Chapter 4
'Falling for your friends'

Iris Town was experiencing a frenzy after what had occurred outside the Coronet. Most of the citizens who resided and were independent from the revolution had gathered on the hill. Pokémon all around the Coronet were spouting senseless rumours to what could have happened. Apparently no one had witnessed the Martyr remnant, Boris' death or Glim's face off with the human figure. Everyone who had gathered were there out of curiosity, afraid that their town was being raided by the Republic or Crimson Revolution, despite already being claimed as revolutionary territory. As part of the local's investigation, the bodies of the scrafty and xatu priest were escorted from the scene.

The glaceon meanwhile was taken to the medical centre, right next to the bottom of the hill. He was not injured physically, excluding the few cuts on his body from Charles and the rough collision from the Martyr manifestation. Glim's real damage was to his mind, unable to get the image of the Martyr creature's slow approach, or Boris' death or Charles' rage out of his head. With him was Shadow, keeping his viciously hot paws around his little glaceon who was trying to not cry.

Shadow was fortunate to have woken after Ben saved him and to have missed what had transpired between Glim, Charles and Martyr, but he regrets not having been there to help his boyfriend. Had he been able to fight the xatu priest, maybe Boris would still be alive. At the moment, the two were sat in the Accident and Emergency section, both Glim and Shadow having been assessed. The loyal garbodor however went back to the Grand Lake Hotel to find Jane, who he did not have time for earlier.

The traditional nurse pokémon of Crio were azumarill, however before the Republic chose to destroy Crio's beautiful diversity, the country was known for having no stereotypes and traditions. An azumarill came back for the two patients who had survived the ordeal at the Coronet.

'Can I ask how you are doing Shadow?' she asked. 'Has your sight stabilised?'

'Yes, thank you.' replied the houndoom. 'It was just a knock to my head and a hypnosis spell.'

'Do you see any echoes to my ears?' asked the nurse, pointing up at her ears.

'No, nothing. I wasn't that dizzy when I woke up, I think.'

'That's good. And what about him?'

The little glaceon was still bunched up, sitting awkwardly in front of Shadow as he held him, like a vulnerable broken child. Glim did not move nor answer and was just taking deep breaths, trying to hold in his tears.

'He had his examination, which went well.' answered Shadow, nuzzling his glaceon. 'As for the feels, he's calmed down.'

'Good. I'm very sorry for what happened to you, but I have to discharge you two, if you are able to walk home?'

'Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine.'

'And sorry about your friend, Shadow.' referring to Boris who was confirmed dead. Shadow could only express misery as he looked down.

'Thank you.'

'Take your time, okay?' said the azumarill. 'And when you leave, let the nurse behind the counter know, okay?'

The houndoom winked and nodded, letting the nurse leave. For a moment Shadow rested his head on Glim's, sharing each other's sorrow and comfort. Thirty seconds later, the glaceon was breathing slower, escaping the fearsome gridlock of his experience that kept haunting him. Recognising his calm, Shadow could finally ask what he wanted of the little boy.

'Your name is 'Glim', right?' whispered the houndoom. Glim responded with a very slow nod and though Shadow could not see the nod, he could feel the glaceon's nod stroking against his very warm body. 'Did you say your name was 'Glacia' so I wouldn't find you?'

'No.' replied Glim, also whispering.

'No?'

'My friends, who want to end the revolution told me to use a different name so the Crimson or Republic could not find us.'

'I knew it.' The houndoom nodded in agreement. The glaceon looked up at him with a face of concern. 'I knew you gave me a false name, but I wanted to know why. I was afraid that you were afraid of me.'

'W-well, I sort of was.' stuttered Glim. 'I didn't think another boy would approach me like that, yet you were so nice to me. And when you and your friend saved me, I-I didn't know what to do. I felt I had to give you what you wanted, even though I was… dressed up. But, I've never kissed another boy before, I was so scared.'

'I'm sorry sweetie.'

'No, it's alright!' interrupted the glaceon, giving his houndoom eye contact.

'I shouldn't have pushed you.'

'You didn't, I pushed myself.'

'Because of me. I got clingy and sad when you were leaving.'

'I would have done the same, if I ever saved someone I loved.' whispered Glim.

'Then I guess that makes us both suckers.'

Only noticing how close their muzzles were, Shadow gave the glaceon a little kiss and then they cuddled.

Suddenly a loud garbodor zoomed into the waiting area, seeming desperate. Just hearing the junky rustling of his body made the two boys sit straight and glance past the counter, where Ben stormed in.

'There you are Glim!' choked the garbodor, almost tripping over by stopping too fast. 'We've got a problem, Jane's gone missing!'

'What?'

'She wasn't at the hotel or anywhere in sight from the north gate. I went over there myself, she's just gone.'

'Did you actually go where she was going?'

'I didn't go near it, but from the hill I couldn't see her at all.'

'Who is this?' asked Shadow.

'Jane's a friend of ours, an infernape. She told us to wait for her at the hotel, but she should have been back over an hour ago. She was going to investigate that little dock just north of Iris. See if there was a way to get to Lilac.'

'You mean the Iris Berth? That area has been forbidden to enter for weeks now. Pokémon are said to disappear from there.'

Ben and Glim gave each other a frozen stare, expressing concern.

'Any idea where they go, or who takes'em?' asked Ben.

The houndoom shook his head.

'Sorry.'

'Well I'm going over there anyway. If I'm abducted, they'll take me to her. Are you coming?'

The little glaceon paused, suspecting the terrible danger that could be waiting at the berth. Remembering that Jane, a formidable infernape was a very tough woman and by far the highest level of her team. For one pokémon to have captured or even killed her would have taken a masterful amount of skill. Glim wanted to say yes, he did not want to lose another close friend like Jane if she was in danger, but was having trouble fighting his trauma again. The houndoom caressing him sensed the fear.

'Could you give us a moment?' Shadow asks.

'Okay.' replied the garbodor, turning to leave.

'I'm sorry Glim. I know you've been through a lot today, but your friend is probably dead already.' Shadow whispered.

The glaceon closed his eyes and sighed sadly and when he looked down, he shook his head, summoning what courage he had left out of stubbornness.

'I don't care, I want to find Jane anyway. She would do the same for me. It was her and Oswald who…' Glim paused. 'I won't believe she's dead until I see her myself.'

The little glaceon, resisting tears broke from Shadow's embrace and calmly walked a few steps away. He then stopped, wondering what he should say to the houndoom before he left. Glim thought about saying goodbye or to wish him luck, some romantic cliché or something that would assure Shadow to not worry about him.

'So you're going?' asked the houndoom.

'I'm sorry Shadow, but-'

'Then I'm coming with you.' Shadow boldly interrupted, making the little glaceon fire a worrying glance at him.

The houndoom left his seat, pulling a brave expression that showed fearlessness in his eyes. Glim turned round looking up at Shadow, accidentally beaming his own charm from his eyes.

'I'm not going to lie to you sweet. I don't care of the result of this "revolution". I don't care who's fault it is, or what caused the "human genocide".' Shadow said, approaching little Glim and bringing his head over his. Getting that adorable, innocent and sweet stare from those radiantly pretty glaceon eyes he loved so much. 'It's you, I will die for.'

'You don't have to do that.' whispered Glim.

'You don't have to die for your friend either. But like you, I don't care, I want to go anyway.'

The much bigger houndoom smiled, enjoying the sight of those eyes so deeply. He raised his paw and lightly squeezed the so smooth, but freezing cheek of the little glaceon, who also smiled.

'Thank you.'

It was only an hour and thirty nine minutes, since the attacks around the Coronet, by which time, Iris had become clouded in fog. It was not that thick, but what was left of the pretty daylight that morning was just a glint in the distance. It seemed that Crio was back to its usual dismal weather.

Outside the medical centre, Ben was pacing, impatient to leave and find Jane. Nearby at the bottom of the hill were two golduck and a marshtomp arguing that Iris Town had gone to hell and that they all needed to get out of Crio, before they are either forced to join the war or lose their families. The older golduck was insisting on staying, defending Crio for what it stood for when he was born. Eavesdropping on the argument made the garbodor feel a little less hope, until the doors of the medical centre opened, followed by a glaceon and houndoom couple leaving.

'Glim!' blurted Ben happily. 'So you're coming?'

The little glaceon gave a determined nod and then looked up at Shadow.

'Both of us.' answered the houndoom.

'You too, are you sure?'

'It's Ben isn't it?'

'That's me.'

'Well, first you have my thanks for saving my ass up there-'

'Oh mate, we're in revolution.'

'And that was my next thing, I'm not joining. I'm only going where he goes.' said Shadow, lightly nudging the little glaceon next to him.

'Shadow that's okay.' Ben grinned. 'We're not really joining either side of the revolution either. We just want it to end.'

'Even if we have to kill another for it.' Glim interjected. 'One leader of one side, is still just one Pokémon, right?'

'Yeah, of course.' answered the houndoom. 'But what about your friend?'

'You mean Jane?' asked Ben. 'Well, she theorised that the CR's leader is a roserade and is only over there.' he said, pointing at the foggy silhouette of the nearby island.

'On Lilac?' asked Shadow, somewhat surprised.

'Yeah. If Jane has been taken to the island, I'm sure she'll be already kicking ass in trying to burn the island down. So I say we get over there and help her, before she gets herself killed.'

The little glaceon nods.

The three friends hurried out of the north exit of Iris, which then becomes a steep hill down to a little wood that surrounds the berth they were heading to. Being a houndoom, Shadow was naturally much faster than the little glaceon and the big bag of rubbish. However, whilst Ben was eager to get to the berth, Shadow remained running alongside Glim, guarding him with his life.

'Shadow?' called Glim.

'Yes love?'

'You seemed surprised about the CR leader being on Lilac theory…'

'It just sounded odd to me. If the leader was on Lilac, how have the Republic not dragon raided it yet? They already claimed they know where the leader is.'

'That's true.' the glaceon murmured.

The 'Dragon Raid' that Shadow mentioned was a military attack strategy, whenever enemy territory was to be occupied or attacked the Dragon Raid would demolish the helpless location from above, thus allowing grounded pokémon to approach. Though it is called the Dragon Raid, the swarm would include all kinds of flying type pokémon. Dragons were often the brute force of a Dragon Raid, which earned them to take the title. Bird pokémon were often the speedy, manoeuvring experts if any ground approach was needed, while bug pokémon had the wide range of senses to know what to attack, which meant that they always took the front of the formation. Due to its very dangerous success rate, the Republic have resorted to using the Dragon Raid more frantically and frequently. The citizens of Crio would sicken of the attacks as 'cowardly and uncaring' given that the attacks always take lives of the innocent. The latest city to be hit by the Dragon Raid strategy was Gerbera City, which was where Jane, Ben and Oswald were evacuating from, rescuing Glim during the attack.

Slowing down to recover energy, the Iris Berth was only minutes away. Creeping past through foliage, the lone dock seemed desolate and empty. It was silent and run down, taken over by algae and moss. What was left of the dock was torn wood and rust, all of which made the multiple warning signs on the downhill look redundant. The boards looked like that no one ever came to the berth in years.

'Is it possible that Jane might have gone back to Iris and just got held up?' asked Glim.

'Not for that long. She doesn't joke anymore.' answered Ben.

The small path they took led the three on the opposite side of the Berth, which had two boarded up sheds, while on the other side were two houses and some sort of barn. The structures were also soulless it seemed, even with the windows visible, what Glim could see of the rooms from the outside appeared a dull white and empty. If the berth was to be a painting, the houses would look like that the artist just accidentally dripped two white blobs of paint on a pretty country dock.

Ben without any caution ran across the path, to cross over the canal, keen to inspect the barn and then the houses to find Jane. The little glaceon looked down at the river, where the small boats would stop to let off passengers. Since the sky had gotten a lot darker, all he could see was the same sage green as the moss the covered the berth. Nature had taken over the area it seemed, not only because of the moss, but several vines infesting on the rocks and the ground clearly having shifted frequently. Along with the vegetation, flowers, mostly white with the exception of few red flowers, peeking from the moss in obscure parts.

'Usually, it is quite easy to spot Jane,' said Glim. 'Wherever she is.'

'If the rumours are true, she might already be over there.' replied the houndoom, looking at the north Point of Lilac Island, being the closest part to the main land of Crio. 'I don't see how the CR could execute an abduction so cleanly and quietly though, do you see any traps or something?'

'No, but something smells…' Glim paused. 'kind of sweet.'

'Really? Well, it's difficult for fire types to smell anything.'

Constantly breathing out hot air can sometimes make scents and smells difficult for fire type pokémon to smell.

Next to the houses, the large garbodor was already peering at the morbid windows. He already figured that the infernape he was looking for was nowhere to be seen, but like Glim, Ben was determined to find her. The little glaceon meanwhile was in tension, as Shadow moved further ahead, Glim could not help shake the feeling of being watched.

The houndoom lightly pushed open the door of the bigger shed, which was not so boarded up, unlike the smaller one next to it. The shed appeared to be a refugee and that pokémon had lived in it once. Judging by the crayon pictures on the walls, there were children who had lived there. Shadow slowly entered, hyper vigilant, on the lookout for traps or an ambush, whilst magnetised by his curiosity. His sweet glaceon friend followed him in shortly.

All over the walls, were cute pictures of a small four legged pokémon making wishes to someone named 'Jirachi' and just next to those pictures were many more of the little brown pokémon running away from scary monsters. In most of the pictures, the same pokémon depicted is crying or running, with hurtful messages coloured red in the backgrounds. One picture has a monster standing still, in the doorway of a house yelling 'BABY! BABY! BABY!' Some of the pictures depicted the little sad pokémon with a knife and blood in front of it. One that stood out, was of one where it is surrounded by seven unusual figures, all coloured differently, one blue, one yellow, one pink, one beige, one red and one cream. The figure standing in front of the reoccurring drawn pokémon, was white, but outlined in the shape of a human. That picture stood out, because unlike all the others, the little pokémon had a smiley face.

'There's nothing quieter than an abandoned house, is there?' said Shadow depressively, gazing at the pictures.

Glim remained quiet, more interested to what was under the work table, which had several broken toys. One of them was a purple music box, with hearts and star patterns which looked in good condition.

'Who the hell is "Jirachi"?' asked Shadow. 'That doesn't sound like a Crioland name.'

The glaceon shook his head, even though Shadow could not see him. The houndoom was done looking at the pictures, only representing sadness and fear. He turned giving Glim eye contact who was not liking the refuge either, but then something caught his eye through the window. On the other side of the canal, Shadow could see Ben faced down on the floor, in front of the houses.

'Oh my god, Ben!' cried Shadow.

Immediately Glim rushed out with the houndoom just behind him, where they could see the garbodor just slumped on his front and motionless. Strangely when the little glaceon ran out, the air felt a lot thicker somehow, like he ran through wind blowing at him, despite the sea breeze was so low. Shadow meanwhile appeared oblivious to the air thickness and bolted over to the bridge. The glaceon desperate to help his friend attempted to follow Shadow, but as soon as he took one step in his pursuit, all his legs were suddenly powerless, his vision slowed and he was helpless to stop himself from flopping onto his side. Breathing deeply, Glim felt like he had his energy completely drained and was unable to move or shout, though he could see the houndoom running on the other side.

'Ben are you-' called Shadow, only noticing his little glaceon had also fallen over. 'Shit! Glim!'

The little glaceon could not see Shadow when the houndoom called out his name. All he could do was struggle weakly, trying to move his body and call for help. Glim had enough energy to move his paws and stutter words, but was far too weak and dizzy to move his whole body. He could hear the swift treading of the big dog pokémon, rushing over to the bridge, but also faint rustling nearby.

'Wha-' stuttered Shadow. Immediately blasting a beam of fire which Glim clearly saw right above him as it strode left, out of his sight. The Flamethrower was huge, despite being quite high up. The glaceon could hear the feminine screams of three pokémon running away, one of which jumped into the water, judging by the loud splash. 'Get away from him!' roared the fearsome houndoom, stopping in front of Glim and shifting round to protect the defenceless glaceon.

Glim swung his paws left, trying everything to get up, only to roll to his left slightly. He managed to spot a red flower that was crawling down from the house and getting much bigger.

'S-shadow…' wheezed Glim.

From the point of view of the glaceon, the houndoom remained looking left, continuing his raging flames at what Glim was not seeing. Shadow kept blasting fire until he looked ahead of him, which he then stopped and turned back to the downed glaceon with a face of reassurance.

'Glim! Let's-'

Suddenly, out from the water multiple huge grey tentacles boomed out, towering the dock and just as quickly struck the houndoom who seemed so small to them. Shadow was swiftly snatched off the path and pulled into the water, out of Glim's sight.

'Shadow!' squeaked the helpless glaceon, stretching out his paw, as if he had any chance in saving the houndoom.

With no power to hold him up, Glim slammed back, facing up again, this time his head was caught by a vileplume, whose face was just behind his. The little glaceon panicked, waving his paws ahead of him.

'Sh…' whispered the vileplume, stroking to calm her prey. 'Don't fight it, sweetheart. Or else you will have nightmares.'

The vileplume cushioned Glim's head within her arms while his sight disorientated further and got blacker. The last thing he saw were two more vileplume approaching with graceful smiles, his eyes then slowly closed.

'I remember that place. The berth.' said a voice, of what sounded like a young female, speaking in a mourning tone.

'Who are you?' calmly asked Glim.

For a moment, the other voice paused, before changing the subject.

'You are lucky it was not victreebel putting you to sleep. They have a rather horrifying way to dispose of bodies.'

'I'm not going to be eaten am I?'

'No. But the fate of your friends is closer to that predicament.'

Glim paused.

'What's a "predicament"?'

The voice whom he was speaking to lightly chuckled.

'You will find out when you wake up, sweet. But you need to know, their lives will depend on you and however you defeat Prince Snowdrop.'

'Prince Snowdrop?'

'He is the roserade you were hearing about. Your incredible friends will manage to persuade him to let you go. Unless you want to lose all your friends, you must bond with him. Snowdrop is much like you Glim.'

'I will try my best.' replied the glaceon. 'Wait, how did you know my name? …Hello?'

'He's got nothing to do with this!' shouted a familiar aggressive female voice. 'Just an idiot glaceon who followed us, thinking we were home to him.'

Glim's eyes slowly squinted open, though very blurry and dizzy. The first thing he could see were his hind legs, dangling downward over a space of blackness. Looking to his right, he could see the figures of Ben and Jane, lined up next to him, also dangling in the air.

'Yeah, if any of us deserve to live, it's him.' argued Ben, looking at Glim with a sad expression. 'Glim is innocent…'

Those were the last words heard by the 'innocent' glaceon, before his head dropped downward, passing out a second time. The next noises that became audible for Glim were the sounds of high pitched chatter, with giggling in the background.

'Sh- sh! He's waking up.' said a bellossom, who come into sight as Glim slowly opened his eyes. 'Wakey-wakey.' she chanted happily.

The glaceon gasped, finding himself waking up on a more comfortable mattress, used for hospital patients. In fact, it was a medical centre were Glim appeared to have woken up. He forcibly sat up, immediately getting calmly held by the pokémon watching over him. Along with the bellossom was a nidorina, an umbreon and a bayleef. The bellossom and nidorina reassured the little glaceon.

'Whoa, easy, easy cutie.' said the bellossom.

'Where are they? Where are my friends? Where am I?'

'Now slow down.' said the umbreon, placing her paw over Glim's cheek and tilting his head to meet her serious, but calming blood red eyes. 'You're in Symphonia Hospital right now. You were lucky enough for our leader didn't dice you for today's POW meat. As for your friends-'

'Yvonne…' interjected the bayleef, who then shook her head when the umbreon met her eyes.

'We'll let you speak to the democrats. They told us to take you over to them once you had woken up.' continued Yvonne.

'So where are my friends?' asked the glaceon.

'They're still being held prisoners… but that is the least of their worries right now.'

Glim stared at the umbreon for a moment, he then sat up when the girls moved back, allowing him space to crawl off the bed. Even though he was still a prisoner, he was not pawcuffed and had a lot more energy than he did when he fell at the Iris Berth. The bayleef was the first to leave, opening the cubical curtain, revealing a large drapion just behind it. Just seeing him made Glim freeze in place, suddenly seeing the fight between Oswald and the Killer of Kindness in his face. Even the bayleef flinched, unaware that he was there.

The drapion spoke, making the bayleef jump. 'Is the-'

'Sorry, I didn't know you were standing there!' she chuckled.

'Is the glaceon ready?' asked the drapion, not joking around.

'He's coming Garrus.' said Yvonne, who then lightly nudged Glim, who remained frozen solid. 'Hey, you okay?' she whispered, snapping the glaceon out of his trance.

'Follow me, I'll take you to the shrine.' said Garrus.

Glim nodded and then proceeded to leave the cubical, following the large drapion. His every movement sparked fear into the little glaceon. Seeing the long tail rise, the tiny spikey feet crawling so quickly. Somehow, it all just seemed so terrifying for him.

The hospital was much bigger than the medical centre back in Iris Town, but it was rather quiet compared to the average hospital. That changed when the escort left the hospital, where Glim realised he was in an underground community. Knowing how big Lilac Island was, it was possible to house more than a town if the caves kept going. Symphonia was a huge cave town that was connected to Lilac Town, being the only town on the island. At least that was all that was known of Lilac Island by the citizens of Crio. There was a long line of enormous supporting pillars, keeping the whole cave roof from crashing onto the town, while the residents had made refuge in pokémon made buildings, the hospital being one of them.

The group did not travel far, though Glim got a long enough look to how populated Symphonia was. It was mostly made up of poison type pokémon, but there were a lot of dark types and the occasional grass types and pokémon who were clearly also let off by the leaders. Garrus was leading Glim and the girls up a path, just west of the hospital. Until the drapion turned right, facing a huge public tunnel that was a quarter mile of stone stairs. Seeing it and having to look up made Glim groan in surprise and despair. Though he was embarrassed, the girls and even Garrus nodded in agreement.

'The fucking Route 9 ledge of Symphonia, is these stairs.' said the drapion, already climbing it.

The girls giggled, with the nidorina patting Glim in empathy.

'It's strange we had the money and resources to build a small town, but no elevator?' complained the bellossom.

The tunnel was at a perfect thirty degree angle and was big enough for crowds of pokémon to storm through, of course no one else was using it at the time. The tunnel also revealed to Glim that it was no longer day, as he could see the sky at the other end, being a dark azure blue and cloudy as always. When the group left the tunnel, the sky was exactly the same. The sun had already set and it was the usual gloom. When the glaceon left the tunnel, all that was ahead of him was a long path turning left and the icy azure sea, stretching all across the horizon. Unwilling to anger the drapion, Glim continued to follow and just over a slope was a large structure with a completely glass roof. Oddly despite the size of the structure, it had no walls and just eight supports holding it up, having no privacy at all.

At the shrine, multiple pokémon from the town had gathered, surrounding the shrine except for the north side of it, which was being treated as the entrance. Glim could see why, as that was the direction the democrats and the leader himself were facing. The little glaceon did not acknowledge what species the democrats were and was more focused on the leader, sitting in a strangely seductive position in a tall chair. As heard and told, the leader was a roserade and knew him as Prince Snowdrop. The small crowd of locals quickly became silent when Garrus entered, with the glaceon tailing him. The girls meanwhile did not move any further than the north side of the shrine. Inside the shrine, Garrus stopped and turned to face Glim.

'Your examination begins here.' he said looking down at the cute fearful glaceon.

The drapion left him standing in place and stood in front of the crowd behind Glim, whose focus was now at the long white clothed table on the other side of the room. Behind the table were the democrats, a gengar, a swalot, a toxicroak, an ivysaur and then Prince Snowdrop the roserade, who captured the gaze of the little glaceon again.

'Court is now in session.' called the toxicroak. 'Please state your name, species and position in the revolution.'

'Mh- my name is Glim,' he stuttered. 'I'm a glaceon... and a civilian.'

The democrats, except for the prince were rapidly writing down notes as Glim spoke.

'Dear boy, please speak up when speaking in this court.' said the Ivysaur.

'S-sorry.'

Being in that position, with all those pokémon staring at him was more terrifying than Glim might have imagined. Most of them had the menacing expression that they wanted to eat him and being so small and alone where he stood, the little glaceon was seriously unnerved and uncomfortable.

'Glim,' called the most dauntingly beautiful roserade. 'Your friends claimed that you had nothing to do with the revolution, which they were campaigning to finish the revolution by assassinating me. Do you confirm this statement?'

'No your majesty.' said Glim and immediately the surrounding crowd either laughed, shook their heads, awed or giggled in his cute mistake. As if he was not unnerved already, the coy glaceon ducked down more, now embarrassed. Even Prince Snowdrop smiled at the remark.

'Order, order!' shouted the toxicroak, hitting the desk.

'Your sweet,' said the roserade, shaking his head. 'Though I'm not an actual prince, that's just my nickname. But you can call me that if you want.' he said winking.

'Oh- sorry. U-um.' stuttered Glim, completely forgetting what the prince had asked him.

'Please explain why, you disagree with what your friends told us.' said the ivysaur.

'Oh! Well because… I wanted the revolution to end too.'

The swalot looked over at the toxicroak and ivysaur, who all shared the same look of seriousness and minor confusion.

'Don't we all?' replied Snowdrop.

'And what child,' said the ivysaur. 'Did you hope to achieve with assassinating Prince Snowdrop?'

'Well… one of us thought that the leader of the Crimson Revolution was here on Lilac.'

'Which one?' demanded Snowdrop, quickly leaning forward, giving Glim a chilling stare.

All his beauty transformed into horrific intimidation, darkening his eyes that were hungry for blood and filled with rage. The sight made the glaceon cower with his tail and ears erecting and twitching. He would have wet himself had Glim had drank anything earlier. Aware that the little glaceon was fragile and frightened, the toxicroak stood and placed his claw over Snowdrop's shoulder.

'Snow, you're scaring him.' he quickly whispered.

Quickly snapping out of his nerve, the roserade nodded to reassure the toxicroak, who sat back down.

'I'm sorry Glim.' said Snowdrop. 'Please tell the court who it was who led you here, with that objective.'

The little glaceon said nothing, just pausing awkwardly and trying to think.

'Excuse me son,' said the disgruntled ivysaur. 'You were asked a question. Answer it.'

'I-I don't remember!' cried Glim, already knowing the court would not believe him.

'Sir,' said the sassy gengar, facing her leader. 'The glaceon is scared that if he reveals whose idea it was to invade our haven. You would kill them.'

'And I would.' said the roserade. 'Not that it matters anyway, your friends have been barking up the wrong tree.'

'What?' squeaked Glim.

'We do not have anything to do with the Crimson, at least, not anymore. Because like you Glim, we too are civilians who are trying to survive the revolution and what the Republic are doing to us!'

'So, y-you're not the leader of the CR?'

'Were you not listen? No!' shouted the ivysaur.

The prince held out his left bouquet, telling the ivysaur to settle down.

'The leader,' continued Snowdrop. 'Is a veteran bisharp named Commander Rancour. A true war hero in Crio's military history.'

'Commander Rancour?' repeated Glim.

'Yes, and if he was here on Lilac, the Republic would have unleashed a bit more than just their cowardly Dragon Raid. Something I, can deal with.'

'Oh… we didn't know. All we heard about the island was the secrecy and that it was dangerous.'

'That seems to be all that the Republic are hearing too, except they already know that the real fight of the revolution is in Haine. You know, the capital that has been out of civilian boundary since it started?'

'We thought of that, but um…'

'It's alright Glim, we forgive you.' said the gengar. 'You were just misled.'

'Which excuses you.' interjected the roserade. 'However, your friends, will not be leaving.'

'W-what?' cried Glim.

'Your friends, I am assuming to be, the infernape, garbodor and houndoom, correct?'

'Yes.'

'Well… one of them had the intention of assassinating me regardless, and that houndoom almost killed many of our personnel. Including the very tentacruel who captured him, ending up with severe head trauma.'

'We didn't know you weren't the leader! A-and Shadow was trying to save me. Your people ambushed us!'

'Order!' demanded the ivysaur.

'That is a fair argument, little glaceon.' said the swalot. 'But your friends are clearly warriors of the revolution, whereas you… are just a sweet pacifist who plays dress up.' he said, finishing his statement with a smile and making the prince and gengar next to him chuckle. The glaceon was confused by the statement, but concerned by what the swalot meant.

'Uh, I-I'm sorry?' asked Glim.

'We're not supposed to change the topic,' said Snowdrop. 'But I personally would like to know. Do you… have feminine feelings Glim? The desire to wear clothing designed for females?'

'Your- your majesty?'

'Yes,' interjected the ivysaur. 'What is the meaning of this?'

'Well…' said the roserade, reaching for something behind the desk. 'When your friends were brought here, we confiscated something from your garbodor friend.'

The little glaceon realised what Snowdrop and the swalot were talking about, which became true to him when the prince gracefully held the folded maid dress, with its bonnets and stockings, tucked in with it. Pokémon amongst the crowd started chuckling, muttering or giggling as Glim froze in another roller coaster of emotions. Keen to defend his innocence.

'That- that's not mine!' argued Glim, making the crowd suddenly roar in laughter. Like before, the little glaceon cowered down, that time in embarrassment, causing him to blush and captivate the roserade.

'Between you and your friends, Glim. You are the only four legged specie small enough for this outfit.'

'But that doesn't mean it's mine!'

'Except!' objected the gengar. 'And I'm sorry Glim. But I happened to see you, in Lopunny Cove last night, in that dress.'

The gengar, along with many of the crowd chuckled once again. Glim did not recognise that the ghost pokémon was the same gengar who he attempted to approach last night. The revelation made the pretty glaceon's eyes shorten in further embarrassment, unable to argue back, since he was already recognised.

'So, go on…' said Snowdrop. 'Put it on.'

The crowd then cheered, while the toxicroak and ivysaur were shaking their heads. Glim himself was not exactly following the flow either.

'What?'

'Exactly what I said. Put it on.'

'I'm sorry,' interrupted the toxicroak. 'This is-'

'Overruled!' Snowdrop interrupted back, making pokémon laugh. 'Put it on, Glim. You know you want to.'

'I don't want to!' complained the glaceon, stomping his little paws.

'Bailiff, please use this to dress up the defendant.'

Immediately, the crowds roared in laughter again as the nidoking approached the prince with and embarrassing smile. Calmly taking the undamaged dress he turned, shaking his head, resisting to chuckle and approached Glim, who just stood looking away, shivering at the sounds of the laughter.

'I'm so sorry about this.' chuckled the young nidoking.

Little Glim decided to make it quick and slipped himself into the dress, with the awkward help of the surprisingly careful man, who as he was tightening the corset looked back up the democrats.

'Listen, if she finds out, could you explain this to my wife?'

The crowd laughed again, while the gengar, toxicroak and ivysaur nodded, either reassuring the nidoking or just sympathetic for the little glaceon. When Glim's stockings were pulled up, the bailiff left, patting his bottom before returning to his position while the glaceon was tying his bonnet, utterly mortified. The crowds were either resisting their laughter or awing at Glim's mega uncomfortable frustration, burning pink as he just sat, looking away.

'Feeling better?' asked Snowdrop in a seductive tone.

'I feel like head-butting a fucking bomb!' cried Glim.

'Language, boy!' shouted the ivysaur, as Prince Snowdrop and the gengar laughed loudly. 'However, I must also protest. Can we please finish the court, sir?' he asked, trying to not sound angry to his leader.

'Most certainly.' replied Snowdrop. 'Glim. You will have to let go of your friends, as their guilt was already determined by their objectives. Though that objective was yours too, you are forgivable, for realising the truth that we were certainly not who you thought we were. Even if you did manage to invade our island, you are clearly no threat to us, as the infernape stated you "hopelessly naïve". You are a lost revolution survivor, who got close to some troublesome friends and would give anything for it all to end. It is people like you who deserve their lives. Therefore, this court declares Glim the glaceon our latest member to the Symphonia community.'

With no objections from the other democrats, they all nodded with the crowds applauding, clapping using their various limbs. Glim looked around, noticing that everyone seemed very happy for him to have become part their society. Even the prince himself seemed secretly endearing of the little glaceon. Glim meanwhile, did not know what to think. He was so muddled by emotions he could not think straight, though he did remember what Jane had apparently said about him, which kind of hurt him. Even so, he was still determined to save his friends who managed to save him. Glim had managed to earn the trust of Symphonia and it was his turn to save his friends.

'Court is now adjourned!' called the toxicroak as soon as the crowd had quiet down.

The large majority of pokémon present at the court left for the nearby tunnel down to Symphonia, with Glim shortly behind them, desperate for space after his latest ordeal. Despite his subtle leave, the girls who had escorted him were already waiting for him. The nidorina beat the bellossom to hugging the little glaceon first, which actually helped to make him feel better.

'Congratulations on your verdict.' she said, releasing her embrace.

'Yeah! You're lucky the leader likes you.' said the bellossom.

'Tha- thank you.' mumbled Glim.

The group then paused, awkwardly staring at the little glaceon still in his maid dress, who appeared embarrassed out of his mind. Yvonne stuttered and tried to change the subject to relieve poor Glim.

'Glim…' she said smiling. 'Would you like us to help you out of that dress?'

'Please.' interrupted the distraught glaceon, nodding.

Quickly and carefully, Yvonne, the bellossom, nidorina and bayleef removed the garments which were rather tight, due to the nidoking's strength and inexperience to dressing pokémon in such clothing. Glim would not have cared if the girls tore the dress off him. The bonnet however was taking a little longer since the glaceon had made it incredibly tight out of frustration.

'I am so sorry that happened to you sweetheart. That must have been agony, having all those people laughing at you like that.'

The other girls were sadly nodding or patting Glim, while the nidorina was managing to loosen up the bonnet. While she did, they all heard rather loud growling noise from the glaceon's belly. The bayleef giggled.

'You hungry?' asked the umbreon, smiling.

Thinking about it, Glim realised he had not eaten since that morning, before everything during his long day had happened. From learning Signal Beam, fighting Father Charles, surviving Martyr and the abduction to Lilac Island.

'I-I haven't eaten since this morning.' he replied, making the girls gasp. 'Well, I've had a very long, crazy bad day today. I just forgot about eating.'

'Don't worry,' reassured the nidorina. 'Let us take you to the Symphonia Gourmet! It's all free of charge, due to the revolution and all.'

'Count me in.' said Garrus, appearing behind the little glaceon.

Glim looked back at the huge drapion, for some reason no longer scared of him.

'Let off early Garrus?' asked the bayleef.

'Yeah.'

'Well, let's go.' said Yvonne. 'Glimmy hasn't eaten for almost a day.'

The umbreon proceeded, entering the tunnel followed by her friends.

'Speaking of that,' said the glaceon. 'What time is it? I don't know how long I was out.'

'Way passed my bedtime,' blurted the bellossom. 'Five until midnight.'

'You're not the only one missing out sleep, Clara.' said Garrus, crawling alongside the much smaller pokémon. 'Damn it, Cyrus and I started like bloody 5am this morning.'

Cyrus was the bailiff nidoking who had to dress up Glim, also the father of Marleen the nidorina walking just next to the glaceon.

'Oh so that's why dad wasn't around this morning.' said the nidorina.

'Didn't your mother tell you?'

'…I don't live with my mother anymore.' replied Marleen, not even looking at Garrus.

'Oh sorry.'

From leaving the tunnel back into the main plaza of Symphonia, it was only a brief five minute walk to reach the Gourmet, which like the hospital was a massive structure, built into the environment around it. Inside, it looked like two levels of a college cafeteria. The floor above was more or less an elegantly designed balcony stretching over most of the ground floor. The upper floor however was for those who still had money left from the revolution, whereas the majority of pokémon who had nothing took up the main floor. Due to the level of busyness that building could get, even at midnight, the food and drink offerings had to be on opposite sides of the room.

'I have a berry farm shift starting in an hour,' said the bayleef. 'So I'll be getting the chesto teas, anybody else?'

'Yeah, I'll have tea thanks.' said Yvonne.

'I'm coming with you,' said Clara, approaching the bayleef. 'Garrus, Mayleen and I need deep sleep for tomorrow. What would you like Glim?'

Having fallen asleep for at least six hours during his abduction, the little glaceon was certainly not tired. Having the pressure and need to save his friends, contributed to Glim being keen to stay up.

'I'll have tea as well, thank you.'

'What do you girls want?' asked the umbreon.

'I'm not hungry, thank you.' replied the bellossom.

'Can you get me the "tropic puff mix" Y?'

'Okay.' replied Yvonne. 'We'll find you.'

Splitting into two groups, the little glaceon tagged with Yvonne, Garrus and Mayleen, individually getting their own tray, except for the drapion who had the arms to carry both trays of his and Meg the bayleef's order. The umbreon went first, hinting Glim of what is what. Both being eeveelutions, they both liked similar kinds of food given they are omnivores, due to the unique adaptability of the eeveelutions. Being a glaceon however, Glim would much prefer cold food, settling him with the 'rawst salad' and mint ice cream.

While the glaceon was given his order, the drapion who was just behind him leaned down to him.

'Hey Glim,' whispered Garrus. 'That was ballsy what you did up there mate.'

Glim looked up at him, a little curious, Yvonne also noticed them talking to her right.

'Huh?'

'You were honest to the prince and all, but admitting your responsibility and arguing for your friends release could have gotten you killed.'

'It didn't matter, they already decided I was innocent.'

'True, but our leader… well.' murmured the drapion, using his tail to poke at the top of his head. 'He's not exactly in one piece up here.'

'What I can't understand is why he won't let my friends go. I mean, it was his members who attacked us and we were defending ourselves.'

'We can show you why…' interjected Yvonne. 'Come and look at this.'

Sliding their trays ahead, the glaceon noticed the other side of the food offerings to be crowded and queued up. With lots of big poison and dark pokémon itching for what was over there. The offering table was quite high, Glim, Yvonne and Mayleen had to stand on their hinds to claim their orders. Glim could not see at all with all the hungry eager pokémon queued around it.

'I-I can't see.'

'Here,' said Garrus, subtly sliding his claws under Glim's torso and picking him up. At first the glaceon squeaked like a little fennekin, still afraid of drapion. However, Garrus held him up high to see what was at the end. 'Do you see it?'

What would be four whole slots of separate kinds of food, was all one long tray of what was unmistakably diced meat in multiple shades of red. Steaming hot, burning an enchanting aroma that even Glim found provoking. Judging by the concerned expressions of his friends however, he too became a little fearful.

'What is that?' whispered Glim, looking down to Garrus who lowered the glaceon between his spiky shoulders.

'Remember what I said about the prince? Well, there's a reason why Rancour broke connections with him during the war. What you just saw, we call that "POW meat".'

'POW meat? What is it?'

'…Do- do you know what the P-O-W stands for?' asked Garrus with concern, while Glim remained with an unsure stare.

'It stands for "prisoners of war" Glim,' answered Yvonne, looking up at Glim in a sad expression. 'And that is what will happen to your friends if you don't save them.'

The glaceon silently gasped, glancing back at the tray of meat, that so many were finding lustrous.

Meg and Clara were already sat at an empty table near the entrance, having set up the three sets of chesto tea, a kind used to relieve tiredness with the use of chesto berries. The bellossom had brought over three 'spore cocktails', for herself, Garrus and Mayleen, a bitter drink that promises a very easy sleep when comfortable enough.

The others arrived with their orders, just as calmly as they seemed, even though Glim was shaken out about knowing what POW meat was. Even so it failed to put the little glaceon off his food as he was starving. Most of the girls began chatting while Glim neatly scarfed his salad and ice cream in the most awkwardly desperate manner. The umbreon, just opposite him noticed how insanely uncomfortable the glaceon looked. His face resembled being frozen in fear and a deep sense of thought, yet he was eating in a mature manner and somehow resisting to go full on houndour and chomp the whole table. Yvonne sort of regretted telling him about the meat so early. She was about to say something, but Garrus raised his claw, shaking his head.

'He's heard enough.'

'I was going to change the subject.' she said. 'S-so Glim. Eeveelution to eeveelution. Can I ask what made you choose to become a glaceon?'

Stories of what eevee choose to evolve into is a common interest story for many pokémon, and as usual it gained the attention of Mayleen, Meg and Clara. Glim however changed his bizarre expression into a sad one. Not even answering, he blew at his tea, freezing it up and leaned back, looking much more relaxed. He held his teacup just looking down at his reflection.

'It's complicated.' Glim whispered.

Yvonne nodded, agreeing having experience of her own, but she felt inclined to disagree.

'Did you not want to become a glaceon?'

'It's complicated.' Glim repeated and suddenly the umbreon noticed that he did not want to talk about that. 'But that does relate to why I am here.'

'How so?'

Glim looked at Garrus just next to him who was also interested.

'Did you know a drapion who called himself the Killer of Kindess?'

'You mean Darrel?' replied Garrus, surprised with a hint of disgust. 'Yeah, I went to school with that dick head.'

'Well… he murdered a close friend of mine, in front of me. Who was also the husband of one my friends. That drapion had such a scary look and big eyes, he stabbed Oswald while he was comforting me. I was still just an eevee when that happened over a week ago.'

'That sounds like him.' whispered Garrus.

Respectably, Yvonne and Mayleen said nothing, keeping a sorry expression for the little glaceon.

'Which is why my friend's so pissed off. Though she says, that she wants to end the revolution, she really wants to avenge Oswald, by killing the CR's leader.'

'But the Killer of Kindness never got his place here. In fact, even Snowdrop wanted him dead. That asshole calls himself the "Killer of Kindness" because he believed that people wanted to die for… whatever he claimed them to be.'

'And my friends did not know any of that, remember?'

'Yeah,' said Yvonne. 'They didn't even know we weren't part of the Crimson Revolution.'

'Well, now that you do.' said Garrus. 'How are you going undo what has been done? How can you save your friends? Because, as much as we respect you Glim, we can't help you.'

The glaceon looked ahead contemplating and noticed Yvonne looking down into her tea with a look of aspiration, while Mayleen shared a similar look. Clara and Meg only seemed concerned, unable to disagree with the drapion's statement. Hearing that he was on his own once again did not seem to bother Glim though. He took one look back at the where at the crowd gathered around the POW meat and suddenly regained a feeling of determination.