When Luke and Volcan return to Azure, they find a visitor waiting for him. A visitor Luke is less than happy to see, and whose presence will send them into another journey. Kage has been capture, and it is up to his friends to bring him home...



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“You mind explaining to me why the hell you’re here in Port Azure? Under my mother’s roof, no less?” The Lucario growled, his paws clenched tightly against his sides as he struggled not to explode right then and there.
“I meant to find you directly, but you were away,” Romulus replied plainly. “As for why I’m here, there was news I needed to bring you that I didn’t want to risk being lost in postage.” He leaned forward slightly. “It’s about your friend, Kage.”
Luke's left eye twitched at the mention of the name of his second. “Yea, I know you were in contact with him. Saying that you needed his help with some secret mission of sorts.” Luke remarked, still shaking in rage. “What does that have to do with you being here?”
“Because the mission went awry,” replied Romulus, finally getting the Lucario’s full attention. “Kage has been taken captive by the enemy, while searching the South Islands. Only one of the team managed to escape, to tell us what happened.”
Luke's fur bristled, his breathing increasing as his eyes fixed upon Romulus. “...I’m sorry, run that by me again?” Luke asked, tilting his head and pretending to have not heard him correctly. “Because I’m pretty sure you didn’t just say that Kage was captured… By the enemy.” He repeated, his eyes slowly shrinking into beads as he repeated Romulus’ earlier statement.
“I’m afraid that is exactly what I said,” he replied. “The reason I am here, is that I am putting together a-”
Luke did not let him finish. He launched himself at Romulus, flying over the table and grabbing him by the throat. The couch Romulus sat on tipped back as Luke carried him through the air, slamming him against the wall with a feral snarl. His face was such a mask of rage, it was akin to when he had been corrupted at the monastery. But this time, the rage was his alone, as was the hatred he felt for the Houndoom choking in his grasp.
“YOU MANIPULATIVE PIECE OF SHIT!!!” He roared at the top of his lungs. “You sent my colleague behind enemy lines, knowing there was a chance of him getting caught and possibly killed! When exactly were you planning on letting us all in on this little half baked idea of yours, Romulus?!” He demanded, baring his fangs at the Houndoom as he held him against the wall, squeezing his neck in his paw firmly.
Romulus gagged, unable to form a reply. Instinctively, he pulled back his legs and kicked out with all four paws, hurling the Lucario off him and allowing the Houndoom to drop to the floor on all fours, coughing. Luke started to run at him again, when someone shouted his name and he felt a pair of hands seizing him from behind, pulling him back, while another - his mother, moved to Romulus’ side to help him.
“Luke, stop!” Volcan screamed at him, refusing to release the thrashing Lucario. “Pull yourself together!”
“Let go of me!” Luke roared back at Volcan, thrashing wildly against his grasp. “He sent my friend to his death! He’s going to pay for it, one way or another!”
“Luke, enough!” Luminara shouted back at her son, causing him to flinch and cease his movements, frozen by her commanding voice. “You are out of control! Calm down and let Romulus speak!”
“He’s said enough!” Luke growled back in defiance, his eyes leering dangerously at the Houndoom even as Luminara helped him back to his feet and nurse his throat. “You once told me, Romulus, that sometimes in order to fight a monster, you have to become a monster. Well look at where that line of thought has brought you!”
He finally pulled himself free of Volcan's grasp, but when he didn't attack, Volcan stood back and let him speak. “I was right about you after you passed that decision to raise Calhoun’s threat level… You really are no better than him!”
With that, Luke turned on his heel and immediately ran for the door, not even slowing when Volcan called after him. The door slammed behind Luke, only to be opened again as Volcan hurried after his distraught boyfriend.
Romulus coughed as he rubbed his throat with a paw. “It seems… I have overstayed my welcome,” he rasped.
“I apologize for his actions, Counsellor Romulus.” Luminara said softly, placing her paw around his throat and applying a Heal Pulse to ease the pain away.
Romulus let out a relieved sigh, feeling the pain in his throat fade and letting him speak normally again. “Thank you,” he said. “But, I am no longer a Counsellor. This new mission is to be my final executive decision before I return home to Gladiator City. I meant to tell him everything… But he hasn’t forgotten how I wronged him.”
“I’ve only ever really seen him that angry only a few times; he’s normally a very patient young man.” She explained to him. “I don’t know what you did to anger him so, but regardless, he had no right to lay a paw on you like that…”
He looked to her, meeting her gaze as he spoke. “The short of it is, I discredited him in the council, in order to get things moving again. When he left to rescue his man from the rogue, Grom of Team Kopis, we were back in a perpetual stalemate – they would not come to a decision without him. Soon after came the report from Team Phalanx, about Calhoun - about what they had seen him do up north.” He lowered his head. “I had to slander Luke’s name to get things moving again. I argued that he had left for personal reasons and we did not even know if or when he would be coming back, when he was effectively throwing himself into the enemy’s waiting hands. He also had a bounty on his head at the time..”
Luminara stood up with him, a light scowl present on her face after hearing the reason as to why Luke hated Romulus so much. “Personal reasons?” She repeated in a more firm, scornful tone. “He left to save his future husband, the man he wishes to spend his life with. His family!” She added. “What part of that logic do you not understand? Luke has always put those he holds dearest to him before his own desires, and I would think that, as Captain of one of the highest ranking Rescue Teams, you would understand that as well.”
He lowered his gaze then, the expression on his face almost heartbreaking to look at. There was no empathy there, nothing to show he understood. “I’m afraid I don’t, miss Luminara,” he said in such a glib tone, he might as well have been a featureless statue. “There was only one who I thought I was ever precious to. That same one... Threw me into a pit of fighters before I was ten years old.”
The statement left her so stunned, she could not formulate a response. Without another word, Romulus started for the door, and left the shocked Lucario female to consider what he had said. By the time she thought of anything she could say to him, the Houndoom was already gone…