Lightning arced down from the yellow beast on the roof of the pokemon center and I just barely managed to dodge the blast.

"Ruby use Calm Mind!" Simon shouted from behind me. "Jade, cover her until she's ready." He ordered. I looked back and saw a blue aura gathering around the purple pokemon as Jade leapt in front of her.

A roar from the enraged Raikou snapped my attention back to the pokemon center as Ebon jumped between it and me. "Clara, try to hit him with Hypnosis!" I ordered, then turned to Flare. "If she misses try to pin him down with flamethrower." I added.

Clara took a moment to focus before releasing the psychic pulse towards the legendary pokemon, but it either sensed the invisible wave coming or understood what she was doing as it jumped off of the roof with blinding sped and slammed down right in front of Ebon. Flare gave it no time to react and hit it with a powerful jet of flame from his mouth. The yellow beast let out something between a snarl and a yelp before rushing out of the blaze towards Jade and Ruby.

"Oh no you don't!" Jade shouted as it closed in on her. She clenched her fist as it became shrouded in flame. Raikou may have been as fast as lighting but it had made the mistake of threatening Jade's mates. Jade swung a perfectly timed flaming uppercut, slamming her fist into the lion's jaw with a meaty crack and halting it's rush instantly. The pokemon teetered back on it's hind legs, dazed.

"Knock him back with Hi Jump Kick and give him a Psycho Cut to remember you by." Simon ordered , and Jade obliged. With speed almost matching Raikou's Jade launched forward and slammed into it, sending it flying back towards the pokemon center. The instant her feet touched the ground, she spun around and flung a blade of purple energy after it. Raikou hit the wall hard and was hit even harder by the energy blade chasing it. It slowly hauled itself to it's feet, growling loudly.

"I thought you said they were extremely dangerous." I said to Ebon, marveling as the thunder pokemon shook it's head clear.

"They are you fool, we've only made it mad so far!" Ebon growled, once again putting himself between Raikou and I.

"Well in that case, hit it with night slash before it gets it's bearings!" I said. Ebon leapt forward and slashed at the legendary pokemon with the horn on his head, but hit nothing but air as it seemed to disappear.

"Damn!" Ebon shouted, looking around panicked as soon as he landed.

The door to the pokemon center slid open and the nurse who had patched me up last night ran out. "What the hell's going on here!?" she demanded. I spun around to face her and spotted Raikou on top of the pokemon center again just in time to see him blast Clara from behind with a powerful thunderbolt. I doubled over as pain exploded in my back, shortly followed by numbness.

"I'm calling the police!" the nurse cried out panicked before rushing inside, the doors sliding shut behind her.

"Clara, are you all right!?" I shouted.

"I'm fine, he just made a big mistake." She growled, slowly pulling herself to her feet. I could see arcs of residual electricity still arcing all over her body and knew what she had planned.

Raikou slowly advanced on Clara, growling low the whole time.

"Think you're clever trying to paralyze me?" Clara asked the beast, causing it to stop in it's tracks. It glared at her for a few moments before snarling and leaping at her. "Well have it back!" Clara yelled as her eyes flashed blue, causing the legendary lion's eyes to flash blue in response. The pokemon yelped and crashed into Clara in a limp heap. I doubled over again, almost falling on my side from the pain.

"Flare, Close c-combat! Get it off Clara!" I stammered out. A loud thump and a skittering noise told me the attack had landed and I hauled myself back to my feet. Raikou lay sprawled out on the pavement, it's claws out and partially embedded in the concrete.

"I think we got him." Ebon said, walking up to my side. As if in response, Raikou began growling anew as it slowly pulled it's paws underneath itself.

"No way, he should be paralyzed...." I muttered, taking a step back. The pokemon locked eyes with me and I could see nothing but hate in its expression; not even a hint of intelligence, just pure rage filling the body of this legendary pokemon. Raikou rushed at me; not with it's lightning speed but still extremely fast. I put my arms up in defense as it closed in.

"No way you're touching him!" Ebon growled from my side right before vanishing. I got only a moment to wonder where he went before I saw him reappear in front of the charging pokemon and slam it to the ground with a powerful swipe of it's claw.

"Sucker Punch..." I marveled before shaking my head clear. "Don't let him get up, hit him with night slash!" I ordered, and Ebon leapt upon the lion, slashing it's horn across it's flank. Raikou yelped and writhed, tossing the Absol into the air. Before Ebon even hit the ground Raikou was back on its feet and running again, though this time not at me, but at Simon.

"Look out!" I shouted.

"Too late." Simon said calmly just as Ruby leapt in front of him, a fierce blue aura shimmering around her like fire.

Raikou stopped in it's tracks and snarled before unleashing a flurry of thunderbolts at the Meinshao. Almost all of them hit their mark, but none of them seemed to have any noticeable effect. Raikou growled in confusion and began to back away slowly from Simon and his pokemon, but bumped into Jade who had moved in to flank him.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Jade asked before decking the lion once again, knocking it down on it's side. Raikou flailed on the ground, trying to get it's claws under itself.

"Ruby, end this with Aura Sphere." Simon said. Ruby growled and put her paws together before slowly drawing them apart as a ball of blue energy grew between them. Raikou managed to get on it's feet again and after glimpsing the attack Ruby was building up, immediately ran, disappearing into the mist.

"That won't save you!" Simon shouted as Ruby flung the ball of blue energy. It flew forward a few yards before arcing sharply to the side in the direction Raikou had fled. There were a few seconds of agonizing silence as the attack became little more than a blue glow in the fog, then disappeared completely from view. "Aura Sphere never misses it's target." Simon said calmly. "Raikou can run as far and fast as it wants, that attack won't stop chasing him until it hits." A few seconds later there was a dull thump in the distance, and after a moment a massive rush or air from the direction of Raikou. "got him." Simon said, smiling.

I sighed."Okay, now what?" I asked him.

Simon grinned and pulled a black and yellow pokeball from his belt. "I still have a trainer's license, so I'm going to neutralize him the best way I can." He said, and started walking off into the fog with Jade and Ruby close behind; Ruby's aura now slowly fading. "You get Clara inside and healed up, We'll be back soon." He added. I nodded and stood up, looking over at Clara.

"This is gonna be a long day, isn't it?" She asked sullenly.

I pulled her pokeball from my belt. "Not if I can help it." I said resolutely before calling her back. With Clara inside her pokeball, the pain she was sharing with me ebbed somewhat and I was able to limp inside with no trouble; Flare and Ebon followed me inside. The door closed behind me just as the nurse slammed a radio back down into it's charger.

"The hell were you doing out there?" She asked angrily.

"Look I don't have much time to explain." I said. "I need you to heal my pokemon."

"No way!" She shouted. "You're gonna wait right here until the police show up, then we'll see how much time you have for explaining."

I shook my head in frustration before digging through my pockets. "Dammit... it's got to be here." I mumbled.

"What?" She asked, annoyed.

"My badge. I'm an officer." I said with a sigh, realizing I had left it at home on my dresser.

"Convenient." She said sarcastically.

I shook my head and hauled myself over to one of the chairs in the lobby before slumping down in it. "Alright, you wanted me to wait until the police got here, I guess I have no other option." I said.

She looked at me confused. "Wait what?" She asked.

I looked at her and tossed her Clara's pokeball, which she clumsily caught. "I'm going to wait here until the police show up, I really need you to heal my pokemon though, she's in pretty bad shape right now. Hold the pokeball as collateral if you want, I just need to be sure she's all right." I said.

The nurse glared at me for a long time before turning with a huff and heading behind the counter. "Can't believe I'm doing this." She mumbled as she popped Clara's pokeball into one of the slots on the healing machine and switched it on. The familiar humming and chiming of the device began. "every pokemon center has an emergency generator." She said flatly as she tweaked the settings on the device. I felt Clara's pain gradually ebb away, and after a couple minutes a ding announced she was healed. The nurse took the pokeball out and tossed it back at me.

I caught the ball and looked back at her confused. "Look, I don't need collateral, I just want to know what the hell's going on." She said. "I don't know if you're really an officer, but you seem to have some idea what's been going on in this town."

I nodded. "Guess I have time now." I said. "That was a Raikou outside, the legendary pokemon. An Absol came to town looking for me and said that there were three pokemon raging across the continent and our town was the next target. I can only guess the other two are Entei and Suicune." I thought for a minute. "Definitely Suicune at least, she's got to be here for all this fog to be around." I said.

The nurse stared at me for a long time. "You're not lying are you." She said quietly.

I shook my head. "I wish I was." I said. "My friend and I managed to take down Raikou, he should be catching it in a pokeball right about now."

"What about the other two?" She asked.

"Hopefully, we won't have as much trouble with them." I said.

"No, I mean how are you going to find them?" She asked.

I looked up at her. "Honestly, I have no idea." I admitted.

"You said your buddy was catching Raikou right now right?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"They're sticking together, maybe you could use him to lure the others out?" She said.

I stared at her, dumbfounded. "You're a genius, Ma'am." I said, marveling.

"No I'm not, you're just short a few cups of blood." She said flatly.

I thought for a moment and begrudgingly admitted to myself she was probably right. The front doors opened and both of us looked up to see Chief Ramsey with a red-grey Growlithe at his side as well as Simon walking in. Ramsey looked over at me. "You mind telling me when you were planning on filling the rest of us in on rampaging legendary pokemon?" He asked angrily.

"Take it easy!" The nurse shouted at him, causing him to flinch. "The kid nearly died last night and is still short on blood as it is!" She growled.

Ramsey stared at her for a moment, then back at me. He let out a sigh when he finally noticed the stitches covering most of my forearms. "Mark you have a knack for finding trouble." he remarked, then he noticed Ebon, sitting sheepishly to my side. Ramsey took a moment to eye the pokemon up and down before shaking his head and dismissing it.

Simon stepped forward and tossed me the black and yellow pokeball he had shown me earlier. I caught it and noticed it was far heavier than it should have been. "You really caught it?" I asked him, stunned.

"I didn't really have a choice." Simon said. "That last attack was way stronger than I thought it'd be. the blast cleared out the fog for three blocks!"

Ramsey nodded. "I heard the boom and went out to investigate. Shortly after I was notified via radio about some fight at the pokemon center and figured it was you." He said. "Simon's pokemon hit the thing so hard it was barely breathing when I found it." he remarked.

The nurse let out a frustrated sigh before stomping over to me and snatching the pokeball out of my hand. "You people!" She growled as she set the ball in the healing machine.

"So what do we do now?" Simon asked.

"The kind nurse suggested we have Raikou lure out the other two." I said.

"Oh no you don't!" Ramsey interrupted. "We've got a full-scale evacuation to perform before you even think about taking on the other two of those things!"

I sighed. "You're right chief." I admitted, then turned to Simon. "Would you help us out?" I asked.

"Of course, though I'm not exactly sure what I can do to help." Simon said.

"Full scale evacuation normally means we call in back up and have them bus everyone to the nearest city. Seeing as power's cut to the town and Goldenrod city is out of walking distance, we don't really have that option." I said.

"So then where do we take everyone?" Simon asked.

"Right here." Ramsey answered. "Most of the town's away at work right now anyway, and the pokemon center's the sturdiest building we have in town."

Simon nodded, understanding.

"This one's going to take a while." The nurse interrupted. "For some reason it's taking a lot more power than usual to heal it."

"That's just fine, we'll get to work while you finish up here." Ramsey said. "Growlithe, I want you to stay here and guard the pokemon center while we're gone, okay?" He said to his partner. His Growlithe let out a ruff of approval and took up post at the front door. With that we headed out.

Ramsey's first idea was to drive through each street announcing the evacuation via his car's megaphone, but we didn't want to attract Entei's or Suicune's attention too early. Instead, we set out on foot, going door to door and explaining the situation to anyone who happened to be at home. Each person was doubtful at first, but after Ramsey flashed his badge they couldn't really ignore us. We had everyone we found follow us with our partners out and standing watch for the legendary pokeomon, and as the crowd grew it became easier and easier for people to accept the gravity of the situation.

When the group grew too large, I escorted them to the pokemon center with Ebon, Flare, and Clara guarding us while Simon and Ramsey continued on going door to door. Back at the pokemon center, Ramsey's Growlithe greeted us with a bark, and I saw it had been joined by three others of it's kind. Inside, I saw the reason why. Ramsey had apparently called the other three officers while I was on my way back and ordered them to handle things at the pokemon center. They took over the crowd for me as I brought them in the door and helped them all get situated within the lobby. I checked up on Raikou and the nurse, and was surprised to hear that she was still working on it.

"I don't understand why it would need so much time to heal, we'll run the generators dry before he's on his feet at this rate." The nurse sighed.

"How long does it normally take for pokemon his size?" I asked.

"Size isn't really the issue, but I've noticed what when we have the occasional veteran trainer roll through town, their pokemon tend to take a lot longer to heal than say the kids over at the elementary school." she said.

"How long is that compared to Raikou here?" I asked.

"Our pal Raikou is already at twice the usual time it takes to heal the stronger pokemon I see." She said. "I'm only going to keep going until he's able to walk on his own, after that I'm cutting it off. We only have so much fuel here and I can already see the lights dimming."

"We'll be able to get more fuel, hell I'll hike to the gas station and deliver it personally if you want." I said.

The nurse looked at me quizzically for a few seconds. "You really mean that?" She asked.

"If it means fixing the damage we did to Raikou, then I'll do whatever I can." I said.

She stared at me a while longer before sighing. "Fine, I'll patch him as far as the generator will take him then, you better keep good on that promise though" She said.

I thanked her then hurried out the door. I quickly caught up to Simon and Ramsey with my partners behind me, and was shocked to see they were nearly done. All that was left was the elementary school, which proved to be tricky to handle. convincing the principal of the situation was the easy part, herding dozens of excited kids several blocks to the pokemon center proved to be a migraine inducing chore. Even with the help of the recess attendant I often chatted with and her Hoot-hoot, their sheer numbers made them difficult to corral. When we finally arrived, the other officers were still busy getting everyone situated and keeping them calm. The nurse rushed up to me as I walked in the door and crammed the black and yellow pokeball into my hands.

"This better have been worth nearly draining our emergency power." She said sternly.

"I hope it was." I said. Ramsey and I helped get the children situated and began briefing everyone on the situation, which was more trouble than it was worth. Turns out just showing a badge and having someone say you're something of a prodigy kid doesn't do much to convince people of your ability to handle the situation at hand. The announcement was made to the entire crowd, but afterwards people all but lined up to take issue with me personally. I did my best to remain professional as I answered all their condescending questions, but by about the fifth time someone demanded to know just what made me so special, I was ready to show them our combat prowess first hand. Right as my sixth argument with one of the residents began, a growling caught my attention. I turned to find the source, but my current accuser apparently hadn't heard it and claimed I had no right to dismiss him like that.

"Shut up for a second!" I growled at him, which only spurred him to do the opposite. A few seconds later the growl turned into a lot of barking, which caught the mans attention this time. Seeing my opening while he was distracted, I slipped away into the crowd and towards the door. Suddenly, there was a loud noise that sounded like a gong. The whole room went silent as we looked to see the source of the noise.

Past four snarling Growlithe and through the thick glass of the lobby doors stood what looked at first to be some type of blue deer, but after seeing it's legs were too short for that and the supposed antlers on top of its head were fused together in a diamond shape, I realized what it really was. The crowd in the lobby started murmuring and Ramsey and the other officers set to work trying to keep them calm. I muscled my way out of the crowd, where my partners were already waiting just as Suicune rammed the door again, producing another gong. It snarled at me through the glass and I saw it had the same rage-filled eyes Raikou had.

"Flare, I want you to get lined up with the front door." I said as calmly as I could. "She's gonna trip the sensor eventually and the doors are going to open. When they do, I want you to rush her with Extremespeed and knock her back as far away from the pokemon center as you can."

Flare nodded and padded into position as Simon muscled out of the crowd with Ruby on his shoulders and Jade behind him. we exchanged a silent nod and I looked over to the Nurse. "When we leave, as soon as the doors shut behind us, I need you to cut off the generator." I said.

"Are you sure, what if you need to retreat and heal?" She asked.

I shook my head. "those doors need to stay shut, we'll just have to fight carefully. These people come first, protecting them is our job." I said.

The nurse was silent for a minute before nodding and heading behind the desk. A fresh gong from Suicune brought our attention back to the door. She snarled and pawed at the glass wildly, seeming not to comprehend why she couldn't reach us.

"You ready?" I asked Simon.

He nodded. "I assume the plan is rush the door when she opens it and then wing it from there?" He asked.

"Pretty much." I said.

Suicune backed up, readying to ram the door again when a ding from above distracted her. While she was looking up the doors slid open and Flare took his cue. The massive canine rushed forward, catching the blue pokemon off guard and sent her rolling back a good thirty yards from the door. Simon and I took off sprinting after her, our partners close behind us. we heard the doors slide shut behind us and a low hum immediately after as the building powered down; there was no turning back now.

"Flare, hit her with Close Combat, don't let her get up!" I shouted, and Flare rushed ahead of me. Suicune writhed on the ground for a moment before whipping her head around and sending a thick jet of water from her mouth. The torrent knocked flare down and sent him rolling as he howled out in pain. Suicune inhaled, getting ready to hit him again. "Clara, deflect it with Psychic!" I shouted, clawing at my belt for Flare's pokeball. Clara ran towards Flare as Suicune let out another Hydro Pump. Clara grunted with effort as she tried to get a hold of the rush of water, and managed to alter it's course only slighty. The attack grazed Flare's side, eliciting fresh whimpers from him as I finally got a hold of his pokeball. "Flare, return!" I shouted as I called him back inside.

Simon and Jade had rushed in close in the meantime, while Ruby stayed back building up another Calm Mind. "Jade, hit her with High Jump Kick!" Simon shouted. The medicham sprung forward and whipped her foot into Suicune with a meaty thud, but Suicune seemed unaffected by the attack.

"What the-" Jade mumbled as Suicune growled down at her. Jade took a step back as the growl turned into a snarl. Suicune inhaled deeply and let out another Hydro Pump point blank into Jade's chest. Jade screamed audibly as she was knocked back and rolled by the torrent. Not pausing, Suicune wound up and let another one fly, though this time in Ruby's direction.

"Ruby!" Simon yelled, running futility to intercept the attack. Ruby snapped to attention, what aura she had mustered fading immediately, and leapt to her side, narrowly dodging the jet of water.

"Looks like boosting isn't going to work this time." I said, and Simon nodded. Suicune inhaled again, aiming for Jade.

"Clara, get her out of there!" I shouted. Clara brought her hands out and the medicham began to levitate and move back towards us.

"Don't take me out of this yet!" Jade growled as she flailed, flinging a blade of energy towards Suicune and missing. Suicune adjusted her aim, this time for Clara.

"Ebon, don't let her move, Sucker Punch!" I shouted. I heard Ebon's claws scrape against the cement behind me, and after a brief pause he appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of the legendary pokemon and slammed her to the side as she unleashed her attack. Suicune stumbled but kept her footing. With a growl, she turned to the stunned Absol and headbutted him hard. Ebon stumbled back, but caught his feet and rushed back into her, locking horns as she tried to ram him again. The two struggled against each other, neither seeming to gain any ground on the other. Meanwhile, Clara had pulled Jade to her and out of danger, who was furious but could barely move on her own now as her chest bloomed deep purple and a few trickles of blood ran from it.

"Ruby, hit her with Aura Sphere!" Simon shouted and the Mienshao quickly built up her attack, putting far less power into it this time. I seized up as she let the ball of energy fly, fearing for Ebon if she missed, but true to Simon's word the ball veered into Suicune's flank within the last few yards. There was a thump, but other than a grunt from Suicune the attack did nothing. "Another!" Simon ordered, and Ruby obliged with the same result.

"What are you doing? it's not hurting her!" I hollered over.

Simon ignored me and kept on ordering his partner to attack. Sphere after Sphere buffeted Suicune with seemingly no effect, until I noticed what Ebon was doing. Each time an attack hit, he dug his claws in a little deeper, taking advantage of the momentary lapse in attention to gain more footing. Just as I realized this The Absol let out a snarl and heaved as hard as he could against his opponent. Suicune yelped in surprise as she was lifted off her front paws and thrown hard down on the pavement.

"Now! Hyper Beam!" Simon shouted. I stared at him in shock, not expecting her to have such a powerful move. Ruby opened her mouth, and with a small snarl of her own, light began building up inside it. Ebon leaped back to Clara and Jade as Suicune flailed on the ground. Ruby released the attack and a thick beam of yellow energy spewed forth from her mouth with a loud hum. the blast hit Suicune hard, producing a thud loud enough to feel in my chest. The blue beast howled in pain as the beam wore away at her, and as the beam narrowed and faded so too did her cries. Ruby fell forward, exhausted, and Simon was quick to catch her before she hit the cement. Suicune lay motionless on the ground, defeated.

"Holy shit." Was all I could say as I stared at the Mienshao with fresh wonder.

Ruby panted and weakly wagged her tail.

"Lets see her just walk that one off." Simon muttered as he carried Ruby over to check on Jade. Most of the Medicham's torso was consumed by a massive bruise now, and several streaks of shiny red ran from it's center.

"She just shrugged it off like I was a fly..." Jade said quietly.

"You did good Jade." Simon reassured her.

Clara and Ebon and walked over to the downed Suicune to examine her when Clara suddenly cried out, panicked, "Oh shit! Shit! Shit!"

I spun around and saw Suicune slowly pulling her paws under her as she snarled at the pair. "Clara, Teleport you and Ebon out of there, now!" I shouted. Clara closed her eyes and in a flash of white light both of them vanished. a split second later, a blast of snow and wind flew through the air where the had been standing, coating everythign it touched with a thick sheet of ice. Suicune growled and stood all the way up, turning to face me.

"Ruby, Aura Sphere!" Simon shouted, but it was too late. I dived to the side as Suicune unleashed another Blizzard straight at me. I hit the ground chest first as a sharp pain enveloped my leg. I craned my neck to look back and saw that from the knee down my leg was now entirely encased in ice. I looked up and saw Ruby's attack collide with Suicune, this time causing her to stumble.

"Simon, You have to keep her attention!" I shouted frantically as I crammed my hand into my pocket.

"Ruby, hit her again!" Simon shouted. Ruby growled as she charged up another attack and flung it, causing Suicune to yelp as it collided. I felt cold metal in my pocket and seized it, pulling it free. Thankfully I hadn't forgotten my pocket knife, and quickly flipped the small blade open before turning as best I could to start chipping away at the ice holding my leg.

"Mark look out!" Simon shouted in a panicked voice. I looked up and saw Suicune inhaling slowly, seeming to struggle with just that as Ruby's Aura Spheres barraged her. Whether through sheer will or because Ruby was still exhausted from Hyper Beam, it wasn't enough to stop her, and Suicune let fly a torrent of water straight for me. I only had a moment to put my arms up to cover my face before the blast hit me like a cement wall. I was pushed back and felt my knee straining before something popped inside it and pain exploded from the joint. As the torrent eased up, I lay panting and moaning on my side.

"That's it!" Simon shouted angrily. "Ruby get in there and finish this with Grass Knot!" He ordered, and with a snarl his pokemon rushed forward. Suicune turned to face her and began winding up for another attack. Ruby proved to be the faster of the two as the whips on the end of her paws became surrounded with green energy. She whipped her paws forward, causing streams of the green light to lash out and envelop the legendary pokemon, binding her tightly. Suicune howled and struggled against the attack, but every motion only pulled them tighter around her. Ruby snarled and stared down the blue pokemon before her as it's howls turned to whimpers and then to silence as it went limp before her. With a huff she released her attack and rushed over to me. Simon ran over as well and was first to survey the damage.

"Holy crap Mark." Was all he could say. Ruby caught up and after a moment slammed the Ice with her paw, shattering it neatly and freeing my leg, which swung limply as Simon picked me up from the ground. I looked down and saw nothing immediately wrong with my leg until I noticed it was swinging the wrong way in its joint.

"D...D-Dislocated." I managed to stammer out. the doors to the pokemon center slid open and the Nurse from before came running out with Chief Ramsey close behind.

"Dammit Mark!" The nurse shouted as she caught up.

"S-sorry." I said, trying my best to smile.

"Come on son." Ramsey said, taking me out of Simon's grip and bracing me against his shoulder to make up for my gimped leg. I limped back to the pokemon center using my boss as a crutch and inside found Clara and Ebon as well as a crowd of stunned faces.

"Mark!" Clara shouted, rushing over as soon as the doors opened.

I breathed a sigh of relief seeing she was okay as she checked me over.

"How bad is it?" She asked me.

"Just dislocated." I stammered.

"Just!?" The Nurse asked, exasperated.

"I've been hurt worse-" I began.

"I don't care how bad you've been hurt before!" She shouted. "Ramsey, get him into the examination room, I need to find some painkillers." She all but growled.

"You heard the lady." Ramsey said, and hauled me into the back room. I winced as he hefted me onto the examination table, feeling my knee bend the wrong way again. A few minutes later the nurse returned with a syringe in hand.

"Woah woah, I just need some pills or something!" I stammered.

"This isn't to make you feel better, it's so you don't pass out when we set it right again." She said as she set the needle down on the little metal tray suspended next to me. She then pulled a pair of scissors from her waistband and cut my pant-leg up past the knee before cutting horizontally and letting it fall to the side like a pair of flaps. I tensed up as she reached for the syringe, but after seeing my foot lying flat on its side while its twin pointed up was all the convincing I needed that I was better off with the injection.

"You're gonna feel a pinch." The nurse said, then after a moment added, "Maybe." I jumped as she pressed the needle into the side of my leg and bit my lip as I felt the dull sting of it moving deeper; that was nearly drowned out by the pain already there however. "You really hate shots don't you." The nurse mused as she pulled the needle out and jabbed me again, this time lower.

"With a passion." I muttered. She skewered me about six more times, spreading the numbing solution equally throughout the joint. Despite hating getting stabbed, I had to admit the relief the numbness gave was needed. After a few minutes and some test pokes with the syringe to see if i still had sensation, the nurse and Ramsey stood together at the end of the table, each taking ahold of my foot. They repositioned it straight up so it would go back in properly and unceremoniously shoved it hard. I braced myself with the edges of the table but still scooted back a few inches. They shoved again, pushing me back a few more inches and on the third shove produced a meaty pop as my knee popped back into place.

I breathed a sigh of relief bending my knee up and down to test it.

the Nurse winced seeing this, "Shit Mark, don't do that!"

I looked up at her. "I don't really have a choice though. Entei's still out there and once the numbness wears off I'll be useless." I said.

"You really think that's a good idea." The nurse said flatly.

With a sigh, Ramsey spoke up. "I hate it, but he's right. Him and his buddy are the only shot we have at taking down a legendary pokemon, unless you expect a pack of Growlithe to do the job, Ma'am."

The nurse let out a frustrated sigh. "You better get to a hospital ASAP when this is over!" She all but growled before leaving and slamming the door behind her.

I looked up and Ramsey. "Never thought you'd agree with me on that one." I mused.

"Don't let it go to your head Mark, I still want you on the back lines from now on." he said sternly.

I nodded. "Yes, sir." I said officially, causing Ramsey to chuckle a bit.

The door opened and Simon walked in. "Two down." He said, "The nurse is working on healing her right now, but she's not gonna have enough power."

I thought for a minute. "What about Raikou?" I asked.

"What about him?" Simon replied, confused.

"Couldn't we power the center with him?" I asked.

"That takes a lot of know-how Mark, and I'd think anyone with that is in Goldenrod right now getting paid for it." Simon said flatly.

Ramsey cleared his throat, causing both of us to look up. "I may have that 'know-how'" He said.

Ten minutes later we were in the basement of the center, barely able to see in the dim light. "Come on out, Raikou." Simon said, as he tossed the pokeball. A white flash briefly illuminated the dark room before receding. As our eyes readjusted to the dark we saw The yellow Lion sitting before us calmly, looking confused as he surveyed the room.

"So I've been captured." A deep male voice mused in my head. Raikou looked between Ramsey, Simon, and I, "Which one of you did it?" He asked pleasantly.

I hesitated to answer and Ramsey was too stunned by hearing the pokemon speak to him to respond. Being used to telepathy from pokemon, Simon was the one that answered. "Technically that would be me, but I don't intend to keep you as a partner." He said.

Raikou nodded. "Knowing that, and adding in that I can't seem to remember anything recent, I assume that something had happened to me that forced you to capture me." He said.

"That is correct." Ebon spoke up from behind me. The Raikou looked down curiously at the white and black pokemon as it stepped forward.

"Now you I remember." Raikou said thoughtfully. "I remember you from what you humans call 'Hoenn'" He said.

"Do you remember the humans in black?" Ebon asked.

Raikou's brow furrowed as he seemed to struggle with something. "Barely." He muttered. "I remember visiting the area with my companions, then those shadow people attacked us..." He trailed off. "After that, I was here." He looked up to me and Simon. "Are you those people?" Raikou asked.

I shook my head. "Couldn't be further from them." I said. "I'm a police officer and Simon here is a close friend of mine."

"Police..." Raikou mused. "Police...Police..." He mulled the word over, thoughtfully. "I know I've heard the word before..." Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Oh, you mean you're this area's guardian?" He asked.

I stared at him stunned for a moment. "Well, I guess you could call me that." I said, blushing a bit.

Raikou surprised me by taking a deep bow. "I am honored to make your acquaintance then, Guardian."

I blushed more. "J-just call me Mark, please." I stammered.

Raikou looked at me for a moment, confused, before nodding. "Very well then, Guardian Mark." He said respectfully. I fidgeted, not sure how to handle this kind of treatment. Raikou gave me a bit of relief by turning to Ebon. "The one from 'Hoenn'." He said. "You seem to know what happened. Why is my memory missing?" He asked.

"The people in black did something to you and the other two, I don't know what though." Ebon said. "After that, you went berserk."

"Berserk!?" Raikou asked, stunned."How many did I hurt?" He asked worriedly.

"Barely any." Ebon said. "My job has been to warn humans of coming danger, that's why I followed you three all the way to Jhoto."

Raikou studied the Absol for a few seconds before nodding. "You have my gratitude." He said, taking another deep bow.

Ebon returned to bow to my surprise. "I managed to steer the three of you away from populated areas for most of the way here, this town was where I failed though." Ebon said. "It was only thanks to Mark and Simon here with their partners that you were finally calmed."

Raikou nodded. "And what of my companions?" He asked.

I spoke up this time. "Suicune was covering the town in fog." I began. "After we fought you this morning, we moved everyone into this building for safety. Luckily we didn't have to look for her, as she found us."

Raikou nodded thoughtfully. "She's always been helpful with that fog, it helps us move around without being seen." He said. "She's the reason why we haven't been captured to this day." He said, then looked up at Simon. "Or at least she was. Since you're still here I assume you managed to subdue her?" He asked worriedly.

I nodded, and the yellow lion breathed a sigh of relief. "She was far tougher than you were, and she even managed to hit me pretty good." I said, gesturing to my knee, which was beginning to swell up and turn purple, though thankfully was still numb.

Raikou studied my knee for a moment before looking up at me. "You got stuck in her ice didn't you." He said.

I nodded. "She rolled me after that with her Hydro Pump." I said.

Raikou went quiet, seeming to think deeply for a while before speaking up again. "I wish to atone for my aggression, is there any way I could repay you two?" He asked humbly.

"Actually, we kind of already had something in mind." Simon said.

"Yes?" Raikou asked, standing up.

"This building runs on electricity, and the town's power was cut off in one of your scuffles with Ebon here." Simon explained. "We have our own power supply here, but we've just about run it out now after so long and after healing you from our battle."

Raikou looked down. "So you wish for me to power this building with my thunder?" He asked, then without waiting for a response added, "Very well, if it is what it takes to repay my debt I shall do it." He said.

"You don't need to repay us." I said. "Suicune's still beat up from our battle, and we don't have enough power left to heal her." I explained.

Raikou's eyes widened. "Then what are you waiting for?" he demanded. "Fit me with whatever device it is you need!"

Ramsey finally snapped back to reality. "W-well that's why I'm here." he stammered. "I used to do a bit of electrical work before becoming an officer, hopefully I'll be able to rig something up that will let you power our stuff.

Raikou nodded. "Then get to it Old Guardian." He said.

"Simon and I are going to look for Entei in the meantime." I said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Riakou said. I paused, looking back. "This is a long shot, but if there is a lake or river in this area, look for him there." He said. "It reminds him of Suicune."

I nodded, "Thank you, Raikou." I said, and hiked up the stairs, already feeling my knee starting to stiffen up from the swelling.

"Hold on Mark," Ramsey called up, just as I grabbed the doorknob. I sighed and turned to face him before seeing something black flying towards me. I clumsily caught the object and saw it was Chief Ramsey's radio he kept on his belt at all times. "Keep that with you in case Entei shows up here. I'm sure Raikou could help, but I want to have a way to get you back if things go bad." I nodded and turned, opening the door and emerging into the back hallway.

The hallway turned after a few feet, and past that a crowd of people had gathered where it met the lobby. They perked up at the sight of us, a good many of them fidgeting anxiously. With a sigh, I stopped at the end of the hall and spoke up as loudly as I could. "Everyone, Chief Ramsey is busy working to restore power to the pokemon center with the help of Raikou." I announced, "Furthermore, Suicune is too badly hurt to assist us in locating Entei. Raikou has been kind enough to tell us everything he could to locate the last of the three, but if any of you have spotted him today, now would be the time to speak up."

There were a few murmurs among the crowd before someone spoke up. "I saw that Suicune thing earlier and there was a red one with it." He said.

"Good, where were you then?" I asked.

"At home, I live near the park if that's any help." He said.

"It's more than we had before, thank you." I said, "Anyone else see it today?"

"I did," a woman spoke up. "I called the police and they said they were already working on it."

I nodded. "That was probably when we only knew about one of them." I said. "Where were you then?" I asked.

"I was at the shop getting some food for my Meowth back home." She said. "I hope he's okay..." she added quietly.

A man I recognized as the cashier who sold me the dusk balls spoke up. "I can't vouch for seeing it, but I was there when she spotted it." He said.

"Ma'am, was Entei alone when you saw him?" I asked.

She looked at me surprised. "Yes, I think so." She said.

"Alright, anyone else see him today or yesterday?" I asked. except for a few murmurs the group remained silent. "Alright, thank you for your cooperation today." I said in an official tone. "We're heading out now, we should have this finished and you all back in your homes by this evening, until then I ask that you all remain calm and stay here."

There were a few more murmurs and some nods from the people in the front of the crowd before it dispersed, leaving only the other officers standing in the hall.

"Take it easy out there Mark." one of them spoke up. I couldn't help but smile a little and nodded. Just then there was a high pitched hum as the lights grew suddenly bright again.

"Looks like Ramsey got Raikou rigged up right." Simon said. I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief; it looked like we might actually pull this off. We checked in with the nurse and Suicune before heading out.

"We've got more than enough power now, but it's looking like Suicune's going to need as much time as Raikou took." She said, keeping busy tweaking the machine's settings as it worked. I asked her if she could pause it long enough to heal Flare up, and after flipping a few switched she popped his pokeball into the machine next to Suicune's. it only took a minute and a half to patch Flare up. After getting Flare's pokeball back, we thanked her and headed out the door as the crowd silently stared after us.

The fog had cleared a bit by now; we could see more than a block ahead of us now at least. I called Flare out and the massive canine yawned and stretched before looking at me and noticing my leg. He whined with concern, and Clara spoke up. "I think you should sit this one out on top of Flare." She said seriously. I looked at her, then Flare, and seeing them both worried was all the convincing I needed.

"All right, I'll take it easy." I promised. Clara smiled and lifted me up with her Psychic before setting me down on top of Flare. We headed for the pokemart to start with, as it was the closest place to check. I held onto Flare's mane for support as we walked, which was something that used to annoy him back when we were in the academy; now he didn't even seem to notice it much less mind it.

"Mark, you seem a natural on top of Flare." Simon mused.

I looked over at him, a little surprised. "We've had a lot of practice back when we were still training." I said, feeling my partner's powerful muscles flex under my thighs as he walked. "He's faster than me by leagues, so if we ever needed to get anywhere in a hurry he would have me ride on him. With how often I slept in, that gave us plenty of practice." I said, smiling a little at the nostalgia. "Come to think of it, that problem stopped once I met Clara." I added, thoughtfully. Clara smiled up at me.

"How so?" Simon asked.

"Well, I told you how much of a slacker I was." I started, "Me and Flare just kind of coasted on our natural abilities because that was all we really needed to pass, but once Clara came into the picture I had a reason to try hard. I really wanted to make her my partner in the academy, and that was the motivation I needed to do my best."

Simon nodded, then Jade spoke up. "So she made you pussy whipped." She mused.

Clara snickered before bursting out into laughter. Simon chuckled and shook his head while Jade just smirked up at me. Even Ebon had to suppress a snicker. I blushed and tried to stammer out a response with no success.

"Think I hit the nail on the head." Jade said, satisfied. "Anyway, we're here." She said. Clara calmed herself down and looked ahead of us. The store was dark and looked abandoned; which made sense because it kind of was. I Sat up as tall as I could and looked around, seeing nothing immediately out of the ordinary in the thinning mist.

"Jade, Clara, sense anything nearby?" I asked, continuing to survey the street.

They both closed their eyes and after a few seconds Jade sighed and shook here head. Clara searched for a while longer before looking up at me. "Nothing outside of the usual pokemon" She said.

I sighed. "Alright, this spot's clear. We should head for the park next." I said. Simon and Jade nodded in unison and we continued on. The park was a few blocks away from the main street but still managed to be on the edge of town; hidden from view for usual traffic by all the houses, but convenient for anyone who lived in them. The fog was clearing up quickly, and soon we only saw intermittent patches of it; though the atmosphere never seemed to change despite increased visibility; the sky was still dark and cloudy. The temperature was dropping as dusk grew closer; not that you could tell with the cloud cover. We reached the park after ten minutes, and by then we were starting to see our breath in the chilled air.

I surveyed the area again. The park had about a dozen trees scattered about it in what could have been a soccer field without them. Off to the right were a few picnic tables and further on was a large jungle gym surrounded by mulch.

"Sense anything?" I asked, looking down to the two psychic pokemon with us. Jade closed here eyes for a few seconds before looking back up and shaking her head.

"I got nothing." She said.

"Clara?" I asked, looking towards my partner, who seemed confused as she searched the area.

"I can feel something, but I'm not exactly sure what it is." She said doubtfully.

"Which way?" I asked. Clara was focused for a moment longer before pointing off to our left. There looked to be nothing but field in that direction, and after that forest.

"In the woods?" Simon asked.

Clara shook her head. "Closer than that, I'm not sure it's Entei though." She said.

"We still should check it out." I said, scratching Flare's ears.

Clara nodded, and we started walking again. The tall grass filling the field proved to be more of an obstacle than expected, it was thick and tangled at the base, threatening to trip anyone who didn't walk deliberately. Simon and Clara both were slowed by the terrain, but Flare and I naturally moved ahead, unhampered due to Flare's sheer size. Jade and Ruby kept up with us easily, seemingly uninhibited by the thick growth.

"We lived in the forest for years." Jade said flatly, sensing my curiosity. "This kind of field is nothing new to us." She explained.

I nodded. "Good thing I'm not on foot, It'd be borderline impossible getting across this with my knee." I said, looking down. It had started to throb dully as the numbing medicine wore off, and by now had swelled to twice its original size and refused to bend when I tried to move. "Scratch that borderline part." I mumbled, shaking my head. I looked back to see Ebon sticking close to Clara and Simon, he didn't seem to be having any trouble moving through the grass with his sharp claws though.

Flare suddenly dropped out from under me, and I flailed for balance. I managed to catch his mane and held on tight as Flare skidded down the incline that had somehow escaped our notice. We came to a halt on a damp bed of sand and I readjusted myself on top of him.

"Mark?" Jade called from above. I above us at the edge of the drop off looking around confused. "Mark, Flare, where'd the hell you go?" She asked worriedly. She looked to her side where Ruby what whining quietly. "I don't know, they just dissipated." Jade explained to her.

"Jade!" I shouted up, catching her attention.

"Mark, what the hell, this isn't funny!" Jade shouted back angrily.

"Jade, we're down here, can't you see us?" I shouted back.

"Quit fooling around. Where are-" She said as she stepped forward onto nothing and fell into the ditch after us. She flailed in panic for a moment before twisting to get her feet under her and skidded down, stopping next to us. She looked around confused for a few seconds before spotting us.

"How did you not see us?" I asked.

"All right, this all wasn't here a moment ago!" Jade stammered out. There was a yipe and a scuffling noise from above. I looked up just in time to see Ruby sliding down after us on her belly, butt-first. She looked around baffled as well before locating us.

"So what the hell is this?" Jade asked, kneeling down next to her mate and helping her up.

I looked around for the first time since falling. We were maybe six or seven feet lower than the rest of the field in a rather large clearing. Steep sand cliffs surrounded the space on all sides. Occupying the entirety of the clearing sans about a ten foot wide space circling the perimeter was a huge pond. "It looks like we found our water." I said. "But why couldn't we see it before?" I asked.

Jade closed her eyes for a few moments, and I thought she was searching the area until she spoke up. "I've seen this kind of thing before." She said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well it's a pond." She said flatly. "I think a certain pokemon might be living here though."

I thought for a minute. "So we're looking for a psychic type powerful enough to make us think this was all empty plains?" I asked.

Jade nodded. "I don't know what it looks like though."

"I thought you said you saw it before?" I asked, confused.

"Yes and no," Jade sighed.

"Mark? Jade?" Simon called from above.

"Oh shit." I stammered, Simon and Clara were approaching the drop. "Flare, get us out of here!" I ordered. Flare barked and leapt up towards the edge of the cliff, but with a jolt I was thrown off of him. I hit the sand and skidded back down on my own, dazed and confused.

A pair of strong but small arms grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me up to a sitting position. "It seems whatever lives here doesn't want us to leave right now." Jade said. I looked up and saw Simon, Clara, and Ebon above me, though they weren't falling over the cliff like we had. They just kept on walking above us, seemingly on nothing.

"All right, what the hell." I growled. I looked around and saw Flare off to my left, shaking his head clear.

Jade hefted me up. "First let's get you back on your steed, then lets figure out what's up." She said. I squirmed, unused to being lifted like this, but Jade didn't let go until she had set me back on Flare's back.

Once back in place, I surveyed the lake again. "Well, only one place it could really be hiding." I said. "I can't exactly swim and neither can Flare."

Without another word Ruby ran forward into the water. I looked after her surprised as she waded, then swam to the middle of the pond.

"She likes swimming." Jade explained shaking her head. Still confused, I watched the purple pokemon swim a few laps before turning back towards us.

"Looks like she didn't find anyth-" Jade began, then shouted, "Ruby Look out!"

Ruby looked at her confused for a moment before twisting around to face a veritable wall of fire rushing straight for her. I closed my eyes, feeling the intense heat even from here. Flare leapt to the side and I lost track of Ruby. The blaze continued straight towards us and slammed into the wall of sand behind where we had been standing, leaving a glowing sheet of molten glass behind.

"Ruby!" Jade shouted, looking out over the pond. There was a line of foam tracing the attack from the surface water that had boiled, but the Mienshao was nowhere to be seen.

"The hell was that." I muttered. There was a splash and a loud inhale as Ruby's head appeared above the surface of the water. Before I could feel relieved though, a deep growl from the other side of the water drew our attention.

Shaded by the distance, all we saw was a four-legged shadow with a pair of glowing red eyes centered in it.

"Entei." I mouthed right as it's mouth lit up and another column of Flame Launched towards us. Ruby ducked under the water again as Jade and Flare both leapt to the side to dodge the incoming attack.

"Cover Ruby and keep him busy." Jade growled before taking off running around the edge of the pond.

"Right." I said, then turned to the beast across the water. "Flare, hit him with Flame thrower!" I shouted, and felt Flare dip down before watching a line of fire rush out in front of me across the water. Entei casually sidestepped the incoming attack, having plenty of time to dodge the much slower blaze. Ruby popped up again, closer to shore just as a loud thump shook my attention. I first thought it was Flare's attack hitting the other wall until Simon's voice caught my attention.

"The Fu-" Simon shouted before landing in the pond with a loud splash, Clara splashed down close behind him, and Ebon fell in behind her.

Entei turned to face the new intruders before a blade of purple energy slammed into his side, catching his attention. "Eyes on me asshole!" Jade shouted at him as she continued to rush around the pong. Entei growled and obliged her with a fresh Fire Blast in her direction.

Simon's head burst free of the water gasping for air. "What the hell!?" He shouted angrily. Clara bobbed up behind him, looking confused.

"Clara, Teleport you three over here!" I shouted. Clara looked around confused before spotting me and nodding. A white flash enveloped her, Simon, and Ebon before a loud splash and a rush of water announced their arrival near me.

Flare growled and tried to back out of the puddle. "Sorry, I grabbed a lot of water on my way out." Clara said. Ruby had just reached the shore and jogged up to Simon panting.

Simon spotted Ruby and kneeled down beside her, checking her over before looking up at me. "Where's Jade?" He asked.

A fresh snarl from Entei answered his question. We both looked across the pond to see Jade bouncing back from the beast as it stumbled away from her. She landed and lunged forward again, hoping to catch it off guard. Entei caught its feet and sidestepped Jade's attack, letting her crash into the ground. She rolled, but quickly caught her feet under her just in time to see Entei charge her.

"Jade!" Simon shouted out, running towards the water as Jade was knocked flying over it. With expert timing, Entei let out another Fire Blast, engulfing the air-born Medicham. Simon shouted with panic, ignoring the incoming wall of fire as he rushed for his mate. Ruby growled and lunged after him, Tackling him hard and pulling them both underwater as the attack passed over them.

"That's it." I growled as Flare dodged the incoming blast with me on his back. Ebon jumped to dodge, but was grabbed by Clara as She teleported them both out of the way of the attack, landing about halfway around to Entei's side of the pond. I dug my fingers deep into his mane. "Extremespeed, Flare, get around to his side." I said. Flare launched forward nauseatingly and in an instant we had caught up to Clara. I rolled off the massive canine as he leapt forward again, landing right in front of Entei.

"Flare, hit him with Close Combat and keep hitting him, don't give him an inch!" I shouted. Flare howled and charged forward, catching Entei right as it turned to face him. Entei snarled and stumbled backwards but kept it's feet. Flare lunged forward again, meeting Entei's counter charge head.

"He can't do it alone." Ebon growled from behind me.

"Ebon, Swords Dance." I said quietly. There was a pause, and then the Absol took up position in front of me. He let out a low constant snarl as what looked like thin blue streaks of flame began to rise from his horn and claws.

Flare snarled as he was knocked back. He stumbled and kept his feet, but as he turned to charge again Entei slammed into his side, sending him rolling.

"Jade!" Simon called out from my left. I looked over and saw him paddling clumsily towards something white floating motionless in the middle of the pond. After a moment I realized the white thing was Jade. Ruby was close behind Simon as he reached Jade. I noticed what looked like heatwaves simmering above the trio, but was confused that it didn't obscure them, just the space above them. To my surprise I heard a chime as whatever it was warping the air above Simon rose and flew off into the sky.

"Mark, I'm ready!" Ebon snarled, snapping my attention back to the battle. Flare had regained his feet and was fighting mainly with his flamethrower now, trying desperately to keep distance between him and Entei.

"Clara, Teleport him in there. Ebon, hit him with Night slash the moment you land." I ordered. Clara nodded and a white light eveloped Ebon before he dissapeared. Flare was pushed back against the wall and panting heavily, too winded to make another Flamethrower just as Entei charged in for the killing blow. A blinding flash between him and his target sent the legendary pokemon skidding to a halt just as something jet black leaped from the white. Ebon slashed his horn as hard as he could into Entei's shoulder as dark energy crackled from it. Entei leaped back, howling as it inhaled for a Fire Blast.

"Don't let him, Sucker Punch!" I ordered. Ebon flashed forward in an instand, turning the space Entei had gained into nothing right before slamming his claws across the startled beast's face. Entei yelped and snarled, stumbling backwards as it shook it's head violently.

"Clara, finish this. Teleport in and put him to sleep." I said.

"Right." She said, nodding. A white light enveloped her before vanishing from my side. Entei was blinded again by bright flash, only this time instead of darkness jumping out of it, something green emerged. Entei reared up and charged the newcomer only to have Ebon flash in front of him.

"You just don't learn!" Ebon growled as he slashed his claws across the legendary pokemon's face again, producing fresh yelps of pain from him.

"Sweet dreams" Clara said flatly as she brought her hands to her temples and unleashed a special pulse. The attack hit it's mark and Entei rag-dolled on the spot, collapsing into a pile of fur and blood.

Simon emerged onto the shore in front of Ebon and Clara as I hobbled as best I could to catch up.

"Mark, please tell me you have some potions or something." Simon whimpered as I approached.

"N-No..." I stuttered as keeled over next to Jade, who Simon had carried back and laid down on the sand.

"I-I don't know if we can make it to the pokemon center in time." Simon said, his voice cracking. Jade was barely breathing and covered in brown to black burns. A few places had cracked open from being cooked and were bleeding freely as a rivulet of blood made its way from the corner of her mouth to the sand. Clara was kneeling down behind Simon next to ruby, clenching her fists as she bit her lip.

"Mark I-" Simon started but trailed off as the tears he had been holding back broke free and ran down his cheeks. Ruby quickly moved in front of him and did her best to hug him as he heaved and sobbed, but I could see her eyes were wet too.

"There's gotta be a way out of this." I mumbled. "Clara, can you still Teleport?" I asked looking up at her.

She growled and shook her head. "I burned through them all already." She growled.

"Think, Mark think!" I told myself, slamming the palm of my hands into my temples in an attempt to kick start my brain. A sputtering sound broke my focus as Jade started coughing weakly, spitting up bloody foam as she dug weakly at the sand with her hands.

"No..." Clara said quietly, clutching her head.

"Come on Mark." I growled, slamming my fist down on the sand. My mind flew through every object I was carrying and every ability my partner's had, but not a single one of them could help Jade right now. "Come on..." I said, my own voice cracking as tears began to sting my eyes.

"No." Clara said resolutely.

I looked up at her. Tears flowed freely down her face as she gritted her teeth. "Clara-" I began.

Clara growled as she stood up, and I suddenly felt myself lifted by an invisible force before flying towards the pond and splashing down; Ruby and Simon landing a few feet to my right. I sputtered as I got my bearings and looked back to shore to see Clara standing over Jade.

"I'm not losing a friend to this!" Clara shouted angrily as a green aura enveloped her.

"What is that?" Simon asked weakly.

I stared in disbelief as the green light surrounding Clara began to flow down and out before enveloping Jade. "H-Heal Pulse?" I asked, marveling as Clara poured her aura into Jade. "When did she learn that?" I stammered.

Clara's aura began to fade and as it dissipated she slumped to her knees next to Jade. I paddled as fast as I could towards shore, ignoring the pain starting to bloom in my knee. Ruby all but flew past me as she rushed to her mate. I sputtered as her wake disoriented me and saw Simon swimming past me as well before breaking into a run as soon as his feet touched the bottom.

"Jade!" Simon shouted as he ran to his partner. Ruby reached her first and sniffed her all over before wrapping her paws around her. A huge weight lifted from my chest as I saw Jade's arms weakly reach up and hug Ruby back just before Simon reached them and scooped them both up.

"They were sitting together like that in silence when I finally made it to shore, or so I thought. Once I was closer I hear wordless sobbing from Simon as he held his partners close to him.

"How did you know to do that?" I asked Clara, who was sitting off to the side, clutching her head.

She looked up at me confused for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know. I just knew what to do all of a sudden, and I couldn't have anyone else absorbing it if I was gonna help Jade." She said quietly. I slumped down beside her and hugged her tightly. She hugged me back, burying her face in my chest as she started sobbing weakly. I don't know how long I held her like that, but by the time we had picked ourselves up and returned our injured pokemon to their pokeballs the moon was high in the sky.

Simon helped me out of the pit and did his best to be my crutch as we began the hike back to the pokemon center. Flare was safe on my belt, as was Entei. Ebon stared at the ground the whole way back, not saying anything. Clara walked on her own fine, but occasionally stumbled as exhaustion creeped up on her. Everyone inside the pokemon center was asleep when we finally arrived. Some were passed out on the many benches and chairs in the lobby, the others had each been given a bedroll and were sleeping wherever they had found space.

"Holy shit!" someone shouted from my left. I looked over and saw the nurse, still awake and at her post.

"Hey we're-" I started, but a mumbling from the crowd of sleeping people shook my attention. A few had woken up and upon seeing me woke their neighbors. In less than a minute Everyone was awake and asking me questions about our mission. I did my best to answer them, but I was drowned out by the crowd and barely anyone heard my answers. The nurse thankfully stepped in and managed to wrangle the crowd back to their beds, or lack thereof before taking Entei from me and handing me Suicune's pokeball.

"She's one hundred percent now, if Entei's like the others he won't be ready until morning though." She said. I looked down at the pokeball in my hand before handing it back to her.

"I know she's healed, but could you put her in with Entei for me?" I asked.

The nurse looked at me questioningly before nodding and popping the second pokeball in the slot next to Entei. "I dug our older model healing machine out of the basement so we can heal your own pokemon in tandem with these two." She said. "It's not any less powerful, just less efficient." She reassured me.

Simon handed her Jade's pokeball with a sigh of relief as I called Clara back to her own ball. The nurse took Flare and Clara and popped them in with Jade before starting the older machine up, which hummed loudly as it worked.

"Mark." A familiar voice said from behind me. I turned to see Chief Ramsey in a plain white T-shirt and denim jeans standing there with a keyring in hand. "You're coming with me." He said.

"Hospital, right?" I asked. Ramsey nodded. "Can we wait for my pokemon before leaving?" I asked. Ramsey shook his head.

"You've been untreated too long as it is." Ramsey said. "Your partners will be fine, Simon will look after them and as soon as I can I'll bring them to you personally." He reassured.

I sighed deeply and nodded my head before letting him lead me to the door and outside. He led me around to the back parking lot and stopped in front of a black truck. "My own truck." He said as he climbed in. I followed suit, wincing as my knee cried out from bending even slightly. The truck rumbled to life and we backed out of the lot before hitting the road towards Goldenrod. The drive seemed to last longer than I remembered, but that was probably because pain slows time. I gritted my teeth and waited patiently, telling myself I had to look after myself for Clara and Flare. The moon had begin its descent as we pulled into Goldenrod, and fifteen minutes later we drove into the emergency entrance lot for the hospital under the amber glow of streetlights. Ramsey made me wait in the car as he went in, and soon emerged with a pair of nurses pushing a wheelchair. With a grunt, they lifted me into the chair, only causing me to wince slightly as the set me down. I was wheeled inside and delivered to some sort of examination room where they took tally of my injuries. After taking everything down on a clipboard they called in a surgeon to assess my arms.

"Yup, he's gonna need surgery." He said after gently removing a few stitches to assess the depth of the gashes. these are down to the bone in some spots, it's a miracle you're still conscious." I had done a good job ignoring the constant pain in them ever since Ebon gave them to me, but a combination of exhaustion and the surgeon's fiddling with them broke my will and the deep aching sting set in.

Within the next hour I was carted to my room, which was up quite a few floors, but thankfully had a nice view. Looking down on all the streetlamps and headlights of goldenrod reminded me of summer evening's back at the academy. Illumise and Volbeat would show up by the hundreds each year for a week or two and put on a light show for their mating season in the park each evening. I remembered taking Clara there once and she was overwhelmed by the beauty of it. She made me take her back every night until they migrated home, but I was more than happy to make the trek for her.

A nurse came in with a pair of scissors and a thin gown for me and I sighed, knowing it was time to relinquish my clothes. I took my shirt off on my own, just barely managing through the pain, and was hoping to salvage it from her scissors until I noticed it had blood all over it now. I sighed and tossed it aside before letting the nurse remove what remained of my pants and helped me into my gown. I remembered a time when I would be embarrassed from being naked in a hospital, but right now I was too tired to care. She helped me back into my bed for the night and brought me up to speed on when all my tests and exams were scheduled, as well as when my surgery was to be performed: tomorrow morning around ten. I thanked her and laid my head back, hoping briefly that Clara and Flare were doing well before consciousness fled and I fell into deep sleep.

When I woke up, Clara was holding my hand and Simon was sitting next to her. I smiled weakly up at both of them and they greeted me. We chatted for a bit before things went quiet.

"How's the trio doing?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"They're still in town." Simon said. "Ramsey filed a report with the Goldenrod police before coming back, and they sent some guys up to help repair the damage. The three wanted to help but had no real way to do so. Anyway, they want to see you before they go."

"You already released them?" I asked.

"Yup." Simon said, digging three black and yellow pokeballs out of his pocket. he set them in my lap. "Keep them as souvenirs or good luck charms, whichever one you believe in more." He said. I nodded and thanked him. I sat and watched the sun rise out my window for a while as I held Clara's hand. Before long a nurse came in and told me it was time for my surgery. Simon and Clara wanted to observe, and only after I argued with the nurse that both were family to me and not just friends, did she allow them. A half hour later I was sitting in a reclined operating table with a curtain cutting off view from either of my arms. I felt a few sharp pangs as the surgeon began numbing the entirety of my forearm, which I was grateful for as the pain ebbed away. Simon, Sarah, and Jade were in front of me behind a thick pane of glass. The observation room seemed small from this side as all three were crammed together. Clara kept me informed on what they were doing, and even tweaked my mind so I could see for myself through her eyes a few times. Feeling my vision jump across the room and seeing myself was somehow nauseating though, so Clara kept those moments to a minimum. After an hour the Surgeon had finished reconnecting all the veins severed in my right arm and began work on my left. the rest of the operation was just as slow, but having Clara to talk to telepathically helped a lot. When we were finally finished, I took a good long look at my arms, which were dotted with maybe a dozen thick metal staples and what I could only guess to be some kind of glue holding the rest together.

The rest of the day was spent being rolled between x-ray rooms and an MRI machine, checking me over for any broken bones they had missed. After Getting the results on my knee they found out it still wasn't set right and was out of place in the joint. They thankfully numbed it up before correcting it, which produced and meaty pop as it slipped back into place. Simon winced at the sight, but I reassured him I couldn't feel it. Dusk came and Simon had to go home, but he promised to visit again tomorrow. Sleep came slowly, but with Clara nuzzled next to me in the narrow hospital bed, I didn't mind being awake longer.

The next day only had a few more x-rays to run on my arms before they were all done testing and all that was left was to heal. I asked if I could leave, but the nurse said they wanted to keep me here at least until the staples were removed. Simon stopped by with Jade and Ruby in the afternoon and brought me up to speed on the progress back in town.

"Power and phones are restored, they're still working on fixing the doors at the police station, but they're gonna have to repave most of the road in front of the pokemon center, Raikou's thunderbolts really did a number on the asphalt". He explained.

The rest of the day went by slowly. I asked Jade about the fight with Entei, but all she could remember was waking up on the beach with Ruby and Simon. She seemed upset to be missing her memory. I looked over to Simon, silently asking if he had told her what happened. Jade picked up on this easily and informed me that she was aware of how reckless she had been, she'd even watched the memory from a few people's perspectives. I did my best to assure her that it was all right, and to my surprise she actually seemed to cheer up.

The next few days were a blur of boredom, dull aches, and the itching that comes from the healing process. At the end of the week they finally let me go after pulling the staples out of my arms, which had healed quite a bit already. Simon drove me back home and the first thing I did was take a nap in my own bed. I was rudely awoken by frantic licking from Flare, who Simon had been taking care of for me along with Ebon since the hospital wouldn't allow such a big pokemon to stay there. I couldn't help but laugh as I hugged my partner tight and calmed him down. That evening Clara, Flare, Ebon, and I made the hike to the police station and met with the three legendary pokemon who were already waiting there for us.

"Guardian Mark." Raikou said, taking a deep bow, which the other two mirrored.

"We are indebted to you for stopping our rampage." A female voice spoke up, which was Suicune. "How can we ever repay you not just for that, but for having the kindness of heart to release us afterwards?"

I shook my head. "There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing what I'm supposed to; helping those in need." I said, smiling.

Suicune nodded and stepped back as Entei stepped forward. "Young Guardian, if we should ever cross paths again, consider us in your service until we part again." He said. I shook my head. "please, grant us at least this one dignity." I blushed and after thinking for a moment nodded.

"All right, you have a deal, Entei." I said. Ebon nudged at my thigh and looked up at me, distressed.

"Mark, I promised you I would be your partner..." He said. "But I'm worried I won't be able to adapt to your human life. I'm struggling just to keep from digging my claws into everything." He said looking down.

I looked down at him and pet his head. "You're free to move on, Ebon. If you ever change your mind or even just want to visit you'll always be welcome in my home." I said, smiling down at him.

"Say." Raikou spoke up, causing Ebon to look over. "Would you like to come with us as my mate?" Raikou asked formally.

Ebon blinked in surprise and tried to stammer out a response.

"Entei and Suicune here have each other, but I'm not so fortunate. And you're preferring of males anyway are you not?" He asked slyly.

Ebon squirmed and I swear I could see a blush through his fur. "H-How could you know that?" He stammered out.

Raikou smiled. "You really think you can hide something so simple from a Guardian like myself? You should know, being one yourself." He said.

Ebon looked to me,seemingly torn.

"Ebon, it's a good chance for you." I said. "They'll take care of you and even if it doesn't work out you can come back here." I said.

Ebon looked down at the ground, thinking hard for a while before looking up at Raikou. "I wish to join you." He said shakily. Raikou grinned and walked up to him before licking him affectionately on the cheek, causing him to wag his tail a little.

Ebon spent the night with me while the trio slept somewhere nearby. In the morning I fashioned a parting gift for my short term partner: A thin collar with his dusk ball set in it. though collar was a grand term for a few leather thongs I had found laying around attached to some heavy duty twine affixed to the pokeball. Ebon thanked me generously before heading off with the three legendaries around noon, heading northeast. Clara, Flare, and I reported to the station later that afternoon, which Ramsey only begrudgingly allowed since I had already missed so much work. He only let us work part-time for the next month before reinstating us full-time.

Things went back to normal for the rest of my internship. I was gradually given more responsibilities around the office and less busy work. Soon after I was instated on patrol duty and taught how to drive. Four months after the legendary trio incident, in one of my regular calls to Sarah, she told me she had cleared the league and was going to Evergrande City for the championships. I wanted to surprise her and requested a staggering month off of work, which Ramsey adamantly opposed until I told him it was for Sarah. Ramsey begrudgingly agreed, if only to help repay her for her help during the trio incident, but refused to grant me paid leave. This I accepted gladly, and immediately went home to book a boat ticket to get to Hoenn.

Getting there turned out to be harder than I thought. Slateport was an easy destination, but because of the Championship being so soon, boats to Evergrande were packed to the brim and barely any rooms were left. Begrudgingly, I dropped the cash for a suite aboard the next ship out, as all the regular rooms were gone. We packed our things and the next morning headed out early to Olivine. We made our boat on time and by noon were on our way out of the harbor. The trip took three days as we were working against currents the whole way, and thankfully since it was a Jhoto-built boat, there was plenty of room for large pokemon like Flare. Clara succumbed to motion sickness unfortunately, and spent the entire trip in the room. Flare and I killed time by exploring the ship and talking to the many trainers on deck, but I made sure to check in on Clara often. Eventually boredom got the best of the passengers and trainers did what trainers do. I would have joined in on the fun, but I only had one partner with me which would make battling unfair. Instead, I volunteered to referee most of the matches, a job which I fit in to quite nicely.

The trainers were forced to go easy on each other since there wasn't a dedicated pokemon nurse aboard the ship, but the battles were still interesting. People avoided super effective moves, which added an interesting new twist to the battles, and some pretty surprising strategies were beginning to emerge by the end of the trip. Unfortunately we docked before anything developed that was good enough to make it off the boat strategy-wise. Clara was relieved to be on solid ground, and we set to work getting a hotel room; which had the same problem as getting a boat ticket, only there were far less suites since they were given to those in the tournaments free of charge. I still managed to find a suite that hadn't been snagged yet and bought it out for the duration of the tournament, which all but bottomed out my savings, but right now I didn't care. My next goal was getting ahold of Sarah and finding her, so I pulled out my cell and dialed her.

"Hey Mark, what's up?" Sarah answered. "I'm kinda busy right now, would you mind calling back later?"

"Guess where I am." I said, trying to suppress my giddiness.

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Holy shit Mark, you're here!?" Sarah asked disbelievingly.

"You think we'd miss your moment of glory?" I asked.

We chatted excitedly for a few minutes before realizing we could meet up and do it in person, which we did. We met up at the docks and I saw she had taken to traveling with her partners out. Esper the Espeon, Geld the Typhlosion, and Frost the Glaceon were all out and with her waiting for us. Esper was the first to spot us, hailing us over with a surprisingly high jump. We spent the next hour and a half in a cafe catching up on everything that had happened since she left, no longer limited by phone we had time to share all the details. I filled her in on Ebon and the legendary trio and showed her the scars on my arms. She filled me in on all her gym battles and how her strategies have evolved and grown. Esper seemed particularly pleased to be seeing us again, which was still alien to me. I kept thinking of her as the aloof fox-cat that had helped Clara train as a Kirlia only because Sarah told her to. Esper filled us in privately on their advancement during the night, which Sarah allowed, but still blushed deeply as it was told. Geld and Esper weren't her only regular mates now, Frost and even her Houndoom Shade had joined in, and on the nights when Esper indulged herself, she made sure each of them got a turn with Sarah, sometimes two or three would go at a time. Esper never let the others inside her though, Sarah was the only one allowed to touch her. Dusk approached and we had to part ways for the evening, Sarah told us which stadium she'd be training in tomorrow and to come watch, which we agreed to happily.

We headed back to the suite and Flare claimed the plush couch as his bed for the night while Clara and I headed into the bathroom. We had paid for the suite so we may as well enjoy it, and part of it was a jacuzzi tub in the large bathroom that was built for two. Clara undressed me as she turned the water on. The tub took a while to fill, but when we finally slipped in together the hot water felt amazing. Clara put in some complimentary bath salts that made my skin feel a little tingly while adding and faint citrus scent to the water. We both washed each other and afterwards just soaked, letting the hot water relax our muscles.

Clara nuzzled close to me and I felt her hand dipping into my lap. Knowing her I had a good idea what she wanted, and I could already feel my malehood stiffening in response before she even touched it.

"Someone's eager." Clara whispered in my ear before nibbling on it gently. I smiled and relaxed, letting her have her way with my body. She gently stroked my shaft, bringing it to full mast before sliding her hand lower. I gasped and sighed as I felt her shove two fingers past my sphincter and up against my prostate, milking it expertly. I was moaning within seconds as my shaft throbbed, leaking unseen pre into the bathwater. "How about tonight I be on top." Clara whispered. I looked up at her to see if she was sure, and despite blushing quite a bit, I knew she wanted it.

"I'm all yours love." I said, leaning in to kiss her. She positioned herself in front of me as we made out, and as we broke the kiss I could see she was already hard, her pink member poking out from between the slits in her dress. I slid my butt forward, giving her better access to my hole as she closed what little distance there was between us. I felt her tip prod against me, feeling cool in the hot water before she repositioned herself and pushed against my asshole. Used to taking Flare, it was easy letting her inside me; which caused her to moan surprised as she slid in to her hilt. She definitely wasn't nearly as big as Flare, but she was just the right size to work my prostate. I looked up at her smiling and nodded. She smiled back and began to move back and forth, sliding herself in and out of me. I breathed deeply as she picked up pace and soon was struggling to suppress a moan each time she thrust in, hitting my spot just right. The water in the tub splashed back and forth as we lost ourselves in the act. Clara was soon thrusting into me with everything she had, and I openly moaned as she drilled my prostate in all the right ways. My own member throbbed against my belly, painfully hard as she had her way with me.

"Mark I can't hold out much longer." Clara grunted as she bit her lip.

"Cum for me Clara!" I panted out as my own member twitched involuntarily, spurting cloud after cloud of my own seed into the water. Clara kept pumping into me for a few seconds before locking her hips against mine after thrusting deep inside me. I felt her rod pulsing inside me as a small warmth bloomed there. Clara collapsed into my arms, and I held her close as we both came down from our afterglow.

Clara looked up at my smiling. "I love you Mark." She said.

I smiled back and kissed her. "I love you too Clara." I said. We sat there cuddling together until the water went cold and we were forced to move. We made sure to mop up the copious puddles which had splashed out of the tub in our lovemaking before heading to bed together.

The next few days were only training days, and Sarah was assigned to the seventh arena out of sixteen. She had been assigned her own coach, who had been a top ranking trainer in the Hoenn league before retiring. I remembered thinking Sarah's team was strong last time I saw them, but if that was strong then her current state was at a whole new level. Geld was melting steel dummies for practice now and Esper was crushing bronze ones like soda cans. I considered offering to help spar, but decided against it. The starting ceremonies for the tournament were held early on a Monday morning, and Sarah's bracket was assigned to the eleventh arena. Each bracket would work down to only ten trainers each before they all converged into the first arena for the final bracket. The matches were determined via random draw, all two hundred trainers in arena eleven were in a pool from which two names were drawn. The two would then battle one on one with their registered team of six pokemon; however the bout was decided after three knockouts. Sarah's name wasn't pulled the first day, but we got to watch dozens of powerful trainers duke it out with all sorts of interesting pokemon. I noticed that Sarah's atlatl strategy for Psychic pokemon had been copied by quite a few people. I asked her about it and she said she used it in a televised gym match once and it began spreading after that. I asked her if she would have preferred it a secret and she just shook her head.

"It was gonna get out anyway, besides I can't just hoard strategies. I need to keep making new ones." She explained.

Day two Sarah got pulled and was put up against another first year trainer for the region. Unfortunately for him, it was his first year as a trainer and his opponent was a genius. She swept the match with Esper only, taking down his Sceptile, Mightyena, and Armaldo with ease. By the end of the day, they had finished the first pool and had a new pool set up for the winners of their individual matches. Day three, Sarah got pulled early and was up against a veteran of the league. It was a close match since his pokemon displayed an uncanny knack for dodging nearly everything thrown at them. Sarah had to pull one of her aces to win the battle after Geld went down, and used her telepathy strategy with Esper to make sure they couldn't see what was coming. The match went to Sarah, and the second pool cleared up quickly. They started the third pool, but had to call it a night soon after. Day four saw both the third pool and the fourth pool completed, with Sarah winning relatively easy victories for both. The fifth day saw the last few pools cleared up and Sarah made the top ten, earning a spot in the final tournament. There was another tournament to be held at all the other arenas from the losing pool while the final matches were going on, but seeing as it was a popular event to attend, entry into tho lower tournament was optional.

There was three more days until the other arenas caught up with each final ten, and then once the final one hundred and sixty trainers had been determined, they were given five days to train to adapt to all the new strategies they had seen. Sarah used these days to their fullest. she sparred with her coach from dawn until dusk with Clara standing by to use her new Heal Pulse between bouts. Even in the span of the short time being here, I saw Sarah's pokemon grow significantly stronger. The were giving their all on improving for their master, and she was giving her all to direct them as best she could. The training period went by quickly and we crammed into arena one for the final tournament. Despite being built larger than the other fifteen arenas, it was still packed to the rafters as the tournament started. Sarah got pulled early again, and went up against another veteran in the first pool. To my surprise, he attempted to use the atlatl technique on her with a Xatu. That was all the mistake Sarah needed to win the match. She easily countered his atlatl throw by immediately chaining it into her own throw, adding even more power to the attack. the rest of the battle was easy as that was his ace in the hole to begin with. The rest of the day was filled with amazing matches between the most powerful trainers in the region. I even saw a trainer that had managed to capture a legendary Latios on his team.

The second day of the finals had Sarah pulled late, but she was up against a relative newbie who had gotten there through luck. Though his lucked seemed to serve him well as he still put up a good fight and even had Sarah on the ropes once or twice. Sarah pulled through with her telepathy strategy again, and advanced to the next pool.

Sarah got pulled first when they started the third pool and was up against another year-one prodigy like herself. It was a heated battle; he countered Esper with his Umbreon, and he had a Swampert to counter her Typhlosion, but Sarah pulled through with Frost of all her partners surprisingly. His Blizzard was strong enough to incapacitate his entire team after just a few hits.

Day three of the finals had Sarah pulled first again, and yet another close battle, but she pulled through with Esper again despite Geld and Frost going down. they called it a day early on to leave the final ten trainers for tomorrow. Sarah was ecstatic and could barely believe how far they had made it. She was far enough that she'd be getting prize money regardless of whether or not she won by this point, and when the next day came, she faced her opponent without holding back. Sadly, she didn't make the top five. The crowd all gasped when it happened, Esper leapt into an atlatl Psychic against his Alakazam only to be countered the same way she had beaten her own strategy. Once Esper went down, Flare and Frost fell easy victims to her own atlatl strategy. to my surprise, her opponent crossed the field upon victory and shook her hand. He thanked her for being his opponent and told her he looked forward to seeing where she went next year. Even though Sarah was out of the tournament, she was still smiling. we watched the final few matches which were all very close and the champion was determined. The winner was a regular named Steven who seemed to like steel types. Sarah explained to me that he's the elite four champion, so he naturally would come out on top in the regional finals. We spent another three days after the tournament just hanging out with Sarah before we had to board our ship back to Jhoto. I wished Sarah all my luck in her training as we parted ways.

The trip back was only two days since we had ocean currents working with us rather than against us, but Clara still was resigned to our room from motion sickness. The battling phase began earlier this time since everyone was hyped up from watching so many high level matches. I volunteered to referee again and did a good job at it. They seemed to want to go with tournament rules, so I made sure to call a match after three KOs. We slipped back into our routines easily after we pulled into olivine and went home.

The rest of my internship went by quickly, and I finally had the experience to be a full time officer. To my surprise, I had job offers come in from every point of the globe. It turned out my performance during the trio incident had made headlines in a lot of places and many departments had been keeping an eye on my progress. I had trouble picking which job to accept, I had offers from everywhere: Goldenrod, Saffron, Opelucid, Celadon. I couldn't even remember half the places I could go. Clara suggested I go where I think I'd be most needed, but even then I still couldn't decide. It wasn't until I got a wax-sealed envelope that was missing a return address that I made up my mind. Inside was an application for something called the World Police, which described itself to be a police agency dedicated to stopping crime all over the world.

"Well, that pretty much describes what we're looking for." Clara said, looking the letter over again.

I nodded. "Plus we'll get to travel and see all sorts of places." I said. Clara smiled. "It's decided then, World Police it is." I said grinning. I filled out the application carefully, not wanting to mess this opportunity up. I double and triple checked the application over again before sealing it in the provided envelope and delivering it to Simon.

"Gonna be moving out of town?" Simon asked as he filed the letter.

"I don't think so, the application said we'd be doing a lot of travel, but nothing about having to live somewhere else." I explained.

Simon nodded and smiled. "Would be a shame to lose ya Mark."

I smiled and thanked him as we left. Waiting for a response was painstaking, and one hell of a chore. We were getting at least a dozen letters a day now with offers, and many places were beginning to resend their offers to us. We had a knee-high stack by the door now and were wondering how high it would get before collapsing under its own weight. It wasn't until a couple weeks later that we got our response. another envelope arrived with no return address and a wax seal. I ripped the flap open immediately and pulled out the sheet of paper inside. Flare butted up against me playfully as Clara peeked over my shoulder and read with me.

Mark, Clara, and Flare,

On behalf of the World Police I would like to congratulate you....

It didn't matter where I went or what I did, as long as I had my partners with me.