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((And Mars drew the picture 3nodding ))

Driftveil City: Police Station

Driftveil City didn't have a prison to call it's own. Instead, the police station held several standards cells to hold captured criminals until they could be transferred somewhere else. Presumably, this is where the Plasma grunts that Ska had captured four days ago were currently being detained.

Getting close to the prison was a little nerve-wracking for Yana. Although no one inside knew her identity as a Plasma special ops agent, they might be able to put something together if they knew she was snooping around. Fortunately, Reid was on the rooftop of a nearby building giving her telepathic surveillance as she checked out the building's specs.

What about the south wall? Reid asked her, sending a message into her mind. Yana tipped the brim of her hat up and spun her parasol as she casually rounded the building, appearing to be on a leisurely stroll.

Just as sound as the rest. It looks like there's only one door past the front desk that leads to the cells. Minimal security, but there's no way to get past through the front without tripping it.

Ceiling routes?
You're the one with the rooftop view, not me.

On the building across the street, Reid lifted up his binoculars. There was no skylight or any sort of rooftop entrance. It had been wishful thinking. I doubt you'll be finding anything else this way. I'll have Jaiden check for underground entrances. Walk to the statue near the bridge, then report back to Cold Storage ten minutes after.

That's quite precautious.
Precautions never hurt us before. Over and out.

Yana took one last glimpse at the building. Every day they waited, their comrades spent another day in the cells. We'll becoming for you soon. Wait just a little longer.

Driftveil City: Marketplace

Pierce, the spiky haired first mate of the Ska pirates sifted through the collection of gemstones being offered by the vendor. They varied in size, shap, color, texture, but they all had one thing in common.

"So these all really came from the mines under the gym?" she asked the shopkeeper, lifting up one to see it through the light. The shopkeeper, a burly but gentle man, nodded.

"Yep, homegrown underground in Driftveil. These are only a small taste of the crystals they have in the mines."

Pierce put the gem back where she found it and checked out the price. "Pretty expensive for a tiny rock."

"You'd be surprised how much people are willing to pay." He leaned forward over the counter, prompting Pierce to lean closer as well. "I heard some people pay a fortune for life sized statues of the stuff."

"Heh. I can only imagine." And she did imagine, picturing Ska carving out a statue in his own honor. Of course he'd never pay for it, but he would be the type of person to want one.

"Tell you what. Since your captain saved my Sandslash from those Team Plasma goons, this one is on the house." He presented a smooth ruby that fit perfectly into her palm. Pierce looked it over with her half shut eyes, then shook her head.

"Thanks but no thanks. You have more use selling it than I do owning it."
"You sure? I would like to repay you."

She smirked and began to walk away. "These things have a way of coming back around," she told him with a wave as she headed to the next vendor.

You can keep your tiny stones. Our payment will be everything in the mines and more.

Silph Co. Tower

"Don't worry," Zack said. Heavy winds whipped past, flooding the sky as the
explosion of Aura consumed itself. Rain began to splash down once again,
the sky dark, city lights masked by the haze. "I think I took care of that."

Aura crackled to his side and the former agent turned to face it. Flames still
danced atop the Silph Co. rooftop. The helipad was missing a large portion,
and what was left remained a scrap heap of warped, twisted metal. Rain mixed
with fire, and Zack shifted the set of his jaw. Beyond the flames, no, in them,
at their very heart...

Ratio stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Zack's face. He still held onto his
sword, though his armour had crumbled. His forearms were still coated in
blocks of synthetic muscle and metal, but his torso was bare, showing only
well-toned flesh marked by dozens of different sized scars. The fire didn't
seem to bother him; it may as well be air.

"Elizabeth!" Zack didn't look away from the man, trusting his wife to know
exactly what he meant.

Zack prepared himself as Ratio ripped away the tattered remnants of his
cloak and cast it aside. As the black rag caught the wind, both men rushed
forward. Zack grit his teeth, charging up a quick blast of fire in his fist. A test.

He shot it at his target, who read his motion and sped to the side. Great, he
passed. Zack stopped running, instinct guiding his movements. He skipped
backwards, just as Ratio slashed to the side. Electricity danced across the
blade, crackles leaping to touch Zack's chest for an instant.

Ratio was open. Zack launched another blast but his opponent managed to
drop to the ground in time, almost as if he were a puppet whose strings were
cut. His hand shot up, forcing Zack's into the air to redirect the blast.

Zack's eyes flashed wide as he caught sight of Ratio's sword. The man held
it in a single hand, out at one side, where it gleamed with electricity. Zack
immediately caused another explosion with his captured hand, twisting it
just as the blast erupted.

Exploding Aura forced him backwards, free of Ratio's grip and attack. Zack
hit the ground, sliding back. By the time he looked up, Ratio was already
following up, bringing his sword crashing down.

Aura flared and Zack smacked his hands together, catching Ratio's blade
before it cut him in half. Blood drained from his palms, washed by the rain.
The blade's electricity was hot, burning. He caught sight of Ratio's face,
his apathy. Like this fight was simply routine to him.

Flaring aura put Zack at a disadvantage if it didn't involve making his target
blow up, so he threw his weight to the side and swiped his hands passed one
another. While his flared strength vanished a moment later, he managed to
disarm Ratio, sending his sword spinning over the rooftop.

Ratio watched it go, distracted for a second. Zack smirked, throwing himself
forward and launching an uppercut explosion into Ratio's throat. The blast
thundered, ripping through the air with a burst of flame. The intruder was
launched into the air. He righted himself but crashed onto the deck, hitting it
uncomfortably.

A blow like that would have killed a normal man, even an Aura user. Zack had
forced him to flare, and now he had a short window to force him to do it again.

Creating an explosion at his feet, Zack launched forward, bringing his arm
back and gathering Aura in his fist. Ratio looked up at him then held his hand
out to the empty air. Zack hesitated. The blade whipped out of nowhere,
spinning through the air before colliding with Ratio's waiting palm.

Zack landed, sending out a wide blast of fire. It wouldn't as powerful as a
concentrated shot, but at this range it would be next to impossible to avoid.
If he was lucky, he'd be able to launch Ratio clear of the roof. It didn't matter
how powerful he was after that.

A shadow blew through the flames. Ratio, fire eating at his flesh, arm drawn
sideways, face void of emotion. Zack brought up his arm reflexively as Ratio
swung, slicing into the flesh, driving him to the side with the single stroke.
Zack grit his teeth, flaring Aura. His arm was the only thing stopping that
sword from cutting his head off.

Ratio radiated Aura and lightning fell from the sky. It struck down on Zack,
jolting through his body. Ratio pushed on Zack's hand, dislodging his sword
from the bone and pulling it back. He aimed it at the centre of Zack's chest
and, while Zack was in the midst of being electrocuted, thrust it forward.

Zack roared, flaring again as he unleashed a massive wave of force from his
core. It blew the lightning off him, sent the rain back where it has come from.
Ratio was thrown backwards, his armoured feet plowing through the concrete
rooftop as he stopped himself just before being thrown off the edge.

Empty air hung behind the intruder, the night's sky a black pit of rain broken
up by city lights and traffic far, far below. The wind blew strong and Ratio
tilted his head, long auburn hair fanned to the side, watching Zack fall to the
floor.

His Aura was gone. Flaring Aura twice in a row caused it to burn out. The
strain of flaring effectively extinguished the Aura until it had time to recover.
Most beings weren't aware of it, but they all had Aura, like a feeling inside
that they couldn't quite place. A warmth.

Burning out took that away. It made an Aura user weaker than a normal
human. Slower, more fragile, exhausted. Rain crashed down on Zack's empty
body. He was barely capable of movement while burnt out, but he somehow
mustered the strength to get his arm beneath him and look up at Ratio.

The intruder's sword crackled like a dog salivating at meat. Ratio walked for-
wards, his flesh fostering burn marks but nothing more. Zack was still burnt
out. He looked down, too weak to keep his head lifted, and closed his eyes.

---

Elizabeth flared, pulling another strip of metal back, slamming onto the metal
wreck of a helicopter with her foot. The door finally came away and crashed
onto the concrete. Oil coated her arms and hands, skin slick with rain. She
looked exhausted, but had no time to rest.

The chopper's interior was dark and crumpled in places. The cockpit was just
a mess of twisted metal, though she could just about make out the pilot's
remains; a mess of human flesh and metal layered with blood. His jacket
bore the Silph Co. logo.

President Silph was huddled on the chopper's floor, a spray of blood across
his face that didn't look like it was his own. He didn't move. Elizabeth's eyes
darted about anxiously until she spotted Katelyn, nestled between her father's
arms, tucked up against his chest. Had he used himself as a shield?

Elizabeth pulled on Silph's shoulder and he rolled to the side. Katelyn looked
up, though her face didn't brighten as she spotted her mother. Her face was
stained with tears, red and puffed up.

The sounds of battle raged to her side. Lightning fell, illuminating the rooftop,
showering every inch in a burst of bright white. Elizabeth threw her arm up
as she felt a powerful Aura flare. Zack's Aura. He'd created a blast of force
that almost threw Ratio off the side of the building. Elizabeth's back hit the
nearby wall.

Zack crashed to his knees, burnt out. He crumpled forward, barely able to
move as Ratio watched him, starting forwards with his sword at his side.

"No..." Elizabeth gasped. She had no pokémon left. Could she make it there
in time? She had no choice, she had to try.

"Daddy!" Katelyn cried, standing on the lip of the wreck, her voice almost
drowned out by the heavy storm. Ratio stood at Zack's head and raised his
sword. Katelyn screamed again. "Daddy, get up!"

Elizabeth felt Aura flare. But it wasn't hers.

---

Ratio swung down, lightning following his stroke. Even weakened, Redgraves
were notoriously difficult to kill. He had to be thorough.

The lightning struck, brilliant white, just as Ratio's blade hit the concrete roof.
He paused in surprise, the magnificent Aura flaring to his side. He quickly
backed away, sword clasped in both hands. Cautious.

It was an Arcanine. The Ferox. She dropped Zack from her maw and he hit
the ground. Ratio felt a flicker of Aura return to the man. He began to grunt as
he picked himself back up to his feet.

"Notoriously difficult," Ratio said under his breath. He started forwards, but
Ferox vanished. The shift in air pressure was immense; rain warped its path
downwards, wind surged and Ratio almost felt the ground shift beneath his
feet. Ferox reappeared at his side. He barely had time to register it when the
white and black Arcanine unleashed hell.

Her fire, shimmering white, crashed into him. He flared, raising his sword and
using its Telekinesis to redistribute some of the flames. It was a drop in the
ocean. Flames threatened to melt his flared skin, and Ratio was launched over
the side of the roof.

He flailed in the air, stabbing the sword into the building edge, catching the
momentum that nearly broke his grip. Aura returned to normal but he could
sense Ferox moving across the roof. Away from him?

Ratio pulled himself up, swinging on his sword before throwing himself sky-
ward. He landed on the edge of the roof. Zack was waiting for him, one hand
out-stretched and an irritated expression on his face. Ratio broke his apathy
and sighed.

"If you go for a long time as a trainer without earning badges they eventually deny you access to the free stuff trainers get," Azucena began as she watched Takamaru, still walking backwards. "So after a while they wouldn't let us stay at the pokemon center and we were pretty bad, so we couldn't earn any money through battles. We hung out with the homeless crowd for a while and Ervin watched the street musicians play for hours a day. Eventually he learned to play pretty well."

She looked over at Ervin who seemed immersed in his music. "It was enough of a novelty at first to earn us a pretty penny, but eventually you have to move on from that too. Don't ever stay in just one place too long," she said as she looked back to Takamaru.

"When you get stuck, that's when you stop getting better. And that? That could totally kill you."

The Silver haired youth absorbed Azucenas Story. He knew there where rules that you had to abide by to keep your 'Trainer Status,' but all he remembered was that they aligned with the goals he set from himself when he set out on his adventure, so there wasn't really a need to retain them to memory.

"So we're kind'a like sharks, gotta keep movin' we'll die." He snapped his jaw's together comically to make a 'chomp chomp' sound to add emphasis to his shark analogy.

Jumping from thought to thought like Guys his age do, he went right into thinking about what he and his Pokemon could do to earn money. He could do Capoeira as a street performance to earn cash. but his Pokemon? Lancer could perform with him, Spike could use his controlled version of sand storm to make sand storm images for crowds. though that would take practice.

Tk removed Iron Hide's Pokeball from his trainer belt nd looked through the transparent red dome of the ball. Iron Hide gazed back, always at the ready to head Tk's command, Ever stead fast in his loyalty.

'What's your talent...?'

Iron Hide was Always Tk's Vintage Pokemon For battles. But other than that and being his most loyal friend, the iron Armor Pokemon didn't have any outstanding talents.

So this is what Tk pondered as the group neared the gate leading into Driftveil.

Robby suppressed the urge to shrug his shoulders, and instead nodded at Azucena. Being supportive was what a friend did, and she was obviously going to follow along. That was how it was going to be. If she could also give herself a reason to be there?

The thought faded and he kept walking towards the gate. "Sounds good." And then a pokeball was grabbed, and he stopped, gesturing for Fried to do the same. At another gesture, the supplies were put down, and the combusken was returned.

And then he tossed the ball to Azucena. "He's yours. He cooks best of 'em, and can organize 'em best." He wasn't sure if he'd mentioned his plans to run a restaurant to the others, or how many he had told. But he had talked to his pokemon. Outside of training, that was their default when out of the balls.

"Take care o' the restaurant."

Takamaru's entire interaction would've played out in seconds. In that time Henrietta managed to step outside, but she simply watched. She recognized Hiba, she had faced him in a Pokemon battle.

He was probably little threat to Takamaru.

Azucena would follow behind her, having thanked Robby previous for the Combusken, making sure to have asked his name. Robby may or may not have told her.

Now the two girls watched the little confrontation.

"Cut it out." The silver haired youth said, pushing up on Hiba's Thick arm. Hiba took the hint and released him.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Tk shook his head. "Its nothing, really, Can we go now, i wanna introduce you too my friends and the rest of the crew." Tk said, turning to walk back towards The other's. He was stopped as Hiba put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yea, about that..." The muscled youth began, scratching the side of his face and averting his eyes. Still unsure how to approach the subject. 'Well here went nothing, Grab the bull by the horns, C'mon man you gotta do this, you promised Ma'! '

"Huh? what is it?" an unsure Hiba was a rare sight. He was the type of Guy who acted first, thought later. He also Had the tendency to get in harms way a lot too, but opposed to Henrietta he usually came out ok.

With a Sigh he began, fixing Tk with a determined glare.

"Look, You gotta stop running around playing Hero, its too dangerous. Go out, enjoy your adventure, keep yourself safe. But you've gotta leave the criminals to the police, seriously dude." And just like that the cards where on the table.

Tk rolled his eye's.

"Mom put you up to this didn't she? She cant keep me sheltered away forever, i can take core of myself!" Tk said with a tone if finality before turning towards the other again.

Hiba grabbed Tk's Shoulder and spun him around to face him this time. "Dont say s**t like that man, she only wants to keep you from winding up dead in some petty little fight cause you wanted to play hero!"

Ok, this was so not going the way he wanted, but Hiba was going to make Tk see. Only thing now was for him to choose the easy way or the hard way.

Tk stared up at his friend, mouth agape in shock.

"Screw you! Im not playing anything! Ive been risking myself to help people! What was i supposed to do, walk away and pretend like it doesn't affect me?" Tk let that soak it before continuing.

Hiba didn't falter. "Thanks exactly what i want you to do, and it doesn't! You got this Hero complex that makes you feel like you got to risk you a** to help people. But really, its just you you crazing the attention."

"If your so against me helping people maybe you should have just kept too yourself 3 years ago! Then you wouldn't have to feel responsible for me!" He said it in just under a whisper. but it struck Hiba worse than if he was being screamed at. So it was going to be the hard way.

"Take. That. Back" he whispered. a Dangerous edge in his voice.

Tk remained silent. kind of hoping he hadn't taken it a little to far. The Two stared at each other for a long moment. Neither talking, just staring. It was Hiba who broke the silence.

"Fight me."

The silver haired youth looked at his friend in confusion. "What?"

"You heard me, Fight me." The muscle bound youth look off his shirt, revealing a wife beater, as well as a gold colored Bangle around his left tricep. What it did, Tk had no clue, but it looked like it was some sort of mechanical device since it had a small panel with a green illuminated number.

"Im not fighting you." Tk stated flatly.

"Why? doth the hero think-ith he's to strong to fight me?" Hiba mocked in a weird mid evil accent. "C'mon hero, you win your right, i win im right. Simple as that. Or maybe... your scared?" Hiba smirked.

Tk scowled. "Fine.But im not holding back!" He called, removing his jacket and sling pack. letting them crumple in a pile next to him. If this was how it was going to be, he was going to go let loose. He needed to vent out his frustrations anyways.

[[insert Epic sparing post. It'll come, just not now.]]

With out anymore words being exchanged the two launched at each other. It was over in about minutes. At the end of the scuffle Tk was pinned under Hiba's larger form. Both breathing hard, sweat shone on there foreheads.

"Ger'off me!" Tk struggled under Hiba's pin.

"Hehe, dont think so, i won. No more of this hero Crap!" he replied.

"I never agreed to that, Now Get. Off. Me!" He never stopped struggling under Hiba's grasp. He trashed, trying to kick at Hiba mid section but was unable to due to the way he was pinned down.

'This is so embarrassing, How did this happen!? How can i fight waves of solders and be fine, but cant beat Hiba? How how how!?' Tk yelled in frustration then went still.

Hiba Didn't flinch, he didn't even respond to Henrietta for a minute or two. She had a sword pressed against him but he was sure she wouldn't cut him down, not in broad daylight at least. But either way, he knew her from their battle in Castelia.

"You changed since we battled in Castelia, mystery trainer. Your a lot....colder." He shrugged "I mean, not like i knew you too well to begin with." He looked up to make eye contact, a Challenge, completely disregarding the blade. all before looking back down at the still pinned Takamaru.

"But you obviously don't know Tk that well if you think he wold honestly take a persons life so lightly. Yet there you stand tossing around the world 'Kill' like your some war vet. But don't worry, i know how hard he's been working-" which was true, back when they would mach wrestle, Takamaru had never so much as made Him break a sweat prior to today. He would stand up and pull Tk to his feet by his collar, considering Henrietta didn't push her blade against him again.

"-But what are you gonna do when one of your little group get's killed playing hero?" Hiba looked over towards Tk Who had stood and pulled on his jacket, looking anywhere but at Hiba, standing behind Henrietta.

'This isnt how it should have gone down...'