Author's Note: Hello, and sorry if I don't update in a while, but I'm in the middle of taking some serious tests at school. Anyways, sorry to all who think that the ending is a little too dark. Also, I'd like to clarify something: if you turned in an OC earlier, its role in the story is more important. The OCs I've gotten so far, in order, are - Evan (Xorobukkit), Anubis and Vixi (November Red Angel), Kevin (imsurprisedthisnameisnttaken), and Felix (Polar333). These OCs were requested early in the story, so they will each hold significance to the story. Thank you guys for you contributions, they really help the story grow! Without further ado, enjoy the show!

At the Wigglytuff Guild, Hazel, Dusty, Katty, Darkfang, Anubis and Vixi had just returned from a mission in Drenched Bluff. They had gotten a reviver seed as a reward from the turtwig that needed rescuing.

Chatot then came into the room. "Team Destiny, I am happy to announce that you have reached bronze rank. You get a bigger room and 500 poké," he said, giving Hazel a stack of coins.

(Hazel: Basically, 'new room' means our old room somehow gets bigger.)

Before Chatot left, he looked at the team sadly. "Also... I'm sorry that Carlos betrayed your trust."

The team silently went to their new room. It definitely had more space, and even a few more beds: about 16 of them.

Hazel sighed and laid down on her bed. Katty laid down next to her. "Are you okay, sweetie?" she asked.

Hazel shook her head. "No, he lied to me... he lied to all of us... HE'S A JERK!" she screamed, looking at Katty, who was shocked to see so much hatred from Hazel. Dusty looked at her sympathetically. "Yeah, he betrayed us all..."

Darkburn just sighed. "Guys, this is stupid... I mean, could Carlos even be capable of

killing-"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP YOU STUPID CRIMINAL!" Hazel screamed, making everyone in the room flinch in fear. "THAT FREAKING TRAITOR BROKE MY HEART! I TRUSTED HIM, I ADORED HIM, I EVEN LOVED HIM! AND LOOK AT WHAT HE DID!"

(Katty: *sighs* Hazel's been acting this way ever since Carlos got arrested. Now all she feels is hatred towards him, and her anger apparently made her the new team leader.)

Everyone looked at Hazel in fear. "I... I think you might need to be alone," Darkfang said, motioning for Anubis and Vixi to follow him outside.

"Why did you want us to come out here with you?" Vixi asked as they were in the hallway. Darkfang looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Look, I don't think that Carlos was the one who killed the king. Do you guys?"

Anubis and Vixi shook their heads. "It's impossible. Carlos was with us from the moment you guys left to when we got to the end of Steam Cave," Vixi said.

"Vixi's right," Anubis added. "Carlos was with us the whole time. Even when we slept, there's no way he could've gone to Wesali and back that quickly."

"Exactly! Which is why we need to go to the prison to visit Carlos tomorrow," Darkfang told them, making them gasp. "Visit... a prison? Are you crazy?" Vixi said quietly. "No, I'm not," Darkfang retorted. "If we want to help him, we need to take action! And I know other pokemon who know Carlos well..."

Carlos, Ruby, Sally, Blake, Kevin, Hailey, and Felix were currently in the mess hall, eating oran berry slices and cheri pie.

"Mmm," Carlos said, savor into the taste of the pie, "it's hard to believe that this kind of stuff is served to prisoners."

Blake nodded. "Yeah, you'd think that they would feed us gruel... anyway, why don't we all become friends?"

"Sounds good to me," Ruby and Sally both said in unison.

"So, Carlos, how could someone like you get in prison?" Blake asked.

Carlos looked sad. "Well... you see, I have an exploration team called Team Destiny. After one of our adventures, they saw a paper that apparently said that I killed the king of Wesali. I thought my friends would back me up, but they encouraged my arrest. I guess they're not real friends after all."

Blake looked surprised. "You were framed for murder? So were we!"

"Really? What happened?" Sally asked.

FLASHBACK (Blake's POV)

So, me and the others were exploring some mystery dungeon when we all made it to a clearing.

"All right, guys, I think we may have cornered that outlaw," I said.

"I wanted to go alone..." Felix said in a sort of annoyed way.

"Come on, Felix," I said, trying to get him to lighten up a bit, "we're a team. I know you like doing things solo, but everything's better when we're all together."

"Oh, what a touching scene," we heard a sarcastic voice say. We looked around but we couldn't find the pokémon that was talking.

"Who's there?" Hailey asked.

"Show yourself, coward!" Kevin demanded. Suddenly, we all had to dodge an incoming shock wave. We looked to the source of the attack, which was a female shinx.

"Gee, did I scare you?" the shinx asked in mock sympathy.

"Now we've got you, crook!" Kevin shouted as he lunged at the shinx, who elegantly dodged it. "How uncouth. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Sharese," the shinx who was apparently named Sharese said.

"What do you want?" I asked, hoping to get some answers on why she led us there.

"Oh, nothing... just wanted to do... THIS!" she shouted, throwing cheri berries at us. She then squeezed the juice out of one of the berries and rubbed it on her stomach. She then laid down on her back and closed her eyes.

Me and the others were confused as to what she was doing. "What... just happened?" I asked.

"Who cares? We apprehended her!" Kevin said as he looked up at the sky dreamily. "Imagine what Charolette will think..." Just then, Sherriff Magnezone arrived.

The only problem is, seeing Sharese's stomach covered in a red liquid and seeing our claws with the same liquid kind of gave him the wrong idea.

"And that's pretty much how we got here," Blake finished.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Ruby said, clearly sad for the pokémon.

"We're you guys an exploration team?" Sally asked.

Blake nodded. "Yeah, we were called Team Infinity. We were the perfect combination of pokémon: I was the stealth expert, Kevin was the brawn, Hailey was the mediator, and Felix was the brains."

Carlos, meanwhile, was lost in thought, realizing who had brought Blake and his team to jail. "The shinx that framed you was called Sharese?" he asked Blake to clarify. Blake nodded.

Carlos mentally slapped himself. "Of course! It all makes sense now!" he thought.

"Carlos, is anything the matter?" Hailey asked.

Carlos nodded. "Yes. You know Sharese? She's the reason I'm here, too!" Everyone gasped upon hearing this. Kevin clenched his fists. "Sharese is doing way too much damage. When I get my hands on her..."

"Calm down, Kevin," Hailey told him, immediately calming him. "Carlos, are you 100% sure that Sharese is the one that framed you?"

Carlos nodded before taking a wanted poster of 'him', which was conveniently in the cafeteria. "Just look. Sharese is about the same height as me, and she has the same body structure..."

"That's true, but what about her yellow color?" Kevin asked.

"Simple: she used sitrus berry extract in order to make special yellow dye. As for why the picture is sparkling, it could've been that Sharese embedded tiny crystals in her fur. The crystals' material would have reflected light, creating a brief glow," Carlos explained.

Everyone seemed impressed with Carlos' logic. "That's a really good point. You should use that information to clear your name," Blake told him before looking down. "Too bad we don't have proof for ourselves..."

Carlos thought for a moment. Blake and his friends were really nice people, and they didn't deserve to be treated with disrespect. He wanted to help them, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Man, I wish there was some way I could help you, Blake," he said. "I mean, I know exactly how you feel."

Blake sniffled a bit. "You do?"

"Yeah. I have my own exploration team - Team Destiny. We're kind of rising stars in Treasure Town," Carlos told him.

"It's true. Carlos was actually able to singlehandedly defeat Primal Groudon," Ruby added, giving Carlos a pat on the back. Sally looked stunned. "Seriously? You actually beat him by yourself!?"

Carlos nodded in pride.

"Wow... that's impressive," Blake said. "I wish I would've known that before I picked on you," he added sheepishly.

Carlos took another bite out of his pie. "That's another thing... if you were in an exploration team, then why do you pick on other people?" Blake looked down in shame. "The thing is... I tried to explain to my guild that we didn't do anything, but they didn't disagree with Magnezone. In fact, they encouraged our arrests! Some friends they are..."

"Yeah, I know how you feel. My best friends encouraged my arrest," Carlos said in an attempt to make Blake feel better.

"If they wanted you to go to prison as a teenager, then they don't sound like best friends after all," Blake told him.

Carlos then brought up something else to talk about. "Hey, speaking of which, how old are all of you, because I'm 15."

"I'm 18 years old," Blake began.

"I'm 24, but you already knew that," Ruby said.

"I'm 17," Sally said.

"I'm also 17," Hailey said.

"I'm 16," Kevin said enthusiastically.

"17..." Felix muttered quietly.

Suddenly, a bell rang throughout the room.

"Looks like dinner is over," Blake said, a hint of sadness remaining in his voice.

Soon, everyone was back in their cells. Magnezone came into the hallway and stopped when he reached the cell that Carlos, Ruby and Sally were in. "BZZT! PRISONER CARLOS HAS VISITORS! COME WITH ME TO THE DISCUSSION ROOM!" he buzzed, taking Carlos out of the cell and leading him to another room.

When they arrived, the room was in bad shape. The walls were only gray bricks, and a glass window separated one side of the room from the other. On the other side of the glass, however, Carlos saw Darkfang, Anubis, Vixi and Team Poképals.

"YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO TALK!" Magnezone said as he left the room. Carlos instantly ran towards them. "Guys, you're here!" he exclaimed happily.

"Of course. We weren't going to leave you lonely here," Piplup said.

"Actually, this may astound you, but a lot of the prisoners are really cool," Carlos told them. "They're just nice, misunderstood pokémon."

"Exactly!" Darkfang said. "Anyways, Carlos, we know that you're not the one who killed the Wesalian King."

"Yeah, it was Sharese!" Carlos replied.

Team Poképals looked confused. "Who's Sharese?" Chimchar questioned

"She's a mysterious shinx that ambushed us in Apple Woods. She wanted to take me, but me and Hazel beat her. When she got up, she gave us the perfect apples we needed to get," Carlos explained to them. Chimchar did not look amused. "Wow, she did the exact opposite of what Team Skull did."

"Okay, and who's Team Skull?" Carlos asked.

"They were an exploration team that hated us and took every chance they had to humiliate us," Piplup said.

Carlos understood. "Ah. They're your Team Ember."

Darkfang took this time to talk. "Speaking of team Ember, we encountered them when we found Fogbound Lake."

Carlos sighed. "Man, those guys are relentless..."

"Guys, I hate to interrupt, but how do we help Carlos?" Vixi asked.

Carlos thought for a moment. Vixi was right. They needed a way to free him. Something big. All of a sudden, an idea hit him.

"Oh, my Arceus! I just came up with the best idea ever!" he said. The six pokémon huddled to the best of their ability due to the glass, and Carlos told them the plan.

"Wow, that IS an awesome plan..." Anubis said.

"But do you think it'll work?" Piplup inquired. Carlos nodded. "Of course. I'm sure the prisoners would be more than willing to cooperate." Just as Carlos finished his sentence, Sherriff Magnezone floated into the room. After saying their goodbyes, the two visiting teams left and Magnezone escorted Carlos back to his cell.

"So? What happened?" Sally asked.

"My team and Team Poképals came to visit," Carlos replied. Suddenly, they all heard someone crawling loudly through the vents.

"What was that?" Sally asked. "Maybe it was a rattata."

"Maybe it was a tumbleweed," Ruby offered.

"Maybe it was Balloon Boy," Carlos said. Ruby and Sally looked at him with perturbed expressions. "Sorry. I'll check it out," Carlos said as he climbed the bunk beds and jumped into an opening in the vent, crawling after whatever was making the noise.

After Carlos was gone, Ruby turned to Sally sternly. "Now that Carlos is gone, tell me what's wrong."

Sally shook her head defiantly. "No. It's too bad to hear."

Ruby sighed and walked up to Sally. "Sally, we're best friends. We'd walk through countless natural disasters for the sake of our friendship and you know it. You can tell me anything."

Sally looked at her for a bit before sighing in defeat. "If that's what you want." She took a deep breath before preparing herself to say it. "...there's gonna be a massacre."

Ruby was taken aback by what she had just heard. "What?" Sally sighed again and sat down on her bed, motioning for Ruby to do the same. When they were both seated, Sally took a deep breath. "Let me start from the beginning..."

Meanwhile, Carlos was having a hard time crawling through the vent system. When he turned a corner, he saw a mechanical boy who had clown shoes, red and blue striped clothing, a creepy smile and a red balloon in his hand. They stared at each other for a little bit.

"I KNEW IT!" Carlos shouted, his voice echoing through the system. The mechanical boy shook his head and pointed to a vent behind him, which had a hole in it, revealing Blake, who was typing on some large digital object.

Carlos nodded in understanding. "Oh. Thanks," he said, shaking the boy's hand before they each parted ways. When Carlos jumped out of the vent, Blake turned around in alarm, but then sighed in relief when he saw who it was.

"Man, you almost gave me a heart attack," Blake muttered as he kept typing. Then he did a double-take when he saw what was in Carlos' paw. "Is that a balloon?"

Carlos looked at the balloon and nodded.

"Where on earth did you get a balloon?" Blake asked with curiosity.

"The magical boy in the vent," Carlos stated bluntly.

"...sure, let's go with that," he said, continuing his typing.

"So, what exactly are you doing here?" Carlos asked. Blake stopped typing for a bit and turned to Carlos. "Oh, didn't I mention? I'm also a hacker. This over here is the prison's security mainframe. It holds all of the prisoners' top secret files, the jail's layout-"

"Does it show the food schedule?" Carlos asked anxiously.

Blake scoffed. "Why do you think we keep getting good food?" he asked rhetorically as he kept typing things. Suddenly, he came across something new.

"Update? That wasn't there before," he mused as he clicked on it, revealing some sort of document. Blake briefly read it and stopped, staring at the document in horror. Carlos looked at the document to see what Blake was so scared of, and he had the same reaction.

Suddenly, they heard someone open the door. Thinking fast, Blake shut down the computer and the two pokémon made a jump for the vents in the blink of an eye.

When the door opened, Magnezone came in, taking a key and leaving.

In the vents, Carlos and Blake sighed in relief. Then their faces turned grim.

"Did you see what I see?" Blake asked shakily. Carlos nodded. "Yeah. I'd better go tell the girls," he said solemnly as he crawled through the vents and back to his own cell, where he saw Ruby and Sally looking sad.

"Did you hear about it, too?" Ruby asked, noticing how sad Carlos was.

"Yeah. I can't believe that Magnezone is just gonna kill us all," Carlos said sadly.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," Sally said. "That's just the way the world-"

"No," Carlos said, standing up. "I've heard enough of that phrase. The world isn't like that. We're innocent and it knows it. Now it's time for us to believe!"

Ruby and Sally were still confused. "Carlos, what are you saying?" Ruby asked.

Carlos looked at them and smirked. "We're having a jailbreak."

Author's Note: ...dark, huh? Anyways, for you younger viewers, I hope that didn't scare you. Look forward to the next chapter! BTW, I'm thinking of making a fanfic that's just for the purpose of viewers to ask the characters questions about this fanfic. Your thoughts? Should I do it?