“So then I told him that he wasn’t going to get his oil change until he handed over my hydraulic-wrench set,” summer at the PCA didn’t guarantee the teachers would get a break for the holiday. Some returned to the school in order to teach the students over the summer term to help them catch up or get ahead. Some teachers had other duties in and around the school that kept them just as busy. Then there were others that used the facilities at the school for their own ends. One of the better known examples of the last was Miss Raine Cameroon whose inventions had started to gain a reputation around the school for very interesting results.

“So did you get your wrench back?” The young ‘mon who walked beside her asked. Jason Blaze had enjoyed his first year as a teacher at his alma mater as the Civics teacher. It’d been a huge change for him to go from being a fire fighter to teaching kids that sat in the same seats he did not all that long ago. Dressed in a turtleneck sweater as his suit jacket rested on his shoulders the Manectric’s outfit seemed oddly out of place given that it was the summer time.

“Eventually,” Miss Cameroon answered, “Once I got him to set me down and give me back my shoes,” Mr. Blaze gave a look to his colleague for a moment, if nothing else because he wasn’t used to a machine being addressed as a he. The two teachers continued down the hall and turned a corner where they almost bumped into another faculty member.

“Oh! Pardon me!” The two teachers recoiled as Miss Vanilla Swirl, secretary extraordinaire, caught herself before she spilled any papers.

“Sorry about that, Miss Swirl,” Cameroon quickly apologized as she checked to make sure she hadn’t lost any of the things she carried. It took Blaze a moment to bring his eyes away from the rather lovely secretary and to his brief case he’d had with him. Vanilla was quick to notice it as she smiled to him.

“Everything okay, Mr. Blaze?” She asked to catch his attention. The Manectric blinked and brought himself around before he offered an quick smile to her.

“Oh, sorry about that, Miss Swirl,” He quickly apologized and looked her in the eyes, “Are you doing okay?”

“No harm done!” She quickly and cheerfully said as she gripped her papers to her chest. Jason hesitated for a moment before a sudden beeping sound distracted them. Cameroon and Blaze both looked to Vanilla’s oddly shaped watched. The Glaceon looked down to it quickly.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, “It is…time for Professor Magnum’s tea!” She smiled towards the two and started down the hall quickly, “I’ll see you both later!” Soon she disappeared around another corner which left Mr. Blaze and Miss Cameroon to her leave.

“That was odd,” Miss Cameroon commented. Jason continued to watch where she went and nodded slowly in agreement though he didn’t spend too much time on it before he turned and headed towards the exit of the school to call it a day. His colleague went along with him and continued her talk about her recent interesting times with her robot companion before she bad the Manectric a good day and headed home. Jason said good-bye as well and turned to walk home since he didn’t live too far away.

Jason hooked his briefcase over his shoulder as he wandered down the road as he tried to ignore the odd looks he received from passer-bys. Given how warm it was he was over dressed for time of year. It wasn’t often you’d see someone in long sleeves and a coat on top of it when it was topping ninety degrees outside. It didn’t seem to bother him to much though every now and again the ‘mon played at his collar. Much as he wished he could wear something different he wasn’t able to just yet thanks to a very unique condition that he had.

The victim of an accident back during his fire fighting days Jason had lost his arms after they were crushed saving a young child. Despite being hailed as a hero he was quickly forgotten and left to himself with a small pension; something that sent him spiraling into a horrible depression. It wasn’t until the child’s father had knocked on his door and offered to replace his broken arms with something new, something experimental, something that would give him use of them again but he couldn’t talk about them. With that he gained powerful new cyborg arms that gave him back his life; just not his job. He could never go back to work as a fire fighter like he’d always wanted to and instead had to find another option. Thankfully the father of the child he saved came up with the idea of him becoming a teacher; and the rest was history.

The arms had been a boon to him in many ways; they allowed him to move about in life and exist, to be able to lift things for himself instead of having to rely on a trained assist animal or another person. They’d even given him a couple of interesting benefits such as being able to channel his electrical abilities even more efficiently as well as strength on par and maybe even greater than that of a Machamp. The biggest downside to them was that the company that had fitted him with the arms hadn’t created a good enough synthetic skin to hide the arms. Even worse they weren’t exactly the cuddliest of metal arms which limited his options when it came to the dating scene; at least his pet Aron Mick didn’t seem to mind.

A sudden cry yanked Jason from his thoughts. He glanced around quickly and tried to discover the source of the call; something that wasn’t too difficult once he saw the smoke coming from a nearby apartment building. It hadn’t billowed enough to really stand out but apparently it’d gotten bad enough for someone to get stuck inside. The former fire fighter started towards the building out of instinct as his old life tried to take over. Jason dashed through the alleyway between two other buildings and came to a stop at the back of the building and looked up as a handful of residents had already made their way out of their apartments and stared on in horror and lament. Another cry for help echoed from inside.

The Manectric was about to dash into the building to help who it was that called for help when he heard the familiar sirens of the fire department scream from down the street. With a sigh Jason started to clear out of the area since he knew better than to get in the way of the professionals; even if he wanted to be one of them. Headed down the alley and away from the fire Mr. Blaze hung his head as memories of his original job flooded his mind. Not to long ago he would’ve been the one going in to save people along with his former colleagues. He didn’t have long to wallow in self pity before something else drew his attention. Jason looked up and peered around a corner to see something he really didn’t expect to see.

People screamed and ran from a bank as a huge fire stood next to the wall of the building. Not a fire…a Typhlosion! Jason blinked and rubbed at his eyes to make sure smoke hadn’t gotten in to them, but he could see that it wasn’t any normal blaze but a ‘mon encased in fire and blasting the side of the bank wall. The bank’s patrons and workers scattered as a pair of hired security guards ran out and stared on in horror as they reminded themselves they weren’t paid enough to deal with this.

“S-s-stop!” A one of the guards, a Ratticate tried to call out with authority but failed miserably. The fiery Typhlosion didn’t even acknowledge the demand as he continued to burn a hole into the side of the building. The other guard, a Wooper looked towards the Ratticate before he pursed his lips and tried to send a Water Gun attack to slow down the fiery ‘mon. The liquid seemed to do little more than annoy the huge Typhlosion as he stopped his flames and looked towards the guards.

“Run,” Was the only thing he said before he looked back to the bank and finished blasting a hole big enough from him to walk through. The two guards didn’t have to be asked twice before they scattered along with the others. Jason watched it all from around the corner and frowned as he saw the ‘mon being able to get away with pushing everyone around. The last thing he wanted to do was go vigilante but he had a feeling even the police would have trouble dealing with this guy. He’d also probably be gone by the time they got there since everyone was busy with the fire going on not half a block away. Blaze worked back and forth in his mind if he should do this or not; until his nature kicked in and the ‘mon sighed. Jason set his stuff down nestled between a couple of trash containers and took off his jacket. He didn’t want to give away his identity so he also pulled the neck of his sweater up to cover the lower half of his face before he went in.

Jason peered in through the hole the Typhlosion had created and took care not to touch the concrete that still sizzled. He glanced around for a moment to see if he could spot the ‘mon he was after and quickly saw him; after all a giant flaming Typhlosion was hard to miss. The Manectric took in a deep breath and strode forward as he tried to come up with a plan. The bank robber didn’t seem to pay the teacher any mind as he tried to cut through the vault door with the intense heat pouring off of his huge body. Jason found himself sweating more as he drew closer to the fire type and suddenly regretted that he had to wear such warm clothing.

“Okay big guy, that’s enough,” Jason said in his best authority voice. Months of practice as a teacher had helped him to develop something that almost felt commanding; he still had some work to do on it though. The Typhlosion didn’t seem to hear him at first but eventually stopped enough to turn around and look over his shoulder with a smirk.

“Who’re you supposed to be?” the much larger ‘mon asked in a low, amused voice. Jason stood up a bit straighter and tried to strike a heroic pose though he wasn’t sure what one looked like other than what he’d seen in movies.

“I’m the guy who’s going to keep you from stealing the money from that vault,” Blaze cursed himself quietly for such corny lines; especially since all it did was cause the Typhlosion to laugh at him.

“You’re going to stop me? Inferno?” the now named villain asked, “Who do you think you are?” Inferno turned and launched a gout of fire straight for Jason. The Manectric cursed and rolled out of the way before he brought his arms up and aimed them towards Inferno.

“Last chance to stop!” Jason yelled at him.

“Or what?” the villain smirked as a ball of flame started to form around his fists. Jason swallowed hard and focused a Lightning Bolt through his arms. The electricity shot forward and crackled audibly through the air as the blast thudded hard into Inferno’s chest. The Typhlosion was sent back into the vault door and cracked against it loudly before he fell to the ground; the smell of ozone filled the air as the residual electricity flittered about. The teacher watched and hoped that it’d been enough to slow the ‘mon down though he didn’t believe that’s all it’d take. Sure enough Inferno started to raise himself up with a smirk.

“Not bad little ‘mon,” He said as he brushed himself off, “You can definitely give it…but can you take it!” Inferno reached for a nearby office chair and hurled it towards Blaze with incredible speed and lit the chair on fire for some extra oomph. With little chance to react Jason brought his arms up before him to take the attack as the seat broke apart on the cybernetic appendages. The impact sent Jason back a few steps but didn’t knock him to the ground; the fiery shrapnel did a number on sleeves, though, and exposed the glint of titanium alloy underneath.

“Looks like there’s more to you than I initially thought,” Inferno admitted, “But that won’t save you!” the Typhlosion rushed towards Jason as several blasts of fire led the way. Jason was quick to move as he dashed to the side to avoid most of the blows and fired several shots of lightning back towards his opponent. The movement hindered the aim of both ‘mon as they largely traded shots without much contact. Inferno dove towards Jason once he was in range to try and smother the smaller ‘mon and burn him out of existence. The Manectric had a little surprise for the larger ‘mon as Jason caught him in mid jump by his arms and threw the villain towards the wall with a great deal of force. Inferno thudded into the bricks and through them as the intense heat he gave off mixed with the force of the impact and easily broke the wall. It also managed to completely burn off Blaze’s sleeves and gloves; he was just glad his pseudo-mask was safe.

He peered out of the hole that Inferno had just created to see what’d become of the massive ‘mon and was met with a surprise. The Typhlosion hadn’t gone far and was prepared for the would-be hero as soon as Jason stuck his head out the wall and yanked him through as well. The Manectric responded instinctively as he threw a few punches as the villain and forced Inferno back a step or two; but not enough to get him to let his opponent go. The villain smirked and threw Blaze against a nearby wall with a resounding crunch. Jason crumbled to the ground with a groan and looked up as Inferno approached him.

“Not bad, hero,” the giant Typhlosion mocked, “But not good enough,” Inferno raised his arms above his head as flames danced and sprang to life up and down his limb. The ball of heat grew to greater size as the ‘mon prepared to finish his downed foe. Jason struggled to get his arms to move, his head to move, anything that might help him get out of the way of certain death. It seemed like the end was going to come to him because he just had to play hero and save people’s money; and now he was going to pay the price with nothing that seemed to be able to save him.

“Hey, Inferno!” a feminine voice called out, “Catch!” Suddenly a projectile of some kind flew into the side of the huge ‘mon and caused a small blast that rocked the Typhlosion on his feet. He stumbled back a few steps as the flames dissipated from around his hands and the now very angry ‘mon looked for who’d thrown explosive since it’d hurt. He frowned when he realized it was his arch-nemesis.

“Diamondback!” Inferno exclaimed as he turned his full attention towards the Glaceon. The super-hero stood atop the bank room and looked down towards the villain with a less than happy look.

“Starting a fire at an apartment building just so you can rob a bank, Inferno? That’s low even for you,” She admonished her foe. Inferno let out a primal cry as he launched a blast of searing heat towards her. Prepared for the move Diamondback leapt out of the way skillfully before she crouched and reached for another explosive device; she quickly flung it at the Typhlosion. Inferno turned his attention towards the flying device and casually blasted at it; only to have it blow up on him after he’d let it get to close. The larger ‘mon stumbled back a few steps before he regained his composure as he glared over at the hero he was fighting.

Diamondback jumped to the ground to get in closer to Inferno though she was careful not to get too close and burned. The Typhlosion wasted little time and started to blast several gouts of searing flame at the Glaceon. Diamondback leapt and twisted her way out of the way of most of the blasts though one managed to singe her tail which caused her to yelp a bit in pain; especially after she landed less gracefully than she was used to. Inferno charged forward to try and gain an advantage over the super hero and threw one last massive ball of flame at her to try and finish off Diamondback. She wasn’t about to be flambé however.

As the Fireblast came in D-back rolled off to the side to let the flame hit what was behind her; the building’s water main. The intense flame burned and melted the metal of the pipe easily and bent it which caused a geyser of water to shoot out at Inferno. The larger ‘mon was so caught focused on going after Diamondback that he didn’t have time to escape as the constant stream of liquid kept him from being able to regain his protective flame. Inferno took several steps backwards to get out of it and to try to gather his composure, but he was in for a shock.

Jason watched it all happen through half lidded eyes and lifted his arms through sheer force of will. When the Typhlosion came into range he fired off one last Lightning Bolt which sent shockwaves through the villain and caused him to twitch and spasm as his body absorbed every volt. It didn’t take long before he tumbled to the ground, unconscious. Vanilla wasted little time as she pulled out one of her D-backer capture balls and hurled it towards Inferno. He was easily pulled in by the device as it sucked him in and quickly flew back to the hero’s hand.

“That should teach him to try and take people’s money,” Diamondback said as she held the capture ball in her hand, “That was brave of you, sir but very foolish as well! Super villains aren’t something to be trifled with,” she tried to admonish Jason for his reckless antics but it all stopped when she realized that he wasn’t moving. The hero quickly crossed the lot to the fallen ‘mon as the sirens of cop cars could be heard coming closer as she quickly checked to make sure he was alive and was relieved to find he was. Her breath caught, though, when she realized who it was as the Manectric’s mask fell away from his chin. She was even more surprised when she realized that his arms were metallic, and from their touch weren’t just a fashion statement. She looked around quickly to make sure that no one else could see him before she settled the capture ball in the middle of the parking lot with a note for the police. Just as the cops arrived she disappeared with her rescued teacher in tow to go talk to someone very important.



“Mr. Blaze? Are you okay?” the voice didn’t bring Jason back to the world of the waking but it helped to give him something to focus on. He brought his hand to his pounding head and held it as he struggled to come to a sitting position while his eyes still refused to open themselves up. Eventually his lids cracked a bit before he recoiled form the suddenly bright light of the room and sent him back to a prostrate position on whatever it was he laid on.

“Oh, my apologies, let me dim the lights in here,” the voice said. Jason focused on the voice once again to try and give him someway to yank himself out of his stupor. It was a familiar voice though he couldn’t quite place it right away; instead he wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to fall over once he got himself upright. Another burst of sheer force of will and Jason sat himself up though he still gripped onto his head where he had a throbbing headache.

“Where…am I?” He asked to the voice as he tried to open his eyes again.

“You’re in my home office,” the voice answered, “Diamondback brought you here because she thought I’d be able to help,” the Manectric peeled his eyes open and looked towards whoever it was that spoke to him. His vision continued to blur for a moment before he finally brought everything into focus. When he finally saw who was talking to him he wondered just how hard he’d been hit in the head.

“Pr-professor Magnum?” Jason was stunned as the last ‘mon he expected to see was the head of the Teacher’s Union at the PCA. The Magnemite teacher just smiled and nodded his head.

“You’ve been with us for several months, Mr. Blaze, and you never let on for a moment you were so different from the rest of us,” Jason was confused at first as to what Magnum meant until he looked down to his exposed cybernetic arms. He blanched at the fact his secret was getting out and looked towards Magnum in hopes of coming up with some kind of explanation or excuse.

“Oh, well, you see, I….” Nothing came to mind as he started to panic and worried that he might lose his job. Mangum held up a hand to stop him from saying anything more. Jason just pulled back into his seat and sighed.

“It’s all right, Mr. Blaze, you’re not going to lose your job,” Magnum assured his colleague, “and your secret is safe with me. I figure if you want to tell me how you got them you would,”

“Maybe some day, Professor,” Jason answered as he continued to just sit and had a hard time meeting Magnum’s eye, “It’s not exactly something I’m supposed to be showing off to people. Top secret level stuff,”

“I’ve seen things that would shock you, my boy,” It looked almost as if Magnum smiled in answer, “But that’s all top secret as well. Tell me though, what are these arms of yours are capable of?” Jason hesitated to answer but figured if there was anyone he could trust, it’d be the guy who could get him fired.

“Well, they let me actually use my arms again for one,” He started to explain, “Since I’d had my arms crushed in an accident,”

“Yes, I remember seeing that when I researched your file,” Magnum said as he walked over towards a tea set and poured two cups. He crossed over towards Jason and offered him some which the Manectric took and sipped at.

“Beyond that they grant me much greater strength, probably on par with a Machamp if not a little greater,” He continued, “They also help me to focus my electric attacks to make them much more potent,”

“So why’d you become a teacher if you had such extraordinary abilities?” Magnum asked before he sipped his own tea through his mouth hatch.

“I couldn’t go back to being a fire fighter like I’d always wanted to be,” Jason shrugged as he sipped some of the tea a bit more, “So someone suggested I try and help by teaching. It sounded as good an idea as anything,”

“Have you ever considered doing more with your talents?” the Professor pressed. Jason blinked at the question and finally looked up at him.

“Well, the thought…it’s crossed my mind from time to time,” He admitted, “But I never wanted to give away who I was and I never wanted to put people at risk. Like myself,”

“So why did you try to stop Inferno this afternoon?” Magnum seemed to enjoy himself; question was what it was he was enjoying more the tea or the questions.

“I…don’t know,” Jason admitted after a long pause, “Some reason I saw him just doing what he wanted with all those people in danger and something snapped in me. I’ve…done things like that before on much smaller scales when professionals weren’t around just never almost died…doing them,” Magnum looked at him long and hard as the Magnemite held his cup of tea near his hatch.

“Would you be interested?” He finally asked the other teacher.

“Interested in what?” Jason responded with a bit of surprise.

“Using your talents to help people,” Magnum clarified.

“What? You mean like Diamondback does?” Jason still seemed caught off guard. Magnum nodded in response.

“You have some unique abilities, Mr. Blaze,” Magnum said, “I think with some training you’d be able to do a lot of good in this city,”

“I…I don’t know, Professor,” Jason seemed almost overwhelmed at the prospect, “I mean, what if I mess up? What if I miss classes as a result of something? What if people get hurt because of me?”

“Did you ever worry about those questions when you were a fire fighter?” Magnum shot back; a response that caught Jason off guard.

“Well, no…” He slowly answered, “I…was trained, you know? I had a lot of training to make sure I didn’t mess up,”

“There was still the possibility that you would do something or have something happened you couldn’t control wasn’t there?” Magnum quickly said.

“I suppose,” Jason admitted after a bit of pondering on the question.

“So with some training from the greatest super hero in Viridian do you think you could help people?” the Professor continued to press the young ‘mon. Jason sat there for a long moment as a jumble of thoughts ran through his head. He tried to make sense of all the questions, doubts and possibilities that raced in his mind. Several minutes passed before he shook his head and looked at the other ‘mon.

“I…I need time to think on it,” He put his cup down and stood up. A hand came up to clutch at his face as the sudden rush brought fresh pain to his head. Once he regained his equilibrium he looked towards the Professor who held his briefcase for some reason.

“Here, take this,” Magnum said, “Take a few days to think about it. When you have an answer for me either way come to my office at school and let me know,”

“How…” Jason started to ask before Magnum handed it over to him.

“Diamondback found it nearby and figured it had to belong to you,” Magnum answered, “It also has your ID in it,” Blaze flushed a bit as he accepted the briefcase and as his union-head took him to the door so he could head home. The Manectric had a lot to think about.



It’d been almost a week before Jason somewhat came to a decision. He’d wracked his brain for days while he tried to concentrate on his work at the same time. It wasn’t easy for him and even his time spent on a new knitting pattern didn’t seem to ease his mind at all. At least he had his pet Aron with him to do offer some quiet time in the evening. Still, he knew he had to give Magnum an answer soon even if he didn’t have one. By the end of the week he figured he might as well go talk to the old ‘mon and say the first thing that came out of his mouth; either way he might regret it.

Jason made his way to Magnum and the rest of Team Conductors’ offices and stopped short when he saw Miss Swirl at her desk as she typed out…well something he couldn’t see her screen. Jason smiled as he got closer, a gesture that was returned by Vanilla as she noticed him.

“Oh hello, Mr. Blaze,” She greeted, “What can I do for you?”

“I’m here to see Professor Magnum,” He answered, “Is he in?”

“He certainly is. What do you want to talk to him about?” She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her desk. Jason found himself momentarily distracted before he looked back to her eyes.

“He asked me to do something for him,” He answered in a way that tried to avoid any details, “I just don’t know if I can do it for him though,”

“Think you can do it?” She asked and leaned back in her seat as her arms crossed underneath her chest innocently.

“Ummm, I don’t know. I’m afraid that if I do it, I’ll fail and…will let people down,” ‘And people will get hurt,’ Jason thought to himself as he answered. His shoulders slumped a bit as his mind continued to cast doubt on his own ability to be a hero like that.

“Well, do you want to do it?” Vanilla pressed. Jason blinked like he hadn’t thought about it that way.

“Well, I suppose I would like to,” He admitted, “I’m just…scared I guess,”

“If its something you want to do and you think you can make a difference, then you need to do it,” Vanilla pointed out to him, “Otherwise you’ll never know if you’d do good or not and you might miss out,” Jason stood there for a moment and pondered what she said. Vanilla had made a very good point to him; he hadn’t been scared when he joined the fire department and how was this really that different? Well, it was but very similar in a lot of ways. He looked to the Glaceon and smiled.

“Thanks, Miss Swirl. That helped a lot,” He told her. Vanilla smiled back at him brightly and pressed a button.

“Professor, Mr. Blaze is here to see you,” She told the old ‘mon.

“Send him in, Miss Swirl!” The cheerful reply came over the intercom. Jason nodded his head towards Vanilla in thanks before he headed into Magnum’s office to give a final answer. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy, nor was he going to be able to do it right off the bat; but with the help of the professor and with the help of Diamondback he had a feeling he’d be able to do some good work for the city and maybe get back to what it was he originally wanted to do; help people.

... this makes the inner comicbook/superhero loving nerd in me shout for joy...

Great story! ^w^

More to come! I had fun writing this and plan to write at least one more.