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As Blaze slowly regained consciousness, he realized how warm he felt. He opened his eyes, blinking to get the blur out of them, and found that Sakura was lying on top of his nude chest, while a blanket of sorts covered his legs and waist, which he could tell were also naked. When he tried to move his left arm to push Sakura off, he found it quite immobile. Sakura felt the movement, and looked him in the eye, worry creasing her features. "Don't move that arm," she said firmly, "It's injured."

"How was it injured? The A.R.M.O.R. protected me from injury," asked Blaze, confused and still groggy.

"Well...,"

Flashback...

Bloom stood next to Blaze, trying to see if he had any injuries, which was proving difficult due to the metal shell he was wearing.

"So do you have any idea how to get this thing off him?" she asked Sakura.

"Just undo the straps and stuff."

"Since he's your mate, would you mind?"

"Sure." Sakura undid the straps and stuff' so the armor could be pulled off, and then she pulled it off with her telekinetic abilities.

Bloom walked over to check for injuries. Ironically, she tripped and instinctively used the naginata to stop herself with the tip, and ended up slicing deep into Blaze's left arm, about half way between the elbow and shoulder, giving him the only wound that was present on his body.

"Ah, shit," said Bloom, once she'd regained her balance, "that ain't good." She quickly used a detachable vine to bandage the wound, and instructed Sakura to take him home.

End flashback...

"I'm gonna have to talk to her about that... and I still have some questions about the Sealers. Do you know where they live?" said Blaze.

"Yeah, they live over on Aedon Mountain in the very center of the island," replied Sakura.

"Is there anything I should know about visiting them?" asked Blaze.

"Just go in through the front door. Other than that, no."

"Ok. You coming?"

"Lead the way."

The two of them left, heading east towards the mountain. When they landed on the south side of it, they found a massive door that was guarded by two statues that looked like fifty-foot tall men in plate armor with horned helmets. As they walked forward, the statues seemed to vibrate, and some dust and shards of stone fell down, but the two of them thought nothing of it. That is, until a pair of giant swords, each of which were as wide as a train car and as long as the statue's leg, slammed down in front of them, cutting off their path.

"None may enter the sacred mountain without defeating the Gatekeepers," said two deep voices in unison so flawless that they almost seemed to be one.

The swords lifted as a gate slammed closed over the entrance, and the Gatekeepers stepped forward, raising his blade. Instantly, Blaze realized what he was going to do and yelled, "Sakura, MOVE!"

As the blade fell, Blaze drew Gouka, angling it above his head so the giant sword glanced off of it and landed a hairsbreadth from his left foot. Although he wasn't sure if he had the energy, he summoned the orange flames to his hands and feet, and jumped up onto the back edge of the blade. Even though it was as sharp as a razor blade, it didn't even scratch the A.R.M.O.R. as he made his way right to the guard, which he simply vaulted by catching it with his hands and shifting his forward momentum to centrifugal force, landing on the other side and continuing without missing a beat as he ran up the golem's arm and jumped at its shoulder, spinning and slamming his heel into the bridge of its nose and sending it flying back into the other golem with a blast of energy. Sakura was able to slow his descent enough that he didn't hurt himself. As he landed and rolled, he staved of the wave of fatigue that threatened to drag him into unconsciousness' sweet and comfortable embrace. He somehow managed to maintain his stance, but he doubted that he could do much else. As the golems regained their feet, the gate opened. When they were about to strike the finishing blow, they were suddenly stopped dead. Blaze wondered why, until they fell to pieces. Literally. They were cut into hundreds of stone slabs by a powerful razor leaf attack. He looked down to see that Blast had a smug look on his face and Bloom standing next to him.

"What are you waiting for? Come in!" Bloom called out. Blaze only took a few steps before his legs gave out and he surrendered, not so willingly, to his fatigue.

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When Blaze next woke, he was in unfamiliar surroundings, and he nearly panicked when he saw a shadow move, but it was only a trick of the light. He stood up and looked around. Seeing a window, he wondered where Sakura had gone. As he gazed out the window, he saw something off in the distance swimming toward the island. It looked like a... "No. it can't be. Is that Gary?" Without pausing to think, Blaze took off, heading for the spot where he expected the gyarados to arrive.

They arrived at almost exactly the same time, and for several minutes they just stared in shock. Then a look of relief flooded the dragon's features, and he said, "Luke... thank Amaterasu you're alright."

Blaze just stood there, wondering what to say. It's not like he could just be blunt and say, "Your master is dead, I'm Blaze." He slapped himself in the face. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah, nice try Luke. How can you be dead if you're standing right in front of me?" said the gyarados, who was clearly on the verge of bursting into laughter. When he looked into Blaze's eyes, however, the laughter in Gary's eyes died abruptly. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Deadly serious," replied Blaze.

Upon hearing this confirmation, a look of incredible grief came to the large pokemon's eyes. Because of his rigid scales, the only things on his face that could really move were his eyes and jaw, so expression was virtually impossible, but the eyes were enough. "He always said this would happen, but I thought he was just being pessimistic," said Gary, "I never thought it would actually happen," his head lowered to the sand, "I have no reason to live now that my master is dead. Please kill me."

Several emotions came to Blaze during Gary's short statement. First was shock that Luke could have known what would happen, then curiosity at how he knew, and finally, cold anger at the final part of the speech. In response to the gyarados' request, he said, "No," so coldly that it would make you shiver in the Sahara desert at high noon. "Your master is dead, and because of that, you would render his sacrifice meaningless? Is that really what Luke would have wanted? He sent you away with the others so you could survive, so you could find another reason to live, not so you could come find his body and have it kill you. So no, I will not kill you."

Blaze's reply dumbfounded the pokemon. It took a few minutes for him to gather himself enough to reply. When he did, he spluttered, "How do you know about that? I thought you said all of Luke's memories were gone!" as he raised his head to look Blaze as close to in the eye as possible with the size difference.

"I never said all his memories were gone. I said few remain, and that happens to be one of them," Blaze replied, with slightly more warmth.

Now that the Gyarados was at eye level, Blaze noticed something in between his eyes. It looked like an orb with a white bottom half, a black top half with two red stripes that came down to the red ring around the middle of the orb, which had a button in the center. Curiosity got the better of him, and he asked, "What's that," as he indicated the orb.

"What's what? Oh, you mean my ball? Well it's a custom-made Ultra Ball that Luke got for me. It's far more comfortable than your standard ball, that's for sure. I found it on the ocean floor where we were ambushed," a pause, "Here, take it and put it on the saya. You may not be Luke, but I would be honored if you would be my trainer." He lowered farther his head as he said this.

When he didn't take it, the Gyarados looked at Blaze askance, and Blaze said, "Luke was the trainer, not me. I don't have any pokemon, and I never will. I will be your friend, but I will not be your superior."

At his speech, Gary chuckled lightly, saying, "You may not be Luke, but the two of you are the same, whether you realize it or not."

Eager to change the subject, Blaze asked, "So...where are the others? There were several others with you when you fled, correct?"

"They're with Professor Oak, safe and sound, so don't worry."

"Oh, ok...," Blaze had no idea who this 'professor Oak' was but he sounded competent, if Gary's voice was any indication.

Suddenly, they heard a rustling behind them as something came out of the forest. They both rapidly turned to face the disturbance, Blaze drawing Gouka, and Gary readying a hyper beam, only to see Sakura come out of the undergrowth. When Blaze realized who it was, he lowered his blade, but Gary, having never seen her before, didn't see Blaze lower his blade until it was too late. The hyper beam fired, heading right for Sakura, and Blaze reacted on instinct. He summoned the amethyst flames to his hands and feet, and shot off faster than the eye could follow, stopping right in front of Sakura, with the blade raised above his head. Just as the hyper beam was about to hit him, he brought the blade down, yelling out, "Gouka, Kiriorosu!" as he brought it down, an arch of the purple flame trailing from the tip of the blade, meeting the attack head on and blasting it back at an angle, so it just barely missed Gary.

Blaze landed on the ground with a thud as he sheathed Gouka, to find that both Sakura and Gary were staring at him. "But you... but there...but...nya-haaaa?" they said in unison, both with the same shocked expression and tone. Then they looked at each other and almost burst out laughing, settling instead for quiet chuckling, at least for Gary. Sakura, on the other hand, would have fallen over backwards from sheer laughter if she wasn't levitating.

When their laughter subsided, Gary looked at Sakura and said, "I don't know what your relationship is, but any friend of his, is a friend of mine."

"Oh, well our relationship is no secret," said Sakura, "We're mates."

This, surprisingly, stunned the dragon as effectively as a thunder wave attack. "Mates?" he said, as if confused. He looked back and forth between the two of them for a few seconds before he finally registered what he had been told. Then a smile appeared in his eyes in a way it couldn't on his face. He regarded Blaze for a second, before saying, "So you found someone special, eh? You're luckier than you realize. So what's your name?" this last bit was said to Sakura.

"Sakura."

Gary looked at Blaze strangely. "Did you pick that?" he asked.

"Yes and no. I suggested it, she agreed," replied Blaze simply, a bit embarrassed by Sakura's blunt way of saying that they were mates.

"Well it fits. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Sakura-chan."

"Why did you call me 'chan'?" asked Sakura, upon hearing the honorific.

"Not chan; san." Said Blaze sharply, "She is the same age as you, Gary-kun."

At the honorific, Gary looked like his best friend had just slapped him. In a pained voice, he asked, "Why? What did I do?"

"You disrespected Sakura, and therefore, you disrespected me. See that it doesn't happen again," answered Blaze.

"My apologies," said Gary, "and I know you don't like the idea, but I would like to accompany you wherever you may go."

"I never said I have a problem with you joining me."

"But you said that-,"

"I won't be your trainer. I never said that I won't let you come with me as a friend."

For no apparent reason, Gary blushed. "Oh. Well in that case, we can talk later. It's getting late, and I'm exhausted. If it's alright with you, I'd like to be recalled so I can sleep."

Blaze sighed. The gyarados simply would not give up, and he knew that, although the blush was mystifying. With another sigh, he pulled the ball off Gary's head and pressed the recall button. Instantly, a beam of red energy shot out and engulfed the pokemon, breaking him down into light particles and sucking them into the ball. Then he clipped the orb onto a slot at the waistline of the A.R.M.O.R., before turning to Sakura. "So what now?" he asked Sakura, "Since I got here, it's been one thing after another; first the beach, then you, then that gang, the tournament, the battle, and now this. What's gonna happen next?"

"Well, I suppose we go home and... relax," said Sakura, slyly.

Not noticing her tone, and despite the fact that he seemed surprised by the idea, Blaze nodded and said, "I suppose we do." Then they took off, heading for the den through the cool night air.

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When they arrived at the den, Blaze removed the A.R.M.O.R. and crawled into bed. For about a minute, he just stared at the ceiling far above him, contemplating what Gary had told him. After that minute, he was distracted by a slight chill running over his naked form. "Wait a second. Didn't I have my clothes on when I got into bed?" he thought, looking down at his now-nude body, and the small pink cat that was grinding her hips against his with a cute, innocent look on her face.

NOW he realized why Gary had blushed and asked to go to sleep. Typical Sakura. She must have sent him an image or something like that to tell him to hurry up.

As soon as thoughts of pushing her off and telling her he wasn't in the mood came into his head, his limbs flew back against the bed as if on ziplines propelled by rockets, and he found that they were bound to the bed by some force. When he looked, his wrists and ankles were surrounded by rings of golden light.

And worst of all: he was enjoying it.

At first, he panicked and struggled, but to no avail. The restraints didn't even respond to physical resistance, and when he realized this he forced himself to calm down. When he relaxed, Sakura smiled evilly. Thanks to her psychic abilities, she'd had a hunch that he'd enjoy this. Blaze saw the smile. "You had this all planed, didn't you?" he asked with mock anger. Now that he'd calmed down, he'd realized that she had left a weak point in the restraints that he could easily break if he just used his abilities. But for now, he just decided to relax and let things happen as they come. When she saw that Blaze had calmed down, Sakura giggled cutely. "I see you're not quite as naive as you seem," she said, in a playful voice. All this time, Sakura had been grinding her hips against Blaze's, and now he was particularly aware of his painfully hard member, which was sandwiched between their bellies. And although it felt nice having Sakura's fur running over the length, they both wanted more, and they both realized as much when they noticed the steel-hard shaft that was throbbing between them. So without further ado, Sakura maneuvered herself so her entrance was positioned above the throbbing shaft, and plunged down giving a moan of satisfaction as it hilted in her. She then lay down on his chest, and began humping as fast as she could manage, moaning almost constantly. Blaze was in too much bliss to be surprised by her ferocity, moaning along with Sakura. They hadn't been at it for two minutes when Blaze began to feel orgasm approach.

"Sakura -Ngh- I'm not sure how long I can hold it," Blaze said between moans.

"Well you'd better, because I'm not slowing down," replied Sakura. Blaze did his best, but it wasn't long before he was about to lose it again, and he made the mistake of vocalizing it. Realizing that she was still nowhere near done, Sakura did the only thing she could think of, and apologized to him mentally before sinking her teeth into Blaze's shoulder, penetrating about three millimeters. Blaze cried out in pain and shock, his mind leaving orgasm and going to the new sensation: pain. Sakura removed her teeth from Blaze's flesh, hating the taste in her mouth.

Another few minutes later, and both of them could feel their peaks approaching. This time, Sakura came first; her sex tightening around Blaze's cock, causing him to lose it and his seed in warm, sticky ropes inside of the little pokemon, and the wonderful sensation sent her even further into bliss. They both collapsed, panting in the afterglow, and quickly fell asleep.

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Blaze woke with a sore shoulder the next morning. For the most part, it'd healed up quickly, and was just a fifth of the depth it had been. He looked down at Sakura to find her looking up at him, regret in her eyes, but neither of them said anything as they got up and Blaze got dressed. No sooner had Blaze put on the last bit of his A.R.M.O.R. than Bloom, Blast, and Blare charged into the room. In response to their puzzled looks, Bloom said, "Shaitn's reacting to a new presence that just appeared, and is trying to break free of the seal. We need to try to maintain the seal while you get rid of whatever is causing the disturbance. Don't ask, there's no time, just GO!" Blaze and Sakura flew through the window as quickly as possible.

Almost as soon as they were out, Blaze saw something out of the corner of his eye, and spun to face it. At first, it looked like a tall mew, standing about six and a half feet tall, but instead of pink, it was grey, with the exception of its tail and groin, which were purple. The instant their eyes met, even over the vast expanse of space between them, Blaze could feel the absolute hatred in its eyes.

Without warning, the creature vanished, only to rematerialize a few feet in front of him. It raised a three-digit hand and Sakura cried out behind him. He spun around to see that she was encased in a sphere of blue energy. "LET HER GO!!!" he roared, drawing Gouka and summoning the flame to his feet, making it seem that he was walking on air, and ran forward, slashing at the creature, who vanished again, reappearing behind him and firing a blast of energy at him. Blaze attempted to spin around and block the blow, but was too slow. He took the full force of the blast, and fell.

"BLAZE!!!" Sakura screamed his name as he fell to the ground far below, but he was gone long before he hit. He wasn't dead, but rather, he was in some sort of trance.

Blaze stood up and looked around. He appeared to be in a dojo of some sort. He turned to look around, and found Luke standing there. "You need more power," was all he said, but it was all he needed to.

Back in reality...

"BLAZE!" Sakura screamed as the newcomer laughed maniacally, tears leaking from her eyes.

The maniacal laughter was interrupted by a voice from below. Blaze's voice called out to them, saying "Fushichou no Hado: GOUKA TAIHOU!" a stream of amethyst fire shot up from the ground, nailing the creature in the chest, knocking him back. Then, "Fushichou no Gouka Tsubasa!" and Blaze shot up, a pair of giant wings of amethyst flame sprouting from his back, and he rammed into the newcomer.

When he'd regained his balance, the newcomer looked at Blaze and said, "Am I supposed to be scared?"

"No, you're supposed to die."

"You can't defeat me."

"Let's let destiny decide that, shall we?" Blaze charged the creature, and swung his blade. He was actually surprised when he felt it sink into the flesh of the creature's shoulder.

There was an explosion from behind him, and the creature smirked despite the pain and said, "I am Mewtwo. Remember my name, human, as you will soon learn to fear it." and just like that, he vanished. Blaze turned around just in time to see a black dragon disappearing from sight above the ruins of Sakura's mountain, and three orbs of light, one red, one yellow, and one silver scatter in different directions. Then he felt Sakura latch onto him, and he was standing in the middle of what had been their room. They saw a movement over in what used to be the corner, and ran over to find Sakura's mother, uninjured, lying in said spot. She gestured for them to come closer, and when they touched her, the world went black.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End Notes:So yeah, comment and shtuff, so i can get better. also, if you dont know what the japanese words mean, just ask, and i'll tell you. although i might end up transliterating as opposed to translating it, or it can get confusing