Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon

Chapter 4 – Training and Reunion

"Okay, so maybe I should leave Kasumi to the cooking... these eggs taste like crap," thought Seigai, as he was eating the breakfast he himself had cooked. It was right after the procedure he set up was completed. He felt the need to eat, and fried eggs were the first thing on his mind.

"Don't tell me you were hoping you would somehow learn how to cook," spoke Satoshi.

"No, not really. I was hungry, and the first thing that popped into my head was eggs, so that's what I started cooking. Didn't really think about the rest of the details," spoke Seigai.

"The smartest person I know... and no common sense at all," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, at least he isn't stuck up about being an intellectual," spoke Kasumi.

"Even if I was, something like this would tone it down quite a bit," spoke Seigai, as he let out a sigh, "no one could cook like Akane."

"Yeah, she became quite the artist with it. Hard to believe she spent so much time wandering about," spoke Satoshi.

"Must have been in her nature to be the perfect wife," spoke Kasumi.

"Did you guys have the funeral yet?" asked Seigai.

"We already buried her; we had to do that. The actual funeral has yet to be conducted," replied Kasumi.

"I see... I was hoping to look upon her face one more time, but I realize that it would not have been wise to keep her body like that," spoke Seigai, "I wish we could at least have a nice funeral for her, but with things as they are right now, that would be impossible."

"Because it would allow them to find us, right?" asked Satoshi.

"Correct. Actually, Satoshi, both of us need to keep low for a while," replied Seigai.

"Why me?" asked Satoshi.

"Shin saw you. That hair cut of yours is hard to miss," answered Seigai.

Satoshi raised his hand to the right side of his head, feeling the place where it had been cut. It had been that way since he had a close call with a scyther some time ago, and for whatever reason, it never grew back.

"I never did learn why it never grew back. Always came back before; the left side still does," spoke Satoshi.

"I like your hair like that; it makes you stand out a little more. I think it looks handsome," spoke Kasumi.

"You would think the same if I was bald; that's why I love you so much," spoke Satoshi.

"I suppose I'll just have to do my best to remember Akane for the time being; we may never be able to give her a proper funeral; the least I can do is continue to honor her memory until the day I join her myself," spoke Seigai.

"As will we, Seigai," spoke Satoshi.

Seigai attempted to clean up the dishes, only to have Kasumi stop him.

"Huh?" asked Seigai.

"You might find a way to smoke up the house while you're cleaning. Maybe you should put a shirt on, or something," spoke Kasumi.

"You're just saying that. Gardevoir don't wear shirts, really," spoke Seigai.

"Oh?" asked Satoshi, as he pulled on the form fitting green top all gardevoir had.

"Okay, okay, I know, this comes off," spoke Seigai, as he tugged on the one he had, "but this would mean I'm wearing a shirt already... unless that was your attempt to keep me out of the kitchen?"

"Well, I tried," spoke Kasumi.

"Well, it'll still work, really. This isn't really my style of dress... well, I could make the skirt work, but this top has got to go," spoke Seigai, as he headed to his room. He looked for a shirt to wear, found a black short sleeve he liked, and attempted to put it on, only to find he had one small problem.

"Oh crap..." muttered Seigai, as his shirt got stuck on the spike going through him.

Seigai kept forcing the shirt down until he finally ripped his spike through it.

"Okay... I think I'm going to need a new wardrobe... well, at least I can still wear pants... these skirts swing open a little to easy," spoke Seigai. He noted that even though gardevoir have a covering for their privates, it still felt odd to just expose himself anyway, after being a full blooded human for so long. He opted to wear a pair of boxers and blue jeans under his skirt.

"I think I like it. The skirt and dark colors work nicely, not that I'm a fashion diva, or anything," spoke Seigai to himself, as he made his way out of his room. When he made his way back into the living area, he was greeted by laughter.

"What?" asked Seigai.

"Lose the battle of the shirt?" asked Kasumi.

"Oh, come on! My shirts were designed to be worn my humans. I can't help it if I had to try and adjust it the hard way," spoke Seigai.

"Well, it looks like you did the front okay, but the back is torn so bad I'm surprised it isn't falling off," spoke Satoshi.

"Eh?" asked Seigai, as he felt around to his back. He could feel how exposed his back was from the terribly torn shirt.

"Okay, so that didn't work out too well," muttered Seigai.

"I can adjust your clothes for you, don't worry," spoke Kasumi.

"I would appreciate that," spoke Seigai, "so, now that I have this body, I'd like to see what it can do. Can you guys teach me some techniques I can use?"

"Not yet," spoke Kasumi.

"You should wait for at least a couple of weeks, just to be on the safe side," spoke Satoshi.

"Ah, right. I didn't even think about that. You're right, of course," replied Seigai.

"We could teach you other things, though," spoke Satoshi.

"Such as?" asked Seigai.

"Battle strategy. As much as you know as a researcher, I doubt you know much about handling pokemon battles," spoke Satoshi.

"That much is true. I've never even seen one, let alone fight in one. I never really was cut out for being a trainer," replied Seigai.

"We can teach you the basics, and help you out based on our experience," spoke Satoshi.

"That would be helpful. I only knew enough about pokemon to do this to myself, and even then, most of the knowledge that went into this didn't come from me. For the most part, I just provided the means," replied Seigai.

"I suppose this means we have a lot to teach you," spoke Kasumi.

Seigai spent the next couple of weeks learning the basics of pokemon battles, from type match ups to statistics to recovery items. As Seigai was open minded, he did well to take in all the information given to him. He was ready to put it to good use as soon as he could. He also ran tests on his body to make sure everything was okay. He was put at ease at the end of the two weeks to find that his body was working just as it should.

"Well, looks like I won't have to worry about anything falling off," spoke Seigai.

"Just shows how powerful this research of yours really is. To think that there is now a way to turn a human into a pokemon," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, I'm still not a complete pokemon. I'm still part human. Really, most of my insides are still human, except what I had to adjust and move out of the way for this," spoke Seigai, while pointing to his chest spike, "everything else is the same, more or less."

"You look the part, except for the hair," spoke Satoshi.

"I have to keep one defining element. Have to stand out from the crowd," replied Seigai.

"Just make sure you keep away from any trainers. They won't know the difference, thinking you are a rare off color pokemon. Most trainers jump at the chance to catch such a pokemon," explained Satoshi.

"Ah, that would pose a problem. Well, I won't be going out and about too often, anyway. Wouldn't want to risk being spotted by someone from the Union Corporation. Even if they didn't realize who I was, there's still the chance they could figure it out," spoke Seigai.

"I doubt you have too much to worry about. If I didn't know what you had gone through, I would have no idea who you are," replied Kasumi.

"True enough. Just don't want to push my luck," spoke Seigai.

"Well, now that you've had enough time to test your body and grow adjusted to it, it's time we taught you how to fight," spoke Satoshi.

"Ah, good. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up on everything easily," replied Seigai.

"Let's find a suitable place in the forest. It would be best if we didn't try to do things indoors," spoke Satoshi.

"I would rather stay inside, just in case there are Union guards out there," spoke Seigai.

"It would not end well if you were to train in here," spoke Kasumi.

"Why not?' asked Seigai.

"Inexperienced psychics have a tendency to... cause a lot of collateral damage," spoke Satoshi.

"Like?" asked Seigai.

"Oh, just a couple of blown out walls and holes I the ceiling, as well as unsettling the foundation a little bit. Nothing too major," spoke Satoshi in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh... okay, outside works," spoke Seigai.

"There is a good size clearing deep into the forest. It should make for a good training ground," spoke Kasumi.

"You guys must have seen a lot of this forest. I've never really ventured out this far," spoke Seigai.

"Right now, we are in the heart of the forest. There are a lot more pokemon here than there are on the edge of the forest, several of them are larger and much more dangerous. Even most trainers would not venture out this far. We tracked through here to get to Hayashi and Okadamashi faster," explained Satoshi.

"That's why we believe this place to be safe. Even if someone were to come out here, they would have a hard time just getting this far," spoke Kasumi.

"What about teleportation?" asked Seigai.

"You can't just teleport to a place you've never been before, it's too dangerous," spoke Satoshi.

"You could end up in a rock or cut in half by a fallen platform," replied Kasumi.

"Not to mention they are likely conducting a thorough search that would require them to comb through the entire forest. It's impossible for them to just appear here through teleportation," spoke Satoshi.

"I see. Thanks for the heads up," spoke Seigai, as the group of three made their way out of the house.

"Wait a second," spoke Seigai.

"Yes?" asked Satoshi.

"Why can't you guys teach me in the same way that I showed you what I knew of the layout of the Union building?" asked Seigai.

"That would save some time, wouldn't it? Do you know how to read our minds to find out?" asked Satoshi.

"Ah, I see the issue," spoke Seigai.

"Anyone can give information, but reading information into your own mind is a much different process," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, why can't the two of you simply teach me how to read minds, then?" asked Seigai.

"It's not that easy. You can't just train the mind and not the body," answered Kasumi.

"You must train both together in order to make the best use of what you learn. There are no shortcuts to learning how to battle. Even if I were to teach you how to use powerful techniques in that way, it would do nothing for you if you're body was not strong enough to be able to perform them," explained Satoshi.

"That makes sense, then. Guess it's time to stop wasting time with talk and get to work," spoke Seigai.

The group of three made their way through the forest. On their way, they ran into a pair of nidoking.

"Those guys look a little big," spoke Seigai.

"There are quite few nidoking and nidoqueen out here," spoke Satoshi.

"Good to know," replied Seigai.

"Hey, look! A couple of small fries!" shouted one of the nidoking.

"Ah, good. I was getting bored... wait, don't those two look familiar?" asked the second nidoking.

"What do you mean?" asked the first nidoking.

"Look at the hair on that one, and the smaller spike on the other," spoke the second nidoking.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Let's jump 'em!" shouted the first nidoking, as he charged forward. The second followed. As they grew near, the first charged directly at Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi using fury attack, while the second stood back and unleashed poison sting. Satoshi and Kasumi recognized the attacks, and had no problem getting out of the way. Seigai, who lacked battle experience, ended up getting knocked into the ground by the first nidoking while getting pinned by the second.

"Gah!" shouted Seigai, as he tried to get himself back up, only to get pinned down by the nidoking again.

"What's a matter, small fry?" asked the first nidoking, as he used a horn attack on Seigai, knocking his head into the ground.

"Take this!" shouted Satoshi, as he lifted the nidoking pinning down Seigai with psychic. Satoshi took the nidoking, and slammed him into the ground using enough force to knock him out instantly.

"Well, I tried to tell you, but no, don't listen to me," spoke the second nidoking, as he backed down, not wanting to fight in the first place. He walked over to Seigai and helped him back up.

"Uh... thanks," spoke Seigai.

"Forget it. Please forgive my friend over there; he lacks common sense," spoke the nidoking.

"Well, what did you think of you first battle, Seigai?" asked Satoshi.

"It sucked," replied Seigai, "I'm a scientist, not a fighter."

"We'll have to fix that, then," spoke Kasumi.

"You two brought someone with no combat experience out here? Well, I suppose as long as you keep an eye on him... seriously, though, you should watch yourself out here. Things can get rough quick, and most of the pokemon out here are fairly aggressive. Keep that in mind, should you desire to venture out here on your own," spoke the nidoking, as he walked over to his partner.

"Let's go," spoke the nidoking, as he grabbed his partner by the leg, and dragged him off in the direction the pair was heading before running into Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi.

"How did you guys get out of the way so fast. I know you recognize attacks from your experience, but you moved so fast, it almost like you vanished," spoke Seigai.

"It comes with practice. Train long enough, and you'll have it, too. Being quick on your feet will help you a lot with types like them. As you can probably guess, our bodies can't take a lot of physical punishment, so we have to be able to move quickly, or risk getting knocked out," explained Satoshi.

"On the other hand, we can take more from non-physical attacks; we're more adapted to defense against those types of moves," spoke Kasumi.

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Seigai.

"At least we're able to fight poison types without much hassle," spoke Kasumi.

"There are bug-types out here though, so be careful. They can hit us relatively hard," spoke Satoshi.

"Oh joy..." muttered Seigai.

The group of three continued on their way to the clearing. When the arrived, they found a group of two ivysaur and a venusaur.

"Hm?" muttered the venusaur.

"Intruders!" shouted one of the ivysaur.

"Let me take 'em!" shouted the second ivysaur, as it charged forward. The other two watched. The ivysaur ran through the middle and tackled Seigai to the ground.

"Guf! Why me!" shouted Seigai.

Kasumi picked up the ivysaur with psychic, and sent it crashing into a tree at the edge of the clearing, knocking it out. This prompted the second ivysaur to charge forward. When it got close, it sent out it vines, doing a vine whip. Satoshi and Kasumi got themselves out of way, while Seigai rolled out of the way of the attack.

"I'm tired of playing it like this," spoke Seigai, as he stood back up, and managed to grab hold of one of the vines.

"Let go!" shouted the ivysaur, as it tried to lift Seigai into the air. Seigai was able to hold his ground. Seigai stared at the ivysaur intently. Before long, his eyes began to glow purple. An aura of corresponding color surrounded the ivysaur. Seigai lifted the ivysaur up, and knocked it into the ground. The ivysaur was shaken by the attack, but continued to fight, this time using razor leaf. Seigai was able to move out of the way of some of the leaves, but managed to take a hit from a couple, ending up with some small cuts on his body. Seigai's eyes lit up purple again. This time, Seigai flipped the ivysaur upside down before sending it into the ground. This time, the ivysaur was knocked out.

"How did I do that?" asked Seigai.

Satoshi and Kasumi walked over to him, seeing what he had accomplished.

"That is called confusion," spoke Satoshi.

"It's a weak psychic-type attack that can move opponents with telekinesis," explained Kasumi.

"How did I do it?" asked Seigai.

"Once we get the proper amount of experience, techniques like this become second nature to us, as natural at walking. That's how you were able to do it," replied Satoshi.

"Huh, interesting," spoke Seigai.

The group of three forgot about the venusaur, which had been charging an attack of its own. Once it started to emanate a bright light, the group of three turned their attention to it.

"What is that one doing?" asked Seigai.

"Solar beam!" shouted Satoshi.

Without warning, a beam shot out from the venusaur and into the group of three. A large explosion of dust and debris erupted from where the blast hit.

"Finally, I can finish my nap," spoke the venusaur, as its eyes began to close. They snapped back open when it felt something strange wrapping around it.

"Remind me to ask you guys how you blocked that," spoke Seigai, his eyes glowing purple, along with Satoshi and Kasumi's.

"Will do," spoke Satoshi.

The group of three psychics used their power to lift the venusaur up twenty feet in the air, before slamming it back down. The venusaur rolled over, knocked out from the attack.

"That takes care of that," spoke Satoshi.

"Unless there are more surprises hiding out in the middle of this field," spoke Seigai.

"I don't think we have anything else to worry about," spoke Satoshi.

"Most wild pokemon only seek confrontation if approached. There are very few that go out of their way to fight someone," explained Kasumi.

"That makes sense. If they all charged like that, they would be pretty easy to capture for trainers," spoke Seigai.

"Most try to hide from humans for that reason. After all, who would want to end up stuck in a stuffy little ball, typically only coming out for battle," spoke Kasumi.

"Is it that uncomfortable on the inside of a pokeball?" asked Seigai.

"Not really; it's actually relatively comfortable. It's just the idea of being confined after being free to wander as you will that upsets most pokemon, hence their desire to try and break free," spoke Satoshi.

"Makes sense," spoke Seigai.

"You'll have to be vigilant in looking out for trainers. It shouldn't be too bad out here, but in other places, where there are more trainers, you would be quite the prize," spoke Kasumi.

"Because of my hair color, right?" asked Seigai.

"Precisely. A trainer would not know what you really are, so be careful," spoke Satoshi.

"I'll just have to make sure I'm strong enough to break free, that's all," spoke Seigai.

"Not quite," spoke Satoshi.

"What do you mean?" asked Seigai.

"There is a pokeball that is able to catch any pokemon, regardless of strength," spoke Kasumi.

"There is?" asked Seigai.

"They're expensive, though. Only the most wealthy trainers can get one, but still, it's something to keep in mind," spoke Satoshi.

"Have you ever seen one before?" asked Seigai.

"I know what one looks like, but I've never seen it in person before. It has an 'M' on it, is purple and white, with two round, pink bumps. If you see one of those, run. Don't waste your time fighting, or you can consider yourself captured," spoke Satoshi.

"Scary thought..." muttered Seigai.

"Only if you don't know any better. Most wild pokemon don't know about it, and think they'll be able to break free with no effort, since trainers that use them do so right away, rather than trying to weaken their target. Knowledge is your most precious ally out here," spoke Satoshi.

"Hopefully we won't run into anyone out here," spoke Kasumi.

"True enough," replied Seigai, "So, where do we start?"

"Well, since you know confusion, that gives us something to work with. Now, let's see if we can give you something to practice with..." muttered Satoshi as his eyes began to glow blue. The ground in front of Satoshi started to crack and fracture as rocks of varying size were pulled out from under the ground. Each hit the ground with a loud crash.

"To increase your psychic power, you should try lifting as many of these at once as you can," spoke Satoshi.

"Sounds simple enough," spoke Seigai.

"Then give it a go," spoke Satoshi.

Seigai's eyes began to glow purple once again. He tried to lift all the boulders at once, but found that he couldn't even make them budge if he tried. He decided to reduce how many boulders he tried to until he could lift them. He finally got them into the air when he was down to two.

"Not bad, two isn't a bad number at all. Most are only able to do one when they start," spoke Satoshi.

"That's a step in the right direction, I suppose," spoke Seigai, as he set the boulders down.

"Now lift them again and again, like lifting weights. Keep this up until you can no longer. Kasumi and I will be further down the field. Just get our attention when you're ready," spoke Satoshi as he and Kasumi walked towards the opposite end of the field. Once they arrived, their eyes began to glow blue as they commenced a psychic duel with one another. They appeared to be trying to move one another. Seigai decided it would be best if he focused on what he was doing, and again lifted up the two boulders. He continued doing this for a couple of hours before he could no longer lift the two boulders. Seigai thought to try to continue with one, and was able to do so for another half hour before he was completely exhausted. After taking a break a for few minutes, he tried to lift two boulders again, but found it only made him feel dizzy, prompting him to stop. Upon ending his exercise, Seigai looked to where Satoshi and Kasumi were. They were in the same position as they were a few hours ago, their eyes still glowing blue. Seigai walked towards them and continued to watch with interest. He noticed that both were beginning to sweat as they continued to focus on what it was they were doing. Finally, both of them went flying back from where they were, and landed flat on their backs.

"Another stalemate..." muttered Satoshi and Kasumi in unison.

"What was that?" asked Seigai.

"We were having a psychic tug of war," answered Kasumi as she stood up.

"In order to do this, you have to be able to both keep yourself in place while at the same time trying to force your opponent back," spoke Satoshi.

"It seems simple, but it's not quite as easy as it seems," spoke Kasumi.

"It requires a lot of focus to maintain both of the forces at the same time," spoke Satoshi.

"And balance. You have to be able to balance out how much power you use to keep yourself in place and how much power you use to attack. Too much focused on keeping yourself in place, and you won't be able to move your opponent; too much focused on attacking and you'll end up being knocked away," explained Kasumi.

"It can take up to a few years to master how to conduct oneself in one of these duels, not to mention there is a set level your power must be at before you can attempt it," spoke Satoshi.

"You have to at least know psychic; confusion is much to weak to be able to be used in one of these duels. When you're further along, we'll teach you how to conduct yourself in one," spoke Kasumi.

"Sounds like something to look forward to. Anyway, I finished lifting the boulders. I end up getting dizzy if I try to continue," spoke Seigai.

"This happens if you attempt to use an ability you no longer how the power for. There are limits to everything; even the strongest pokemon can only use their abilities so many times in sequence without rest. The exercise I gave you is as much as endurance test as it is a test of strength," spoke Satoshi.

"So what comes next?" asked Seigai.

"Meditation. It helps one to learn how to focus the mind," spoke Kasumi.

"It also helps us to develop our ability to see into the future. This is something that all gardevoir are capable of doing," spoke Satoshi.

"The technique future sight makes use of this to prepare future attacks that work around defensive measures and natural immunities," spoke Kasumi, "even though it's a psychic type attack, it can hit a dark-type."

"That does sound rather useful. It would be nice to be able to do something to those umbreon Shin used," spoke Seigai.

"There are other ways, too. We're not restricted to using only psychic-type moves," spoke Satoshi.

"So we can use any attack?" asked Seigai.

"Something like that," spoke Kasumi.

"All pokemon are able to use all techniques. However, each pokemon has a affinity for certain types of techniques, and there are still some restrictions," spoke Satoshi.

"Such as?" asked Seigai.

"I can use the technique hydro pump. However, I need an external source of water in order to do so, since I do not have the ability to produce my own supply of water. The same applies to fire-type techniques," explained Satoshi.

"Makes sense," replied Seigai.

"There is one pokemon that is free of any restrictions. All we know about it is that it's a psychic type pokemon and that it is highly rare," spoke Kasumi.

"We've always found it interesting that this pokemon is a psychic-type," spoke Satoshi.

"I've heard of it before. It's called a mew. Teruko and Masayoshi were talking about it before, saying how convenient it would be to use its tissue samples as opposed to using those of a ditto," spoke Seigai.

"Do you know anything else about it?" asked Kasumi.

"It supposedly resembles a cat in someway. They didn't have a picture to show me," spoke Seigai.

"Interesting. Well, perhaps we'll find one someday," spoke Satoshi.

"It would be hard to do that," spoke Seigai.

"Why is that?" asked Satoshi.

"It is almost always transformed out in nature, in order to hide itself properly. I suppose they do it knowing they are always being hunted by trainers. There could be one out here right now and we wouldn't realize it until it transformed into its original form," explained Seigai.

"That does explain part of why we've never seen one in all of our travels," spoke Kasumi.

"Takeshi did say he always wanted one. I wonder if he'll succeed in finding it?" asked Satoshi.

"Only time will tell," replied Kasumi.

"So, we were talking about meditating before?" asked Seigai.

"Oh, yes, we got distracted. Meditation is a good tool for focusing the mind and learning how to control your ability to see the future. To meditate, all you really need to do is find a relaxing position and focus on something, then do nothing but focus on that thing. I found it best to clear my mind and listen to the sound of nature, shutting out all but the external world. Forests like these are perfect for this. They're so lively and full of wonderful sounds," spoke Kasumi.

"Wouldn't this leave us vulnerable to trainers?" asked Seigai.

"Not at all. If a trainer were to approach, I would sense it right away, and respond accordingly," spoke Kasumi.

"After you've learned to take in all of nature, you'll be able to feel out everything. It's a natural ability for us, so it won't take you long to master it," spoke Satoshi.

"There is another type of meditation for you to try, but let's start with this for now. This one is much safer, and doesn't require much focus. The other type of mediation we use is solely for working on our ability to read the future, and is the opposite of this type of mediation, and would leave us vulnerable to being captured by trainers," explained Kasumi.

"Fair enough," spoke Seigai.

"Now, find a relaxing position, and empty your mind of unnecessary thought. Just listen to the song of the forest, and let everything else disappear," spoke Kasumi, as she sat herself down and closed her eyes. Satoshi did the same, followed by Seigai. Seigai found it hard at first to focus himself. He would keep drifting off into random thoughts. Things such as how hard he would push himself, what would happen if Shin found him, and how his children were doing kept running through his head. After about an hour, he finally was able to tone out all his inner thoughts and got absorbed by the sound of the forest. I made him feel even more relaxed. He could hear the sound of the trees as their leaves danced in the breeze. He could feel the wind blowing around him. He could hear the sounds of several birds and insects. He could even hear the footsteps of the pokemon walking near the field. The group of three continued meditating until sunset. If felt like they were resting, and Seigai found it to be rather peaceful. Satoshi and Kasumi could have kept going on into the night, but opted not to after feeling out how far the sun had set.

"Seigai, I think it's time we get going," spoke Kasumi.

"Huh? Oh... wow, it's quite late already, isn't it?" asked Seigai.

"You could not tell?" asked Satoshi.

"I could tell it was getting close to night. I could feel the sun as it crept further and further down the horizon," spoke Seigai, "Do you think I could try the boulder exercise one more time?"

"We can if you wish. We'll continue our training here while you do so," spoke Satoshi.

"Alright, let's see how long I last this time," spoke Seigai, as he made his way to back to the boulders. He watched as this time the two of them pulled up a pair of boulders of roughly the same size. The two focused and tore the boulders apart with their psychic abilities. They then began throwing the small rocks at each other, while dodging those thrown at them. Seigai watched for a few minutes before trying to lift the boulders once again. Seigai tried to lift three the boulders, but found he couldn't and continued with lifting two. After working on lifting the boulders for an hour and a half, Seigai found he was tired again. As hungry as he was, he was ready to go home and have something to eat. It was already dark out. The field was barely lit by the stars of the night sky. Satoshi and Kasumi were still dodging the rocks they were throwing at each other. Seigai thought there might be a trick to the way gardevoir eyes work, thinking they had a way of seeing at night. Seigai tried to focus, but found he was unable to see anything. Seigai walked over to the dueling couple. They stopped once Seigai drew near.

"Finished with lifting the boulders?" asked Satoshi.

"I am. How are you guys able to do that?" asked Seigai.

"Do what?" asked Kasumi.

"Throw those rocks at each other at night and still be able to dodge them, even though it's so dark out here," spoke Seigai.

"We aren't trying to see them with our eyes," spoke Kasumi.

"Such an act would be pointless. This is why we have done well to learn how to see with our psychic abilities," spoke Satoshi.

"We will teach you how to do this when you are ready. The training we were doing just now required even more focus than a psychic duel when done at night like this," spoke Kasumi.

"It would be nice to go home and get something to eat. Shall we?" asked Satoshi.

"We shall," replied Kasumi.

"Are we going to walk back?" asked Seigai.

"No, that would be a bad idea. It would be best if we were to teleport back. There are many strong pokemon out in the forest at night. After training all day, it would be a bad idea to try and take them on," replied Satoshi.

"Hold onto us," spoke Kasumi.

Seigai nodded as he held the hands of Satoshi and Kasumi. After a few moments, he felt the familiar sensation of being pulled and stretched. Within a second, they were in the middle of the living room of their house. Seigai thought to try to put his abilities to the test, and tried to flip a light switch. He ended up breaking the switch through using too much power at once.

"This is one of the many reasons why we practice outdoors," spoke Satoshi, as he used his abilities to turn on the rest of the lights in the living areas.

"Learning power is one thing, learning control is another. You'll need to learn that, too," spoke Kasumi.

"For now, though, we'll continue to focus on increasing your power. Just try to resist the temptation to use your abilities for your daily activities for now," spoke Satoshi.

"No problem; the last thing I want to do is end up breaking everything in the house," replied Seigai.

Kasumi prepared the group a pleasant meal of pan-fried chicken and rice with some tomato sauce. During the meal, Seigai asked about the defensive technique Satoshi and Kasumi had used before.

"Oh, that's right, we were going to tell you what that was, weren't we?" asked Satoshi.

"Must have been something else to have blocked the solar beam from that venusaur," spoke Seigai.

"It's called light screen. It's a barrier of light used to defend against non-physical attacks," explained Kasumi.

"We don't naturally learn it, but since it's a psychic-type move, it doesn't take too much effort to learn. We can teach it to you once you're further along with your training," spoke Satoshi.

"Works for me," replied Seigai, "what kind of training will we be doing tomorrow?"

"The same for the time being. We'll worry about engaging in duels and fighting wild pokemon after you've gained a little more strength," replied Satoshi.

"After all, we wouldn't want a repeat of today," spoke Kasumi.

"Ah, true enough. That nikoking was packing a punch," spoke Seigai.

The next few weeks continued with Seigai continuing with the rock lifting. He had finally learned how to use psychic, and started doing the rock lifting with it. His power continued to increase, much to his delight. He was finally able to deal with some of the wild pokemon that occupied the section of the forest they were in. He was also practicing using teleport, attempting to increase the accuracy of where he appeared.

"You're getting better with teleport," spoke Satoshi.

"You didn't end up in the middle of one of our duels," spoke Kasumi.

"Don't remind me. I thought I was dead after that rock hit me on the head," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, come now, it wasn't that bad. We weren't hurling them fast enough to kill someone, just enough to let you know you'd been hit," spoke Kasumi.

"Just as long as it doesn't happen again," spoke Seigai, "now let's see what happens this time."

Seigai closed his eyes and focused on his destination. He brought forth the familiar aura, followed by the sensation of being pulled. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of the living room of his house.

"Perfect this time!" shouted Seigai, as he closed his eyes again, this time focusing on the exact point he left from. After using teleport again, he found himself a couple of inches away from where he was standing before.

"Not bad, I think I just about have this down," spoke Seigai.

"Good, good. Now it's time for another test of your skills," spoke Satoshi.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Seigai.

"A psychic duel with me," replied Satoshi.

"Are you sure I can do that? I'm all for it, I just don't want to get annihilated," spoke Seigai.

"Relax, I won't go at it with all my power. That wouldn't be too productive. I'll use enough power to counter yours. This is more about control than anything else. You can't beat me at your current level; instead, you should focus on balancing the force you are using to keep yourself in place with the force you are using to push me away," explained Satoshi.

"Ah, that makes sense," spoke Seigai.

"All you have to do is manipulate these forces with psychic. That's all there is to it," spoke Satoshi.

"Alright, I'm ready," spoke Seigai.

"Very well. Stand back a little. Kasumi will stay by you, just in case, so don't worry about getting knocked away," spoke Satoshi.

Seigai nodded and took a few steps back. He was now roughly twenty feet away from Satoshi.

"Ready?" asked Satoshi, as his eyes began to glow blue.

"Ready!" shouted Seigai, as his eyes also began to glow blue.

Without another word, the two began their duel. Seigai was quickly knocked back, causing Kasumi to use psychic to keep Seigai from being knocked away too far. Kasumi ended up knocking Seigai onto the ground.

"What happened?" asked Seigai.

"You didn't use enough of your power to keep yourself in place," spoke Satoshi, "Care to try again?"

"Yeah," spoke Seigai.

Once again the eyes of the two began to glow blue. This time, Seigai remained firmly in place.

"You're using too much to keep yourself in place this time, Seigai," spoke Satoshi, "I can barely feel anything coming from you."

"Alright," spoke Seigai, as he increased the around of his power he was aiming at Satoshi. He continued to increase it as slow as he could, waiting until it felt like it was straining him to keep himself in place. Once he approached that point, he continued to maintain the level of power he was outputting.

"Very good, Seigai. Seems you've found the balance point, now let's see just how long you can last," spoke Satoshi.

They continued their duel for a half hour, before a large explosion caused Seigai to lose his focus and end up being knocked back again.

"Ow... what was that?" asked Seigai.

"A distraction," spoke Kasumi.

"Eh?" asked Seigai.

"Given the nature of what it is you want to do, it'll likely be a rare occurrence for you to end up in one on one fights; while you're engaging one opponent, you must be wary of any other opponents that may attempt to strike at you while your attention appears to be focused elsewhere. You'll have to make a decision regarding how you handle the new opponents, as well as dealing with your current opponent," spoke Satoshi.

"I see," replied Seigai.

"Try to maintain your focus. I won't tell you want kinds of distractions will be thrust upon you, but keep in mind there will be something there to keep you on your toes," spoke Satoshi, "now, ready?"

"I'm ready," spoke Seigai.

The two resumed their duel. Kasumi set off all manner of explosions roaring through the sky. She continued this for an hour before charging after Seigai. Taking an actual hit from a weak confusion attack disrupted him enough to lose his focus again, resulting in his being knocked down on his rear.

"You attacked me!" shouted Seigai.

"Was I not supposed to?" asked Kasumi.

"No... you just caught me off guard," spoke Seigai.

"That just means you need to learn how to better focus when dealing with multiple opponents," spoke Kasumi.

"So, Seigai, are you starting to get an idea of what you need to do?" asked Satoshi.

"I have a few things in mind. I'd like to try them out," spoke Seigai.

"Good, let's see what you have in mind," spoke Satoshi.

The pair resumed their duel. Kasumi waited for twenty minutes this time before engaging in any distractions. After setting off several explosions around Seigai, she charged again. This time, Seigai attempted to knock Kasumi back; however, since he used part of the power he was using against Satoshi, he was sent flying back again.

"Ow... okay, so that one didn't work," spoke Seigai.

"Shall we try again?" asked Satoshi.

"Let's continue," spoke Seigai.

The pair continued to duel for a few hours, with Seigai doing well up until Kasumi was attack him. He would end up getting knocked back when he focused too much in dealing with Kasumi, allowing Satsohi to knock him back each time. By mid afternoon, Seigai had finally run out of the strength needed to continue dueling with Satoshi.

"Not bad, Seigai, not bad. You're starting to learn. You picked up on the control rather quickly, it's just a matter of figuring out how to deal with multiple opponents at the same time," spoke Satoshi.

"I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. It's probably something simple, I'm sure. It always is. Even when I was working on my research, I would always find that it was something simple that would mess me up. It never fails to amaze me just how much trouble one small error can make," spoke Seigai.

"The more you practice, the more you'll learn. Now then, now would be a good time for us to meditate. After that, you can work on rock lifting while Kasumi and I hold duels amongst ourselves. That should take care of the rest of the day," spoke Satoshi.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Hopefully taking this time to focus on nature will help me perfect my use of teleport, and get to the proper location a little more consistently," spoke Seigai.

The group of three sat in a circle, and closed their eyes, allowing their thoughts to become one with nature. After a few weeks of doing this training, Seigai had finally learned how to meditate properly. He could feel all of the elements of nature around him clearly now, from the breeze blowing through the blades of grass to the caterpie walking up a nearby tree. After a few hours of mediation, the group continued with their strength training before returning to their home for dinner.

The next day, Seigai was by himself. Satoshi and Kasumi had gone to see the children. Seigai had wrote them a small message for Satoshi and Kasumi to deliver before they went on their way. Kasumi made sure to keep Satoshi's right side out of view, hiding the one feature that allowed him to stand out. Seigai decided to use the day to do inner meditation, as he would often do when Kasumi and Satoshi were out. Inner meditation was different from the meditation they did while out in the field. For this type of meditation, gardevoir would focus on thoughts of the future, in order to hone their ability to see into the future. Seigai was attempting to do this as well. He would get a jumble of random images, but never anything clear and meaningful. He was told it would take a few years of training in order for him to be able to see anything worthwhile. Nonetheless, Seigai made sure to work on this training. It also helped him in being able to read into the minds of others to work on this training. As Seigai engaged in this training, he had finally settled on one image in his mind, the image of a gardevoir. He could have sworn it was his wife, Akane, but upon studying the image in his mind further, he concluded it was a different gardevoir, although the gardevoir looked very similar to his wife. He concluded it may have been a vision of the future of one of his children. He noted this gardevoir was a little shorter than the average gardevoir, its hair was a little longer. He could finally see that this gardevoir was a girl. From her appearance, he was able to conclude this was likely Ryoku. Once he realized this, he continued to focus on the image, hoping to learn something of what was taking place within it. Before he could figure out anything else, he was startled by the return of Satoshi and Kasumi. Seigai jumped with surprise when he was snapped out of his meditation.

"Oh, sorry there, Seigai. Didn't mean to startle you like that," spoke Kasumi.

"See anything interesting?" asked Satoshi.

"I think so. I saw a vision of Ryoku. At least, I think it was Ryoku. It was her as a gardevoir," spoke Seigai.

"Did you learn anything else?" asked Kasumi.

"No, I didn't. The image was relatively blurry. It was really hard to get anything out of it other than her," replied Seigai.

"Well, at least you have an image to hold onto. Perhaps with more training, you'll be able to see more of the image," replied Satoshi.

"It would be nice. I'm sure being able to see the future will be a helpful ability," spoke Seigai.

"That it will, that it will," spoke Satoshi.

The group of three continued their training for another few months. Seigai continued to be knocked away in his duels with Satoshi. He was continuing to get stronger, but he was still at a loss for properly dealing with multiple opponents while he was focusing on having a psychic duel.

"Gah!" shouted Seigai, as he was knocked back once again.

"Perhaps we should move on to today's meditation?" asked Satoshi.

"Not yet, I think I can go for one more round," spoke Seigai.

"Are you sure? There's no need to overexert yourself," spoke Kasumi.

"I can handle it," replied Seigai.

"Very well, get ready... begin!" shouted Satoshi.

Satoshi and Seigai's eyes glowed with the familiar blue of a gardevoir using psychic and their duel commenced. This time, Kasumi started her distracting explosions right away. She knew they wouldn't work though; they hadn't worked since the first day they started this training. Kasumi waited for the right moment to charge. When she saw that Seigai was starting to shift slightly, she charged after him. This time, however, Seigai closed his eyes for second. He pulsed with a bright aura before knocking back both Kasumi and Satoshi.

"Guf... what in the world..." muttered Satoshi.

"Kasumi! Satoshi! Are you okay!" shouted Seigai.

"I'm alright, just a little surprised," spoke Kasumi.

"This isn't the first time I've had the wind knocked out of me; I'm okay," spoke Satoshi, "what I want to know is what that was."

"I'm... not sure. I just felt this quick burst of power and used it. I didn't expect something like this to happen," spoke Seigai.

"Quick burst of power..." muttered Satoshi.

"It's likely what we experience when we find an opponents weak point and score a critical hit," spoke Kasumi.

"I don't think so, dear. This was something different," replied Satoshi.

"Different?" asked Kasumi.

"I don't know why... just... it felt... different. That's the only word I have for it," spoke Satoshi, "Didn't you feel it?"

"It did feel strange, but I just dismissed it. If you felt it too, then... yes, different would be the right way to put it," spoke Kasumi.

"What do you guys mean about this being different?" asked Seigai.

"It's much to difficult to convey through words," spoke Satoshi, as he conveyed what he felt to Seigai via telepathy. Seigai shook at the strange sensation.

"That's what you felt when I felt that power?" asked Seigai.

"Correct. Rather intimidating, isn't it?' asked Satoshi.

"And that was coming from me... you don't suppose it's a side effect, do you?" asked Seigai.

"It's possible. You are unique; there is no one else like you. Perhaps there's some kind of test you can do?"

"I'll have to take a blood sample to use in analyzing my DNA. Perhaps there is something that went wrong when the program was adjusting the ditto tissue samples," spoke Seigai, as he teleported himself to his lab. Satoshi and Kasumi were quick to follow.

"Ah, I was hoping you two would follow me. It's a lot easier if someone takes the blood sample for me; it's a bit impractical to take one out of myself," spoke Seigai.

"I'll take it for you," replied Kasumi, as she took out one of the sample needles. Seigai held out his arm, and awaited the familiar pain. Once Kasumi took the sample, she placed it inside one of the machines. After a couple of hours, the computer had finished its analysis.

"Okay, that should do it, now to compare this to what it should be... huh?" spoke Seigai, as the computer showed the results of the comparison.

"What's wrong?" asked Satoshi.

"This can't be right..." muttered Seigai, as he continued to look over the results.

"What is it?" asked Kasumi.

"This... this is correct, there are no alterations. There aren't even any signs of errors," spoke Seigai.

"What does this mean?" asked Satoshi.

"I'm... not sure. I'll have to do a more detailed analysis, seeing what genes may be responsible. It'll take a couple of days to run a test like that," spoke Seigai.

"Do you think we should stop your training?" asked Kasumi.

"No, we should continue until there is good reason for us not to. It seems that I'm fine... well, better than fine. If this really is some power unique to me, it would be best if I could find a way to control it; it might come in handy in the future," spoke Seigai.

"Alright then. We still have enough time to do our meditation," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, since we're here, I'll work on enhancing my mental abilities. I can almost read minds effectively. Just a little longer, and I'm sure I'll have that figured out," spoke Seigai.

"Just remember to be careful with it," spoke Satoshi.

"I won't violate anyone's mind. Really, I want to learn how to form mind blocks. Might be helpful in hiding my presence. I'm sure the Union Corporation would try to use psychics to try and find me if they had the chance; with my new appearance, it would be the only way they would have for finding me out," spoke Seigai.

"This much is true, but mind blocks are only as strong as the pokemon using them. They aren't infallible; a pokemon with stronger psychic abilities would be able to break through them. Having a mind block broken often has a damaging effect on the victim, depending on what method was used to break it," spoke Satoshi.

"What kind of effect?" asked Seigai.

"Depends on how sharply the block was broken. The effect can range from mild disorientation and the inability to use your psychic abilities for a time to being knocked out instantly. In the worst cases, the mind could be completely broken. Though rare, it is possible you could die, though, it would take a lot to do that. The mind has a lot of protection in place to prevent something like that from happening, but still, it is possible," spoke Satoshi.

"Has it ever happened to either of you?" asked Seigai.

"Several times," spoke Satoshi.

"Our previous trainer would do it to us purposely whenever we fell short of his expectations. He told us it was his way of 'toughening' us up, but..." replied Kasumi.

"Justice caught up to him. That's all that matters now," spoke Satoshi.

"I see... well, shall we get started?" asked Seigai.

The group of three entered into their meditative positions, and began to close themselves off to the outside world, reflecting on the visions that appeared from their subconscious. Over the next two weeks, the group of three continued their training pattern. The strange power that Seigai had failed to manifest itself again. Seigai continued to be unable to defeat both Kasumi and Satoshi in a psychic duel, though he was beginning to hold a little longer through Kasumi's attacks. When they noticed the tests that Seigai was running were finally complete, they went to take a look at the results.

"So, this should tell us where this ability of yours originates, right?" asked Satoshi.

"It might, it might not. Looks like everything matches up to what it should be, which is remarkable. I suppose it's because the process of converting my body was done so slowly. What took a couple of weeks would likely have only taken a couple of days at most on the machines Kenji had. Let's see if it was able to find anything else of use," spoke Seigai.

"If I may ask, where did you get the gardevoir DNA you used?" asked Kasumi.

"From Akane. We used it to restore her arm before. She's the only gardevoir we've encountered out here. Your species isn't really native to this region. At least I don't think it is," spoke Seigai.

"It isn't," replied Satoshi.

"That's what I thought," spoke Seigai, as he continued to look through the results of test.

"Well, let's see, hasn't told me too much I don't already know. I know where my hair came from... let's see..." muttered Seigai.

"If you don't mind my asking, Seigai, does this mean you are biologically our son?" asked Kasumi.

"Hm? Oh, no. I didn't use her actual unique genes, just the pattern that makes her a gardevoir. I used that with my own DNA. My genes were adjusted to be expressed through a gardevoir pattern. In other words, me as a gardevoir. I'm no more your son than any other gardevoir would be," explained Seigai.

"I see," replied Kasumi.

"Now, let's see... hmm... this can't be right..." muttered Seigai.

"Find something interesting?" asked Satoshi.

"I did. I think I found the gene showing where this odd power of mine comes from, but... this can't be right," spoke Seigai.

"What do you mean?" asked Satoshi.

"It originated from me," answered Seigai.

"How is that possible?" asked Satoshi.

"I... don't know... wait... I see. It makes sense now," spoke Seigai.

"What does?" asked Kasumi.

"It's this one gene. In a human, as I was, it's nothing more than a little quirk. However, when in a gardevoir body, or presumably any other pokemon, it becomes this power," spoke Seigai.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Satoshi.

"That's what this is telling me. Let's see if there is anything else in here... hmm... no, nothing else I didn't already know. Amazing... I guess this means that wasn't just a fluke, either, huh? Well, now that I know it exists, it's just a matter of figuring out how to put it to use," spoke Seigai.

"I wish I could say I knew how, but I haven't a clue on this one," spoke Satoshi.

"Neither do I; we've never encountered something like this before," replied Kasumi.

"I didn't think you would. All we know for sure is that it only appears when I'm in a pinch. That's what we know for sure... perhaps we should look at that specific duel, maybe try to reenact it somehow," spoke Seigai.

"That would be difficult. If it is as you say, then it would be near impossible to replicate that duel perfectly," replied Satoshi.

"In what sense?" asked Seigai.

"Your state of mind also comes into play in deciding if you are in a 'pinch,'" spoke Satoshi.

"You would know we were trying to duplicate that duel; that's what your goal would be. You wouldn't feel what you might normally in such a situation," spoke Kasumi.

"You're right, of course. Hmm... maybe I should reflect on what exactly I felt at that point in time, and try to duplicate that somehow," spoke Seigai.

"You should be able to do that while meditating," spoke Satoshi.

"I was about to say that," spoke Seigai.

"It would be the opposite of what we normally do, though. We seek out impressions from the future. What you need to do is pull out the past. Not just a memory, but the past itself," spoke Satoshi.

"That's possible?" asked Seigai.

"It is. It would take some training to do that effectively, but it can be done. We learned to do this some time ago," spoke Satoshi.

"Then I could just read your minds to figure out how to do it for myself, right?" asked Seigai.

"It's not that easy. We can tell you how we do it. It's different for each gardevoir. It might be hindering to you if we were to tell you how we do it," spoke Satoshi.

"Just like how you told me about how I can't just read your minds to learn how to see the future, right?" asked Seigai.

"Correct. You could use it to try to learn other techniques, but realistically, it's better if you learn through the process of figuring it out, rather than having someone simply tell you," spoke Satoshi.

"It's similar to how a pokemon that was trained in battle is superior to a pokemon who has its strength boosted artificially at the same level," spoke Kasumi.

"Well, I guess I'll just make it a part of my meditation training from now on," spoke Seigai.

"That's the best way to go about it," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, it's still early on in the day, we can have a round or two of one of our duels. Maybe today that power will show up again, letting me learn something from it," spoke Seigai.

The group of three headed to their field and began their training, stopping for meditation at the end of the day. They continued this ritual for the next few months. Seigai's power failed to manifest itself again. Seigai continued his meditation, to see if he could recreate the duel in his mind, while at the same time bettering his ability to read into the future. He continued to see clearer images, though he had yet to fully duplicate the moment in question.

Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi finished their breakfast for the day and returned to the training field. Before they could get there, a group of three nidoking crossed their path.

"I don't suppose we've seen either of these three before?" asked Seigai.

"Can't say that I recognize either of them," replied Satoshi.

"Ho ho, so there are those who would dare to step into our territory," spoke one of the nidoking.

"You're territory?" asked Seigai.

"That's right, our territory," spoke another nidoking.

"We claimed this for ourselves a few days ago; we've fought off everyone who tried to challenge our claim," spoke the third nidoking.

"We're not here to challenge anyone's claims. We're just passing through on our way to a clearing up ahead. We don't have any interest in your territory," spoke Kasumi.

"Heard that one before. I'm done talking, let's go!" shouted the leader of the three nidoking, as he charged towards Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi.

"They always have to go and learn the hard way," spoke Satoshi, as his eyes began to glow blue.

"Some never learn," spoke Kasumi, as her eyes also began to glow blue.

"Oh well, life wouldn't be as interesting if it weren't for the ignorant," spoke Seigai, his eyes glowing blue as well.

Before the nidoking could get close enough to strike, each of the three were lifted into the air.

"Hey! Put is down!" shouted the lead nidoking.

"So they want down?" asked Seigai, "Well, should we?"

"I suppose would could oblige them," spoke Satoshi.

"Hey! What are you three thinking!" shouted one of the nidoking.

"If you want on the ground, you should have just asked," spoke Kasumi.

At that point, all three nidoking were sent up higher into the air, before being slammed into the ground head first. After the dust and debris that was kicked up settles, there were three pairs of feet kicking in the air. The top half of the bodies of the nidoking were stuck into the ground.

"Do you think we should pull them out?" asked Satoshi.

"They did want to look after their territory. Now, they've become one with the land. Must have been what they wanted all this time," replied Seigai.

"Oh, you two," spoke Kasumi.

"We're just kidding," spoke Seigai, as he eyes glowed purple. Satoshi and Kasumi followed suit, using the weaker confusion to pull them out of the ground.

"So, still want to fight?" asked Satoshi.

"Um... uh... passing through, right? Go right on ahead," spoke the lead nidoking.

"Thank you," replied Satoshi.

The group of three continued on their way to their training field.

"It's been a while since the last time we ran into a nidoking," spoke Seigai.

"It has. You did a lot better this time than you did that first time," spoke Satoshi.

"I remember. I got my rear handed to me the first time we ran into nidoking. That was a rather uncomfortable lesson. I'm glad we can fight on the same level now," spoke Seigai.

"Well, we'll just see about that," spoke Satoshi.

"Now that we know you can handle nidoking better, let's see if you can handle us a little better," spoke Kasumi.

"Hopefully I'll be able to do a little better than I did yesterday, if nothing else," replied Seigai, as he stood at ready, his eyes glowing blue. Satoshi smiled and did the same before the pair began. At this point, Satoshi was no longer holding back on how much of his power he used. Kasumi started her array of distractions, waiting for the right time to strike at Seigai. When Seigai appeared to flinch at a particularly close blast, Kasumi charged forward. Seigai noted this, and quickly thought of a different approach to the problem. Something finally dawned on him as he split his psychic attack into to separate, but balanced parts, using one on Satoshi while using the other on Kasumi. As Kasumi was not using her psychic abilities to maintain a hold, she was knocked back. Seigai re-combined the two parts of his attack, focusing on Satoshi again, but keeping an eye open for any counterattacks from Kasumi. At that point, Satoshi lowered the power he was using, prompting Seigai to do the same before the pair were back to normal. At that point, Satoshi began to clap his hands together. Kasumi did the same after picking herself back up.

"Congratulations, Seigai. You finally figured out how to split your attack into balanced parts. You've finally learned to properly control your psychic abilities!" shouted Satoshi.

"Well, it took long enough," spoke Seigai.

"Don't go saying that; it normally takes years for a gardevoir to reach this level. Even with focused training like this, it would take about six months on average, and you have it at just three and a half months," spoke Kasumi.

"I do have more motivation. I have a family to protect and a weapon to stop. I'm sure I still have a long way to go," replied Seigai.

"Well, there is one more step," spoke Satoshi.

"What would that be?" asked Seigai.

"It's better we show you," replied Satoshi, as he and Kasumi stepped back some distance from Seigai. The eyes of each went to blue, followed by a mild tremor from the ground. Several boulders appeared before being ripped apart into small pieces. The pair began sending the smaller rocks at each other while dodging what was thrown at them. Seigai watched in with interest as the pair continued this duel for a few minutes before stopping, resulting in the rocks falling to the ground.

"So that's the last step to learning to control my abilities?" asked Seigai.

"Correct. If you can do this, then I would be able to say you had mastered control of your psychic abilities. This training is very similar to the training you just did in that it's about balancing your power. What you learned there was to split your strike into different parts, as opposed to simply rotating the axis of a single strike. The difference here is how many times you are splitting your strike. Instead of splitting it into two balanced parts, you'll constantly be splitting it into multiple parts. Some of the parts will be used for dodging and deflecting, while other parts will be used for attack," explained Satoshi.

"Sounds simple enough, though, I'm pretty sure this will take a little longer to figure out," replied Seigai.

"It's not as difficult as it seems. We'll be helping you, of course. It would be highly irresponsible of us to just start throwing rocks at you. If one of those were to hit you, it would cause serious injury. Not enough to kill you, mind you, but you would be out of it for a little while. Kasumi will be sending the rocks at you while I use my powers to place a barrier around you, this way, you will not have to worry about the consequences of not dodging," spoke Satoshi.

"Hmm... I'm not sure you should do that," spoke Seigai.

"Are you insane?" asked Satoshi.

"It's not that. It's that if I know about this barrier protecting me, my power may not resurface," replied Seigai.

"I see. Well, as important as it is for us to find a way to draw that power of yours out, it could be dangerous for us id you were to use it in this kind of duel," spoke Satoshi.

"I'd rather not have any rocks going through my body," spoke Kasumi, with a grin matching her sarcastic tone of voice.

"You have a point there," replied Seigai.

"I'll have a barrier around Kasumi, as well, so don't worry about it if that power does indeed manifest itself. Even with that power, my barrier should at least be strong enough to prevent any serious injury being inflicted upon us," explained Satoshi.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Seigai.

"I have a high level of control over my psychic powers. We'll be fine," replied Satoshi.

"Alright then, so where do we start?" asked Seigai.

"First you learn to dodge. Don't even think of trying to attack yet," spoke Satoshi.

"Okay, that should make it a little easier," replied Seigai.

"Alright then, get yourself ready," spoke Satoshi.

"I'm set," replied Seigai.

"Let's see what you got," spoke Seigai.

Kasumi and Seigai's eyes took their familiar blue glow. Several of the rocks near Kasumi began to glow blue before being thrown at Seigai. Seigai attempted to deflect and dodge the rocks, but only succeed in avoiding a handful of them completely. Several more made glancing blows off of the barrier around Seigai, while more than half struck Seigai directly.

"Don't try to move out of the way. At these speeds, that's nothing more than a pointless gesture. This isn't dodge ball, use your psychic powers," spoke Satoshi.

Seigai nodded as Kasumi resumed throwing rocks in Seigai's direction. Seigai was able to dodge a few more this time, but was still taking several hits.

"How do you guys do this? And while attacking each other at the same time?" asked Seigai.

"Years of practice," spoke Satoshi.

"Fair enough," replied Seigai.

"It's possible if you keep at it. Don't get discouraged; you've already made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. You'll get it, as long as you don't give up," replied Satoshi.

"I know it's possible, just have to keep trying," spoke Seigai.

Kasumi continued with the rock throwing. Seigai was improving a little throughout the day, but was hardly at the level required to start attacking back. By this point, both Kasumi and Seigai were fatigued from use of their psychic powers. Satoshi was worn down a little, though his barriers hardly required the same amount of focus as throwing and dodging rocks. The group of three proceeded with their meditation training before leaving the field for the day.

After having dinner that night, Seigai reflected quietly in his room, pondering something to himself.

"I wonder... even if it's just for a second..." muttered Seigai, before he disappeared.

In Muzo and Mizuho's house, Seigai's children were having a conversation about their day.

"He's happy the rest of the time!" shouted Ryoku.

"It would be nice if he could learn to talk with us. Since he can't, it's kind of boring to just sit around and play with him all day," spoke Sakashi.

"He doesn't have to talk, just have fun. He knows how to do that!" shouted Ryoku.

"Now look who's yelling at who," spoke Hatsumi, as she started to chuckle. The group of three didn't notice Seigai just appeared outside of their window. Seigai smiled as he looked upon his children. He wanted to get a little closer to them, but didn't want to risk being seen. He knew it could cause problems for them if they were able to recognize him, unknowingly blowing his cover. Seigai was about to laugh when he saw his three children stop what they were doing. They looked surprised at something before turning towards Seigai. In response, Seigai quickly teleported himself away, using a trick he learned from Satoshi to mask the signature flash the technique usually made. The children thought they were seeing things and continued on conversing amongst one another.

In Seigai's room, Seigai reappeared with a small smile on his face.

"I'm glad to see they are doing well. I'll have to stop by and see them every now and then. Even if I can only watch them briefly, it's much better than not being able to see them at all," spoke Seigai to himself. He let out a yawn before stretching out on his bed. He took off his clothes before drifting off into sleep.

The next day, Seigai prepared to resume his training with Satoshi and Kasumi. He was determined to learn how to split his attacks and effectively dodge the rocks.

"Ready for another round?" asked Satoshi.

"That I am, that I am," replied Seigai.

"Well then, let's get started," spoke Satoshi, as he looked towards Kasumi. She got herself into position.

"I'm ready," spoke Kasumi.

"I'm ready anytime," spoke Seigai.

"Alright, then let's begin," spoke Satoshi.

Kasumi pulled up a group of the rocks that had been left behind from the previous day and began sending them at Seigai. Once again, Seigai did his best to try and avoid taking a hit. He was hoping that working on full nights rest would help him to be a little better at this exercise. He was able to avoid a few more than he was the previous day, but he still took a lot of hits from the small projectiles. They continued this for as long as their psychic powers would allow them. Seigai tired out after a couple of hours of training.

"Okay, I'm done," spoke Seigai, as he tried to knock away one last rock, only to take a hit to his side. The barrier around him glowed a dull gray at the point of impact.

"Not bad, Seigai, you did well today. You managed to dodge a few more today, but you still have a while to go yet," spoke Satoshi.

"I might actually have to try tomorrow," spoke Kasumi.

"Huh?" asked Seigai.

"I have to hold back a little. You would be overwhelmed if I went full force in the first round," replied Kasumi.

Seigai reflected on the matches she and Satoshi would have. They would be dealing with a lot more rocks than what Kasumi was throwing at him. Seigai assumed it merely appeared that way, since he wasn't attacking Kasumi back. Upon further reflection, he realized Kasumi really was going easy on him.

"So, meditation now?" asked Seigai.

"Ah, yes. Then another round after. There's still more than enough time left in the day," spoke Satoshi.

"You're quite the harsh teacher," replied Seigai.

"We did have a rough trainer to start. All things considered, I could be a lot rougher," spoke Satoshi.

"I was just kidding," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, right. Well, I wasn't," replied Satoshi, as he took his meditative stance.

"My my, you can be quite the mean one when you want to," spoke Kasumi, as she took a stance right next to Satoshi. Satoshi let out a small grunt in response.

"You two really are an old married couple," spoke Seigai, smiling as he took his stance. He frowned for a moment, reflecting on the fact he would never have the chance to have that with Akane, but let it go for the time being in order to properly focus his mind.

This training ritual continued for six months. The group would head out to the clearing, then Seigai would attempt to doge all the rocks he could while Kasumi was throwing them and Satoshi was protecting them with one of his barriers. After the first couple of months, Seigai was finally able to learn how to dodge effectively. Now, he could effectively duel with Kasumi without taking a single hit.

"Alright, Seigai, this is the final test. This time, we're doing it without the barriers," spoke Satoshi.

"Wait a minute, are you sure?" asked Seigai.

"Relax, I can start them at will should it become an issue. You need this in order to fully master your abilities. You need to be forced to work under pressure. This time, if you mess up, you will be hit. Keep that in mind," spoke Satoshi.

"Alright," replied Seigai.

"Are you ready?" asked Kasumi.

"As ready as I'm going to be," spoke Seigai, as his eyes began to glow blue. Kasumi's did the same, and within moments, rocks were flying at high speeds back and forth between the two. Satoshi watched on carefully, ready to use a barrier should it appear that Seigai is about to use his power. This didn't happen though, as the duel continued on. The power had yet to manifest itself again since that day. Seigai continued to try to re-enact it in his mind, but had yet to replay the molment in his mind properly.

After a couple of hours, the pair of Seigai and Kasumi finally ran out of power and had to take a rest.

"Well, that does it. You've now passed the final level of your psychic dueling training. You've mastered control over your powers," spoke Satoshi, as he put his hand on Seigai's shoulder. Seigai nodded in thanks.

"I'd like to take a break over the next couple of days," spoke Seigai.

"What for?" asked Satoshi.

"I believe it's time we saw what our friends at the Union Corporation are up to, maybe set them back again," spoke Seigai.

"You think we should?" asked Satoshi.

'It would be a wise idea. I don't want to leave them unchecked. They've likely bettered their security this time, and likely have more than a couple of backups. Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to at least get an idea of where they are at," spoke Seigai.

"Hmm... agreed. It would be wise to take a break in our training, then. We would want to be at full strength before heading there," replied Satoshi.

"May I come with you this time?" asked Kasumi.

"It would be best if you didn't. They know about Satoshi. I have to do this. I don't want them to find out about you. It would make things difficult. For example, you wouldn't be able to go out shopping or see the children without having to worry about being seen by those working for the Union Corporation," replied Seigai.

"Of course, I understand," spoke Kasumi.

"Don't worry, one of these days, you'll get your chance to join in, just not now," spoke Seigai.

"I would rather you stay here and be safe," spoke Satoshi.

"You say that every time before we go to battle," replied Kasumi.

"Of course. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, my love," spoke Satoshi.

"And I don't want anything to happen to you, dear," replied Kasumi.

The three spent the next few days solely with meditation training. They also worked on a plan of attack for when they would strike this time. They hoped to get as much information as they could before destroying everything in the lab again.

In the middle of the night on the third day, the pair of Seigai and Satoshi were ready.

"What time shall we strike this time?" asked Satoshi.

"Just before three this time. Best we not strike at the same time as before. The might think to have a higher guard presence at that particular point in time," spoke Seigai.

Satoshi gave a nod at the group of three waited for the appropriate time. At ten of three, Satsohi and Seigai readied themselves.

"Be careful, you two," spoke Kasumi.

"Don't worry, we'll be back before you miss us," spoke Seigai.

"I'll be back; I can't stand the idea of leaving you alone," spoke Satoshi.

With a flash, the two were gone, leaving Kasumi to look at the clock and hope for the safety of her mate and son in law.

In the basement lab of the Union Corporation building, Seigai and Satoshi appeared. They took a look around at their surroundings.

"Well, they weren't smart enough to move this place elsewhere," spoke Seigai.

"They did put this place back together, though. Looks exactly the same as it was when I arrived here before," spoke Satoshi.

"Well, might as well start with the computers," spoke Seigai, as he pulled out a disk that held another computer virus within. Seigai made his way over to one of the terminals.

"Hmm... password encryption, huh..." muttered Seigai. Satoshi walked over to another terminal only to see another screen with a password prompt.

"Looks like all the computers here are locked," spoke Satoshi.

"I guess he isn't as arrogant about his security systems this time. I can crack it, but it'll take a moment. Just keep an eye open for anyone coming in here," spoke Seigai.

"I can do that, but how did you plan on accomplishing your task?" asked Satoshi.

"I made a little bug that can break passwords... hopefully it isn't something too long," spoke Seigai.

"And you didn't consider looking into working with computers?" asked Satoshi.

"It wasn't really my thing. Way too much math and what not. Even this is something I found by chance one day while I was on the Internet. It's made to find passwords that are lost, but it can be used for this, too," replied Seigai, as he got the program to start working. After about a half hour, Seigai was in, and started looking around.

"Well, he's made some progress, but not too much. Looks like most of this pertains to the theories of how to merge pokemon and human DNA. Let's see what else we can find... huh, just as I thought. He has his information backed up elsewhere on several private servers spread out across the globe. Guess he isn't taking any chances this time. Might as well put this virus on here," spoke Seigai.

"You think it'll wipe out everything this time?" asked Satoshi.

"Maybe, maybe not. This one is on a time delay. Hopefully he'll have spread it on his own," spoke Seigai.

"Why don't we spread it?" asked Satoshi.

"Can't; the servers are all password encrypted... appears each of them have different passwords. He was quite serious about making sure no one wiped out all of his information again. Just have to hope his virus scanner doesn't find this before it can do it's thing," spoke Seigai, as he made several copies and placed them in computers throughout the lab's computer network.

"Okay, that takes care of that," spoke Seigai.

"Now what?" asked Satoshi.

"We smash this place. Getting new computers and equipment will hurt them a little," replied Seigai.

At that moment, the door to the lab opened, a guard entering to check up on the lab.

"Huh? Gardevoir? Gardevoir!" shouted the guard, as he reached for his pokeballs.

"Houndoom! Umbreon! Take out these two!" shouted the guard.

The two pokemon appeared quickly, preparing to attack. The houndoom prepared a flamethrower, while the umbreon readied a dark pulse.

"Dodge!" shouted Satoshi, as the pair got out of the way of the flamethrower. There was no hiding from the dark pulse as it struck them both. The pair were slightly disoriented, but not knocked out.

"At least these aren't as strong as Shin's," spoke Satoshi.

"I think it's our turn," spoke Seigai.

"No, don't bother. Psychic attacks won't do a thing to them. They can resist all psychic moves. I know a trick or two, though," spoke Satoshi, as he charged a thunderbolt.

"Take care of the equipment, I'll take care of this," spoke Satoshi.

"Right," replied Seigai, as he started to use his psychic to tear apart the computer terminals on the side of the room they were in.

"Stop the one with the black hair!" shouted the guard. The umbreon and houndoom turned their attention to Seigai.

"Take this!" shouted Satoshi, as he unleashed his thunderbolt upon the umbreon. The umbreon was slow to get back up, but continued on towards Seigai. The houndoom attempted to hit Seigai, but Seigai was able to get out of the way of it, and get hit by the umbreon's faint attack. Seigai was knocked into a computer console, causing it to explode in a shower of sparks.

Satoshi hit the umbreon with another thunderbolt, taking it out, then turned his attention to the houndoom. It was still focused on Seigai, who was struggling to get back up. The houndoom prepared to use fire spin.

"Try this," spoke Satoshi, as he stuck his arms out in front of him. He placed his hands together and fired a hyper beam at the houndoom. The beam blew out a couple more computer consoles before sending the houndoom flying into one of the cameras, smashing it. The houndoom was immediately knocked out.

"Alright, then, mightyena, finish them off!" shouted the guard.

A mightyena emerged from the last pokeball on the guard's belt. It charged at Satoshi with a faint attack. Satoshi couldn't move, having to recover from using hyper beam. Satoshi was knocked back harshly into the wall. He slow to get back up, but attempted to ready a thunderbolt. Before either could make another move, a machine with a large capsule on top filled with smaller machines fell on top of the mightyena, knocking it out.

"Use what you have around you, right?" asked Seigai, as he looked at the guard, who quickly tried to summon the other guards on a nearby com-panel. Satoshi fried the panel with the thunderbolt he intended for the mightyena.

"Nice try," spoke Satoshi.

"Get away from me!" shouted the frightened guard. He didn't even think to grab his pokemon before running for the door. Seigai held him in place with psychic.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Seigai.

"It doesn't matter what you do here! Dr. Den knew this would happen again. Your attacking this place again is meaningless," shouted the guard.

"We'll see about that," spoke Seigai, before slamming the guard into the door, knocking him out.

"Let's finish this and leave before another one shows up," spoke Seigai, as he started to tear into the remaining computer consoles.

"No problem," spoke Satoshi, as he let out a thunderbolt on the remaining machines. Sparks and smoke filled the room from damaged computer equipment.

"Geez, you would think the noise would have grabbed someone's attention," spoke Seigai.

"Do you really want to have to deal with another guard?" asked Satoshi.

As he said that, another guard entered the room.

"What the devil... hey! You!" shouted the man, as he reached for his pokeballs.

"Time to go!" shouted Seigai.

"One more for the road!" shouted Satoshi, as he unleashed a thunderbolt upon the ceiling, smashing all of the cameras. Satoshi and Seigai disappeared in flash before they could see what pokemon the guard had thrown.

The guard started swearing violently in front of his two tyranitar, leaving the two pokemon confused. After he was finished, he pulled the two back and sent out a blastoise, having it put out the fires sweeping through the room, due to the fire suppression system being damaged by Satoshi's last thunderbolt.

"This isn't good. Dr. Den will be furious," spoke the guard, as he looked around the room. He noted the other guard and his pokemon were lying unconscious.

"Better contact the commander..." muttered the guard, before kicking the other guard awake.

"What happened?" asked the first guard.

"You messed up!" shouted the second guard.

Shin arrived in the room, having been alerted by the disruption in the power to the room. He took note of the carnage, then saw the two guards bickering.

"Much too loud..." muttered Shin, while pinching the bridge of his nose. He sent out a scizor while the guards continued to argue.

"Silence them," spoke Shin. The scizor responded by decapitating the two guards with fury cutter. Their bodies fell to the ground, while spilling out copious amounts of blood. Their bloodied heads rolled on the ground with stunned expressions.

"Much better. Failure will no longer be tolerated... hmm..." muttered Shin.

A loud screech could be heard as Shin's scizor used iron head to smash through the shell of the one guard's blastoise, which had attempted to attack Shin in revenge.

"Ah, that's what I wanted to hear," spoke Shin, as he noticed the blastoise coughing up blood. It fell off of the scizor, hitting the ground dead. The scizor turned to face Shin, with blood dripping down its head. Shin observed the other pokemon lying around the room.

"I wonder..." spoke Shin, as he pulled out three max revives, using them on each of the pokemon. They rose with a stir, before looking around in confusion. Upon seeing Shin, they backed away with fear.

"My my, there's no need for that," spoke Shin, "I'm not going to hurt you."

The umbreon, houndoom, and mightyena calmed down at hearing this.

"Oh, no, you mistake my intentions. I said I won't hurt you; he will. Make it as violent and loud as possible, but be quick about it. Give them just enough to scream," spoke Shin.

The houndoom, knowing it had a better chance at fighting the pokemon attempted to use a fire spin. The scizor cut it's head off just as it was about to attack, resulting in its body incinerating itself. The umbreon and mightyena ran for the door, trying to get out of the room.

"Smart, but pointless," spoke Shin as the scizor brutally smashed both pokemon into the door. Both screamed out loud before being crushed against the door. The two pokemon left streaks of blood from where their bones had ripped through their bodies.

"As I said, failure will not be tolerated; no exceptions," spoke Shin, as he recalled his scizor. Shin took note of the two pokeballs holding the tyranitar the one guard held.

"Hmm... well, they didn't participate. I suppose I can let them live for now. Maybe I can make some use of them..." muttered Shin, as he took the two pokeballs off of the guard.

Shin left the room. He headed for his office on the top floor, and summoned a crew to clean up the trashed lab. He went to the lobby to greet Kenji upon his arrival.

As Kenji arrived in the building, he took note of Shin waiting for him.

"Unusual to see you here waiting for me. What happened?" asked Kenji.

"Two gardevoir destroyed the lab this morning. We were able to identify the one from the footage recovered as the one guarding Seigai. The other is unknown, though it did have black hair, a rare trait for a gardevoir.

"A gardevoir with black hair, eh? Did they damage anything else?" asked Kenji.

"No, though they were working on a computer before destroying everything. I took the liberty of running a system wide virus scan. There was nothing found," replied Shin.

"I see. Well, the equipment can be replaced. The data has been backed up. Given the success of our other investments, this is hardly anything to worry about. Continue to make sure the guards use dark-types. They're the best counter," spoke Kenji.

"As you wish," replied Shin.

"One more thing; what of the guards watching the room? Did they engage the gardevoir?" asked Kenji.

"They and their pokemon have been disposed of," replied Shin.

"Is that so? What a shame. Adjust the guard schedules, then. Make sure there is someone there twenty-four-seven," spoke Kenji, as he walked to the elevator.

"Sir, if I may ask. Why do you not move the lab?" asked Shin.

"Why? Quite simple. If I move it and make it inaccessible, those gardevoir might give up and not return. Then I would have to track them down. If they come to us, we can kill them that much easier," replied Kenji.

"I see. Very well, then," spoke Shin.

"Anything else?" asked Kenji.

"That is all," replied Shin, as he made his way to one of the other elevators.

Kenji would unknowingly distribute the virus program Seigai made, and end up wiping out his data once the virus became active three weeks from the time of the attack. While he was remarkably angry, he merely took out his frustrations on the software engineer who made his virus protection program, having the man befall an "accident," compliments of Shin.

After Satoshi and Seigai had left the lab, they reappeared in their house. Kasumi was quick to greet the pair in an embrace.

"Thank goodness!" shouted Kasumi.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," spoke Seigai.

"I had to make sure we came back," spoke Satoshi.

Kasumi let the pair go before noting their injuries.

"What happened?" asked Kasumi.

"There was a guard with some dark-types. They gave us a run for out money, but we were able to take care of them," replied Seigai, "Remind me to ask you to teach me how to do that electric technique you were using, and that other one... the one where you shot that beam out of your hands."

"Thunderbolt and hyper beam; I'll teach them to you soon enough. I think it would be more fitting to teach you have to make barriers and light screens," replied Satoshi.

"Ah, thanks. Now then, remind me, what are the vulnerabilities of dark types?" asked Seigai.

"Fighting and bug type moves," replied Kasumi.

"Fighting and bug type... well, I don't suppose either of you two know moves of those types?" asked Seigai.

"We know of some, but we can't use them," replied Satoshi.

"These bodies aren't well adapted to using either... but... maybe..." muttered Seigai.

"What are you planning?" asked Satoshi.

"You did say that it's possible for any pokemon to use any technique, right?" asked Seigai.

"Within certain bounds, but yes. Why?" asked Satoshi.

"Well, bug is out, but fighting... what kinds of moves are fighting moves?" asked Seigai.

"Those based in martial arts, such as karate chop and low kick. Slaps and tackles are normal type moves," explained Kasumi.

"Hmm... I have an idea," spoke Seigai.

"What would that be?" asked Satoshi.

"To make a room for a training gym," spoke Seigai.

"We have the field in the forest," spoke Satoshi.

"I know, but this will be for weight lifting and other physical workouts," replied Seigai.

"What would you need to do that for?" asked Satoshi.

"To see if I could build the muscles of this body. Can you two do that?" asked Seigai.

"Hmm..." muttered Satoshi.

"I don't think it's impossible," replied Kasumi.

"I want to try this and see where it goes. As it is, we're not quite too well adapted for fighting type moves, but that can always be fixed with enough training, right?" asked Seigai.

"It will be difficult. Fighting is more or less the opposite of our natural type. While there are fusions of fighting and psychic types, such as gallade, our alternate evolution, it would be difficult for us to train our bodies like that," answered Satoshi.

"Well, you don't know until you try. I think it's worth a shot. Besides, I'm still part human, so I might be able to do a few things you guys can't," replied Seigai.

"Alright then, we'll give this a try," spoke Kasumi.

"It would make for something new; I'm in," spoke Satoshi.

"Alright. We'll alternate strength training with psychic training, every other day. That's reasonable, right?" asked Seigai.

"It sounds reasonable. We should take the day off to get some rest. We'll start working on this gym of yours tomorrow, and start using it for training once we have everything we need," replied Satoshi.

"Okay. I have an idea of what we need. Up for a little sports equipment shopping, Kasumi?" asked Seigai.

"Sounds like fun, but you won't be able to join me without being seen," replied Kasumi.

"Actually, I found a way around that," spoke Seigai, as he went into his room. Within a few minutes, he emerged, wearing a long sleeved outfit with long pants, along with sunglasses and a head wrap to obscure all the features that identified him as a gardevoir.

"Getting the padding right for hiding the spike was a pain. It looks a tad exaggerated, but it works. I have makeup for my skin, but that's all that's missing. I have one for you, too, Satoshi. We can walk out in public like this, right?" asked Seigai.

"It works," spoke Kasumi, "though it is different." Kasumi pondered in her mind how her mate would look in the outfit, bringing a smile to her face.

"Why do I not like that look?" asked Satoshi.

"That's the look of a devious woman; never a good sight for a man," spoke Seigai.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not thinking of anything too embarrassing," replied Kasumi as she let out a small chuckle.

"I'm not wearing that," spoke Satoshi.

"It's not that bad... well, it is a little warm," replied Seigai.

"I prefer to be comfortable; I'll pass," spoke Satoshi.

"Very well," spoke Seigai.

Kasumi appeared to be a little disappointed, but neither Satoshi or Seigai wanted to ask why.

Kasumi and Seigai spent the next couple of weeks gathering up all the supplies they would need in order to build their own home gym. Seigai was hopeful this would condition their bodies to be able to properly execute fighting type attacks. They worked in physical training with psychic training, making it their new routine for the time being. Seigai decided it would be best if they were to hold off on attacking the Union Corporation for the time being, until they were able to complete their strength training.

Physical training was a new experience for all of them. They each maintained their health through varying forms of exercise in the past, but never gave much thought to conducting actual strength training. They had basic workout equipment; some benches, dumbbells, and barbells, along with some punching bags and floor mats. They made a new extension to their house, the size of about half the house, for their home gym. As they were out in the forest, they had more than enough space to do this with. They were even able to recruit some nidoking and nidoqueen, in exchange for food and temporary shelter. It took several months before they started to see some results. Though their bodies were still fairly small they were able to bulk up somewhat. Seigai had hoped he would show more development, since he was a hybrid, though he did not.

Another five years had come and gone. Seigai and Satoshi would conduct their terrorist runs on the Union corporation every now and again. They concluded that constantly destroying the lab equipment only increased the chances of their being caught, and kept to data sabotage, trying to create strong computer viruses to wipe out all of their information. Their successes and failures were balanced. Sometimes they would force them to start over again, other times they would be able to find their viruses before they could destroy any data. Sometimes they would catch a virus after it had wiped out some of the information. They kept their time at the Union building short, not wanting to end up in another fight with the guards. If they came in when there was a guard on duty, they would quickly incapacitate the guard and leave. If the guard had the time to send out pokemon, they would quickly depart, knowing their security was only improving. Over time, Seigai had taken note they were still advancing in their plans, with their strikes only hindering their progress.

"Uh, that was tiring..." muttered Seigai, as he sat himself down on the couch in the living area. The group of three had completed their physical training for the day. Seigai, Satoshi and Kasumi hadn't changed too much. The only difference was a slight build in their arms and legs, showing how their muscles were developing. Their limbs were still more slender than the average human's, though.

"Indeed. As you humans say, though, no pain, no gain," spoke Satoshi.

"Still, though. Even after doing this for this long, it's still so tiring..." muttered Kasumi.

"At least it's working. Remember last week when I almost sent the punching bag flying out the window!" shouted Seigai.

"We remember. I remember Kasumi running out of the way of it when it was tumbling in her direction," replied Satoshi.

"As fun as it was to see it slam into the wall, I didn't like the idea of the thing hitting me," replied Kasumi.

"True, true, and then there was the pain of finding a stronger chain, but still, it was kind of funny. Not quite as funny as the time you burst open that sand one, though," spoke Seigai, while looking at Satoshi.

"I didn't think it would break so easily, really," replied Satoshi.

"The best part of that was when Satoshi ended up falling down, and having the sand fall on him," spoke Kasumi.

"That was the best part. And then dragging him out of it. Looked like he had just taken a trip to the beach!" shouted Seigai.

"I thought I would be cleaning sand out of his hair for the next year! He was such a mess after that," spoke Kasumi, while laughing along with Seigai.

"Oh, shut it," spoke Satoshi, "It wasn't that funny."

"Sure it was!" shouted Kasumi, as she rubbed up on her husband a little in an attempt to get him to laugh a little. A small smile formed on Satoshi's face, though it was somewhat short lived.

"I didn't realize just how late it was getting," spoke Seigai.

"Hard to believe it's almost ten. I didn't think we would end up training for that long," spoke Satoshi.

"It happens when we get "in the zone," spoke Seigai.

"We would still be going if I didn't catch a glance at the clock," spoke Kasumi.

"True enough," replied Seigai, as he stood up.

"Going somewhere?" asked Kasumi.

"Just going out for a bit, to try and relax a little. We did plan another raid two days from now. It'll help to ease the stress. I figured you two wouldn't mind having a little time alone to relieve your own stress," spoke Seigai.

"Alright, just don't be out for too long," spoke Satoshi.

"And don't go out too far. You know how territorial those noctowl get," replied Kasumi.

"Geez, I'm not a kid," replied Seigai, as he made his way out the door. As soon as he was outside, he teleported himself to somewhere.

"So, think he's about to visit the kids again?" asked Satoshi.

"Probably. I want them to catch him this time. I know he's worried about the Union Corporation finding out about who he is, but he should really try to be a bigger part of their lives," spoke Kasumi.

"I agree, though, in the end, it's his own choice. I don't want to pressure him one way or the other. After what happened to Akane, I sure he doesn't want to drag anyone else he cares about into this situation," replied Satoshi.

"I know, but still... it must be so hard on him," spoke Kasumi.

As Satoshi and Kasumi figured, Seigai was watching his children again. He was able to control his teleportation to the point where he could appear precisely where he wanted to. He was now observing them from just outside their window. He watched as his children fell asleep and decided to sit with them in their room for a little while. He was careful to mask his presence and teleported himself into their room. He stayed close to their closet, just wanting to watch them sleep for a few minutes before making his way back. As he walked a little closer to their beds, he felt something latch onto his leg. He did his best not to shout out before teleporting back outside again.

"Ha! Got you!" shouted Sakashi. The boy kirlia ran out of his bed to look at what his trap had caught, only to find there was nothing there.

"Huh? But I felt it! And the trap snapped!" shouted Sakashi.

Seigai listened to his children outside of their room. He noticed the grabber claw they had used had bitten into his leg, resulting in it bleeding a little.

"Huh, so it was a trap, huh? Guess that was a little too close. Perhaps I should be a little more careful the next time I come to visit. They're getting better every day. Before long, they might actually catch me, and then I would have some serious explaining to do," spoke Seigai to himself as he teleported himself back to his home. When he arrived, he had noticed Satoshi and Kasumi had already went into their bedroom for the night.

"Well, I don't feel like sleeping just yet. Let's see what's on the TV at this time of night..." muttered Seigai. He fell asleep to the random television shows he was watching that night.

The next day passed without incident and Seigai and Satoshi prepared themselves for their next mission. They had chosen to strike after one this morning, hoping to catch the middle of the guard rotation.

"Hopefully this one will do something," spoke Seigai.

"The last few didn't seem to do much of anything. They're starting to get better with figuring out how our programs work," replied Satoshi.

"Guess I should have taken computer programming a little more seriously," spoke Seigai.

"Just do what you can over there, don't get caught," spoke Kasumi.

"We won't. We've done well for this long," replied Seigai.

"We'll be back before you miss us," spoke Satoshi, as he and Seigai disappeared.

"They won't be happy until they really do end up giving me reason to worry," spoke Kasumi.

Seigai and Satoshi appeared in the middle of the lab once again. They were fortunate enough to avoid catching a guard and started hacking their way into the computer.

"Even their encryption protection is starting to get better," muttered Seigai, as he tried his best to get into the computer.

"I'm in over here," spoke Satoshi.

"How did you manage that?" asked Seigai.

"Dumb luck, I suppose," spoke Satoshi as he suddenly paused. He saw something on his screen that made him pale.

"What is it?" asked Seigai.

"This... this isn't good," spoke Satoshi.

"Have they completed the weapon?" asked Seigai, starting to sound nervous at the idea.

"No, it's not that. It's this," spoke Satoshi, as he allowed Seigai to see what he had on his screen. It was the blueprints for some kind of device. Seigai read the description before turning pale himself.

"A device that can prevent pokemon and devices from teleporting in or out of a place. That could cause us problems," spoke Seigai.

"It would make it impossible for us to continue our attacks," spoke Satoshi.

"I don't like the idea of being able to get into a place only to find we couldn't get back out again," replied Seigai.

"I didn't even think about that. This could be used to make a rather nasty trap for us," spoke Satoshi.

"At this point, I doubt they would do something as 'kind' as simply imprisoning us. Is there anything on when they'll have these devices completed?" asked Seigai.

"Nothing clear. Seems the project is in it's beginning phases," replied Satoshi.

"Then it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to wipe out the data pertaining to it, as well. We can't give them the chance to make these," spoke Seigai.

"Do you need to adjust that virus?" asked Satoshi.

"I do, but it's not something I can't do quickly. I can do it after we upload it," replied Seigai, as he placed his disk into the computer. Before he could do anything else, a prompt came up for unlocking the drive for use. It wasn't the first time the pair had run into this kind of problem while trying to conduct one of their attacks. The increase in security pertained to the computer systems as well.

"Want to work another miracle?" asked Seigai.

"Let's try to get this going as soon as possible," spoke Satoshi.

The pair needed another few minutes to access to the drive and adjust the virus program. While Seigai was working on the virus program, Satoshi looked at the plans for the teleportation inhibiting devices.

"Interesting design idea. They have an organic core," spoke Satoshi.

"An organic core?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah. Looks like they must have been finding some other applications for your research. These things have samples of dark-type pokemon at their core. Makes sense, seeing as teleportation techniques are psychic based. Dark-type has the defensive capabilities to neutralize psychic-type abilities," explained Satoshi.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Is there anything else you can learn about those devices?" asked Seigai, as he was completing his virus program.

"There's not too much else I can learn from this, other than they're range doesn't appear to be all that great. Looks like they can only cover a room or two, depending on the size and configuration of the space the device is intended to guard," replied Satoshi.

"That doesn't seem too practical. That would mean they would need these devices in mass quantity in order for them to be of any use. Otherwise, all we would need to do is leave. There are no security blocks keeping us from leaving this room. We would probably be safe at the intersection of the corridors leading to the elevator, reactor, and here," explained Seigai.

"Unless they plant devices at that point. Hopefully they won't," spoke Satoshi.

"Even if they did, we could just find them and destroy them. I somewhat doubt this would be difficult, since they apparently would need to be located in the room they are guarding," spoke Seigai, as he completed his program.

"Then again, if this works, it won't be an issue one way or the other," spoke Seigai, as he set his program to run.

"Set?" asked Satoshi.

"Set, let's get out of here," spoke Seigai, as he and Satoshi left.

A few minutes after the pair left, a guard entered the lab behind them. It was Shin.

"Oh, another one of these, eh?" asked Shin, as he looked over the computer screen.

"Such a nuisance," spoke Shin, as he entered in a few commands on the computer. He frowned as he had to try a few more before a look of relief when across his face.

"My my, that one took quite a few tries to get rid of," spoke Shin, as he had a look at what the pair were looking into.

"I see they found these. What a shame. It would have been more fun if we could have used one to trap them first. Doesn't matter. There was no way they were going to avoid learning about these before their implementation. As Kenji said, they'll keep coming here in order to bring an end to his efforts, and that's when we'll get them. It's only a matter of time before we start to get the aid of the military. Once we have their resources at our disposal, we'll be unstoppable," spoke Shin, as he left the room. Within a few minutes of his leaving, Seigai's program continued where it left off. Seigai had made this one so that it could "play dead" should someone try to stop it, in the hopes they would buy it and leave, thinking they had taken care of the problem. The virus continued its destructive run through the labs computers, taking out everything, including the plans for the teleport inhibitors.

Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi continued to work on their training between their attempted raids. They were keeping a continued eye on the development of the teleport inhibitors, knowing they would be in trouble once they have been completed. The only good news in regards to the devices were their limited range. No effort was put into expanding their range, much to Seigai and Satoshi's relief.

Another five years had passed by. Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi had only continued to improve in their strength. Seigai continued his "visits" with his children, though he opted to keep them brief, not wanting to reveal himself to his children before the time was right. Even with their continued training, Seigai had yet to manifest his enhanced power. He was continuing to train to bring it out in the middle of his gym. He had himself deep in thought, putting together the events of the duel from over ten years ago.

In his mind, Seigai watched as Satoshi kept trying to knock him away while Kasumi ran at him. As real as his depiction was, it would always fall short. It was more like watching a video rather than actually being there, but Seigai persevered. When his attempt failed again, he attempted to reconstruct it once more.

"What am I missing?" thought Seigai, as he continued to reconstruct the moment over and over again. Suddenly, his years of frustration caused him to lose control of his thoughts. He saw scenes of multiple duels, playing through his mind rapidly, over and over again. They scenes played out in his mind at random, as though his mind was trying to latch onto one specific moment. The rapid scenes finally stopped flashing through his mind, and froze on one moment. The one moment Seigai had done his best to repress from his memories. It was the moment when Akane had died before Seigai. Seigai could feel his crippled body unable to move, barely clinging to consciousness. As Seigai saw this scene play out once again, he heard one thing that was different. It was a laugh. It was faint at first, but it continued to grow louder as he saw the scene unfold. The laugh had a cold, twisted nature, hardly the type of laugh shared amongst friends. As the laugh became clearer, Seigai could recognize it. It was the laugh of Shin. The laughing became overwhelming right at the point where Seigai had blacked out. At that point, the scene before him changed. The scene was unfamiliar to him, something that was not of his memory. He saw fires breaking out all around him. These fires appeared to incinerating something. As the scene came into focus, he could see a house burning. It was the house of Muzo and Mizuho. He saw Shin amongst the flames, laughing as the fires burned brighter. He could hear the screams of everyone inside ringing out, only to be supplanted by more of Shin's laughter. Shin soon emerged from the flames. He turned to face Seigai, pointed, and started to laugh louder and louder, until Seigai though his ear would burst.

"That's enough..." though Seigai, as he saw the scene unfold.

"That's enough... that's enough... that's enough, that's enough," thought Seigai, before looking up and shouting, "That's enough!"

Seigai suddenly unleashed a wave of psychic energy, knocking away Shin into the flames. The blast had enough intensity to blow away the flames along with Shin, causing both to disappear in a manner that made it seem as though the flames were taking Shin with them.

After this scene cleared, Seigai passed out. Black was all that greeted him before he could hear the sound of more voices. They voices also started out faint. Seigai was worried it was Shin coming back until they were loud enough for him to sense the emotions within the voices. They were the voices of those who appeared to be concerned over something. The voices continued to get louder until Seigai could finally make out what they were saying.

"Seigai..." came the first voice.

"Are you okay? Answer me..." came the second voice.

"Satoshi? Kasumi?" thought Seigai, before regaining consciousness.

Seigai was on the floor, shaking. He felt cold, he could sense the sweat covering his body. His heart was still racing, though it was starting to get under control. Upon waking, Seigai was hit with a feeling of harsh dizziness and disorientation. He felt as though he could drift back into his sleep at any moment, but he was able to pull himself together and put together the scene that was before him. Seigai tried to speak, but garbled words were all he could manage. Satoshi and Kasumi picked up Seigai, and tried to sit him up against a nearby wall. It took a few minutes before Seigai finally stopped shaking.

"Seigai? What happened?" asked Kasumi.

"I... I'm not sure," replied Seigai, still shaking off his feelings of disorientation.

"You were doing your meditation, then you suddenly fell to the floor. You've been out for the past few hours, sweating and shaking. We were about to risk taking you to the hospital after trying everything we could think of on you," explained Satoshi.

"Sorry about that... but... I did it," spoke Seigai.

"Did it? Did what?" asked Satoshi.

"I learned to control my power," replied Seigai, as he tried to stand up. It was a little shaky, forcing Kasumi to try and support him.

Seigai finally gained his sense of direction and made his way outside, prompting Satoshi and Kasumi to follow him.

"Seigai?" asked Kasumi.

"What are you doing?" asked Satoshi.

"Just watch," replied Seigai, as he closed his eyes.

Seigai focused for a moment. His eyes went from glowing the regular blue of a psychic attack to a bright white. At that point, a large wave of psychic energy was released from Seigai. It was focused enough to spread out only in front of him. If it had gone behind him, it would have taken down his house as easily as it took down the trees before him, resulting in several loud crashes. After completing the technique, Seigai fell to the ground again.

"Seigai!" shouted Kasumi, as she went to assist him with Satoshi close behind.

"Seems that takes a lot out of me. That one I did the first time was nothing compared to this," spoke Seigai, as he fought off another wave of disorientation.

"How did you do it?" asked Satoshi.

"It's my emotions. They are the key. It's the feeling of pure desperation, of being backed up against a wall. That feeling of their being no way out other than death. That's the trigger," explained Seigai.

"How were you able to produce those feelings?" asked Satoshi.

"That's what I'm unsure of. As I was doing my normal meditation, something snapped. I was hit with several memories all at once before seeing this nightmare," explained Seigai. Seigai went into detail on the content of his vision, and the feelings it had struck into him, allowing him to finally awaken his power once again.

"So that was the secret," spoke Satoshi.

"It would seem so," replied Seigai.

"Amazing that this is something only you can do," spoke Satoshi.

"Maybe. There is a chance the children are able to do this," spoke Seigai.

"We've been keeping an eye on them over the years. Even when they've been backed against the wall, they've yet to show this kind of power," spoke Satoshi.

"I doubt they would keep quiet about it if they were to experience it," spoke Kasumi, knowing how much they enjoyed bragging about their progress.

"I suppose so. I can't try and force them into a situation that would bring it out... we'll just have to keep an eye on them and hope for the best. If they are able to use this, I would have to train them right away. It would help them to be able to protect themselves," explained Seigai.

"And it would help put us a little at ease, I suppose. We can only continue to watch," spoke Satoshi.

"True enough," spoke Seigai, as he tried to get himself up again. He was finally able to rise to his feet again.

"Seems this power of yours comes at a price," spoke Satoshi.

"A little. I think I need to better control it to not use it all at once. If I were to do this in a battle, I would be in trouble of my opponent were not defeated, or if another opponent appeared. Hopefully there will never be a situation where I'll have to use it in full like that," explained Seigai.

"I think you should rest for a day or two," spoke Kasumi, as she went to help Seigai on his way back in the house.

"I think you're right," replied Seigai, as he was escorted in the house and to his bedroom.

Seigai decided to spend most of his psychic training time learning how to properly control his power in a manner that wouldn't completely exhaust him after it's use. Seigai named it the psyblast technique, referring to it's destructive nature and abruptness. Satoshi and Kasumi attempted to see if it was possible for them to use the technique, and were successful to some degree, though their version wasn't nearly as powerful as the version Seigai employed. When Satoshi and Kasumi used it, their eyes didn't glow white, and it didn't have the same destructive result, similar to how the curse technique works differently for ghosts, psyblast worked differently for those who had the proper gene.

Satoshi and Seigai continued to monitor the development of the teleport inhibitors, knowing full well they could be completed at any time. Their raids were becoming less and less effective, with the continued advances in security at the Union Corporation. While the guard presence never changed, the computer systems continued to get better at repelling their virus programs to the point where it was a fluke when one of them actually worked properly. Seigai knew this was going to happen through his visions, knowing that in the end, their efforts would only stall the Union Corporation as opposed to stopping them.

It has now been sixteen years since Seigai had left his children with Muzo and Mizuho. Seigai heard Aomine had become and trainer and Ryoku was going to be his first pokemon. While Seigai was at first outraged at the idea, and readied himself to beat Aomine within an inch of his life, Satoshi and Kasumi calmed him down by explaining that Aomine never intended to place Ryoku inside a pokeball. Seigai was still upset at the idea, and decided he would observe the pair to see what Aomine would do.

Seigai also continued to plan out his raids with Satoshi and Kasumi.

"What's the plan this time?" asked Satoshi.

"Same as always, punch in the virus and get out of there before the guards show up," replied Seigai.

"Anything special about this one?" asked Satoshi.

"Just another sleeper virus that can play dead and clone itself when attacked. Nothing too new and exciting," replied Seigai.

"Hopefully this one will work. I don't like the amount of progress they've been making this month," spoke Satoshi.

"Agreed," replied Seigai.

It was now a little after midnight. The pair were ready to leave once again.

"Be careful, you two," spoke Kasumi.

"We always are," replied Satoshi, as he and Seigai disappeared.

Seigai and Satoshi arrived in the lab once again.

"Eh?" muttered Seigai, as he noticed something odd about the computer terminal he appeared in front of.

"What's wrong?" asked Satoshi.

"The locks are already off on this computer," replied Seigai.

"That's unusual. You think they forgot?" asked Satoshi.

"In sixteen years they never once forgot to lock their computers. I find it hard to believe they would slip up now," answered Seigai.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," replied Satoshi, as he took a look at the screen in front of him. This computer was also unlocked.

"This one is unlocked, too," spoke Satoshi. The pair took a brief walk around the room and found that all of the computers were unlocked, even the computers controlling the machines in the lab.

"This is bizarre. It should only be like this if someone is working in here, and yet there's no sign of anyone," spoke Seigai.

"I don't like this. This gives me a bad feeling," replied Satoshi.

"Let's just punch it and go," spoke Seigai, as he prepared to upload his virus program into the computer. After his upload was finished, he prepared to set his program to start.

"Alright, last part," spoke Seigai. Just as he set his program to start, the screen on his terminal went blank.

"Is that from you?" asked Satoshi, as he noted the same happened on all of the other terminals.

"It shouldn't be. None of my programs have ever worked this quickly," replied Seigai. As he spoke, text appeared on the screen.

"We have you now," read Satoshi and Seigai at the same time. The alarms going off were their only reply before a group of five guards charged into the room, each threw out a pokeball.

"Time to go," spoke Seigai. Satoshi nodded. When the pair attempted to leave, they found they were bounced back into the room.

"You can't mean..." muttered Seigai.

"They've completed the teleport inhibitors!" shouted Satoshi, "It's a trap!"

The pair were surrounded by two umbreon, an absol, a houndoom, and a weavile. Each were charging dark-type energy.

"Brace yourself!" shouted Seigai.

"Dark pulse!" shouted all of the guards.

Seigai and Satoshi screamed out as the wave of dark-type energy smashed into them. The two fell to their knees, barely able to keep themselves together.

"That didn't tickle..." muttered Seigai.

"Surrender here or die. Those are your only options," spoke the leader of the group of guards.

"Geez, no Shin? Thought he would delight in something like this," replied Seigai, as he got back on his feet.

"Commander Harai is currently away. We're more than enough to handle the two of you," replied the guard.

"Charming... under normal pretense, I would say you were right," replied Seigai.

"Time to put that training to the test?" asked Satoshi.

"Now or never," replied Seigai, as each took the stance of fighting-types and picked their targets.

Seigai leapt at one of the umbreon with a jump kick. The surprised pokemon was sent flying into the wall behind it. Satoshi ran up to the houndoom and hit it with a karate chop, knocking it into the weavile.

"What the!" shouted one of the guards. None of them had known a gardevoir to use fighting-type moves. A couple took notice of the bulkier limbs the pair had in comparison to other gardevoir.

While the guards were still confused, Satoshi hit the weavile with a focus punch, knocking it out instantly as it went flying into the guard commanding it. Seigai hit the other umbreon with a cross chop.

"Faint attack!" shouted the guards controlling the umbreon. The pair charged at Seigai, knocking him into a computer console and smashing it in a shower of sparks.

"Fire blast!" shouted the guard controlling the houndoom.

Satoshi rolled out of the way of the fire blast, only to end up in front of the mightyena.

"Sucker punch!" shouted the guard controlling the mightyena. Satoshi was sent flying into a group of computer consoles, resulting in his being covered in a shower of sparks.

Seigai recovered and used a hi jump kick on the first umbreon he saw, knocking it out, leaving him with only one target. The other umbreon charged at him with another faint attack, and sent Seigai into a wall. Seigai was better able to take the hit, rebounded himself off of the wall, and finished off the umbreon with a low kick.

Satoshi recovered and hit the mightyena with a mach punch before running up to the houndoom, weaving around another fire blast, and engaging it with close combat. Satoshi unleashed a fast barrage of punches followed up by kicks, knocking out the houndoom and sending it crashing into one of the lab machines, resulting in the machine shorting out and exploding. The mightyena charged Satoshi with a faint attack, but was caught off guard by the explosion. Satoshi used the small opening to finish off the mightyena with a low kick.

Seigai and Satoshi regrouped in the middle of the room, staring at the guards.

"Don't tell me you only brought one pokemon each?" spoke Seigai.

"Curse you!" shouted the leader of the guards, as he tried to make his escape. Satoshi and Seigai halted the guards with psychic, and carried them over the middle of the room.

"Anyone want to shut off the inhibitors for us?" asked Seigai.

"Not a chance!" shouted one of the guards. All appeared to follow the lead guards resolution.

"Too bad," spoke Satoshi.

Seigai and Satoshi slammed the guards into one another, knocking them each unconscious.

"Guess we do this the fun way," spoke Satoshi, as he and Seigai prepared a thunderbolt. The pair sent out a burst of lightning in all directions, shorting out all the equipment in the room, bathing the pair in sparks from the smashed equipment.

"Did you feel that?" asked Seigai.

"Yeah. That feeling of having a weight on our shoulders is gone. Guess this means we got the inhibitors," replied Satoshi.

"Let's go," replied Seigai, as he and Satoshi disappeared.

Shin arrived at the Union Corporation building a few hours later. He was summoned there by the alarm system, and went to see what was going on, hoping to have a pair of gardevoir to torture. When he arrived, he found the lab a disaster and his guards knocked out.

"I see... even when I make it this easy for you, you still manage to fail. I went through the trouble of giving you each one of the pokemon I raised myself, and yet you still managed to fail," spoke Shin, as he looked over everything. He walked up to the nearest guard, and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. He slammed the guard into the wall with enough force to wake him.

"Explain. Make it good," spoke Shin.

"They... they came again," replied the guard.

"Tell me something I can't deduce on my own!" shouted Shin, as he grabbed hold of the guard's throat.

"There was something different about them this time!" shouted the guard.

"What was different?" asked Shin.

"They were able to use fighting-type moves effectively. They even looked bulkier than normal gardevoir!" shouted the guard.

"Are you sure you did not confuse gardevoir for gallade?" asked Shin.

"Positive. The dresses and hair were a dead giveaway. It was the same two as before, the one with the black hair and the one with the shorter hair on the right!" shouted the guard.

"So they decided to exploit one of the weaknesses of the dark-type. Clever. I would have done the same," muttered Shin, after letting the guard drop to the floor.

"Well, that explains why my trap failed. Tell me, were you able to get a few hits in, at least?" asked Shin.

"We hit them first," replied the guard.

"Good, good, so they were caught off guard. Well, they know about the inhibitors, so I suppose we won't be able to surprise them like that again. I just need better numbers. Yes, better numbers should take care of it," replied Shin.

"They looked like they were worn down," spoke the guard.

"Oh, were they? Well, I suppose that does tell me a little. Still, the more the better. I don't want to fall short. Hmm... better make sure I have my strongest here. Such a shame I was off elsewhere. If I was here, they would have never stood a chance," spoke Shin.

"What do you want us to do?" asked the guard.

"Hm? Oh, yes, yes, I do need you to do something. Bring a clean up crew down here," spoke Shin.

The guard nodded and complied. As he was talking with the maintenance personnel, he could hear violent screaming coming from behind him, coupled with violent screeches and howls. The guard turned around after his conversation in time to see an umbreon being crushed against the wall beside him by a steelix. The umbreon coughed up blood from the force of the blow. The steelix finished it off by tearing out the flesh of its stomach with it's teeth. The blood-stained pokemon turned to stare at the guard.

"Commander, what is going on!" shouted the frightened guard.

"As I told you before, I have a zero tolerance policy for failure. This includes pokemon," replied Shin.

"Even your own!" shouted the guard, as he backed away in fear.

"Oh, I'm even more strict with my own," spoke Shin, "Now then, take care of that last one for me, would you Steelix?"

The guard knew his fate before the command was given, and quickly tried to think himself out of the situation. As he was sliding across the wall, he noticed there was a fire hose on the other side of the door. He knew he had only one chance to get to it. The steelix barred it teeth and charged at the guard. The guard rolled out of the way, past the door, and over to the hose. Shin was surprised the guard didn't try to roll out of the lab. He was surprised further when he saw what his subordinate was doing. The guard pulled up the hose, pointed it at the steelix, and turned it on full, bracing himself against the wall to withstand the force of the hose. The steelix let out a roar as it was hit hard from the water spraying out of the hose. The water spraying out was like being hit by a water-type attack, exploiting the beasts weakness as a partial ground-type, and forcing it back. The guard continued hitting the steelix until it was knocked out, resulting in a large thud. The guard turned off the hose, preparing to drop it and run. Before he could run out the door, he was stopped by the sound of clapping.

"Huh?" spoke the guard.

"Very good, very good. You're the first one to even try to fight back, much less win. My my, now what will I do with you?" asked Shin.

The guard didn't want to know as he made his way for the nearby door. Before he was clear of the lab, Shin had him wrapped up in a whip.

"Now, now, no need to rush on out like that. I'm sure you'd like to know what I plan on doing with you," spoke Shin.

The guard struggled to break free, but found he was unable. Shin smiled as he recalled his steelix, apparently having figured out what he intended to do with the guard. He pulled the struggling guard out of the lab and took him to the reactor room. The large, metal door slid open as Shin entered the appropriate code after sliding his card. They pair were greeted by a large computer console covering the lower half of a three story wall. The rest of the room had smaller consoles embedded within the wall, spaced out evenly. The open space of the room was large enough to hold four military tanks. Shin approached the wall in front of them. On the far right side of the wall was what appeared to be a hatch.

"Normally, this hatch is for maintenance. It opens up into reactor and it just large enough for one person to traverse. There are several doors in place here, just to make sure there's enough protection from the radiation. We could have done this with three, but Kenji insisted on seven. Fine by me, really, makes this next part more interesting," spoke Shin, as he opened up the first door. He placed the pokeball holding his steelix on the floor and closed the door. Shin walked over to part of the main console and activated a screen showing the chamber he placed the pokeball in. Shin entered in a few codes and commands, resulting in a loud thud coming from the hatch beside them. The next hatch opened, while a small pusher on a rail guided the pokeball forward. As the pokeball passed one door, the next would open in sequence, while the door behind it would close.

"My own addition. You see, not all... failures... can be disposed of easily. For some, this is the only practical way," spoke Shin, as the pokeball continued to move forward into the reactor. The heat and radiation destroyed the ball, forcing the steelix to be released. Though it couldn't be heard through the thick doors, it was obvious from the pained expression on its face it was roaring loudly before the heat and radiation melted the beast, setting the remains on fire, before they disintegrated into nothing.

"And that takes care of that," spoke Shin, "Now then, for you..."

The guard became nervous, suspecting he was going to be thrown into the reactor next. He was surprised when Shin simply undid the whip restraining him.

"You get to live another day," spoke Shin, "as a reward for beating my steelix. However, should you fail again, this will be your fate." Shin pointed at the screen, showing the guard what he had meant. The guard shook at the thought.

"Yuki, don't fail me again," spoke Shin, as he left the room.

Yuki stood still as Shin left. He stared at the screen which had been showing the death of Shin's steelix moments before. He saw the scene play out in his head again, along with the death of his comrades and the pokemon they were using in the lab. Still shaking, Yuki made his way for the nearest bathroom, where he threw up everything he had eaten over the course of the day.

Seigai and Satoshi held off on their raids for a while, not wanting to fall into another trap like they had before. Seigai knew they were at the end of what they could accomplish for the time being and continued to focus on training. Seigai continued to keep an eye on Aomine and Ryoku, watching their progress as they trained together, making careful Aomine did not do anything to his daughter he did not wish for.

It was now eighteen years since Seigai had left his children. He was glad that they were all getting stronger, though Seigai was beginning to believe that none of them had inherited the ability to use psyblast at full strength. Nonetheless, Seigai continued to keep an eye on them between his training, hoping to see something indicating they would be able to use it. He knew it took him a while to use it the first time, and hoped it was just taking the others a while to awaken it for themselves. Seigai was following behind Aomine and Ryoku as they were training in the woods. He noticed they were relatively far in. The pair were no where near as far in as Seigai's house, but that was not Seigai's concern. He was worried the pokemon this far into the forest may be too strong for the pair to handle. Seigai kept an eye on them throughout the day, ready to step in if he felt it necessary. The pair had made it through the day without difficulty, relieving Seigai, and prompting him to leave. Before he could depart, he saw a group of noctowl surround the pair.

"Not good..." muttered Seigai, as he saw the fight unfold.

The noctowl squawked about striking both Aomine and Ryoku repeatedly. It seemed as though the pair was about to be knocked out. Seigai was about to intrude when he felt a familiar power.

"What is that... did Ryoku?" asked Seigai, as he looked at his daughter. He could feel the power of a psyblast starting. He saw his daughter glow a bright white. However, instead of using the technique, she evolved into a kirlia. Unlike a normal evolution, where the pokemon would still be injured, Ryoku was in perfect condition.

"She used it to force an evolution?" asked Seigai, as he watched his daughter take down the noctowl one after the other. Seigai continued to observe, making sure they were no more noctowl threatening the pair. Seigai saw Ryoku jump up and give Aomine a hug. Before Seigai's father instincts could make him run over and pull the pair apart, Ryoku had used teleport to take Aomine and herself elsewhere.

"Where did they go... oh, their house. Well, that's fine. They won't do anything distasteful under the eyes of Muzo and Mizuho," muttered Seigai, as he himself returned to his home.

Seigai continued to observe the pair for the next couple of years. In that time, Seigai and Satoshi continued to monitor the actions of the Union Corporation, but made no attempts to strike at them. They opted to wait until they were closer to completing their hybrid weapon, hoping to be strong enough to overcome any obstacles thrown their way.

One day, Seigai heard information that struck fear into him. He had heard the Union Corporation had gained a military sponsor, meaning it was only a matter of time before their weapon was complete. Seigai knew his time was up and prepared one more assault with the aid of Satoshi.

"This is it, huh?" asked Satoshi.

"Yeah. There's no more time. We have to find a way to deliver a finishing blow to them. We can't leave anything to chance," spoke Seigai.

"What do you have in mind?" asked Satoshi.

"I think our best bet is to destroy the building, leaving nothing behind," replied Seigai.

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked Satoshi.

"The reactor. If we can rig that reactor to go out, it should take out most of the basement levels. It's far enough down, so it shouldn't cause too much damage to the surrounding area. The Union Building has a lot of open space around it, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Without a foundation to stand on, the building will collapse on itself. If that doesn't put an end to everything, I don't know what will," explained Seigai.

"Fair enough, but how are we going to destroy their reactor. We don't have the codes to get in there, and we can't teleport around the walls while they have the inhibitors working," spoke Satoshi.

"I know. We'll have to capture one of the guards and use their codes. It's the only way. We have to do this. I didn't want to have to cause this level of destruction, but it seems we're out of alternatives. We'll have to get all the information we can about their servers before we destroy everything. We'll have to make sure we take out everything that holds their information, even if it's a public terminal. Nothing can survive," spoke Seigai.

"Alright then. We shouldn't have a problem rounding up a guard. We can just read their minds for the codes. If we're lucky, we might be able to get the information out of them," replied Satoshi.

"I'm hoping. We'll have to be quick; from what I've gathered, they've stepped up security, since they are this close to the end of their project. Guess our not attacking for a few years didn't quite put them as off guard as I would have hoped," spoke Seigai.

"Doesn't matter, we'll find a way, somehow. We always do," replied Satoshi.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come along?" asked Kasumi.

"I really want you to, but it's too risky. There has to be at least one of us out here, just in case something happens," replied Seigai.

"I know, just make sure you don't end up needing me to bail you out of something," spoke Kasumi.

"I just see this as another challenge. We'll overcome," replied Satoshi, as he gave his wife a small hug.

"It's almost three. Time for the fun to begin," spoke Seigai, as he stood at ready.

"We'll be back before you miss us," spoke Satoshi, after giving his wife a quick kiss.

"Good luck," replied Kasumi.

The pair of Seigai and Satoshi gave each other a quick nod before disappearing, each wondering if they would even be able to make it in this time.

They're answer came in the form of loud sirens going off upon their entry to the lab.

"You've got to be kidding me," spoke Seigai.

"They can detect when we teleport in now!" shouted Satoshi.

Five guards came rushing into the lab, each throwing a pokeball. Seigai and Satoshi could feel the presence of the inhibitors, and didn't even waste energy on trying to teleport out. Two mightyena, two houndoom, and an umbreon emerged from the pokeballs, already preparing a dark pulse.

"You know, it sure would be nice if they would try something else for once," spoke Seigai as both he and Satoshi picked a target and used a quick attack. Seigai hit one of the mightyena, while Satoshi hit one of the umbreon. The two pokemon were caught off guard and lost their focus, preventing them from executing their attacks. Seigai and Satoshi picked their next targets and rushed through, readying themselves to take a hit from a dark pulse. Just as predicted, the other three pokemon let out their attacks. While Seigai and Satoshi felt a good deal of pain from the attacks, they weren't knocked back. With only three using the attack, as well as their increased strength from years of training, they were able to use their willpower to keep going. Both used a drain punch on their next targets, recovering some strength from their targets. Seigai hit the houndoom, while Satoshi hit the other mightyena. The other umbreon used a faint attack against Seigai, knocking him back. Satoshi came up from behind the pokemon and hit it with a high jump kick, slamming it back into the wall. The houndoom recovered and unleashed a flamethrower in the direction of Seigai and Satoshi. Each dodged the attack to the side and double teamed the pokemon, both hitting it with a cross chop. The houndoom was knocked out from the hit, leaving them with only four pokemon left. Seigai and Satoshi split off again, hitting with another quick attack, Seigai taking a mightyena and Satoshi finishing off the umbreon that had hit the wall. Satoshi rolled out of the way of the other mightyena, and hit it with a brick break, knocking it out. Seigai finished off his mightyena with a triple kick, then finished off the other umbreon with a force palm. The pair of Seigai and Satoshi regrouped in the middle of the room.

"That was fun for round one. Do we get a round two this time?" asked Seigai.

"Seigai, do you feel that?" asked Satoshi.

"Feel what... wait... shoot!" shouted Seigai.

While the pair had been busy with the other pokemon, six absol entered the room, each charging a dark pulse, while waiting for the other pokemon to be defeated. They unleashed their attacks at once, resulting in Seigai and Satoshi screaming out upon being hit. The pair were knocked down as a result. The absol wasted no time in rushing the pair, each using a faint attack, causing further injury to the pair. Seigai and Satoshi tried to hit a target with quick attack, but where slammed back down by another absol.

"These guys were trained to work together. This isn't good," spoke Seigai through telepathy.

"Got any ideas?" asked Satoshi.

"One. Keep close," replied Seigai, as his eyes started to glow white.

Satoshi was quick to figure out what it was Seigai was up to.

"Are you sure? They're dark-types, they have full resistance to psychic-type attacks," spoke Satoshi.

"If one of you used psyblast, I would think that. I think a full powered one from me will still do something," replied Seigai.

Seigai continued to charge his psyblast until his entire body began to glow. The absol and the guards controlling them were caught off guard by what they were seeing. It looked as though Seigai was evolving, which further confused those watching. Satoshi was the only one who had an idea of what was going on, and readied himself, knowing he had to slay close enough to be out of the influence of the attack. Once Seigai's entire form was covered in white light, he unleashed his psyblast with a shout. A wave of psychic energy erupted from Seigai, destroying everything it hit. All six absol were slammed violently into the wall, along with debris from exploding computer consoles and lab equipment. The guards were also thrown into the wall. More explosions signaled the destruction of the teleport inhibitors and cameras in the room. Satoshi ducked down, having a hard time seeing in the wave of destruction and light spreading throughout the room.

After a few minutes, the smoke cleared out enough for Satoshi to see again. Seigai fell to his knees, clearly exhausted from using a full-powered psyblast. Satoshi looked around to see all of the guards were out, along with the absol. Satoshi breathed a sigh of relief until he saw one of the absol stand on its feet. The pokemon had scratches all over its body from where bits of debris hit it. There was a small bit of blood dribbling from the beast's mouth, but that didn't seem to stop it. It took several steps forward, appearing at ready to strike. Satoshi prepared to use a quick attack, but stopped once the absol collapsed. There was no sign that the other absol had made it through the attack.

"Did it work?" asked Seigai.

"It worked. We better head upstairs. We can get the information we need from another computer, then we can come back here once things have settled a little bit. I doubt they'll be looking for us up there, so we should have some time to recover," replied Satoshi.

"Sounds like a good idea," spoke Seigai.

Satoshi attempted to teleport to the higher levels, but found he was unable to.

"Huh..." muttered Satoshi.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Seigai.

"The inhibitors are still up. I guess you didn't get them all," spoke Satoshi, as he unleashed a thunderbolt, covering all that remained undamaged in the room. Sparks rained down from the destruction of what was left of the cameras and inhibitors.

"Okay, that should do it," spoke Satoshi as he tried to teleport again, still without success.

"Are you out of energy?" asked Seigai.

"I'm a little worn, but I have more than enough energy to teleport us... there's no way I missed an inhibitor after that," replied Satoshi.

"Maybe we should just walk?" asked Seigai.

"Not so fast!" shouted another guard, as he entered the room, followed by five more. Each sent out another pokemon. Two houndoom, three weavile, and an umbreon greeted the pair.

"Seigai, have any fight left in you?" asked Satoshi.

"A little," spoke Seigai, as he struggled to get to his feet.

"Surrender," spoke the lead guard.

"Follow my lead," spoke Seigai.

Satoshi took note of what Seigai was preparing and followed suit. It was out of desperation, but it was all they had left. The pair quickly charged electricity and let out a combined thunderbolt throughout the room, slamming into the six pokemon that stood before them. Seigai and Satoshi kept it up for as long as they could before they were forced to stop. Seigai once again fell to his knees, having more than overexerted himself. The six pokemon before them were stunned from the hit. It appeared as though each of them had been paralyzed from their last attack.

"Lucky shot," spoke Satoshi.

The lead guard only smiled, sending a shiver down Satoshi's spine. He didn't like the feeling he was getting.

"You know how absol are said to be harbingers of disaster, right?" asked Satoshi.

"Yeah... we're dead, aren't we?" asked Seigai.

"Looks like it," replied Satoshi, readying himself for what was about to come. He realized that even a paralyzed pokemon could use a move that didn't require movement, and dark pulse required no movement at all. The wave of dark-type energy slammed into Seigai and Satoshi. Seigai was knocked out instantly. Satoshi fell, but tried to get himself back up.

"Can't... fall... here..." muttered Satoshi as he fell unconscious. The guards smiled as they recalled their pokemon.

"Take those two to the detention cells above. The commander wants to take care of these two personally," spoke the lead guard. The others complied, gathering up the pair and taking them to the prisons kept above them.

Seigai and Satoshi didn't know how long they were out, only that they were in trouble when they saw bars in front of them.

"Uh... Seigai?" asked Satoshi.

"Yeah?" asked Seigai.

"I think we're in trouble," replied Satoshi.

The pair noted that they were both bound, and that they had some kind of device on their heads. The devices gave them a mild headache, and apparently wouldn't allow them to use any of their psychic abilities. Combined with the shackles, the pair knew that they weren't going to be getting anywhere for the time being.

"How long do you think it'll take Kasumi to realize that something has gone wrong?" asked Seigai.

"I can't say. We have a deep bond with one another. I'm sure she already knows, but I'm not sure what she's going to be able to do to get us out of here. I don't think these were here before," spoke Satoshi.

"I'm pretty sure they weren't. This was an office building, there would be no need for something like this to be here. If it weren't for that polished metal corridor in front of us, I would think we were in a different place," replied Seigai.

"Sure is clean for a jail," replied Satoshi.

"Don't think this has been here long enough to become a mess," replied Seigai.

"It's going to be a mess soon enough. Have a way for us to get out of this one?" asked Satoshi.

"Not really. I didn't think they would have a device like this to even keep use from using our psychic abilities. There has to be something..." muttered Seigai, as his eyes started to glow blue. Before he could do anything, his eyes returned to normal, followed by Seigai letting out a quick scream of pain.

"Okay, so that didn't work," replied Seigai.

"Do you think a psyblast would do it?" asked Satoshi.

"Might, but it'll take a few hours before I could attempt it again. Really, I should wait twenty-four hours before attempting to perform another one, but a little exhaustion is better than being stuck here.

"I just hope we have a few hours," replied Satoshi.

It was now six in the morning. Guards had been set around the clock to keep an eye on Satoshi and Seigai. The guards could tell Seigai attempted to use his abilities. They were nervous until they saw the new devices had managed to hold up well to the abuse they were given.

"Looks like we finally have them," spoke one of the guards.

"About time. Dr. Den and Commander Harai were starting to become troublesome with regards to them. Maybe now we won't have to hear anymore about what's going to happen to us if we fail," replied the second guard. At that point, a third guard entered the room.

"Yuki?" asked one of other guards.

"It's my watch, now. You two can go and get some rest. You were part of the capture team, right?" asked Yuki.

"We were," replied one of the guards.

"Then you deserve some rest. Try to get some sleep, I'll send out an alert if those two manage to escape," replied Yuki.

"Very well," replied one of the guards.

"What are we do if they are successful in their escape?" asked the other guard.

"I'll gas them. That should at least weaken them, making it more than easy enough to recapture them. We'll just keep them gassed if they are able to break the restraints. Now then, go get some rest," spoke Yuki.

The pair of guards nodded as they left the room. Yuki took their place, keeping a careful eye on the screen in front of him.

"So, they finally managed to get a hold of you, did they?" spoke Yuki, as he continued to look at the screen. As Yuki was watching, the screen suddenly went blank. Yuki stared at it, puzzled for a moment. He hit some keys on the computer in front of them, but they didn't seem to do anything. A few moments later, another guard came in.

"You're late," spoke Yuki.

"I'm not late, you were early," replied the second guard.

"Not by my watch. Anyway, you're just in time. There seems to be a problem with the cameras. I'll go see what the problem is, you stay here and keep an eye on the screen. If something happens, you know what to do," spoke Yuki, as he made his way for the detention center.

The guard's room Yuki and the others were using was located on the same level as the detention center, just a little ways down the corridor. The room itself was behind a door made to look like the rest of wall, making it so anyone escaping wouldn't notice the room, and could be caught off guard. Yuki made his way into the detention center, noting nothing appeared to be amiss. There were two guards keeping an eye on Satoshi and Seigai.

"Have the prisoners made any attempts at escape?" asked Yuki.

"They have not, as far as we can tell. They've attempted to use their abilities a couple times, but the restraints are holding," replied one of the guards.

"I see. I'm here because the cameras are out. Do you have an idea for why that may be?" asked Yuki.

"There should be nothing wrong with them," spoke the other guard.

"I see. I think I have an idea of what the problem may be," spoke Yuki, as he walked up to the pair of guards.

"What is it?" asked one of the guards.

"Someone may be trying to help them escape," replied Yuki.

"Who would do that? The commander would kill the person if he found out!" shouted one of the guards.

"And then he would kill us for letting it happen!" shouted the other.

"Guess you better find out who's responsible. I have an idea of who," spoke Yuki.

"Who?" asked one of the guards.

Yuki said nothing as he quickly pulled out a pair of stun guns and hit both of the guards with them before they could react.

"Me," replied Yuki, as he knocked the guards out. Yuki went up to the controls for the doors on the cells and opened the door holding Seigai and Satoshi. The pair backed away from him, ready to try and fight him.

"Easy, I'm here to set you guys free," spoke Yuki, as he walked up to Seigai. Seigai attempted to kick him, but found it impossible to do so while still bound. Yuki did his best to take the restraints off of Seigai. Once the binding on his arms was removed, Seigai opted to remain still as he undid the other restraints. After his legs were unbound, Yuki removed the psychic restraints on his head. Yuki did the same for Satoshi.

"That's better," spoke Seigai.

"What are those things?" asked Satoshi.

"Psychic restraints, made in the same way as the teleport inhibitors," replied Yuki.

"Complete with the DNA of a dark-type, right? Explains the headache," muttered Seigai.

"Why are you helping us?" asked Satoshi.

"Something is off about this place. After I saw Commander Harai brutally kill his own pokemon for failing, along with my fellow guards, something clicked for me," replied Yuki.

"Wait, I recognize you; you were one of the guards who attacked us the last time we were here," spoke Seigai.

"You're right, I was. I was allowed to live, because I was able to stop his steelix from killing me with a little quick thinking. He seemed amused by it, so he let me live," replied Yuki.

"Aren't you endangering yourself by setting us free like this?" asked Seigai.

"Perhaps. I have it set so that it will look like you were able to escape on your own," spoke Yuki.

"Well, thank you all the same. What's your name if I may ask?" asked Satoshi.

"Moto Yuki. Yours?" asked Yuki.

"Satoshi," replied Satoshi.

"I'd rather not say my real name... so... call me Jin," replied Seigai.

"Fair enough Jin, Satoshi," replied Yuki, "So why have you been attacking us?"

Seigai and Satoshi gave a quick explanation of the weapon Dr. Den was working on as well as the murders that had taken place as a result. The two explained they had intended to destroy everything when they arrived earlier on in the night.

"I see, so that's why. I heard about Dr. Urufu's wife and what had been done to him. It's no surprise he would want to try and stop them. It is as you have heard, Commander Harai and Dr. Den were able to get us support from the Ishiba military. They've lent us their resources in exchange for being the first to use the research to turn their men into hybrids. These restraints were made possible by them. They also helped us enhance the range of the teleport inhibitors, as well as giving us access to several of their bases," explained Yuki.

"That explains why we still couldn't leave, even after destroying the inhibitors guarding the lab," spoke Satoshi.

"But to think they have this kind of backing from the military... even if we took out this place, it wouldn't do any good," spoke Seigai.

"Not yet, anyway. If you promise to help keep me from danger, I'm willing to get information for you," replied Yuki.

"What kind of information?" asked Seigai.

"The location of all their bases and data centers, even those not listed within our databases. You would need that information to put an end to everything, right?" asked Yuki.

"We would. What kind of protection do you need. We can't do too much for you," replied Seigai.

"You don't need to. You need only teleport me out of here, should something happen," spoke Yuki, as he pulled out a small device.

"This is a communicator we received from the military. They're prototypes for mobile satellite phones, just a little bigger than a cellular phone," replied Yuki, as he handed the device to Seigai. It looked like a black box a couple of inches wide and eight inches long. It had a sliding panel, revealing a screen and number pad.

"If I'm in trouble, I'll signal you by making this ring once. If it rings more than once, then I wish to tell you something," explained Yuki.

"What do you think?" asked Satoshi.

"Sounds fair to me, but how do you know this isn't some kind of trap? You could ask us to come and save you, then trap us here with the inhibitors," replied Seigai.

"Well... I have no way to prove my intentions," spoke Yuki.

"There is one way. Open your mind to us, let us read your thoughts," spoke Satoshi.

"This is the only way we can gain the ability to trust you," spoke Seigai.

"Alright," replied Yuki, as he allowed the pair to place their palms on his head and peer into his thoughts. The pair experienced what Yuki did after he failed the capture the pair during their previous raid, including the brutal deaths of the pokemon and guards. The pair were stunned as they backed away from Yuki as a result of what they had seen.

"He really does enjoy brutalizing those he disagrees with," spoke Satoshi.

"I knew there was a reason why I felt uncomfortable around him when I first met him. Alright, we believe you," spoke Seigai.

"Alright. I'll have a map of the military bases for you soon. That's the first thing I can get for you. I'll keep you updated on the status of their research," replied Yuki.

"Do you know these things right now?" asked Satoshi.

"I do, why? I doubt telling you would be of much help," replied Yuki.

"Just bring this information to the top of your mind, and we'll take care of the rest. It's much more efficient to communicate information telepathically," spoke Satoshi.

"I see. Okay, I'm ready," replied Yuki.

Seigai and Satoshi once again read into Yuki's mind, learning everything Yuki knew about the current status in the development of the weapon, locations of the military bases, and what each were being used for.

"I see. They aren't as far along as they made it seem," spoke Seigai.

"They made it seem like they were further along in order to lure you two here," replied Yuki.

"And it worked perfectly," spoke Satoshi.

"Now you know. This building isn't really your first target. They stopped working in here a while ago, using the bases for their better security. It would be best to assault those bases first," replied Yuki.

"We noticed. They also have these inhibitors... that's going to make things difficult," spoke Seigai.

"There's no weak points in the devices, as far as I know, and taking out a few won't open up a hole for you. You'd have to find a way to take out most of them before you would be able to escape a place," replied Yuki.

"We'll find a way to deal with that when it happens. What about leaving here?" asked Seigai.

"There are inhibitors on all levels of this building. They were set up to follow the old pattern of needing inhibitors for every room. This building will be the most difficult for you to deal with. I can deactivate for you this time, but you're on your own after that. The only way I can think of to take them out is to shut down the reactor. Since there are so many of them, the reactor is the only power source capable of running all of them," replied Yuki.

"Good to know for the next time we come here," spoke Satoshi.

"I have one request of you before I deactivate the inhibitors," spoke Yuki.

Seigai and Satoshi nodded in response.

"After I deactivate them, destroy everything in this room; make it look like you fought your way out, and take these two with you. Just take them somewhere safe. I don't want them to have to deal with Commander Harai. Their failure here really is my fault," spoke Yuki.

"We can do this for you," replied Satoshi.

"These guards are only doing what they've been paid to do; they don't have bad intentions on their own. They shouldn't be killed over something they don't know about," replied Seigai.

"Thank you," spoke Yuki, as he walked over to computer access terminal. He typed in several commands before turning around.

"It's done. You can leave here at anytime," spoke Yuki.

"Alright. You better stand back," spoke Satoshi, as he charged up the strongest thunderbolt he could muster. Yuki made his way out of the room before Satoshi unleashed his attack, destroying all of the equipment in the room, showering the pair with sparks from blown out terminals. Their attack set off the alarms.

"Time to go," spoke Seigai, as he touched one of the guards. Satoshi nodded as he placed his hand on one of the guards. The pair left immediately, dropped off the guards in a random place within the city, then returned to their home.

Upon seeing her husband and Seigai return, Kasumi ran at the pair with a tear stained face, holding onto the pair tightly.

"Easy, dear, we're alright," spoke Satoshi, as he gently rubbed his wife's back.

"I thought something happened to you! You've never taken this long before! I didn't know what to do! I wanted to go save you, but I didn't know what to do! I wanted to just charge in their after you!" shouted Kasumi.

"How long have we been gone?" asked Seigai, before seeing the clock. It was almost nine in the morning; the pair had been gone for about six hours.

"We're here now, so don't you worry. We always come back," spoke Satoshi. His calm voice was able to help Kasumi relax.

Seigai and Satoshi explained to Kasumi what had taken place during the night. She was shocked to hear they were captured, but grateful for Yuki coming to save them from their fate. At the end of their tale, she looked as though she was about to tell them to never go on another raid, but knew they had to continue, and kept her opinion to herself.

"What are we going to do next?" asked Kasumi.

"Next? Next, we need to get some help. I have an idea of where we can go, too," replied Seigai.

"Where would that be?" asked Satoshi.

"You'll see. I think we should get some rest. We've all had a long night," replied Seigai.

Seigai, Satoshi, and Kasumi spent the next couple of days off from their training. Satoshi suggested they wait a few days to make sure Seigai fully recovered from using the full force psyblast, to which Seigai reluctantly agreed. Since Seigai couldn't really train, he told Kasumi and Satoshi he would be heading out. He donned his human disguise and took his leave of the house.

Seigai made his way through the forest, with no particular destination in mind. As he neared the edge of the forest, he saw a woman training her onix. Seigai watched for a moment before a thought occurred to him, prompting him to approach the pair. The onix let out a roar, grabbing the attention of its trainer.

"Oh, you startled me," spoke the woman.

"Sorry about that. Don't really see onix too often in this area, so I thought I would watch," replied Seigai, while thinking of a way to accomplish his plan.

"Are you a trainer?" asked the woman, sounding like she was itching for a pokemon battle.

"Me? No. Training isn't really my thing, though I don't mind watching pokemon battles from time to time," replied Seigai.

"Oh, I see," replied the woman, sounding a little disappointed.

"I know about a trainer who comes out into this forest all the time, though. I see him practicing all the time," spoke Seigai.

"Is this guy strong?" asked the woman.

"Oh, fairly strong, actually. He has a powerful psychic-type with him. Quite the tough little cookie. Even though she's small, when she and her trainer were ambushed by a group of noctowl, she was able to take care of all of them singlehandedly," replied Seigai.

"That is interesting. I've seen the pokemon of this forest. They are rather strong deep within. I wouldn't mind seeing this trainer for myself," replied the woman.

"Want to challenge them to a battle?" asked Seigai.

"If they're strong enough," replied the woman.

"Oh, they're strong enough," replied Seigai, "Follow me."

"Alright, but if you're thinking of trying to pull something, my friend here will take you down before you can so much as attempt an apology," spoke the woman.

"Ouch. Don't worry, I have no such interests. I just want to see a good battle," replied Seigai, as he led the way.

Seigai led the woman through the forest to the place where Aomine and Ryoku would often train together. As luck would have it, the two were resting there, with Ryoku sitting on Aomine's lap. Seigai's father instincts made him want to charge in and yell at the pair, but Seigai knew it would be foolish to do so. He knew Aomine would never try to do anything to Ryoku after watching them together all this time.

"That's the guy, huh? Is that his pokemon? Looks kind of small..." muttered the woman, as she pulled out her pokedex.

"Kirlia, the emotion pokemon. The cheerful spirit of its trainer gives it energy for its psychokinetic power. It spins and dances when happy," came the voice of the pokedex. Seigai tried not to roll his eyes.

"A psychic that gets stronger when happy, eh?" asked the woman.

"I'm sure you've been in enough battles to know size does not matter, especially when it comes to psychic-types," spoke Seigai.

"True. Alright, you say they're powerful, I'll give it a go," replied the woman.

"You ever try surprising someone before?" asked Seigai.

"Surprising someone?" asked the woman.

"Yeah. Just send your pokemon in to get their attention, take them by surprise. You know, that kind of thing?" asked Seigai.

"Why would I do that?" asked the woman.

"For fun," replied Seigai.

"That's not how trainers do battle," replied the woman, as she approached the pair.

"Wait! There's a reason why I want to surprise them like this!" shouted Seigai.

"What?" asked the woman.

"That boy there is... a close friend of my daughters. I want to see what he's got before I give him permission to date my daughter," replied Seigai, who wasn't quite lying as much as he was bending the truth.

"Is that why I'm out there? So you can test your daughter's boyfriend?" asked the woman.

"Pretty much," replied Seigai.

The woman appeared to be deep in thought for a moment before turning to face Seigai.

"Alright, I'll go along with this, but if we don't get a good battle out of this, I'm going to give you the throw down of a life time," replied the woman.

"Ouch, but okay. You'll get more than what you bargained for, believe me," spoke Seigai.

The woman asked her onix to bring its head down to her so she could tell it how she wanted it to battle. Upon understanding, the onix charged forward, causing the ground to shake.

"My my, your friend seems quite interested in battling," replied Seigai.

"We both enjoy great challenges. He's excited at the chance to fight a strong opponent," spoke the woman.

Seigai and the woman watched as the onix charged forward. The pair of Aomine and Ryoku were startled by the attack, but quickly put themselves together and started to attack. Seigai could see Ryoku hitting the onix with a couple of psychic attacks before apparently finishing it off with a psybeam.

"Huh, that was quick," spoke Seigai.

"So that little kirlia does have some fight, I'll give it that. The show's not over yet, though," spoke the woman with a large grin on her face. Seigai wondered what she meant when he saw the onix come back to life and hit Ryoku with a stone edge attack. Ryoku had a hard time recovering as the onix prepared to tackle the pair.

"You're really going to attack the kid!" shouted Seigai.

"You don't approve?" asked the woman.

"She's going to kill me," thought Seigai, knowing Ryoku wouldn't be amused once he told her what was going on. He was expecting to see both on the ground, but noticed the onix had apparently crashed into some kind of wall.

"A barrier? I didn't know she could do that," spoke Seigai.

"That is one tough cookie, to block my onix like that," replied the woman.

With the formation of Ryoku's barrier, Seigai could feel the familiar power coming from her, that of a psyblast.

"So, it wasn't a fluke before. She really does have it," thought Seigai, as he watched Ryoku evolve into a gardevoir. Ryoku hit the onix with psychic again, this time taking it down for good.

"Well, would you look at that. So, is that the kind of challenge you were looking for?" asked Seigai.

The woman was dumbfounded for a moment. She was sure she would have an easy victory after seeing how the battle had started. She wasn't quite sure how to take the loss.

"Well, while you ponder this, I'm going to go surprise the kids," spoke Seigai, as he walked over to the pair.

"Ah, not bad, not bad," spoke Seigai, making his voice sound darker than it normally was. He was quick to get the attention of Ryoku and Aomine.

"Who are you?" asked Aomine.

"Stay back, Ao," spoke Ryoku.

"Huh?" asked Aomine.

"There's something off about this guy... and... I can feel his strength... this guy is really strong for a human. Too strong," spoke Ryoku.

"What do you want?" asked Aomine.

"Ho? Come now? Don't be so apprehensive," replied Seigai.

"Why are you here?" asked Aomine.

"I just wanted to see how you two would do against that onix. I'm surprised you were able to defeat it. It looked like it was going to have the two of you for lunch, and yet that kirlia, well, now gardevoir, was somehow able to defeat it, despite being on the apex of defeat," replied Seigai.

"We just got lucky," spoke Ryoku, while moving to protect Aomine.

"Oh? Luck? No such thing in my world, kid. You either have talent or you don't. You have quite the hidden ability. A nice little power that always manifests itself right when it's needed. A shame you can't control it. That would make you quite the force to be reckoned with," replied the man.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you really want, but leave us alone," spoke Ryoku.

"Geez, so defensive. I'm not hear to hurt you. After all, why would I hurt my own daughter?" asked Seigai.

"Your daughter... father?" asked Ryoku.

Seigai coughed a few times, due to the voice he was using being rough on his throat.

"Uh, sorry. That dark voice is really hard to do," replied Seigai in his regular voice.

"Father!" shouted Ryoku, as she ran up and gave her father a hug.

"That guy is Mister Seigai?" asked Aomine, as he walked up to Seigai, and offered his hand.

"Ah, Aomine," spoke Seigai, as Ryoku allowed him the chance to shake the hand of Aomine.

"You've grown up. Last time I saw you, you were just a baby. And Ryoku, you were just a little ralts. Now you're a beautiful gardevoir. My, you look just like your mother," spoke Seigai.

"I'm glad to see you again, dad. I have to ask, though. What's with the odd clothing. It's a bit warm for the month of June," spoke Ryoku.

"I was wondering that myself," spoke Aomine.

"Ah, this. Well, I suppose I didn't want to freak you guys out, but I do agree, this outfit is most uncomfortable," spoke Seigai, as he removed his disguise.

"Oh, almost forgot the last part," spoke Seigai, as he took the makeup off of his face.

Ryoku and Aomine were shocked at Seigai's true appearance. The trainer Seigai was with had returned to her senses long enough to be dumbfounded once again at seeing what looked to her to be a rare, alternate colored pokemon.

Seigai explained the reason behind his change in appearance to his daughter and Aomine. The two were confused at first, but were able to accept it.

"It's going to take some getting used to," spoke Ryoku.

"Maybe," spoke Seigai.

"So, does this mean that you finally got rid of the bad people that were after you?" asked Ryoku.

"Not quite. They are still around, and quite active. I've done all I can on my own, and now I need help," spoke Seigai.

"Help?" asked Aomine.

"That's right. I need the two of you to help me in order to take these guys down for good," spoke Seigai.