On the night skies of Johto…

Finding her fellow underworld worker wasn't that hard. After all, one could easily make their presence known by using spy drones sent to explore the general area as target practice. Apparently he was doing it just for show and to get her attention.

Hunter J wasn't amused, and she actually reprimanded him because replacing those drones would be expensive, but the Pride Sniper (or simply "Pride") quickly offered her the blueprints of his own drones. Much smaller, more efficient and harder to spot, as well as surprisingly lower on maintenance cost. That at least served to placate her ire for the time being, since it was time to discuss in detail the terms of that temporary alliance for their current jobs.

"Impressive," the sniper said as he watched the videos of J's men fighting, or rather, being swatted like flies by the bloodliner vigilantes. "Your men, I mean, to think they lasted as long as they did."

"It wasn't like you fared better going solo against the other, am I wrong?" J replied coldly.

"He caught me off guard, that's all. Now I know what they can do, we can take proper measures." The sniper pulled out a USB drive and plugged it in the console. "I like to study my foes when I have the chance, and you'd be surprised how easy it is to defeat them once you know their weaknesses."

"You seem very knowledgeable about them," said J. "I don't face them often, and I'd rather keep it that way."

No kidding. Her encounters with those freaks had left more than a bad taste in the mouth. Facing against a Pokémon was one thing, since it was easy to imagine what they could do. But a bloodliner… that was a different story. A human with a Pokémon's power was unnatural, something that shouldn't exist.

"The more you know of your foes, the more resources you can use against them," Pride said. "Between your own relay, and what I've been able to gather on my own, it'll be easy to take care of these guys. I have a good idea of what they're capable of."

He began by showing her a video taken from his own point of view, thanks to the micro camera hidden in his goggles. Specifically, his fight against the vigilante with a Robin Hood complex, judging by his choice in costume and weapons. During said fight, he tried to shoot him with one of his handguns, and the archer shielded himself behind his arms. Normally that would have been a foolish choice, except that his limbs took a metallic energy layer, causing the bullets to bounce off of them. The way he shook his arms afterwards suggested that the bullets actually caused him pain, but probably no more than what to a normal human would've been a few bruises.

"Was that a Steel Wing?" J observed. She had seen that move enough times to recognize it, plus she had taught it to her Salamence recently as a countermeasure against Fairy-types. The metallic glow was unmistakable.

"And there's more," the sniper continued. "This guy has formal combat training, and knows how to combine it with his power. Just check this out."

To make his point clear, he continued playing the video. After the bullets failed, the Pride Sniper decided to engage him in close quarters combat, wielding his knives, to which the vigilante responded with a pair of eskrima sticks concealed in his boots. Nothing unusual at first, until a couple of green energy blades protruded from the sticks, forcing Pride to step back to avoid getting slashed. He then threw a few fire grenades to get away, and the last thing he saw was the vigilante using his cloak to shield himself from the burning blast.

"Alright, aside from the obvious use of Leaf Blade with those sticks, what else are you trying to show me?" the hunter asked.

"I thought it was clear enough," Pride replied. "This guy doesn't use that ridiculous costume just because: it's an identity mark, of what he's capable of. He phases through walls and floors like a ghost, and those attacks can be learned by the Alolan Grass-type starter evolutionary line. Plus there's his reaction to fire, one of the grass's natural weaknesses."

J glanced at the sniper. She quickly got the message: basically the bloodliner had the same strengths and weaknesses as the Pokémon he was associated with. That being the case, she could think about how to deal with the other two. It was time to show them.

"If your guess is right, then it should be obvious how to deal with these two," she said. "The match head guy only generates fire, so dousing him with a good Water-type attack, or blowing him away with a strong wind while he's in the air should leave him out cold. And aside from the obvious weakness of an Electric-type, the best way to deal with a speedster is to get him to stop running."

Pride nodded. "Good to see we're on the same page. I think I'm going to enjoy working with you."

"I still don't understand why you came to me. I mean, I do appreciate assistance when I need it, yet…"

"Never hurts having someone to watch your back, or to call in favors when you need it," said Pride. "Call it a utilitarian trade-off. You help me, I help you. You betray me, I kill you. It's that simple."

J smirked. That was a mindset she could sympathize with, and she agreed it was practical, at least on the part of 'calling in favors'. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to work alongside the Pride Sniper after all.

"So, what's your plan?" J asked.

"After our failed attempts, they'll know for sure we'll be back. Our edge, of course, is that they don't know we'll be working together, and it'll be better that way."

"I agree." J nodded. It would also help uphold her own reputation. "They'll probably wait for a chance to take Roberts and his Pokémon to a safer location. Our best chance is to get them while he's traveling."

J then pressed a button to display a map of the entire city, with a red dot to highlight Roberts' residence, the place where she had attacked before. They had increased their security around several blocks, which meant it wasn't a good chance to attack yet. J then pressed the button again, generating several paths in different directions starting from the residence, and going to the city's exits.

"I've mapped all possible escape routes they could try to use. My guess is that they'll try to reach this private heliport to get Roberts out of town. If it wasn't because I need his Pokémon to be in prime condition, I would gladly blast him out of the sky."

"Not to mention it would rob me of my perfect killing record," Pride added. "So, I'm guessing we're going to set up ambushes in as many routes as possible, and wait for our chances, am I right?"

"We could extrapolate the most likely ones, based on accessibility and speed to reach their destination," J pointed. "That way I can spare more men to deal with those freaks if and when they show up. All they need is the proper gear to face them."

"And that's where I come in. Believe me, those vigilantes won't know what hit them."

Hunter and Sniper quickly exchanged glances. Strange, they hadn't known each other for more than two hours, yet they seemed to get along rather nicely. For a temporary partnership, she was actually enjoying it.

And she didn't like that one bit. Better to get that job done as soon as possible so they could break it off and go their separate ways.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, at the Parker's manor…

After the events of the previous nights and sharing their versions of what had happened, Parker agreed for Oliver and his teammates to come and visit him at his home so they could discuss in detail the actions they would take.

Father and daughter had led the trio to the old underground hideout, the "Gligarcave", as they called it, so they could begin making their plans. Sufficed to say that all of the present-generation heroes were pretty excited to visit the place, though they all expressed it in different manners.

While Parker and Oliver were having their traditional 'older-hero-to-younger-hero' chat, Latoya had decided to socialize a bit with the other two: Ronald "Ronnie" Storm, and Bartholomew J "Bart" West. Or as she internally called them: the "Burning Man" and the "Lightning Speedster". Unlike Oliver, the little she knew of them was what her father had investigated about them when he figured their secret identities, so she had no clue as to what kind of people they were.

It went without saying that they made… quite the impression on her.

"Wow! Forgive the expression, but this place is bitchin'!" the speedster said as he dashed from one corner to the other, trying to get a good view of all the trophies.

"Be careful not to break anything, Bartholomew!" Latoya warned him.

"Don't call me that! You can call me Barty, Barry, or Bart, but never by my full name," he replied. "Anyhow, this is a museum of superhero history! Check this out, Ronnie, it's the Gligarmobile MK-III, my favorite iteration! What I would give for driving one of those!"

"Yeah, even if you can outrun any of them," Ronnie replied as he crossed his arms.

"So what? You can fly, yet you love planes yourself, don't you?"

Latoya saw Ronald, or Ronnie, rolling his eyes at the comment. It seemed like the two contrasted one another personality-wise: the speedster was hyperactive, talked non-stop (sometimes without making pauses), and apparently was unable to stay in the same place for over three seconds. On the other hand, Ronnie showed a calmer and more composed demeanor, though he wasn't adverse to make the occasional joke. He looked like a completely different person to the one she pictured when she saw those videos, with him burning in flames and acting like he was always furious.

"Is he always like that?" Latoya asked the pyrokinetic vigilante.

"Nah, just when we're off-duty. He can be serious when we have to," Ronnie replied. "Anyway, since your father and Oliver are busy right now, is there anything here I can use to kill some time? An obstacle course or something?"

"Dad's got a target practice area, if that's good enough," the girl answered.

"That'll do just fine."

Latoya guided Ronnie to a lower area, a rather spacious one at that. There was a square platform, with four shooting-like devices on the corners. She gestured him to get in the center of the square while she turned on a console and a scoreboard appeared on the wall behind them.

"You have twenty seconds to destroy ten targets fired from random locations," she explained. "If they fly past the limit area, or they hit you, you'll be penalized. You ready?"

"You can start whenever you like," said Ronnie, making a flame appear in his fist, as well as his eyes.

Latoya pressed the button to start the simulation. Ronnie got in position and barely two seconds in, the devices fired off a pair of flying discs at him. He shot a small fireball from his hand at the one coming from the front, and turned around to hit the second one.

Parker's daughter watched carefully at the pyrokinetic vigilante. She had to admit she was impressed by his aim, and he blasted each of them rather easily, even if several of them were a bit too fast and almost got away. The scoreboard marked "10/10: Perfect".

"Wow, that was pretty good, I'd say," said Latoya, who couldn't help but give him a few claps. "Obviously this is easier for those who have powers. Though you could have tried to use less than ten shots."

Ronnie tilted his head in confusion. "There are ten targets."

"Have you tried to take down more than one target at once?" Latoya asked.

"I… guess that I don't have to do it often," Ronnie admitted.

Latoya rolled her eyes. That was a bit of a basic skill she had learned from reading her father's old hero journals. Those included a few things like how his gadgets worked, a few basic combat techniques and more, and she had taken to read them in their free time. She wondered why her father didn't keep them under lock.

"Let me show you. Get over here."

Ronnie walked up to Latoya, who showed her how to operate the console to activate the exercise. First he had to press the reset button to restart the scoreboard, and then the start button to get it underway. With everything explained, she took a gauntlet and a belt full of Gligarangs and stood on the center of the training area. She gave Ronnie a nod to get started.

"Ready? Go!"

Like before, the flying discs were fired. Unlike Ronnie, she sidestepped and waited for the first two discs to intersect in a straight line, before firing a dart from her gauntlet and piercing through both of them at the same time.

For the next two, she grabbed one of the Gligarangs from her belt and tossed it. The razor projectile hit the first disc and it arched to hit the second shortly after, while she fired a dart from the gauntlet to hit the fifth.

Waiting for the next wave, she grabbed a pair of smaller Gligarangs and tossed them as two more discs flew over her shoulders, hitting them both at the same time. But that was nothing compared to the last wave: she waited for the last three to be fired, and then until they all intersected in the middle of the training area to fire another dart from her gauntlet, piercing all three of them.

The scoreboard once again lit up, but this time showing "10/10: Exceptional!"

Ronnie whistled. "Wow, now that was impressive. I might have to try it like that sometime."

"It's not that hard," Latoya replied, as she playfully spun around her finger a shuriken-like Gligarang. "Besides, sometimes you might find yourself surrounded, so hitting multiple targets could save your life."

Next, she held the razor projectile and aimed to a stalactite on the ceiling. The Gligarang flew in a perfect curve and landed true. Who'd have guessed she'd gain such aiming skills from playing darts for so many years?

"Then again," she continued, lowering her tone as she grabbed a second Gligarang and threw it, "when you have powers, you're less likely to be in danger and more the danger."

"I can't help but wonder… do you have something against bloodliners, our powers, or something?" Ronnie asked.

Latoya had to make a pause, as she thought of a proper answer. "I'm not against bloodliners per se, I just don't sympathize with people in positions of power who could potentially do whatever they wanted. Especially when normal people like me couldn't do anything about it."

"You think we'd do something to hurt people?"

"Fire is an element that can be both a source of life, and destruction. You guys might be among the good ones, but you can't deny there are those who are willing to use their abilities to commit crimes."

And she knew it well: her father had fought a few back in his time. Especially that terrifying woman, whose name he preferred not to utter out loud because of the memories it brought. She had only heard it once, and she too decided not to say it out of respect for him.

Her thoughts about bloodliners and Gligarman's glory days were interrupted by a lightning flash coming over to her.

"Well, I think that's it for the tour," Bart said. "You think the Chief is done talking with Mr. Parker?"

"I figure they must be by now," Latoya replied. "Let's go check it out."

…

In the meantime, Oliver and Parker had been checking some data on the Gligarcave's main computer. They had been looking over the security feed from Roberts' murder attempt, and the veteran hero shared his known intel about the hitman they were facing against.

"Nobody knows his real name, and during his career he's actually gone through several aliases to make it much harder to track," Parker explained. "His M.O. is pretty well-defined: he'll always use a clean bullet laced in the alkaloid to kill his victim, and he'll erase any trail that can implicate his client on it. In turn, his clients need to keep their mouths shut and never divulge anything about him."

"Was one of his contractors ever caught?" Oliver asked.

"According to official records, there were these two who threatened to expose his identity," said Parker. "They were found with bullet wounds and traces of the same alkaloid he uses for his targets along with a written message: 'I Hate Traitors'."

"What a guy." Oliver cringed. He seriously sounded like someone one wouldn't want to cross. "Well, at least we do know he won't stop until he gets a bullet through Roberts. The security staff has been making plans to take him and his family to a safe house tonight, so he'll most likely try it again when he's on the move."

"And that's where we'll come in," Parker continued. "We can offer some backup and ensure that Roberts leaves the city safe and sound. However, we have another problem."

Oliver nodded, and he immediately inserted a USB drive in the slot, showing a video of his own. It showed the fight, for a given definition, between his two teammates and the guys who attacked Roberts' residence that night. They were no match for Ronnie and Bart, but the fact they had gotten rid of the security staff so easily was alarming.

"From the police's official declarations, they had been staking around the block for at least a couple of days before they attacked," Oliver explained. "The weirdest part was that they weren't interested in kidnapping Ms. Roberts for ransom, or in stealing valuable items. Apparently all they wanted was to steal the Pokémon collection they have in that place."

"Did you find anything else about them?" asked Parker.

"The idiots have refused to talk, but among the gadgets we retrieved we found some interesting clues. I don't know if you've heard of this woman, Pokémon Hunter J."

Oliver clicked on a file to show two mug shots of a woman with silver hair, the first wearing a pair of dark shades and the other without them to reveal her icy blue eyes, giving off a rather appropriate demeanor for a criminal.

"This woman was very careful to erase her past records. All that is known is that she's been working as a mercenary who steals rare and valuable Pokémon to sell on the black market," Oliver explained. "She's not like our Pride Sniper: collateral human or material damage is irrelevant, but she always ensures that the Pokémon she steals suffer no harm, to get her full pay."

"It makes sense." Parker nodded. "Great, so we have two psychos for hire on different fronts attacking the same target."

"Our only advantage is that they're not working together. Dealing with one of them is already hard enough as is."

Despite that silver lining, Parker decided it would be better to be ready for that scenario, if only hypothetically speaking. As unlikely it would be that they were in contact, the possibility couldn't be dismissed. Being one or two steps ahead of his opponents had saved his life many times.

"So then," Ronnie's voice called out, "you guys done seeing who we're up against?"

Oliver turned around. "Yeah, we're done here. The next step is to decide what we're going to do. Mr. Parker?"

"For now, all we have to do is wait," the veteran hero replied. "My old friend in the police force said she would meet with us to discuss the plans to move Roberts and his family to the safe house. We'll be there to watch their backs just in case."

"When are we gonna do that?" Bart asked impatiently. "Not like I'm in a hurry or anything, but if there's nothing to do in the meantime…"

"You won't have to wait for too long," said Latoya, pointing at one of the monitors. "Look at that."

The screen showing the city's overview showed something very peculiar: a circle image, with a Gligar silhouette was projected over the night sky. Parker smiled: he hadn't seen that in years, but he recommended that Gio should reactivate it now that he was out of retirement.

Bart grinned. "Cool! Maybe we should get one of those."

"Well, let's not leave them waiting," said Oliver. "Suit up."

As the Night Watchers went to get their hero gear, Latoya stood by one of the display cases, specifically the one holding the original Gligarman costume. She looked at it from head to toe, and let out a sigh.

"Something wrong?" Parker asked, already wearing his full costume. It was quite a stark contrast compared to the original one, more heavily armored and with a much darker motif.

"Nothing, just… I wish I could be out there helping you."

"I won't be alone. Oliver and the others will have my back," Parker assured her with a smile.

"Still, I'm not feeling well staying here while you risk life and limb. Is there something I can do?"

Parker rubbed his chin in thought. "Actually… there is something you could help us with."

----------------------------------------

Over the city's rooftops…

Gio Jenny felt somewhat strange to be standing next to the Gligar-Signal. She was even more surprised to see it was still functional after having it in storage for so long. However, something was for sure: her old friend would always come when she projected the light on the night sky.

That said, she was a bit surprised when Gligarman told her that 'he'd bring some friends along'. While she imagined who they were, seeing it herself made it the much more real.

The first to arrive was Flamestorm, slowly descending using his fire to land over the rooftop. A lightning flash followed shortly after, running up the building's wall before stopping next to him.

"For the record, I got here first," the pyrokinetic said with a bit of taunting.

"Yeah? For the record, I checked the perimeter five times before coming up here, just in case," the speedster replied.

The police commissioner tried not to laugh. Perhaps she tolerated them going around the streets, but she had never actually worked with them directly, so she had no idea what to expect of them.

A few seconds later, Decid-Arrow and Gligarman followed, using their grappling guns to climb up to the rooftop. Gio glanced at her watch and smiled before facing them.

"Less than fifteen minutes of response. Earlier than I expected."

"I thought we should come as soon as possible," Gligarman replied.

"When you said you had a friend in the force, I didn't imagine it would be the commissioner herself," said the archer.

"We made a pretty good team back in his glory days," said Gio. "I see you modified your old suit quite a bit."

"Just a few minor upgrades," Gligarman admitted.

The veteran policewoman smiled again, before taking a serious expression. "As much as I'd love to talk about our old times, there are more pressing matters." She turned off the signal and grabbed her tablet, flipping through files until she found what she was looking for. "Roberts and his wife are still under surveillance, but the preparations for their transport will be ready in a couple hours. To increase the security measures, we'll be taking them in separate vehicles. We'll have them reunite in the heliport to take them to the safe house.

"What about Roberts' Pokémon collection?" asked Decid-Arrow.

"We have designated a third transport for them specifically. They'll stay at Professor Elm's laboratory until things calm down a bit."

"Is that really a good idea?" Flashstrika asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "You know how absent-minded Professor Elm can be when he dives too much into his research. And there's that time when…"

"That only happened once," Flamestorm interrupted. "And I'm pretty sure he's got enough people to remind him of that."

"If you're worried, his aide will be taking care of safeguarding the Pokémon," said Gio. "Let's not bring that incident up, shall we? Anyway, we'll have three more transports on the ready to act as decoys, but they'll all be escorted and defended. Once we get to the middle points outside the city, we'll switch vehicles to continue, and hopefully lose any possible attackers."

"And we'll be there for additional backup, is that right?" asked Flamestorm.

"Correct," said Gio. "Hopefully, with one of you close by it would deter them from making any attempts, but if that's not the case… you have free authorization to proceed as you see fit."

"Meaning that, if possible, we should capture some of them for interrogation and try and find out who put them up for this job," said Decid-Arrow. "Which routes will the transports follow?"

For the next half an hour, the police commissioner and the vigilantes discussed what each of them would do. First, the cars taking Roberts and his wife had higher priority and thus at least one of them had to keep close to act as additional protection. Gligarman and Decid-Arrow decided to assume said roles.

In the meantime, Flamestorm and Flashstrika could use their flight capacity and super-speed respectively to cover more ground and watch the other transports, especially the one carrying the Pokémon should the Hunter show up. Much better for them if she did, as that would give them a chance to apprehend her.

Of course, the main priority during the mission was to keep Roberts safe, and as a secondary goal, to catch the Pride Sniper when he showed up again.

"Alright, it's all settled," Gio concluded, and then checked the time. "We have two hours before departure. Please get in position and be ready for the operation."

"No need to worry, Commissioner. We'll catch those crooks in a flash," the speedster assured her. "They won't know what hit them."

"Hey, don't forget our main goal is keeping Mr. Roberts safe," said Flamestorm.

"Yeah, but arresting the bad guys would be a plus, wouldn't it? Why waste the chance?"

"If we can get them, we will, but Flamestorm is right," said Decid-Arrow. "We must focus on keeping Roberts safe from harm until the transfer is complete. In the meantime… let's take a few rounds around the block in case there's some small-time criminal before we go. You coming, Gligarman?"

"Go ahead. I'll catch up to you."

"As you wish. Alright, Night Watchers, let's go!"

That said, each of them left in his own way: Flamestorm propelled himself into the sky, leaving his fiery trail behind, Flashstrika ran down the building's walls and took to the streets with his lightning streak, and Decid-Arrow jumped off the roof extending his cape to glide before firing his bow gun grapple to swing across to the next building.

Thus, Gligarman was left alone with his old friend, as he saw the current generation of heroes going off to the streets to do their job. The policewoman walked up to the building's edge.

"They're an interesting trio. It's the first time I've talked to them up close."

"Really?" Gligarman asked. "You were always much more open with me."

"That was another time, and I was much younger," Gio pointed out. "Besides, not everyone in the department sees them with good eyes. The others tolerate their presence as long as they help us, but no more. I took a while to convince them to accept additional help, even though we clearly need it."

"I agree." Gligarman nodded. "I don't think I could have done this myself. I've grown too old."

"Did you ever consider passing the torch to someone else?" Gio asked.

Gligarman shook his head. "Not really. Back then, there wasn't anyone I could actually entrust the role of Gligarman."

"And now?"

Gligarman gave it some thought before answering, taking a deep breath. "My daughter might have some issues with the current generation of heroes, but… I know she has the heart in the right place. But I don't think she's ready yet. She needs to know exactly what she's getting herself into."

Gligarman and Gio glanced over the city, both of them silent for a while. His mantle was something important to him, and he had to be sure he'd leave it in good hands. His daughter could be the right person to do so, but before that, she needed to sort out some of those issues.

Namely, of her learning to trust other heroes, and judge them for what they were, instead of what they could potentially become.

"Before I go, I have something for you." Gligarman took one hand to his belt, grabbing a couple of glass tubes filled with a light blue liquid. "Hopefully it won't come to that, but in case someone might get hit by the Pride Sniper's bullets, this'll help counter the alkaloid."

"Always one step ahead, I see." Gio smiled. "Then again, I would expect no less from the man who'd always carry a vial of Sharpedo repellent in his belt."

"Hey, you never know when you might need it." The vigilante chuckled. "And lest you forget, it did save our lives that time."

"I'm still trying to forget that." The woman rolled her eyes, but accepted the tubes with the antidote nonetheless. "In any case, it'll be better to be prepared. It's nice to work with you again."

"Same here, old friend."

Vigilante and Police Commissioner shook hands, happy to team up with each other after so long. In their long history together they both contributed to put an end to the Golden Age of Crime, and now they were determined to prevent it from resurfacing again. Of course, they'd need the new generation's help for that, as neither of them were as young as before.

…

From the rooftop, Gligarman gazed at the Roberts' residence gates. The patrol cars and armored trucks were starting to park in front of the entrance, with just a few minutes to go before the operation began. They were waiting for Roberts and his wife to come out.

While it wasn't the first time he took part in an escort mission, to watch and protect someone, he was a lot tenser than ever before. He didn't think he could face it alone, so knowing that he had the Night Watchers' support was encouraging.

Plus, there was someone else to help direct the mission. As soon as his communicator began beeping, he pressed the button to activate it.

"Communications channel open," Latoya's voice called. "Is everyone online?"

"Decid-Arrow here, standing by."

"This is Flamestorm, looking good from up here."

"Flashstrika here, ready to go anytime."

"Gligarman, everything's fine here. Do you have visual feed, Watchcave?"

"We need to talk about codenames later. But yes, I got it. Wow, when you told me you wanted to show me the world through the eyes of a superhero, I never expected it'd be this way."

"You actually sound rather excited right now," Flashstrika quipped.

"Just a little bit," Latoya admitted. "But I'm confident I can be serious enough for this. After all, I'm supposed to be your eyes in the sky, right?"

"Right," Gligarman said. "And our lives might depend on it."

Latoya would have liked to be out there to help somehow, but her father didn't feel she was ready to go out on the field yet. So instead he suggested she act as mission control and direct them from the cave, sitting in front of their supercomputer. It was convenient that the interface was very similar to that of her father's company, so it didn't take her too long to get used to it.

Gligarman and each of the Night Watchers had been equipped with visors linked to send video feed to the computer's monitors, which coupled with the satellite map of the city would help with Latoya's role as an early alert system. That way they could be ready when their foes made their move.

"One more thing. Decid-Arrow, are you sure you can handle this by yourselves?" Latoya asked. "I mean, I think it wouldn't hurt to have some Pokémon for backup."

Gligarman had to admit that was a fair point. For the most part, the Night Watchers usually relied on their own abilities and equipment, and they had never been seen using Pokémon of their own during their operations.

"There's no need to worry," the archer's voice replied. "Should it come to that, we'll be ready."

"If you say so," Latoya replied, still not fully convinced. "Anyway, let's focus on the task at hand."

"Roger that, Watchcave. We're counting on you. Everyone, be ready, it's about time," Gligarman declared, watching the gate as it opened.

Escorted by their bodyguards, Roberts and his wife left the limits of their estate, and each of them went to a separate transport. At the same time, Roberts' Pokémon collection, which usually were allowed to be out of their balls, had been placed inside them to be transported in one of the armored trucks. Some of those had empty Pokéballs to act as decoys, though Gio had already told Gligarman which of them would take the real ones.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

There would be two decoys for each of the transports carrying Roberts, his wife and his Pokémon. While Gligarman and Decid-Arrow stayed close to watch over them, Flamestorm would keep an eye out from the sky for any threats, and Flashstrika would take care of doing some recon duty and clear the way out of obstacles should it be needed.

"The game is on, you guys," Gligarman announced.

The vehicles started up, escorted by the police patrol cars. They would drive through the wide main street before taking the alternate routes. The streets had been cleared off, with several routes blocked from traffic to avoid any issues, even though at the time most of the city would be asleep.

Gligarman grabbed his grappling gun and swung towards the next building. Above him, his Gligar also flew to watch his back while he kept his eyes on the vehicle transporting Roberts. From the other side of the street, Decid-Arrow did the same until he disappeared from sight behind a roof.

"Main Street is clear," said Flashstrika through the com, and Gligarman managed to spot the electric flash passing in front of the vehicles, and then quickly moving behind them before going back ahead.

After a while, the vehicles broke lines and began taking the alternate routes. Until then there had been no mishaps, beyond the occasional passerby or driver coming in out of curiosity and getting in the way, though they were quick to either leave on their own or be cleared off without much trouble by the speedster.

Gligarman wanted to be glad for that, but from his experience he knew calm was always the prelude to a storm, and their foes would make their move at any time. The question was how, and when.

The answer would come about half an hour later.

…

From the sky, Flamestorm could see things were looking good, but he couldn't rest on his laurels. Anybody with a few years in the hero business could feel it, something big would come at a moment's notice.

"Flamestorm, you've got inbound from the north of the city," Latoya's voice came through the channel.

The pyrokinetic vigilante glanced around in said direction. "I don't see anything, are you sure?"

"Switch to thermal vision," Latoya suggested. "Something's coming, something big."

Flamestorm pressed the button on his mask, activating a pair of special lenses. Where there was nothing before, a huge mass, about the same size of a luxury plane or bigger, showed up. The pyrokinetic vigilante approached as he charged a fireball in one of his hands.

Once he was at minimal distance, he threw the fireball, and it exploded against an invisible wall. Whatever was behind it became visible for a few seconds in a rainbow-colored translucent barrier. The flying vigilante quickly tapped his communicator again.

"You were right. They must be using some kind of cloaking technology," he said. "Look at the size of that thing."

"Cut the chatter and stay focused. They can hide from sight, but our satellite can still detect their engines' energy emissions," Latoya replied, and then switched from her serious tone to a more excited one. "Right on schedule, it's show time."

As if on cue to having been found out, a hatch opened below the invisible airship, deploying several six-wheeled vehicles on the streets below. Their engines roared to life and they began driving towards the transports. There was no way he could focus on all of them at the same time.

"Guys, looks like you're gonna have some company," Flamestorm said. "I'll try and lure them out of that ship."

Preparing himself for the imminent battle, Flamestorm's eyes began burning with fury. Whatever it took, he had to take down the foe inside that airship.

…

Down below in the streets, Flashstrika raced around all over the place, checking out that the transports he was supposed to protect, both the decoys and real ones, continued their advances as scheduled. More specifically, he had focused his attention on the armored truck that carried the Pokémon collection, and everything was going smoothly, until a beeping in his communicator broke the tranquility.

"Flashstrika, the enemy airship has deployed ground vehicles on the streets. Two of them are approaching your position and will intercept the armored trucks in less than two minutes."

"Not if I intercept them in less than one," the speedster replied.

"Confident in your quick response time, huh?" Latoya quipped. "Keep going forward, then turn right at the Keystone and 14th intersection. You should be able to see them."

"Got it. It's Flash time!"

The speedster charged up and ran off in the aforementioned direction. Doing an almost perfect 90° turn at the intersection, he spotted the vehicles. No doubt they were the criminals, after all, civilians would hardly use black six-wheelers twice the size of an RV, and with missile launchers mounted on top.

The aforementioned launchers fired each one of their projectiles at him. For normal eyes, they would have come way too fast, but for him, they were coming in slow-motion, like everything else around him when he triggered his super-speed. The living lightning ran forward, intercepting the first projectile in midair and twirling it around so it would change direction and hit the other. He then focused his attention on the two vehicles coming at him.

"Wanna play target practice?" he said as he stopped for a couple of seconds, before running off again.

In doing so, he left behind a doppelganger of himself, and then another, and another, and many more. The vehicles continued to fire missiles, and when that didn't work they just opted to try and hit him directly. Too bad for them all they did was to fizzle out his speeding mirages, and one of them ended up hitting a fire hydrant, splashing water all over the street.

"Let's see how you like this!" he said, raising both hands to summon electricity, and then slamming them on the wet ground. The water sped up the discharge and zapped the vehicles, causing their engines to short out and stop dead in their tracks.

Shortly after, the vehicles opened their hatches and the goons came out, all of them carrying Great and Ultra Balls, which they quickly aimed at the speedster.

"Really, why don't we just spare the formalities and get down to the part where I kick your asses?"

"Get him!" one of them shouted, throwing two Great Balls to reveal a pair of Glalie. "Freeze him now!"

The ice faces charged up a dual Ice Beam attack, which they quickly fired at Flashstrika. The speedster thought he could easily dodge the attacks just by running, but much to his surprise, they weren't aiming at him: they were aiming for the ground to coat it in an ice layer, so as soon as he stepped on it…

"WHOAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Running as fast as he was, he couldn't stop in time and ended up skidding over the slippery road, until he tripped and rolled over to a stop quite a few feet ahead. As he got back on his feet, another pair of Ice Beams froze his lower body and prevented him from running away. As the goons approached, he tried to send an electric discharge with his hands, only for one of them to pull out what looked like a portable satellite dish to absorb the attack.

"Tough luck, speedy," the goon said. "You won't be running around for quite a while, and your electric attacks won't do much for you with this baby here. And we're ready in case your friends decide to come by and help you. Not that they're going to do it anyway."

"So you planned ahead, huh?" Flashstrika smirked. "Well, I'll give you some credit, but you're idiots if you think I'd come here without some additional backup."

He pressed a button in his gauntlet, and a hidden Ultra Ball came out, which he immediately burst open. "Say hello to my friend here!"

"Electivire!"

In the midst of the criminals' shock, Flashstrika outstretched a hand, firing of an electric blast at his partner. "Here's a little treat, buddy!"

"VIRE!"

Even if he couldn't attack them directly, he could give Electivire a speed boost. Once charged, the Electric-type focused his attention on the goons, and more specifically the two Glalie facing them. Lunging with literal lightning speed, Electivire charged against the nearest one to deliver a spot-on Brick Break right in the middle of its eyes, knocking it at least two blocks away. The other tried to fire an Ice Beam, only to suffer the same fate in the opposite direction of the street.

"It's just one Pokémon, get him!"

Everybody else began throwing Pokéballs at them, and out came several Pokémon clearly chosen to counter Electric-types: two Rhydon, three Onix and even a Steelix. The Rhydon quickly stampeded against Electivire to ram him with their horns, but the Electric-type dodged the first, and grabbed it by the tail to slam it against the other.

The Onix then tried to fire a Rock Blast and Flash Cannon barrage, and Electivire countered by coating himself in a yellow outline. Using the Magnet Rise's power, coupled with the speed boost from before, he zigzagged around the raining rocks and silver beams, and propelled himself in the air up to the Steelix's eye level. He then raised both hands over his head, ready to drop down with a hammer strike.

"ELEC!"

The blow on Steelix's head echoed through the nearby block, and the metal snake staggered back a little, giving Electivire the chance to go after its lesser cousins. While the criminals fell into disarray at Electivire's rampage, they turned their attention away from Flashstrika, who had already decided how to, literally, break out of that frosty situation.

"EEAAAAARRRGHHH!" A burst of flames exploded from the speedster's body, shattering the ice surrounding him. "Oof, I hate having to do that, but this is an emergency."

"Flashstrika, are you alright?" Latoya's voice called through the channel.

"Yeah, just fine," the speedster replied, less upbeat than usual. "Looks like these guys weren't as stupid as we thought."

"I'll tell the others to be careful. Stay on guard, and even if this sounds weird, try not to rush into things, okay?"

"The first I can do, the second, can't make any promises." The speedster turned off the communicator, and then glanced at his Electivire, who still tried to zap as many of the goons as possible while also delivering some punches to their Pokémon.

Flashstrika quickly got behind the guy holding the electric absorber and smacked him on the back of the neck. He grabbed him by the collar so he wouldn't hit the ground, but as soon as the device was dropped, the speedster raised a foot glowing white, and then delivered a powerful Stomp attack to shatter it, rendering it useless and no longer a threat.

"You think that's the only one we have?!" another grunt shouted pulling out a second device. Two others followed suit, surrounding him and aiming their weapons at him.

"Well, how much of my power those toys of yours can absorb?" the speedster asked with a cocky smile. "Let's find out!"

With those words, Flashstrika began running in circles, creating an electric ring to trap the goons as he threw lightning bolts at them. In turn, they aimed their weapons to absorb the shock attacks one after another, just as before. However, in less than a minute, one of the devices began giving off sparks, and the wielder's eyes widened as it went critical.

Finally, after absorbing one too many volts, it overloaded and exploded in the guy's hand, knocking him backwards and causing the other two to become momentarily distracted. Flashstrika seized the chance and rammed them from the back, taking both devices and destroying each with a Stomp like the first one. Right then, Electivire finished the last pair of Rhydon with a Brick Break to their guts, and quickly joined his master.

"I think we can leave these guys to the police. Let's go see if the others need some help. Think you can keep up?"

"Vire!" Electivire nodded and extended his hand forward.

Speedster and Pokémon sent out an electric discharge each. The exchange supercharged both of them, and they quickly raced off through the streets.

If these guys were prepared for him, they probably had done the same for the others, and they could run into trouble.

…

Elsewhere, Decid-Arrow had spotted two six-wheelers approaching one of the transports, specifically the one holding Roberts' wife. He pressed the button on his gauntlet to deploy his bow, and taking an arrow tip from his utility belt, he waited for the thing to get in range.

"Target locked-on," he said as he took aim.

Creating a Spirit Shackle arrow and lining it up with the tip on the bow, he waited for the vehicles to get close enough. Once he gauged the distance he fired the arrow, hitting the nearest one in the windshield, and seconds later the arrow tip exploded creating a thick smoke cloud. The vehicle quickly swerved out of control and crashed against a telephone pole. The other hit the brakes, forced to break the chase and allowing the transport to slip away safely.

The communications channel then beeped. "Decid-Arrow, can you hear me?"

"Decid-Arrow here, what's wrong, Watchcave?"

"I'm picking up two hostiles coming in from Starling and the 39th. They're heading for the transport carrying Roberts' Pokémon collection."

"Can anyone else handle it?" the archer asked. "I need to make sure these guys won't go after Mrs. Roberts transport."

"Gotcha covered there, Chief," Flashstrika's voice replied. "I'll be there before you can say 'Flashpoint'!"

"Flashpoint," said Latoya with a cheeky tone, causing everybody to go silent for a couple seconds. "What? I just meant to test it."

"Watchcave, don't spoil his fun," Decid-Arrow said, rolling his eyes. "Catch you later, I'll have to deal with our friends here."

As he closed the channel, the six-wheeler's front door opened, allowing its occupants to come out. There were four of them, two holding Pokéballs in their hands and the other two carrying bazookas.

"Eat this, you freak!" the first one said pulling the trigger.

A fiery rocket was launched at him. The archer narrowed his eyes and quickly vanished under the ground. The rocket impacted on the pavement and exploded, while the four goons took positions all over the block to try and anticipate where he'd come from to attack them.

"Stay alert, everyone, he'll try to sneak up from behind!" another shouted, throwing his two Pokéballs in the air and letting out a pair of Kangaskhan.

"Let's see how he likes this!" His nearby friend threw his own two, revealing a pair of Houndoom, rather vicious-looking, and growling around with hunger. "There, there, good boys, soon you can have your roasted snack. Now, sniff out that ghostly freak."

The angry dogs calmed down and they started sniffing the air. They looked around and after a while, they growled and barked as they spotted a shadow on the other side of the street materializing into a human cloaked figure.

"FIRE!"

The Houndoom fired twin Flamethrowers at the archer, whose immediate reaction was to shield himself with his cloak until they stopped. Once it was over, he grabbed his eskrima sticks and rushed for close quarters combat.

"Fire Fang, use your teeth!"

The black dogs jumped on him, their fangs coated on fire and ready to take a bite at him. Decid-Arrow ducked under the first and slammed the second on the neck, knocking it away, while the Kangaskhan tried to flank him.

"You'll have to do better than that," he said.

"Oh, we will. Kangaskhan!"

"Kanga!"

The twin cries of the Kangaskhan alerted the archer to the incoming attacks, as the first was readying a Mega Punch. He immediately turned intangible and let the attack phase through him as he channeled Leaf Blades through the sticks, delivering a double slash across her chest. He looked over the shoulder, and saw the other coming with the same attack, and he was about to dodge it the same way...

"Umph!"

But the punch connected. Hard.

Decid-Arrow ended up knocked away and crashed against a nearby building. The goons quickly smiled in satisfaction as the archer tried to get back on his feet, but clearly pained due to that punch. The first Houndoom quickly seized the chance to jump at him with another Fire Fang, biting him in the arm.

"Argh! Let! Go! Of! Me!" he shouted as he pounded him with his stick. Even with the suit's padding and the fireproof cloak, he could still feel the fangs and the heat. The dog finally let go of him, but the Kangaskhan came again, this time with both fists glowing brightly.

"Kanga! Kanga!"

A Double Hit, and Decid-Arrow barely managed to reinforce his arms using Steel Wing as he covered himself. While he avoided taking too much damage, he couldn't prevent the attack from knocking him away again.

"How the hell… I see now. That Kangaskhan has Scrappy, doesn't it?"

"Surprised?" the goon commanding said Kangaskhan said smugly. "Took you long enough to figure it out."

Pretty clever; they had intentionally brought Kangaskhan with different abilities to throw him off, and it worked. While he wasn't seriously injured, his back and arms were still sore from he hits, and obviously it'd take him a while to recover enough to fight at his best again.

"Now, stand still and we'll make this as painless as possible. Flamethrower!"

The Houndoom quickly rushed back and launched their fire. Decid-Arrow tried to take cover under his cloak, but then a quick purple blur flew past him, placing itself in the attacks' way.

"Gligar!"

A sand tornado engulfed both Houndoom, cutting off their Flamethrowers and sending them spinning through the air, and Decid-Arrow saw the purple flying scorpion hovering in front of him as he continued to send out the sand barrage.

"Damn it! Take cover, everyone! Ack!"

In the midst of the Sandstorm, a bigger purple shadow fell on the goons and knocked the lights out of them, while Gligar made short work of the Pokémon, taking advantage of his Sand Veil to sneak up on them before they knew what hit them. After it subsided, Gligarman stood before him, and Gligar perched on his shoulder as he approached.

"You alright, kid?"

"Still hurting in the back, but at least I didn't break anything," Decid-Arrow replied. "Thanks for the help, though."

Gligarman was about to say something else, but his communicator beeped. "Gligarman here, please tell me you've got good news."

"I wish. The enemy is spreading throughout the city to cover the escape routes. Flashstrika is trying to drag their attention, but even he can't be everywhere at once, and Flamestorm is busy trying to lure the guys out of the big ship."

"We're on our way," Gligarman said before turning it off. "Things seem to be getting complicated. These guys are no slouches if they were ready to face you three."

"But not to face you," Decid-Arrow added. "Clearly they were prepared to counter my abilities, but you might give us an edge."

Gligarman nodded. Both heroes aimed their grappling hooks at the nearest building, and quickly climbed to the rooftop, ready to continue their mission.

The threat was bigger than expected, and they'd be better off working together instead of separately.

…

Whatever that shield was made of, something was for sure: his fire attacks wouldn't be enough to pierce through it.

Flamestorm had tried using normal fire streams and explosive fireballs, but he didn't even graze the airship. Lacking in better options, he tried to find a weak point to attack, but his search, first futile, soon turned to dangerous when the vessel deployed its weaponry, including Vulcan cannons and missile launchers, which quickly fired at him. He was able to dodge the projectiles, but it made things much harder for him.

After a while, he caught that a hatch opened on the upper part of the ship, and something came out of it. Or rather someone: a female figure, with silver hair and a dark trenchcoat moving with the wind, flew towards him on the back of a Salamence. The opened jaws of the Pokémon began charging up an orange energy, alerting him to an incoming attack.

"So she finally shows up," he muttered, squinting his eyes as he prepared to dodge.

The Hyper Beam flew under him, when he used a fire blast from his feet to gain altitude. He immediately countered with another fire blast from his hands, which the woman ducked to dodge as she pointed forward. The Salamence's wings turned into metal and it charged against him, forcing him to fly down to dodge the charge as he tried to get behind them.

The Salamence turned around instantly along with its rider, who talked to him with a gelid voice. "Just as expected. You and your friends had to show up to interfere with my plans. I'll have to deal with you personally."

"Hunter J, I assume? Sorry, but that's not gonna happen." Flamestorm triggered his flames in his eyes to try and intimidate her.

J however wasn't even fazed by the gesture. "Let's show him what real firepower is."

Salamence opened its jaws to let out a Flamethrower of its own. Flamestorm however didn't bother to dodge, instead placing his hands forward, and before the fiery stream got to him, it stopped abruptly. The fire continued to concentrate into a large ball, as the pyrokinetic vigilante compressed it until Salamence stopped.

"I think this is yours!"

Flamestorm threw the ball back at them. Instinctively Salamence placed itself in a defensive position and used Steel Wing to shield itself and its mistress. The sphere hit with full force and the explosion forced the Pokémon to pull back, and the rider to crouch and hold on to avoid falling. The vigilante couldn't see the woman's eyes, but the fact she was baring her teeth was a clear gesture of anger.

Once she stabilized, the Hunter raised her arm and pressed a button on the gauntlet she was wearing. "Time to up our game."

Flamestorm didn't want to find out what she meant with that, so he immediately propelled forward, with the intent to knock her off her mount. Salamence veered aside to dodge the charge, and took its distance for another attack, this time with a blue draconic fire. Flamestorm placed both hands forward to shoot twin Flamethrowers of his own, managing to match Salamence's Dragon Pulse in power, and keeping it at bay until it finally stopped.

"You'll have to do better than that," he told the Hunter.

"Right back at you," she replied as she pressed the gauntlet once more.

Flamestorm wondered what she'd be up to, but choosing not to wait to find out, he charged once more to knock her off of Salamence. The woman outstretched a hand and aimed with her gauntlet to fire a luminous sphere, which the pyrokinetic vigilante quickly dodged.

Salamence switched to defensive and placed the Steel Wing as a shield, ensuring that Flamestorm would crash against it head on, and then with a single flap pushed him back quite the distance.

The fire hero stabilized quickly, and prepared to charge again, but his communicator beeped on him, and he was forced to answer. "Flamestorm, multiple bogeys approaching from every direction!"

"What?"

Looking around, he spotted several drones flying around and coming at him. The nearest one fired a high-pressure water stream at him, and he quickly pulled back to avoid it. However, another stream came from his left and doused his feet, causing him to lose altitude.

"DARN!" he shouted.

Flying in circles and trying to cover him from everywhere, some more drones came over and fired electric spheres at him. Flamestorm managed to dodge a few, but one came from above, stunning him on the spot.

Hunter J then approached him with Salamence, and smirked as she aimed with her gauntlet again. "This will ensure you won't cause me any troubles."

The next thing he saw was the projectile coming at him, and after a bright white flash, everything turned into darkness. He quickly realized he wasn't dead. After all, he was still aware of himself, and he could hear Latoya's voice through the communicator.

"Flamestorm, what's the matter? Flamestorm, respond! I'm detecting you're falling!"

Indeed, whatever that woman fired at him, it caused him to stop emitting his fire, and he felt he was falling into a void, going faster with each second. Despite being a bloodliner, if he fell from that height…

'I have to break free… if I don't I'll just go splat…'

He focused all the power in his body. While his ability enabled him to shoot fire from any part of his body, it was easier to do so from specific areas where he could focus it, such as the arms, feet and mouth. To unleash it from every pore in his body at once, though, that was much harder, if not impossible.

He had to do it, his life depended on it.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

As if he was inducing a million mini-volcanoes to erupt, Flamestorm held back his stored power just a couple seconds, and then unleashed it in a single burst. The simultaneous fire blasts all over his body combined in one single big explosion, strong enough to shatter the material and breaking him free of that imprisonment.

He was left in a daze for a moment, but as soon as he felt the air coming back to him, he instinctively shot fire streams out of his hands and feet to gain altitude once more. He flew to the nearest rooftop and quickly landed to take a rest. Pulling that move caused him to become disoriented due to the amount of power unleashed in a single blast, not to mention he was already fatigued from his fight with J and her Salamence.

"Flamestorm, are you still there? Answer if you can hear me."

"I'm here… don't worry," the vigilante answered, taking a few deep breaths. "That woman's drones stunned me, and then she shot something weird at me. I couldn't move, and I had to go supernova to free myself."

"Supernova? What does…?" Latoya seemed ready to ask, but she quickly changed her mind. "Forget about it, let me check on something… yes, I've got it. She apparently uses some kind of expansive material to catch the Pokémon she steals. That way she keeps them untouched while at the same time prevents their escapes."

"So, that's what she used with me?"

"Most likely. Her signal's flying away from your position, but you can still follow her. But first, if you can pick up a shard of the material she trapped you in, it could be useful for analysis later."

Flamestorm glanced around. The shards of J's trapping stuff had spread all over the place, but he was able to pick one up very near from where he had landed. Once he felt in flying condition again, he propelled to chase the Hunter.

It wouldn't be too hard to guess where she'd be heading to, after all.

…

The transports carrying Roberts and his wife reached the meeting point safely, and the vehicle change was about to get underway. Gligarman and Decid-Arrow decided to scan the perimeter, their weapons ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Despite not sensing any hostiles, both knew they were in the most vulnerable spot of the trip.

"Keep your eyes open, kid," Gligarman said.

"I know," the archer replied. "If there's a perfect moment for the Pride Sniper to attack, it's now."

And surely enough, the heroes' communication channel rang, as they both stood on alert for any eventuality.

Gligarman answered first, and Latoya's voice rang out with a strong sense of urgency. "I'm picking up life signs from a few faraway rooftops."

"How many?" Gligarman asked.

Latoya took a few seconds to respond, possibly trying to triangle the exact positions. "Three in all, all of them in very good positions for a sniper. Though they'd probably need a long-range rifle to reach the target from that distance, we can't rule it out."

"We'll have to get one each," Decid-Arrow decided. "Can someone take care of the third?"

"Sorry, I'm still chasing Hunter J up here," Flamestorm's voice intervened.

"Leave it to me, gotcha covered, chief!" Flashstrika replied after.

"Alright then. Flamestorm, keep the pursuit, and don't lose sight of the target. The rest of you, go to the spots I'm forwarding to you right now. We can't waste our time."

As they received their destinations, the heroes mobilized immediately. Gligarman sent Gligar flying first to the building as a preemptive measure, before glancing one last time at Roberts and his wife as they got off their vehicle and moved to the second one. With that out of the way, he fired his grappling hook and swung in that direction, ready to get into the action.

In just a few seconds he was standing on a higher rooftop, glancing down at the one across the street. While at first he almost didn't see it due to being hidden in the shadows, the glint of ammo being loaded and then the scope lens being placed on the weapon made clear he was there.

"Oh, no you don't," he said as he pulled out an explosive Gligarang to throw.

The razor projectile flew true and stabbed itself on the weapon's scope. The beeping barely alerted the sniper enough to drop it before detonation, and the rifle was rendered useless by the explosion. As the criminal shielded himself from the shrapnel, Gligar and Gligarman landed before him, taking a battle stance.

"What's this? You're not one of the heroes we were expecting, are you?" the sniper said. Seeing him close he could recognize the same suit from the previous encounter.

"'We'?" Gligarman asked. That was weird, supposedly the Pride Sniper worked alone, so that should have been 'I', not 'We'.

"Oops, shouldn't have said that," the guy replied as he pulled out a knife from the boot and grabbed a Pokéball from his belt.

Gligarman prepared to attack, though he couldn't get that little slip off his mind. By saying 'We', he seemed to imply all the attacks from before had been coordinated. Somehow, he felt that slim chance for that scenario of the two criminals working together had just skyrocketed.

Furthermore, there was another weirder thing: was it just an impression, or the guy he was fighting with had broader shoulders than he remembered from the past night?

The sniper released the Poké Ball, unleashing a large, bipedal reptilian Pokémon, maroon with black stripes and a white belly, and its face looked like it wore a domino mask. It then roared a "Krookodile!" and with a snap from its trainer's fingers, it extended its claws and prepared to slash at them.

Gligar immediately reacted shooting Swift stars from his tail, but the enemy Krookodile slashed them all without issues, and kept going forward to deliver a double slash at the scorpion, knocking him away.

"Gligar!" Gligarman shouted, his attention dragged from his foe for a second. In turn, the sniper kicked him in the gut and almost stabbed him with the knife.

The veteran vigilante however managed to intercept the attack, holding the guy by the wrist and throwing him above the shoulder, slamming him on his back against the ground. He quickly got back up and charged again, throwing punch after punch at him.

Gligarman dodged each punch, and while he did so he realized something else: those punches were quite sluggish and less coordinated than he remembered, compared to the brief scuffle he had the other night.

'This guy… he's not the same from before', he thought, dodging a left hook before getting a hold of his arm, and twisting it until a crack sounded off.

"ARGH!"

Ignoring the guy's scream of pain, Gligarman stomped on his back to submit him, and getting a hold of his other arm he quickly grabbed a pair of cuffs to restrict his hands. Even in the middle of the struggle and despite his build, it wasn't too hard to get him under control, having already fought his fair share of physically stronger opponents in his lifetime. One smack on the back of the neck, and he was out cold.

At the same time, the Krookodile had begun bombarding Gligar with a Stone Edge barrage. The sharp stone shards were grazing the scorpion's body, who tried to zigzag around them trying to get in range to attack with Steel Wing, only to get slashed for his trouble and while he was stunned, a large jaw shut violently around his tail.

"GAAAAAAAAAAARRR!" Gligar shouted, while Krookodile violently swung him around with his jaws.

"Let go of him!" Gligarman then jumped to the beast's neck, stabbing it with a Gligarang to get it to open the jaws again.

"KROOKO!"

With a loud roar, Krookodile flailed around wildly, trying to shake Gligarman off its back. As soon as Gligar was free again, the scorpion flew away to safety, and shot Poison Stings at the reptile's face. In turn, said reptile shook around and slammed the ground with its tail, cracking it on several parts.

Finally, when Gligarman became sick of that wrestling game, he held his breath to press a button on his gauntlet's wrist, shooting out of his index and middle fingers a pair of gas streams right to the Krookodile's face. The Pokémon, caught off-guard, tried to resist at first, but eventually the gas he inhaled caused its eyelids to become heavy, and its struggles turned less and less intense by the second.

"Kro… ko…" it said before slumping heavily.

Gligarman got off its back and verified it was fast asleep. He grabbed the Poké Ball where it came from and pressed the return button, ensuring that it wouldn't cause trouble for a while. He then turned to his partner, who landed tiredly on the ground.

"You alright?"

Gligar had a few minor bruises and cuts from the Stone Edge, as well as the biting marks on the tail, but he didn't seem gravely hurt, and he replied to his trainer with the closest thing to a thumbs up he could make.

"Okay, rest for a bit, there's something else I'm worried about right now."

Gligarman glanced at the fallen sniper, turning him around before pulling out his mask and helmet. He hesitated for a bit before activating his visor's facial recognition system.

"Gligarman, what's wrong?" Latoya asked through the communication channel.

"It's just a hunch, but… something tells me this isn't the man we're looking for. It was too easy to beat him in combat."

"You think he's just a decoy?" Latoya asked.

Right then, Decid-Arrow and Flashstrika's voices also entered the communication channel.

"There's no mistake. This one here had equipment to face me, but was still no match for me," the archer said. "The guy from the other night was a much better fighter than this."

"I'd like to say this one here must be the real one, but he fell too easy for me too," the speedster added. "Not even a good warm-up!"

The heroes remained silent for a bit, thinking about what to do now. The fact the Pride Sniper had brought decoys dressed as him, and the words from the one who fought Gligarman gave him a sense of alarm. They weren't safe yet. Roberts was not in the clear.

"Listen, we'll have to focus our attention on Roberts for the rest of the trip," Gligarman declared. "Flamestorm, if you can catch the hunter, better for us, but come and back us up as soon as you can. Decid-Arrow and Flashstrika, follow me, we'll stick close to the transport until it reaches the heliport."

"Roger that," the Night Watchers replied in unison, before turning off the communications for the time being.

With time still running, Gligarman gave his partner a medicine from his belt so he could recover a bit from the previous scuffle, and have a bit of an energy boost. The veteran masked hero had the feeling they hadn't gone through the worst of that night yet.

Things were bound to get pear-shaped at any second, he could feel it in his bones. He had to keep his guard up.

…

Flamestorm was surprised at how fast Hunter J had been to flee, even if he had been disabled for a very brief period.

By the time he reached the transport carrying Roberts' Pokémon, the armored truck was tipped over the pavement, and the security officers were laying all over, either unconscious or heavily wounded. They evidently tried to put up a fight as best as they could, but they were no match for her.

Meanwhile, her henchmen pulled the Pokéballs from their containers, bringing out Roberts' Pokémon out. Before they could try anything, the Hunter shot at them with her gauntlet, turning them into dull-colored statues.

"So that's what she did to me," the pyrokinetic vigilante muttered. "You won't get away with this."

Setting his entire body ablaze, he descended like a meteor towards the criminals. As soon as he landed, he spread a large fire ring around to force them to take cover, and he focused his attention on J, who raised her hand to deliver some orders.

"Take the cargo to the ship. I'll handle this guy personally," she declared as she adjusted her gauntlet, inserting a cartridge in it.

"You're not getting away!" Flamestorm countered, flying towards the guys carrying the living statues, before they got them into the six-wheeled vehicle.

J aimed his gauntlet at him and fired. Flamestorm anticipated and veered to the side to dodge the projectile, believing she'd try to petrify him like before. However, the bullet then exploded near him, unleashing some cold gas on him, which doused him like a fire extinguisher.

"What the-ACK!"

His fire put out, he ended up falling face first on the pavement. The next thing he knew, J's Salamence had jumped him, pinning him down with its entire body. He barely managed to move his head out of the way, before the dragon's jaws closed on it.

"You won't be flaming on for a bit," J said as she snapped her fingers.

"RRAAAARRRWWRRRR!" Salamence roared, its mouth wide open to unleash a point-blank Hyper Beam.

Flamestorm instinctively grabbed the beast's jaws with both hands, closing them shut as soon as he saw the orange energy build up. Having interrupted the attack, he tried to flame on again, but whatever he had been doused with was preventing him from shooting his flames with enough power, no matter where he tried to launch them from.

"Damn it…" He shut his eyes tight, trying to keep the dragon's jaws at bay.

He was running out of options, barring one. Focusing his energy, he kept his eyelids shut, containing all the heat in his head, ready to unleash it in a single blow.

Or rather… a single beam.

"GET OFF ME!"

His eyes flared up once more, burning much hotter than before. That wasn't one of the flaming glares he used for intimidation: it was one of his deadliest weapons. He could shoot fire from any part of his body, his hands, feet or the mouth as it usually was the norm for Pokémon. However, he had learned through experience that his eyes were an important focus point, as they enabled him to concentrate the heat in a smaller area, turning the fire into a red-hot laser-like beam. Or 'Heat Vision', as it was usually called in comic books.

He deliberately avoided aiming to the face or torso, instead choosing one of the wings. The heat beam was so intense it pierced through the dragon's wing, causing it to shriek in anger and pain, giving him a second to slip away and free himself to get back on his feet.

He faced the hunter, who had lost her cool and now had become a little more agitated.

"You'll pay for that," she said as she threw two Pokéballs more, letting out a Drapion and an Ariados, both of them looking rather fierce and angry.

The spider began firing sticky globs at him, forcing him to dodge jumping and rolling on the ground, until one of them managed to hit his legs and left him glued to the ground. The scorpion then charged, its tail and pincers giving a toxic purple glow, but he dissuaded it from attacking by shooting another heat beam right to the ground it was about to step on, forcing it to pull back.

He didn't like using those eye beams. They were hard to control and could potentially be lethal, and they drained and disoriented him as it took a lot of power to fire a single shot.

The three Pokémon remained static, and so did their trainer, standing by in wait for any possible attack from the pyrokinetic vigilante. Should he try to flame on again?

"Cargo loaded, Ms. J!" one of the henchmen said.

"Take them back to the ship! It's time to retreat!" she ordered. "But just in case…"

The woman pressed a button on her gauntlet. A sonic boom shook the air, and an unidentified object fell down to the city, like some non-fiery, non-living meteor. Flamestorm wondered what she was up to, but J didn't make any moves to hide it; it looked like she wanted him to see it.

"I'd hurry up if I were you. That sonic bomb we just fired can demolish everything in a three-block radius."

The vigilante's eyes widened in shock. "What?!"

"Even if you can fly, I'd say you have only five minutes to go and defuse it. If you can figure out how to do it, that is. What will you do?" the woman asked with a smug smile.

Flamestorm clenched his teeth. The gas' effect was seemingly gone, as he could launch fire from his feet to free himself again, but much to his chagrin, he couldn't lose his time with the criminal in front of him.

If she was telling the truth, and they had launched a bomb… they were very close to the residential areas.

The decision was obvious. He quickly propelled himself away from there, towards the area where the bomb had fallen. Meanwhile, J recalled her Ariados and Drapion and flew over her Salamence, while the six-wheeler transporting the petrified Pokémon raced away as well.

"Flamestorm, what are you doing?!" Latoya asked.

"You heard her. If there's a real bomb there, many people will die if it goes off."

"But she's gonna slip away! I'll send Flashstrika after it!"

"There's no time! Not even he can run fast enough to get it to safety! I'll have to fly away with it!"

Despite Latoya's complains, Flamestorm continued flying. Even though the secondary goal of the mission was to try and catch the criminals, if there were civilians at risk, the priorities changed.

Smart woman that J, she knew they'd prioritize keeping people's lives safe over trying to catch her.

…

Concurrently with the confrontation between Flamestorm and J, the other two Night Watchers and Gligarman continued their duty to escort Roberts' transport until it arrived by the heliport.

The rest of the trip was not exempt of trouble, but at least the speedster could give them early warnings, so as to clear the route and make sure the two transports carrying the politician and his wife arrived safe and sound.

However, the one carrying the Pokémon still hadn't made it, and from what they got through the communications channel, two of the decoy transports had been intercepted by the aggressors. There were plenty of wounded, though fortunately there hadn't been any fatal casualties so far.

As Flashstrika continued to check the perimeter to make sure there were no more ambushes in wait, Gligarman and Decid-Arrow approached Roberts and his wife. Better not to let them out of their sight until they boarded that helicopter and left town safely.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Roberts?" Gligarman asked.

"I'm still in one piece, that's what matters," the politician answered. "But my Pokémon, do you believe they…?"

"You don't need to worry," Decid-Arrow said. "If anything comes up, Flamestorm will handle it. For now, you and your wife better board that helicopter."

The politician nodded, and placing himself in his bodyguards' hands, he quickly walked towards the helicopter along with his wife. Until that vehicle took off, their mission was still underway.

"This wasn't easy at all," the archer commented. "I hadn't sweated as much with thugs like these in a long time. They were prepared for us."

Gligarman nodded. "I'd praise their skills if they weren't criminals. Now more than ever I'm happy to have come to you guys for help. I wouldn't have been able to protect Roberts alone, not even during my prime."

"Hey, don't undersell yourself," Decid-Arrow replied. "Besides, you put us one step forward to anticipate anything that could happen. Your experience was more important in this case."

Gligarman couldn't help but smile with gratitude. He was flattered that the younger hero appreciated his help as much as he appreciated theirs. Their styles and methods of crimefighting might've been different, but at least they shared the same basic ideals, and respected each other.

"Mission accomplished," Decid-Arrow said as he glanced with satisfaction at the helicopter, while Roberts and his wife readied to board. They'd soon be on their way to the safe house…

*BANG!*

"KELLEN!"

The gunshot, followed by the scream of Roberts' wife, were heard even over the helicopter's blades whirring, snapping everybody to alert. Gligarman felt his blood chill, and for a second it was like the whole world around him froze over, as he tried to assimilate what had just happened.

*BANG! BANG!*

Two more shots went off, and then a smoke blast went off near the helicopter. After a few fighting noises, the helicopter took off and began flying away quickly. It was just then that the two vigilantes finally snapped out of their shock and ran off to see what happened, as the security staff pulled out their weapons and fired at the helicopter, for all the good it was going to do.

"Honey!" the woman screamed, holding her husband tightly. He had taken two shots on the torso and one on the upper right arm. The two on the torso had actually pierced through the Kevlar vest he was wearing.

"The… pilot… he…" Roberts said weakly.

"No… how could this happen?"

It was then Gligarman understood. He couldn't believe it: all this time he thought they were one step ahead, while in reality their foe was two steps ahead of them.

After all, almost nobody but the security staff knew where that place was.

"We've got to take him to the hospital!" the bodyguards yelled. "Take him to the car!"

"There's no time!" Flashstrika came up literally like lightning. "I'll do that, you go get him!" He pointed at the helicopter.

"Hold on!" Gligarman stopped him, pulling out a couple of tubes from his belt and tossing them. "Make sure they administer him that! Tell the medics to inject him with it!"

"Gotcha!" the speedster replied, tossing a Pokéball shortly. "Electivire, help them here, do as they say!"

The Electric-type nodded, as the speedster carefully lifted the bleeding politician in his arms. His eyes gave sparks and he immediately ran off as fast as he could back to the city, his electric trail becoming lost in the distance.

"I won't let him get away!" Decid-Arrow shouted, running after the helicopter along with Gligarman.

The archer quickly deployed his bow, and aiming carefully, he materialized a Spirit Shackle arrow. After firing it, it left a purple streak behind as it pierced through the helicopter's tail. He immediately fired another to intersect it with the helicopter's shadow on the ground, and then two more, as fast as he could. Like makeshift cables, the spectral energy lines prevented the vehicle from flying away, tensing against the shadow on the ground as it tried to gain altitude.

"Hurry, I won't be able to hold it too long!" the archer shouted.

Gligarman quickly got the message and turned towards Electivire. "Think you can give me a lift over there?"

"VIRE!" the Pokémon replied, and holding the hero below the armpits, he glowed with a yellow outline, beginning to levitate.

Gligar tried to get ahead by flying, but the wind generated by the blades made it hard, although fortunately, his trainer was able to approach it with Electivire's help, and quickly jumped on the helicopter. Without missing a beat, he went into the cockpit.

The pilot, who was unusually covered and armed to the teeth, evidently to hide his identity, welcomed him with a punch to his face, but he anticipated it and quickly replied in kind.

"I have to say, I didn't expect to see you of all people!" he yelled out loud, trying to make himself be heard through the helicopter's whirring. "I thought you had retired!"

"Retirement's over!" Gligarman snapped back, clenching a fist to try and attack.

In such a cramped space, and in such a precarious situation, it was too hard to fight. The helicopter was barely held in place by the improvised cables, but unfortunately the pilot, who Gligarman was now sure was the real Pride Sniper, was taking advantage of it to keep the vigilante at bay.

Pushing him against the control panel, the criminal punched Gligarman's face and stunned him, using those seconds to slip away and prepare to jump off the vehicle. Gligarman heard a Pokéball bursting open, and through the corner of the eye he could spot the silhouette flying over what looked like a giant stingray, probably a Mantine, who managed to escape by the hairs from some electric blasts launched by Electivire.

"Go, don't let him slip away!" he called out to Gligar, and the scorpion immediately flew after him at full speed. He then turned towards the still hovering Electivire. "And you, help me here!"

The Spirit Shackle cables holding the helicopter finally gave out, and just after Gligarman jumped of, it quickly spun out of control and precipitated to the ground, crashing violently. Electivire caught Gligarman, and still having the Magnet Rise active, he flew to chase their foe before he slipped away.

"Watchcave, we've got problems here!" he called to Latoya through the communications channel.

"Yeah, I noticed," she replied. "Unfortunately, we've got problems on both fronts. Flamestorm's now dealing with something just as serious."

"Just as serious? Roberts has just been shot, and the sniper is about to get away! What could be more serious than that?"

Before Latoya could answer his question, not too far from there he spotted a fireball flying away from the city at full speed. Seconds later, a deafening sonic blast went off, sending out an expansive wave that shook the air around him, almost knocking him off Electivire's back.

"What the hell was that?!"

To be continued…