"Hey, kiddo! Come here and help me out with these, will you?", James called out. He carefully slipped one of his Dragonite cards, a 1995 rainbow Dragonite, into a small card sleeve. "Which ones are you working on, Dad?", Sam asked as he stepped into the room, striding over to the desk James sat at. "New set of 1995 cards", James answered. "All real?", Sam asked. "And in flawless condition, not a single crease or bit of corner damage."

"Nice", Sam replied, a small hiss escaping from his lips. He grabbed a small bottle of hand sanitizer that sat on the desk and squirted some onto his hands before setting it down again, cleaning his hands quickly. Sam sat down next to James, beginning to carefully take a stack of cards and a stack of individual sleeves. This was one of their favorite pastimes apart from watching Cavs games and Star Wars. They were both such geeks, and Honoka always reminded them of it.

"Hey, James! You've got a call on your phone, hon", he heard Honoka call out, James turning his head to see his wife peeking in through the door, glasses over her royal blue eyes. "I'll be back in a bit, buddy", James assured, ruffling Sam's maroon hair. Sam gave him a smile before turning to keep working on neatly organizing the Pokémon cards.

James noticed a slightly worried look spread over Honoka's face when they stepped out of the room. "What is it, babe?", James asked, adjusting the black baseball cap he had on his head. "It's Nezu, he just called out of nowhere. He sounded really nervous...", Honoka replied. James took the phone she held in her hands and gently planted a kiss on her head before stepping aside for a moment.

"Nezu, it's James", he murmured quietly, putting a hand at his hips. "Oh, James, my friend! It's so good to hear your voice!", Nezu's voice exclaimed. "Yeah, it's good to hear yours too, old buddy. What's going on? Honoka said you sounded worried", James asked, a bit more seriousness in his voice, digging his free hand into his jeans. "Oh, James... I have terrible news. Do you recall how you and Honoka assisted Toshinori and I against All for One years ago?", Nezu questioned. "Yeah, how could I forget? Why...? Don't tell me he's-", James started. "James, he's returned. He's gathered followers and he's formed a new organization called the League of Villains", Nezu went on.

James shuddered slightly, his breath wavering for a moment. All for One returned... "Keep going", James murmured. "He's been gathering followers for a while now and they've been doing more and more damage. The public here in Japan doesn't know too much about it yet, and they haven't made any major attacks", Nezu went on solemnly. James sighed quietly, turning and making sure he was out of Sam's earshot. "Do you need me to come in? I can get on the next plane to Musutafa", he offered, his tone more serious. "No, that's not why I'm calling, old friend... It's the League, they arrived in America a few days ago. We think they're coming for you, you need to get out of there-"

Nezu's voice was cut off by a scream in the apartment. James immediately veered around, his eyes widened as he saw Honoka turn gray with a painful face before collapsing into dust. James felt frozen, but turned and saw Sam in a doorway with the same look he had. "Sam, run!", James shouted as he pulled a card deck from his jeans quickly. Sam didn't waste a moment and charged into his room, a figure with dark clothing, silvery hair, and hands covering his body starting to follow. James quickly pulled a card from the deck and threw it, the Deoxys Pokemon card bursting into life. The Deoxys extended its tentacles, trapping the mysterious figure and keeping them frozen. James quickly pulled another card, throwing it as a Charizard came to life in the middle of the room. It suddenly turned to ash, blue flames burning around it as another figure with blue eyes and flames in his hands stepped into the room. Then, everything erupted into flames.