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Description
Jake slowly awoke after some time, unsure of where he was or how he ended up unconscious in the first place. The lag in thought process was dissipating with a couple slaps to the face. "Come on boy, can't sleep all day." A voice calmly reached his awakening mind.

Jake tried to move but found his arms and legs tightly bound together. This was definitely a good if not urgent wake-up call. With a few blinks to clear the sleep from his eyes, Jake took in what he could beyond the limited lighting. He could make out most of the backstage equipment he had seen the first time he came back here.

"Hey, thanks for not making me worry about you and getting us both tied up," a familiar, and slightly sarcastic voice whispered next to him. Sure enough, it was Haze that sat next to him, tied up in the same fashion as him. And even though it was a relief to know his partner was unharmed, for the most, the look in her eyes let him know that this was not the time to relax and that she was actually quite worried. With the thin wisps of moonlight that poked in through the windows over the contest set pieces, Jake concentrated his gaze on the figures that stood over them. A potent mixture of betrayal, hate, and revulsion twisted and confused him as he looked up into the calm, fatherly smile of Mr. Truman and the devious, cheshire cat grin of Rose the Gardevoir. Rose's glimmering eyes shone like sharpened daggers.

Mr. Truman stroked Rose's head like a Glameow and spoke, "Good job on capturing this one, Rose, but I think you may have overdone it on the Hypnosis, again. He was out for a good while."

Rose scoffed, "Oh please, that was hardly anything." She directed her cold leer on the PEF member, "Not to mention how laughably easy it was to trick him into coming back here."

"Rose, how could you do this?!" Jake grew a little angrier by the mocking, but kept a level tone, "I trusted you."

Rose laughed coldly, the shrill voice sounding claws made of ice against an eardrum, "Really?! How did the PEF pick up an idiot like you? 'Oh Jake, p-please don't leave me by myself. I-I don't like being alone.' Hahahah!" The pure little psychic-type reveled in her true nature. The acting was pitch perfect, yet now Jake found the act hollow and full of malice.

"Now now, Rose, that's enough of that," Mr. Truman said in his still even and confident tone.

This shocked Jake a bit, "So you understand pokemon too?"

Rose snickered a little more, but it was Haze that answered this time. "Yeah, apparently Team Sigma also has a few people that communicate with pokemon and he found out that I was with the PEF from a comment I made."

"I have to say, you pokemon had some very interesting things to say while I was with her."

Jake looked over at Haze, giving her a 'what-did-you-say?' look.

Haze glared back to counter, "How was I supposed to know he would understand me?"

"Ok, but then how did you end up here?"

Haze swore under her breath, a whisper of something along the lines of giving Mr. Truman a swift Blaze Kick to the pokeballs. "He slipped something into a drink of mine when I wasn't looking. Next thing I know, I see that little imp dragging you over here, tied up and unconscious."

"Bet you enjoyed watching that," Rose cackled, "Honestly, they just keep getting more gullible by the recruit."

"Rose, that is quite enough," Mr. Truman said, but with a bit more of a snap.

"Yes master," Rose immediately backed off.

"And to think this was supposed to be an easy job," Mr. Truman sighed, "All we needed to do was outbid everyone at the auction and that would have been the end of it. Especially since Lord Kaiser gave us ample funds to do just so. I was even thinking of bidding on a piece in the artistic auction if we had anything left over."

"Then why not have done that without alerting us?" Haze asked, continuing to struggle against her bonds.

Mr. Truman sighed again, "Come now my dear, don't tell me it hasn't crossed your mind. If it was me; if I knew my enemy would be participating in the auction for up and coming technological advances. I would be on the lookout for the ones that won the biddings."

Jake had to admit, that was the plan if they had made it to the auction. It was obvious that Team Sigma wanted something from the auction and not just enjoy a night on the gala's dance floor, but now-

"*sigh* But now, we have to deal with this the old fashion way."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jake asked.

Rose leaned forward and gave an evil wink, "It means that we're gonna blow this little get-together to the dark side of the moon." She waved a small trigger like device in front of Jake and Haze's face mockingly. "Of course, not until we get what we came here for."

"On the bright side, Lord Kaiser will at least be pleased that he'll have some extra funds for the final project," Mr. Truman said as he preceded to the auction items, uncovering the sheets to inspect the them one by one. "Hmm, no…no…interesting, but no…Ah, here they are."

Jake and Haze craned their necks to see what it was that Mr. Truman was after. They got a glimpse of the item as he held them up to the waning moonlight before stowing them away. In one hand was a CD in a common, see through plastic case; scrawled onto the cover in marker were a few words that at his current angle made it impossible for Jake to make out. In his other hand was an electronic device with a copious amount of wires weaved through and around it. Neither Jake nor Haze had any idea what the two items could be, but if Team Sigma was after them, then they were obviously important. Mr. Truman turned around with a gleeful smile on his face; patting the pockets he stored the two items away. "Well I believe that's all we need from here. Rose, let us take our leave."

Rose giggled, her voice filled with hair raising venom, "Oh, time to watch the fireworks display. And don't worry, you and the rest of these idiots get to have a front row seat. Have fun!"

"You little-" Haze screeched, doing all she could against the tightly bound ropes around her arms and legs. Rose laughed at Haze's wasted attempts following her master out toward the emergency exit.

"It's a shame that this has to be where we part. None the less, farewell Jake Everant. I-"

*CRASH*

If Mr. Truman had a dramatic goodbye quote lined up, he never got it out. From one of the pale moonlit windows came a green and white figure, spreading fragments of shattered glass everywhere throughout the backstage. With the deftness of a Glameow, the figure nimbly avoided the shards as he landed on the floor. Mr. Truman and Rose were thrown off guard by the sudden interference that they did not have a chance to fight back against the Gallade.

Mr. Truman found himself flat out on his back after the Gallade got a low sweep under the man. While Mr. Truman fought to clear the bright white stars swirling around his vision, Rose was preparing to retaliate against the figure that had dared to attack her master. Though she too soon found herself in the same position as her master faster than she could blink and the trigger she held cut to shreds in a fluid arm movement.

"Dagger!" Jake exclaimed in relief at seeing his other partner coming to his and Haze's aid.

Haze on the other hand seemed rather annoyed. "Took your sweet time didn't you."

Dagger was already working at cutting away their bindings and gave her the smallest hint of a smirk, "And here I thought you said something about 'handling this mission by yourself'."

Haze sputtered over her words, trying to come up with a retort before settling on an annoyed huff.

"Anyway," Jake interrupted him and Haze now free from their bindings, "Thanks for the assist."

Dagger gave him a look. "I told you it was a good idea to have a back-up plan."

Jake grinned innocently and held his hands up in front of himself defensively, "Ok, ok! You were right, sheesh." Said back-up plan now in effect, Jake mentally sighed as he thought back to their planning session just before leaving HQ.

---

Jake's team had a few minutes before they departed for their mission that night, so they walked about the HQ before heading for the Coop. Haze and Jake exchanged tidbits of each other's identities to each other to make sure they had their cover stories down.

"I still don't get why I have to have such a long backstory," Haze huffed after recounting her 'history' of being the first pokemon Jake acquired back in Hoenn, and a few stories of their journey through Sinnoh. "It's not like the whole 'earned 8 badges and defeated the elite four' story hasn't been played out enough and it's not like anyone is going to understand me."

Jake rolled his eyes as if she was just acting ignorant, "Well 'Krystal', what if you have to talk to other pokemon? It's not like I understand them." Wink, wink.

"Hmph, fine."

As they spoke, Dagger, who had remained quiet for much of their walk made himself a known presence by audibly clearing his throat. "I hate to sound like Jake being pessimistic." Haze snickered at Jake who was giving an annoyed glare at the Gallade. "But, shouldn't we have a back-up plan, like an extra method of communication in case we need it."

"What do you mean?"

Dagger grabbed Jake's Receiver off the belt clip around his waist, getting a questioning look from his partners. "You both know the Receiver gets a distress signal from Jake's watch when the distress button is pressed three times. Well, I've noticed that a signal is sent whenever the distress button is pressed even once or twice." Dagger held up the Receiver while taking said watch around Jake's wrist.

True to his word, as Dagger thumbed the distress button once then twice, the Receiver let off a single, low pitch whine for each depression.

"Oh I see! We can use those signals for other than the actual distress!" Jake deduced, taking his watch back.

"Exactly."

"So what will the new signals mean then?"

Dagger took a moment to close his eyes in concentration. "I believe the best way to use these signals is to have them mean your status in the gala. Like, two 'beep's will mean that if you don't check back in in 30 minutes, something is wrong. One 'beep' will then be your 'all clear' signal for after the first signal."

"Clever," Haze whistled. Jake agreed and gave Dagger some praise for the back-up plan idea.

"Ok, we better get going now that we got that settled," Jake warned, checking the time on his watch again, "We're going to be late if we keep getting side tracked."

---

Mr. Truman and Rose were already back on their feet and stood readily against their foes. "You just couldn't make this easy on yourself could you, boy," Mr. Truman growled angrily, in quite the stark contrast to his usual nonchalant behavior. "You and your band of wannabe heroes. Rose! Show them no mercy."

Rose's eyes lit up like a cat that had just caught its first mouse. "Ooohh, I've been looking forward to this all night." A light purple haze arose from around the Gardevoir's being. The air of power almost tangible to the less keen as she grinned viciously upon her prey. Jake and Haze prepared for whatever the little trickster had in store, but were stopped when Dagger stepped out in front of them.

"I will handle her, you go after her master."

The two nodded in agreement, rushing past their partner to deal with the remaining threat. A wicked laugh echoed as Dagger stared down into the face of danger. "Hahaaha! The big, strong Gallade is going to 'handle' me!" Rose insidiously mocked and out on an innocent looking face. "Oh, please be gentle. It's my first time."

"You've insulted and hurt my friends," Dagger calmly said, though a powerful veil of psychic power erupted over his being, "I don't take that stuff too lightly."

"Stop!" The command ground Mr. Truman's footsteps to a halt. Behind him, Jake and Haze had caught up with the Team Sigma agent and were holding up his escape.

Mr. Truman gave a sigh and turned around to face his opposition. "You could have made this so much easier on yourself." His easy, calm expression morphed into an icy glare. "But you have tried my patience, so I guess there is only one way to settle this."

"Like you're any match for the likes of us," Haze retorted, "Now hand over what you've taken from the auction and we might just consider going easy on you."

Mr. Truman merely chuckled and shook his head. The once hearty laugh now sounding like an ill-intended jeer, "Sorry, but my hands are tied on that request. I'll give you something else though in return." Mr. Truman took hold of the hand carved cane he still had in both hands, twisting the top ornament piece until it separated and withdrew a hidden single edge blade with it to punctuate his last remark. The blade was only half as long as the cane itself, but the edge looked as deadly as its intent meant for the PEF members. Mr. Truman made the first move, throwing slice after slice at Jake and Haze. He was much more nimble than his stature let on and he easily countered or evaded any retaliation.

Dagger slashed away at Rose's defenses, but to no avail. She was like a ballerina on the battlefield, pirouetting just out of reach of Dagger's attack's and at the same time making it all look like a practiced recital.

"Ooh, you're a much better dance partner than your 'friend'," She purred with a mischievous smirk. She twirled to the side once again even keeping her trailing frills just out of reach. "Mhmm, what do you say if we switch over to a tango." The Gardevoir halted midstep, seamlessly transitioning into a new step that brought her inside Dagger's guard. Dagger grunted and fell back after taking a Dizzy Punch to the gut. Not even a second later, Rose was already back inside his guard and wailed on his midsection.

"Ah!" Jake hissed.

Mr. Truman examined his blade where a few droplets of blood flowed freely off the tip. He flicked the last flecks of liquid off, proudly flourishing the sword as Jake clutched his forearm where he got nicked.

"Jake!"

"I'm fine Haze," He reassured her. Jake decided to slip out of his tuxedo coat, the article of clothing being too restrictive for his movements. "He's much tougher than I thought. We're gonna have to use a different strategy." Haze nodded, looking around for anything that could be used to create an opening. Her hazel eyes twinkled as an idea sparked in her mind and with a few motions; she clued Jake into the plan.

Rose was laughing hysterically, her moves always just one step ahead of the Gallade she was chipping away at.

'Calm down Dagger,' Dagger told himself, nearly losing control a second time. He had to use Calm Mind which cost him a couple unguarded jabs, but he was at least able to think clearly again. 'She has to have a weakness, urgh!' Another low blow made contact causing the Gallade to heave over and clutch his majorly bruising ribs. For a moment, he couldn't bring himself back-up to a full stance and his eyes fell on the floor around Rose's feet. Immediately something clicked inside of him, and a new plan was already forming in his mind.

"I take it back," Rose tisked, "You're just as uncoordinated as your master." With all intention on finishing off her opponent, Rose leapt into her next attack. She was already inside Dagger's guard in a mere second and wound her fist back. The uppercut was swift and…missed! Only by a fraction of an inch, but it was still a miss. "What?!" Rose swung again, again but every time the margin of space between each miss grew wider.

"How. Do. You. Keep. DODGING?!"

Rose finally backed off to catch her breath. Dagger stood evenly and sunk back into his usual battle stance, ready for another round. Rose gritted her teeth in frustration, but her expression soon grew into flat out agitation. "What are you staring at?! Hey, eyes up here!"

"…Your feet," Dagger said simply.

"What?!"

"It's the movement of your feet," Dagger began to elaborate; "Your attacks patterns are readable by the steps you take."

Rose's eyes widened at the Gallade's quick deduction, not even she knew the seemingly unnoticeable tell in her pattern, and quite frankly, it pissed her right off, "I'm going to kill you!" Another round of blurry, fast paced attacks came at Dagger from every which way, but as he predicted, not one attack was able to land now. Their movements almost resembling a ball room dance as they moved nimbly upon the backstage. It was almost a waste that the real gala's dance floor was a just meters away, but this was a battle. And since this was a battle, it was about time that Dagger went on the offensive. One last snap kick from Rose gave Dagger the opening he had been looking for. Energy enveloped his fist as he blocked the incoming attack. It was over before rose knew it and the energy sapping Drain Punch found its mark in her side.

*Fwoosh* "Augh!"

Through a series of well-placed attacks and a bit of improvising using the backstage set pieces as dominos, Haze and Jake had led the unaware Mr. Truman into a corner. The last Flamethrower from Haze came within inches of Mr. Truman's face and his involuntary reaction to cover the exposed area with his arms cost him. The cane sword caught the brunt of the fire and glowed red hot as it heated to the melting point. The hilt itself became unbearable to hold as the heat transferred down the length and forced Mr. Truman to drop the weapon. The distraction worked and the Team Sigma agent was now defenseless and cornered.

"It's over Mr. Truman," Haze grinned triumphantly.

Mr. Truman was too busy clutching his scorched hand in pain to pay attention to the sneering Blaziken, but still managed to hiss in anger, "You stupid bird, this is only a part of our grand plan. Rose! We are leaving!" The weakened Gardevoir heard her master's call, and despite her physical state, still managed to jump straight to her feet at the beckoning. Dagger prepared for whatever the psychic-type had in store, but there was still one last trick up Rose's sleeve.

A flash of light later she was gone and reappeared at Mr. Truman's side. Teleport, one of the oldest psychic moves of her evolutionary chain and she still knew it, or possibly relearned it for just such occasions. Either way, Dagger already knew how to counter such a ruse and channeled his energy. Though Rose did not immediately teleport out with her master like Dagger thought, but built what little energy she could spare into another action. The resulting buildup of energy came out as a percussion blast, blowing the PEF members and everything that wasn't nailed down back more than a few paces. Any pane of glass was now reduced to shattered pieces with an audible crash, but the shards did not fall and were cradled in Rose's psychic embrace. The now knife like objects directed their deadly points at Jake and Haze under the psychic influence and glinted with murderous intent. Dagger reacted just in time with a psychic barrier as the translucent shards rained down upon his partners causing them to ping and fragment violently against it. There was another flash of light, Dagger knew that the Gardevoir and Mr. Truman had escaped with no hope of tracking them now, but he sighed in relief when he saw that Jake and Haze were ok.

Reunited peacefully at last, the team took a moment to catch their breath. Another moment short lived as security guards and police officers from the gala stormed the backstage after hearing the last disturbance.

"You there, hands in the air!" Officer Jenny shouted from the throng of law enforcement, "You are under arrest!"

The PEF members cooperated with the authorities though eventually convinced them of their organization status. Many apologies were made on both sides for the misunderstanding, the gala now suspended as investigations were made on the crime scene.

---

Much later after being done with coordinating with local authorities, Jake, Haze, and Dagger made it back to PEF HQ and stood before Admin Dakota to deliver their mission report.

"…Mr. Truman has undoubtedly already made it back to a Team Sigma base," Dakota declared after hearing Jake's report, "No way to track him down now."

"I'm sorry sir," Jake apologized in a downcast of his failure.

"It's not your fault Jake; don't beat yourself up over it. Besides, you report shows that you stopped Team Sigma from destroying the contest hall and almost certainly kill many innocent people inside."

"Yes, but it was only thanks to Dagger coming up with our back-up plan that we succeeded at that."

Dakota thought for a moment, "And because of that, a disaster was averted to the Sinnoh region, and only because your team can rely on each other to bring each one of you up together. In honor of that, I am pleased to announce that you and your team have earned the right to become Advance Rank members of the PEF, congratulations!"

Shock was replaced by elation as the three PEF members stuttered over their surprise. Even the computer technicians at their stations offered their congrats on the promotions.

"We need more strong hearted members like you Jake, but remember," Dakota roped the commotion back in, "With this new promotion comes newer responsibilities. You and your team will be upgraded to Advanced training and will be taking on much riskier missions in the future. We need you to be at your best, but don't let this overwhelm you, so good luck!" Jake nodded and continued to celebrate with his team on their achievement. Things were definitely looking like they were about to change quite drastically.

Description
Jake slowly awoke after some time, unsure of where he was or how he ended up unconscious in the first place. The lag in thought process was dissipating with a couple slaps to the face. "Come on boy, can't sleep all day." A voice calmly reached his awakening mind.

Jake tried to move but found his arms and legs tightly bound together. This was definitely a good if not urgent wake-up call. With a few blinks to clear the sleep from his eyes, Jake took in what he could beyond the limited lighting. He could make out most of the backstage equipment he had seen the first time he came back here.

"Hey, thanks for not making me worry about you and getting us both tied up," a familiar, and slightly sarcastic voice whispered next to him. Sure enough, it was Haze that sat next to him, tied up in the same fashion as him. And even though it was a relief to know his partner was unharmed, for the most, the look in her eyes let him know that this was not the time to relax and that she was actually quite worried. With the thin wisps of moonlight that poked in through the windows over the contest set pieces, Jake concentrated his gaze on the figures that stood over them. A potent mixture of betrayal, hate, and revulsion twisted and confused him as he looked up into the calm, fatherly smile of Mr. Truman and the devious, cheshire cat grin of Rose the Gardevoir. Rose's glimmering eyes shone like sharpened daggers.

Mr. Truman stroked Rose's head like a Glameow and spoke, "Good job on capturing this one, Rose, but I think you may have overdone it on the Hypnosis, again. He was out for a good while."

Rose scoffed, "Oh please, that was hardly anything." She directed her cold leer on the PEF member, "Not to mention how laughably easy it was to trick him into coming back here."

"Rose, how could you do this?!" Jake grew a little angrier by the mocking, but kept a level tone, "I trusted you."

Rose laughed coldly, the shrill voice sounding claws made of ice against an eardrum, "Really?! How did the PEF pick up an idiot like you? 'Oh Jake, p-please don't leave me by myself. I-I don't like being alone.' Hahahah!" The pure little psychic-type reveled in her true nature. The acting was pitch perfect, yet now Jake found the act hollow and full of malice.

"Now now, Rose, that's enough of that," Mr. Truman said in his still even and confident tone.

This shocked Jake a bit, "So you understand pokemon too?"

Rose snickered a little more, but it was Haze that answered this time. "Yeah, apparently Team Sigma also has a few people that communicate with pokemon and he found out that I was with the PEF from a comment I made."

"I have to say, you pokemon had some very interesting things to say while I was with her."

Jake looked over at Haze, giving her a 'what-did-you-say?' look.

Haze glared back to counter, "How was I supposed to know he would understand me?"

"Ok, but then how did you end up here?"

Haze swore under her breath, a whisper of something along the lines of giving Mr. Truman a swift Blaze Kick to the pokeballs. "He slipped something into a drink of mine when I wasn't looking. Next thing I know, I see that little imp dragging you over here, tied up and unconscious."

"Bet you enjoyed watching that," Rose cackled, "Honestly, they just keep getting more gullible by the recruit."

"Rose, that is quite enough," Mr. Truman said, but with a bit more of a snap.

"Yes master," Rose immediately backed off.

"And to think this was supposed to be an easy job," Mr. Truman sighed, "All we needed to do was outbid everyone at the auction and that would have been the end of it. Especially since Lord Kaiser gave us ample funds to do just so. I was even thinking of bidding on a piece in the artistic auction if we had anything left over."

"Then why not have done that without alerting us?" Haze asked, continuing to struggle against her bonds.

Mr. Truman sighed again, "Come now my dear, don't tell me it hasn't crossed your mind. If it was me; if I knew my enemy would be participating in the auction for up and coming technological advances. I would be on the lookout for the ones that won the biddings."

Jake had to admit, that was the plan if they had made it to the auction. It was obvious that Team Sigma wanted something from the auction and not just enjoy a night on the gala's dance floor, but now-

"*sigh* But now, we have to deal with this the old fashion way."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Jake asked.

Rose leaned forward and gave an evil wink, "It means that we're gonna blow this little get-together to the dark side of the moon." She waved a small trigger like device in front of Jake and Haze's face mockingly. "Of course, not until we get what we came here for."

"On the bright side, Lord Kaiser will at least be pleased that he'll have some extra funds for the final project," Mr. Truman said as he preceded to the auction items, uncovering the sheets to inspect the them one by one. "Hmm, no…no…interesting, but no…Ah, here they are."

Jake and Haze craned their necks to see what it was that Mr. Truman was after. They got a glimpse of the item as he held them up to the waning moonlight before stowing them away. In one hand was a CD in a common, see through plastic case; scrawled onto the cover in marker were a few words that at his current angle made it impossible for Jake to make out. In his other hand was an electronic device with a copious amount of wires weaved through and around it. Neither Jake nor Haze had any idea what the two items could be, but if Team Sigma was after them, then they were obviously important. Mr. Truman turned around with a gleeful smile on his face; patting the pockets he stored the two items away. "Well I believe that's all we need from here. Rose, let us take our leave."

Rose giggled, her voice filled with hair raising venom, "Oh, time to watch the fireworks display. And don't worry, you and the rest of these idiots get to have a front row seat. Have fun!"

"You little-" Haze screeched, doing all she could against the tightly bound ropes around her arms and legs. Rose laughed at Haze's wasted attempts following her master out toward the emergency exit.

"It's a shame that this has to be where we part. None the less, farewell Jake Everant. I-"

*CRASH*

If Mr. Truman had a dramatic goodbye quote lined up, he never got it out. From one of the pale moonlit windows came a green and white figure, spreading fragments of shattered glass everywhere throughout the backstage. With the deftness of a Glameow, the figure nimbly avoided the shards as he landed on the floor. Mr. Truman and Rose were thrown off guard by the sudden interference that they did not have a chance to fight back against the Gallade.

Mr. Truman found himself flat out on his back after the Gallade got a low sweep under the man. While Mr. Truman fought to clear the bright white stars swirling around his vision, Rose was preparing to retaliate against the figure that had dared to attack her master. Though she too soon found herself in the same position as her master faster than she could blink and the trigger she held cut to shreds in a fluid arm movement.

"Dagger!" Jake exclaimed in relief at seeing his other partner coming to his and Haze's aid.

Haze on the other hand seemed rather annoyed. "Took your sweet time didn't you."

Dagger was already working at cutting away their bindings and gave her the smallest hint of a smirk, "And here I thought you said something about 'handling this mission by yourself'."

Haze sputtered over her words, trying to come up with a retort before settling on an annoyed huff.

"Anyway," Jake interrupted him and Haze now free from their bindings, "Thanks for the assist."

Dagger gave him a look. "I told you it was a good idea to have a back-up plan."

Jake grinned innocently and held his hands up in front of himself defensively, "Ok, ok! You were right, sheesh." Said back-up plan now in effect, Jake mentally sighed as he thought back to their planning session just before leaving HQ.

---

Jake's team had a few minutes before they departed for their mission that night, so they walked about the HQ before heading for the Coop. Haze and Jake exchanged tidbits of each other's identities to each other to make sure they had their cover stories down.

"I still don't get why I have to have such a long backstory," Haze huffed after recounting her 'history' of being the first pokemon Jake acquired back in Hoenn, and a few stories of their journey through Sinnoh. "It's not like the whole 'earned 8 badges and defeated the elite four' story hasn't been played out enough and it's not like anyone is going to understand me."

Jake rolled his eyes as if she was just acting ignorant, "Well 'Krystal', what if you have to talk to other pokemon? It's not like I understand them." Wink, wink.

"Hmph, fine."

As they spoke, Dagger, who had remained quiet for much of their walk made himself a known presence by audibly clearing his throat. "I hate to sound like Jake being pessimistic." Haze snickered at Jake who was giving an annoyed glare at the Gallade. "But, shouldn't we have a back-up plan, like an extra method of communication in case we need it."

"What do you mean?"

Dagger grabbed Jake's Receiver off the belt clip around his waist, getting a questioning look from his partners. "You both know the Receiver gets a distress signal from Jake's watch when the distress button is pressed three times. Well, I've noticed that a signal is sent whenever the distress button is pressed even once or twice." Dagger held up the Receiver while taking said watch around Jake's wrist.

True to his word, as Dagger thumbed the distress button once then twice, the Receiver let off a single, low pitch whine for each depression.

"Oh I see! We can use those signals for other than the actual distress!" Jake deduced, taking his watch back.

"Exactly."

"So what will the new signals mean then?"

Dagger took a moment to close his eyes in concentration. "I believe the best way to use these signals is to have them mean your status in the gala. Like, two 'beep's will mean that if you don't check back in in 30 minutes, something is wrong. One 'beep' will then be your 'all clear' signal for after the first signal."

"Clever," Haze whistled. Jake agreed and gave Dagger some praise for the back-up plan idea.

"Ok, we better get going now that we got that settled," Jake warned, checking the time on his watch again, "We're going to be late if we keep getting side tracked."

---

Mr. Truman and Rose were already back on their feet and stood readily against their foes. "You just couldn't make this easy on yourself could you, boy," Mr. Truman growled angrily, in quite the stark contrast to his usual nonchalant behavior. "You and your band of wannabe heroes. Rose! Show them no mercy."

Rose's eyes lit up like a cat that had just caught its first mouse. "Ooohh, I've been looking forward to this all night." A light purple haze arose from around the Gardevoir's being. The air of power almost tangible to the less keen as she grinned viciously upon her prey. Jake and Haze prepared for whatever the little trickster had in store, but were stopped when Dagger stepped out in front of them.

"I will handle her, you go after her master."

The two nodded in agreement, rushing past their partner to deal with the remaining threat. A wicked laugh echoed as Dagger stared down into the face of danger. "Hahaaha! The big, strong Gallade is going to 'handle' me!" Rose insidiously mocked and out on an innocent looking face. "Oh, please be gentle. It's my first time."

"You've insulted and hurt my friends," Dagger calmly said, though a powerful veil of psychic power erupted over his being, "I don't take that stuff too lightly."

"Stop!" The command ground Mr. Truman's footsteps to a halt. Behind him, Jake and Haze had caught up with the Team Sigma agent and were holding up his escape.

Mr. Truman gave a sigh and turned around to face his opposition. "You could have made this so much easier on yourself." His easy, calm expression morphed into an icy glare. "But you have tried my patience, so I guess there is only one way to settle this."

"Like you're any match for the likes of us," Haze retorted, "Now hand over what you've taken from the auction and we might just consider going easy on you."

Mr. Truman merely chuckled and shook his head. The once hearty laugh now sounding like an ill-intended jeer, "Sorry, but my hands are tied on that request. I'll give you something else though in return." Mr. Truman took hold of the hand carved cane he still had in both hands, twisting the top ornament piece until it separated and withdrew a hidden single edge blade with it to punctuate his last remark. The blade was only half as long as the cane itself, but the edge looked as deadly as its intent meant for the PEF members. Mr. Truman made the first move, throwing slice after slice at Jake and Haze. He was much more nimble than his stature let on and he easily countered or evaded any retaliation.

Dagger slashed away at Rose's defenses, but to no avail. She was like a ballerina on the battlefield, pirouetting just out of reach of Dagger's attack's and at the same time making it all look like a practiced recital.

"Ooh, you're a much better dance partner than your 'friend'," She purred with a mischievous smirk. She twirled to the side once again even keeping her trailing frills just out of reach. "Mhmm, what do you say if we switch over to a tango." The Gardevoir halted midstep, seamlessly transitioning into a new step that brought her inside Dagger's guard. Dagger grunted and fell back after taking a Dizzy Punch to the gut. Not even a second later, Rose was already back inside his guard and wailed on his midsection.

"Ah!" Jake hissed.

Mr. Truman examined his blade where a few droplets of blood flowed freely off the tip. He flicked the last flecks of liquid off, proudly flourishing the sword as Jake clutched his forearm where he got nicked.

"Jake!"

"I'm fine Haze," He reassured her. Jake decided to slip out of his tuxedo coat, the article of clothing being too restrictive for his movements. "He's much tougher than I thought. We're gonna have to use a different strategy." Haze nodded, looking around for anything that could be used to create an opening. Her hazel eyes twinkled as an idea sparked in her mind and with a few motions; she clued Jake into the plan.

Rose was laughing hysterically, her moves always just one step ahead of the Gallade she was chipping away at.

'Calm down Dagger,' Dagger told himself, nearly losing control a second time. He had to use Calm Mind which cost him a couple unguarded jabs, but he was at least able to think clearly again. 'She has to have a weakness, urgh!' Another low blow made contact causing the Gallade to heave over and clutch his majorly bruising ribs. For a moment, he couldn't bring himself back-up to a full stance and his eyes fell on the floor around Rose's feet. Immediately something clicked inside of him, and a new plan was already forming in his mind.

"I take it back," Rose tisked, "You're just as uncoordinated as your master." With all intention on finishing off her opponent, Rose leapt into her next attack. She was already inside Dagger's guard in a mere second and wound her fist back. The uppercut was swift and…missed! Only by a fraction of an inch, but it was still a miss. "What?!" Rose swung again, again but every time the margin of space between each miss grew wider.

"How. Do. You. Keep. DODGING?!"

Rose finally backed off to catch her breath. Dagger stood evenly and sunk back into his usual battle stance, ready for another round. Rose gritted her teeth in frustration, but her expression soon grew into flat out agitation. "What are you staring at?! Hey, eyes up here!"

"…Your feet," Dagger said simply.

"What?!"

"It's the movement of your feet," Dagger began to elaborate; "Your attacks patterns are readable by the steps you take."

Rose's eyes widened at the Gallade's quick deduction, not even she knew the seemingly unnoticeable tell in her pattern, and quite frankly, it pissed her right off, "I'm going to kill you!" Another round of blurry, fast paced attacks came at Dagger from every which way, but as he predicted, not one attack was able to land now. Their movements almost resembling a ball room dance as they moved nimbly upon the backstage. It was almost a waste that the real gala's dance floor was a just meters away, but this was a battle. And since this was a battle, it was about time that Dagger went on the offensive. One last snap kick from Rose gave Dagger the opening he had been looking for. Energy enveloped his fist as he blocked the incoming attack. It was over before rose knew it and the energy sapping Drain Punch found its mark in her side.

*Fwoosh* "Augh!"

Through a series of well-placed attacks and a bit of improvising using the backstage set pieces as dominos, Haze and Jake had led the unaware Mr. Truman into a corner. The last Flamethrower from Haze came within inches of Mr. Truman's face and his involuntary reaction to cover the exposed area with his arms cost him. The cane sword caught the brunt of the fire and glowed red hot as it heated to the melting point. The hilt itself became unbearable to hold as the heat transferred down the length and forced Mr. Truman to drop the weapon. The distraction worked and the Team Sigma agent was now defenseless and cornered.

"It's over Mr. Truman," Haze grinned triumphantly.

Mr. Truman was too busy clutching his scorched hand in pain to pay attention to the sneering Blaziken, but still managed to hiss in anger, "You stupid bird, this is only a part of our grand plan. Rose! We are leaving!" The weakened Gardevoir heard her master's call, and despite her physical state, still managed to jump straight to her feet at the beckoning. Dagger prepared for whatever the psychic-type had in store, but there was still one last trick up Rose's sleeve.

A flash of light later she was gone and reappeared at Mr. Truman's side. Teleport, one of the oldest psychic moves of her evolutionary chain and she still knew it, or possibly relearned it for just such occasions. Either way, Dagger already knew how to counter such a ruse and channeled his energy. Though Rose did not immediately teleport out with her master like Dagger thought, but built what little energy she could spare into another action. The resulting buildup of energy came out as a percussion blast, blowing the PEF members and everything that wasn't nailed down back more than a few paces. Any pane of glass was now reduced to shattered pieces with an audible crash, but the shards did not fall and were cradled in Rose's psychic embrace. The now knife like objects directed their deadly points at Jake and Haze under the psychic influence and glinted with murderous intent. Dagger reacted just in time with a psychic barrier as the translucent shards rained down upon his partners causing them to ping and fragment violently against it. There was another flash of light, Dagger knew that the Gardevoir and Mr. Truman had escaped with no hope of tracking them now, but he sighed in relief when he saw that Jake and Haze were ok.

Reunited peacefully at last, the team took a moment to catch their breath. Another moment short lived as security guards and police officers from the gala stormed the backstage after hearing the last disturbance.

"You there, hands in the air!" Officer Jenny shouted from the throng of law enforcement, "You are under arrest!"

The PEF members cooperated with the authorities though eventually convinced them of their organization status. Many apologies were made on both sides for the misunderstanding, the gala now suspended as investigations were made on the crime scene.

---

Much later after being done with coordinating with local authorities, Jake, Haze, and Dagger made it back to PEF HQ and stood before Admin Dakota to deliver their mission report.

"…Mr. Truman has undoubtedly already made it back to a Team Sigma base," Dakota declared after hearing Jake's report, "No way to track him down now."

"I'm sorry sir," Jake apologized in a downcast of his failure.

"It's not your fault Jake; don't beat yourself up over it. Besides, you report shows that you stopped Team Sigma from destroying the contest hall and almost certainly kill many innocent people inside."

"Yes, but it was only thanks to Dagger coming up with our back-up plan that we succeeded at that."

Dakota thought for a moment, "And because of that, a disaster was averted to the Sinnoh region, and only because your team can rely on each other to bring each one of you up together. In honor of that, I am pleased to announce that you and your team have earned the right to become Advance Rank members of the PEF, congratulations!"

Shock was replaced by elation as the three PEF members stuttered over their surprise. Even the computer technicians at their stations offered their congrats on the promotions.

"We need more strong hearted members like you Jake, but remember," Dakota roped the commotion back in, "With this new promotion comes newer responsibilities. You and your team will be upgraded to Advanced training and will be taking on much riskier missions in the future. We need you to be at your best, but don't let this overwhelm you, so good luck!" Jake nodded and continued to celebrate with his team on their achievement. Things were definitely looking like they were about to change quite drastically.