Story Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon
Chapter 28
Kazamaru wakes up early into the afternoon and lets out a loud yawn before lightly kissing his sleeping girlfriend. Scarlet stirs slightly and gives him a loving smile,
"Morning." Kaza smiles,
"Morning. Hey, I've been thinking. Could we like..." He makes a motion with his hands, "You know..." Scarlet giggles as she lays a hand on his cheek,
"How old are you Kaza?" Kaza blinks,
"Seventeen...?"
"Well you see; as much as I'd love to do that. Since you're underage it would be classified as statutory rape..." Kaza grins,
"It's not rape if the victim is willing." Scarlet smiles and gives him a light kiss,
"Tell you what. When it's your birthday I'll rock your world. How does that sound?" Kaza grins,
"I can wait a couple months."
"Good boy. Now let's go; everyone else is probably already up by now."
Meanwhile in an unknown location Mars and Jupiter stand in front of their boss, Cyrus, who sits behind his desk with his hand folded covering his mouth from view,
"Status report on the targets." Mars bows,
"Sir, one of our grunts witnessed a battle between the Lucario child and the legendary Pokemon known as Deoxys."
"And...?"
"The Lucario prevailed. Apparently he is equal in power to or greater then that of the Frosslass or the Mismagius." Cyrus looks intrigued,
"I see... your targets are to remain the Frosslass and the Mismagius but keep an eye on the Lucario. We will not engage them until we have full control over Dialga and Palkia." Jupiter shakes her head,
"But sir... our sources tell us that all three are currently in the same place. We could easily..." Cyrus slams his fist onto the desk,
"SILENCE!! We can not afford a second failure so you will do as I say." Mars looks unsure,
"Sir... the strongest of their group is to return today. This may be our only chance." Cyrus simply shakes his head,
"He will be no obstacle once we fully control Dialga and Palkia. We will wait. Return to your posts and await further instruction. And also, fill in Saturn on what we just talked about." The two ladies bow before exiting the room. Cyrus turns around in his chair facing the wall, "Only a few days... If only he would have succeeded his first try then we would have already gotten enough power for project 494. And if things went according to plan with the other project then that'll be one less thing I'll have to deal with later."
Back in the Pokemon center Kaza and Scarlet walk down the stairs and meet up with Vecransyh and the rest of the group in the lobby. Stratos looks around when he sees the other two,
"So... where's daddy?" Kaza smiles,
"I sent word to where he was yesterday to meet up with us in Pastoria city, that way we'll meet up with him in time for the next badge." Xylina yawns,
"So... who's the next leader?" Scarlet looks through a Sinnoh travel guide,
"Umm... he's a water gym leader and his name is Crasher Wake" Vecransyh grins,
"Gengar, Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, badge. Simple." Yakira looks at him with an odd look,
"Good luck with that." Vec looks at her,
"What?"
"Thunder will work on two of them. I'll say no more. I want it to be a surprise."
"Uhh... okay?" A little while later the group heads back to Veilstone gym and Maylene begins explaining how her Pokemon have the strange ability to hit ghost types,
"Well, it's my brother. He's been training fighting type Pokemon for almost his entire life and that's all he trains. He can be a little misunderstanding at times but he's a good guy at heart. He's even strengthened his own body in the ways of each of his six Pokemon so that he can spar with them at full power. He's not someone you want to make mad." Vecransyh tilts his head,
"So... where is he?" Maylene shrugs,
"After he burned down his gym he went into the mountains to train for four years. It's been a long time since I've seen or spoken to him but my best guess is that he's still roaming around the region somewhere. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet him someday. Oh, he always wears the same outfit... well, most of the time anyway. He wears a hood that doesn't do a good job of hiding his face and he doesn't often wear a shirt. His pants I believe are either black or blue." Vecransyh thinks to himself,
(It couldn't be...) Maylene smiles lightly,
"And his name is Crowe. Tell him his sister says hi if you ever see him." Everyone says goodbye to Maylene and after some minor preparations and restocking on food the group heads south of the city and through a small building before setting off down route 214 towards Pastoria city.
After walking for a few hours Vec looks over to his left when he feels a strange beckoning presence from a dark path leading into the forest. Suddenly a voice pulses in Vecransyh's mind,
(Vecransyh...) Vecransyh looks around quickly and Yakira gives him an odd look,
"You okay?" Vecransyh still looks around for a moment,
"Did you guys hear something?" Everyone shakes their head and Kazamaru responds to him,
"Maybe you're hearing things?" Vecransyh looks around again and shrugs before letting out a sigh,
"I guess so... Let's keep going. That path over there gives me an odd feeling." Yakira looks over to her left to see what Vecransyh is talking about and cringes slightly,
"Yeah... let's keep going." Vecransyh jumps when he hears the voice again,
(VECRANSYH!!!) He looks back at the path as he and the rest of the group continues walking,
(That voice... it's so familiar... but... something's telling me to stay away.) Kazamaru suddenly freezes and Scarlet runs into him. She backs up a few steps before looking ahead of Kaza,
"What's up...? Oh." Everyone else looks to where they are looking and a familiar, happy voice speaks,
"Sup guys? How've ya been?" Xylina blinks,
"NEO?!?!" Stratos clings to the back of Vecransyh's leg unsure of whether or not to trust the black robed figure,
"Who's Neo uncle Vecransyh?" Vecransyh pats Stratos on the head,
"Don't worry. He's an old friend from the Pokemon league." Neo, as always, is cloaked completely covering his entire body from being seen at all and, as always, is accompanied by Allie, Blizzard, Asia, and K.C. Stratos walks up to him and looks up into the dark hood. Neo looks down at the little infant,
"So... when did you guys get a Lucario?" Stratos grins,
"I'm Stratos! Drake is my daddy and Latias is my mommy!" Neo thinks for a moment with a baffled expression,
(Human + Latias = Lucario?) Xylina giggles,
"Drake and Latias found him as an egg and when he hatched they're the first boy and girl he saw making them his parents to him." Neo nods,
"Ah. That makes sense. So how many badges you guys have so far?" Kaza grins,
"Four. We're on our way to battle Crasher Wake in a little while." Neo grins under his hood,
"Sweet, sweet, just thought I'd check up on you guys..." Stratos interrupts him,
"Hey! I wanna battle you!" Neo stops and looks down,
"Umm..." Allie giggles,
"Come on Neo. None of us have had a good fight in a while." Neo sighs,
"Fine. Which one of you guys will it be? Assuming it's alright with you guys." Neo turns towards the group when he says this. Vecransyh shrugs with a grin,
"Just no flash freezing the little guy." Neo sighs,
"Yeah I know..." Neo turns back around, "So... who wants to fight the little guy?" The five get into a huddle and start discussing as Yakira floats over to Vecransyh,
"So... who is that guy?"
"Well, we met him in the Pokemon league back in Kanto. Me and him fought in the final round and... anyway. He ended up winning." Yakira gives him a suspicious gaze,
"Did something happen?" Xylina sighs,
"You want me to tell her?" Vec nods,
"Yeah, go ahead." Xylina turns to face Yakira,
"Well, Neo has this sort of... dark side. And it came out during the battle between him and Vec. Long story short Vecransyh took an incredible powerful attack to save me from a certain death. He almost didn't make it..." Xylina looks down and Yakira looks back and forth between the two,
"Y-you mean he... Neo... Neo almost killed him?!" Yakira's expression turns to one of anger and Vecransyh lays a hand on her cheek making all of her feelings melt away,
"He wasn't himself. I'm fine and it's not going to happen again. Neo's a good guy. Trust me." Yakira sighs and kisses him lightly,
"Okay... but I'm stepping in if something happens." Neo turns around and Allie steps out in front of him,
"I'm the one who's gonna be fighting." Stratos nods,
"Alright Ms... I'm sorry, what's your name?" Allie smiles,
"I'm Allie." She points to her siblings, "That's Blizzard, that's Asia and that's K.C." Stratos bows,
"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Allie."
"My, you're quite the little gentlemen. I promise to go easy on you." Stratos shakes his head frantically,
"Nuh uh! I wanna battle you for reals!" Allie blinks,
"But..." Stratos looks up at her with puppy dog eyes and a sad expression,
"Please? I train every day..." Allie nods,
"Aww... I can't resist that face. Alright then. I hope you're as strong as you think you are." A few moments pass as Stratos walks to his side of the field and he turns towards Allie with a bow,
"Don't hold back." Allie smiles and begins focusing her energy. Electricity sparks from her body and a chest spike emerges from her fur,
"You got it." Neo grins,
"Begin!" Allie runs towards Stratos with her paw covered in electricity and throws a punch but Stratos jumps and lands on her arm kicking her in the faces and sending her a little ways into the air before coming down with a thud,
"Come on!! You can't hold back!" Allie stands up and shakes her head,
(Kid's got speed. If he wants me to go all out on him then I guess I should.) Allie looks up at Stratos and smiles as electricity forms over her body in a thin armor. She rushes at him and Stratos ducks to the side to avoid a Thunderpunch. Allie spins to the side landing a kick in his gut making him stagger back with a grin on his face,
"There ya go! Now let's make this a good battle." Allie punches at him again and Stratos ducks away before upper-cutting her into the air and jumping above her before turning and bringing his heel down to her stomach but Allie disappears and stands on the ground looking up at him before jumping into the air and punching him in the gut with a Thunderpunch knocking the wind out of him and Allie continues to climb higher into the sky with a chain of strikes. Stratos grins as he repeatedly parries each blow and blocks a punch leaving Allie open before he throws and aura sphere into her torso. The two then begin to fall and Stratos lands on his feet lightly before running forward and catching Allie in his arms. Allie has her eyes closed awaiting the imminent impact but after nothing happens she opens her eyes and looks up into the face of Stratos who is smiling brightly, "I win." Allie lets out a deep sigh and stands up before patting him on the head,
"You caught me off guard. You're strong little guy." Stratos takes her hand in his and looks up at her while Allie radiates in a blue glow. After it fades Allie blinks, "Wha... I'm healed?" Stratos giggles,
"Course! Mr. Deoxys gave me a little bit of his powers." Neo walks over to Stratos and leans down and the two look into each other's eyes,
"I see... you are much stronger then you look. You also have great potential to become even stronger." Stratos grins,
"Thanks Mr. Neo!" Allie walks over to Blizzard and lets out a sigh,
"He was to fast for me." Blizzard grins,
"You don't have as much battle experience as me or K.C. I could probably beat him." Stratos yells over to them,
"Then come on!! I'm still ready to fight!!" Blizzard blinks and looks over at the small Lucario,
"Really?" Stratos nods,
"Yup! Come on!!" After a little while Stratos stands across from Blizzard. Vecransyh leans over to Yakira,
"He's the one with Flash Freeze." Yakira nods,
"Okay. I'm already charged for sheer cold if I have to step in." Vecransyh smiles,
"Don't worry about it. Neo acted completely different when he was his other self and he had this weird black aura around him." Yakira looks at him while glowing a light blue,
"I'm not so quick to trust people who almost killed you." Vecransyh smiles,
"I know. In time." Blizzard stretches his arms as he looks at Stratos,
"You sure you want to do this kid?" Stratos gives a happy smile,
"Yup! And no holding back!" Blizzard nods as he glows lightly growing his chest spike,
"You got it." Blizzard looks over to Vecransyh, "No flash freeze." Vec nods and Neo grins wanting to see more then anyone just how strong this baby Lucario is,
"Begin!" Blizzard plants his feet before bursting forward and upper-cutting Stratos into the air and releases a barrage of punches and kicks making him fly higher into the air. Stratos begins to see the pattern of his fighting style and begins parrying the blows before he finally releases an aura sphere towards Blizzard. The Lucario uses Stratos to avoid the attack and grabs his arm swinging him around and throwing him back towards the ground. Stratos lands firing a burst of psychic energy into the ground to stop himself and he looks up at Blizzard before throwing his paws out in front of him and releasing a sacred fire. Blizzard stares wide-eyed before he releases a blast of ice that begins pushing against the pillar of flames until both attacks disperse and Blizzard lands on the ground in his fighting pose before he and Stratos rush at each other and begin parrying and striking each other. Blizzard sweeps his leg under Stratos causing him to lose balance and then he brings his elbow into his gut. Stratos hits the ground with a loud thud before he throws an aura sphere up at Blizzard catching him in the face and making him leap back in pain before he shakes off the attack and rushes at him with ice covering both of his fists. He punches at Stratos who dodges to the side throwing a kick into his side. Blizzard recovers by spinning into the kick and punches Stratos in the face. Stratos catches himself as he gets knocked backwards on his hands and he performs a back flip before landing on his feet looking fairly winded. Blizzard smirks,
"You wanna quit?" Stratos grins,
"Never quit! When the going gets tough the tough kick butt!" Stratos rushes him and spins to the side avoiding a punch and throws an aura sphere into Blizzard's back. Blizzard catches himself and back flips over Stratos before throwing a punch into his back. Blizzard slides around him to his front and uppercuts him sending him into the air and leaps up before spinning in the air and bringing his heel into Stratos' stomach. Stratos hits the ground with a thud and looks up weakly at Blizzard who lands in front of him, "I lost. You're really strong!" Stratos performs recover on himself and Blizzard grins helping him to his feet,
"You're really freakin' strong dude. If we were enemies I might be in trouble!" Stratos giggles,
"Yup! I'm super strong!" After a few minutes Neo and the four Lucario are standing in front of the group and Neo blinks as he looks at Yakira,
"You have hatred in your eyes." Yakira says nothing and simply looks away from him. Neo gives her an odd look but then shrugs, "Alright guys. Wasn't expecting such greats battles but I really must be going. I'll come back and chill with you guys again sometime in the future though." Stratos tugs at Neo's cloak,
"Mr. Neo? Can we see your face?" Neo is silent for a minute,
"Next time. Okay?" Stratos nods and giggles as Neo pats him on the head,
"Okay Mr. Neo!" Neo nods at the rest of the group,
"Till next time. Bye guys." With that Neo and the four Lucario walk towards Veilstone and disappear over the horizon.
A few hours pass before the group finds their way to a huge resort area and Kaza looks around with a whistle,
"Man! This is fancy!! Place here must be like a mil a night!" A girl approaches them looking sadly around,
"Excuse me... have you seen a key anywhere?" Everyone shakes their head and the girl looks down sadly, "Fantastic... it's almost night time and I can't get into my suite." Stratos suddenly runs away towards a larger building. Xylina raises an eyebrow,
"Where's he going?" Before anyone can answer Stratos reappears holding a key in his hand and he hands it to the girl who blinks,
"You sure this is mine?" Stratos shrugs,
"Found it on the ground." The girl walks to her door and opens it with the key before letting out a happy squeal and running over to Stratos hugging him tightly,
"YAY!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!" Stratos, unable to breath manages to get out,
"I can't breathe!!" The girl lets him go,
"Sorry... I've been trapped outside for four days." Stratos bows,
"No problem. We must be going now though." The girl smiles and waves at the group as they continue down the road.
After another hour of walking the group heads through a small building and find themselves in Pastoria city. They check into the Pokemon center and all head outside to wait for Drake and Latias to return. Twenty minutes later Stratos lets out a happy squeal as Latias appears accompanied by three very powerful looking trainers. Latias has a neutral expression on her face as she approaches them. Stratos looks around curiously,
"Mommy? Where's Daddy?" Latias is silent for a moment,
"He has some things to take care of. But he'll be back in a while..." Everyone sees the look on her face as she bends down to Stratos and embraces him tightly. After a moment she stands back up and looks at Xylina,
"Xylina, could you take him into the Pokemon center for a little bit?" Stratos gives her an odd look,
"Why Mommy?" Latias gives him a forced smile,
"I just need to talk to the others for a little bit..." Xylina does as instructed and takes Stratos into the Pokemon center. There is a long awkward silence before Vecransyh finally breaks it,
"Latias...? Where is Drake?" His gaze falls upon her hand holding his hat and he looks up at her with a stunned gaze, "What happened to him!?" Latias breaks down falling to her knees crying and no one says anything for a long time. One of the trainers behind her walks forward after about five minutes and he looks sadly at the group,
"We were... all assigned to take down a Pokemon that was threatening the people of the island far north of here. Everything was going fine until... Heatran... he caused a cave in and..." The trainer looks down to the side, "I'm sorry... your friend... Drake... Drake is dead." Everyone is silent in complete shock and horror at the news that their close friend had met his end. Vecransyh chokes back tears as he looks angrily at the trainer,
"That's a lie!! He's alive!!!" The trainer holds up a belt with five pokeballs and many badges on it including the three ultima badges,
"His Pokemon are." After many minutes of silent grieving Latias stands up and walks into the Pokemon center retrieving Stratos. After Latias and Stratos return Latias kneels down and tightly embraces her son for a few minutes while silently crying. Stratos simply embraces her not knowing what had happened and after a long embrace Latias finally pulls away from him and smiles softly,
"Your daddy wanted you to hold onto this for him until he gets back." Latias lifts Drake's hat and places it onto Stratos' head and the little Lucario looks up at his mother,
"Daddy...?" After a while the three trainers give Latias the belt and leave. Latias looks down at Stratos, who has adjusted the hat to fit his head perfectly,
"And he also said that he wants you to continue for him and get the rest of the badges from Sinnoh." Stratos looks up at her before taking the belt from her and attaching it around his waist,
"How do I look?" Latias smiles,
"You look great." Latias then embraces him tightly.
It takes a long time for anyone to get to sleep at night but around three A.M. each of the group finally drifts off to sleep. Meanwhile in an unknown location Cyrus watches and rewatches the telling of Drake's demise from one of his cameras with a satisfied grin on his face.
"Morning." Kaza smiles,
"Morning. Hey, I've been thinking. Could we like..." He makes a motion with his hands, "You know..." Scarlet giggles as she lays a hand on his cheek,
"How old are you Kaza?" Kaza blinks,
"Seventeen...?"
"Well you see; as much as I'd love to do that. Since you're underage it would be classified as statutory rape..." Kaza grins,
"It's not rape if the victim is willing." Scarlet smiles and gives him a light kiss,
"Tell you what. When it's your birthday I'll rock your world. How does that sound?" Kaza grins,
"I can wait a couple months."
"Good boy. Now let's go; everyone else is probably already up by now."
Meanwhile in an unknown location Mars and Jupiter stand in front of their boss, Cyrus, who sits behind his desk with his hand folded covering his mouth from view,
"Status report on the targets." Mars bows,
"Sir, one of our grunts witnessed a battle between the Lucario child and the legendary Pokemon known as Deoxys."
"And...?"
"The Lucario prevailed. Apparently he is equal in power to or greater then that of the Frosslass or the Mismagius." Cyrus looks intrigued,
"I see... your targets are to remain the Frosslass and the Mismagius but keep an eye on the Lucario. We will not engage them until we have full control over Dialga and Palkia." Jupiter shakes her head,
"But sir... our sources tell us that all three are currently in the same place. We could easily..." Cyrus slams his fist onto the desk,
"SILENCE!! We can not afford a second failure so you will do as I say." Mars looks unsure,
"Sir... the strongest of their group is to return today. This may be our only chance." Cyrus simply shakes his head,
"He will be no obstacle once we fully control Dialga and Palkia. We will wait. Return to your posts and await further instruction. And also, fill in Saturn on what we just talked about." The two ladies bow before exiting the room. Cyrus turns around in his chair facing the wall, "Only a few days... If only he would have succeeded his first try then we would have already gotten enough power for project 494. And if things went according to plan with the other project then that'll be one less thing I'll have to deal with later."
Back in the Pokemon center Kaza and Scarlet walk down the stairs and meet up with Vecransyh and the rest of the group in the lobby. Stratos looks around when he sees the other two,
"So... where's daddy?" Kaza smiles,
"I sent word to where he was yesterday to meet up with us in Pastoria city, that way we'll meet up with him in time for the next badge." Xylina yawns,
"So... who's the next leader?" Scarlet looks through a Sinnoh travel guide,
"Umm... he's a water gym leader and his name is Crasher Wake" Vecransyh grins,
"Gengar, Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, badge. Simple." Yakira looks at him with an odd look,
"Good luck with that." Vec looks at her,
"What?"
"Thunder will work on two of them. I'll say no more. I want it to be a surprise."
"Uhh... okay?" A little while later the group heads back to Veilstone gym and Maylene begins explaining how her Pokemon have the strange ability to hit ghost types,
"Well, it's my brother. He's been training fighting type Pokemon for almost his entire life and that's all he trains. He can be a little misunderstanding at times but he's a good guy at heart. He's even strengthened his own body in the ways of each of his six Pokemon so that he can spar with them at full power. He's not someone you want to make mad." Vecransyh tilts his head,
"So... where is he?" Maylene shrugs,
"After he burned down his gym he went into the mountains to train for four years. It's been a long time since I've seen or spoken to him but my best guess is that he's still roaming around the region somewhere. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet him someday. Oh, he always wears the same outfit... well, most of the time anyway. He wears a hood that doesn't do a good job of hiding his face and he doesn't often wear a shirt. His pants I believe are either black or blue." Vecransyh thinks to himself,
(It couldn't be...) Maylene smiles lightly,
"And his name is Crowe. Tell him his sister says hi if you ever see him." Everyone says goodbye to Maylene and after some minor preparations and restocking on food the group heads south of the city and through a small building before setting off down route 214 towards Pastoria city.
After walking for a few hours Vec looks over to his left when he feels a strange beckoning presence from a dark path leading into the forest. Suddenly a voice pulses in Vecransyh's mind,
(Vecransyh...) Vecransyh looks around quickly and Yakira gives him an odd look,
"You okay?" Vecransyh still looks around for a moment,
"Did you guys hear something?" Everyone shakes their head and Kazamaru responds to him,
"Maybe you're hearing things?" Vecransyh looks around again and shrugs before letting out a sigh,
"I guess so... Let's keep going. That path over there gives me an odd feeling." Yakira looks over to her left to see what Vecransyh is talking about and cringes slightly,
"Yeah... let's keep going." Vecransyh jumps when he hears the voice again,
(VECRANSYH!!!) He looks back at the path as he and the rest of the group continues walking,
(That voice... it's so familiar... but... something's telling me to stay away.) Kazamaru suddenly freezes and Scarlet runs into him. She backs up a few steps before looking ahead of Kaza,
"What's up...? Oh." Everyone else looks to where they are looking and a familiar, happy voice speaks,
"Sup guys? How've ya been?" Xylina blinks,
"NEO?!?!" Stratos clings to the back of Vecransyh's leg unsure of whether or not to trust the black robed figure,
"Who's Neo uncle Vecransyh?" Vecransyh pats Stratos on the head,
"Don't worry. He's an old friend from the Pokemon league." Neo, as always, is cloaked completely covering his entire body from being seen at all and, as always, is accompanied by Allie, Blizzard, Asia, and K.C. Stratos walks up to him and looks up into the dark hood. Neo looks down at the little infant,
"So... when did you guys get a Lucario?" Stratos grins,
"I'm Stratos! Drake is my daddy and Latias is my mommy!" Neo thinks for a moment with a baffled expression,
(Human + Latias = Lucario?) Xylina giggles,
"Drake and Latias found him as an egg and when he hatched they're the first boy and girl he saw making them his parents to him." Neo nods,
"Ah. That makes sense. So how many badges you guys have so far?" Kaza grins,
"Four. We're on our way to battle Crasher Wake in a little while." Neo grins under his hood,
"Sweet, sweet, just thought I'd check up on you guys..." Stratos interrupts him,
"Hey! I wanna battle you!" Neo stops and looks down,
"Umm..." Allie giggles,
"Come on Neo. None of us have had a good fight in a while." Neo sighs,
"Fine. Which one of you guys will it be? Assuming it's alright with you guys." Neo turns towards the group when he says this. Vecransyh shrugs with a grin,
"Just no flash freezing the little guy." Neo sighs,
"Yeah I know..." Neo turns back around, "So... who wants to fight the little guy?" The five get into a huddle and start discussing as Yakira floats over to Vecransyh,
"So... who is that guy?"
"Well, we met him in the Pokemon league back in Kanto. Me and him fought in the final round and... anyway. He ended up winning." Yakira gives him a suspicious gaze,
"Did something happen?" Xylina sighs,
"You want me to tell her?" Vec nods,
"Yeah, go ahead." Xylina turns to face Yakira,
"Well, Neo has this sort of... dark side. And it came out during the battle between him and Vec. Long story short Vecransyh took an incredible powerful attack to save me from a certain death. He almost didn't make it..." Xylina looks down and Yakira looks back and forth between the two,
"Y-you mean he... Neo... Neo almost killed him?!" Yakira's expression turns to one of anger and Vecransyh lays a hand on her cheek making all of her feelings melt away,
"He wasn't himself. I'm fine and it's not going to happen again. Neo's a good guy. Trust me." Yakira sighs and kisses him lightly,
"Okay... but I'm stepping in if something happens." Neo turns around and Allie steps out in front of him,
"I'm the one who's gonna be fighting." Stratos nods,
"Alright Ms... I'm sorry, what's your name?" Allie smiles,
"I'm Allie." She points to her siblings, "That's Blizzard, that's Asia and that's K.C." Stratos bows,
"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Allie."
"My, you're quite the little gentlemen. I promise to go easy on you." Stratos shakes his head frantically,
"Nuh uh! I wanna battle you for reals!" Allie blinks,
"But..." Stratos looks up at her with puppy dog eyes and a sad expression,
"Please? I train every day..." Allie nods,
"Aww... I can't resist that face. Alright then. I hope you're as strong as you think you are." A few moments pass as Stratos walks to his side of the field and he turns towards Allie with a bow,
"Don't hold back." Allie smiles and begins focusing her energy. Electricity sparks from her body and a chest spike emerges from her fur,
"You got it." Neo grins,
"Begin!" Allie runs towards Stratos with her paw covered in electricity and throws a punch but Stratos jumps and lands on her arm kicking her in the faces and sending her a little ways into the air before coming down with a thud,
"Come on!! You can't hold back!" Allie stands up and shakes her head,
(Kid's got speed. If he wants me to go all out on him then I guess I should.) Allie looks up at Stratos and smiles as electricity forms over her body in a thin armor. She rushes at him and Stratos ducks to the side to avoid a Thunderpunch. Allie spins to the side landing a kick in his gut making him stagger back with a grin on his face,
"There ya go! Now let's make this a good battle." Allie punches at him again and Stratos ducks away before upper-cutting her into the air and jumping above her before turning and bringing his heel down to her stomach but Allie disappears and stands on the ground looking up at him before jumping into the air and punching him in the gut with a Thunderpunch knocking the wind out of him and Allie continues to climb higher into the sky with a chain of strikes. Stratos grins as he repeatedly parries each blow and blocks a punch leaving Allie open before he throws and aura sphere into her torso. The two then begin to fall and Stratos lands on his feet lightly before running forward and catching Allie in his arms. Allie has her eyes closed awaiting the imminent impact but after nothing happens she opens her eyes and looks up into the face of Stratos who is smiling brightly, "I win." Allie lets out a deep sigh and stands up before patting him on the head,
"You caught me off guard. You're strong little guy." Stratos takes her hand in his and looks up at her while Allie radiates in a blue glow. After it fades Allie blinks, "Wha... I'm healed?" Stratos giggles,
"Course! Mr. Deoxys gave me a little bit of his powers." Neo walks over to Stratos and leans down and the two look into each other's eyes,
"I see... you are much stronger then you look. You also have great potential to become even stronger." Stratos grins,
"Thanks Mr. Neo!" Allie walks over to Blizzard and lets out a sigh,
"He was to fast for me." Blizzard grins,
"You don't have as much battle experience as me or K.C. I could probably beat him." Stratos yells over to them,
"Then come on!! I'm still ready to fight!!" Blizzard blinks and looks over at the small Lucario,
"Really?" Stratos nods,
"Yup! Come on!!" After a little while Stratos stands across from Blizzard. Vecransyh leans over to Yakira,
"He's the one with Flash Freeze." Yakira nods,
"Okay. I'm already charged for sheer cold if I have to step in." Vecransyh smiles,
"Don't worry about it. Neo acted completely different when he was his other self and he had this weird black aura around him." Yakira looks at him while glowing a light blue,
"I'm not so quick to trust people who almost killed you." Vecransyh smiles,
"I know. In time." Blizzard stretches his arms as he looks at Stratos,
"You sure you want to do this kid?" Stratos gives a happy smile,
"Yup! And no holding back!" Blizzard nods as he glows lightly growing his chest spike,
"You got it." Blizzard looks over to Vecransyh, "No flash freeze." Vec nods and Neo grins wanting to see more then anyone just how strong this baby Lucario is,
"Begin!" Blizzard plants his feet before bursting forward and upper-cutting Stratos into the air and releases a barrage of punches and kicks making him fly higher into the air. Stratos begins to see the pattern of his fighting style and begins parrying the blows before he finally releases an aura sphere towards Blizzard. The Lucario uses Stratos to avoid the attack and grabs his arm swinging him around and throwing him back towards the ground. Stratos lands firing a burst of psychic energy into the ground to stop himself and he looks up at Blizzard before throwing his paws out in front of him and releasing a sacred fire. Blizzard stares wide-eyed before he releases a blast of ice that begins pushing against the pillar of flames until both attacks disperse and Blizzard lands on the ground in his fighting pose before he and Stratos rush at each other and begin parrying and striking each other. Blizzard sweeps his leg under Stratos causing him to lose balance and then he brings his elbow into his gut. Stratos hits the ground with a loud thud before he throws an aura sphere up at Blizzard catching him in the face and making him leap back in pain before he shakes off the attack and rushes at him with ice covering both of his fists. He punches at Stratos who dodges to the side throwing a kick into his side. Blizzard recovers by spinning into the kick and punches Stratos in the face. Stratos catches himself as he gets knocked backwards on his hands and he performs a back flip before landing on his feet looking fairly winded. Blizzard smirks,
"You wanna quit?" Stratos grins,
"Never quit! When the going gets tough the tough kick butt!" Stratos rushes him and spins to the side avoiding a punch and throws an aura sphere into Blizzard's back. Blizzard catches himself and back flips over Stratos before throwing a punch into his back. Blizzard slides around him to his front and uppercuts him sending him into the air and leaps up before spinning in the air and bringing his heel into Stratos' stomach. Stratos hits the ground with a thud and looks up weakly at Blizzard who lands in front of him, "I lost. You're really strong!" Stratos performs recover on himself and Blizzard grins helping him to his feet,
"You're really freakin' strong dude. If we were enemies I might be in trouble!" Stratos giggles,
"Yup! I'm super strong!" After a few minutes Neo and the four Lucario are standing in front of the group and Neo blinks as he looks at Yakira,
"You have hatred in your eyes." Yakira says nothing and simply looks away from him. Neo gives her an odd look but then shrugs, "Alright guys. Wasn't expecting such greats battles but I really must be going. I'll come back and chill with you guys again sometime in the future though." Stratos tugs at Neo's cloak,
"Mr. Neo? Can we see your face?" Neo is silent for a minute,
"Next time. Okay?" Stratos nods and giggles as Neo pats him on the head,
"Okay Mr. Neo!" Neo nods at the rest of the group,
"Till next time. Bye guys." With that Neo and the four Lucario walk towards Veilstone and disappear over the horizon.
A few hours pass before the group finds their way to a huge resort area and Kaza looks around with a whistle,
"Man! This is fancy!! Place here must be like a mil a night!" A girl approaches them looking sadly around,
"Excuse me... have you seen a key anywhere?" Everyone shakes their head and the girl looks down sadly, "Fantastic... it's almost night time and I can't get into my suite." Stratos suddenly runs away towards a larger building. Xylina raises an eyebrow,
"Where's he going?" Before anyone can answer Stratos reappears holding a key in his hand and he hands it to the girl who blinks,
"You sure this is mine?" Stratos shrugs,
"Found it on the ground." The girl walks to her door and opens it with the key before letting out a happy squeal and running over to Stratos hugging him tightly,
"YAY!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!" Stratos, unable to breath manages to get out,
"I can't breathe!!" The girl lets him go,
"Sorry... I've been trapped outside for four days." Stratos bows,
"No problem. We must be going now though." The girl smiles and waves at the group as they continue down the road.
After another hour of walking the group heads through a small building and find themselves in Pastoria city. They check into the Pokemon center and all head outside to wait for Drake and Latias to return. Twenty minutes later Stratos lets out a happy squeal as Latias appears accompanied by three very powerful looking trainers. Latias has a neutral expression on her face as she approaches them. Stratos looks around curiously,
"Mommy? Where's Daddy?" Latias is silent for a moment,
"He has some things to take care of. But he'll be back in a while..." Everyone sees the look on her face as she bends down to Stratos and embraces him tightly. After a moment she stands back up and looks at Xylina,
"Xylina, could you take him into the Pokemon center for a little bit?" Stratos gives her an odd look,
"Why Mommy?" Latias gives him a forced smile,
"I just need to talk to the others for a little bit..." Xylina does as instructed and takes Stratos into the Pokemon center. There is a long awkward silence before Vecransyh finally breaks it,
"Latias...? Where is Drake?" His gaze falls upon her hand holding his hat and he looks up at her with a stunned gaze, "What happened to him!?" Latias breaks down falling to her knees crying and no one says anything for a long time. One of the trainers behind her walks forward after about five minutes and he looks sadly at the group,
"We were... all assigned to take down a Pokemon that was threatening the people of the island far north of here. Everything was going fine until... Heatran... he caused a cave in and..." The trainer looks down to the side, "I'm sorry... your friend... Drake... Drake is dead." Everyone is silent in complete shock and horror at the news that their close friend had met his end. Vecransyh chokes back tears as he looks angrily at the trainer,
"That's a lie!! He's alive!!!" The trainer holds up a belt with five pokeballs and many badges on it including the three ultima badges,
"His Pokemon are." After many minutes of silent grieving Latias stands up and walks into the Pokemon center retrieving Stratos. After Latias and Stratos return Latias kneels down and tightly embraces her son for a few minutes while silently crying. Stratos simply embraces her not knowing what had happened and after a long embrace Latias finally pulls away from him and smiles softly,
"Your daddy wanted you to hold onto this for him until he gets back." Latias lifts Drake's hat and places it onto Stratos' head and the little Lucario looks up at his mother,
"Daddy...?" After a while the three trainers give Latias the belt and leave. Latias looks down at Stratos, who has adjusted the hat to fit his head perfectly,
"And he also said that he wants you to continue for him and get the rest of the badges from Sinnoh." Stratos looks up at her before taking the belt from her and attaching it around his waist,
"How do I look?" Latias smiles,
"You look great." Latias then embraces him tightly.
It takes a long time for anyone to get to sleep at night but around three A.M. each of the group finally drifts off to sleep. Meanwhile in an unknown location Cyrus watches and rewatches the telling of Drake's demise from one of his cameras with a satisfied grin on his face.