We'll call this the silver chapter of Werewolves of Sinnoh, since a 25th wedding anniversary is a silver anniversary. And it's quite a doozy, in my view.

I would like to thank everyone who's been reading, whether you've been following from the very beginning or if you just found this tale of werewolves. This chapter, which pushes Werewolves further into the title of longest SnowLabrador fanfiction, is dedicated to all of you. Enjoy it.

CODY HARVARD, 19

The game was over fairly quickly. Since I was scared to get close to an opposing player, I kept my distance. I never crossed the line into the blue team's side, which, as it turns out, isn't a good strategy if you want to get the hero moment in Capture the Flag.

Fortunately, it didn't matter. Within less than half an hour, one of the female Lycanroc with a red ribbon tied around her ankle came barreling towards the boundary. I saw it happen; even though she was holding the blue team's flag in her mouth, it was easy to see that she was beaming with pride.

As such, we won the game. I'd won by doing absolutely nothing, which made me feel a bit guilty for not contributing. That being said, it was all a game, and at least the other members of my team would be in a good mood. That was the most important thing.

I hope that includes Bella too.

Once we were out of the woods, both literally and figuratively, I pulled Bella aside. I stood away from the rest of the crowd, which included the two teams who had yet to play their game, and beckoned for her to follow me.

"Where are we going? And why does it have to be apart from everyone else?"

I could understand her worry about being alone with me; it had been less than a month since this had ended so catastrophically for her (and for me as well, but I wasn't going to play the victim.) That being said, I meant her no harm, and I hoped she would understand that.

"I just don't want the others to hear. But I'm not going to bite you again, I promise."

"Fine," Bella replied flatly. "But keep it quick."

Once we were out of earshot of the remaining teams, I felt my heart race. I knew that this conversation was going to be awkward and difficult, as any exchange between us would be, but it was one we needed to have, no matter what.

"Thank you for helping the team," I told her. "We won. And I know you don't want to talk to me very much, which I understand. It's just…we did it as a team. Thank you."

Bella looked as though she didn't know whether to laugh or yell; her facial expression was teetering on the brink of amusement and anger, not something one sees very often.

"You're welcome. But I did what would be expected; it doesn't mean that I want to be friends with you or anything like that."

"But we were friends before," I replied.

The instant those words came out of my mouth, I had to resist the urge to slap my face as hard as I could. We might have been friends before, but there was a very specific reason we weren't friends anymore. And I was the one in the wrong.

Bella scoffed at me. "How boneheaded of a comment is that? Seriously, Cody, I'm sure this has been said to you before, but you need to think before you act! And that includes words, because words can be just as hurtful as actions!"

"I suppose they can; my bad" I said. "But do you forgive me?"

She narrowed her teal eyes into slits. "Define 'forgive', then we'll talk. But if you're referring to the bite, then what you did certainly wasn't okay."

I didn't feel like arguing about the definition of forgiveness. That realization led me to another one, which was that continuing to speak to Bella wasn't worthwhile. This exchange was going to lead to a shouting match one way or another, so I'd better get away before that happened.

"I understand that, but I must be going," I told Bella. "I've gotta help Ilia make dinner."

This was a white lie; I didn't expect Ilia to make me help her cook. Bella probably knew this too. In my mind, I pictured her seething about how pathetic I was for running away just when the conversation was about to become difficult for me. It was cowardly, to be sure, but wasn't it smart as well?

When I got back to the house, I found Mayor Lumine standing in front of the door. He wasn't blocking the door, but I felt that it would be rude not to talk to him. There had to be a reason he was here.

"Not that I'm not pleased to see you, but why are you here, exactly?" I asked the mayor.

"I can be wherever I want in Lycan Hollow, since I am the mayor," he snapped. "But I'm not here to yell at you, because I'm not mad at you. Come in, Ilia made some hot apple cider."

I looked up at the dark sky, where stars were coming into view, constellations taking shape. And I realized just how cold I was; a Lycanroc's fur coat is substantial, but it won't keep one warm forever. Based on that, hot cider sounded quite enticing.

We both sat down at the table. Gregory the innkeeper wasn't there, and neither was Jeremy. The latter might have been somewhere else sulking about his loss in Capture the Flag (or, more likely, literally running away from his disappointment. But he'd be back for dinner.)

"I get that you can be anywhere you want", I said to Mayor Lumine, "but why did you choose this house, exactly? There has to be a reason."

"You're right," the mayor responded. "There is a reason, and that reason is because I want to talk about the girl."

"What girl? Bella?"

Mayor Lumine nodded. "I wouldn't exactly consider myself an expert on love life. Arceus knows I'm not good at it. But…".

"Hold on a minute", I said, a bit confused. "Bella's not my love interest at all. In fact, she hates my guts!"

"Kid, when you've been around as long as I have, you come to understand that life is a lot more complicated than it appears to be. Just because she's angry with you doesn't mean she can't care about you."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "I think there's a big difference between being angry with me over something minor, and being angry with me because I bit her. Even if I didn't have full control over my mental faculties."

The mayor shook his head. "You two were once friends, were you not?"

I wasn't sure how he knew that. Perhaps I'd mentioned it at one point and simply hadn't been able to remember thus far. Or maybe he could read my mind, but I was leaning towards the former.

"Yeah, we were," I told him. "Went to the same university and everything. Of course, I'm surely expelled by now. It was a suspension after the bite, but after hearing about my escape from prison and my disappearance, they'll definitely have made it a full expulsion."

"Perhaps" the mayor responded. "But the question is, what are you going to do about it? Remember, lots of villagers here have done the same thing you did to your friend Bella."

"Uh, didn't I just say-".

"Your former friend Bella" Mayor Lumine corrected himself. "My apologies. But no matter what you may have done, you are always welcome here. You'll be safe, no matter what."

Looking at it now, while I didn't believe in jinxes or tempting fate, that's exactly what the mayor did right there. It was as though he were daring Arceus to keep us all safe, even when that's not what nature intended.

And then I looked around the kitchen, at Ilia reading by the fireplace, at the pot of beef stew on the stovetop. Not long ago, I'd given this up in order to return home, in order to clear my conscience of what I'd done. And it hadn't been long before I'd realized my mistake.

Second chances are pretty rare. And I'm not going to waste mine.

Moreover, I had come to see Lycan Hollow as my home. It was a place where I didn't have to be a social outcast, where I could relate to at least some of the other residents. A place where it seemed everyone embraced my presence. None of these things could be said about Skylock.

"How much of an idiot was I to go back?" I all but shouted at Mayor Lumine. "I was going to have a place here, and then I threw it all away!"

"Relax, Cody, we all make mistakes. It's what you learn from them that matters." That wasn't the mayor talking; it was Ilia.

"She's right, you know" the mayor said, seconding Ilia's words. "I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, and it's really difficult to accept that you did something wrong, to resolve to do better next time. There are some things I still won't forgive myself for, but the most important thing is to move on."

I figured there was a story behind that last sentence, but I didn't pry. The mayor's words were somewhat reassuring, but there was still something else on my mind that I wouldn't dare ask.

Could this all have to do with that photo I'd seen in the Big House when he'd invited me to his porch? I didn't know who that magenta Lycanroc in the photo was, but if she was a love interest of Mayor Lumine's, this might all make sense.

Speaking of the mayor, he still appeared pained when I looked back up at him after fifteen seconds of silence. One thing was clear: I would not pry into his personal life, but maybe, just maybe, he spoke from experience when he mentioned love life. Only time would tell.

Speaking of time, it seemed to pass very slowly over the next few days. There was another blizzard, by which I don't mean "intense snowstorm" but rather "pure whiteout."

While blizzards had been a cause for celebration in Skylock when I'd been in school, that wasn't the case here. There was so much white stuff outside the window that it wasn't possible to see more than a few feet through it. As a result, we were effectively snowed in with nothing to do.

On one hand, this was just fine with me. It delayed my next encounter with Bella for at least a day, meaning that I'd have a little extra time to think about what I'd say if we crossed paths. And it seemed guaranteed that we would cross paths, since it felt almost like fate had that in store for us.

On the other hand, the whiteout gave me way too much time to think. And thinking is just what I did during most of that day.

What Mayor Lumine had said about my relationship with Bella was absolute lunacy. With every passing day, I became increasingly convinced that I'd never have a cordial bond with her, let alone a romantic one. And how horrible would it be for me to pursue her romantically after all I'd done? Pretty horrible.

Late one afternoon, I was starting to get some serious cabin fever. I was sitting at the dining room table with Ilia and Gregory, the three of us playing a board game. Jeremy was playing in the snow outside; truly, he was a braver Pokemon than I was.

"Your turn to move, Cody," Ilia told me. "Roll the dice."

I realized that I'd been staring out the window for the better part of a minute, watching as the snow piled up around it. I'd been lost in thought about everything that had happened, and yet too restless to think too deeply about anything.

Nonetheless, I did as I was told. Once I'd rolled the dice, moved my token to the Coronet Grand Library, and paid the rent I owed Gregory, I was about to pass the dice to Ilia. However, she reminded me that I'd just rolled doubles.

"Oh boy, here we go again" I grumbled. It was all in good fun, of course; my days of being a sore loser were over, and I was just glad to have somebody to play Coronet City Monopoly with. It may not have been the most exciting activity, but it was something social to do, and for that, I was grateful after five years of relative solitude.

I rolled the dice again. This time, I landed on one of Ilia's properties, the White Gold Bazaar. A hotel had been built on it, and I knew right away that I didn't have enough money to settle my rent.

I weighed my options. I had properties I could mortgage, but then it would only be more difficult for me to claw my way back. Sooner or later, I was going to lose, so why prolong the inevitable?

"I'm going to resign from this game" I told Ilia. "But I'll hand over my properties first."

Resigning while in debt was a perfectly legitimate move to make in Monopoly, but I don't think that's what either Gregory or Ilia expected. They both looked at me worriedly, as though I were very ill.

"Are you sure?" Gregory asked. "You still have a chance."

"It's not a chance that's worth continuing to play. I just want to get out of here and go for a walk; I'm tired of just sitting around!"

I probably sounded like a child of Jeremy's age when I complained, but I didn't really care. After a day of sedentary confinement, I wanted to get my muscles moving, even if it meant potentially running into Bella.

Wherever she's staying, though, I don't think she'll want to come out. The storm's pretty bad. But if Bella's staying in, then why am I going out?

"Are you sure you want to?" Ilia asked me. "It's freezing out there, and the windchill has got to be brutal. But I'm not going to stop you."

I nodded. "I'm doing this. I'll see you guys for dinner."

Gregory looked as though he were about to protest, to plead with me not to go outside in this weather, but I wasn't going to listen. I scampered out the front door.

The snow in front of the door had been shoveled out of the way just enough so that said door could be opened. However, there was a snowdrift about five feet high piled up only a meter away.

Climbing the snowdrift took more energy than I'd expected. Once I got up there, however, the task ahead seemed even more daunting.

The snow had stopped falling, at least for the most part, but the wind still howled louder than a Lycanroc does at the moon. It was picking up bits of the white stuff and scattering it to other parts of the village, a phenomenon referred to as "ground blizzards."

Beneath the late afternoon twilight, the sun having just gone down, the ground was blanketed in about three feet of powder. It would have been tiring enough to move through it as a human, but doing it as a quadruped would exhaust me quickly.

I didn't even have a destination in mind; at least, until I saw a familiar Lycanroc wandering the village in the direction of the lake.

So there's someone ELSE who had the same idea as me? That's not what I would have expected, but okay.

I could only barely see his profile, but I knew it was Mayor Lumine. It was rather surprising, however, that he'd be out in this weather after advising most of the village not to leave their homes. What a hypocrite!

I followed the mayor. I wasn't intent on stalking him, mind you; I was just curious about his reasons for violating his own guidance.

Pretty soon, it seemed evident that Mayor Lumine was simply heading back to his home, so it was morally questionable to follow him. Indeed, I was quite conflicted about whether I should stay on his trail.

In the end, I decided to try and catch up with him. Although the mayor was a lot older than I was, he could move quite quickly when he wanted to, even through the deep snow. I had to run to keep up, and running through deep snow for any significant length of time is harder than it looks.

Another question occurred to me as the wind cut right through my fur coat. But it would likely be seen as personal, and could I blame Mayor Lumine if he didn't want to answer it?

Well, it's worth a try. And I didn't exhaust myself by trudging through the powder for nothing.

At long last we neared the Big House. The nearby lake was frozen solid. Not only that, but there was so much snow above it that it was easy to forget that a lake lay underneath. Even if I were in my human form, I wouldn't have had any problems walking across it.

The mayor was about to walk up the steps into his home, and I knew this was my last chance. "Hey, Mayor!" I exclaimed.

Lumine turned around and saw me. "Oh, it's you, Cody. Have you been following me all the way here?"

"Uh…yes" I responded, somewhat sheepishly.

"That sort of behavior is usually frowned upon," the mayor responded. "Indeed, some would refer to it as stalking, and I tend to agree."

What's he going to do, throw me in jail? IS there even a jail here?

"I'm sorry about that" I told him, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I just had some things I wanted to ask you."

Mayor Lumine frowned. "Well, I suppose that's okay. You did walk all the way here in the aftermath of a blizzard, after all. What did you want to ask me?"

The wind was picking up now, and I knew that before long it would be even colder than it had been before. I didn't have time to waste, so I jumped right in.

"Why are you outside in such frigid weather? Isn't that exactly what you advised us against?"

"I could ask the same of you" the mayor retorted. "Although I suppose I did set a bad example. Do as I say, not as I do."

"Quite," I said. "But I just needed to get some exercise, use my muscles some…you know. I was getting restless."

"It happens," Mayor Lumine replied simply. "But I wouldn't advise going too far from your home; you realize that you still have to walk back, right?"

I grimaced as I realized he was right. I was already chilled to the bone, and every gust of wind felt like a knife against my fur. At that moment, I really wished I'd thought this through a bit more.

"One other question" I said, getting right to the point. "That picture in your house?"

The mayor frowned. "What picture?"

"The one of you with the magenta Lycanroc. The one where it looks like you two care deeply about each other. What's the deal with that?"

There was so much tension in the air after I said that; it felt like most of the oxygen had been sucked out of it. I could hardly believe that I'd had the nerve to ask that question, and neither, it seemed, did the mayor.

Lumine's jaw literally dropped, and his eyes widened as though he were in pain. It was clear that I'd just struck a nerve with him. I should have apologized and run far away, away from the mayor's wrath.

"Why do you care?" Mayor Lumine snapped, stomping one of his paws on the ground hard enough to kick up snow. "Does it even matter?"

"I was just curious!" I exclaimed, trying to do some damage control. "I wanted to know; is that a crime?"

The mayor didn't look angry anymore all of a sudden; now, he just appeared wounded. He took a few steps backward.

"I'm not going to lock you up for it", he responded, staring right into my soul. "But you should really know better than to ask such personal questions. In the grand scheme of things, we haven't known each other very long."

I didn't know what else to say, but I found myself rooted to the spot. I desperately wanted to hear what the mayor would tell me.

"Look, Cody, it's rather a sore subject for me. To talk about her isn't something I enjoy at all. Perhaps someday you'll know the truth, but not today. I'm just not ready."

A hot ball of guilt rose in my throat, and I was practically holding back vomit; yep, so guilty I felt sick. "I'm sorry, Mayor," I said weakly.

"Don't be sorry, learn from it in the future. And by the way, the name is Eliot. There's no need to be so formal, Cody."

"Whatever."

"Now head back, please. I think I'm entitled to some privacy, and besides, it's going to be brutal tonight. The weather is, at any rate, so stay warm. Like I said, do as I say, not as I did today."

I didn't need to be told twice; my fur coat had grown sweaty from the exertion, and it was starting to work against me from the standpoint of keeping my body as warm as possible. Even as a Pokemon, I'd be in danger of hypothermia if I stayed out much longer.

I sighed. I still wanted the answers from Mayor Lumine, but it was abundantly clear that I wasn't getting them, no matter how hard I tried. He simply wouldn't be forthcoming, because ultimately, it was a very personal question I had asked him.

When I was about fifty yards away from the Big House, I turned around and looked for the mayor. However, he had already vanished inside his house.

I'll never forget the specific level of anxiety that permeated my entire body that evening. I had no reason to assume anything too bad would happen, but there was a vague sense of impending doom that I just couldn't shake.

As I got into bed that night, I couldn't help but fear that morning would bring an unpleasant surprise. Closing my eyes, I desperately hoped I was wrong, because if I wasn't…well, suffice it to say that the coming events would be too horrific to think about.

I was rudely awoken at about five in the morning by a whirring noise. Even though it had caused me to rise so suddenly, I didn't think much of it at first. Perhaps it was just a figment of the dream I'd had, which had been a jumbled mess of faces and sounds that I couldn't place.

Soon, however, the noise couldn't be avoided. It was too loud for that, like the blades of a helicopter or the buzzing of a hive's worth of Beedrill.

Almost immediately, I wracked my brain for any type of Pokemon who could make this noise. It would probably be a massive bug of sorts, the sight of which would give any child (and even many adults) nightmares for a long time.

Lycan Hollow, under invasion from a group of massive flesh-eating insects. Well, that's a first, isn't it?

I didn't have much time to revel in its novelty before I heard a noise that reminded me of something being shot out of a cannon. But did they even have cannons in the valley? If so, I'd never seen one, but maybe they were placed deeper into the woods than we'd been allowed to roam during Capture the Flag.

Panic rose within me as I realized what this must mean, if my guess was indeed correct: The Zoroark clan, also known as the Illusionary, had to be invading the village.

From what Mayor Lumine told me, they seem like pretty determined enemies. If only I knew why.

Within seconds of awakening, I smelled something that all people are conditioned to fear. It was the type of thick stench that made it harder to breathe.

It smelled just like smoke. And when there's smoke, there's…

"FIRE!" I yelled as I sprang out of bed. I hit my head on the ceiling as I did so, but that was a small price to pay. I had to warn the others so that they could prepare for what was to come.

Ilia and Jeremy raced into the room; I suspected Gregory to still be asleep for a moment, and thought about how he'd have no chance at survival. But a few seconds later, the Lycanroc father entered my bedroom, and we had all four of us together.

"I can smell the smoke in the air as well," Ilia told me in a concerned manner. "We've gotta get out of here; was there a candle or something that tipped over?"

I feared that the real answer was far more sinister than Ilia's suggestion. Perhaps this fire hadn't been an accident at all.

No, don't think in terms of conspiracy theories right now. It's not the time!

"I don't think so," Gregory responded, his eyes drooping. "I'll go look for the source."

Ilia looked as though she were about to protest, to warn her husband about how stupid an idea this was, but she didn't do this. Instead, she kept quiet and watched as Gregory raced up the stairs towards his bedroom.

Jeremy, for the first time I could remember, appeared frightened. It was no surprise that he would be, of course, but it was still jarring to see.

"Are we going to lose our house?" he asked.

"No" Ilia replied softly in an attempt to reassure her son; I had serious doubts as to whether she believed those words herself. She was simply doing what any mother would do.

There was another noise that sounded like a cannon blast, and it sounded at first like another building might have exploded. It was like a game of Russian Roulette; eventually our house might get hit if enough of these sounds occurred.

Gregory can't come down soon enough.

Fortunately, the Lycanroc father came downstairs seconds later. "I don't see any evidence of a fire upstairs. That's the good news, but there is also bad news."

My heart dropped like a freight elevator whose chains had been cut as I processed everything Gregory had just said. Clearly, there was something wrong, even if it wasn't exactly what we'd feared.

"I saw a drone flying overhead. It might be firing at the village!"

Almost immediately, it was like another bomb went off, but this one occurred in the house. We all stared at each other, hardly daring to believe Gregory's words. But if he was right, it fit with what I already knew.

The whirring of helicopter blades…those must've been fighter jets! And those cannon blasts must have occurred when shots were fired!

I didn't even have time to process the million-dollar question: Why would anyone fire at Lycan Hollow? There weren't any major ongoing wars that I knew of (other than perhaps the cold war between the Lycanroc and the Illusionary Zoroarks), and even then, it's not like the village was of major strategic importance.

"We've got to run!" I yelled.

"Hold up, let's think about this logically" Ilia said, clearly trying to keep calm even though everything else was telling her to do otherwise. "If the drone is shooting at the village, are we any safer out there than we are here? If anything, I'd think it would be more dangerous outside!"

Gregory shook his head. "It's not…that's not the way this works. If their weapons are powerful enough, they can shoot down buildings as well. Would you rather die out in the open, or buried under tons of rubble?"

Jeremy's message was the simplest. "I don't wanna die today!" he whined, although in my view, this whining was justified.

"You're not going to die, Jeremy," Ilia told her son forcefully. "We will make it out of this together."

"I have to go find her," I said breathlessly.

Gregory frowned at me. "Who's 'her', Cody? We don't have time for this; we have to get away from the village!"

"It doesn't matter," I snapped. I didn't want to admit that I was going to save the person I'd wronged the most severely in my life so far. I don't think that news would have gone over well with the rest of the family.

"If it doesn't matter, then it can wait. One plus one can add up to zero; you looking for this 'her' is going to cost both of you your lives, I just know it!"

"He has a point, you know" Ilia told me. "Nobody would judge you if you escaped with us and put yourself first. How are you going to help others if you can't help yourself?"

Immediately, I knew the perfect response, and I wasted no time in using it.

"I would judge myself for the rest of my life if I didn't do my best to find her. I wouldn't be able to live my life. I would rather die trying to protect her than run away like a coward."

I didn't spend any effort explaining why I felt the need to look for her. There was an innate understanding that I had to make things right, for it was my fault that I'd gotten into this mess to begin with.

Before any of the three could object, I scampered through the door and over the snowdrift on the other side. And once I did, I got a glimpse of the horrific scene, and I knew that Jeremy was right to be terrified.

The sky was still dark, but it was easy to see a small fighter jet flying low over the village. It needed to be small, too, since it seemed like it'd be hard for a plane to fly around the mountains. But don't judge a book by its cover: This plane was a threat to the village.

Already, I could see two houses on fire. This brought back memories of the courthouse jail I'd escaped in order to get back here; once more, I silently cursed myself for making the idiotic decision to return to Skylock. It had brought me unnecessary trauma.

Given this trauma, it might seem absolutely ridiculous that I'd go into another potentially burning building just to save someone who couldn't stand me. But I knew, deep inside, that I wouldn't be able to live with this hanging over me.

Despite the burning buildings, the air was still quite cold. I was immune to any discomfort I felt, however, as I dashed through the fallen snow. I was intent on reaching my goal, which was the village inn. That IS where she would be, right?

There was another shot from the drone, and yet another building was set on fire. I couldn't tell from here, but I had a pretty strong feeling that this building was Ruff Puff's bakery.

I really hope Ruff Puff doesn't live on top of his bakery. If he does, he's dead. And even if he doesn't, he's going to have to start everything all over again…I don't envy him.

The panic in the air was palpable. All over the place, there were Lycanroc, Rockruff, and the occasional other Pokemon running for their lives. The question was, would they actually get to safety? Could they get to safety, or were they just wasting their time?

Somehow, even with all these thoughts clouding my mind, I made it to the inn. Going inside the building made me feel trapped, as though at any moment the building might collapse on top of me and/or burn down.

Of course, that was indeed a strong possibility. If indeed the drone's goal was to kill as many Pokemon as possible (which seemed virtually certain to me), it would make sense to target the inn. It was one of the largest buildings in town, the one that would hold the most living beings.

And I was determined to make sure that one particular Lycanroc remained among the living today.

Gregory's assistant, a female Lycanroc whose name I'd never bothered to learn, was standing in front of the front desk. Although I didn't know her name, I greatly wished I'd bothered to ask now; it would have come in very handy.

"Everybody evacuate! We have to get out of the village, they're firing at us!"

I ran to the assistant's side. "Excuse me, but can you tell me what room Bella Fox is in?"

The Lycanroc lady shook her head. "That sounds awfully suspicious, young man. What are you going to do, maul her to death?"

Yes, it was probably at least partly a joke. However, after the event that had precipitated all of this, it hit a little too close to home. I wouldn't be here had I not become a were-Lycanroc, and Bella wouldn't be here if not for me.

If not for me, Bella's life would not be in danger. I had to do what I could to ensure she was safe. To make it up to her, even if forgiveness was impossible.

"Are you crazy? She's my friend!" I cried. "I would never do anything like that to her; I just want to make sure she's awake and ready to run!"

The Lycanroc lady frowned, but I could also tell that she was going to submit to my request. "Very well. If I recall correctly, she's in room 456. That's on the fourth floor. You'd better make sure she's okay, because if they shoot this building…".

The assistant didn't need to finish that sentence. Really, what else was there to be said? Besides, there was no time to waste.

As I ascended, I saw several other guests at the inn. All of them were evacuating, but Bella wasn't among them. Perhaps she'd slept through the drama thus far, but she wouldn't be able to sleep much longer, not if she wanted to live.

Even after five years of practice, stairs weren't easy with four legs. However, when the adrenaline kicks in, and you have everything on the line, you'd be surprised at what you can do.

With every step, I became more and more anxious. At any moment, one of their projectiles might strike this inn, and then I would die. The Lycan Hollow Inn might have been a better place to be trapped than a jail cell, but when your building is on fire, the aesthetic doesn't make much difference.

It's not on fire yet, dude. Relax!

I reached the fourth floor and searched for room 456. The numbering system was very illogical here; room 435 was next to room 473, which was next to room 416. I didn't even know if I was headed in the right direction.

Finally, however, I found the door to her room and held my breath.

Beyond the door was a young woman who had it in for me. She probably wanted nothing more than to see me suffer for what I'd done, and could I blame her for that? Of course not.

But I had to check on her. I just had to.

And so I rapped on the door with one of my paws. I wasn't making that much noise, though; if Bella were asleep, this wouldn't have been nearly sufficient to wake her. And she'd have to be a heavy sleeper if she hadn't woken up yet.

I could have used my entire body weight to slam into the door, but that might cause property damage. Still, if it saves her life, then it's worth it to break down the door. The door can be replaced, but you only get one life.

Instead, I simply screamed. "BELLA! GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"

I didn't care what she thought of me, because at that moment, I was concerned with getting us all to safety, nothing else. I could endure whatever she hurled at me afterwards.

For a few horrifying seconds, nothing happened. The door remained shut, and I couldn't hear footsteps or any other signs that Bella might be coming to answer me. Although I tried not to let it show, I started to panic.

And then the door swung open, and I had to step back in order to avoid getting swept away. The Lycanroc who exited was clearly female, and she looked absolutely horrified; in other words, basically the same way I felt.

"Bella! We have to escape! They're firing at the village, and it's not going to be much longer until-".

"Hold up, Cody," Bella snapped. "Do you really expect me to trust you right now? Do you think I want to leave with you?"

I was speechless. Had she not heard the drones overhead? Had she not heard the fearful shouts in the hallways?

"We've got to get away, no matter what" I said. "You don't have to come with me, but you do need to leave this building. I might have ruined your life once before, but I want to save it now."

Bella scoffed at me. "What makes you think I need saving? I'm not some damsel in distress, Cody!"

"I know you're not, but we've got no time to waste. Run!"

Fortunately, she didn't have to be told twice. Both of us raced down the stairs at top speed, nearly tumbling down them several times. We did reach the lobby unharmed, where Gregory's assistant was still standing.

"What are you doing here?" I all but yelled at the assistant. "It's too dangerous!"

I'll never forget the look the assistant gave me. It was a grave one, but not an angry one. She pretty much echoed my own sentiments towards Bella.

"I'm running the inn while Gregory is absent" she replied firmly. "It's my responsibility to make sure the guests are safe. If I failed so catastrophically in this basic duty…".

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone present knew what she had intended to say. Neither I nor Bella stuck around.

Back in the village, several more buildings had been set on fire. A few of them were so thoroughly engulfed in flames that they brought to mind a marshmallow being roasted. There would be no salvaging those properties, nor the lives of anyone still inside.

Neither of us spoke as we high-tailed it through Lycan Hollow. The early morning sky was now thick with smoke, and it was getting harder to breathe, so we needed all our air for running.

Don't get me wrong: There were many things I could have said had lung capacity been an unlimited resource. I might have voiced the question of where we would go once we'd fled successfully, or else the question of whether or not Bella would escape with me. (Okay, the answer to the latter question was almost certainly a resounding no.)

I didn't have a destination in mind, simply away from the village. Away from a likely fiery grave at the hands of these fighter jets. Lycan Hollow notwithstanding, I didn't know this region very well, and I feared what would happen once I entered the true wilderness.

Every time I took a quick glance to my side, Bella was still there. If she truly hated me, to the point she wouldn't escape with me, she had an odd way of showing it.

When we reached the home I'd stayed at, we saw one Rockruff and two Lycanroc; not surprisingly, Jeremy and his parents. All three stood there, paralyzed by fear or indecision, one of the two.

"That was a fool's errand, Cody!" Gregory yelled at me. "Saving her from the inn…that was almost tantamount to suicide. Didn't you realize it was a target?"

I shrugged. "Well, we got out okay, so…".

While Gregory's thick fur coat made it difficult for his face to turn red, it wasn't much of an impediment this time. He appeared livid.

"Do you realize how close you came to both dying in there? Take a look at the inn now!"

My stomach dropped, and not in a pleasant way, as I turned to face the long building on the edge of the village. To my horror, while the two of us had been dashing away from it, the inn was now practically crawling with flames.

I realized that had I been even a minute too late, Bella would most likely be dead right now. It would have all happened so quickly, and yet her demise would have been horrific. The thought of my body being slowly licked by fire, hotter to the touch than one can possibly imagine, made my skin crawl.

"Don't guilt-trip him, Gregory!" Ilia exclaimed. "He was looking to save his friend, it's that simple! Wouldn't you do the same in his position?"

Bella appeared almost as furious as Gregory now. "For the last time, I did not need saving. I am not an object, I am a living being. And I'm not friends with Cody; at least, not anymore."

"We get the point," Ilia responded. "Now, you three need to run. There are some supplies in the house, but you won't have much time to get them. Three backpacks, to be more specific."

I frowned. "Backpacks? Did you put anything in them?"

Gregory nodded. "Truth be told, we had our suspicions that this would end up happening one day. We just didn't think it would happen so soon. So the three of you had better take them, because that's the only way you're going to survive."

I didn't need Gregory to tell me that. I turned to Bella and Jeremy and announced, "I'm going in to get them!"

Part of me was pissed at Ilia and Gregory for not mentioning the emergency backpacks sooner. But if I'd had the extra time to know we would need to run away, would I have spent it productively by actually preparing? Or would I have simply lain around worrying all the time? I feared the answer was the latter.

I dashed into the house, terrified that at any moment it might be blown up. It might be a less prominent target than the inn, but I was still taking a risk.

The three backpacks had been laid out in the living room. They were all roughly the same size as the backpack I'd used during high school. All of them were a dull orange, which I hoped wouldn't glow in the dark if we needed to hide.

I slung one of them around my back, a task that was rather awkward as a Lycanroc, and placed the other two in each of my paws. Getting out of the house was a heavily awkward task, but I managed it.

"Okay, are you two ready?" I barked.

Bella raised her eyebrows. "I thought I didn't have to come with you if I didn't want to. And I don't want to."

"You don't want to," I replied briskly, "but you need to. Whatever issues we've had between us in the past, we need to put them behind us. Survival in numbers is the best strategy."

And then I remembered that I wasn't only hiding from the drones. I was hiding from the government of Sinnoh as well. They considered me a fugitive for having escaped not once but twice, and if I was caught, there would be hell to pay.

If Bella tells them not to take me into custody, if she says she's forgiven me, would they be willing to drop the charges?

I wasn't naive about this, however. I knew it was pretty unlikely that she'd forgive me anytime soon, so I needed to know when to ditch her if necessary.

Jeremy was focused on something else. He appeared despondent as he looked at the three backpacks, one on my back and two in the snow. "There are only three backpacks," he noted.

Uh, yeah. Did you not notice that before?

"We're going to stay and make sure everyone is safe" Ilia told him. "When everything is safe, I expect the Guardians to lead you back, and we'll be together again." She spoke with sincerity, but it would be a hard promise to keep.

"You're crazy!" Bella exclaimed. "This place is a death trap right now; you're not going to survive if you stay!"

"Maybe not," Gregory admitted. "But my instincts are telling me to remain here, to ensure that as many villagers evacuate safely as possible. I think you're familiar with those instincts, Cody."

I couldn't help but agree with him. These were much the same instincts that had led me to look for Bella just now. I wasn't going to leave her hanging, no matter how acrimonious our alliance was going to be.

Jeremy was clearly fighting back tears, but it was also evident that he was doing his best to stay strong. I knew then that Ilia and Gregory were some of the best parents one could possibly have.

Both Bella and Jeremy slung their backpacks over their shoulders. There was no more time to waste; the fighter jet was still circling Lycan Hollow's airspace, although they hadn't fired any shots in a minute or two.

"Goodbye, Jeremy," Ilia told her son. "Just remember that no matter what happens today, we will always love you. And there's nothing like the love of a parent for their child; anyone who says otherwise is wrong."

Jeremy had no time to sob. Although his hyperactivity was often a bad thing, I knew that today, it would be his greatest asset.

The Rockruff kid, however, seemed glued to the snowy ground. He wouldn't budge, and I started to wonder if indecision would be what doomed us in the end.

"What are you waiting for?" Gregory all but yelled. "GO! Please, run away; we will be fine, and we'll see you again when this is all over!"

I remembered hearing about the best way to get a Lillipup to move if they were stubborn. The master was supposed to take the Pokemon off leash and run ahead of the Lillipup; eventually, their pet would be forced to follow. Hopefully this worked with Jeremy.

"Come on, Jeremy," I said. "Think of this as a camping trip with the two of us. It'll be fun."

The Rockruff boy, sadly, did not appear convinced. I don't blame him; I don't think I did a very good job at making my case.

"There is a tent in one of those backpacks" Ilia noted in a very firm tone. "But if you're going to use it at all, we have to say goodbye for now. I'll see you on the other side."

Only later would I realize that Ilia's choice of words potentially contained some worrisome foreshadowing. The "other side" could mean two wildly different things.

It could mean that once the attack on Lycan Hollow was over, we would all reunite unharmed. We'd be on the other side of this crisis, and our lives would be divided into Before and After. Hopefully we would live long enough to reach the promised land of After.

The other possibility, of course, was too terrible to contemplate.

And there you have it! Chapter 25 was actually slightly longer than Chapter 24, and it was a fun one to write. Thank you all for 8,500+ views, and I'll see you guys next time!