This chapter was pretty enjoyable to write. There's a decent bit of emotion in there, which is important, but the plot is also advanced. Also, 51 favorites, 71 follows, and 9,000+ views? That's LEGENDARY, pun intended!

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ROYAL REDMOND, 25

It was still dark outside the window of my Jubilife City apartment when I was rudely awoken by my phone ringing.

Jubilife City, of course, had a certain reputation: It was supposedly the city that never slept, with lights on well into the early hours of the morning. But by 3 AM or so, the lights tend to dissipate, as does traffic on its thousands of streets. If the city were a person, its sleep schedule would be extremely unhealthy.

Before I could check the caller ID, I needed to get out of my bed, which felt extremely comfortable that morning thanks to how cold it was outside. A light snow had been falling yesterday evening, and lying in bed as a snowstorm occurs is one of the most joyous feelings in this world.

I slowly climbed out of bed, rather sluggish given that it was very early, and I unplugged my phone from its outlet. I saw that the caller was Felipe Matamoros.

Why would he be calling me at this hour? I know we're friends and all, but this had better be really important, because I need my beauty sleep too!

"Hello?" I asked groggily as I picked up the phone, trying not to sound angry.

"It's so nice to hear your voice, Royal," Felipe said from the other end. "After what I saw last night, I needed someone to talk to."

I hadn't bothered checking the lunar calendar recently, but I recalled that I'd seen a full moon last night. Given what Felipe had told me about his brother, I knew that he must be going through a rough time. I wanted to be as polite as possible.

"What's wrong?" I replied, trying to suppress a yawn. "It's not that I'm not happy to talk to you, but it's just such an ungodly hour. I apologize if I sound unfocused."

"It's fine. Like I said, I just wanted to talk to someone. Because, and I don't mean to sound overly dramatic, this is a burden I can't carry alone."

A burden he can't carry alone…this can't be good, can it?

"What happened last night?" I asked frantically. "What did you see?"

I could hear Felipe sigh on the other end, which led me to believe that he didn't want to reveal the truth. But I also knew that he trusted me, so the truth did come out.

"You're not going to believe this, Royal, but I infiltrated the local chapter of Team Skyward last night. I put on one of those suits and got into their cocktail party."

It was as though a nuclear warhead had gone off on the airwaves. "You did WHAT?"

"I know, I know, I must be insane," Felipe responded. "But it's something I felt I had to do. I visited Marcelo yesterday evening, before I went to the Skyward HQ, and he's a Lycanroc now. My poor kid brother."

All of my annoyance with Felipe for waking me up so early evaporated like water off a sidewalk. I knew now that he'd suffered in silence for several years as the sibling of a were-Lycanroc, and I couldn't appreciate how horrible that was. I couldn't comprehend it, precisely because I'd never experienced it.

"I'm so sorry you're going through that" I told Felipe. "If you ever need to call me for any reason, my line's always open."

"It's just so terrible. And I can't cure him…to be unable to help the one you care about is the worst thing ever. I hope you never have to go through it.``

Both of us were silent for a few seconds, but I broke this silence. "What about the cocktail party? Because I could use a party right about now."

Felipe chuckled sadly. "I don't think you would have liked it, Royal. It was pretty hot in there, and everyone had to wear a mask and tracksuit. Plus they discussed their plans there."

Although getting into the cocktail party had to have been no mean feat, Felipe didn't seem proud of himself for doing so. To me, it sounded almost like he wished he hadn't done it.

I was afraid to ask this question, but I did anyway. "What were their plans?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and I felt certain that Felipe didn't want to tell me. Of course, he also wasn't blind to the fact that sometimes, we have to do things we don't want to do.

When he spoke again, his voice was in danger of breaking. At any moment, he might burst into tears, and I was prepared to comfort him over the phone if necessary. That's what friends are for, after all, even when you're twenty-five.

"There's a village in central Sinnoh called Lycan Hollow, which is the only Lycanroc-only settlement in all of Sinnoh. They were going to conduct airstrikes on it."

I could hardly believe my ears. First of all, it was pretty startling to hear that Team Skyward even had the capability of conducting airstrikes. Fighter jets were supposed to belong to the government alone, so how could they have gotten hold of them?

My stomach dropped as I realized: Their leader is Jeff Monopoli, after all, and the man's got deep pockets.

I had no special connection to this village, but I very much wanted to believe that Felipe was wrong. He had to be lying, because the alternative was too horrible to even think about.

Ultimately, though, he had no reason to lie to me, and I knew it.

"No" I mouthed loudly as I processed this. "This can't be happening!"

"I didn't see any reason to think they were bluffing. The headquarters of their Hoenn branch are at an abandoned airport, so I'd think they would be able to do it. And they certainly have the motive, since they despise lycanthropes so much."

Of course, I'd been aware that Team Skyward was a hate group. I'd known full well that they had no qualms about resorting to violence on occasion. But I hadn't thought they would go this far.

"That's horrible" I told him, not knowing what else to say. "Are you going to call the police?"

"I already did, once I got out of the HQ" Felipe replied. "But if the airstrikes were going to be at 5 AM, the fighter jets would already have been heading north. It's a pretty long distance from Hoenn to Sinnoh."

I didn't want to admit it, but I had a good idea as to where this was going. Felipe trailed off after that, but he was only delaying the inevitable.

"So you're saying it's hopeless?" I asked him, not seeing any reason to hide how horrified I was.

"I mean", my friend responded, "it's not like the police have planes. Everyone always thinks of them as the solution to all our problems, but sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands."

"Don't do that again" I insisted. "Had you told me about your plan prior to executing it, I would probably be dead of a heart attack right now. I would have moved mountains just to stop you."

"You wouldn't have been able to. There's nothing in the world that would make me stop fighting them, other than death itself."

"If you keep doing reckless things like that, death will come for you sooner than you think!"

"So what? I don't want to neglect my obligation to make this world as good a place as possible for my brother. He's my brother."

I shook my head, then remembered that Felipe couldn't see me doing so. I was going to note that he wouldn't be able to do any good for Marcelo if he were dead, but I figured that saying this would only anger him.

Instead, I stayed silent until he spoke again.

"It's about half past four in the morning. The airstrikes will occur in half an hour, and any number of Lycan Hollow's residents will die. And we can't do anything to stop it."

"Then why the hell did you call?" I blurted out. "Felipe, all you made me do is feel worse than I needed to! I'd rather not know about the airstrikes!"

"I don't want to live in willful ignorance of what's going on, and I don't want you to either." Felipe's tone was far more measured than my own, and I felt bad for yelling at him.

"Look", I responded, trying to calm myself down, "there's nothing we can do about it now. It's just like you said. I'm not saying it isn't horrible what they're planning to do, but was it really worth calling me now?"

There was a beep on the other end, and within seconds, it was clear that Felipe had hung up.

I sighed as I sat back down on my bed. I was mentally kicking myself for having been so rude to my friend, to someone who just wanted someone to vent to. We'd remain colleagues, of course, but I feared our friendship might not be the same after that phone call.

Stop thinking about friendship; it's hardly the most important thing. We're both adults now, so the word "friendship" sounds childish.

On the other hand, Felipe really was insane, or at least reckless. No matter how brave I might have tried to be, I knew I'd never be able to do anything like that. Perhaps it wouldn't be smart to remain friends with someone willing to take these enormous risks.

At the same time, I was well aware of Felipe's motivations. I wouldn't forget his words any time soon: To be unable to help the one you love is the worst thing ever.

If I were in his position, I very well might have done the same thing. That was the scary part; brotherly love can cause one to do some extraordinary things, both good and bad.

Of course, the far more disturbing issue was the other reason Felipe had called me.

I'd never even seen a picture of Lycan Hollow, but I could imagine it in my mind. It must have been seen as a sanctuary of sorts, an idyllic mountain paradise where Lycanroc and Rockruff could live in safety, without fear of being targeted by either the government or hate groups like Team Skyward.

There was no telling how many Pokemon would be killed by the airstrikes. Regardless of the exact number, however, I knew one thing: Lycan Hollow's reputation as a safe zone would be obliterated.

That's the thing about a reputation: It takes a long time to build up trust, but said trust can be shattered practically overnight. And once it's gone, it doesn't come back.

CODY HARVARD, 19

It's a wonder how quickly you can move when you're running for your life. Before long, we had passed the parking lot that I'd been driven into a few weeks ago, and we eventually left the road so as to avoid detection.

The backpack over my shoulders felt very light; so light, in fact, that I kept worrying it had fallen off. The weight was barely there, but again, this was likely due to the adrenaline rush.

The snow was much deeper off the road, but this barely presented a hindrance to any of the three of us. We had no destination in mind, nowhere to go to, just away from the burning village of Lycan Hollow.

As we dashed through the thick white stuff, kicking up some powder with every step, we entered the forest. This came with its own pros and cons, which I didn't voice to either Bella or Jeremy; it was much more important to save our air for running.

While it would be easier to hide from Team Skyward in the woods, frustration might tempt the hate group to shoot a particular tree. I'd seen what their ammunition could do to a number of wooden buildings, so it would be rather trivial for them to start a forest fire if they wanted to, even amid the winter's cold.

Would they actually be willing to do that, though? Just how sociopathic are these people that we're dealing with?

At one point, as the sun began to rise, I realized something potentially important.

Now that we'd left Lycan Hollow, I should no longer have been in my Lycanroc form. After all, wasn't I only supposed to be a Pokemon when either in that village or during the full moon?

During the full moon was one of those options. And it's been about four weeks since I bit Bella, hasn't it?

It was absolutely insane to think about how it had only been a month. So much had happened during that time, and I was certain it would change my life forever.

After about two hours, I called for a break. We had covered a long distance by this time, and it was clear that Bella and Jeremy were beginning to flag. My own adrenaline, and by extension the energy it had brought me, was fading fast.

I stared at both of my companions, daring them to argue with me.

"If we stop now, we might not be able to continue, '' Bella said. Although she objected to taking a break, she was panting and leaning over, which essentially screams that one is tired.

"Same" Jeremy told me, huffing and puffing. "I don't even know where we're going!"

We stopped in a clearing to catch our breath; it was clear that I'd won the staring contest. We also took off our backpacks, hoping they wouldn't get too wet in the snow (though that was probably too much to ask for.)

Bella shot me an angry look. "Are you sure you have a destination in mind, Cody? Or are you just going to lead us through this forest like Torchic with our heads cut off?"

I considered lying, telling them that I did have a plan. Bella still probably wouldn't believe me, but Jeremy might. But if I wanted either of them, particularly the former, to trust me again, I had to be transparent.

"Confession time: I don't know where we're going. But there should be supplies in these backpacks, enough to last at least a couple of days."

"After that, then what?" Bella shot back. "Are we going to give up and find the nearest town? Is that even going to be possible when we're on the run?"

As she tore into me, I realized that I should have thought this plan through better. But there'd been no alternative, the way I saw it, from running away. Even if there was an alternative, there'd been no time to ponder it.

"Let's see what we have in the backpacks" I said, trying to change the subject. I wanted to deflect from the obvious reality that I didn't have a clue what I was doing.

Bella looked as though she were about to protest, but I opened my bag and began to take each item out one by one, naming them as I did so.

"I've got a map of Sinnoh here, a fat lot of good it'll do us. I also have a compass, what looks like a tent with a sleeping bag, and…are those dry clothes?"

Jeremy looked at me curiously. "Why would you need clothes? You're both Pokemon!"

I gave Jeremy a sheepish expression. Yeah, about that…

The Rockruff kid seemed to want an explanation, though, so I provided it.

"I'm not sure if I've told you this before, but basically, Bella and I aren't pure Lycanroc. We're were-Lycanroc, and we're only in this form during the full moon and when we're in the village. And it looks like there's no village to go back to."

I realized that the last sentence was probably a mistake on my part, for Jeremy began tearing up almost immediately after I'd finished speaking. He was staring down the barrel of the gun - the gun, in this case, being the possibility, even likelihood, that his parents were no longer in this world.

Lycan Hollow was all the Rockruff kid had ever known. And, in practically the blink of an eye, his life as he had known it was taken away from him. Just like that.

Bella gave me another annoyed look. "You could have been a lot more tactful, you know" she all but snarled. "No need to rub it in."

"I wasn't rubbing it in; I hate the truth as much as he does!" I exclaimed.

Sadly, it appeared as though the damage was done. Jeremy began bawling right then and there, and that made me feel almost as terrible as I had on Halloween night. And there was no way to make it right, no way to bring Jeremy's parents back if they were indeed gone.

There's no reason to kid myself like that. They're dead; the fire was going to spread further in the village, even with how cold it is. What a terrible way to go.

I sighed, having given up hope on defusing the situation. Instead, I made the following suggestion: "Why don't we set up camp here? We've been going for at least two hours straight, after all. We could use a bit of rest."

Bella frowned. "Are you sure you want to sleep now? Traveling by night sounds like a bad idea."

"I never said we would sleep. But as long as we're here, we might as well rest for a bit."

Jeremy didn't protest, but the Rockruff seemed inconsolable. This made me feel even worse about laying down the truth; even if it was the first thing he needed to hear, it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

As it turned out, there was also a tent in Bella's bag, meaning that one of us would have a tent to themselves. We agreed that this would be Bella, simply because her anger towards me was palpable, and if we stayed in the same tent, the end result wouldn't be pretty.

I'd never been much of an outdoorsman, and hadn't been able to pitch a tent to save my life. It was no doubt going to be even more difficult when I had four paws rather than two hands.

"Do either of you know how to set one of these up?" I asked Bella and Jeremy. "Because I could use some help here."

Neither of them responded, so it was clear that the answer was no. I sighed and got back to work.

It took the better part of an hour to get the first tent up, even with Bella trying to assist me. Our alliance was rather uneasy, and it may have been more of a hindrance than a help, but we were eventually able to put it together. Its stakes were driven into the thick snow rather than the dirt.

By this time I was soaked in even more sweat than before, and I knew this was bad news in such cold weather. Already, it seemed as though another storm might be on the horizon, judging by the numerous gray clouds moving in around the sun.

"You can take this tent," I told Bella. "You did help me with it, after all."

The expression the female Lycanroc gave me was an interesting one. I knew that we might never be friends again, but when she looked at me, there was an almost imperceptible smile on her face. Her eyes, on the other hand, were still stern.

"Thank you, Cody," she said in a rather cautious tone. And then she climbed into the tent, which thankfully did not collapse in on her.

I saw Jeremy still crying off to the side. He had hardly moved during the time Bella and I had spent setting up the tent.

"Hey, kid, put a sock in it" I told him.

Jeremy looked back up at me, tears streaming down his face. "Huh?"

"It means, please stop crying. It's not going to do you any good, because you can't change the past. Bad things happen to everyone; it's all about how you deal with them. That's what truly matters."

"My parents…".

"...would want you to survive this trip. They'd want you to be as safe as possible, no matter the cost. They laid down their lives to keep you safe, so do you want their sacrifices to be in vain? Or do you want to honor their final wish?"

Jeremy was still speaking through sobs. "I…of course I want to…honor my parents…it's just so…hard to accept…that they're not here anymore."

After every few words, there was another sniffle from the Rockruff kid, and I wondered if I was being too harsh on him. Sometimes tough love is necessary, but I felt terrible for having to dole it out.

"If you want to honor your parents, you can start by helping me set up our tent. I can't do it alone, you know."

I liked to think that I'd gotten some expertise after setting up the first tent with Bella, but it had mostly been sheer dumb luck. As much time as Jeremy spent outdoors running around, it was plain to see that he'd never been camping before. The latter required very different skills from what the kid was clearly used to.

Anyway, it took what felt like forever to pitch the second tent. It didn't help that Jeremy was shorter than Bella by a decent amount, meaning that I needed to do most of the reaching.

By the time we were finished, I could already hear the deep, even breathing coming from Bella in the other tent. I was rather shocked that she'd fallen asleep; she must have been more exhausted than she'd been letting on. Either way, though, it was none of my business.

The backpack Jeremy had been carrying also contained sleeping bags, so once we were inside the tent, I rolled them out to give us a place to lie down. I couldn't hear any fighter jets flying overhead, which surprised me.

Wouldn't they be trying to intimidate us, or worse still, actually kill us, by making their presence heard or shooting at us, respectively?

While I couldn't speak for Jeremy, I found that the lack of sound was even more ominous than its presence would have been. At any moment, they might come out of the blue and attack us, and we wouldn't be prepared for it. If they were going to shoot at us and burn up the forest, I would have liked a memo beforehand (not that one would have been forthcoming.)

Jeremy and I laid down on our sleeping bags, looking up at the roof of the tent. It was rather surreal to be lying down as though planning to sleep at this time of day, but stranger things had happened.

"Can I ask you something, Cody?" the Rockruff kid said eventually. He sounded as though he might cry again, but he'd evidently gotten ahold of himself better now.

"You may" I responded. I didn't even care if the question Jeremy asked me was a personal one, because as far as I was concerned, we were going to spend a lot more time with one another in the near future. I might as well get rid of my self-consciousness now.

"Okay then. Why do you and Bella hate each other so much?"

I felt as though I were about to vomit. The nausea was real, and I had to bite back bits of last night's dinner. I may have just promised myself that I'd answer anything, but this was an incredibly difficult subject for me to talk about.

I looked at the center of the tent's ceiling, where the sun's rays created a circle of light. The natural beauty of this region was immense, and I wished I could have experienced it under better circumstances.

And then I came back to Nexus, and I knew that Jeremy wanted an answer.

"It's a long story. It's also a complicated one, hard for me to tell. Do you really want to know?"

The Rockruff boy nodded. "Yes, I'm very curious. Please tell me what happened."

Well, at least he said "please." I guess that's good enough for me; I just hope Bella's not mad at me for telling him. But she's asleep right now, so she'll never have to know. How deep of a sleeper is she, though?

"Well then…".

It was hard to tell the story the way I wanted it to be heard. It felt like a veritable minefield, because I simply did not know what to say at times.

There's no reason to be that scared. It's not like he's going to use any of this against you. He's just a kid, after all!

Several times while relaying the story, I paused in order to allow Jeremy to process everything. As much as I wanted to be transparent with him, I also didn't want him to see me any differently than he had before.

Before all of this happened, Jeremy saw me as a potential playmate. He probably still does, even if I'm too old to play tag with him. I just hate that everything's gotten so much more complicated.

And to think…this had all happened because I'd forgotten to refrigerate my wolfsbane. It had resulted in one of the most catastrophic butterfly effects imaginable, since it had ruined both my life and someone else's.

"So the police are after you because you forgot to put your medicine in the fridge?" Jeremy asked me.

I chose my words very carefully. "I mean, kind of. Even after I'd made that mistake, I still had the chance not to bite Bella. I had the free will not to do it, even if it didn't feel like I did at the time."

"Oh" the Rockruff kid replied, sounding rather depressed. "But…you said it was a…what's that term again?"

"Red-out, some would say" I told him, laughing dryly. "But jokes aside, I don't see how I get out of this. It wasn't my fault; or at least, it shouldn't have been. The law just doesn't see it that way."

"But that's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Jeremy. I know that you want to make things right, but this is the real world we're living in."

Prior to today, I'd seen Jeremy as largely a hyperactive Rockruff kid. He was still all three of these things, but I also started to see that he was very idealistic in a way only someone his age or younger can be.

When an 11-year-old sees an injustice in the world, all they want to do is to remedy it. They tend to be quite optimistic, thinking there's a solution to every problem, until they learn that they must live in the real world. And in the real world, there's never a perfect solution to anything.

I deeply regretted my next words as soon as they left my lips.

"I would think that you'd know this more than most, since you just experienced life's unfairness for yourself."

I instantly knew I'd made a massive blunder, for Jeremy began bawling angrily. One of his paws was in a fist, and I worried that I would have to run for it.

"How dare you taunt me like that! I didn't do anything to deserve any of this!"

"I know you didn't" I said, trying to do some damage control. "That's why I'm saying that life isn't fair, because you don't deserve to have your parents gone. But sometimes life throws you curveballs, and you have to figure out how to hit them."

Jeremy was silent after that. He stopped bawling, but he still looked as though he were at risk of doing so at any moment. When it didn't appear that he had anything else to say, I continued speaking.

"Look, Jeremy. Can I give you some words of wisdom? I know I'm not an old man, and I'm certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can speak from experience."

The Rockruff kid didn't open his mouth, but tears were still running through his fur. I took that as a yes.

"When I was bitten five years ago, I thought my life was over. Certainly it had changed drastically for the worse. But there is life after a tragedy like that."

Too late, I realized that my lack of practice in social situations was showing. Since I'd largely been a hermit after being bitten, I'd gotten rather rusty in speaking to those outside my family. The residents of Lycan Hollow didn't count, since it felt like they were my family now.

And at least some of them are dead.

"It's not the same" Jeremy stated in between sobs. "At least you still have people who love you, but I've got nobody. And I'll continue to have nobody, because my parents are dead!"

By the end of the above words, Jeremy was practically wailing. I half expected Bella to get out of her tent and yell at us to keep it down. This didn't happen, however, so I kept talking.

"My parents are still alive; I'm not going to deny that" I replied. "But here's the thing: After I infected Bella with lycanthropy, they no longer seemed to love me as much. It's understandable, really, but it still hurts."

"Again, not the same" the Rockruff responded with what seemed to be mild rage. "You can still talk to them if you want to, but I can't."

I knew that mine and Jeremy's situations weren't perfectly identical, but I still believed that my words could help him. Although I'd never seen myself as much of a therapist, sometimes you just have to do what you can.

"I'd thought my family life was over. I spent a couple days in jail, which were miserable. But when I came back to Lycan Hollow, everybody accepted me for who I was. In spite of what I'd done. That's what a family does."

"I still don't understand."

I narrowed my eyes, but not in an angry manner. "Jeremy, your village embraced me wholeheartedly. Everyone there feels like family. And if your parents are gone, which again, we don't know that yet, I'm your family now. And so is Bella."

Jeremy frowned. "You're sure about that? Because you and Bella don't get along at all."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess we're more like divorced parents. We might not love each other, but we're still your parents. Although we're not actually your parents…you know what? Never mind."

There might have been the slightest hint of a smile on the Rockruff's face. His eyes were still wet with tears, but it seemed my pep talk of sorts had lifted his spirits, at least somewhat.

We lay there in silence for a few more minutes before Jeremy asked, "What happens now?"

"Well, we'll probably get some rest for a couple of hours" I responded matter-of-factly. "Hopefully the snow doesn't seep into the tent; our fur getting wet like that would be miserable."

"And then what?"

I forced a smile at him. "After that, we'll take down our camp and get back on the road. Or rather, back into the woods."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "That's the worst joke I've ever heard."

"I wasn't trying for one."

After another sigh, Jeremy asked, "Should we have someone keep watch?"

I shook my head. "I don't see the point. It's not like we'd have any way to escape if we did see the fighter jets coming in. Besides, all three of us need the rest."

I closed my eyes and rolled over onto my side. That was how I slept: In the fetal position, whether I was a human or a Lycanroc.

Although I didn't have anything to use as a pillow, it didn't take long for sleep to claim me.

I'm having a great time writing this story; as of right now, I'm on Chapter 30 and still going strong.

I hope you all will rate and review this story, and I'll see you guys in five days for Chapter 27 of Werewolves of Sinnoh!