While Kage is off on a special mission, Luke and Volcan put into action their own plan, to try to uncover the mysteries about their enemy - the Dark Blaziken, Calhoun...

From the author:
Posting this in advance to let you all know we're still going! We've begun writing the final arc but the editing of the previous arcs is still underway! Hope you enjoy!

PREVIEW:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Teams Valiant and Phalanx were quick to round up at the call of their captain's, rallying outside of Team Phalanx’s new homes. Luke’s team was quick to gather - sans Hank who was still at the house with Caulin after Volcan and Luke had run out. When everyone was present, it was up to Luke to speak first, starting with the message Kage had left and catching Doug and Eagle Eye up on their absent team member.
“So Froggie got called upon by the council to do a super secret mission eh?” Eagle Eye chirped, ruffling his feathers a little after he spoke. “Well, I can’t help but feel a little jealous after hearing that. I kinda wanna get in on that sorta action.”
“Be that as it may, why didn’t Kage tell us?” Doug piped up from the tub he rested in, extracted so that he could enter the house. He was feeling quite annoyed by this latest reveal, each of his three heads expressing the same thoughts. “Dang it, this feels like the other missions I couldn’t be a part of. I hate being left outta the loop! It signifies a lack of trust if you ask me.”
“Whaddya suppose they sent him off to do?” Tristan asked, rubbing his chin in thought.
“Given his skill set, they probably have him out on a reconnaissance and espionage task.” Luke answered. “He was a former assassin before he joined my team.”
“Hopefully not by himself.” Minato added. “If he’s been sent to spy on our enemies on his own, they’d be placing a death sentence on him.”
“Should we consider going after him?” Serena asked, concerned.
“We already considered that,” Volcan replied, shaking his head. “If he is going on a mission that’ll take him into hostile territory, seeking him out could expose him and put him in more danger.”
“For now, we’re just going to have to trust that he’ll come back safely.” Luke stated. “Personal gripes aside, the council won’t be stupid to send Kage on this mission alone. He’ll likely have a small unit with him for this mission.” He concluded. “Which leads us to our second topic.” He added, looking to Volcan to continue.
Volcan nodded, and took his turn to deliver an explanation to the teams. He told them what he had already passed along to Hank and Katsu and discussed among themselves. He reminded them of how they had learned that Calhoun might have been a warrior monk from the northern lands, of the same order that the captain of Team Tao was from, and how she had told Luke that their northern monastery had gone dark.
“Fighting Calhoun hasn’t worked,” he said as he went on, seeing the skepticism painted on many of their faces. “We’re running out of options. We know beating him is… Difficult. I don’t want to say impossible, but even an attack that should have killed him,” he regarded Minato, “only kept him down for a momentt. We’re hoping that maybe by finding out who Calhoun was, we can learn how he became what he is and maybe, just maybe, find some definitive way to stop him.”
Volcan looked at Sol. “We know Blessed Pokemon like Sol are immune to the curse of the Shadow Corruption,” he continued. “Sol found that out for us when Calhoun tried to corrupt him, and Reshiram’s divine essence repelled it.” He looked at Luke. “We also know the corruption manifests as Aura, and someone capable of manipulating Aura like Lucario can extract it if the infected isn’t too far gone. But that’s extremely risky.”
He looked at the others again. “We need another option. What we have now are, at best, contingencies. A Blessed, or an Aura Master. But we need more than that, and this is the only way we can think of to find it.”
Sol grumbled irritably as he scratched the back of his head. “Damnit, old man. Of all the times fer you to skip town…” He grit his teeth for a moment before signing heavily. “Well, I could ask Luna if he’d wanna help, though I suspect he'll refuse. He’d rather just sit idly by and let his own talents go to waste than start fighting again…”
“Seasoned aura users are few and far apart as well, my species notwithstanding.” Minato piped up. “That being said, we have an entire family here composed of them. Perhaps they’d get involved if we-.”
Luke cut him off immediately. “Mikhail detests fighting and Rigel has a family of his own to look after; and even if they wanted to help they’d only be putting themselves at risk, because out of the three of us I’m the most proficient in using our gifts.” He explained. “And as for my mother, I lost her once already. I won't ask her to put her life in danger like this.”
“...Well I tried.” The elder Lucario muttered.
“It’s too great a risk,” said Volcan. “Drawing the corruption out of Lugia required Luke to take that dark power into himself. However brief it was, it could’ve taken him over if he hadn’t cast it out.” Volcan shook his head. “We can’t be dependent on it - one slip up, and one more addition to Calhoun’s army.”
“Well, unless you guys find anything out at this temple place, we don’t seem to have any other options.” Minato pointed out. “Unless we find more legendaries and try to harness their power, we’re stuck with what we have.”
“Yea, don’t put too much stock in that idea,” Sol put in. “Bein’ a Blessed ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. It takes a long time to get down, and if ya aren’t in sync…” He then made a slashing motion with his paw across his neck to emphasize his point. “You're toast.”
“This is all we have left to try, Minato,” Volcan spoke up again. “Otherwise, the next time we run into Calhoun will end as last time did, only one of us might not walk away from it.” His hands clenched into fists as he tightened his resolve, speaking with more strength than even Minato had ever heard him with. “I have to try… if it means saving my friends and family from being more victims, I have to take that chance.”
Minato sighed softly, pinching the bridge of his snout with his paw as he weighed the situation in front of him. “Then I hope for all our sakes you find something we can use to our advantage…” He remarked solemnly.
“Well, I’m gonna be gone a long time, old friend,” Volcan remarked, walking up to Minato and clapping him on the shoulder. “You have plenty of time to find something better, then you can say ‘I told you so.’.”
Minato couldn’t help but smirk from how volcan worded that statement. “It’s on then.” He retorted as he shot a challenging glance back at the Blaziken.
“So…” Lashanne started to say, looking down at Caulin who stood between her and Minato. She could see he wanted to say something but was having trouble. “How long until you go on this little… expedition?” She asked.
“We’re still waiting on some information,” replied Volcan. “We only know the monastery is up somewhere in the north, but we don’t know where. We sent a letter to Team Tao’s captain hoping she might be able to help us out.”
“When we do hear from her eventually, we plan to leave right away.” Luke added as well. “The sooner we depart, the sooner we can start tracking down clues about Calhoun’s origins and any possible way to defeat him… Of course, that’s if we hear back from her.”
“You don’t think she’ll respond?” Doug asked.
“Well, I did leave a bad impression on the Council after I tendered my resignation…” Luke answered, flattening his ears some. “I might have lost a fair amount of respect from them as a result of my actions…”
“Surely not all of them are going to hold that against you?” Serena offered. “Any of them would’ve done the same if someone they loved was in danger. Did the captain of Tao seem like she would?”
“Honestly, out of all the council members there, she was the hardest to read.” Luke answered. “She seemed rather… indifferent. Like she was only there out of necessity and nothing else.”
“A byproduct of the isolated lifestyle, perhaps,” suggested Lashanne, rubbing her chin in thought. “Monks tend to live away from modern society, dedicated to a life of meditation, martial arts and spiritual balance. That she leads a rescue team means she’s willing to put those skills to use for the benefit of others, but for her character. Hard to say. Especially having not seen her myself.”
“When we got that parcel from Neilla today I partially hoped it’d be the message from Meilin,” admitted Volcan.
“Oh? What’d she send you guys?” Lashanne asked.
“A little present for all of us, actually,” replied Volcan. “We’ll show you in a bit.” He looked at Luke. “Think there’s anything else to add or, did we cover everything?”
“I think that’s about all.” Luke answered. “Unless you think I missed anything, I’d say we’ve said about all we have to say. It’s just a matter of waiting for a response now.”
“I guess this concludes the meeting then,” said Volcan.
“So, I guess we just go on about our days until you guys get the call to head out.” Doug remarked, looking around the rest of the teams present. “However long that takes.”
“Hopefully soon.” Luke answered with a heavy sigh.