Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 135: Not all get a second chance

Point of View Stark

When I came to, my head was pounding like nothing I had ever felt… As if the pain breathing brought to my jaw wasn't enough, nasty tears on my back had turned into a burning aggravated mess of discomfort. What was left of my mangled paw shrieked for something to relieve the agonizing pain.

I tried to reposition myself onto my front side, but when I felt the tearing of my back I couldn't help but give a high-pitched yelp. Arceus why did losing have to hurt so bad?

There wasn't a lot to my cell, in truth. A cold room with a stone floor that was crumbling away beneath me. Now much could be seen through the impenetrable darkness, aside from what the little beams of light that snuck through the floorboards above allowed. I didn't expect my final resting place to be in a musty hole in the lair of the World Peace Association. What a strange place to meet an end.

It was almost a surprise to find myself in captivity, a collar around my neck chaining me to the cold stone ground. The weight was heavy, to the point that my neck was aching. As I said, this was all a surprise, I hadn't expected the purloin to spare me… or was it sparing? She wanted me to suffer, and now she was about to get it. I was at the WPA's mercy, and mercy wasn't in the dictionary of crooked organizations.

Across the room I found Scarlet, arms strung up by chains that pulled her arms over her head. The greninja's ragged breaths filled the room, it was nice to see she managed to survive, but it was still hard to call those pitiful breaths living.

"Scarlet," I said in a dry voice. Scarlet didn't move and I felt my heart dropping. Would she live to awake once more, would I be cheated out of the one comrade I had left? I couldn't do a lot without her, we both needed each other.

"Shit," I said to myself. Just how long had I been out? The longer I had been out the closer I'd be to my inevitable end. Just to be clear though I wasn't quite set on giving in, but it wasn't looking too good. More importantly, if I was going to die I wanted to know how it was going to go down.

A lethal injection would be too humane for me at this point, I'd sooner expect a beatdown. Being burned alive wouldn't be farfetched either… drowning me perhaps? Arceus, it all sounded horrible, every way, because in the end I was going to be leaving someone behind when I die. How would Naomi survive without me?! Arceus, what about the child? What if they hunted her down?!

"I have to get out of here," I said quietly as I dragged myself onto my front side. As I pushed up on my three good limbs I could feel my back splitting down the middle, the skin felt as if it'd tear open further and peel right off.

I bit down on my lip as I pushed upward before giving out a loud grunt. When I rose, I propped myself against the crumbling brick wall, finding that my body weight was too much to hold up. My eyes drifted towards the chains of my confinement, seeing how thick they were. My head spun from seeing how thick they were, too thick for me to cut with my dark matter.

Still, I had to try. I channeled my power into my good paw but within mere seconds a darkness overcame me and I collapsed to the ground.

I knew right away when I came to again that I lost more precious time. Two albino paws moved into my view before a creature sat down. I could feel it's eyes peering down at me, thinking of how pitiful I looked. I refused to be looked down upon and rose my head up, but the pain kept my progress at bay.

I didn't expect to see another me staring down, nor did I like some sham pretending to be me either. No one had a right to be me, only I.

"It seems you have made it to the end," he said, his voice a complete copy of my own.

"W-who are you?" I spoke in my jagged words.

"The very pokemon who sent you here," the umbreon answered nonchalantly.

"Skull Face," I muttered, "Of course the king of shams would be the one to come to mock me and in my own form."

"Sham? Me? I believe there is an expression for this: when the kettle calls the pot black. If anyone's a sham it's you," Skull Face said. "Sham or not, I have come here to offer you one final opportunity to have a painless end."

"What are you talking about?" I tried to raise my head up, but the umbreon pressed his paw against my temple, burying my face in the dirt over the cold concrete.

"I don't intend to save either of you. I never planned for you to live from the start. See, you're what legends call an Aevon, while you're a pathetic one being a reanimation, you still pose too much of a danger to my final plan. Best to just send you back to where you belong."

"Plan?" I uttered out, "Who else do you not plan on letting live?" Naomi was in danger, she had to be, no way this psycho didn't have plans.

"Well, let's just say you won't be lonely in the afterlife for too long," he said.

"I'll kill you if you touch Naomi!" I snapped as I jolted up towards Skull Face but my momentum quickly crashed back down to the ground as he pressed my head down.

"What will you do? You're practically dead," the false umbreon snorted. "If only you had awakened your true potential like Mandus did, then maybe you'd have a chance of killing me and breaking free."

"Oh, I will get out of here, just you wait!" I snarled, "And when I do you can expect to be begging for mercy!"

"You know, I only came here to offer you a quick death. The WPA has no intentions on letting you live, but who's to say how they'll kill you. Could be death by starvation and letting you rot in here, at least I'll show you the kindness of a quick death, painless in fact."

"You threatened Naomi, you've got some head on you to think I'll let you mercy kill me as some kind of kindness!" I wanted to rise up and fight back so bad, but no matter how much I struggled I couldn't break free. It was a terrible feeling of helplessness, not being able to protect myself or Naomi.

"Oh, poor Stark, such a liar."

"You think I wouldn't?!"

"I dare think not," the umbreon laughed. "I never said you wouldn't, I know you would if you could. What I meant was that you're lying to yourself."

"What are you-"

"You really keep telling yourself you can keep going back to her, that you two will have a happily ever after, yet we both know the truth."

Skull Face leaned in close, a darkness eclipsed over him as his maw was just inches from my ear and the shape of a jolteon showed through the darkness.

"I know what you really are, child. You're far too impulsive to hide it from me, because we're not that different in the end."

A chill ran through my spine as his icy breath chilled my ear, it'd be so easy to kill him right here, had I the strength to fight back.

"Truth is, you enjoyed it all along, all of it. I did when I was young too, ever since that first time I snapped everything in me was crooked, unable to be bent back into shape. All you really can do is pretend and keep telling everyone that you're not broken, that you can behave, not be who you are, what you thrive to be, then maybe one day you might trick even yourself into believing it.

He was wrong, I knew he was. I wasn't stuck as some killer, I changed, I know I did! I did It for Naomi and I promised it!

A voice suddenly yelled across the room, "Stark, don't listen to a word he's saying!" The pressure was relieved off my head as the jolteon directed his attention towards the other side of the room.

"Well, I did say we'd settle things the next time we fought, didn't I?" The jolteon said. "Heh, but I'm already known as a compulsive liar, and there is no fun in playing with a half dead pokemon."

Scarlet tugged at the cuff around her arms, trying desperately to break free.

"Well, I'll leave you two to die then, it could have been quick, but I'll let the WPA do my dirty work for me."

"Stop!" Scarlet screamed as she tried to move forward, but her chains pulled her pack to the wall. I heard water pouring to the ground, and from the greninja's torso I could see her wounds reopening.

"Such a strong willed one you are."

"What do you even accomplish by doing all of this?" Scarlet weakly asked, but collapsed in her chains, limply hanging.

The jolteon's form became a mass of shadows, the only visible detail of him being his wide smirk, "Hmmm, we'll just say I seek true liberation, and to finish what someone else started." As he finished his body broke down in tiny particles and disappeared.

Scarlet smashed her fist into the wall and let out a scream at the top of her lungs. Her pained voice echoed through our dark cell, making my heart sink further into my chest.

"Scarlet?" I spoke up, knowing that she was hurting more than physically.

No response.

"Are you alright?" I asked, but she didn't so much as even look at me.

Her lack of response had started to take its toll on me, my morale sinking further and further into a pit of despair.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt as if hours had gone by since Skull Face had visited us. No one had ever come to tell us what our fate was, nor to feed us. Over the hours my throat grew drier, almost feeling as if it was going to crack from the inside out. I was in too much pain to sleep, and the lack of nutrition was driving me mad. I kept mumbling things in my head over the hours, kept telling myself I'd get out of here, that I'd kill Skull Face and anyone else who threatened Naomi.

"It was all for nothing," Scarlet uttered out in the middle of my mumbles, almost as if that was her reply to what I had said hours ago.

"Huh?" My voice cracked as I tried to raise my head up to look towards her.

"Everything," Scarlet said, the blank look in her eyes screaming despair. "Everything I have worked towards is in vain… It's going to end soon, and everything will have been pointless."

I didn't have anything to say in response to that. I had a lot on my mind as well, but it wasn't how pointless the fruits of my life were, it was the reason I had to keep trying. It was clear she was in a different state of mind than I was, which was a surprise since I always took her as the nonchalant one. The one who'd calmly accept their demise, not break down and weep like a child.

Silence continued to linger between us, the darkness seeming more eerie than before as our Morales both sunk deeper into a bottomless abyss. She was right though, if we did die everything was going to be meaningless, I refused to believe I was brought back to life just to die here. I had a second chance, I couldn't let it go to waste.

"Scarlet," I spoke up as I repositioned myself on the ground to face her. She hadn't budged in a while. "We need to find a way out of here, now."

The greninja didn't respond.

"If we don't we're really going to die, that Skull Face thing really believes we are going to die here and didn't bother to end us. So, maybe we can break our chains or jump a guard when one comes."

A never-ending silence followed from the greninja.

"We're going to die Scarlet, so if we-"

"I'm tired," the greninja said.

"I get that but if we sit around here-"

"Tired of everything. Even if I do escape I doubt I would have long before being hunted down. We have enemies everywhere, even the good I thought I saw has been corrupted, the evil I have sought to fight is on the verge of victory. Live, die, I doubt it would make a difference, because in the end I've been a dead woman forcing her husk to walk this earth for years."

"So, what? You're at your breaking point?"

Scarlet shook her head once, "I've been broken for years, ever since I lost my mate it hasn't been the same."

"Is there something you want to say, not one to usually console others, but if I can get your head back into not dying that would be wonderful."

"It doesn't matter," Scarlet sighed.

"Fine, in truth I hardly care, but can you at least try for me, some of us have someone we still want to see."

Scarlet simply snorted at me before closing her eyes.

Point of View Flare

A rope did the trick. With it we had Mandus's arms tied behind his back and enough extra for a leash. Better yet, there was something about seeing the pokemon responsible for a majority of your detriment bonded up and forced to hobble around in such a pathetic way. Zylen might have told me at one point to assist him, but I made it clear that I wasn't comfortable getting close to him, not when he was my enemy. Zylen would bark at me that my grudge wasn't important. I did have to count my blessings that Zylen had his hands full with Black, that twitch in his eyes told me he would have smacked me if he could. Maybe Black being asleep for now was going to save me from the back of the zoroark's hand.

Black was one of the things I couldn't get my mind free of. Only a snorlax could sleep through all of this without so much a flinching. Arceus, why did he have to be asleep like Annie? Was it some cruel joke from the Legendaries to punish me? It wouldn't have surprised me one bit at this point, the world itself was out to get me with not many friends in sight. I couldn't be too cynical at this point.

"This might not be too bad," Zylen whispers as we take a turn through another bland hall on the first floor. No pokemon in sight still, but for how long? Aiden had done a good job with his distraction, but it was only a matter of time before they realized that we only had a few decoys to take their attention from the manor and it was all a fib.

"We can exit out the back, then it'll just be a clear shot out of here, I should be able to use my illusion to make it harder for anyone to see us once we reach the woods. That'll be the long run though, once we're out there it's just one big stretch till we reach safety."

I peeked out a window, the sun creating a bright reflection on the glass door, but from the little I could see their was a large garden outside. Large stone pillars reaching up and forming arches, a fountain that had been obliterated on one side making it impossible to ever hold water again.

"Alright," I said once I finished looking over the landscape.

"And where might this sanctuary you speak of be?" Mandus asked.

"That's a secret," Zylen answered, "The walls could have ears, so I won't say."

The lucario grumbled as I yanked him along and we made our way down the hall. Not many pokemon posed much of an obstacle on our way to the back exit. Most we snuck around, and only once did we have to knock someone out, which Zylen was able to do with one well placed kick in the head of a poor espurr. It was out cold on the spot and a crater was left on the wall.

When the three of us did make it to the back exit I breathed a sigh of relief, we were so close and nothing could go wrong, right? We'd be one step closer to fixing all this madness with Black finally back on our side. Maybe things could even start going back to semi-normal… If such a thing was possible at this point.

But a shadow whispered into my ear, my pace slowing as my eyes blankly stared out, but my ears fully open to the voice.

'He's the seed of corruption that started all of this,' a shadow in the back of my mind hissed. 'If Black had never come into your life you'd still be with Alex and Kana, things would be how they're supposed to be. Happy.' My eyes shifted over towards the umbreon resting on Zylen's shoulder. With the sudden thought, I had to ask myself if this was fixing anything. I know I went through a lot for him, he's still my friend, but my heart was lost.

Maybe this was all just bound to happen eventually regardless? I was born a criminal, it only made sense that I could only escape what I was for so long. My mistakes were going to eventually come back, I always knew that, Black was just an accelerant in the process of my falling back into what I was, a criminal. Besides, if none of this happened I may have not found Zylen and Annie again, I guess I could at least be thankful for that.

"Flare," Zylen interrupted my thoughts, his glare reminding me to not drift off in stuff that wouldn't help us.

"Yeah, I know, I Just had something stuck in my head."

"Is it related to the mission? If not, afraid it'll have to wait until later," Zylen said. "We've still got a mission."

"Right," I nodded as I opened the door leading to the back of the manor. My eyes darted all around the vast garden that spanned out before us, course the cold season had long killed off any vegetation that dared to thrive in Snowbelle. All that had remained were piles of snow over the decaying foliage.

Coming up from the dead decay were large pillars, some of which would form arches that had dead vines coiling around them, along with icicles hanging off the arches. Even with the pillars, there wasn't a lot of blind spots from all the windows that watched over us…

With a gesture of his hand, Zylen urged me to follow.

I felt so exposed out in the open of the garden. They could easily spot us from anywhere, then it'd be over if they called for help. Maybe they wouldn't, but I couldn't be too sure as my eyes darted all around the garden, looking for that one pokemon who'd run for help.

When I stopped looking to my sides. A large statue sat as the center of the garden. It nearly startled me as I looked up at it. The large stature of the stone man and his finger accusingly pointing down at me made me feel tiny and insignificant in his cold eyes. Like he was one of the human's that'd take me away and do things to me for his own gain in his scientific studies. With a giant chunk missing out of the left side of his face, taking away his eye and all, I had to guess someone felt just as threatened by this man.

"That statue's weird," I pointed out, "He's standing there just pointing down at us, like he's gonna choose one of us to be taken away and turned into a freaky science project."

"Right," Zylen said with a laugh, "Perhaps that should serve as a reminder of why we don't want to get caught. I don't want to end up as one of the WPA's toys."

"That human," Mandus said but abruptly paused. Something about the human had troubled the lucario, taking away that proud look he wore and reducing him to a little riolu. "Edgar Avery," he said, his voice sounding deprived of life.

My ears perked up at the mention of Edgar, "Hey, umm that reminds me, I stole these" I said as I held out the small sack I had been carrying around with me. "Before I found Black, I happened to eavesdrop on Rhys saying something and… I learned some shocking things, but they also mentioned some Edgar character. Who is he? You know him, so is he important or something? Rhys seemed pretty upset when he mentioned that name and I think he called him Ghost. Isn't ghost the leader of Genesis?"

Mandus gave a small nod, "Edgar is the human at the center of everything that's going on, he is in fact the one known as Ghost. Not many know of his true identity, but in the end his name is of no importance. What matters is he must be stopped before his plan goes into effect."

"Right… that freaky plan with the robot nanite things, right?"

"You two, now's not the time," Zylen interrupted, "We can talk all about this when we get far away from here, we can't afford to talk about this now of all places," Zylen sternly spoke.

Another voice rose up through the conversation, grabbing the attention of us all, "Leaving so soon? I didn't even get a hug yet," the voice boomed through the garden. A tall pokemon stood with a confident smirk on a balcony overlooking us.

"Wait a minute…" Zylen said as his eyes widened.

"Well, well, if it isn't uncle Zylen, and Flare! Well, I thought I'd never see the sight of you as anything but a shrimpy fennekin. Maybe this time we can actually have some fun." The pokemon jumped from the balcony and landed down crouching. He reached to his back and the sound of steel scraping echoed as he withdrew a knife.

"Well, aren't you going to say hi, it's been what, three months since our last encounter?" the blaziken frowned. "I at least expected some excitement from you, Zylen, it's been years for us!"

"What are you doing here, Hunter?" Zylen spat out. "Don't tell me you actually joined the WPA?"

The blaziken snorted at the question, "Me? Well duh, yeah, I did, there like the symbol of good and all, and I had a lot of repenting to do after we were arrested by the WPA," Hunter's words were dripping with sarcasm as he pressed his palm to his face. "Man, no way, I didn't join them! First chance I got I ditched that crap, that witch Dawn thought she could put a chain on me and make me her puppet, but yeah right!

"What I'm more curious about is why you went along with all of it for so long, choosing to be Dawn's little minion and all. You and Annie were both so awesome back then, like unstoppable, it wouldn't have been hard for your two to find a way to escape." The blaziken's grip tightened around his knife, a bright flame shot out the tip of his knife and formed a long blade.

"It's complicated," Zylen answered, "Something someone like you wouldn't understand."

"I abandoned you because I could, she might have threatened to kill you all if I did leave, but let's face the facts and admit she was bluffing, that's the reason you are here."

"I am," Zylen spat as he placed the umbreon down from his shoulder. "Flare step back, this probably isn't going to end well."

"Pfft, you're going to put me in my place, grandpa? Don't kid around, I've far surpassed you and Annie, and I doubt some zoroark with a messed-up arm is going to put me in my place. Speaking of the braixen, where is she, I'll have to pay her a visit after I'm done with you two?"

"Annie?" Zylen repeated, "Well, you remember what Dawn said she'd do if one of us left," Zylen gritted his teeth as he stared the blaziken down. "Dawn cut her throat in front of us, made us all watch her bleed out on the floor. My best friend… and it's all because of you."

My head snapped over towards Zylen as he flexed out his good arm, and then back at Hunter to see if he was buying into the bluff. The flame spawning from the hilt of his knife died off as the blaziken opened his mouth to say something, but no words could be said. He had just been told that he killed someone that was like family, and Zylen's tone made it quite convincing.

"She's… dead," Hunter almost couldn't speak the words as his arms fell limp and stared at us as if he was hoping we'd admit it was all some cruel joke.

Did Hunter sincerely care about Annie's well-being? He wouldn't have changed tones so quick if he didn't. Did that mean there was a chance to defuse the impending fight to come?

"It's not," I spat out as I made it so smoke would fume from my maw. My fist tightened as I glared at the blaziken with spite. "You killed my sister," I said with false venom. I might as well go with Zylen.

"She was a real respectable pokemon, you know that?" Hunter said emptily. "I didn't really intend for such a thing to happen, I was younger back then... And yet-"

"And yet you still choose to oppose us," Zylen growled. "If you have any shred of remorse you'll turn away and forget you saw us, afterwards you won't ever be seeing us again and this can all just be left where it belongs, in the past."

"Afraid' not," Hunter shook his head. "See, our new boss is paying us all good money to follow along with whatever the WPA is doing, and I'm being paid to take care of pokemon like you two. So, unfortunately, I have no choice. I'm sorry, Duty, pride, comrades, the code I live by," Hunter said solemnly.

"Family is all that matters," Zylen spat. "I'd shave myself completely bald for life and live with nothing if it meant keeping those I love safe, even for one more day with Annie. To put your job and pride before your comrades is despicable."

"I live in a family of money hungry killers now," Hunter said as the flame spewed out from his blade once more, his grip tightening as he got low to the ground. "I don't know what family is anymore, just the jobs that give me the money to make myself happy. Afraid this is the end, one of us is going to die today, the other can be right."

"Hunter, don't be an idiot!" Zylen shouted at him, a purple energy illuminating from him.

"Well, you two, let's have the time of our lives!" Hunter shouted as a flame exploded from where he was standing and he rocketed towards us. Zylen and I barely had a chance to jump out of the way. Zylen ended up punting Black out of the way like a football in the process, while Mandus dove away landing face first in the snow.

Hunter's hand reached into a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a syringe. "Let's see these flames dance!" The syringe stabbed into the arm holding his blade. The blaziken slouched low as he hugged himself tight. For a second he grunted in pain as all his muscles tensed up in agonizing pain. He gave out a murderous roar as flames shot out from his mouth, only growing in intensity until he exploded in a pillar of flames.

Zylen and I were both forced back as the light radiated a bright white that forced even I, a fire type to squint froom the intensity. As the snow melted away a thick mist came rolling in, and from the center of the heat a newborn pokemon stepped out, one similar to a blaziken, but much more powerful.

"Arceus, he mega evolved," I muttered to myself at the mega-blaziken laughed maniacally.

"Let's see what you two are made of," And as if one knife wasn't enough Hunter reached to his back with both hands and pulled out an additional three knives, holding each individual blade between his talons as flame protruded from them.

The mega-blaziken launched himself up into the air, a tail of flames following behind him as he spun. The avian threw his first blade at me, it flew with a bullet-like speed as the flames followed along the blade. I jumped to the left as I tried to follow the blade, but what I failed to see was the second blade he had thrown in the direction he anticipated me to dodge.

A stabbing pain shot into my arm as I was knocked to my back. I gave a loud hiss as my hand grabbed at the burning blade stuck in my arm. My hiss soon turned to a loud anguished cry as I stood back up onto my feet and plucked the blade free from myself.

"Not bad, you survived the first two," Hunter laughed. "Now, let's see if you're still a fennekin on the inside!" Hunter launched himself at me with a blurring speed as a wave of mist followed. I was instantly blinded and all I could think to do was drop low. A wave of heat passed over me as I saw the silhouette of Hunter pass over me.

"Where are you, Flare!" Hunter shouted.

'He's going for me first,' I quickly realized. There were two reasons why I believed. One, I was far weaker than Zylen and easier to eliminate first. Two, he still had a grudge against me. Either way, I'd have to find a way to out maneuver him, I was a ranged pokemon now so if I kept my distance I'd easily be able to take care of him. Except my flames are useless in this battle, especially when he produced much hotter flames… In other words, I was useless in this fight.

Hunter made his mark on me once more and run in with two flaming blades as he crossed his arms and lunged in. I leaned back as far as I could as both his arms swung out, the flame tails making an X before he jabbed both out at me. I ducked below the attack and tackled into the blaziken but only budged him back a few steps before his knee met with my gut.

"Remember, I'm a fighting type. Close quarters are my specialty!" The blaziken yelled as he connected a good kick in my shoulder that sent me spinning in the air, before I could even hit the ground another one hit down on me from above. My face was the first thing to make contact with the ground.

"You really are some pathetic fennekin!" Hunter shouted as he slide one blade by each side of my neck like a pair of scissors, ready to cut me.

"I wonder if I can cut it clean off? The wounds will cauterize so it'll be a pretty clean kill, then after I can present the head to Zylen, I can't wait to see the look on his face."

Both his blades closed in on me, the only thing stopping them being my hands that instinctively shot up and grabbed both blades by the sharp end. I let out a cry as the steel cut into my palms, the flames burning into my paws as they tried to hold them back.

My arms were growing weak, his blade were closing in further and I felt the steel clamping ground my neck. I felt the grip on the blades loosen and I clamped my eyes shut knowing this was the end, he was going to decapitate me right there, but just then I felt something snap down on my tail, getting a loud scream out of me as I was pulled back and dragged far into the mist.

Whatever had me continued pulling me until we were a good distance from Hunter, before whatever had me released me. I quickly shot up onto my feet.

"Flare," A voice whispered from behind. I turned and jumped to see a luxray crouched low to the ground, a blade stuck in his side. It took only a second for me to realize that it was Zylen. A luxray had good eyes, meaning he could see almost anything even in this mist. Smart.

"Get on my back," Zylen said, "I'll be our eyes."

"I can't burn him though," I whispered back.

"No, I know that, so take that blade out of my side," Zylen said as he looked at the blade stuck in him. "It'll be your only real way of hurting him. I need this form or we can't see, I can use lightning, but my speed is going to be greatly hindered with a broken arm and you on my back. The finishing blow might have to be on you if I can't get in close for the kill."

"I understand," I nodded and stared at the knife for a moment before firmly grabbing it. "Sorry, this is going to hurt." Zylen simply nodded and I carefully slid the blade from his side. The luxray sucked in a deep breath and exhaled hard before I fully had it out of his side.

"That really hurt," Zylen scowled, "Now get on, hurry." I did as the luxray said and hopped onto his back, caused the luxray to lower a bit in pain, but he shook his head to fight his suffering.

Sitting on him was strange, really strange, but when the luxray bolted off into a sprint I quickly forgot about how strange it was and clenched on tight. Even on three limbs the luxray could move along at an impressive speed, even if most of his movement were large hops from one spot to another.

"There you are!" A voice boomed from behind. My head spun back to see all the mist rifting apart to make way for the mega-blaziken and his dual flaming blades!

"Crap, we're in trouble!" I shouted as Zylen spun around and electricity started buzzing through his fur. He shot a lightning bolt at the blaziken, but Hunter swiftly dropped to a slide and slipped under before carrying his momentum back up onto his feet.

"No, he made one fatal mistake!" Zylen shouted as he crouched low to the ground and launched us both up into the air. The luxray's fur hissed once more, sending tickles through my spine before another bolt discharged from him, but fatally missed the blaziken.

My jaw dropped, thinking Zylen had failed miserably.

"You missed-" Hunter started before the electricity traveled through all the melted snow and electrocuted him. Hunter gave an anguished scream as he fell flat on his back.

"Flare now!" Zylen transformed back into a zoroark and grabbed onto me in midair. The zoroark carried us both in a flip until I was facing the ground and he threw me right at Hunter. Everything became a blur, all except my target as I firmly held onto the blade. I screamed out at the top of my lungs, ready to end this. My arms reached out as if I was diving and when my blade met with the soft flesh of the blaziken all my weight crashed down and drove the blade straight into his core.

It wasn't over yet.

I positioned myself over him and Repeatedly I stabbed at the blaziken's gut. My arm would cock back and impale right back into him. A wet squirt would be heard as my blade slid into him each time. Stabbing and stabbing, punching so many holes into his gut until I had to wipe the blood from my eyes. Even then I didn't feel compelled to stop, not until a hand reached out and grabbed my arm. My grip tightened around the blade as I tried to drive it forward one more time.

"That's enough!" Zylen screamed at me and yanked me right off him. I fought against his grasp, I had to end this right here! I kicked and clawed at the zoroark until he bent my arm and forced it behind my back where he kicked the back of my knee in, forcing me to kneel.

I expected to be shoved into the ground next, but instead I felt his arm wrap around me, "It's going to be alright," Zylen said calmly in my ear. "It's over."

I felt my grip loosen around the knife and it slipped from my hands. My eyes looked in horror to see the mess I had left Hunter in, his whole gut covered in holes, so much blood pouring out onto the ground. It was horrible. What had I done? I didn't want to kill him, just immobilize him! What was wrong with me?!

A wet cough came from the Hunter as his form shifted back to a normal blaziken, "So, that's how you'd end it, huh?" His words were weak and were barely clinging on. "Not what I expected, but not bad… for a fennekin brat."

Zylen's grip on me loosened, but his arm remained to comfort me, but little could be done for what I had done to my friend.

"Why go so far for all of this?" Zylen questioned the dying pokemon. "No one had to get hurt, you know that."

"Because," the blaziken forcefully coughed blood out all over his jaw. "I've never known anything different… Wake up one morning, get a job, kill persons A, B and C, go home, get paid, drink, find some trollop to pass the night, then repeat the next morning… All I've ever known, Team Flare made sure of that when I was young. I was breed to be this." Hunter's words felt empty, he knew how pathetic his life was, how meaningless. We all knew it.

"Though, it's true what they say," Hunter looked up towards the sky, "You live by the sword you die by the sword. I digress, it was only a matter of time until someone strolled along and ended my run."

"You could have had a lot more than this, idiot," Zylen said as he finally let me go and repositioned himself to be kneeling over the blaziken. "My life hasn't been pretty either, but I chose to stay loyal to those I cared for. You chose to be nothing but a tool, no different than those knives you wield around, you're just something for another person to point around and stick into someone."

"Well not all of us got a second chance..." Hunter spat as his eyes peered into me, one final flicker of hatred burned in his eyes before the embers faded out and only ash was left as all light left the blaziken's eyes.

"Hunter?" I weakly called out.

"Don't dwell on it," Zylen stood from the ground and grabbed my shoulder and forced me onto my two feet. "We'll talk about everything, I promise you, but you need to know it was him or us, he made his choice."

My head drooped along with my ears as I stared down at my old friend. There really was only one choice, him or us, but why did he have to force us into that? We could have talked it out, we didn't have to be enemies, I was willing to forget about everything he had done back in Cyllage city.

My eyes were beginning to feel heavy the more I thought of the alternate solutions, my stomach was turning from the repulsion of my choice. I didn't have to kill him. I could have immobilized him at least, instead I butchered my childhood friend. I held up my two blood stained paws as they quivered in fear. Were these my paws? What kind of monster had I stooped down to? Who am I becoming at this point? Was I doomed to end up like him, stuck in a loop of wrong choices because it's how I was raised? Did my second chance really fix anything?

"Flare, we need to move," Zylen urged me, but I stayed in place.

My eyes drifted down to the puddle of water I was standing in, blood mixing in. In the reflection all I could see was a crimson braixen, blood masking his face and who he so desperately wanted to be. This is who I was-

Zylen's hand slapped me hard. I felt a burn over my cheek as my hand moved to cover my sensitive skin.

"Keep it together, we've still got to save your sister," Zylen reminded me. I gave a weak nod as I turned away from my fallen friend and towards Black, the friend I still had.

"When we get back… I need to talk to you, bad. I'm so afraid and lost and I don't know what to do anymore." My arms both moved to hug myself.

"We will Flare, we will, I promise. As long as you want."

I was able to get a grip on what was important at the moment. I assisted Mandus in pulling him out of the snow and Zylen grabbed Black and threw him over his shoulder. We didn't have far to go from here, we'd make it, no doubt.

Point of View Vincent

"So like, I don't get it, this Mandus guy is like some Legendary slayer?" the jolteon continued to pester me. Her resilience on the matter was quite a burden over my shoulders. Why oh why did I have to follow her screaming and set the obnoxious jolteon free?! Her onslaught of pressing on the subject never ended.

"Yes Kana, yes, he managed to ward off both Entei and Raikou on his own because he's the best," I answered as the three of us made our way down the same route I had used to get through the basement, taking us through a few halls, a dinning room and eventually outside some room I remembered to be some guest rooms.

"But like, I still don't get how a lucario wins against two god and still manages to get his tail whooped by the WPA… You sure he didn't just lie to you about his fight, I mean you did admit to not quite seeing the full fight."

"She does have a point." The delcatty batted her eyes at me, those deceitful eyes that'd lure any lustful man into a false sense of safety… It would be no surprise that my brother fell for such trickery if they had indeed met before. Even I found it hard to pry my eyes from those two perfect round orbs… Perfect on the most part, no thing was ever really perfect, but her eyes really gave the illusion of being such a magnificient-

"Umm, you gonna keep staring at me like that? It's making me uncomfortable," The delcatty said, and when she inched away I knew I had lost the battle we had been in from the moment we encountered one another… There was still round two… always a round 3 if it came down to it.

"Right, I lost myself in thought for a moment, what was the question?"

The delcatty scoffed, "How do you know your boss really beat the Legendaries on his own if you weren't around to see things."

"Because, how else would Mandus have survived such a thing? If any man could ever stand a chance against two great Legendary beasts it would be Mandus, I can't imagine anyone else."

"Mmmkay, if you say so." The delcatty moves along ahead of us, taking us around a corner and stopping in front of a door. "Right, annnnd we're here."

"Here? Where's here?" I asked.

"Here!" She said persistently.

"Okay, and why did you bring us here?"

"Because here is where you two can slip out the window, this is one of the few ones that actually aren't barred up," she said before giving a long stare, "But, this also means goodbye."

"You're not coming with? You just betrayed your own organization by aiding us."

"Nah." She shook her head without a sign of fear, like everything was going to be giddy adventures afterwards that she could return to.

"They'll kill you if they find out."

"Then I hope it's by someone cute and gentle."

"Cute and gentle?" I had to wonder just how many screws were loose in this weirdo's head. What would her executioner sing her a sweet lullaby before splitting her head down the middle? The fool.

"Yeah, I hope he looks me in the eyes, sees the sweet elegant creature I am and delivers me to Arceus, leaving himself behind to remember my luscious face, forever.

"And I've been told I need mental help…"

Not wanting to get too invested in her derranged thoughts, I began entering our escape room with the jolteon following behind. We proceeded to enter the room and find a window that would indeed provide an easy exit point. We'd just have to slide a desk across the room to help us get high enough and then shatter the glass. Easy, especially for a psychic.

"Well, thanks for the help," Kana said. "I hate to think of you staying here though, it's dangerous."

"I'll live, somebody has to stick around to clean up all of this mess. I just hope by helping you all that maybe someone will be able to stop the corruption in some way."

"It's on our to do list," I nodded.

"Hmmm, well, don't procrastinate too much then."

"Oh, we won't, thinking we can fit it into our schedule sooner or later, but before we do go, I never did catch your name."

"Oh, who me?" the delcatty said skittishly. "Are you asking because you think we'll meet again, or just because you feel you should? Do you really believe our paths will meet again?"

"If I've learned anything you'll never know, I've seen lots of pokemon I shouldn't have, even a dead friend once."

"Creepy, but if we really do meet again I'll tell you, if not, heh, then I guess you can remember me by my face. You did keep staring at it, so I'm sure you've got it carved into every corner of your mind."

"Don't flatter yourself too much," I say, thinking that this delcatty was a bit too full of herself. Much too flirty for her own good. How did she even manage to last this long? "But yeah, best of luck to you."

With an understanding the jolteon and I both parted ways with the delcatty. What would follow was of no real challenge, only a bit of back work. With our cooperation we were able to get the desk where we needed it and hoist ourselves up. Following, I used a psycho slash to shatter the window, a bit brutish, but we didn't have far to go and hardly anyone was left to guard the WPA stronghold. We both hopped out the window and landed in the cold snow.

The jolteon took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. I had no idea of how long she had remained in confinement, but I too would be relishing my new freedom. It didn't take long for us to be free and heading towards our rendezvous point, putting this whole nightmare behind us.

Point of View Stark

So much time had passed, and all this time Scarlet had barely spoken a word. The last true interaction we had being her snort. It felt like an eternity was going to pass where I'd be staring at the greninja wallowing in her self-pity. Why would she start moping now of all times? I've seen what the greninja was capable of, and she did it all with that blank expression. Now all of a sudden she was seeing the futility in here efforts, that it was all some pointless attempt to give herself meaning. What a joke, I wasn't going to let her stop me from surviving. She was weak.

"When the guards come in I'm going to kill them," I speak up. "If we combine your hydro pump and my shadow attacks we should be able to get them out of the way pretty fast. Then we can sneak our way out."

Scarlet huffed, "They aren't stupid, they know you're going to fight."

"Then what do you suggest, wait for them to come in here and slaughter us?" I rose my voice. "We can easily take them out."

Scarlet gave me a long stare, one that lasted nearly a minute as if she was trying to get me to change my mind without actually saying it. It might have worked on other pokemon, and maybe even on me if the situation wasn't life or death. Instead, it did very little, I'd dare say it made me more mad than anything.

I was about to say something, I wasn't sure what, but it wasn't going to be polite, but then the door to our room flew open. I jolted from my spot and felt all my wounds ache and make me fall low to the ground. That wasn't what was important though, what mattered was what they heard. Had they eavesdropped in they would know my true intentions and my chances of survival would be down the drain.

A zorua strutted on into our cell, a smug smirk on his face. If I lived long enough I'd give him a permanent red smile to remember this day by. I was done getting back stabbed by others, and I'd be sure to pay back all my debts for him sending his puppets to assassinate me.

"Rhys," I said in a low voice filled with murderous intent. The claws of my right paw dug into the ground, my mutilated limb feeling a phantom pain from the burning desire to rake into his face and tear away his flesh till I hit bone.

"I expected you to be long gone by now," Rhys smirked, "I mean, you could have been halfway to another region by now, somewhere I wouldn't find you, but instead you come and play in my front lawn… Oh Stark, Stark, Stark, if I had known it'd be this easy I would have saved myself a lot of the trouble of sending pokemon out to take care of you."

"Well, I just couldn't leave without one final permanent goodbye," I said. I pried myself from the ground and moved in towards the zorua, but my chain reached its limit and choked me.

"Well, this is goodbye," the zorua said before he chuckled. "Before I do leave though, I would like to know something, where are your friends, You know, the one's you're working with? That poor little umbreon Naomi, I'll have to inform her that you won't be around anymore. Is there a message you'd like me to pass on, or would you like to tell her that on the other side?"

My heart skipped a beat, I'd murder that bastard if it was the last thing I did. The zorua had me right where he wanted me, trapped, weak, at his mercy. He wasn't going to give me a chance to free myself, he was going to find a way to get answers out of me. How far would they go was the real question? I wouldn't answer though, not if it meant putting Naomi in danger.

"Well, if you answer now I can make things quick for you, painless in fact. Maybe even then I'll let Naomi live if you be a good umbreon and-"

"Don't you ever suggest me betraying her!" I lashed out, my voice echoing through the empty cell.

"My oh my," Rhys shook his head. "You really don't realize how big of a mistake you've made. How angry I am with you too. See, I just discovered recently that little Ryder and Mandus have been stolen out from under my nose, I don't like being cheated out of what is mine. They were mine. Now, instead of those two dying, you two will die in their place, and then afterward, I'll hunt them down with your friends and kill every last one of them.

"I think I'm going to bring Naomi back here, make her stare for a long time at what is left of your mangled corpse, make sure it's the last thing she sees. Etch it into that smart head of hers, I know she has quite the memory so I'm sure she won't be able to un-see it even when she closes her eyes. Then, after, I'll have my new friend take care of her, like I will have him take care of you." Rhys's words were filled with pure malice towards me, and I didn't disbelieve a word he said. He'd really do it.

The zorua turned towards Scarlet, no longer seeming to care about me. "You I'm not surprised to see here. Now what would drive you to such lengths to save your friend I wonder?" Rhys mused, scarlet closed her eyes and tried to ignore him. "Back when I worked with Genesis and was still a superior of Kane I had him keep careful watch of you. Our little spy was one of the few pokemon who could actually mask his presence around you, and because of that he was able to piece together a few ideas of what your true role was in all of this."

The zorua leaned in close to Scarlet, his maw no more than an inch from her ear, "You only followed Mandus because he filled the void of your lost mate, he reminded you of your poor-poor mate. Course, you'd never allow such a thing, Mandus would never accept you and you still loved your deceased mate so much." Scarlet's eyes clenched shut, I could see her gritting her teeth as her fists clenched. If it hadn't been for the chains restraining her I had no doubt she'd lash out and kill him. Rhys continued on, his words seeping with arrogance, "All you could do was blindly follow him, clinging to that lucario as something that was deceivingly familiar. A tragic story of a lost broken heart looking to love once more." Rhys let his words sink in.

Rhys pulled away from the greninja as she was left clenching her fists and eyes in discomfort, as if some horrible truth had been exposed. Had a terrible truth been exposed I wonder? Scarlet and Mandus was not something I had ever once let cross my mind. Then again there wasn't a lot anyone knew of the greninja, she always kept her distance and silence, I never even really knew why she followed Mandus aside from sharing a similar goal. Would it be possible that she was really just playing along for some forbidden fantasy?

"Now then," Rhys interrupted my thoughts. "I've places to be, but I do have a friend I'd like Scarlet to meet, and for you to be reunited with, Stark." Rhys gave a high pitched whistle, and on command the door to our cell opened once more.

Two shoes tapped along the ground as a human's shadow was overcasted in the cell. A man walked into the room, a fedora over his head as nappy black hair reached down his neck. Two cold blue eyes stared into me, making me shudder, I'd even hide if it was an option.

"I do believe I owe you for the way you treated me after our last meeting, Stark," the human laughed throughout the room, making my heart fall to a new low at the realization that I wished I had died earlier.

"Did you miss me, ay, Stark?" The human continued on, "How about uncle Jack takes back some of the blood you owe him?"

What would follow would not be quick, it was what Skull Face wished to show me mercy from.

"No… No... Arceus," I whimpered to myself as the human held the door for the zorua as he showed himself out.

"As I said, I really don't care what you do with them two, just get all the information I asked for. Oh, and the cleanup is up to you too, I can't be having my WPA pawns doing that for you."

"Right, right, run along now, my old best friend and I are about to have a long pow-wow," Jack said with a grin, his eyes never leaving me once as the door to my cell slammed shut, a loud hopeless echo tearing down and shred of hope I had left in me.

Chapter End

Chapter End

Author Note: Hurrah, new chapter! And an improved time from the last update. Let's try and beat that! Not much to say on this chapter other than thanks to Genericgamer207 for his usual editing routine and catching all the dumb typos I make. You'd be surprised at the dumb stuff I let slip by, but that's what happens when your brain has an automatic autocorrect for your own writing, I miss it XD.

It'd be awesome if I could get some constructive criticism, I'm always looking to find ways to improve my writing. I am experimenting a bit with my writing, as always. Thanks for all who do take the time to do so, it is always appreciated.