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Cynthia sighed. "I really hope your job is as difficult as you said Galen, because this one is hell."

Naturally, there was no response. She was completely alone at the moment, standing on the balcony of her hotel room. She and Aitana had spent the last few days in Kanto, trying to convince the regional government to change. It wasn't going well, to say the least.

Cynthia's prestige, as well as the general attitude of Sinnoh's population, had made it relatively easy there. And if they could change things in Kanto, then Johto would quickly follow. After all, the two regions were joined at the hip. But that was a rather large if. Then of course there was Hoenn...then Unova. All in all, they had their work cut out for them. Sure they had a decent amount of support, but it wasn't helping as much as she had hoped.

Her mind drifted again to what Galen was doing. He had said that changing the viewpoint of the Guardians would be tough...and then there was whatever had caused him to start freaking out in Celestic Town. She couldn't help but wonder what could have caused him to be so worried. It wasn't like him.

And, much as she hated to admit it, she knew that dealing with the Guardians would be difficult. Galen had once told her that the Guardian Council was split in half. One half was too stubborn to be willing to change from tradition. The other half was open to change, and sometimes even wanted it, but didn't have the will to try to fight against the other half.

She didn't envy him in the slightest, even if she didn't care for her own work.

She let out another sigh. "And why do I let you keep talking me into this stuff?"

Of course, she knew the answer to that question before she even asked it. Galen had almost always had the ability to get her on board with any adventure. It was why she had been on more than a few with him. The reason for her willingness to help him was simple: after she had rejected him all those years ago, she had wound up falling for him.

It had just been pure bad luck that he had met the woman he would marry before Cynthia had a chance to say anything to him.

Feeling just a bit depressed now, she stretched her arms over her head, then turned to walk back into the room. It had been a long, exhausting, and downright disappointing day.

Taking one last look at the setting sun before heading off to bed, she let out one more sigh. "Whatever you're doing Galen, I hope it's going better than things are on this end."

***

Galen sneezed violently, disturbing the layer of dust on the books laid out before him. He rubbed his nose trying to resist the urge to sneeze again. "I would think someone was talking about me if it weren't for all this damn dust!"

Once the urge to sneeze again had passed, he returned to looking at the various volumes on the table where he was seated. All were history oriented, containing chronicles and records of the Guardians and the Order throughout history. It was rather dry to read through, and though he knew it was necessary, it was also quite mind numbing. He leaned forward, resting his hand on the pages of one of the open tomes. "And as if the dust weren't bad enough, this is the dullest thing I have every willingly done!"

"Well you sound like you're in a good mood."

Galen sat up and looked over his shoulder, giving a weary smile at the sight of Sarina standing behind him. "Coming to check on us again?"

"Just seeing if you need or want any help."

Galen shook his head. "I think between me Riley and Azure we can handle it."

"Okay then. If you're sure."

She stepped up closer behind him, taking a look at all the books on the table in front of him. "Between you and Mathias...I'm not sure who's making greater use of the records these days."

Galen smirked. "What, are you worried we'll mess up your organizational system?"

Sarina crossed her arms with a frown. "You know full well what I'm worried about."

His expression became more sombre. "Yeah, I do know. I'm worried about them as well. Hell...right now, I'm worried about the state of the world on the whole. Things are looking pretty damn grim right now. And it isn't helping that half of the council won't even listen to what I have to say."

"Well...at least half of the council is...kind of on your side."

Galen scoffed. "I'm sorry Sarina, but you three aren't helping either. If you three would actually bother to stand up to the others we would actually be making some progress. Instead I've had to give up on convincing the council, and am now forced to spend my days in here, hoping like hell that I'm wrong about what I think I may be right about."

Sarina blinked in confusion. "And...what is it you think you may be right about?"

"Uh...I'd rather not cause any undue panic in case I am wrong. Let's just say that if I am right...then we are all going to be in very deep shit."

"Well that is an interesting way to put it."

Galen smiled. "I like to think I can put things in a unique perspective."

"Right." Sarina looked around the large bookshelf filled room. It was rather poorly lit, and some sections were quite dusty, but this room was the most important one in the world to her. It was the place where all the records and stories of the Guardians were stored. There was something about being there that made her feel...at home. "So...where are the Lucarios?"

Galen pointed to the right. "I sent Azure that way." He then pointed to the left. "Sent Riley that way. Told them to come and get me or call out if they found anything."

"And anything means...?"

"Anything that will tell me whether or not I'm right."

Sarina sighed. "And there you go with the secrecy again. Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because-"

He was cut off by the familiar telepathic voice of his Lucario. "Galen! You need to come here! Right NOW!"

He and Sarina exchanged a quick glance, then-his chair falling to the ground with how quickly he stood up-they set out into the maze of wooden shelves. A short couple of minutes later they found Riley, staring intently at the book in his paws. Galen slowly walked up to his pokémon's side. "What did you find Riley?"

He handed the book to Galen, a blank look on his face. "Just read."

His expression becoming serious, he began to silently read from the tome. As he read he first furrowed his brow, then his eyes started to widen. When he finished several minutes and a few pages later, his arm fell to his side, barely holding on to the book.

Sarina was about to ask what was wrong, when Azure came around the corner of one of the shelves, looking slightly flustered. "Galen...what's going on? Why did Riley call out? What did he find?"

Galen gulped. "Well...I think I may be right."

Sarina's brow furrowed. "Okay...right about WHAT? What is going on?"

Galen didn't answer, but instead walked slowly back the way they had come, the three of them following after him. When he reached his table he picked up, and heavily sat down in the chair he had abandoned. "What is going on is...I think there could be traitors within the Guardians."

Sarina shook her head. "That can't be. The very idea is ridiculous. We would know, wouldn't we? What would even make you think such a thing?"

Galen absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, taking in a deep breath. "Okay...how much do you know about Tamash??"

Sarina gave him an odd look, not really understanding the question. "Um...not much, why?"

"Well, she is one of-as far as I know-only two existing members of a very rare genetic line, the other being her mother. Her particular lineage makes it so that she doesn't have a chest spike, unlike...virtually every other Lucario."

"I've read about that once, although I thought that line died out centuries ago. But...what does that have to do with anything?" Sarina asked.

Galen hesitated, then said, "Apparently, somehow that genetic line was weeded out by the Lucarios themselves. Something...at some point...caused them to think that what was once a dominant gene...was weaker than the recessive gene. I couldn't help but wonder what could cause that...and I worried that humans might have somehow interfered."

"How could they have?"

Galen picked up the book Riley had given him, and began reading. "What follows is a chronicle of an inexplicable epidemic that struck the Lucario species, as recorded by Vinzenz, nineteenth record keeper of the Order of Guardians. It started several years ago. There began some strange ailment, that plagued the Lucario Species. It was strange, in that, in the early days, it appeared to only be striking the females. The afflicted displayed rather alarming symptoms. First, the Lucarios would lose the colouration of their fur, becoming shades of grey and black. Their Auras too, became dark. They became violent, and without reason. Eventually they would expire, presumably from the change to their natural Aura. As time went on, it was notice that a relatively rare genetically anomalous group was not effected. Normally, a female Lucario does not have a chest spike, but a small percentage-less than one fifth of them-bare that which normally separates them from the males."

"That's all very interesting, but what does it mean?"

Galen sighed. "It goes on for several more pages. It was decided by both the Guardians and Lucarios that-for the sake of stopping the spread of this apparent disease-only females with chest spikes should be allowed to breed and produce offspring. That was what caused their genetic line to disappear...or at least become as rare as it is now. It was also at this time that the Guardians put a ban on Guardian/Lucario relationships, as many did exist in those days and it was a major concern that-as many occurrences of this disease seemed to take place within the Guardians ranks-it could lead to highly dangerous situations for Guardians, as well as broken hearts and spirits."

"Okay...and how does all that say that there are traitors within the Guardians?" Sarina asked, trying both to digest all the information, and make sense of what it meant.

"When...I'm sorry Azure...when Faerin was corrupted, Azure allowed himself to fall as well, because of his feelings for Faerin. When he did, according to him, his fur lost all colour, and he lost control of himself, including becoming far more prone to violent acts."

Sarina looked back and forth between Galen and the now downtrodden Lucario. "So...you're saying that that 'disease'...was actually the Lucarios being corrupted by dark Aura?"

Galen nodded. "And when a Lucario loses its connection to its natural Aura...it will eventually kill them. After all, they're born as Riolus with the ability to sense their own Aura. It's so much a part of their life they simply can't be separated from it. If he hadn't regained control of himself...that would have happened to Azure as well."

"Okay...so, traitors in the Guardians?"

"Yeah. That. Like I said, there were an uncommonly high number of incidents of those corruptions among the Guardians. The only way they could be so prominent among the Guardians would be if some of them were actually the ones doing the corrupting, hiding their true power in an attempt to weaken the Guardians."

Sarina gulped. "That makes sense for then...but what about now?"

Galen sighed. "Azure...would you mind?"

With three sets of eyes on him, Azure nodded reluctantly. "Just...before what happened...when Faerin was tricked into taking that power...we ran into...a man. I never saw his face. He wore a hood. He told Faerin...that he could be stronger, and could more easily protect the things he cared about. My memory is little hazy after that point...and I don't really remember what colour one was...but that man had two Auras. The one I can't remember was a normal colour...and the other one was pitch black."

Neither Galen nor Riley reacted, as they were already aware of this, but Sarina was clearly shocked at the information. "But...but that's not possible! When one is corrupted by a dark Aura...they lose all control of their old one! It consumes them!"

Galen nodded. "Yes. However...if one could discipline themselves well enough...they could theoretically maintain their natural Aura, disguising the darker one from view, even by a Guardian."

"So that means...that...they could easily hide...from the entire Order. So there could be traitors in our midst...and we would have no idea."

"Exactly."

There was another chair on another side of the table where Galen sat, and Sarina almost immediately sat down, struggling to come to terms with the implications of it all. She sat there silently, her mind racing. Several minutes passed before she finally spoke. "We...might have a problem."

Galen scoffed. "I would call that an understatement."

Sarina stood back up, shaking her head. "This is just...unreal. But either way, I think we should inform the rest of the Council."

Galen quickly stood up as well, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We can't. It wouldn't be a good idea."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"Because...I honestly only trust you and Mathias. I would be concerned as to whether or not any of the others are what they seem to be."

"You think there could be a traitor on the Council itself?"

He gave a short nod in response. "Yes. It wouldn't surprise me. They have had centuries to infiltrate our ranks. There's no reason to think they couldn't have one or more people controlling the Council."

Sarina nodded. "I see what you mean. But then what do we do?"

Galen hesitated for a brief moment. "For now...we should let Mathias know, and there is one other Guardian I know I can trust. Once they are made aware...we don't do anything. We keep an eye on the Council, and on the Order, and hope that we can react in time to stop them if they try to do...anything."

"That's all?"

"That's all. Without a better idea of who can be trusted, we need to keep this quiet."

Sarina let out a long, slow breath. "Alright. That-unfortunately-makes sense."

"Glad you agree. So, first things first, we need to tell Mathias about all of this."

She nodded. "No point in waiting. We should go now."

Without a word, the two set off toward Mathias's chambers. The two Lucario exchanged a quick glance, then fell into line behind the humans, all focused on their objective, and all with thoughts of what the future might hold.