I believe I can—OH SHIT, NEVERMIND [Kane and Lux]

Okay, so maybe everything didn’t go as Kane had planned. Whatever, it seemed like it was on the right path again. He could get to Accumula, meet up with those incompetent grunts, and get back to the castle in time for dinner. Mmm, he could smell it now. . .Wait, that didn’t smell very good. What was that nasty burning odor? And that prickling heat sensation—Oh fuck!

A trail of fire followed after him, the oxygen spurning its flames. Hey, um, Kane. . .Your ass is on fire. He flipped out, seeing the fire eat up his pants, diving towards the ground in a panic. Of course, this increased speed just aggravated the hungry flames even more. Roughly landing, he unceremoniously chunked his unconscious hostage several feet away, and then proceeded to swat his butt and jump around like a retard. Whatever “swag” he had, well it died, letting out one last, painful cry.

R.I.P.

Echoes. Echoes everywhere. There was a whisper here, a whisper there. A rushing sound began to tunnel through his ears, and then quickly sparked conscious brain activity. His thoughts quickly turned to an assessment of his body, calculating the damage. Face. Shoulder. Ribs. The back. By the looks of it, his face had been kicked or something. He’d been dropped. Dropped? Dropped where?

Chirping. Woods. Woods? Where exactly could he be that had woods nearby? Nuvema? That’s where he’d been heading at least. Nuvema. Somewhere between Nuvema and Accumula. He reckoned he was right in between there-

Movement.

His nostrils caught a whiff of something burning. Clothing, yes, and… Some flesh. Clenching his teeth in concentration, he pinpointed the noise; somewhere to his… Right? Yes, it was the right. He could hear the sound coming to him directly, meaning that while on his side, the front of his body was facing whoever was burning.
He cautiously cracked open an eye.

What the devilfucking dickens was going on here?

Opening both eyes to get a better look, he blinked his gray eyes several times, adjusting to the situation and trying to comprehend it. Where would there have been a fire? Was this the guy who’d dropped him? Cocking an eye brow, the kid held his head up with his left hand, elbow propped upon the grassy forest floor. He gave it a couple more seconds as he amused himself with the situation before speaking.

“Damn. You’re just flaming, aren’t you?” His voice had escalated to a lighter, more liquid tone, eerily calm, laced with taunt.

In his moronic panic, Kane almost didn't hear the boy speak.  Almost doesn't mean didn't, though.  "Yes, I am on fire, thanks for noticing!" he snarled, still trying to stifle the fire.  He thrashed his tail, attempting to use it to beat the flames out, but it really just fanned them since it wasn't that flexible.  The smoke must be blocking oxygen from getting to his brain, because hopefully he wasn't that stupid.

Snickering at the other guy’s complete disregard of the joke, he began working on getting to his feet. This was a bit difficult, though; he hadn’t had control of this body lately. That, and, it was the most damaged that he’d ever woke up in it in. Wincing as he gingerly sat on his knees, he begant the process in which he brainwashed himself into believe the pain was nonexistent. Upon hearing more struggling, he glanced up, his eyes suddenly widening.
“Ohhhh…” He grinned, noticing the appendage that revealed itself to be a tail instead of a bizarre article of clothing.

“Lookit that!” The kid finally stood up, this new development just delighting him. He stretched his arms, moving his neck to get rid of the kinks, his grin widening with each pop and crackle. He bent his knees just slightly, getting a feel for the ground through his feet, getting ready to move if necessary.

“If there was one thing they didn't pin with complete accuracy, it was the lackluster adjectives they used in the description.” He raised his arms, holding his hands out and curling the fingers, mouthing “grrr, arrg!”.

The gijinka finally got the flame put out, hissing at the slight burns.  He twisted around, checking the status of his pants.  Well, fuck.  At least the smoke blackened the layer beneath his pants--A.K.A. His underwear.  Made them, sorta, blend in with his pants.  He looked up at the boy, growling threateningly at him.  "Who said you could get up?"  He narrowed his eyes, tasting some hidden tone in his words.  "And now what do you mean by that?"

He swayed slightly as he casually rocked from toe to heel and back, keeping his eyes on Kane. He lowered his arms to his sides, holding them out to balance himself out. He shook his head, dark blue hair flying free.

Eh. Where’s my hat?

Giving a slight cough, he continued to survey the gijinka with great interest. His face was still stage to a grin that was not too far off from insane. Yup, this was definitely the hostile. He gave a shrug, grin morphing into a smirk.

“I’ve got my rights.” He said lightly, watching for a reaction and purposely disregarding the question.

For the most part, he thought to himself.

"Oooh... Snarl at me some more, maybe I'll start shaking or something." He added, staring Kane straight in the eyes.

He turned fully towards the smaller guy, crossing his arms menacingly across his chest. “Rights?” he scoffed, “You’ve been taken hostage. You have no rights.” He sized him up, sensing hostility. Not like expected him to be a problem, it’s just easier to fly if the cargo isn’t flailing around like a retard—so, like Kane was a few moments ago. Even though he didn’t have to keep him alive, he didn’t want to kill him right here. Nah, not without having some fun. Torture him a bit, wait for that irritating Dewott to follow the Victini to him, and then see the look on their faces at the sight of the boy beaten within an inch of his life. Not to mention they might catch on if he disposed of him so close to where he left them. At that last sarcastic remake, he took an intimidating step forward. “Better watch out, hot stuff,” he rumbled.

“Mess with the Bouffalant, you’re gonna get the horns.”

He followed the guy's eyes, read him like a book. He looked like he was crossing his arms to guard the fact that he hadn't been expecting this outcome. Blinking, he looked from left to right, then to the sky, then back at the gijinka's face again. He cocked his head curiously, giving a look of mock surprise.

"Is that what this is?" He balanced himself on his heels, raising his hands up in the air as if at gunpoint. The smirk fluttered back into a grin that was becoming a trademark of his. He could just feel himself being studied.

Studied for what? Oh. Right. Torture. He nearly scoffed out loud.

He's going to walk toward me in three, two, one-

He predicted the other's movements with near perfect accuracy.

"Heheheh..." He bit his lower lip mischievously, sniffing the air, making sure to twitch his nose in a way that made the movement extremely visible. "Do I smell hypocracy? Oh... Naw, that's the smell of your burnt, overly tight hooker pants and singed panties."

"Actually, it's both."

Okay, he was seriously going to get it. All this condescending, sarcastic, passive aggressive crap. . .Yeah, that was going to end, right here, right now. He refused to deal this kind of bullshit. Kane wasn’t about to put up with it. Especially when the punk said that. Panties? Hooker pants?!

Oh hell no.

That bitch was going down.

Letting loose an angry roar, Kane pressured his body into charging full force at him. The exertion pulled on the damaged flesh on his side, splitting the skin. Even though blood was welling up and pain radiating along the wound, he still pumped his legs, steamrolling forward.

"Mm?" He grinned wider, scanning Kane's face for any sign that he was going to come crashing toward him, because honestly, that was the only outcome that one of his mentality could come up with. It was just a matter of when.

Break.

Break.

C'mon, you can do it-

Aha!

"Good lord!" He chuckled softly, swiftly moving to the side. This was usually the part where they would lose their balance, leaving their back open for him to jump on. Then there was usually a knife to the throat, and everything was over for them. Except this go around, he
had no weapons, save for the small blades in the soles of his shoes.

Sometimes it's refreshing when they assign me to kill the idiots, he smiled.

The strange black tendrils sprouting from the gijinka's back catching his eye, he was suddenly very interested. He decided to leap on this guy's back anyway. In fact, it would probably mess him up even more and would probably make his fall a little more painful. Especially when he appeared to be wounded; the familiar smell of fresh blood hung in the air.

"What're THESE!" He thought out loud, grabbing the top two tendrils in both his hands.

He really should have seen that coming. Like a matador dodging a Bouffalant, he sidestepped the charging gijinka like he wasn’t even worried. Normally, this wouldn’t have posed a serious problem. He would turn on a dime, like some dancer, and take another swing at him. But when he started to twist, the sore skin compressed, sending out waves of pain. He winced, not a lot, but just enough to create an opening for his opponent.

He hopped onto his back, the extra weight smashing the wound together. He gritted his fangs, attempting to bear the extra load. He lasted only a few seconds, the strain causing him to collapse onto the grass. Suddenly, his top pair of wings was manhandled. He flexed his other wings, seeking to whack or do anything, really, to deter the attacker.

Snickering, he positioned himself higher on Kane's back so that the other sets of wings couldn't touch him. Using his knees to pin the top two tendrils at the bases, he wondered if this would possibly work. The dual-colored hair caught his eye. His instinct automatically called him to play.

Grabbing a fistfull of hair, he yanked back. Using his other hand, he quickly swiped his nails across Kane's neck. He leaned down next to his left ear.

"My name is Lock." He whispered icily. "And you would be dead right now." His last remark was sung hauntingly to the first six notes of the old nursery rhyme 'Ring Around the Rosie', or the 'na, na, na, na, na, naah' that children on the playground would tauntingly throw at each other, accompanied by the sticking out of the tongue or raspberry blowing, except it was set to an eerily slow and chilling pace.

He felt the person crawling up his back, using his wings as stepping stools. He was about to reach back and grab him, when he was beaten to the punch. As soon as he felt the slightest of backwards pulling, he expected the worst. A bile rose in his throat as all his instincts screamed at his exposed neck. A line of rugged edges scratched across the skin, although there wasn’t any pain like Kane anticipated. It was then he realized those were nails. What the Hell?

Chilly breath tickled his ear as his opponent gloated over his would-be-triumph. Shame washed over Kane, the fact that he let some shrimp best him severely hurting his pride. But as they say, “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”

Mustering reserve strength, he bucked his torso in the direction of the ground. His hands flying back to grasp the tiny assaulter, he aimed to flip this Lock into the dirt and then pounce on him like a Luxray.

Lock was having quite a bit of fun. This guy was a complete idiot. All right, so he was hurt. And besides, it wouldn't be long until he attempted to get up. However, by no means did that mean the fun was over. He wrapped his arms around the beast's neck, laughing into his ear.
He tightened his grip; there was a very good chance that he could suffocate him this way.

Tch.

That would be much too boring. He hadn't had quite this much fun for a few years, actually. He wasn't about to kill his new catch off, not after figuring out how entertaining he could be. He gave a low chuckle.

"You just touched my ass-"

Oh. It looked like he'd been flipped right off his quarry.

He felt the pressure on his neck cutting off the flow of air, starting to slowly squeeze the life out of him. He reached his hands back, knowing he had to get him off quick. So he really wasn’t worried that he grabbed Lock’s ass. Hey, there’s still something worse he could’ve gotten a hold of.

Kane threw the boy down, and within heartbeats had him pinned beneath his body. He wasn’t letting Lock get away, or allow him to get the upper hand in this fight. He tilted his head back and then whipped it down towards Lock’s.

Oh, hey, check it, straddled!

...I've been PINNED? What? How did THIS happen? Damn, I'm useless today.

Useless? Naaaaw. This is a Skitty I'm dealing with here.

They always have the same reaction.

He grinned, mischief just shining in those gray pools. Lock could hardly stifle his laughter at his situation, and the situation that he was leading... He could've sworn he'd seen a name on the document... Eh, who cared. The dead have little use for names. Insanity spreading across his face like wildfire, he met Kane's attack with a headbutt of his own, absorbing more energy than he could push back into the beast's own skull, but hey; headbutting was his signature get-out-of-there move. Although, Lock highly doubted that a headbutt was going to get this guy off him. He was going to have to settle for some more... Drastic measures. Laughing like a maniac, he decided to utilize his secret weapon. Though it could swing either way, it was always hilarious to observe.

"Heh. Forgotten what it felt like to be on bottom."

"And apparently, so did you."

He grit his teeth at the pain, which was making him slightly giddy.

"Then again, your clothing screams otherwise."

Kane ground his teeth together as the twerp hit back with a little force. The pain wasn’t really bad, but still annoying as Hell. Especially that retarded laugh of his. It was like taking a cheese grater to his ears. But he would rather listen to him laughing than saying things like. . .that.

Kane’s face brightened, from anger or embarrassment—well, we can only guess. “What the Hell?!” he roared, picking up Lock by the collar of his jacket and throwing him furiously away. He didn’t suffer fools lightly anyway, so one that was spouting crap such as that really irked him.

Lock looked down at his collar, frowning and wondering why it was such a bright hue. What a useless color for one of his job description. Lux was really starting to piss him off. Luckily, he'd been thrown behind mental bars for the time being. There was no way that Lux would've survived, even with the little bit of skill that he had. Lock braced himself for the throw at the jerk of Kane's arm. He chuckled as he landed on his toes, grinding his heels into the ground to stabilize the much stronger force that would've toppled an untrained human being.

This could be over right about now.

I'm lucky he's such an idiot.

Then again, that's why I let myself get caught in the first place. So far, he can't beat me. Not when he flips his lid every time I say something that makes him feel uncomfortable. And the grin's really throwing him off.

This could be over for him within seconds. He doesn't know that I've had the blade in my hand for a little while now.

"Psssssst, hey. You seem like the game type." Lock called out lightly, keeping his eyes on his opponent's joints and his eyes, waiting for the sign of any movement.

"Let's play one right now, eh?"

"I've got two questions for you. You can only answer 'yes' or 'no' once."

"Are you gay?"

"...And are you lying?"

The sick grin masked any calculated thinking that was taking place, although some thinking was a little less calculated. Something was off here, but he couldn't figure out what. Was there a piece of information he'd missed? Lock felt like there was something incomplete about all this...

Name. The name.

"Eh, Kane?"

You always use their name, he thought, satisfied. He could either just do his job now, or... He could play a little more.

Before Kane had been suspicious of Lock, but now he was downright sure something else was going on here. A normal, pint-sized Trainer should not be able to land unscathed on their feet after being thrown a few yards away. Before he thought it was dumb luck from such a high level of stupidity bending the laws of the universe that was allowing him to stay alive. No, only someone with immense training could pull off the delicate and precise movements required to do something like that. Lock wasn’t any ordinary citizen.

So when he started spouting stuff about a game, he was put on the edge. He almost. . .reminded him of himself. Being delighted in others pain and misfortune. He already had been playing mind games on his psyche, stressing his nerves by saying nerve-racking things. So when the boy revealed it was a question game, Kane started mentally preparing himself for something flabbergasting to spew forth from his mouth.

Are you gay?

He was strangling Lock in his mind already. He was dead set on the gay jokes, wasn’t he? “No, I am not gay,” he seethed through his clenched teeth, making it very clear to him that he was not a homosexual.

And are you lying?

“N—,” he started to say, catching himself as he realized what the perverse trick of this game was. It was an unwinnable game, unless you were gay, which Kane strongly argues that he is not. He flipped his middle finger at him, shouting, “Oh fuck you and your dumbass questions!” Playtime was over.

His skin developed a small, pinkish shade and a bit of steam lifted from the surface. This kid had him all “worked up”. Ha, did ya catch that? Cause he used Work Up—You know what, never mind. Forget I said anything. Anyway, he was going down. He was readying himself to use the devastating Outrage to tear him apart when the name drifted to his ears.

Eh, Kane?

He halted, freezing up as if splashed with a bucket full of ice cold water. Kane never said what his real name was. He was only called by his lab label. Jayden only knew him by that, so there’s no way she could’ve told him. That could only mean one thing. . .It wasn’t an accident that Lock was dragged into this mess. He was here for a reason. And with fighting skills like his, those reasons were very limited. He wasn’t here to make friends, that was for sure. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of taking him lightly. And that called for some different tactics.

He decided to switch to focusing on long range, because it didn’t take a moron to realize up-close fighting wasn’t going to work. He had made a fool out of himself too much that way already. He braced his feet against dirt, preparing for the recoil of his strengthened Dragon Pulse. He hinged his jaw wide open, sucking in as much air as possible. The energy going into the attack bolstered this intake, creating a vacuum as the air was taken into his lungs. A blast of shockwaves extended outward as the pressure of the vacuum disturbed the natural flow of energy and air in the surrounding atmosphere.

Ahahahaha.... Here we go, Lock thought, that giddy feeling in his stomach growing and tickling his insides as Kane gave his first answer. That was his name, right? It had to be...

HAH! Every time!

This was way too much fun. Lock was having a huge amount of difficulty keeping his laughter under control, biting down on his lip as Kane flipped him the bird. Lock found himself instinctively running his tongue over his top teeth, concentrating on the rest of his senses and ignoring Kane for a moment.

Fresh air, moving fast, not too far off.

That's a river.

Tuning in back to Kane, his eyes caught his change in skin tone. Something was at work here. See, look? I played along- Whatever.

Hmm... More powers...?

Lock's grin was fit back into place, that giddy feeling in his stomach enhancing further as he realized that his opponent had just come to a conclusion, his strategically placed words doing their work. His soul was simply alight with a cold-hot dancing flame as the situation progressed. He loved it when that happened. The game was most certainly afoot now.

Suddenly, Lock's mental view of the river was becoming obscured as Kane began to prepare for some move. Better stop that fucker, then. He purposely flicked the blade in his right hand in such a way as to show it off. Blades were pretty. He rushed toward Kane, assuming an attack stance that was definitely not appropriate for the situation, but Lock had different motives.

The target skillfully dodging the attack, the shockwave continued on its path, slamming into the trunk of a broad tree. The bark splintered and exploded outward in a cloud of shrapnel. The wood underneath the bark, now stripped of its protection, cracked and broke apart like an ice cube that was just dropped into a hot liquid. The tree groaned and started to fall without the only support it had blown apart from underneath it. The towering plant crashed to the ground with a loud clamor.

But he couldn’t worry about the tree right now, not as the sunlight’s reflection of the steel blade shone brightly in his eyes. He squatted slightly, his wings fully extending out behind him. He was not letting that twerp get anywhere close to him with a blade. He pushed against the ground at the same instant he brought his six wings down. The two forces lifted him into the air and away from Lock. He was going to attack, but that last pointless attack had nearly drained him of energy. He had to use what strength he had left to stay afloat. He scowled below at the boy, knowing this fight was coming to a close.

Lock did not pause to check if Kane was going to make a move or not; he'd already anticipated Kane's next move, more or less. Instead, he tore off into where the trees got thicker. Shrapnel from the broken tree hit him in the back of the head, bouncing off of his wild hair.

"WHOOP!" He gave the ecstatic shout, flipping Kane off on the way out.

What dust collected there was ruthlessly cast off by Lock's swift motion as he concentrated exactly on where he needed to go, following the scent of water. In the process of running, he unzipped that damn jacket, preparing to show Lux exactly how he felt about it by casting it to the side, but stopped with this when he noticed a spherical shape in one of the pockets.

Zipping the pocket open while still making his way toward the river, Lock withdrew a rather familiar Pokeball. Making sure there weren't any more surprises hidden in the retarded jacket, he balled it up and tossed it where he knew the river was. He ducked behind a tree upon hearing the splash, examining the monster ball.

Lock clicked the button, and out from the red materialized a small white form. He hadn't seen this one in a while, and then remembered that shortly before his last stretch of time trapped behind Lux's consciousness, he'd made sure to bring along his Ralts. Lux must've assumed that the ball was empty, and hadn't bothered to use it.

Looks like I got pretty fucking lucky.

"Psst!" He hissed hurriedly. It looked up at him, blinking its sleepy eyes. Upon realizing that Lock was in control of the body, its clear magenta eyes sharpened. Lock took hold of one of its small white hands.

"Take us to Pinwheel, I'll explain everything later."

Shrugging, the Ralts lowered its light green head, preparing to Teleport. Lock knew they'd have to act faster. Sensing his urgency, the Ralts enveloped both of them in a bright pink glow before disappearing from the spot on the planet's grid with a bright yellow flash.

His predator eyes contracted as the locked onto the escaping prey, a deep rumble reverberating in his throat. He flapped his wings, propelling himself after the running boy. He entered the area with thicker trees, causing him to descend onto them and hop from one branch to the next with the help of the slender appendages on his back. He caught of flash of bright blue and followed after it. There was a splash and he squinted his eyes to better focus in. He saw the piece of clothing halfway floating in the river beneath him, free of any bearer.

Growling at the decoy he completely fell for, he continued on the way he last saw Lock. He saw a white light that he knew to be the distinctive beam of a Pokémon being let out of its Pokéball. He pushed himself faster, bursting past the tree the blue-haired boy was behind just in time to see him and a small white and green Pokémon teleport.

He dropped onto the spot the pair was last occupying as if he thought he could pick up some clue to where they went. There wasn’t a way to track a teleporting Pokémon unless it had a tracker on it or you had a powerful Psychic type trained on whatever was teleporting. Kane had neither at his disposal at the moment, leaving him unable to recapture his hostage. He twisted quickly, going to angrily punch the tree, only to flinch back as he aggravated the wound on his side. His distinctive eyes fell on the wound, now fully assessing the extent of the damage. It was bleeding a bit still and it was sure to scar. Hell, the doc—damn that infernal woman—was going to have to remove the damaged skin and then graft some lab grown replacement flesh onto it. And for what? An escaped hostage, who was probably going to go straight back to Jayden and his stupid Dewott, which meant that no caught quarry, either. So he’d have to limp back to HQ, empty-handed, to lick his wounds. Just perfect.