

"C-Clara, what are you-" He started.

"Zip it," Clara interrupted. "This is part of your punishment." She said, slowly starting to slide her finger inside him. Ebon couldn't help but squirm as she quickly found his prostate and began working it.

"T-This is punishment?" Ebon stammered, beginning to pant.

I chuckled and scooted closer to him, letting him seen the now prominent bulge in my boxers. "I don't think she'd mind if you started right now." I said. Ebon nodded slowly and gently nudged against my crotch until he had the slit in my boxers open. He took a moment to stare at my shaft before descending on it with surprising skill; though maybe not so surprising as he had mentioned preferring males. I sighed and did my best to relax as he worked my rod, bobbing up and down quickly as he licked all over the underside. A giggle from Clara and a sudden jerk from Ebon caused me to look up and to my surprise, Clara was pressing her own engorged cock against Ebon's asshole. With a grunt from Ebon, she slipped inside him.

"Now comes your proper punishment." Clara said, taking ahold of his flanks as she began to thrust in and out of him slowly. Ebon shuddered each time she pushed into him, but from his enthusiastic sucking I knew it wasn't from discomfort. Clara soon picked up pace, as did Ebon. I couldn't suppress a moan as he took my shaft to the back of his throat. Clara was openly moaning by now as she was giving his ass all she could. Clara seized up as she began cumming inside him, and with a contented sigh slowly pulled out of him. Ebon stood there shuddering and panting.

"Aww, looks like you haven't finished yet." Clara cooed at the Absol. She climbed up on the bed next to me on all fours and spread her dress, presenting her ass to him. "Why don't you finish here?" Ebon looked to me for confirmation and I nodded for him to go ahead. Cautiously, he climbed up on the bed and mounted Clara, being especially careful not to catch anything with his claws. I helped line his dripping member up with her pucker before he slowly pressed inside her. It didn't take him long to build up speed as he had already been close, Clara panted under him and let out a moan whenever he thrust especially deep into her, but before she could really get into it he was already cumming.

"T-thank you." Ebon said, pulling out of her ass.

"You're not done yet." Clara said.

Ebon looked confused until Clara gestured to my ignored member. Ebon nodded and set to work licking up one side while Clara covered the other. Having both their tongues on my cock at once felt amazing and I was grinding up against them in no time at all. Sensing I was getting close, Clara began licking the tip and Ebon followed suit. I couldn't hold it any longer and started cumming. Ebon flinched at first, but quickly resumed licking as I squirted my seed across his face. Clara only let a few fly before descending on my shaft and catching the rest in her mouth, eagerly swallowing it. I sat there panting for a while until I regained my senses and saw Ebon staring down.

"What's wrong." I asked, concerned.

"I wasn't supposed to enjoy it." He said, almost ashamedly.

I couldn't help but chuckle and reached out to pet his head. "There's always next time." I said with a wink, causing him to blush visibly again.

Clara giggled and gave Ebon a kiss on the cheek. "Now we're even, you can play with Mark as much as you want." She said before grabbing a tissue and cleaning off his face.

"T-Thank you." He said, smiling up at her. "T-though if you want to play I wouldn't mind that at all." He said.

Clara giggled again and patted his head. "We'll see." She said, winking at him.

We took a bit to get comfortable in our respective beds again, Ebon's being the floor which didn't seem to bother him, and fell asleep soon after. Or at least they did, my arms had began itching again and it took a long while for sleep to come.

The alarm went off at seven-thirty, causing Ebon to nearly jump out of his fur and me to groan as I hauled myself out of bed.

"You humans sure have a rude way of waking yourselves up." He remarked.

"I know, but it's effective." I said and began making breakfast for everyone. Ebon seemed to like the smell of Clara's food, so I prepared a bowl of it for him. I found Simon's Pokedex on my nightstand and crammed it in my pocket so I could return it later, then we set out to the Pokemon Center. The fog was still there and thicker than before. Once we arrived we saw Simon, Jade, and Ruby already there waiting for us.

"Alright, let's get this over with quickly so you can go to the hospital." Simon said as we aproached.

I nodded and looked to Ebon. "So where do we go from here?" I asked.

Ebon closed his eyes for a few moments before hunching down. "Nowhere, the Yellow one's already here and he sees me." Ebon said nervously.

"Where?" I asked, stepping back against the building as Clara and Flare went ahead of me taking their own battle poses.

An ear piercing roar from behind made me jump and turn around quickly, my blood turning cold. I looked up and atop the Pokemon center stood A yellow lion with an ornate black mask and what appeared to be a small storm cloud rolling off its back.

"Raikou, the Thunder Pokemon." A voice chirped up from my pocket. "Electric type. This legendary pokemon commands the speed of lightning and possesses a roar that rivals the powerful thunder it can produce."

I fumbled Simon's pokedex out of my pocket and looked down to see 'Cry Identified' blinking on the screen.

"Right there." Ebon said.

I mumbled to myself, slowly backing away. "You've got to be kidding me..."