Teams Phalanx and Kama encounter the first of the five escapees. A Hydreigon by the name of Hydra, who suffers from severe multiple personality disorder. Among his personalities is a violent, blood-crazed fighting machine which makes Hydra dangerous to others, even when he doesn"t want to be.

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The next morning, before the sun fully broke the horizon, the group chosen to deal with Hydra set out with Minato in the lead, followed closely by Tristan, Kaen and Serena as they made their way across the city. Minato picked a path of least resistance using his aura sense, making sure to lead them where there were few to no criminals to bar their way as they followed the column of smoke that had appeared through the night, leading them to where Hydra was rampaging.

"Why would Calhoun free someone so hard to control?" Kaen asked, arms tucked behind his head as they walked. "I"m not the tactical type, but even to me it seems pretty stupid."

"What Calhoun does makes sense to him alone," replied Serena. "I do not care to understand it, not after seeing the lengths he will go to."

“The way I see it, Calhoun and Hydra have something in common,” Minato stated with a bit of venom in his tone. “They don’t have any rhyme or reason in their actions, their only goal in life is to watch the world burn.”

"Probably just freed him to cause more chaos for the rescue teams then," offered Kaen. "Well, joke"s on him. We"re going to take that crazy drake down." He pounded his fists together, grinning. "Never had a chance to fight a Hydreigon before."

“Don’t start getting too overconfident.” Minato warned the Charmeleon. “Wild Hydreigons must be handled cautiously. You rush into a fight with one without any sort of strategy, you’ll be their next meal.”

"We"ll see about that," replied Kaen.

Tristan let out a chuckle. "I like this guy," he said. “He"s got spunk.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you when the time comes.” Minato said with a roll of his eyes.

A sudden tremor rippled through the ground below them as a crash sounded in the distance, bringing all of them to full alert. Serena padded ahead of them, keeping as low as possible as she reached a corner and peered around. She backed up as the others drew near, looking up at them.

"Dust cloud, coming from four blocks up from around the bend," she said. "We"re getting close."

“Alright. We go about this as quietly as we can - try to take him by surprise.” Minato stated, tuning to his aura sense to get an exact fix on the Hydreigon’s location.

He spotted an aura signal that flew to and fro in the air, occasionally stopping, which was followed by another explosion. His ears picked up a cacophony of mad laughter filling the air, and then the aura moved again.

“Seems like he’s on a rampage.” Minato muttered softly as he watched the Hydreigon move. “We could use the destruction he’s creating as cover to sneak up on him. It’s risky, but at least he won’t see us coming given his current mental state.”

"A good idea," agreed Serena. "But Tristan is large and Kaen"s flame tail might give him away. So who should go first?"

“Well that boils down to either you or me, and I’d rather not put you in unnecessary danger.” Minato remarked back to Serena. “I guess I’ll take point then. Stay hidden until I give the signal.”

"Be careful," pleaded Serena. "There"s no telling what he"ll do if he sees you."

“I’ll be fine.” He assured Serena, smiling back at her as he started to make his move, sticking close to the large piles of rubble and collapsed buildings as he closed in on Hydra’s position.

The dragon was still flying about, sporadically destroying structures with no rhyme nor reason to his actions - pure wanton destruction, followed each time by mad laughter and, as he got closer, the whoosh of the dragon flying over. By the gods this creature was mad, and Minato felt a pang of relief that this area was abandoned. Criminals or not, in a destruction craze like this, nothing would survive.

He nearly jumped when the dragon landed on the building above him, tittering maniacally as he poked his head over to look around. Had he detected Minato somehow? He could only stay absolutely still as he waited to see what Hydra did next, and once more almost jumped when he leapt over the roof and dove across the street, smashing through the front door of an old shop, and then debris came flying out the door and broken windows as he continued his rampage inside, showering the street with wood, stone and various items that had been left behind.

He let out a soft breath when he realized he hadn’t been spotted, then he took a look at the shop Hydra dove through and started to form an idea in his head. When he was certain he was in the clear, he made a beeline for another relatively stable building and ducked inside of it, tuning back to his aura sense and keeping track of the Hydreigon’s movements, all while preparing for his plan to take fruit. The shop eventually collapsed under the Hydreigon"s fury, but even as it came crumbling down on top of him, he erupted from the wreckage, flying in an arc before landing in the street. His laughing continued, but he stayed where he was, not moving another inch as he sat upon the broken stone street

Then... The laughing stopped, and he became still. Was he calming down?

The Lucario dared not to move, still keeping his aura sense active as he studied what the dragon Pokemon was doing. He started to wonder if another of Hydra’s personalities was starting to break through, perhaps a calmer, more reasonable one that he might be able to reason with. The dragon remained where he was, catching his breath. He lifted his head, as if to look around at his handiwork, at the destruction he had caused, yet if he regretted any of it, Minato could not tell.

‘...Hell with this.’ He thought to himself. He had to take the chance now that it was presented to him. Slowly he exposed himself from within the building and started cautiously approaching the Hydreigon, making no sudden movements so as not to startle him or come off as threatening in any way.

The Hydreigon"s center head snapped in his direction, fixing him with a look that Minato couldn"t tell was curious or hostile, for Hydra remained where he was, simply watching him, as if waiting to see what he wanted…

He stopped dead in his tracks when he was spotted, lifting his paws up to signal he didn’t mean any harm. “You can relax. I’m only here to talk.” He tried to assure the Hydreigon. “Just don’t give me a reason to attack, alright?”

Hydra tilted his head, a low rumble escaping from his throat as he kept his eyes on Minato. Behind him, Minato saw his friends peering out from cover but making no move to advance as they saw Hydra was not attacking. As riley as Kaen was at least he had the sense to not go charging in head first, and Serena could keep Tristan in check.

Minato dared to take another small step toward Hydra. “I know who you are, Hydra.” He further went on to say. “I know what you suffer from. I’m only here to try and help you, I swear.”

Hydra still didn"t speak, but his head twitched, his gaze starting to shift, losing its blankness and contorting, creases forming on his features. ‘Aw shit…’ Minato thought to himself, sliding a leg back and leaning against it to give himself more leverage in case he needed to dodge out of the way.

“Hydra, try to stay calm. Don’t let those destructive tendencies take over.” He tried to reason with him further. “I’d rather not cause a scene here.”

His head jerked to the side again, eliciting a hiss and turning away from Minato, clenching his eyes shut and snarling deeply as he paced up the street, trying to move away from the Lucario.

‘Seems like he’s having an internal battle with himself.’ He surmised mentally as he watched the Hydreigon scoot away from him, prompting Minato to take a few steps closer to him. “That’s it. Don’t let that other side of you take over. Like I said, I want to help you.”

The Hydreigon still did not speak, but he heard a whimper escape from him, wings twitching frantically as his other two "heads" clutched onto a lamp post, the metal creaking in protest as it caved under his grip. There was a consciousness in that mind, however weak though it seemed, constantly fighting with its own destructive tendencies. It occured to Minato that Calhoun"s only intent for Hydra had been to use him as a weapon, something to unleash upon his enemies and raise hell, but he lacked the intelligence -or at least the control, to hold himself in check.

Eventually, Minato was so close to the Hydreigon he could almost touch him. Slowly he extended paw to try and reach him, biting his bottom lip as he reached out to give him a reassuring pat on his back. “It’s okay...you don’t have to give in to your disorder every time it flares up.” He offered softly. “If you come with us quietly, we can offer you the best treatment possible for you, you have my word.”

But suddenly, the whimpering began to turn to laughter again, and Hydra began to shake, wings spreading as he looked over his shoulder at Minato, with a look that made his blood run cold. The control was gone, he knew, and it was all the warning he had before Hydra spun on him and threw himself at Minato, cackling maniacally. Minato cursed and threw himself back, rolling to avoid Hydra"s snapping jaws as he soared over him. Landing back on his feet, Minato turned and watched the Hydreigon flying into the air, only to wheel around and come back toward him...