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"By the way, Charlie, can I ask a favour?" The Riolu asked as he and his Charmander partner sat on the bleachers of the assembly area, waiting for the assembly to start.

He wore his usual, sort of signature, zip hoodie with a Lucario's color pattern, a bullet proof vest with the Spartan symbol at the chest which serves as their uniform, and around his waist was his utility belt. Beside him lay his pack which contained his basic equipment, strapped on the side of his belt was a holstered pistol and strapped behind him, just above his tailbone, is the sheathed dagger that his late friend, Damion, gave him.

"What kind of favour?" The Charmander asked, lying on his back, a step above where the Riolu sat, with his head right next to the Riolu's.

The Charmander's tail swayed in the air slowly, occasionally bumping his nose in a rather adorable manner. He wore only the Academy's uniform bullet proof vest and utility belt. He does, however, wear his dad's explorer bandana, which belonged to his great grandfather back when he was in an exploration team. The bandana was red in color and the symbol has long faded, but the fabric itself was rather well preserved and has served as a family treasure to Charlie. He held his pistol in his hand, staring at it intently, reminiscing...

The two arrived a bit hurriedly a while ago to the Academy, assuming that they were going to be late. Arriving at the Academy, however, they were surprised to find that the assembly hasn't even started. So they decided to just sit there and wait. The assembly area was an expansive gymnasium minus the equipment. Several other recruits were there with them, each doing their own business.

"Well, I was wondering if you could maybe train me with my fire powers." Jason mumbled half-under his breath. He felt rather embarrassed about having to ask that of Charlie, especially since he has his dad, a Blaziken for Pete's sake, but he thought that Charlie would be a good mentor when it comes to ranged fire attacks.

The Charmander sat up with a slight groan, his already lazy body fighting to stay down. "I'm not complaining or anything... but don't you have your dad to do that?" he asked.

"I do." Jason answered. "But he's more of a melee and close-ranged fighter. I thought that maybe you could train me in terms of ranged fire attacks."

"You have RANGED fire attacks?" Charlie knit his eyebrows, showing off his surprise or confusion. "I thought you would only light your body on fire."

Jason looked away and rubbed the back of his head, a bit embarrassed with what he was going to say. "I... guess so."

"You 'guess so'?" Charlie asked. "What do you mean?"

"Ugh..." Jason groaned slightly as he stood up and stretched. "It's... hard to explain." He said as he walked down the bleachers. Upon reaching the ground, he turned to face the Charmander, eye-to-eye. "So... it's best that I just show you first."

Jason now had Charlie's attention... three-fourths of his attention. Charlie looked at Jason intently, curious at how the demonstration would go. Jason was just about ready to start when the gymnasium's double doors swung open and from them came the head of the Academy, the large, towering Charizard, Ignatius, followed by a tall and slender Sceptile and a well-built Machoke. Each wore the military's uniform bulletproof vest ornate with the medals that they have earned through their years

"Welp, looks like my demonstration's gonna have to wait..." Jason whispered under his breath as he lowered his left arm, with his right moved higher up to his head in salute of the officers that walked it. The other students lined up as well and saluted the officers.

"At ease." The Charizard said signalling that it's time for the recruits to lower their hands. He observed as the students lowered their hands and waited for further instructions. A few moments later, once he was satisfied with the recruits' discipline, he took in a deep breath and spoke. "Alright, as you all may know, very little criminal activity occurred during yesterday's activity. As thankful as we are that all of you have returned safely, we are rather disappointed that you all weren't exposed to the dangers."

"However," The Charizard stopped speaking and it was now the Machoke's turn. "for today, you are going to be training with your partners. Now, I know we chose your partners without your consent and that some of you may not be getting along with one another. So for today, the two of you are going to try and get along with each other. Practice with one another and maybe, hopefully, become a proper working team in a few days' time."

"I will be supervising your training today." Now the Sceptile was speaking. "You may train wherever you wish, wherever BOTH of you feel comfortable in. Just remember that I will be watching over your progress whether you can see me or not."

"That will be all," Back to the Charizard. "you all are dismissed."

And on that note, the recruits slowly began to disperse in pairs. Jason and Charlie had no plan in particular at the moment, but they felt that the gymnasium, where Ignatius and his two officers are, wouldn't be a good choice. Still, it seems that Jason's request to Charlie would finally be set in motion. The Riolu and the Charmander slowly walked out of the gym's double doors, except the Riolu stopped as the doors closed behind him.

"Jason, what is it?" The Charmander asked as he too stopped.

Jason just stood there with his eyes closed, breathing slowly and calmly, in deep concentration. He didn't dare to move or to acknowledge Charlie's question, he had to focus solely on the task at hand, spying on the officers inside the gymnasium. He used his aura to do two things, the first is to observe on the officers and the second to conceal their, both his and Charlie's, presence. As much as none of them were psychic types, most of Avalon's ranking officers had this "hunter's instinct" that seem to give them a fix on the position of most living organisms in a small area around them.

Charlie had no idea what Jason was trying to do but he sort of has a feeling that he shouldn't disturb the Riolu. Letting out a sigh, he casually leaned against a wall and relaxed. "I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing..." he whispered under his breath before he went into ignore mode.

Jason barely had ten seconds of snooping before he felt that the Sceptile had caught wind of what he was up to. Jason immediately pulled back his aura and walked away, grabbing Charlie by the arm and dragging him along. "M'kay, let's go practice at the firing range." He said as he pulled the Charmander.

"Oh, you're done committing a crime?" Charlie asked sarcastically, giving no resistance to Jason pulling him around.

"I wasn't caught..." Jason mumbled sheepishly, a poor lie.

Charlie let out a soft chuckle. He didn't believe what Jason just said. "Yeah, and you're rushing away to the training area because?"

"Because I remember that I was supposed to demonstrate to you my powers. And now, I have a chance to show you at the firing range." Jason said innocently. From the tone of his voice, you would never have guessed that he'd done something wrong. And Jason made sure to always have mental barriers set up so the common, untrained psychics have trouble reading him.

"Oh yeah... I almost forgot that you asked me to train you..." Charlie mumbled as he pulled his hand free from the Riolu's grip, feeling the pain of being pulled, but continued to follow the Riolu and maintain pace. "Well, the firing range would be an ideal place to practice. Good call."

Sometime later, the two make it to the firing range. Both are rather surprised to find that the firing was empty. Then again... they should have at least thought that it was too quiet when they got closer. The firing range was a flat, barren, unpaved and expansive area of rock and sand. All of the obstacles such as large rocks were removed and it is the perfect place to practice ranged weapons and attacks.

There were designated areas where the shooters would position themselves, and at the far back was a large building, which served as the administrators' building as well as an indoor firing range for a controlled environment. There's also a shed next to it containing several types of firearms, artillery, ammunition and a seemingly endless supply of different types of targets ranging from cardboard, steel, moving and ballistic; all of which are shaped like the average human body (which is ironic considering there are no humans in this world) complete with target rings or score counters.

"I'll go make our registration while you go pick the targets you want." Charlie suggested, giving Jason a gentle shove towards the direction of the shed.

"M'kay." Jason replied as he did as was told. The Riolu turned around and watched as his partner disappeared behind the doors of the building before he turned the knob of the shed's door and entered.

He's never really been inside the shed, especially considering how he's first held a gun only yesterday, and he didn't even use it. He was amazed at the wide variety and the immense number of targets available, as well as the odd anatomy they were given. He walked over towards the flat, steel targets and picked out three of them. They were a lot heavier than they looked, even though they were only about five-ten in height and about three inches thick. Jason let out a sigh of disappointment as he stacked the three of them on top of the other, pulled out rope from his pack, tied it around the neck area and started dragging them away.

Jason found the Charmander leaning against a concrete wall where they'd position themselves later. Jason hauled the three targets towards Charlie and dropped them in front of him. "So, we good to go?" the Riolu asked.

The Charmander gave him a shrug in response. "I guess. Nobody was in the building when I walked in so I just signed in the log book and left."

"Well that explains me not being able to sense anybody..." Jason said as he knelt down and untied the targets from one another, pulling one of the three away and lifting the head part. "C'mon and help me place this into position."

The Charmander grabbed the target by the feet area and followed as the Riolu lead them to the desired distance, which was about ten meters away or so. "By the way, Jason, I've been meaning to ask."

"Ask what?"

"I was wondering what you saw when you were spying on my dad and the other two officers." Charlie answered.

Jason let out a small smile and a soft chuckle, amused at how curious the Charmander was regarding his offense. "You do know that the Sceptile is watching us right?"

"He is!?" The Charmander responded more surprised than the Riolu expected. "How?"

"Beats me..." Jason answered with a shrug. "All I know is that I can feel it. Oh, and here's good." Jason said as he and the Charmander slowly positioned the steel target upright on the earth and planted it firmly on the ground. "Anyway, I guess there's no harm in sharing what little I learned... especially considering how I was a victim."

"They're talking about how we were attacked?" The Charmander asked to confirm his assumption.

"No, they didn't know about what happened to you... at least... I don't know if they do." Jason mumbled, looking up to the sky for a moment as though the answer was there, before turning around to return to the firing pedestal, with the Charmander close behind.

"Well?" the Charmander said to get the Riolu's attention. "What were they talking about?"

~Some time before~

The three officers watched as the recruits scattered in pairs and started filing out through the double doors. The waited patiently until the students have left, standing their motionlessly, observing the students. The Charizard and the Machoke both had a rather serious expression on their face. The Sceptile on the other hand was rather cheerful, excited even, a small grin on his face (that's basically as large as a professional is allowed to). Soon, all the recruits have left and the three were left to themselves.

"It was a good idea to make today their training day, Joseph." The Machoke said with a hefty chuckle and a sigh. "Honestly though, we would've still sent them on a patrol."

"With the reports of an illusionist lurking around capable of avoiding our agents? I don't see any reason why we should take a chance and risk our recruits." The Sceptile answered with a slight chuckle, turning his gaze towards the door to give Jason a smile and a subconscious nod.

"And the fact that this illusionist targeted Jason is rather strange." Ignatius added, neither he nor the Machoke seems to have noticed the small gesture. "And this watchman, Harrison... what do we have on him?"

The Sceptile let out a small laugh of amusement. "You can't seriously just accuse people willy nilly."

"You have to at least consider how this Harrison even got close to Jason." The Machoke said. "If an illusionist truly was targeting Jason, AND is strong enough to conceal himself from our agents, then why would he have let some random person just interfere."

"Harrison isn't the illusionist." The Sceptile assured with confidence. "I can assure you that he can be trusted."

The Charizard let out a groan of irritation, closing his eyes and kneading his fingers against his forehead. "Don't tell me he's another one of your agents..."

"Agents?" The Machoke asked, oblivious with the situation between the Charizard and the Sceptile. "What are you talking about, sir?"

"At least MY men are actually doing something." The Sceptile answered, completely ignoring the Machoke, in an almost childish manner, strolling over to the nearest bleacher and taking a seat, eyeing the Charizard with 'hopeful' eyes. "What are your people doing about it anyway?"

The Charizard let out a sigh. 'What is with this guy?' he asked himself. "If you must know, most of my men are investigating out there as we speak. However, we have more than one problem in our hands right now."

The Machoke felt rather irritated that that his question was completely ignored. But considering how it is his superior he's talking to, and how the Sceptile seems to be capable of instilling insecurity to even the strongest soldier in all of Avalon, he just kept his mouth shut.

The Sceptile knit his eyebrows, appearing confused regarding what the Charizard had pointed out even though he knew very well what the Charizard meant. "Another problem?"

"Someone tried to hack into our network." The Charizard answered. "We don't know who it was or what they were after, but they weren't successful in doing any sort of damage."

The Sceptile had his eyes closed, listening intently to the Charizard and nodding occasionally. "Why don't I give it a try?" the Sceptile finally spoke as he opened his eyes. "I can help you at least set up better firewalls."

"That would be very much appreciated, yes." The Charizard nodded then turned to the Machoke. "Jackson, your men are to report to me and to Joseph their findings. He will be second-in-command in this operation."

The Machoke was reluctant, though an order is an order. "Yes, sir." He didn't really trust the Sceptile. Joseph's been there for only a couple of days and already Ignatius was treating him as his superior. The Sceptile also gives off this atmosphere of pride around him, as though no one in Avalon can or will challenge him.

"Welp, now that that's settled, I should get going and fulfil my promise of securing your database." The Sceptile said as he stood up, extending his arm towards the Machoke for a handshake, one which the Machoke accepted. Once the two were done, the Sceptile turned to the Charizard and shook his hand before leaving the two alone.

The two stood there motionless, both with heavy thoughts in their minds. The Machoke waited until he heard the sound of the door closing before he finally spoke. "Sir, may I speak freely about that Sceptile?"

"Go ahead." The Charizard answered almost instantly as the question was asked. "Personally, I'm tired of his shit..."

"Sir, I don't trust him." The Machoke said. "He's only been with us for a couple of days and already he's walking around like he owns the place."

The Charizard nodded at the Machoke's statement as he began walking towards the exit, with the Machoke in follow. "You have every right to feel that way about him, but if you have trust in me, then you can trust him."

"Just who is he, sir?" the Machoke asked, rushing ahead of the Charizard to hold open the door for him.

"He's... a close friend of mine." The Charizard answered as flashes of his memory began playing in his mind, the things they've been through... and possibly the things that'll happen again.