I am not used to hiding. I used to be a symbol of peace, of light and guidance. But my actions have destroyed my reputation. I wanted so badly to let Pokémon into our world, for humans and Pokémon to love each other and embrace the spirit of this world that has fallen into our lap. Since my dome fell, we have been looted, attacked, and chased from our homes by either of the opposing parties. The elitists and Extinctionists both use the Harmonists as a punching bag, and to put it as blatant as possible, use us to train their armies. They know we are not strong enough to make a stand. But we sure as hell try. Pallet has been reduced to only a few families. The gardens that once were lush and green and beautiful, have no returned to their desolate state they were in after we emerged from underground years ago. Red often comes by still to check on me and Eevee. All of the other Pokémon ran away, but Eevee and Red had a special bond.

One day Red came by and took Eevee out on a run. I told him it was dangerous, but he seemed not to care. That boy's skin is so thick, it is unimaginable. His whole life he has only known death and despair, that this was not impacting him as much as his mother or myself. He knows nothing of the way things used to be. Before the accident Kanto was so lively with festivals and gardens. The other regions were at least around. Johto now only exists as a military base for the Extinctionist Party, mostly the people of Johto were already for those ideals. If they weren't, they jumped on the bandwagon, or were executed. The same goes for Hoenn. The Hoenn region is where the Elite Party set up their base. Kanto is considered the Harmony Party base, but we do not have an army to train, we only run and hide and fight them off when we can. If either of these two parties take control over Kanto, they would rule over all of what is left of the world. The Harmony Party needs to step up and rather than defending our beliefs, we must actually try to win this war, or it will be the end of peace forever. I haven't left my office for the few weeks that our dome has been down. We need a plan but it is near impossible to escape. At this point, I have accepted this as my tomb. I can never escape.

I have intercepted a broadcast from the Extinctionists. They will be attacking tonight. With nothing to lose, I figured I could make any difference that I choose. Let them come, and them burn.

Life has been dim for the past few weeks. Just like my early childhood. I have gotten used to this feeling so it is not much of a bother to me anymore. Oak has not left his office, I have not seen him, only heard him whenever I went to see Eevee. My mom doesn't say much. We help each other hide in our basement whenever either of the enemy parties attack. She feels empty. I can tell. I do not know much else in my life. I have had only a few years of mild peace when Pallet was shut in and prosperous. In only a few weeks, everything we have built has been destroyed. A lot of people have left Pallet, the ones who didn't wish they have. We couldn't we felt safer at home because we had no idea what was beyond those shattered gates. Each night we have no idea if we will become prisoners of war, or dead.

I am the only one left in Pallet that is not constantly depressed. I am not affected by the darkness that surrounds what is left of this town.

I woke up with the sun shining through my window, Snow was on the ground. I hate days where it is sunny but still freezing. It gives a false hope. Most of the smoke from attacks has died down, so it was actually clear outside. I went downstairs my mom was making breakfast in silence. The TV was on but muted. I saw on the screen an army of extinctionists marching with giant guns in their arms. The headline read: "Extinction Party Marches South". We were expecting another attack. They aren't even trying to hide it. They know we don't have much to lose, there were only about 50 people in their squad heading towards us. By morning Pallet will become owned by Extinctionists. The darkest part of the images I saw on the screen, were some of my old neighbors who I grew up seeing every day, actually leading the army that was coming to kill my mother, myself, and Oak.

"Turn that off Red". My mother spoke in a way I never heard before.

"Mom, I am fine, I can handle it. We can make it through this one just like all the others."

"Don't talk back to me Red! Turn the fucking TV off!" her voice shook my spirit, I was suddenly thrown into the pit of reality of how big this really was. All it took was for my mom to be mad at me for the first time in all of my life. The feeling of un-comfort towards my mom was new, and disgusting. I felt sick as her words nearly brought me to tears. I do not get as emotional as I used to. I can handle situations, I protect my mom, and I stand at the front of fights to make her feel safe. Just as she used to for me. As I get older I rely on her less, but I still love her just as much, if not more. She relies on me now. I get our food, I fix our home, I do everything for her and she does everything for me.

"I am sorry I snapped Red, I love you" She takes me into her arms and I let a single tear fall off of my cheek.

"It is okay, I understand". I dry my eyes and bring back my composure.

Breakfast tasted good, but felt hollow. I did not feel my body energize as it normally does after a good meal. I knew that it was possibly my last meal. I will fight tonight. I am not going to just sit back and allow myself to be taken. And I will not let my mom die. I need to find Oak and get him to help me fight.

I kiss my mom on the forehead and tell her that I am going to go get Oak. I threw on my coat and start towards his building. It started raining. The sky was so grey that it was almost black. The snow under my shows was becoming slush with the freezing rain being dumped from the sky. I started to run. At any point we will be attacked. I had no idea when that recorded newscast was actually recorded. It could have been an hour ago, or it could have been almost a day ago. There was no way to tell. A few times I almost slipped and fell in the slush. My feet were nearly frozen solid. I could hardly control my legs. They felt numb. I could not distinguish fear from pain due to the cold. I think it was a mixture of both.

I finally reached the town square. I was close to his building. Just as I was about to dash through the center to the other-side of town, I noticed a light off in the other direction. I hid behind the remains of what used to be a store. It was the Extinctionists. That means the newscast was older than I thought. I could see the flashlights of the enemy coming closer. There was no time. It was too late. There would be no fight, no battle, only survival. They approached the gates and pulled out a set of charges, locked them onto the gate, and stepped back. The gates blew open. This was my only chance to try to make a break for it. I stood up and my vision went grey. I was running blind, hoping I wasn't seen and gunned down before I could make it. I slid behind a wall in front of Oak's laboratory. I was soaked. Covered in water from the rain, and ice from sliding everywhere. My whole body was numb from the cold.

I poked my head up to see if I was clear to make it to the front door. I could see them standing in their formation in the very center of town square. I saw a megaphone being passed from the back to the man leading the pack.

"We are giving everyone here one last chance to give in and join our cause! Tonight there will be no prisoners, only new tributes, or new corpses."

My heart sank into my chest. This was it. I need to find safety for the people I love. Oak and my mom need to get out of here and I will help cover them. But again, I was too late. As I approached Oaks building. A megaphone shot out a horrifying message.

"Extinctionists! You have come to take what is ours. But what you don't know is that you can never have what we've built. You can burn our city, and kill my people. But you will never have our souls. Our souls will go in peace because tonight, you will not be taking our lives, we will be taking yours, as well as our own."

I could see Oak standing on the roof of the building, thick strands of wire circled the building and wrapped around its entirety. He was holding a device with in his hands that connected all of those wires together. After the echo left the walls of the broken buildings, nothing could be heard except for freezing rain drops hitting the floor, and stone. I pushed through, running harder and faster. His door was locked.

I braced myself and smashed through the glass, and started for the stairs.

"I have to stop him" I thought "I cannot let him blow himself up. He cannot break himself down to their level and give them what they want. Eevee saw me and started off after me. He jumped into my arms and I started carrying him. We made it up a few flights to about the 4th floor. The roof was above the 9th. All of the windows on the fourth floor were open. We had to get across the room to get to the second flight of stairs to get us to the top. I got halfway across the room before I stopped.

"The captain always goes down with his ship. In this case it is my town. I had so much faith in my people and for the world to become a better place. But I went too far. I made my people suffer the ultimate price."

I took off again.

"I cannot let him do this"

I burst through the door on the roof and Eevee jumped out of my arms.

"Oak stop this!"

"Red I am sorry, I let everyone down, and I must do this. It is what I deserve"

"No it is not! This is not what you want! Think of what this town meant to you, think about all of our accomplishments!"

The rain was much more intense on the roof. I could not tell if I was shaking from freezing or out of fear. Here I stood, on the roof of Oak's Lab, rigged with explosives. Trying to get him to not blow up the town just to make a statement.

"Red, I've always admired you. But it is over. For both of us." He turned towards me, facing away from the ledge. "But you cannot be so stupid as to not see that this is the end. We are done. Nobody gives a damn about science, or about humanity."

The soullessness in his eyes was all too real. I could tell his mind was already made up. My eyes teared up this time. And now I was definitely shaking out of fear. Eevee jumped into my arms.

My voice lowered, sounding more desperate. "Please Oak, think of Eevee. Think of me, hell think of my mother. You two were inseparable. I could tell you two actually loved each other. I didn't say anything because I wanted it to happen. You were already like a father to me and I love you like a father. Please don't do this!"

In a split second a shot rang out through the air, piercing all sound. A bullet went straight through him. His stomach turning red.

He fell to his knees, placed his hand over his stomach and looked at the blood. He looked back up at me. "I'm sorry Red" Tears filled his eyes as he slammed the button on his device. He fell dead on the floor, and the building began to shake. I stood frozen as the sound of explosions around me on the roof burned the hair on my neck. Eevee bit my leg to snap me out of my fear induced trance. I started to run back towards the stairwell door, Eevee right behind me. We made it to the second floor with the building in flames and concrete falling everywhere, almost crushing us with every step. We got to the end of the stairwell that led to the first floor, but the stairs had fallen. I had to jump. I jumped and landed on my feet, but the momentum crippled my knees under my weight, making my arms hit the floor. I rolled over and got up and turned to Eevee. He was about to jump, but a wall of flame swallowed him as he leapt. He flew as a fireball across the room and that fire ball hit a wall, adding to the destruction. I didn't know what to do, if I should try to save him or save myself. I decided to save myself. I started towards the door when the fireball that engulfed Eevee burst into a small explosion. It knocked me down. And I blacked out. I woke up a few moments later. I opened my eyes and the rain was falling down, harder now. I could not figure out how I got outside. I looked over towards the burning ruins that used to be a state of the art scientific lab. Nothing that just happened was real. Oak killed himself to try to kill the Extinctionists that came to attack us. I am not sure if it worked or not. I don't feel real. I had just lost the closest thing I had to a father. I looked around for Eevee. Then I remembered he didn't make it out.

Something caught my eye. A small perfectly shaped flame was poking out behind a section of uprooted concrete and steel. It quickly disappeared. It was then replaced by part of a face. It was Eevee's face. Eevee was alive, he was huddled underneath some ruble, shielding himself from the rain. But it wasn't really Eevee. The intense heat made Eevee evolve into Flareon! I couldn't believe it. Eevee had not only survived the blast, but he evolved and then saved me from being burned alive in the inferno. The entire time that Pallet has accepted Pokemon, I knew I would never have a Pokemon of my own. But it was nice to hang out with Eevee. He was already my best friend, and times have changed. He will now be by my side all of the time, forever. I decided that Flareon is now my own Pokémon. I had to take him, he had nowhere to go. He needs me and honestly, I need him. I pulled a Pokeball I had to study out of my backpack and put Flareon in it to shield him from the rain. I have to go to my mom and make sure she is okay.

I could see that the blast did in fact kill a few Extinctionists, but not enough to make an impact on the fight. I still can't wrap my head around what Oak had done, and how I almost died with him. The Extinctionists were searching houses. There would either be people pulled out and shoved into trucks, or there were gunshots. There would then be a small explosion as the house was destroyed. I got worried. My mom was alone. I left her all alone. I should have been smarter than that. I suck past a few of them until I got to the field by my house. I saw a handful of them walk out of my house. My heart jolted into my throat. The pulse in my throat was so intense, I almost threw up. My legs stumbled and I fell. I lay in the mud and watched as they set charges on the door, and blow it up.

I looked down into the mud and ice, tears in my eyes. I fought to stand up and started limping as fast as I could towards my home. The Extinctionists got in their truck and drove off. My breath was short, I could not tell if I was more angry, or mortified. Again my vision was grey and blurry, I felt as though I was going to pass out. The rain was so heavy it hurt my skin. My mind was so numb that the sound of the rain also hurt my ears. The pulse in my ears matched the one in my throat. I reached the pile of dust, soot, and rubble that once was my house. I was in utter disbelief. I stared waiting for something to change in the imagery that I saw.

"PLEASE NO, I CAN'T LOSE YOU!" I cried out. I felt my voice cut short with the lack of oxygen in my lungs, and the heavy soundproofing of the pounding rain. Thunder cracked above me and lightning lit up the night sky in a web of blue and purple. I saw movement.

"MOM!" She was alive.

I limped to the spot where I saw movement and started flinging rocks and boards out of the way. Trying desperately to find her. I lifted a large concrete brick, which exposed my mother, trapped under rubble.

"Mom! It's me! I'm here!"

"Red, I am trapped I can't move!"

I tried to lift the rocks and other rubble that was pinning her down. I couldn't. They were too heavy, they wouldn't budge. I got frustrated and scared I would grab objects and smash the boulders with them. I was desperate. Tears welled up and rolled off of my cheeks from both eyes.

"No, I can't lose you too!"

I went back to trying to lift, her hand fell on my arm.

"Red, stop"

"Mom, no! We can get you out of here."

"Red listen to me. I can't go any further, even if you can get me out of here, we won't make it to the hospital fast enough, and I won't make it. I can already feel myself starting to go."

"Mom...-"

"Red, please, just go. I want to die alone. It is the way I was destined to go. I can't let you watch me die. You have seen enough death in your life. Please don't let mine be one of them."

"I am not leaving you! Please we can get you out of here we can be safe, you can make it"

I was beyond desperate. I was hurting myself trying to get the rubble off of her.

"Red, I love you. More than anything, I love you. I know you can do great things and turn this world around. I wish your dad was here. He would be so proud of everything you have done. But now it is time for you to be brave." I took her hand "Be brave for me Red, Make me proud. I-.." She grimaced in pain and coughed. Blood dripped from her mouth.

"I-…I love you Red. You made my life worth living. Now go live yours. Make everyone else's lives worth it. Go, be brave. I love you."

Her grip got weaker, until she let go. Her head fell limp. She was gone. I lashed out in rage. I ran out into the middle of our field and fell to my knees in the mud. The rain falling all around me. The rain started to let up. I sat there in the mud on my knees staring at the ground. The rain stopped. I looked up at the sky. I had just lost the most important person in my life. I imagine I would be much more upset. But in reality, I just felt numb. I couldn't feel a thing. I was in pure shock.

I knew I had to leave. I had to find shelter somewhere. I took Flareon's ball out of my bag and let him out. He looked up at me. He knew. He pulled on my pant leg signaling me to move. He was right. We had to leave. I just couldn't live with the fact I am leaving the only place I had ever known. Leaving my mother's body in our destroyed home. I felt physically sick. It made me throw up. I looked down at the rubble in my front yard. I saw something shining through the mud. It was my mother's wedding ring. I picked it up and tied it to a thin strand of rope in my backpack and tied it to my neck, and tucked it into my shirt. Flareon started walking towards the gates. And I followed. I stopped at the exit of pallet and turned around. I stared into the darkness of the city. Smoke and ash floated in the air. Flareon pulled on me again. Pallet has been reduced to rubble. Everything that we had built has been destroyed. Science did not matter anymore. I need to make this better. I need to survive. I turned towards the road and began walking towards Viridian City, with Flareon by my side.