Beneath the Blaze(20th Anniversary Crossover/Violence/Blood)

Chapter 2

Yoshiro bit into the hamburger as the three of them walked, the flavors blended perfectly as he chewed. He swallowed his food before he spoke up, "This is amazing." Sabrina looked at him, "You act like you've never had a hambur... you're not from this world, are you?" Yoshiro spoke quietly, "Don't bring that up again in public, you'll start a panic." Sabrina nodded, that was the last thing she wanted to do. She stopped suddenly in front of a building, "Well, here we are, Saffron City Gym. I know it isn't much, but it's my home away from home." Yoshiro nodded and looked at the burger, "I'm going to guess that you'll have serious problems with me bringing this in there." Sabrina nodded, "I like to keep things clean, to be honest." Yoshiro looked into her pink eyes and she frowned, "Stop that, your little fox kit eyes aren't going to make me change my mind." Yoshiro chuckled, "Aw, did I really have fox kit eyes?"

Sabrina sighed, "Finish that off and throw the wrapper into the..." Yoshiro quickly polished off the rest of the burger, which caused her to stop. He balled up the wrapper and tossed it into the trash bin, causing her to become surprised, "...what was that?" Yoshiro smirked, "I'll tell you when we're inside." Sabrina nodded and the three of them headed inside the gym, there were a myriad of Psychic pokemon and Yoshiro could notice that all of them had their attention focused on him, "Eh, they probably won't care. Sabrina, I'm a hunter. You've seen my true form, but you have not seen how I eat when I'm in the wilderness and without any supplies left." Yoshiro smirked, "I've killed my own food and eaten it fresh, someone like me has to pack light, lest I risk detection. However, when I wasn't on a sniping role and played a more traditional soldier's role I got access to food that was always ready for me to eat."

Yoshiro smirked, "The first thing that was created were rations. They came in these little cans, looked bad, smelled worse and tasted even worse. The next thing, created by chefs were Meals Ready to Eat, or M.R.E.s for short. Those were hit or miss, with more hits than misses. As for what you've said, yes, I'm not from this world, but aside from that, I cannot tell you more. At any rate, I'm going to go into the other room and relax a bit." Sabrina nodded, "Alone?" Yoshiro nodded, "Don't worry, Gardevoir, it's not like I'm going far without you." Gardevoir nodded and Yoshiro walked to an adjacent room, closing the door behind him as he sat down on the bed. Yoshiro looked around and took out a locket, which he opened to see a picture of his Nakama, Rogelio Sanez Lorca. He sighed and started to sing in his native tongue.

"Kimi ga oshieta afureru kimochi. Itsumo maemuki sonna iki kata ga ii yo ne. Biru ni katamuku Tokai no Yuuki. Miagete kyuu ni damattarishite shinpai sa. Mune ni egaku Yume wo dare ka jama shitemo. Makezu ni iru kagayaki ga suki da yo. Dakara, one more time! Ano Yuuki EERU okuru yo! Kitto kanau yo Yume de owaranai! Tomaranai de! Ano kimi ni aitai no sa." Yoshiro closed his hand around the locket and placed his hand against his chest as he continued singing in his native tongue, "Omou mama ganbatte. Namida wo kigaetara ato sukoshi da yo. Chiisai MISU wa waraitobashite. Shizunda Kimochi kesshite kureta yo ne Ano toki. Kyou wa watashi ga tonari ni iru yo. Fusai ga KOKORO to koka iku made. Hora Namida to egao onaji kisetsu sugite. Wakaru tsumori tokubetsu sa kimi dake. Dakara, one more time! Kachi totte kimi no Ashita! Shinjiteiru yo Akiramenaide ne! Wasurenaide! Saisho kara mitsumetetai! Kimira shiku mou ichido! Subete wo bane ni shite ima nara dekiru..."

Yoshiro looked out of the window with a longing sigh, as he continued singing, his voice more noticeably saddened, "Dakara... one more time... Ano Yuuki EERU okuru yo. Kitto kanau yo Yume de owaranai. Tomaranai de. Ano kimi ni aitai no sa. Omou mama ganbatte... Namida wo kigaetara ato sukoshi da yo." Yoshiro took his hand off the locket and sighed, laying down on the bed, when he watched as Sabrina teleported in, startling him enough to fall out of the bed, "Holy mother of!" As Yoshiro hit the ground, he felt his heart rapidly beat from his surprise, Gardevoir teleporting in and offering him her hand. Yoshiro sighed and grabbed the Gardevoir's hand, who tried to help him up, but Yoshiro grabbed the bed and pulled himself up, "Holy crap, Sabrina. Next time warn me that you're going to teleport into my room, for all you know, I could've been indecent."

Sabrina looked at him, her pink eyes staring into his, "We both know that isn't true." Yoshiro sighed, "Alright, you got me there." Sabrina sighed, "Your singing was beautiful, though I could detect some sadness in the last part of the song. Why?" Yoshiro sighed, "Sabrina, I envy you and your people." Sabrina blinked, "My people?" Yoshiro looked down at his locket, "I loved him, I loved him deeply." Sabrina blinked, "I didn't peg you for being gay." Yoshiro shook his head, "I'm not, I'm straight as an arrow. But he was my Nakama." Sabrina blinked, "Your what?" Gardevoir spoke up, "Gar... garde... garrr... gardevoir!" Yoshiro shook his head, "There is no word in Common that Nakama translates to, the closest equivalent would be brotherhood." Sabrina nodded, "So what happened to your brother?"

Yoshiro stood up, "I was five hundred and twenty years old when I watched him die before my very eyes." Sabrina blinked, "There's no way you could be five hundred and twenty!" Yoshiro nodded, "I'm seven hundred and thirty-two years old. Stress has made my hair lose its color completely and I'm not even at the halfway point of my lifespan." Sabrina blinked, she was in disbelief, but Gardevoir closed her eyes and then Sabrina looked at him, "This Gardevoir just shared what she gathered from your own mind. You... you have had a rough life and a very long one compared to us humans." Yoshiro nodded, "Understatement of the year. But to be honest, I just want to see Rogelio again." Sabrina nodded, "The loss of a loved one is always the hardest. However, you should get some rest, I have guests coming over later and don't want you to be exhausted." Yoshiro nodded, "Thank you, Sabrina. Just uh, if they ask me questions, let me lie to them. Believe me, last thing I want to happen is the truth to get out and have to deal with a panic." Sabrina nodded, "Don't worry, I won't say a word about this."

Chapter 4

Yoshiro looked at the burst heart that he was given and removed his mana from it, he and Esperanza separated and the two of them walked into the main room of the gym, where he saw a few other people that he didn't recognize, one of them was a man wearing a military uniform, another was an orange haired girl, the third was an elderly man with a thick mustache and the final one was a man dressed as a ninja. Yoshiro looked at all of them and then looked at the man who was dressed as a Ninja, "You're the odd one out here, what's with the uniform." The man looked at him, "Fufufufu, I am Koga of Fuchsia City. I am a student of Ninjitsu. I have been called a Ninja Master." Yoshiro nodded, "You certainly are sure of yourself there." The man in the military uniform spoke up, "You're military, aren't you?"

Yoshiro shook his head, "Mercenary, Ex-military to be exact." The man spoke up, "I'm Lieutenant Surge, I was in the American Military. How about you?" Yoshiro shook his head, "I have no interest in sharing my past with you, But if you must call me by rank and surname, Colonel Miyamae." Lieutenant Surge chuckled, "You got a lot of nerve not telling me what military you served under, before becoming a Mercenary. What if you're an enemy soldier." Yoshiro sighed, "If I was, you'd be dead right now. I do not have a habit of talking to my enemies." The elderly man spoke up, "You've got a fire in your gut young man, Misty, you might not be the most fiery person in this room." Misty looked at the Elderly man, "Blaine, what's that supposed to mean!?" Blaine chuckled, "Nothing in particular, but my my. There's more to this man that meets the eye."

Sabrina entered the room, "I see that neither Blue nor Brock could make it here." Blaine nodded, "It's a rather sad state of affairs, I know." Lieutenant Surge spoke up, "This is about those Team Neo Rocket fellas that we've all been hearing about in the news, right?" Sabrina nodded, "Yoshiro here was found being attacked by them, as was this Gardevoir." Yoshiro spoke up, "Her name is Esperanza." Sabrina nodded, "Esperanza was being chased when Yoshiro stepped in, they used some weird power to cripple him." Yoshiro knew exactly what had happened, and knew that Sabrina wasn't being honest in order to protect him as revealing his true nature would cause mass panic within the room and would only serve to harm their cause. Yoshiro closed his eyes and spoke up, "We have no idea where they will attack next. You guys are the strongest pokemon trainers from each of your respective cities, right?"

Sabrina nodded and Lieutenant Surge spoke up, "We're leaving our cities unprotected without a gym leader is what you're saying." Yoshiro opened his eyes and looked at him, "Any force needs some sort of leader, you guys are that leader. You increase the morale of the other trainers within your respective cities by being there. Though a victory isn't impossible if they attack, it's less likely than if you were present." Koga nodded, "He's right, you know, though Fuchsia is a city of ninjas, it would be hard to attack." Yoshiro nodded, "True, but... there was something off about them." Yoshiro remembered that through the pain he picked up a heavily synthetic smell, he knew something was off, but couldn't pick up on what, "They seemed more perceptive than anyone I've ever met."

Blaine nodded, "If what you say is true, then this is a problem." Yoshiro nodded, "I have no idea what they're going to do next, but. If I had to guess the most important place in the region would be..." Misty interrupted, "Sliph Co. It's in Saffron City, this city." Yoshiro nodded at her, and then his gut sank as he came to a realization, "Guys, we should get out of here, immediately." Sabrina's eyes widened as she realized what Yoshiro was thinking, "Everyone! Out of the gym now!" All pokemon that can, teleport out!" Everyone else started running for the exit, but Yoshiro started to look around for the device that had been planted, Sabrina took notice, "What are you doing!?" Yoshiro sighed, "Get out, I'm going to go look for the device. If I can find it, I can minimize the damage it can do."

Sabrina nodded and Esperanza joined Yoshiro was Sabrina evacuated the building, Yoshiro started to look around the building for it, cursing the fact that he could return to his normal form without hurting himself severely. Yoshiro sighed and closed his eyes, he started to hear a beeping sound in the other room and frowned, "Oh no." The last time he had heard this sound, he had the roof blown out from below him, he had fallen and hit the floor below. As he had tried to get up, the floor collapsed and he fell three stories to slam into a desk, which he and the desk fell another five floors. He had been lucky to survive the encounter. As the memories left his mind, he realized he had entered a state where his perception of time had slowed down greatly. He growled, "Not this time!"

He was thankful for the boost in magic the Fennikkusu form gave him, regardless of wings and ears. He grabbed Esperanza and closed his eyes, pulling her in as he formed a strong barrier around the two of them. Esperanza realized what was going on and used reflect to bolster the barrier. The device detonated, and chunks of wall hit their combined barrier and the ceiling collapsed, falling around them. When the dust settled, Yoshiro opened his eyes and dropped his barrier, he could feel that he was drained, but Esperanza seemed to have lost consciousness. He picked her up and smiled, "We saved each other's life." Sabrina climbed over the rubble, "Are you two alright." Yoshiro nodded, "I got to get Esperanza to a place she can rest, but we saved the lives of each other." Sabrina nodded, "The building with the red rooftop is a pokemon center, take her there and the two of you rest up. We'll make our next move from here." Yoshiro nodded, "You and I should Rendezvous in Celadon City." Sabrina nodded, "Tomorrow, for today, the two of you rest."

Chapter 6

Yoshiro awoke in the middle of the night, he had fallen asleep on the floor of the pokemon center, plates of food were still in front of him. He sighed slightly as he stood up quietly, so as not to disturb Sabrina and started to walk out of the building, when Sabrina stirred awake, "Yoshiro, where are you going?" Yoshiro sighed and looked at her, "I can't relax, so much has happened today and well... you've seen my memories through Esperanza." Sabrina nodded, "Be careful out there." She reached into her pocket and pulled out something, tossing it to him, "If you need anything, call me on this." Yoshiro nodded and placed the object in his pocket, "I will." Yoshiro left the building and sighed slightly as the lights of the city were still on and still quite bright, he wasn't a fan of brightly lit cities at night, but he knew humans loved them.

He walked through the streets of Saffron City, looking for some park or something to sit down in and take in the nature, but couldn't find any. However, something caught his eye, it was a clothing store that was still open. He took that as a good sign and walked into the store, not knowing what he expected to find. He found himself face to face with an elderly woman who looked at him, "You don't seem to be a pokemon trainer, what are you doing here?" Yoshiro spoke truthfully, "Clearing my head. A lot happened today and I just cannot sleep, you know how it can be." The woman nodded, "Goodness, you must be the person that survived that explosion." Yoshiro looked at her, "How does everyone know that?" The woman pointed at a TV, which was playing a broadcast of the news, which showed him carrying an unconscious Gardevoir and Yoshiro sighed, "Ah. I see."

The woman nodded, "That Gardevoir must have meant a lot to you for it to have protected you like that." Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah. Um, this is where I can get accessories for pokemon, yes?" The woman nodded, "Of course. A hero like yourself should get a big discount, what would you like." Yoshiro sighed at being called a hero, "A scarf, sunglasses and a flower, all for a Gardevoir." The woman nodded, "That'll be twenty-five poke." Yoshiro pulled out a hundred and placed it on the counter as the woman turned away and got the items he had requested. When she turned around with them all in hand, she gasped, "I only asked for twenty-five." Yoshiro nodded, "Keep the change." The woman nodded and placed the items in the bag, "Thank you, is there anything else I can do for you?" Yoshiro nodded, "Point me to the nearest motorbike dealership." The woman nodded, "Right down the road."

Yoshiro nodded and waved as he took the bag and walked out, "Thank you." He walked down the road to the dealership, where he saw a dark green motorbike sitting on the lot, an elderly man walked up to him, "You seem to have your eye on that bike, I'll tell you what. Since you're a biker, I'll give you a deal on that machine." Yoshiro shook his head, "I want to pay full price." The elderly man nodded, "Suit yourself, it's fifteen thousand poke, one hundred for the helmet that you lack." Yoshiro nodded and pulled out the money, handing it to him and the man walked into the building near them to count the money. When the man came back, he tossed Yoshiro a helmet and a set of keys, "Here you go." Yoshiro nodded, "Thank you." Yoshiro sat down on the seat of the motorbike and smiled softly as he stuck the key in the ignition and turned it on, the familiar purr of the engine made him feel a lot better.

He placed the helmet on his head and made sure it was strapped tightly. He looked at the stretch of road in front of him and kicked the kickstand up and hit the accelerator, lifting his feet off the ground at the motorbike started moving, "Yeah, this feels far better." Since it was night, there was near no traffic in Saffron and he rode the motorbike to the Pokemon center without any incident. He hit the brakes when he reached the building, and kicked down the kickstand, looking up to the sky as he turned the key and pulled it out of the ignition. He sighed as he stood up and placed his helmet down on the seat of his bike with a smile, "Tomorrow, we get to go to Celadon City, I wonder how Esperanza will handle being on a motorbike. She probably has never been on one."

He walked back into the building and Sabrina looked up at him, "You bought yourself a motorcycle?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, it's my preferred method of transportation. I can't really stand cars myself. Never could." Sabrina nodded as she pointed to a sword that was left on the floor, "You left that there." Yoshiro nodded and picked the sword up, strapping it to his belt, "I left it so that if I wasn't back when she woke up, Esperanza would know that I hadn't abandoned her." Sabrina nodded and Yoshiro walked to the reception desk, "Excuse me, is it fine if I go back and see my Gardevoir?" The nurse looked at him, "Sure thing, go through those doors and she's on the fifth room on the left. She's still sleeping." Yoshiro nodded and turned to Sabrina, "Don't wait for me in the morning, I'll be able to get to Celadon on my own." Sabrina nodded, "Alright, good night, Yoshiro." Yoshiro smiled softly, "Good night, Sabrina."

Yoshiro walked through the doors and down the hall to the fifth room on the left. When he opened the door, he saw Esperanza laying on the bed and he walked in. He pulled up a chair next to the bed with a sigh, "I'm glad that you're alright, Esperanza, I didn't want you to get hurt. Though I don't understand why you did what you did." Esperanza didn't stir, she was still in a deep sleep, but Yoshiro smiled and placed the bag of things he had gotten for her on a table near the bed, "Don't worry, I'm not going to abandon you. Anyhow, you make sure you get some sleep, I'll be here in the morning when you wake up." Yoshiro looked out the window, "I've been on night watch when it came to protecting wounded allies ever since the beginning. I'll make sure that nothing happens to this place, so you can rest easy."

Chapter 8

Yoshiro rode in on his motorcycle, parking in front of a clothing store, "Awesome, I can get directions and some new threads while I'm here." Yoshiro walked into the store and walked back to the section for biker gear, remembering his size, he grabbed some clothing, when he heard a voice behind him, "Hey, punk! You think you can ride up on our turf?" Yoshiro sighed and ignored them, picking a new leather jacket for himself when he felt himself be grabbed by the shoulder and turned around, he saw a large bald man who spoke to him, "Hey! This is our turf." The man's breath was absolutely rancid and Yoshiro could only possibly imagine at how much it'd make him throw up if he was in his normal form, but he didn't quite care, "I'm not rolling up on anyone's turf." The man spat in his face, "You're lying to me, boy. I know you're part of a biker gang."

Yoshiro wiped the spit off his face, "Spit in my face again, and I'm going to break your neck." The man turned and looked at the others with him, "Hahaha! This guy says he's gonna break my neck if I spit in his face again. Idiot doesn't know that I have the advantage." The man turned around and spat in Yoshiro's face, Yoshiro concentrated and used what little mana he had left to shackle the man's free arm to his side and punched the man in the throat, causing him to stumble back and let go of him, to place his free hand on his neck. Yoshiro rushed in and grabbed the guy in a grapple, wrapping his arm around his neck and quickly and violently jerked the man's head, causing a snapping sound to happen in the lower neck of the man, "Your leader is now a quadriplegic. Any one else feel like joining him, or are you going to leave me alone?"

The other men looked at each other and most of them backed off while one of them grabbed at a knife. Yoshiro pulled his pistol on the man, "I'd honestly advise walking out, I've not had a great day and believe me when I say this. You'd just be another number." The man looked into Yoshiro's eyes, the coldness in Yoshiro's tone chilled him to the bone and the man started running away along with the others. Yoshiro went to go gather the clothing that he had bought and took them to the counter, the man that ran the store looked at him, "Thank you for getting rid of those hooligans, though you didn't quite need to break the bald one's neck." Yoshiro shrugged, "He spat in my face, where I come from, that can be considered assault with a deadly weapon." Yoshiro didn't bother to mention that where he came from, some species spat out a poisonous substance that would cause blindness.

The man nodded, "The law's the same here, if you get arrested, I'll testify on your behalf. By the way, the clothes are on me, and they stole your bike so, if you'd like, you can have mine. I don't need it anymore." Yoshiro nodded, "Thanks." The man nodded, "Would you like to get changed?" Yoshiro nodded and the man pointed to changing rooms in the back. Yoshiro walked into the back and changed out of his torn up clothing, it was at this moment that he noticed that he suffered second degree friction burns as well. Esperanza spoke up, "You're covered in scar tissue, aside from your right arm, what's up with that?" Yoshiro looked at his right arm, "You should know, you did go through my memories." Esperanza spoke up again, "If you can shapeshift, how come you keep the scars?" Yoshiro stopped to think about that, it was an excellent question and one that he honestly never thought about.

Yoshiro continued to get dressed, when Esperanza spoke up again, "You didn't need to kill that man." Yoshiro sighed, "He'll live." Esperanza broke out of her pokeball to look him in the eye, "What do you mean, he'll live." Yoshiro looked her in the eye, "Esperanza, I'm a sniper. I have intimate medical knowledge of over thirty different species. He'll live." Esperanza frowned, "Well you didn't have to break his neck." Yoshiro shrugged, "Perhaps, but, I wasn't in the mood for some lengthy fight, I chose to get the situation over and done with." As his shirt touched one of his burns, he winced, "Sss! Ah! I might need to stay in an infirmary for a couple of days." Esperanza looked at him, "A couple of days? This looks like a couple of weeks at best, Yoshiro." Yoshiro shrugged and grabbed his old clothing as he walked out of the changing room.

As he walked past the counter, the man tossed him a key, "This is to my chopper, I used to be in a biker gang, but I left and came here to sell clothing, take care of her, will you." Yoshiro nodded as he caught the keys, "Alright, thanks. Are you sure you won't need it?" The man shook his head, "Everywhere I need to go is within walking distance of my house, so I'll be fine." Yoshiro nodded, "Alright, where is it?" The man spoke up, "My house, next door. Anything else you need?" Yoshiro nodded, "The location of the Celadon gym." The man nodded, "Go three miles down the road, take a left and after going about a mile and a half, you'll reach the gym. Can't miss it." Yoshiro nodded, "Thank you." The man nodded, "No, sir. Thank you for getting rid of those hooligans. By the way, you accessorized your Gardevoir nicely."

Yoshiro nodded as Esperanza bowed, he put her back into her pokeball and put it into his pocket as he walked out and walked next door. As the garage door opened, he saw a red chopper sitting in the garage and walked over to it, checking it out. It wasn't his type of motorcycle, but it wasn't unfamiliar to him either. He took his money and gem pouches out of his pockets and then threw his old, shredded clothes into the trash can that was next to it. Placing both pouches into his pockets, he adjusted the sword on his back to stay out of his way on the new chopper, as well as his shield and checked to see his firearm's safety was on. As he sat down, he put on the helmet that was on the handlebars and put the key into the ignition, "Well Esperanza, let's go warn Sabrina about these Neo Rockets, shall we."

Chapter 10

A week had passed and Yoshiro felt something in his arm as he woke up, he also felt something on his left arm from the elbow down and yawned slightly as he opened his eyes, "Ugh, how long have I been out." Yoshiro yanked his right arm, pulling the needle from his arm as he looked up at the IV food drip, "Hmm, would explain why I'm not hungry." Blaine walked in, "You're awake, you truly are an interesting specimen." Yoshiro looked at him, "I got one working arm and I've been trained to fight with my offhand, you dare come towards me with a scalpel of any kind and I will end your life." Blaine shook his head, "Rather rude of you to speak like that to the man who kept you alive during your week long coma. Apparently sleep powder affects you more adversely than it does humans or pokemon." Yoshiro sighed, "I remember now, where's Chester." Blaine shook his head, "Chester has gone back into hiding. When we heard what had happened in Celadon, I came to retrieve you, Sabrina and I got you out of the city in the dark of night and brought you here to Cinnabar Island."

Yoshiro sighed and reached for his pendant, finding that it wasn't there, "Where is my pendant!?" Blaine spoke up, "Calm down, I had to remove your pendant for transport, it's in your jacket pocket." Yoshiro nodded slightly and sat up, finding that he had no shirt on, "Really, you removed my shirt?" Blaine shrugged, "Standard medical procedure, I had to ensure that you didn't get too hot, though you've had a temperature of around ninety-five degrees." Yoshiro nodded, "My normal body temperature is thirty-five Celsius." Blaine looked at him from behind his glasses, "You're a scientist?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Ex-military, technically I'm a mercenary, but all I want to do is run my coffee shop back home." Blaine nodded, "I have plenty of questions for you." Yoshiro shook his head and got out of the bed, his paws touched the ground and he sighed, "My boots too, really? At any rate, I need to recover everything, including the pokeball with Esperanza in it. We need to find Chester."

Blaine shook his head, "In your condition, you're going nowhere. Your bruises, cuts and burns haven't healed yet, and your bones are a long way from healing." Yoshiro walked over to his clothing and sighed, "You can't stop me." Blaine threw out a pokeball, and an Arcanine appeared from it, "He can. Believe me, he's faster than you and can tackle you to the ground, do you really want to try this?" Yoshiro sighed, "Fine, I won't go look for Mew, but I will do something useful while I'm injured. Chester said that he would wait until I'm fully healed." Blaine nodded, "That doesn't seem smart of him, but whatever floats his boat." Yoshiro nodded, "Androids such as that, and a weapon capable of wiping out all human life wouldn't go unnoticed unless they were deep underwater."

Blaine looked at him, "So you're going to invent something to detect these electrical signals?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Your tech level is sufficient for what I require, I just need to turn up the sensitivity and link it to a computer with a SI that will filter out all of the false positives." Blaine looked at him, "Alright, I'll get everything you need and I can get you to a computer. The recently rebuilt and cleared out laboratory has one that you could use." Yoshiro nodded as Blaine continued, "But how would the international system of units help you?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Simulated Intelligence, it's like an Artificial Intelligence, except it lacks any sort of autonomy and lacks the ability to learn. Basically, it'll work as my assistant, nothing more." Blaine looked at him as he got dressed, "And you know how to program this?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah. My rifle has a SI in it, wrote the entire program myself."

Blaine shook his head, "But you don't have a rifle and didn't have one when you came here. Anyhow, I got side tracked, what's your world like?" Yoshiro sighed, "More saving the world, less questions. I need to get in contact with Sabrina." Blaine tossed him a cell phone, "Sabrina told me to give this to you when you woke up, it has the number of all the Kanto Gym Leaders in there." Yoshiro nodded, "Thanks." He put the phone to his ear, "Sabrina." The phone didn't do anything and Blaine laughed, "Advanced species and a cellphone confuses him." Yoshiro sighed and started fiddling with the phone, eventually he got into contacts and called up Sabrina, who after a few rings, answered the phone, "Yoshiro, I see that you're awake." Yoshiro sighed, "Never do that to me again."

Sabrina sighed, "I'm sorry, Yoshiro. Anyhow, I'm kind of in the middle of driving Team Neo Rocket out of Silph Co with Blue and Brock, can you call me later?" Yoshiro nodded, "Alright." Yoshiro hung up and sighed, "I'll try Erika." After a couple of rings, Erika answered, "Hello, Yoshiro." Yoshiro sighed, "Erika, I need you and Misty to go and try to find Mew, and if you can find him, relay to Lieutenant Surge that the Neo Rocket base is currently under the ocean and his electric type pokemon should be able to sense the unique energy signature of the weapon." Eirka spoke up, "Alright, by the way, thanks for coming last week." Yoshiro sighed, "I wish it was under better circumstances, I still do." Erika spoke up, a bit more cheery in her tone, "Don't worry, Yoshiro, once this is all done, we can be friends. After all, as a fox person, you like things that smell nice, don't you?" Yoshiro chuckled, "Yeah. I do."

Erika spoke up, "That's good. Talk to you later?" Yoshiro nodded, "Sure thing." Yoshiro hung up and then called Koga, but he could only get to voice mail, he spoke up, "Hey, Koga. Not sure if you know anything about entering underwater bases, but we're going to need to figure it out. Also, since you're the stealthiest one of all, I need you to look for a pokemon that can time travel and carry people with it. It'd be extremely beneficial for us to be able to go back in time in case the weapon goes off, so we can try at it again and again." Yoshiro hung up and looked at Blaine as he put his pendant back on, "Alright, Blaine. Let's go to the lab, as a scientist and someone from an advanced civilization, we should be able to find this base without any issue." Blaine nodded, "Sure thing, let's go."

Chapter 12

A month had passed and Yoshiro flexed his fingers on his left hand as it was newly freed from the cast, "That feels so much better." Yoshiro looked at Sabrina, who was on the other side of the room, "Look, I'm sorry if I've been cold and distant lately, but..." Sabrina nodded, "I've been talking to the Kani ghost, when lives are on the line, you change to be a lot like this. But I see it in your eyes, you hate fighting." Yoshiro ran a hand through his gray hair, which had grown longer, "No. I don't hate fighting, it's killing that I cannot stand. I grew up with two Lupine brothers, we'd fight daily, but we'd never hurt each other." Esperanza looked at him and spoke into his mind, "So why are you opening up now, of all times." Yoshiro sighed, "Because I've always been a father figure to my own soldiers. And even though Sabrina isn't a soldier..."

Sabrina looked at him and walked closer, "You... you consider me a friend, don't you?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah. Sabrina, I want you to stay here." Sabrina looked at him, "Why though?" Yoshiro shook his head, "You dislike fighting, you're a gym leader though and I don't understand why. But more than anything, I don't want to see you get hurt." Sabrina nodded, "I understand, but I will not get hurt." Yoshiro shook his head, "Many dead men have spoken those very words, Sabrina. Men that I personally led into battle, the universe has a way of proving you wrong when you tempt fate." Esperanza looked at Yoshiro and then at Sabrina, who spoke up, "I'm coming tomorrow, we're fighting Robots, remember. I can put aside my dislike of fighting since it will not hurt anyone and I can prevent others from getting hurt."

Yoshiro nodded, "If you wish." Sabrina looked at him, "I never asked, why do you have that scar on your left hand?" Yoshiro raised his left hand, the fur on the back of his hand had been tattooed with the emblem of Amaterasu, "This old thing. I'm a Kensei, it's why I have a sword on my person at all time, despite being a well accomplished sniper." Sabrina nodded slightly, "You know, I can't shake this feeling that today isn't going to end well." Yoshiro nodded, "Neither can I, and I don't need to see the future to know that. No doubt, Chester knows that my hand has recovered, as have I." Esperanza hugged Yoshiro, speaking into his mind, "You should relax, Yoshiro."

Yoshiro nodded, when there was a beep at the console. He stood up and walked over to it, with Esperanza still hugging him and he pressed a button on it, "Well, I got good news and bad news." Sabrina looked at him, "What's the bad news." Yoshiro shrugged, "His base of operations has been revealed, it's off the coast of the Seafoam islands, and it's currently above the water. The good news is, we know where it is now." Sabrina sighed, "So, I guess we're going to leave now?" Yoshiro shook his head, "Sabrina, you call the gym leaders to this location, we'll set off when they get here." Sabrina looked at him, "So what are you going to do?" Yoshiro sighed, "I got to make a call to my old boss." Sabrina nodded, "Alright." She took out her phone and went into the other room.

Yoshiro picked up his voice changer and activated it as he picked up the phone and put it on speaker phone, dialing Kauko's number. It rang a few times and then Kauko's voice spoke up, "Hello, I was beginning to wonder if you'd call me. Your name is Yoshiro, huh, I know one. He's a good kid." Yoshiro spoke up, the voice changer hiding his accent and deepening his voice greatly, "Kauko Aaltonen, I'm sure you already know this, but the main weapon of Team Neo Rocket has risen from the depths of the sea." Kauko spoke up, "Yeah, I saw it rise up, Articuno and I were relaxing on the Sea Foam Islands." Yoshiro nodded, "Alright, I'll need you to sneak into the rear entrance of the base, you'll be the backup." Kauko spoke up, "And what are you going to do?"

Yoshiro smirked, "I'm going to do what I always do and charge through the front door, The Neo Rockets will be too busy trying to shoot me down to notice you or the Gym Leaders entering the base. When all is said and done, I'll rendezvous with you inside the base." Kauko spoke up, "Alright, though tell me one thing." Yoshiro nodded, "Sure thing." Kauko sighed, "Why have you been helping me?" Yoshiro closed his eyes and half-lied to him, "I made a promise to the Yoshiro that you know. He's a good kid and doesn't want to see you get hurt, so I'll do what I can to bring you back alive, you hear me?" Kauko chuckled, "Sure thing, General." Yoshiro furrowed his brow, "Don't ever call me that again Kauko. Anyhow, you be careful, alright?" Kauko spoke up, "Alright."

Yoshiro hung up as Esperanza looked at him, "I'm going to have to go back into the ball, aren't I?" Yoshiro shook his head, "We burst." Esperanza nodded as Yoshiro grabbed the burst heart and poured his mana into it, the two of them once again fused, except this time was different. What was the dress on Esperanza, became part of his tail, turning it white with a green tip, "Huh..." Sabrina walked in, "The Gym Leaders are coming and Blaine says that he'll let you use a Charizard to attack from above. I heard what you told Kauko, are you sure you want to use yourself as a diversion?" Yoshiro nodded, "Yeah, however Esperanza will be helping protect me from attacks, as her mind also controls this body. Two minds can focus better on two different tasks." Sabrina nodded, "Yoshiro, be careful, please." Yoshiro smiled, "I promise that I'll come back alive."

Chapter 14

Yoshiro had enough time to shift the shield on his left arm back to his right when a perfect replica of him rushed at him with a sword. Esperanza teleported them away, but the Replica turned around and looked at him, "Anata ga hakai sare te iru hitsuyō ga ari, tanni nisemono desu." Yoshiro could hear Chester's laughter, "Nu will be your end, Yoshiro, but if you can defeat him, you'll be able to fight me." Yoshiro placed his left hand on the hilt of his sword as Nu spoke up, "Watashi no shujin wa anata o korosu dojō ni kare no te o motte imasen." Yoshiro drew his sword and entered a defensive position, "Say what you will, but I'm going to rip out your CPU and crush it in my hand." Nu laughed, "Anata wa sono yōna nanika o okonau koto ga dekiru to omoimasu ka? Anata yūkibutsu wa, watashi ga omottayori mo mōsōdesu. Watashi wa yukkuri to anata o korosu koto ni hokori o mottemasu." Yoshiro rushed at Nu, shield at the ready, "Stop speaking in the language of my people, you cursed machine!"

Nu swung its sword at Yoshiro's head, forcing Yoshiro to block high, but Yoshiro used this to his advantage, by guessing where the joints were, Yoshiro brought his sword across the fake flesh of Nu. Damaging the synthetic flesh, however a kick to his shield sent Yoshiro back a couple of steps, allowing Nu to strike at his legs. Yoshiro jumped back to avoid getting injured, "Gah!" Nu spoke up with a sadistic smile, "Dō shimashita ka? Anata wa yoroi nashi sōkō aite to notatakai ni narete imasen ka?" Yoshiro couldn't deny that he was usually the one wearing armor and didn't often fight armored opponents without armor and his fighting style was indicative of that, as was his choice of weapons." Nu chuckled and grabbed a spear off the wall, "Kore o tsukau baai wa motto tanoshiku narimasu." Yoshiro caught the spear in his shield hand and watched as Nu rushed at him and beat on his shield, before kicking him with enough force to send him sliding back.

Yoshiro sighed, he couldn't win against this opponent on his own and he was now loaded down with weapons, Esperanza spoke up, "You can't give up, Yoshiro, the whole world is counting on you!" Before he knew it, Nu rushed at him and he barely raised his shield in time to block an attack, he thrust his sword towards the center of the machine, but Nu dodged it, "Watashi wa anata ga watashi ni jiyūna hitto o motte moraou!" Yoshiro growled, "You arrogant bag of bolts! I will disassemble you and turn you into a toaster!" Yoshiro rushed at Nu with his sword in hand, he let go of the spear and swung for what would normally be a weakpoint, the under arm part of the left shoulder joint on Nu. Yoshiro watched in horror as his sword bent, time slowed down from his perspective as he watched the cracks form in his sword and it break apart. Yoshiro heard Nu's voice speak slower and lower pitched, "Demo anata no buki wa, watashi ni taishite kowarete imasu! Anata wa chansu ga tatte imasen!"

Yoshiro had no more responses, he had no idea if his pistol would have enough power to damage this foe, and even if he did, Nu wouldn't let him have enough time to overcharge it. He felt the robotic hand of Nu grab him by the neck and lift him off the ground. He reached for his pistol with his right hand, but Nu put his sword into Yoshiro's shoulder. However, Yoshiro watched as a door get kicked open and he saw Kauko, in a Mew Burst standing there, Kauko called out, "Hey! Bucket of bolts, let go of my friend!" Nu let go of Yoshiro, who grabbed his bleeding shoulder as he hit the ground, Yoshiro looked at the shards of his sword as he gripped the hilt tightly. Kauko called out, "Yoshiro! This isn't you! Though you seem to be a lot older, I know this isn't you! You always told me that you would give your life to protect others!"

Yoshiro knew that Kauko was right, as time returned to normal from his perspective, Yoshiro grabbed his pistol and stood up, Nu spoke up as it focused on Kauko, "Sokode kare wa, sekai de chansu nashi de bakkuappu o shutoku shimasu. Anata no ryōhō ga watashi o taosu no nai chansu ga arimasen." Yoshiro spoke up, "You're wrong, and I'm going to tell you why you're wrong." Yoshiro set the pistol to max charge and held the trigger, letting it go as Nu turned around, "Because before I die, I will see that you're destroyed!" Yoshiro walked towards Nu, firing again and again, his shots penetrating Nu's armor. Kauko walked forward with a flanged mace in his hand, swinging it at Nu's armor, denting it severely and damaging internal components. The two of them walked towards their opponent slowly, as Nu struggled to move towards Yoshiro.

Yoshiro aimed for the arm joints, disabling each of them. Kauko kept slamming his Mace into said joints, leaving Nu with only one arm to hold itself up with, to look at Yoshiro. As Yoshiro walked over to Nu, it propped itself up with the arm, hydraulic fluid and oil leaking everywhere, broken wires sparking, "Kono Ni~Tsu ni katsu watashi no masutā ga, anata wa sudeni ushinatte imasu." Yoshiro watched as Nu reached for the shards of his sword and shot Nu in the head, opening it up. He punched Nu through the head, the electrical shocks bothered him slightly, but he grabbed the CPU and ripped it out of the robot's head, "You will speak my native tongue no more, you cursed machine." Yoshiro quickly balled his hand into a fist, crushing the CPU in his hand, and letting the pieces go.

Kauko looked at him, "You've grown older and more violent." Yoshiro nodded, "Go to the Gym Leaders, get them out of here, Kauko." Kauko looked at Yoshiro, "You're not going to go up there, are you?" Yoshiro nodded, "My wound his superficial, I'm going to collect the shards of my sword and put them in my scabbard. Then I'm going to go destroy Chester. If we both survive this, I'll explain more about what's going on and what has happened in my past, Kauko." Kauko nodded, "Alright, Yoshiro, just be careful, okay?" Yoshiro placed his hand on Kauko's shoulder, "Sure thing, Boss. I'll do what I can to ensure that I come back alive. You just get the Kanto Gym Leaders out of here." Kauko nodded, "Will do." Kauko left the room as Esperanza used her psychic powers to teleport the sword shards to the scabbard. Yoshiro clutched the hilt even tighter as he noticed the stairs open up, "Let's go to the final battle, Esperanza."

Kanto Arc Epilogue

Two Days Later

Yoshiro felt cold as he started stirring, he heard a voice speak up, coming from a hologram emitter, "Ever since you disappeared, I've been fighting wars alone against an uncountable number of enemies for nearly a hundred years... Battle after Battle... So painful and so sad... but the hardest part was when I discovered that I no longer cared about fighting enemies..." Yoshiro's eyes focused and saw Rogelio, but not the one that he recognized, "I'll leave this world to you... please allow me... to rest in peace... for a while... ........ I'm sorry, Lord Yoshiro..." Yoshiro was silent for a moment and then he chuckled as he stood up, pain shooting through his left shoulder, Yoshiro clutched it, he felt that there was a scab there, "So be it... But that's why we're the best partners, I'll do what you want... rest for a while." Yoshiro picked his pistol off of the ground, "I will handle it, you can count on me, I won't stop. When an enemy appears, I will end it."

Yoshiro looked at his hand, the fur on the back of it was the usual black, he searched his body for the burst heart, but couldn't find it. He sighed slightly, "Esperanza! Esperanza!" A wild Sneasel took notice of him and rushed at him, Yoshiro hearing the crunching in the snow and dodging to put a shot in the Sneasel's head. "Yoshiro looked around to find any sort of tracks and found Gardevoir tracks leading away. Yoshiro started to follow them as the wind started to pick up, covering the tracks. Yoshiro became furious at this, but noticed a blizzard suddenly appeared, "This isn't normal." Yoshiro kept walking forward, not turning around, when he saw Esperanza in front of him, but couldn't smell her, "My mind's playing tricks on me." The illusion dropped to show a Froslass. Yoshiro raised his gun and shot at her head, but it was to no avail.

Froslass opened up her mouth and started breathing it's freezing breath at him, Yoshiro had experienced sub-zero temperatures before, living up north on his homeworld, he experienced such temperatures every winter, and thanked his father for his half-arctic blood as he weathered the attack. Yoshiro chuckled slightly as the Froslass looked confused as after minutes of breathing sub-zero temperatures on him, he hadn't passed out and only had started to shiver a bit. Yoshiro smirked at her, "I'm half-arctic Kitsune. Creature." Yoshiro watched as the Froslass started to form a blackish ball of energy and waited to see what it was going to do with it. Yoshiro smirked slightly as it threw the ball at him and he raised his hand only for no shield to form from it, "Not now!"

The energy struck him and pain ripped through his body, but he heard Esperanza speak into his head, "Yoshiro, I found you! You're in pain. I'll be right there!" Yoshiro opened his mouth to scream, but the dark energy flowing through his body was causing him untold pain. As Yoshiro dropped to his knees, he saw Esperanza appear before him. She looked furious at the Froslass and opened her hand, suddenly Yoshiro felt a massive gravitational pull erupting from the center of the Froslass and he watched the poor pokemon collapse in on itself. Yoshiro tried to dig in, but couldn't. He slid towards the singularity, but Esperanza closed it. Yoshiro fell over to his side, curling into the fetal position as Esperanza spoke up, in his mind, "You've been hit by Shadow Ball, you're still recovering from two days ago." She placed her hands on him and a pink energy flowed from them, into his body.

The pain went away and Yoshiro looked up at her, "Thank you, Esperanza." Esperanza smiled softly, "You're welcome... b-b-b." Yoshiro could tell she was nervous, "Go on, say it." Esperanza blushed slightly and looked away, she was a bit nervous, Yoshiro however placed his hand on the Gardevoir's shoulder as he sat up, "Go on ahead, say what's on your mind." Esperanza frowned, "As a Gardevoir, I'm obligated to love my trainer platonically, but you are not my trainer. You are someone who is extremely kind to me, and I find that..." Yoshiro chuckled, "You love me as if I was your own brother, don't you?" Esperanza nodded, "Y-y-yes." Yoshiro hugged her and she gasped slightly, only to close her eyes and hug back, "In a way Esperanza, I love you too. You were the first creature I met here, and you've always been by my side. And when you saved my life in that explosion, I became worried about you."

Esperanza nodded, "I know, big brother. I can sense your feelings with my horn. You care deeply about me, even if you don't show it." Yoshiro nodded slightly and stood up, but Esperanza offered him her shoulder, "I'll support you with my power." Yoshiro chuckled, "Now, little sister. I'm a fair bit heavier than you're used to." Esperanza chuckled and Yoshiro looked around, "Where are we?" Esperanza shook her head, "We aren't in Kanto, as far as I can guess, we're on Route Two hundred and sixteen in Sinnoh." Yoshiro blinked and started searching for his phone, but remembered that it had gotten blown up, "I have no way to contact the others." Esperanza smiled, "Well, we can always teleport there." Yoshiro shook his head, "Teleporting this far and that singularity stunt has drained you."

Esperanza nodded as Yoshiro heard the snow crunch behind them. He wheeled about to see three team Neo Rocket grunts standing there, the grip on his pistol tightened. The Neo Rocket Grunts looked at him and they all started to reach for their weapons. Esperanza spoke up, "I got reflect on the both of us, brother. Go ahead." Yoshiro put his pistol back on safety and holstered it with a smile as he drew the hilt of his sword and rushed at the machines, who pulled batons on him. Yoshiro quickly reached the first one and as the android swung the baton, Yoshiro grabbed the arm and plunged what blade was still attached to the hilt into the head of the android, through the ocular sensor and quickly grabbed the baton to bring across another android with enough force to damage the neck joint, allowing him enough time to grab a shard of sword from his scabbard and plunge it into the CPU through the ocular sensor.

Yoshiro turned towards the final one who rushed at him and dodged the attack to jam the baton he had into the left ocular sensor, the android turned towards him and this time Yoshiro grabbed a shard and plunged it into the power source. He was thankful that ilma metalli wasn't very conductive when it came to electricity and as the machine fell to the ground, Yoshiro looked at Esperanza, "Can you recover the CPU, I need to get the shards of my sword back." Esperanza nodded, "What do you need the CPU for?" Yoshiro grabbed at the shard in the current android, "If I can download the contents of its hard drive, I can find a list of all of the androids Team Neo Rocket has in operation and where." Esperanza nodded, "Alright." The two of them worked on their tasks and when they were finished, Esperanza turned towards Yoshiro, "So what now?" Yoshiro shrugged, "Find the Neo Rockets and destroy them, what happened in Kanto cannot be repeated."