"Come on boys! We don't have all day!"

It was an unusual sight to see what looked like a gang of thugs hanging around attempting to do some sort of heist in the middle of the day. It was stupid of them to do such a thing - It's obvious that they would get caught.

But for Damon Sato, getting caught was impossible. And, even if he were to be cornered, he would still find his way out of where ever he was. Somehow.

He was the leader of the so called 'outcasts' in Kanto. The 'outcasts' were group of thugs who went against the laws which the Kanto region held, and, they were practically, well, outcasts.

Damon was a fairly laid back and casual person. He was pretty tall, and had a rosy pale complexion. He had cold grey eyes which were the color of smoke, and liquorice black hair. He was often, if not always, seen donning a scarlet and flint grey shirt, with a raven black jacket over it. Onyx jeans and brown boots finished off his look.

Lighting a cigarette, Damon glanced around him. He wasn't going to get caught, right? He never got caught. But, he still needed to be careful. He couldn't allow himself to get too cocky and over confident, no matter how much he wanted to be.

"You know, I think this whole 'outcasts' name isn't working out." Damon chuckled, watching as the thugs working for him attempted to raid a Pokémon Center. Ah, so that was what they were after. Pokémon. Because going to catch a Pokémon for themselves was way too much work.

"You're right Boss!" One of the thugs exclaimed. "Outcasts is a pretty lame name! Let's think of something else!"

"Uh, how about-" Another thug spoke, tapping his chin. "Damon's Squad?"

"No way dude! That's way too lame!"

Damon rolled his eyes. "Guys, calm down for Arceus' sake! And to be honest Jack, I have to agree with Lars. Damon's Squad just doesn't fit us."

Lars, who was seemingly Damon's favourite, smirked and wacked Jack on the head, who must be considered the 'dumb one' of the group.

"Ow!" Jack rubbed his head and glared at Lars, who sniggered and kicked open an air vent.

"How many Pokémon do you need Boss?" Lars wondered.

"As many as you can get." Damon spoke, not bothering to turn his gaze.

Lars nodded and did what seemed like some sort of salute, and disappeared down the air vent, followed shortly by Jack.

Damon simpered. This is the life. He thought. I can practically get whatever I want, and nobody's going to stop me!

"And this is when Damon Jacob Sato stares at the sky and does some sort of exclamation about why he is doing this. It's like this is all scripted!"

A frown formed on Damon's lips. "Aimee, how many times do I have to tell you to shut the hell up?"

"What? I'm just saying!"

Damon rolled his eyes and turned his gaze to find his partner in crime, Aimee.

Aimee was a petite girl to say the least. Her forehead only just about reached level with Damon's shoulder. And that was when she was in heels. She had long wavy hair which had a gradient from mulberry purple to wine red. Her eyes were a shade of fuchsia. She wore a magenta crop top with a jet black undershirt underneath. Snowy white jeans and black high heeled stiletto boots finished off her look.

"So, how's it going with trying to steal the Pokémon?" Aimee questioned, walking over towards Damon's side.

"I dunno." Damon merely shrugged.

"Only just sent Lars and Jack off to get them, huh?" Aimee raised one eyebrow, folding her arms. "Honestly, you should've sent me."

"Why?"

"Because I actually know what I'm doing."

"Yeah, whatever. Did you do as I asked?"

Aimee nodded, and grabbed an Pokéball from her belt. "Professor Sycamore really needs to keep an eye on his starters more." She chuckled and pressed the button in the centre of the Pokéball. Light beamed out of the capsule, swirling around into the form of a fairly small Pokémon. The light faded away.

A Fennekin stood where the light had formed. The small fire fox yawned.

"W-What the hell?" Damon exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Aimee asked, tilting her head slightly.

"You stole a Fennekin? A Fennekin?! Out of all of the three Kalosian starters, you decide-!" Damon balled his fists together. "You decide to steal a Fennekin?!"

"It's cute!" Aimee pouted, and rushed over to the Fennekin, scooping the fire fox up into her arms.

"It isn't about how cute it is Aimee! It's about how strong it is! How it will benefit us later on! What about Chespin?! Sure, Quillidan is one hell of a ugly Pokémon, but the minute it evolves into Chesnaught nothing can stand in its way! Or how about a Froakie?! Greninja is a freaking ninja for crying out loud!" Damon yelled. "You know what? I give up!"

Fennekin sneezed, and looked up at Aimee, cocking it's head to the side.

"Aw, don't worry Fia. Damon's just being a jerk." Aimee cooed, whilst stroking Fennekin's head.

Damon, meanwhile, took to kicking a trash can out of rage. Stuff like this, Aimee choosing a considerably cute Pokémon over a strong one, made him want to scream. But, he had no choice to go along with it. There was still a possibility that when Fia was finally a Delphox that it could benefit his plans. Somehow.

-

The chatter in the stadium suddenly died down. Professor Oak moved towards a stage located to the side of the stadium, shortly followed by the other regional professors, who filed out onto the stage. Oak made his way over towards a microphone. He had a solemn expression on his face. In fact, all of the regional professor's had a solemn expression on their faces. Well, Kukui was trying to at least. He looked like he was going to burst into hysterics when the clumsy Professor Elm nearly tripped over.

Oak tapped the microphone, which let out an ear-screech. Nearly everybody present cringed at the sound, some going as far as to let out shrieks of - "What the hell?!". After several seconds, the deafening sound died down.

"Sorry about that." Professor Oak apologized. He cleared his throat. "As much as we are glad to see all of you gathered here, and to see so many trainers participating in the league, we have a very serious message to give to you. You see-" He paused, as if he was pondering whether or not to say what he was going to say. "-You see we have decided to tighten the security for this year's Pokémon league. Now, before all of you freak out and shout about how the league isn't safe this year-" Oak quickly glanced at Alba, who glared at him in return. "-This is really just for safety purposes."

The stadium fell quiet, well, except for a few hushed whispers come from some trainers.

"WE COULD DIE!" One trainer suddenly shouted from the back of the crowd.

This seemed to set off a chain reaction. One after one, trainers began screaming and shouting, running about the place as if they were losing their minds. Only a few trainers remained standing still.

One of them happened to be Dawn. Amongst the crowd of screaming and shouting trainers, Gold made his way over to the bluenette.

"You don't seem to be freaked out." He spoke.

The bluenette turned her gaze to him, and scowled. "No, because I'm not. We have Pokémon. We're perfectly capable of taking down whatever threat that could be targeting us." She stated. "Besides, it's probably not that much of a threat at all. It's probably just some teenage thugs threatening to steal the chocolate fountain over there." She nodded towards a large buffet table on the side.

"Huh. Well, even if anything were to happen, I'll protect you, Dawnie."

"I honestly swear, I will smash your face in."

Oak tried his best to calm everybody down, but his attempts were failing. Terribly.

"Let me deal with this one Oak." Alba spoke through clenched teeth, pushing Professor Oak aside.

"EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!!!" Alba roared. Practically everybody stopped what they were doing, and turned their gaze to Alba. Taking a deep breath, Alba glanced around the stadium. For a second, he locked eyes with Brendan, who flushed and looked away.

"I know that this has come as a surprise for all of you." Alba spoke. "But it is best to tighten the security for, like Samuel said, for safety purposes. I doubt any harm shall come in your way, but if it were to, Looker's agency will protect all of us. Panicking is the worst thing to do. This security will protect all of the trainer participating in the league-" Alba once again glanced over in Brendan's direction. "All except one." He muttered under his breath.

Brendan gulped. He should leave. Now. He didn't care if May would start screaming at him. He just needed to leave. He turned to move away, but instead bumped into Gold and Dawn.

"What the hell?!" Gold exclaimed.

The bluenette, meanwhile, just looked shocked.

"Oh Arceus!" Brendan took a step backward. "I'm really sorry!"

Dawn glared at him for a moment, however her expression softened at the realization that he really meant it. "It's alright."

Brendan felt his face heat up. He didn't know why, though. "So, uh, are you two taking part in the league?"

"Yeah." Gold nodded. "I got into the top five last year, and I'm hoping to get into the top five again this year."

"Oh, good luck on that one, wonder boy." Dawn rolled her eyes. "And yes, I am."

"Wonder boy?" A blush dusted Gold's cheeks, and he looked down at the bluenette.

"Hey, don't get any ideas Gold!" Dawn snapped. She balled her fists, but drew in a sharp breath in an attempt to calm herself down. "So, are you competing in the league?" She rested her eyes back onto Brendan.

"I-I don't know." Brendan responded. He turned his gaze, only to find that Alba had finished his mini speech, and was glaring at him. The color drained from his face.

He didn't know what to do. But he knew that Alba was mad. Really mad. He was preparing to run out of there any second.

The bluenette raised one eyebrow at him. "Are you okay?"

Brendan shook his head in response, his gaze still lingering on Alba.

Dawn followed his gaze, and frowned. She noticed him slipping off the stage, most likely headed in their direction, whilst Professor Juniper began explaining about how everybody was going to have 'dorms', if that was the close enough word, for this year's league, due to many trainers not being able to find anywhere to stay.

Brendan tried to get away from him. He didn't want to have to deal with that bastard right now.

Without thinking, Dawn suddenly grabbed the dark haired boy's hand. "Gold, cause some sort of distraction!"

"What?!" Gold furrowed his brow. "Like what?!"

"I don't know! Just some sort of distraction goddammit!" She snapped, and suddenly ran out of the stadium with Brendan, whose face was tinted a shade of light red.

As soon as the seventeen year old thought that they were out of sight, she exhaled. "He's super mad at you, you know that?"

"Yeah." Brendan nodded. "I just wish that he wasn't my stepfather."

"Stepfather?" Dawn arched an eyebrow.

"You got that right." Brendan replied. He glanced down at the bluenette, who's forehead only just about reached level with his chin. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

Dawn felt herself flush, and she looked down at the pavement. "I'm Dawn. Dawn Berlitz. You?"

"Brendan. Brendan Birch." Brendan replied.

"Hey, you're the son of Professor Birch, right?" Dawn questioned.

Brendan's expression saddened at this, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yeah."

"Then-" Dawn bit her bottom lip. "Hang on, then how come Professor Alba's your stepfather?"

"It's complicated, okay?" Brendan shook his head. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Dawn nodded, indicating that she understood. "You look like you're in a lot of trouble."

"I am. Silas - I mean - Alba's always been that way towards me... I don't know why, though. I've known him ever since I was little, but he never used to be like this. Mom just says that he's being protective of me, but I don't believe her."

"Maybe something's caused him to change? You never know, it might just him being such a cold hearted bastard for all we know. Some people can just suddenly change. Even if you thought you knew them like the back of your hand, some people just have another part of them which you didn't know about until it's too late." A hint of sadness filled Dawn's voice, but before Brendan could even pinpoint it as sadness, that sadness was suddenly washed away by anger. "GOLD WHAT THE HELL?!"

Brendan turned only to find the ravenette running towards them, followed by fairly large fire type which he soon realised was a Typhlosion.

The scent of smoke filled the air, and Dawn's face grew bright red. "YOU SET FIRE TO THE STADIUM?!"

"I wouldn't exactly describe it as 'setting fire to the stadium'." Gold smiled sheepishly.

The doors to the stadium burst open, and a large crowd rushed out of the stadium.

"Oh for fuck's sake Gold!" Dawn snapped. She sprinted over to the doors to the stadium, where smoke was drifting outside. Grabbing a Pokéball off her belt, she threw it onto the ground.

Light beamed out of the Pokéball, revealing a large penguin like Pokémon. It roared its name.

"Empoleon hydro pump now!" Dawn commanded. Her Empoleon nodded at her command, and performed the attack which Dawn had commanded for it to use. The penguin like Pokémon sent jets of water towards the fire, extinguishing it almost immediately.

Gold couldn't help but whistle at this. This girl sure was much more stronger than she looked.

But, before he could even compliment her, the bluenette marched over to him.

She slapped him.

"What was that for?!" The ravenette protested, glaring at her.

"You could have killed someone!"

"You told me to cause a distraction!"

"A distraction, Gold! Not an attempt to burn down the stadium!!"

"GOLD HIBIKI! DAWN BERLITZ!" Alba's voice sounded deadly.

Ah, shit.

Brendan hoped that he wasn't going to be added to Alba's long list of 'People to hate on and blame whenever something bad happens'. 

"BRENDAN BIRCH!"

Well, there goes that beam of hope.

Alba's face was as red as a tomato, and he looked like he was going to at least crush one of their face's in. At least.

"MY OFFICE! NOW! "

The three of them each exchanged a look, and followed the infuriated professor to his office.

Boy oh boy, they weren't going to be let off of that one that easily.

...