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"We just can't get a break now can we?" the Blaziken sighed, hunched forward as he and Lucius walked back to the Military District.

The sun was setting behind them, casting their their long shadows in front of them with its crimson rays. Another long day of work's gone by and the twenty year olds are feeling more like they were at the fifties. The Blaziken arched his back, feeling his spine crackle as he stretched. Beside him was his partner, best friend and "brother" Lucius. The Luxray was just as exhausted as the Blaziken but he was much more professional about it, maintaining a straight posture as well as a smile on his face.

"That's one more traitor we had to eliminate..." the Luxray folded his arms in front of him and gazed up into the blood red sky. "Just what is going on with the foreign branches that their agents are turning against them?"

"Ugh... I'm too tired to even think right now..." the Blaziken moaned. "I just hope we don't have to be the ones to investigate."

"Eager to head on home to your wife?" Lucius snickered.

"Ugh... I'm actually worried about what she thinks of me..."

Their conversation was momentarily halted when they arrived at the checkpoint that would grant then access to the district. As much as the ones watching the checkpoint were friends of Aiden or at the very least knew then before, protocol was protocol. Once they're in the clear, they made the way towards the Academy. Only now, the sun had set and the city lights took its place in illuminating the area.

"What do you mean you're worried about what she thinks?" Lucius asked after a few moments of silence.

"Oh... you know... I just feel like... she'll lose interest in me with how busy I am." the Blaziken sounded truly worried about his relationship, and Lucius was worried about his friend. "Hmph, if it came to it, you wouldn't mind me crashing at your place right?" he kidded followed by a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, the two of you love each other." the Luxray spoke sternly. "Besides, she has young Axel to look after. I'm sure she'd rather do it with you by her side."

"But I'm not by her side am I?" the Blaziken sounded more upset or discouraged than relieved by the Luxray's words. "I know you're just trying to cheer me up, but bringing up Axel like that makes me filter guiltier about being too busy for her."

The Luxray pursed his lips, taking into consideration that he doesn't really know what a parent does. He's been an orphan all his life, or at least as far as he can remember, and he hasn't really truly understood the relationship between a parent and a child. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright..." Aiden replied with a yawn. "Anyway, hopefully I'll still have enough energy to at least eat dinner together and help Axel sleep. G'night..." The Blaziken turned around and waved his goodbye as he and the Luxray parted ways.

"Good night..."

---

"You're home early." the female Blaziken mused as she heard Aiden slowly opening and closing the door behind him.

"The mission went downhill right off the bat..." Aiden said with a chuckle. "I guess eliminating the target was much faster than negotiating for their surrender."

"Well, I'm just glad you're home safely." She said sweetly as she approached the Blaziken and planted a loving kiss on his cheek. "It's a shame Axel couldn't see you, he's just fallen asleep too." she chuckled "Come, dinner's just about ready."

Aiden couldn't help but feel like the luckiest Pokemon alive to be blessed with such a loving wife. She may have been stuck with ask the housework as well as watching over their child on her own most of the time, she never did seem to stop caring for him. Seeing her smile when he walked in and feeling her lips (beak) press against his cheek was enough to invigorate him, giving him the energy he'd need to at least spend the night with her before having to go to bed.

And there was his son as well. The young Torchick was as hyperactive as physically possible but had the energy of a toddler. Aiden oftentimes didn't get the chance to kiss him goodnight like every other parent did since Axel slept early, but he didn't need an alarm clock either as that hyperactive child would always be the first to wake. These two people give him all the energy, motivation and determination he needed to come home safely, they meant the whole world to him.

He followed his wife to the kitchen. The two ate together, shared a couple of stories about their day, and Bianca dismissed him soon after, knowing that Aiden would need his sleep for tomorrow. With one last kiss, the male Blaziken sluggishly made his way back to his room and slept.

---

"Border duty?" the Blaziken asked, sounding almost offended, the Nidoking who sat behind his desk, scanning through several papers.

"Is there a problem?" the Nidoking shot the Blaziken a sharp leer, exercising his authority against the complaint.

"None, sir." The Blaziken, along with his friend Lucius, were standing inside the Head's office to receive their assignment, if any. Aiden expected another contract for the dead-or-alive capture of another deserter or rogue, or at least a mission at a distant area. With all his years of service, as well as the talent and skill that the partners have shown, he didn't expect that they'd be brought back to simple border duty.

"If you're looking for a reason as to why it's because we haven't received a contract worthy of your skill. Besides, I've overworked the two of you enough. The two of you deserve a day off at least."

"And that _day off_is best spent working the border?" Lucius asked sarcastically, eliciting a growl from the Nidoking. The two weren't on good terms with each other, and Aiden's truly curious as to why the Nidoking hadn't hit him given his history of violent disciplinary methods. Aiden didn't really know why the Luxray hatred the Nidoking. Sure the Head can be a huge ass but it's pretty easy to ignore him once they've parted ways. Maybe it was because Lucius lived his childhood under this guy's supervision...

"Like you two clowns have anything better to do." The Nidoking snapped back, leaving forward on his desk and glaring at the defiant soldier. "Just be glad you only have to work the A.M. shift. Now go, you're wasting precious daylight AND my time."

The duo saluted to the Head before turning around and leaving the room. They slowly closed the door behind them then let out a huge sigh once they were at a considerable distance from the Nidoking's hearing.

"Well, that was something..." the Blaziken moaned in protest followed by a light chuckle. "At least it's less tiring than having to travel to some distant area... but it's much much more boring..."

"I honestly thought we were going to get out day off..." Lucius slumped forward, the once composed and disciplined Luxray now showing his unprofessionalism. "Uh... it's a bit embarrassing to have to ask you for this but..."

"But..?"

"Is it alright if you handle this on your own?" the Luxray asked sheepishly. "I sort of... made plans for today already and I wouldn't want to go back on my word..."

"Go back on your word?" the Blaziken sounded more amused than anything. He completely ignored the fact that he would have to work alone, guarding a checkpoint for hours with little to do. Under normal circumstances, and with the attention span that the Blaziken possessed, that would be maddening. But his curiosity towards what his friend had said pushed all other thoughts aside. "Who did you make plans with? Is there someone you're not telling me about?" the Blaziken snickered.

"Ha..." the Luxray chuckled. "Trust me, you know this person very well... So... will you... uh... do it?"

"Hm..." the Blazikened hummed for a moment, but little thought was actually going through his head other than what the Luxray might be doing. "Alright, fine. You go do what you have to do, I'm sure I can handle one checkpoint on my own. But you owe me!"

The Luxray's face seemed to brighten with glee when he heard the Blaziken's approval. "Trust me, I'll make it up to you right after our shift--"

"MY shift..."

"I'll make it up to you right after YOUR shift is done." And, without another word, the Luxray took off leaving the Blaziken on his own.

Aiden let out a sigh and shook his head, unsure as to what exactly he had signed up for. Sure, Lucius was his friend and all but to be left alone on border duty? That was a thing he should be doing to the Luxray, not the other way around. Lucius was supposed to be the responsible one. It was weird, somehow, that Lucius would just make plans like that before even reporting in for duty JUST because he thought they had a day off. Why would Lucius make such an assumption knowing the steeled personality of the Head. Whoever this person was it must've been important to the Luxray... so important that he'd ditch work for it...

"Oh well... might as well get to work... I DO owe him for last time when I left him for border duty..." he chuckled as the memory flashed back in his mind then blushed slightly as guilt washed over him... the tired look on the Luxray's face... the forced smile he wore... Lucius always did what he could to make the Blaziken happy... but Aiden...

Aiden shook away the guilt and the thoughts from his mind, took a deep breath and exhaled a short burst of flames. "No, concentrate!" he told himself. "You can worry about properly repaying him later..." he grumbled to himself under his breath as he hurried to his (their) assigned post where he would spend the next few hours on his own. Plenty of time to think about how he could repay his partner.

---

"Ugh, I'm just not good at this!" the Blaziken exclaimed as he crumpled another piece of paper and threw it aggressively at the ever growing pile spilling over the garbage bin within the guard station at the checkpoint. As usual, it was a slow day for those under border duty, especially at this end of the district. Little Pokemon chose to pass through here as this is the furthest entrance from the Academy, and Aiden sometimes wondered why they bothered making this checkpoint in the first place. So, while his ears picked up only silence and the sensors remaining unchanged, he spent the most of his time planning how he would repay his friend.

Everything the Blaziken thought of, he wrote on a piece of paper. So if he ever felt that an idea was good, he can expound on it until it became better and better. Sadly for him, every time he tried, he seemed to make it worse that it was before. Eventually he ran out of writing space on the paper, and later, he'll run out of paper entirely. He clasped his head and massaged it, hoping that the 'relaxing' stimulation would allow better ideas to flow through, but everything that he could come up with was either too extravagant and impossible or too plain and boring that he felt it wouldn't be enough.

"Ugh..." he groaned out in frustration as laid his head on the table in utter defeat. Glancing to the side, he saw the embarrassing pile of crumpled paper next to him. Glancing above he could see from the clock that his shift would end in about a minute... just enough time to clean this mess up.

The Blaziken stood up, arched his back and stretched his body, easing some of the tension, and approached the pile. He knelt down and fished out the bin, tipped it over to spill all of the crumpled paper inside, and tossed the empty bin aside. After gathering all of the paper into one corner, he spat out a small ball of fire that quickly incinerated the entire pile. He quickly extended his hand and channeled his power to contain the fire as well as the smoke... wouldn't want to get into another lecture about "fire safety" now would he? One he was satisfied that the smoke detectors didn't go off, and that all the paper was now ashes before him, he kicked it around and spread it across the floor making it "less noticeable". Whatever the case, his shift was over and he can now go home.

---

As much as his shift ended in the afternoon, he arrived at their front door at around sundown. He spent the rest of his afternoon looking for the Luxray. If he couldn't think of a surprise for his partner, he might as well treat him to dinner or something. He wanted to meet up with the Luxray and ask him what he would want, but without an idea as to what Lucius was doing, he really had the worst luck at looking for him. Once he noticed the sky start to darken, he hurried back home. He can try his luck with Lucius tomorrow. Tonight, however, he has to spend time with his family.

Approaching the door, he paused to take a breath. He wanted to look composed for tonight where his family would have his undivided attention. Once his panting (from sprinting straight home) has subsided, he clenched his fist and knocked on the door. Even from the outside he could feel the faint vibrations of the footsteps coming to open the door. When he felt the presence on the other end of the door draw near, his mind scrambled in a panic as to how he would greet his wife.

*click*

The sound of the lock made his heart skip a beat. He didn't know why he was this nervous about his wife... maybe it was because he didn't have those usual "words of encouragement" from his best friend.

He watched as the knob slowly turned and the slowly swing open. Time seemed to stop as he stared ahead, lost in his surprise by who opened the door. The inside of the house was in pitch darkness with only an ominous pair of golden eyes piercing through his heart, a wide grin grew underneath them sending chills running up the Blaziken's spine. Slowly the door opened further and, for some reason, terror gripped the Blaziken as the Luxray stepped forth from the darkness.

"Aiden?"

The Luxray's concerned voice snapped the Blaziken out of the strange daze. He gasped in surprise and his heart raced for a brief moment, but almost as quickly as they came, he was suddenly relaxed. The Luxray wasn't at all menacing right now, he was still that kind and caring partner that he knew all his life... and... he's wearing a fancy vest.

"Lucy..." Aiden chuckled awkwardly. "Why were you in my house and why are you wearing that?"

"What? This?" Lucius chuckled as he gestured towards his body. "Do I look good in it?"

If anything, to the Blaziken, he was dressed like some fancy waiter in those restaurants. As much as Aiden hasn't really been to one leisurely, he and Lucius were once sent as a bodyguard for some ambassador about a year ago. That was their first experience with something fancy and the partners agreed that it was silly... Aiden never expected Lucius to be wearing something like this.

"Well... yeah, you look good in it I guess..." the Blaziken scratched the back of his head. "But that doesn't really answer WHY you're wearing that and why you were in my house."

The Luxray cleared his throat and stepped aside, giving the Blaziken room to walk through the door. "Good evening sir, I am Lucius and I will be your waiter for this evening."

The Blaziken has a weird cocktail of emotions stirring in his stomach, awkwardness being the dominant of them. "You have got to be kidding me..." the Blaziken chuckled awkwardly.

"Don't keep the lady waiting." The Luxray grinned at the Blaziken, toying with him.

---

"Well... that's the fanciest suit you can get?" Bianca sarcastically commented as she held back her chuckle, watching her husband take a seat opposite hers still wearing his military uniform.

"It's the best I got for such short notice..." Aiden replied with a chuckle. "I didn't even know this was a thing..."

"Well, Lucius was such a sweetheart." Bianca said. "He said that since we didn't really get a proper honeymoon with how busy you are, he'd treat us for tonight. He spent sleepless nights studying fancy recipes and learning how to cook them, different five-star etiquette, and he even spent for the fancy clothes."

"Please tell me he didn't buy you that dress." Aiden nervously chuckled. The dress his wife wore was gorgeous and it looked really expensive. The thought of having Lucius spend THAT much money just for him was... making it all the more difficult for the Blaziken to repay his friend's kindness.

"No, this dress has been in my cabinet for a while now." The female Blaziken replied. "Been saving it for a special moment like this... I just didn't know that it would be a candle lit dinner in our own backyard."

"Still, you can't argue with the view and the fresh air."

"Yeah..." the female Blaziken smiled and turned her gaze to the beautiful moon rising over the horizon. The grass of the hill where their house stood seemed to reflect the moon's silver light on the dew that gathered on them. The soft rustling of the leaves seemed to fit with the peaceful ambiance as a gentle breeze blew through the land. If Aiden wasn't at all exhausted by his day, he might feel the same romantic vibe that Bianca did.

"Ha..." the Blaziken let out a long sigh. "And here I was wasting my afternoon thinking of how I can repay Lucius for everything he's done for me..." the Blaziken softly chuckled. "Treating us like this is just adding more and more to how much I owe him..."

"You don't owe me anything, Aiden." The Luxray's voice almost startled the Blaziken as he walked up from behind them holding a tray with their meals.

"No, Lucius, I DO owe you something. You're too nice to me and it's making me feel weird."

"Aiden, don't ruin the romantic mood!" the female Blaziken scolded, though her intentions and her tone were kind. "You can worry about repaying him tomorrow. Tonight, Lucius has worked hard to make all of this possible. The least you could to is appreciate it."

Both males froze there for a moment, both experiencing totally different emotions. The Blaziken was a bit surprised and ashamed while the Luxray was more of amused, seeing how the couple acted and how barely anything's changed. "Well, bon appetit." The Luxray mused as he set down the trays and distributed their meals

---

"Wow... Lucius really does know how to cook doesn't he?" the females Blaziken chuckled softly as she and her husband had finished eating.

"I just hope this didn't cost him much..." the male grumbled softly, still very much concerned about how he would repay the Luxray.

The female Blaziken let out a sigh, her annoyance with her husband's worry, though kind of him, was starting to get to her. This was supposed to be their evening, Lucius worked hard for that, and her husband could only think of was a debt that shouldn't even bother him too much. Both he and the Luxray were sweet, kind, and understanding. If anything, Bianca could assume that Lucius would gladly postpone Aiden's "debt" for a couple more years, but Aiden wouldn't stop treating it like it was THAT much of a big deal. "Alright, Aiden..." she said as she stood up.

"Hm?"

The female walked over to the male's side and grabbed him firmly by the hand, pulled him up and dragged him along further from the house and into the yard. The male Blaziken didn't put up much of a struggle while his wife held him and forced him to move, he kind of felt that she was getting fed up with him... at least... he thinks she's fed up with him anyway. This was a night she was looking forward to for some time now and all he's done was worry. Once they were at an area with large enough open space, the female Blaziken loosened her grip into something more soothing. The couple faced each other as Bianca took hold of Aiden's other hand.

"We never were able to have that dance at the graduation ball." The female Blaziken chuckled.

"I guess so..." the male somehow found it hard to let the words out. His heart was racing, his face blushing and he could barely contain his body from trembling. Why was he feeling like this... as if he and Bianca hadn't had a moment this intimate in a long time..? Maybe it's just that work is taxing a lot of his time. Regardless, the intense emotion of love, longing, and joy was flowing through his body, overwhelming him.

"Well then, shall may I have this dance?" the female Blaziken asked. 'So you could stop thinking about Lucius for a moment.' That, she mumbled under her breath.

"Let's."

With that, the two danced away with grace and elegance. Even though it's been years since the graduation ball's practice, the two managed to execute each step with near-perfection. They stepped from side to side, to and fro, their hands met and swayed with the rhythm of the music within their heart. Both couldn't help but giggle with glee as they relived the moments they had, and experienced for the first time the moments they didn't.

The Luxray felt awkward as he emerged from the house with dessert, only to find the couple dancing to their hearts' content under the moonlight. "Well, I'm glad those two are having fun." The Luxray whispered as he set the desserts down on their tables. His hand quickly jerked to the side, catching the tear drop before it could contaminate the food. Lucius hadn't even realized that tears were rolling down the corners of his eyes... but he knew exactly why it was happening: Aiden is the most precious thing he has... the only true family he's ever had... seeing him happy like this brought great joy to the Luxray... seeing him happy with someone else brought with it the feeling of dread... the fear that, one day, Aiden would no longer have time to be with the Luxray... that Lucius would be alone once again...

"No..." the Luxray bit his lip, cursing himself for thinking like that. "This evening isn't about you... it's about Aiden." He mumbled to himself as he returned to the house to clean the used dishes.

Meanwhile, the two hadn't even noticed that the Luxray had set up their dessert. To them, their whole world was just the two of them within that moment. Time wasn't a concern, their surroundings can wait, what was important to them was standing right in front of them, wrapped within their arms...

"Dad..."

...up until the sound of a young boy calling from a distance.

"Hmph..." the male Blaziken chuckled. "Sounds like our son's awake."

"Dad..."

The voice sounded strange for some reason... but Aiden knew that it was the voice of his son.

"No... Aiden..." the female's voice sounded sorrowful. "That's not our son."

"What?"

"Dad..!"

The voice grew louder and sounded as if it was echoing within his head. It felt really strange, especially when Bianca said that the voice wasn't their son's. "What do you mean?"

"Aiden..." Bianca pulled away from the hug and looked at Aiden in the eye. "that's YOUR son..."

"I don't understand."

Breathing became painful all of a sudden, each inhale felt like his lungs were being fill with molten lava. His body ached as well, moving send waves of sharp pain coursing up his spine... in fact... moving felt impossible. To top it off, everything felt like it was thumping at a steady rhythm... as if he was standing on, or inside, a heart.

"Dad!"

"What's happening!?" panic gripped Aiden as his grip of reality began slipping away. And that voice, what did Bianca mean by it was his son but not theirs?

"Aiden... your son still needs you..." tears were now flowing down Bianca's face, but her expression remained steeled and determined. "Go back to him, my love... it's not your time yet..."

"What are you talking about!?" and tried his best to force his arms forward and hold Bianca, at least touch her to know that this is still reality that he was seeing. It was as if he was trapped in sleep paralysis... in fact, Aiden wished he was just trapped in sleep paralysis. "Bianca!" he cried out as he finally got his arms to move and reach out to her.

"Be at peace, my love..."

---

"Gah!" the Blaziken gasped loudly as he took in lung fulls of breath with each inhale. The pain was still there but it was less severe than before, more of numbness right now. The world was a blur around him, but he definitely wasn't under his moonlit yard, not with that grey ceiling. Only then did he realize that he was lying on his back on a hard floor, and that there was a golden light that filled the room.

"Dad..."

That voice again... it sounded much closer this time... The Blaziken's eyes slowly moved to see where the voice came from, and then it hit him: wrapped around in his arms was a trembling, crying Riolu who seemed extremely relieved to see his father alive.

Jason, the Riolu, pressed his face against the Blaziken's chest and wept louder. He didn't care if his superiors were in the room or if his mother was unconscious beside him. The emotions within him were too intense to remain contained, he had to let out all his grief, his anger, his sorrow, and now, his joy. "Dad, I'm so happy you're alive!"

"Me too... Jason... me too.."