Anthony led Skylar, Ace, and Rose to the Agency building. He gulped, knowing he would have to hide the fact that it was an Agency instead of a research building, but if they took a specific route, things would go swimmingly.
As they walked, Skylar walked at a bit of a distance from Rose, who had noticed this a while ago. Ace looked between the girls with a sigh, deciding to not interject in their conflict.
"So where exactly would Winter's file be?" Ace spoke up, trying to break up the tension.
Anthony looked up to the building, "About three floors up, that window right there."
He pointed at a window on the third floor of the building.
"Then why don't we just climb up the side?" Skylar asked.
"And what would we use to do that?" Anthony asked, "Going up without using anything would be suicide."
The Sylveon wore a cheeky smile as she pointed to a lift other Pokémon would use to clean windows.
"Oh man..." Ace gulped.
With Cecelia
"We've been discovered. Going dark."
The Espeon's eyes widened as she heard that single sentence from Spark, "Already? Damn!"
"What's wrong?" Justin, who was waiting at the front door, asked.
Cecelia sighed, "Spark's been caught, we need to go in through the window."
"He got caught? Is he being reckless?" The Lucario wondered as they went to the window once more, "Or were they expecting us to come or something?"
The two entered through the window.
"No matter, for now we need to find Dan and capture Pyro."
Justin nodded, "Right, let's go to the basement."
As they headed towards a nearby staircase, the two heard noise from the main corridor. It was Spark and Tyler, who were prepared to fight.
"You're definitely not the mailman," The Flareon with the red hoodie spoke, looking between them.
"Hey..." Spark's arms suddenly fell to his sides, "Do you know a Glaceon named Winter?"
"No, I know no Winter..." The Flareon spoke, "I do know an Alice, though."
Tyler flinched at this while Spark's pupils shook.
The floor below Spark cracked as his eyes turned a bright yellow, "Who are you?"
The Flareon smirked to himself, "The name's Burn, you?"
"Your worst nightmare!!" Spark shouted before dashing forward in a bolt of light to try and use his combat knife to cut him.
Burn swiftly avoided the attack, "A little aggressive for a mailman, aren't you?"
"Shut up!!" The Jolteon dashed at him again with his heightened speed and swung his knife at Burn, only for it to be avoided each time he tried.
"He hasn't even gone for the vitals yet... Is he really trying to kill me or not?"
Burn avoided one more attack before quickly punching Spark's face, making him slide back.
Tyler, meanwhile, watched with wide eyes, "Spark's Supercharge isn't as potent... Is it because he's losing his senses...?"
Burn began walking towards Spark, "You know, you're not really much of a good killer–"
"Tyler kick!" The Umbreon exclaimed as he suddenly ran up and drop kicked Burn, "Forget about me?"
Burn, who had crashed into the wall, dusted himself off as he glared at Tyler, "No, but now I just want to kill the both of you."
"I'd like to see you try!" Tyler quickly stood up, getting into a readied stance.
Burn growled as both of his eyes began to glow a shade of red, making Tyler step back a bit, "His eyes are red like Aiden's! But... Only Aiden's pupil turns red... Not his whole eye, and not both!"
"Woah!" Tyler exclaimed as he dodged Burn's punch. He could feel the heat from Burn's paw, and didn't want to know what would happen in the case he touched it.
As Tyler fought Burn, Spark stood there, looking at his paws. Had his anger reduced the potency of his Supercharge?
"I know, but I've just been on edge ever since we got into the car yesterday..." The Jolteon let out a sigh, "I just don't know what we'll do, say we aren't powerful enough to defeat Pyro."
"We will be, Spark."
"You don't know that, dude..." Spark put a paw on his forehead, letting out a long sigh.
Tyler stayed silent for a moment before chuckling faintly, "You know how much of a pessimist you sound like right now?"
"What?" Spark turned his head to look at the Umbreon.
"You're being a pessimist!" Tyler punched his shoulder, speaking in a hushed shout.
Spark winced, "Owww..."
"Think about it," The Umbreon began, "You have that whole Supercharge power-up, and I have my Aura Blue form."
"Aura Blue form?" Spark raised an eyebrow, "Is that what you decided to call it?"
"Well yeah!" Tyler exclaimed, "Every power-up form needs a name, does it not?"
Spark laughed, "Not really!"
Tyler's wide grin faded to a faint smile, "You see my point though, right?"
"I think I do..." He looked away for a moment.
"Yeah, we're one of a kind, Spark!"
Tyler shouted in pain as he was punched in the gut by Burn, making Spark snap out of it and look back up at the fight.
"Hey you!" Spark shouted, his eyes turning yellow once again, "I'm ready."
Burn backed off to look between Tyler and a Supercharged Spark, "I can still beat the both of you."
Tyler and Spark looked at the other and gave each other a high-paw, Tyler's aura form beginning to develop.
Meanwhile...
"Dan!" Justin shouted as he saw a familiar Arcanine and Eevee confined to the small cell. The Lucario destroyed the lock on the door and opened it.
"I see you two deciphered my message..."
"It wasn't us, it was Spark."
"Daniel!" Cecelia jumped to hug Dan, tears in her eyes, "I thought we could've lost you..."
"Hey, Cecelia..." Dan smiled faintly, patting the Espeon's head, "I missed you guys too. But there really isn't any time for all of that, we need to get her out of here."
The Arcanine gestured to the Eevee that had been hiding behind him.
Justin nodded, "Right, don't worry, we have a plan for all of that."
"Let me hear it..." The Arcanine sat up.
"Okay, we needed to find you so you could take on Pyro and capture him, Spark and his friend Tyler are handling the location of Winter, and Anthony is working to destroy the case file for Winter's case."
"So what I'm getting from all of that is that I need to find Pyro..." Dan then stood up, "I understand the mission."
"Okay, now all we need to do is get Winter and this little girl out of here."
"Not on my watch."
The four's ears perked as they looked around to see where the voice came from, but they didn't see anybody.
"Once I use my multilution stone to re-evolve Winter into a Flareon, she won't want to come back to Kalos with you..." The voice laughed.
Dan's eyes widened, "Pyro."
"There's nothing you can do anymore, the Children of Ashes will be notified of this, and will stop your little group once and for all."
"Children of Ashes?" Cecelia asked as she looked at Dan.
"Pyro's children..." Dan replied as he began leaving the cell, "We need to move fast."
Pyro laughed once again, "This is getting entertaining!" Pyro stood up from his desk before walking out to the hallway leading to both the boys and girl's rooms.
The large Flareon opened the doors to both rooms, only to see Winter standing in the girls' doorway and Flame standing in the boys' doorway.
"It's no use," Winter smiled arrogantly, "I tied the girls to their beds while they slept."
"Same for the boys, Dad."
"Flame! I expected something like this from Winter, but not from you, boy!"
"Ever hear of a plot twist, Dad?"
"Hm?"
Flame suddenly punched Pyro in his nose, swatting the multilution stone out of his paw, "Winter, run for it!"
Pyro groaned, holding his nose as he felt blood gush from it.
Both Flame and Winter darted down the hallway, only to stop in their tracks when they saw Burn standing there.
"I knew one was missing... Of course it had to be the paranoid one who's always on night patrol..." Flame sighed.
Suddenly a familiar Jolteon dashed to face Burn, "Supercharge Center!" Spark put all of his energy into his left arm, slamming Burn into the wall on the right.
He panted softly as the electricity on his body flowed throughout his body before disappearing, "Trying to show off a new attack too way too much out of me..."
"S-Spark...?" Winter's eyes widened as she saw the Jolteon, and the necklace he was wearing as well.
Flame smiled faintly, "Well I'll be damned, you really did come."
Spark looked back at the two, and his eyes widened.
"Spark I missed you so much–"
"Watch out!" Spark shouted, grabbing both Winter and Flame's wrists to throw them behind him before avoiding an attack from Pyro.
"So, you're Winter's Dad..." Spark mumbled, "At least I got to meet the father."
"You... I'll kill you!" Pyro pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Spark. The Jolteon froze, staring into the hole of the pistol with widened eyes.
"Hey!" A voice shouted. "What are you doing?" The two looked up to see a shiny Lucario pointing a gun towards the two.
"No..." Spark gasped in his mind. Meanwhile, Justin was reaching for the dislodged floorboard.
"So, what are you two doing?" The shiny asked, "Poking around where you shouldn't be, aren't you?" The two could hear a slight click, signaling that the gun was ready to fire. Justin took this chance to throw the floorboard towards his weapon as he fired, causing the bullet to hit the boat's railing a few feet away.
Justin jumped at the other Lucario before grabbing the wrist holding the gun and using it to slam him on his back. The shiny Lucario used his remaining limb function to point it at Justin's arm.
And fire it.
Winter pushed Spark out of the way before using ice to knock the pistol from Pyro's paws, which Spark caught.
"You nearly got yourself killed!" Winter shouted, "Why'd you freeze up, dumbass?"
"That was a fluke and you know it! If I had a few seconds I would've totally dodged and knocked it out of your Dad's paws, easy."
"You wouldn't have had a few seconds, he would've–!" The mental image made Winter's voice crack a bit.
"I know, I'll be more careful..."
Winter pouted, looking away.
"I missed you, Spark..."
"Missed you too, Winter."
"Seems like you already found her, Spark..." A voice spoke as it approached, revealing to be Dan.
"I also found your pistol, Dan."
The Jolteon passed the pistol he and Winter had stolen from Pyro to Dan, who only smiled, "I'm guessing you want to help with my fight?"
"You mean our fight?" The Jolteon raised an eyebrow as both he and Dan stepped to stand in front of Pyro.
"I guess I do now..." The Arcanine laughed to himself, "Justin, Cecelia, you get them out of here."
Cecelia and Justin nodded in unison, "Right."
"Wait, I can just leave him–" Winter tried to protest before Justin picked her up.
"Right, right, let's go now, you'll see him when it's over."
Summer then scurried up to lightly tug at Dan's leg fur, making him look down.
"Thank you for helping me, mister..."
Dan softly pet her head, "No problem, kid."
"Wait, is that–"
"Yeah, yeah, save it for when we get outside," Justin told her as he took Winter and Flame away.
As everyone else left the building, only Spark, Dan, and Pyro remained.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pyro asked, his fur beginning to heat up gradually.
Spark and Dan looked at the other and smiled, "Pretty sure."
Meanwhile...
An Espeon and a shiny Vaporeon walked up to Spark's house and looked at the front door, which had clearly just been repaired.
"What do you think could be going on?" Drizzle asked, looking at the door.
Violet took one more look at her messages with Tyler, which had been left unanswered, but read.
"Dang... He left you on read for that many messages?" Drizzle commented before looking at the contact name for Tyler.
"My goofy gamer"
Drizzle gagged, looking away to recover his senses. His mind swirled as he nearly fell off the stairs, his legs barely keeping his body standing.
Violet closed her phone before looking at Drizzle, "What are you doing?"
"N-Nothing..." The shiny replied, his body slumped over a nearby railing.
Violet rolled her eyes before she knocked on the door, "Hello? It's Violet!"
From inside, the duo could hear a faint yelp, followed by a crash, and a bit of scuttering. The siblings looked at the door, occasionally glancing to the other in confusion.
"H-Hey Violet, Drizzle..." Aiden opened the door slightly so he could peek his head out, smiling a bit nervously.
"Morning, Aiden..." Violet lightly pet the Flareon's head, "Have you heard from Tyler? Or is he here? Did something happen to him?"
"No, no, and a little bit."
"Can we come in?" Drizzle asked, "It feels weird to be speaking to you through a door..."
"No!" Aiden suddenly shouted, making the two flinch.
"I-I mean... Not right now."
"Why not?" Violet asked confusedly.
"I... I um..." Aiden began to sweat, thinking of an excuse.
Drizzle and Violet exchanged a look before Drizzle summoned some water on his right paw, which Violet picked up with her psychic.
She suddenly threw the water in Aiden's face, making him fall back.
Violet opened the door, and gasped loudly at the sight, "How long has the house looked like this!?"
There was trash scattered everywhere around the house, and things in the house weren't fixed since Winter, Aiden, Skylar and Tyler's fight against Pyra.
"When was the last time you cleaned, dude...?" Drizzle looked around.
Violet's stomach flipped, "Explain where Tyler is, then let's get to cleaning this mess."
Aiden nodded faintly, "Big bro, Tyler, and the others went to Sinnoh to save Winter from her... Dad I think."
"Sinnoh!?" The siblings exclaimed.
"That's it, when Tyler gets back, I am so gonna be mad at him..."
With Tyler
As the Umbreon walked with Justin, Flame, Summer, and Winter, he sneezed, wiping his nose.
"Dude, gross..." Flame looked at him with a deadpan expression.
Winter, meanwhile, was glancing over at Summer confusedly, "She's supposed to be dead! How is she? Why is she...?"
Tyler looked over at a nearby window before something inside of him started to stir. Something was telling him to move. To move anywhere, just to not stay there. Before he could react to the feeling inside of him, his legs forced him to jump to the left, throwing him off balance as he hit the ground.
Just then, a Flamethrower went right past where he was walking before.
"Damn!" A voice shouted from where the attack came from. It was Burn, who had woken up from Spark's previous supercharged attack.
"How is he still awake after that?" Flame asked with a soft growl, preparing himself for battle.
Summer hid behind Justin's legs as the temperature around Winter began to drop considerably.
"Woah...!" The Umbreon stood up as he looked at his paws, which were flowing with aura, "My aura gives me sixth sense!"
"Now's not the time for all that!" Winter scolded the Umbreon, "The four of us can easily beat him!"
Tyler's eyes began to glow blue, "The rest of you need to leave, now."
"What?" Flame and Winter asked confusedly.
"Our mission is to find and retrieve Winter. Letting her into a fight, even if it's four on one, would be risky... Especially with that little girl in the fray." The Umbreon explained calmly, almost sounding like a different person, "We need Winter and the girl as far away from this house as possible. Flame, Justin. Take her and go, I'll catch up later."
Winter and Flame were about to argue, when Justin put his paws on their shoulders, "Let him be, he's decided."
The two turned around as Winter let out a faint huff, "You better be right about this."
"C'mon, Winter... You have faith in your boyfriend, why not your boyfriend's friend?"
"That's not how faith works..."
As the group left Tyler alone to face Burn, Spark and Dan readied their weapons. Spark went into his Supercharge, while Tyler allowed himself to be swallowed up by the blue mist around him.
Both Burn and Pyro's eyes glowed a bright red as the temperature in the house heated up. The sole five combatants left in the house starred the other down.
Spark and Dan upstairs, glanced at each other, and back at Pyro.
Tyler downstairs, clenched his paws as he looked for the smallest of faults in Burn's current standing. He noticed that Burn had a pretty nasty bruise from earlier, when Spark had punched him with the 'Supercharge Center'.
"Burn away!!" Both Pyro and Burn shouted at their respective combatants, running at them.
Spark and Dan versus Pyro.
—
Tyler versus Burn.
—
Battles begin!