Chapter 6
'Sharing the warmth'

When the Republic decide to Dragon Raid any city in Crio, there are always survivors, in one way or another, but when it is just a town, any survivors were more than just lucky. Surviving such a wide spread attack was a feat of luck on its own, something that the little glaceon had as he was rescued before drowning. However, his rescue was also arrest as it was a raid snatcher that had saved him. Glim was wanted by the Republic's squadron who took charge of the Dragon Raid that day.

'How is he?' asked a bold mechanical voice.

'Physically, his body is severely stressed.' replied a mature female voice. 'A high level of tiredness, with added caffeine in his blood, which also happens to be healthy for the average ice type. There is a bit of head trauma after nearly drowning, but taking in that he was exhausted as Commander Merc reported. Lots of cut wounds and explosive burns, but were heal-able, most we presume to have been a result from the roserade target.'

'Will he be fit enough for interrogation?'

'That is a matter of that includes mentality, and since we have not been able to examine him awake so far, I can only say no.'

'That's not going to stop Vice. It's going to tear him apart. Do you think he can take physical abuse?'

'Would it matter if I did not recommend it?'

'No.'

'Then why are you asking?'

'Because… recommendation or not, we have orders that take priority. You're analysis will come useful in terms of…'

The mechanical voice paused.

'You intend to torture him, don't you?' she replied with a tone of frustration.

'No, I don't. But two higher ranks do.'

The words he had heard Glim thought was all a dream, a theory that completely broke as he slowly woke, facing toward a pitch black window, with his head laid on a lowered steel table. As his blurred vision revealed his eyes to be opening, he could hear mechanical muttering far from him in the same soundproofed room. Suddenly a lone blinding light beamed just above him. Immediately Glim jolts backward, squinting his eyes and raising his paws to partially block the light, which was when he noticed that his front paws were cuffed. It made him nervous, glancing left to right, finally waking up in what appeared to be a silent room used for police interrogations. Ahead of him approached a massive blue metal beast, with blood red eyes, stomping each heavy foot as it did. Having only woken up, the little glaceon was drowsy and as frightened as his energy could allow. The giant machine pokémon stopped just behind the desk, revealing itself to be Vice Vora, a metagross. The light did not reflect off its metal body and kept it slightly shaded while its eyes still glared at Glim.

'Just so you know.' started the metagross, speaking loudly in an intimidating, echoing metallic voice. 'Ice types are favourable lunch for machines, such as myself, you would cool down my constantly fried circuitry. Now unless you do not want that to happen to you…' it said, suddenly raising its two huge front legs and hammering the table, causing enormous dentures. 'You will cooperate!' Vice yelled to Glim's face.

The little glaceon covered his eyes like a vulnerable baby and braced himself, like he was expecting an attack. Seeing Glim's reaction caused Sergeant the magnezone to rush out of the shadows.

'Whoa, stop, stop!' it called, while the magnezone and the metagross to one brief look at the blank window to their right. 'Yes, he's already at breaking point, step off!'

'Pussy.' said the giant iron legged monster as it drew its front legs off the table and remained still. The sergeant meanwhile passed the metagross and levitated lower and closer to the frightened glaceon.

'Sorry about that. Vice can be a real asshole when it wants to be.'

The magnezone paused, giving Glim a moment to breathe and stop shivering. Slowly, the little glaceon revealed one eye, peeking at Sergeant who kept its distance and had more reassurance in its oddly formed mechanical eyes. Glim calmed down, unable to look ahead to see the menacing metagross on the other side still.

'Let's start with who you are, okay?' asked the magnezone, who got a coy nod from as its reply. 'Can you identify yourself?'

'It's Glim.' whispered the glaceon.

'Can you tell us how old you are and where you're from?'

'Um… I don't actually know how old I am, I generally just say I'm twenty. I- and I used to live in Gerbera City.'

'Confirm!' grunted Vice Vora, looking at the blank window again. The window then received a hard thud, making both the metagross and magnezone glance back at Glim who then knew he was being watched or even monitored.

'Okay, thank you Glim.' said the hovering pokémon. 'We will cut straight to the chase. You see, the Interceptors ordered your rescue for a reason.'

'You were found unconscious, near the body of Prince Snowdrop, a former CR executive, who was a real danger to our operations. Even before his death, you were tracked accompanying him.'

'O-okay.' Glim stuttered.

'Were you friends with him?' Sergeant asked.

'Shut up!' interjected the angry metagross. 'Did he tell you about a bastard named Rancour?'

'Y-you mean the leader?' replied the frightened glaceon. 'Y-yes, he said a bit about him.'

'Tell us!' shouted the metagross, pounding the table. Glim quickly braced himself seeing the dynamic movement and the magnezone did not interject that time.

'He's a- uh… he's a, well.' stuttered Glim, while the blank window received another thud and the magnezone nudged Vice Vora off the table, who then nudged back telling Sergeant to back off.

'Calm down glaceon.' reassured the magnezone. 'Tell us what you know, please.'

Again, Glim took a moment to slow his breathing and stop twitching.

'I was- I was told that he was a bisharp… a-and he is in the capital, Haine.'

'Yes.' growled Vice Vora. 'We, know, what he is and that he is in Haine. Where in Haine!'

'I-I don't know! That was all I was told! We thought he would be on Lilac!'

Suddenly the metagross and magnezone shot each other a look of confusion and then glanced at the window again. Glim also looked over at the window, confused why they kept looking at it. Sergeant was the first to look back at the glaceon.

'You weren't part of Symphonia?'

'They made me a part of them. But I was only there to save my friends, who were taken prisoner.'

'And how did they end up there?'

'Well… Jane, an infernape, she wanted to end the revolution more than any of us, saying one side had to fall. At the time, we thought that the leader was Snowdrop. She was the first who disappeared… and we tried to find her.'

'Great plan!' blurted Vice Vora sarcastically.

'Hey,' interjected Sergeant. 'He did kill Snowdrop before you did.'

Glim sat silently, knowing that he did not kill the roserade either, but felt more at ease seeing Vice Vora get spoken back to. But mentioning his friends made him remember something he was desperate to ask.

'My friends! Did you save them?'

'Who and what were your friends?'

'There was Jane as I said, Ben a garbodor and Shadow my boy-' he paused. 'A houndoom.'

'If they were present during the Dragon Raid, I can't say it would be likely Glim.'

'They weren't though. They were still imprisoned when I tried to rescue them.'

'Underground?'

Glim replied nodding with a pale expression. The Sergeant looked over to the blank window for a much longer duration, while Vice Vora remained glaring at the little glaceon. The silence was terrifying Glim, as the magnezone slowly looked back at him with a pained look in its eyes.

'Your friends are dead.' answered the metagross, turning round to leave. 'Get over it.'

The little glaceon's ears sunk as he looked down, hiding his beautiful eyes.

'There is one last question, Glim.' said the magnezone, with a sorrowful tone. 'Would you consider joining the Republic's enforcement? Because you're quite right, "one side has to fall" and seeing as the revolution has now taken three of your friends.'

The glaceon then slowly looked up at the magnezone with an expression holding in misery, rage and agony.

'But they weren't the ones who killed my friends.'

Sergeant paused, staring at the distressed glaceon before looking over at the blank window one last time. The magnezone then followed Vice Vora leaving the dark room without looking back.

After his interrogation, Glim was escorted down a very noisy corridor, made of huge metal doors and walls. The noise were coming from imprisoned pokémon revolutionaries or refugees, unwilling to join the cause. The glaceon was released of his paw cuffs, while two gallade, one in front and one behind him progressed down the very long, dull corridor. Eventually the tall gallade in front stopped, turning right to a door numbered 495. The little glaceon was still distraught from the news and just wanted to be alone. The door was violently opened and Glim was not interested who else may be in it.

'New roommate, faggot.' said the gallade, holding the door open.

The little glaceon walked in with his head down. Before he completely passed the door, the crown of his head was met by an enormous force, slamming his face to the floor and into confusion and dizziness. The gallade behind then kicked Glim into the cell as his sight blackened.

'Hey!' screamed out a feminine voice. 'What'd you do that for!' the door then slammed and the sounds of little paw steps approached the hurt glaceon. 'Are you okay?'

Glim could feel his head being lifted and rested on something as heavenly soft as a cinccino's thick, silky scarf during winter. His conscious slipped out for a minute before opening his eyes to reveal a very pretty fox pokémon. The burning, saddening red eyes Glim was watched by was Beryl, a braixen. When the little glaceon appeared awake, the fox softly stroked the freezing cheek of Glim who was seeing Beryl upside down. His eyes were showing such a deep level of compassion and love, like Beryl really wanted the little glaceon.

'Are you okay?' he asked again.

The little glaceon struggled to sit up, deflated like a rejected drifloon and seeing the dark room as a reminder of his failure to save his friends, his broken promise and hopelessness. The cell only had a barred window as its source of light, which was the light reflecting off Beryl's beautiful eyes. Glim was not interested in the décor or what were in the other cells or what the gallade guard did to him or even if there was any chance to escape. In the spot as he sat, he only wanted one thing as he looked over at the uncomfortable metal slate with a thin blanket.

'I'm sorry.' said the glaceon, pausing. 'But I just want to be alone right now.' he said, with his voice cracking.

The sweet braixen behind Glim also had an expression of holding back tears and nodded.

'Of course.' whispered Beryl, as Glim weakly climbed onto his bed. 'But… if- if you need to talk. I'm right here, okay?'

Glim laid on his right side, facing the wall. The blanket was not even soft or clean, but that did not bother the little glaceon. Everything to him felt like some sort of attack, except for the kind braixen sharing the cell.

'Thank you.' said Glim, almost mumbling.

Beryl did hear the broken glaceon, considering how tall his ears were, but decided not to reply, seeing that Glim had enough. He too laid down on his uncomfortable bed, attempting to go back to sleep, though it was half-past five in the morning. Just in case, the braixen faced the glaceon on the other side of the room and patiently stared at him.

Soon the frequent shouting and complaining of the other inmates was drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the cell window. The noise of the non-stop watery battering triggered Glim to silently cry as his shoulders trembled endlessly and his eyes tightly closed, flooding out tears. The braixen watching could tell he was crying and again decided to not to interrupt and just keep watching, feeling all the more sorrowful for Glim.

Hours later, the pretty braixen remembered the sensation of sitting in the rain, near what appeared to be a cave. Even closer was the sound of a young girl holding in her cries, before letting it out, bewailing loudly. Beryl suddenly realised that it was no girl but the little glaceon sharing his cell. He sat up, gasping in desperation, looking toward the beautiful voice as his vision cleared. Glim was just sat on the floor, facing the window with his little paws covering his head. Beryl just stared for a moment before carefully leaving his bed and slowly kneeling down next to Glim. The glaceon was slowing down in his cries, but was really just holding it in.

'Sweetie,' whispered Beryl in a caring tone. 'Do you need a hug?'

Without even answering, Glim slowly turned his head to the braixen and raised his paws outward. The fox boy quickly responded to his need and embraced the little glaceon. Glim rested his head between Beryl's very warm neck and shoulder and broke down again, holding the braixen tightly. Beryl had no idea what was wrong or even who the glaceon was, but was deeply enjoying the cuddle. He knew however, that Glim was too distraught to want to talk, so Beryl kept to his comforting.

It took a good ten minutes before the glaceon had finally calmed down, but even so, they still held each other for another ten minutes. The major differences in their fur temperature was uncomfortable at first, but they quickly got used to it.

'Do you have a name, sweetheart?' asked Beryl.

'Glim.' he whispered.

'I don't suppose you want to talk about something, do you?'

'It was all my fault...' Glim paused. 'I tried to save my friends, who bailed me out. But… I couldn't save them and got the island raided.'

'Island?'

'Lilac Island… their leader really liked me, so I tried to persuade him to let my friends go. But he ended up killing himself and the Republic Dragon Raided the town.' Finishing his sentence, Glim began tearing up again.

'That wasn't your fault!' said Beryl, caressing the glaceon. 'The Republic bombed the island. You were trying to save your friends.'

Beryl's words did not seem to help as Glim held tighter, crying more.

'Oh, sweetheart.' continued Beryl. 'You are far from the first to have suffered. We are at revolution remember. If your friends knew what you did, in trying to save them, do you think they would be proud of you?'

'I don't know.' stuttered Glim. 'They were prisoned at the time.'

'Oh yes, I'm sorry.'

After five more minutes, the two boys eventually let go of each other, but still remained facing each other.

'I-I'm Beryl by the way.'

Glim did not even ask for his name and just nodded coldly.

'How long are we to remain here, do you know? Do we get let out at some point?'

'This isn't a prison, Glim.' said Beryl, shaking his head. 'More of a death camp, for revolution refugees or innocent pokémon of minor differences.'

The glaceon noticed the hint of rebellion in the way the braixen said 'minor differences'.

'Is that how you've ended up here? I heard the gallade call you a faggot.'

'Yes.' he whispered.

'And what did you mean by "death camp"? Are we stuck here?'

'Yes- I mean, we're still prisoners, but the Republic won't let us out or commune with other inmates. If they see any value in us, they'll keep us alive, which is what those are for.' said Beryl, pointing at two food and water bowls next to a hatch near the door.

'So… we're just stuck in this cell?'

'Until the revolution is finished.'

'Oh.'

Time passed. It was three in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set, though it was not visible through the overcast. Beryl and Glim passed most of the time talking, which was general pass time during constant imprisonment. At least, the most subtle pass time when meeting your roommate for the first day. The braixen and glaceon had their first meal at twelve, which was just two bowls of dried food, commonly edible crap for most kinds of pokémon. Knowing the two were likely to get indigestion or whatever may have been put into their food, Glim and Beryl sat next each other on the left side bunk, looking up at the window.

'So…' started Glim. 'Where were you when the Republic arrested you?'

'I was here, in Hydrangea. Me and-'

'We're in Hydrangea City?'

'Yeah. You've come a way from Lilac. This is the closest major prison the Republic have in the Valor County. Probably because they bombed Gerbera a few weeks ago.'

'Oh yeah, I was there when that happened.'

'It wasn't much better in Hydrangea, to be honest. The city, rather like Haine, Liatrus and Poinsettia have fallen into a two sided war. And if the Republic know exactly where the revolutionaries are based or if we won the city, guess what? The city gets Dragon Raided.'

'You were part of the Crimson Revolution?'

'Sort of… I didn't really have a choice you see. When it all began, everyone only had two choices. One, fight for the Republic and murder every dark type Pokémon, which then escalated into homosexuals... including myself! Or, stand up against the Republic for its crimes and try to survive. Who do you think I was going to side with?'

Glim nodded in agreement, hiding the fact that he too wanted the CR to fall. Well being kept prisoner had him starting to rethink his priorities and who to stand up for. He only joined the revolution because he did not want to be left behind and Jane had mistaken the Symphonia for the Crimson. The whole scenario made the glaceon hold his head, like he was enduring confusion.

'I was only looking for Harold, the father of my best friend, which was when we got ambushed. Apparently Harold was already killed. And Julie…'

Beryl stood, sighing out of his mood swing, creating tension in his throat. He then shielded his eyes as his face was turning pink and breathed deeply. Glim stared at the braixen just standing silently, recognising the shed of distress.

The braixen continued breathing deeply, whilst nodding. The glaceon decided not to push Beryl into answers. However, he realised something seeing the braixen from behind, there was no wand within his tail. Glim assumed that it must have been destroyed when Beryl was arrested, since braixen usually make wands out various shapes of branches. It was quite commonly known that braixen get rather picky about what wand they use.

At eight, Glim and Beryl had their dinner, but were struggling to finish it as it tasted so bad, it was just more very dry food and the two boys were not very hungry anyway. They had spent over half a day together in the same cell and Beryl frequently spoke about escaping and what he would do if he could leave. The glaceon meanwhile seemed less interested, he just laid depressed on his bed for the majority of his day. Whenever the braixen asked about what Glim wanted to do for the revolution, he would not answer and lightly shake his head. It was obvious to Beryl that Glim did not want to take part in the revolution anymore and was still broken from his own guilt. The deflated glaceon just remained there, ears down and looking at the window as the rain began to slow down.

The sound of the rain did not drown the noise of the constant yammering of neighbouring inmates, but during the awkward loitering, the pretty fox had noticed the little glaceon had fallen asleep. Sleeping by boredom was probably the third most common pass time. Beryl was not so tired and just remained sitting aimlessly for a few more hours, pondering on how he could escape. But with hardened iron walls with specialised materials to build them, it would take a raging rampardos or chandelure at max heat to damage them, including the doors. However as luck had it, breaking out did not seem to be necessary as Beryl started hearing what sounded like scratching behind the door. It sounded hollow, like it was messing with something metal. At first the braixen was scared that the gallade were bored and wanted to beat up someone again.

'Glim? Glim! Wake up!' he said, nudging the curled up glaceon who quickly opened his eyes in a daze as he rolled onto his back. 'I think someone's coming in.'

Glim sat up, staring at the door, while Beryl took a few steps back, bracing himself for what was about to happen. Just behind the door, there was strange muttering of a low pitched male voice and a butch female voice making small talk.

'Wait, my claw's stuck.' chuckled the male voice.

'For God's sake.' replied the female.

Suddenly the small door clicked loudly and opened inward with a floating sneasel stuck in its lock.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow!' grunted the sneasel, tilted at an unusual angle and pushed forward by psychic energy, coming from an alakazam behind him.

The alakazam was unusual unlike most of her species, she was tall and had no moustache at all and in its place she had two long scars. She kicked the sneasel free from the lock and crashing between the two inmates. Glim recognised the intruding sneasel, he was Angel, the same one who helped the disguised glaceon into the Lopunny Cove.

'W-what's going on?' asked Beryl.

'Keep your voice down.' demanded the alakazam, entering the cell as Angel stood back up, shaking his left claw.

'We're here to rescue you, girls.' said Angel with a sly grin, which made Glim give a sigh in annoyance.

'We're boys.' he replied.

The sneasel paused, keeping his grin as he looked back at the alakazam. 'You said we were rescuing chicks.'

'I never said they were girls.' she answered. 'Now come on, we need to get you out of here.' addressing the confused glaceon.

Glim did not know what to think, though he could see the braixen astonished and hiding his joy, the glaceon meanwhile actually felt reluctant to leave.

'Wow, really?' said Beryl so happily.

'Wait, just these two?' interrupted Angel, suddenly changing his mood. 'What about all the other refugees?'

'They are not important.' said the alakazam.

'Not important?' said Angel angrily approaching the unusually tall, intimidating psychic pokémon. 'Most of these prisoners are innocent!'

'Then you can stay here. I have come to rescue Glim.'

Hearing his name made the glaceon twitch, confused even further. Since they were being rescued, he did not want to waste time questioning them.

Knowing how brutal a Republic prison can be, Angel backed down from arguing with the clearly war-hardened alakazam. The sneasel only shrugged and looked at the two prisoners they were rescuing. Beryl seemed excited, both in a worried way and eager to get out. He gave Glim an encouraging glance.

'Well, come on let's go-'

Trying to pass the alakazam, Beryl was stopped by her, who held up what appeared to be a short staff made of wood. The staff was a beautiful mix of navy, blue with two white jewels on the handle.

'You will be needing this, Beryl.'

The braixen seemed to not notice that the alakazam knew his name and gazed at the wand. He could tell it was a wand for braixen and delphox, but to see one of that design was hypnotising. Beryl accepted it, taking it slowly in his lustrous spell.

'Now let's go already.' she demanded, quickly floating out of the cell, followed by Angel and Beryl who snapped out of his infatuation.

Glim followed the three pokémon out as they headed right, heading for the north end of the ominously long corridor. It was just as dark as it was in the corridors as it was in the cells for having so few lights. Unlike the little glaceon, the sneasel, alakazam and braixen were so much faster and were leaving Glim behind. The little glaceon could hear the alakazam in his head, telling him to hurry up and using her psychic powers to telekinetically pull him to the party.

'You know where the exit is, right?' asked Angel.

'Yes.' replied the alakazam sternly. 'But we're going to have to fight our way out anyway.'

'Ah shit, really? There's like a thousand guards out here-'

'Going loud!' called the alakazam, as she leaned back during her charge forward, making the unusual purple and red orb harnessed to her torso glow. With the others behind her stopping, the alakazam threw her arm forward and suddenly an enormous black ball boomed ahead of her and exploded when it hit the reinforced door at the end.

From outside the death camp, a boom was easily heard, shaking the whole structure and creating a huge flash of darkness. What felt like an earthquake, immediately caught the attention of all nearby guards and executives Sergeant and Vice Vora. The magnezone and metagross were both in separate locations when they heard the explosion, however that only triggered the sergeant to sound the alarms, while the enormous Vice Vora folded up its iron legs and flew in pursuit.

The explosion from what was called a Shadow Ball, had knocked the glaceon and braixen off their feet, while Angel was left dazed from the sheer volume of the attack. He quickly spotted little Glim on the floor and helped him up, while Beryl struggled to get back on his feet. Their hearing was hurting as a result of the Shadow Ball ferocity, but the alakazam continued forward and she walked, knowing that her companions would need a moment to stabilise themselves.

The door, along with chunks of its surrounding walls that was blown off revealed a courtyard, which was used for either executions or training Republic recruits. Just outside of the gap in place of the door was a stair tower to the roof of the main building, however, just outside were local guards on standby who began their approach. The Shadow Ball had left a thin dark fog layer, covering the alakazam and without being able to see immediately, the few gallade, machoke and ursaring approached cautiously. As soon as the prison guards reached the fog, they were all suddenly blown away by a blizzard of blinding pink lights. The alakazam emerged from the dissipating cloud, beaming her Dazzling Gleam to keep even more guards back. It would not be long until they would be surrounded. She turned and using her immense psychic powers, ripped off the olden metal door off the stair tower.

'Go! Go!' shouted the alakazam. 'Get to the roof! I'll take care of this!'

The mighty alakazam resumed her onslaught of Dazzling Gleam, pushing waves and waves of pokémon back, making them look so weak and useless. Meanwhile, Angel refused to argue and bolted up the dark stairs, followed by Beryl and Glim. It looked like the stairs had not been used in years, judging by the amount of dust and grime that was covering the walls. During their rush upstairs, whenever there was some gap, they would always see pink flashes from the alakazam who was relentlessly fighting below.

After climbing what felt like twenty floors, the little pokémon, other than the sneasel were exhausted and were running on desperation. The area and door at the very top was pitch black, which caused Angel to run into the door before noticing it. He swiftly got back up, shrugging his tumble as the pretty braixen and glaceon joined him on the same floor.

'Is that the door?' asked Beryl.

'Yep,' replied Angel. 'Hold on.'

The sneasel lunged his claw into the thick iron lock, while the braixen turned to make sure nothing was coming up the stairs. Angel grunted in pain, forcing the old mechanism to unlock which appeared to really hurt him.

'Yo, glaceon.' said Angel, struggling to keep his finger in the lock. 'I need you to push the door!'

Responding quickly to Angel's plea, Glim recklessly rammed into the door, forcing it to creak open. The braixen swiftly followed the glaceon, while the sneasel skilfully kicked the door back when he freed himself from it. The three fugitives found themselves on a long dark rooftop. There were protected satellites on each corner, while two landing pads remained to be the only lit up features on the roof. It had also seemed that their presence was getting ignored, seeing two gallade and a charizard running across the roof nearby and fearlessly jumping into the battlefield below, where the alakazam could still be heard blowing up pokémon.

'We're almost there!' called Angel, running ahead, attempting to cross to the other side of the roof.

'Don't count on it!' shouted Vice Vora, trying to crash land on top of Angel, who leaped back just in time. The giant metagross caught itself, sinking its iron legs into the roof and barely needing away strength to rip its claws free from the roof.

The very sight of the huge mechanical pokémon sent chills down Glim's spine, making him take steps back. Beryl meanwhile stood forward, near the confident sneasel.

Vice Vora had not come alone, it was accompanied by two little joltik on top of it. Common pokémon to be used when arresting another. While the metagross adjusted itself in position, the little electric spider pokémon leaped off, glaring at the three runaways. Being so small with big eyes, the joltik were not exactly intimidating, but were not joking around. The two joltik fired strings of web, which was immediately vaporised by a ring of fire from Beryl, who stood one step ahead of Angel and Glim with his unique wand glowing aflame.

'Initiate!' called Vice Vora.

The braixen was unwilling to back down and waved his wand again, that time downward, causing the joltik of authority to become surrounded in a ring of fire. The metagross would have also been trapped in the fire, but it leaped up before the fires erupted, raising its front leg. Before Beryl was about to get crushed, Angel forcefully grabbed him and jumped back. Vice Vora looked like it was trying to use Meteor Mash, when in fact, it was using Earthquake, forming an enormous crater in the roof when its leg inserted itself into it. The joltik were flung out of the fires that became extinguished, while Glim was also catapulted into the air, following the airborne sneasel and braixen who neatly landed near the stair tower. Beryl fell out of Angel's grip and hit his back against the wall of the tower.

Vice Vora leaped up again, fiercely landing near the edge, putting itself between the three pokémon and the main prison wall, which the metagross had figured the fugitives were attempting to leap over, since the main building was far higher than it. Seeing the falling metagross, Angel took the opportunity to retaliate, as soon as Vice Vora landed, the sneasel dive rolled, evading the ground shaking and made his right claw glow black. Angel gave a swift uppercut to the face of the giant machine and knocked off its wide lens that was mounted to its left eye. Even though dark attacks can easily disrupt psychic type pokémon, Vice Vora only grunted and nudged back, followed by a horizontal swing of its front right leg, quickly catapulting the frail sneasel back and flying into Beryl who was knocked back. The attack left Angel on the floor, tightly holding his torso with a matching expression of pain.

Beryl quickly got up, but his distance from the fearsome metagross put him in less danger, as opposed to Glim who was just in front of the injured sneasel. Glancing back at Vice Vora, the little glaceon suddenly saw his life flash before his eyes, remembering the drapion about to attack Oswald and Prince Snowdrop holding his bouquet cannon in front of him. As the giant machine pokémon leaped up once more, undoubtedly aiming at Glim, he suddenly felt the urge to mimic the alakazam from earlier. In slowed down space, the little glaceon screamed, bursting out a Shadow Ball at Vice Vora, which caused the same shadowy explosion, though far smaller compared to the alakazam's, but strong enough to redirect the metagross to land away from Glim. Vice Vora paused, glaring at the frightened glaceon. It seemed hurt, but Glim's attack seemed to only anger it.

'Are you really going to try and fight me, you pathetic little crybaby?'

Several metres behind Glim, the timid, but desperate braixen was about to cast Ember at the the metagross, but as he raised his wand, his arm was hit by very sticky strings, encasing the wand to his arm, which remained pointing up. Beryl realised it was the two joltik, rejoining the battle.

'No!' screamed Beryl, managing to swing his arm down, discharging another ring of fire, which caused the strings of web to burn away, however his own arm was still stuck stiff. The joltik quickly side stepped, dodging the Fire Spin.

Vice Vora and Glim appeared to be having a glaring contest, waiting for the other to attack first. It seemed the usually slow metagross had a strategy for that situation as its hind legs appeared to fold up, while the front two remained on the ground. Glim did not know what to do, knowing using Shadow Ball again would only persuade Vice Vora to dodge it and follow up an attack. Suddenly, the folded up legs boomed like jet engines and the metagross flew into the glaceon at incredible speed, taking Glim by surprise as Vice Vora delivered a Bullet Punch. Glim was hit across his head, throwing him into the wall next to him and bouncing off it. The glaceon only stopped nearby Beryl, but his jaw and eye socket was in great pain. He struggled to get up as he saw the metagross suddenly took off into the air once again. Glim looked up and gasped, paralysed in fear. However, just when Vice Vora was about to rapidly fall, it was met by a tremendous black ball, which immediately exploded, leaving the metagross let out a monstrous, echoing scream. From the explosion, a dark fog had spread but then quickly dissipated, revealing Vice Vora to crash onto its back like a stunned spider. When it unstably rolled onto its legs again, the metagross was seen to have lost its front left leg and was glowing a dark purple around the same area. As it struggled to stay standing, it droned a long growl in pain, refusing to give up.

Descending from above, the alakazam landed between the vulnerable glaceon, joltik and metagross. She was steaming and the life orb attached to her was vibrating, glowing red from heavy use. Even so, the alakazam herself was not out of breath and stood like she was invincible. Knowing that Vice Vora was actually far too injured to fight, she sorted the joltik issue first, using Psychic to levitate the little bugs and brutally compress the fluids out of their rectums. The sight made Beryl scream.

Despite its major injuries, Vice Vora still attempted to approach the battle, but was simply hit away by a beautiful green ball of light from the alakazam. The attack suddenly grew plants all around the metagross and knocked it spiralling off the rooftop, yelling in anger as it fell.

'We're out of here!' said the alakazam, helping Glim up and using her psychic to lift Angel onto her shoulder.

Beryl ran to the alakazam who offered her hand and when everybody was huddled, she picked up everybody up in telekinesis and flew straight off the roof and into the darkness that was Hydrangea City. The buildings were very high, but so few of them even had lights on. It looked more like that the four pokemon were flying through a dark woods filled by colossal square shaped trees. None of the street lights were on and it was far too cold for fires to remain burning unless it was fuelled to the point of ablaze, which some buildings and flats were. Glim had not expected much, knowing that Hydrangea was highly effected by the revolution.

'Glim! Beryl!' called the alakazam, trying to keep their momentum. 'Magnezone, behind us.'

The braixen and glaceon spun round within the psychic flight to spot a diving oval shaped machine pokémon, standing out due to the thin moonlight reflecting off its shiny body. Even though Sergeant was not so fast, its diving manoeuvre was working as it was catching up to the fugitives. The magnezone raised its front magnets as its antenna glowed, it then fired a wave of lightning, which was blocked by a sudden wall of light, created by the braixen, holding his wand ahead of him. The wall was vibrating from the attack and discharging electricity as they flew, while Glim inhaled deeply and blew out a freezing wind in attempt to slow down the Magnezone. The sergeant ascended, fully dodging the Icy Wind attack and retaliating with a huge burst of electricity that was suppressed by Beryl's Light Screen, but carried on and zapped everyone in the air. The braixen and glaceon squeaked in pain, while the alakazam lightly grunted and slowed down, leaving Sergeant to zoom ahead.

'Must I do everything myself?' said she angrily, making her life orb glow brightly again.

The magnezone swiftly flew in a U-turn, somewhat surprised to see the fugitives still airborne. The alakazam fired a black and purple ball of shadows like a bullet.

'Oh shi-' said Sergeant suddenly exploding while it tried a pathetic attempt to dodge.

The magnezone was hurled back, seemingly in one piece and disappearing into the dark streets below. Without a word, the alakazam continued her flight and took a left turn, losing any Republic officers who may had still been tailing them.

Somewhere, in a dark neighbourhood, the alakazam finally landed after five straight minutes of telekinetic flying. Even though the night sky had the faint tint of purple revealing the silhouettes of the nearby buildings, the streets were pitch black.

'It's around here.' said the alakazam. 'Beryl, could you?'

'Oh, yes yes.' replied the braixen, raising his wand which lit up a large flame, revealing the deserted street, a tiny park and a small toy shop named Rein ne dure.

The rest of the street were mostly houses, one convenience store and a pub on the end. The street was a dead end, but the buildings still looked inhabitable despite their conditions. Beryl and Glim seemed interested at first, before noticing the alakazam had lightly knocked on the door of the toy store. The braixen and glaceon rushed over and saw Angel struggling to lift himself, still lying injured on the alakazam's shoulder.

'It's us.' grunted Angel. 'Let us in yo.'

The big wooden door creaked opened, revealing Karli, the shiny kirlia from Iris to be answering. She was not alone, as Karli was accompanied by Gina the pikachu from the same dress shop Glim had visited.

'Angel!' said Karli, trying to keep her voice down. 'Come in, come in.'

The peeking pikachu kept the door open as the alakazam entered, followed by Beryl and Glim who Karli had then noticed.

'Hey!' she said, pointing at him with a surprised expression. 'Are you Glim?'

The same glaceon did recognise the kirlia, but forgot her name, so he just nodded. Karli proceeded to hug Glim tightly.

'What?' said Gina, lightly closing the door. 'The same one who bought that dress? No way!' she chuckled happily and joining Karli and hugging the little glaceon.

At the counter of the ruined toy store, the alakazam sat Angel down, who was still holding his ribs and staring at Glim.

'Oh god, of course!' blurted Angel, catching the attention of the three pokémon who were still cuddling. 'I thought I recognised you! You were that glaceon I helped into Lopunny Cove, a few nights ago, right?'

'Hold still.' interrupted the alakazam, levitating a medical kit to the counter.

'I didn't know you were a dude though.'

'Angel?' called the high voice of a child, jumping from step to step and coming down to the store below.

The child was Belle, a budew, sounding excited as she clumsily rushed down the olden stairs.

'You can thank Jane for that.' said Glim, replying to Angel as he and the two girls broke their group hug.

'Hey Belle! I'm a little fucked up right now.' chuckled the sneasel.

'Angel language!' said Gina.

'Wait, what happened?' asked Karli, approaching the counter.

'We got attacked by a freaking metagross.' answered Angel.

'What you did back there was incredibly reckless.' said the alakazam. 'Vice Vora was over level fifty and judging by your injuries, it used Hammer Arm against you. Was it distracted?'

'Yeah, I managed to hit it and remove its lens, which is when it hit me back.'

'You're lucky that didn't kill you. Your left shoulder and ribs are all fractured.'

'Oh my god.' said Karli.

The alakazam telekinetically removed a lantern from the ceiling and placed it next to the sneasel and looked over at Beryl who was silently standing nearby, holding his flaming wand. Quickly understanding what she wanted, the braixen placed the flame within the lantern, sharing its light. Belle approached the counter, looking up at Angel. The alakazam fully bandaged Angel's torso and strapped a small harness around his shoulder.

'Bones do not heal easily Angel, even for pokémon. However, we can support bones into regeneration and even encourage. But it will all take time.'

'I know.' muttered Angel.

The alakazam reached for her little bag that was strapped to the back of the harness holding her life orb at her torso. From the bag, she held out a unique claw, which looked like it came from a dead dinosaur, which had a beautiful set of colours, glistening down the long white nails.

'One of the best methods of healing, you probably know, is evolution.'

'That's not an actual razor claw, is it?' asked Angel, seemingly shocked.

The alakazam fitted the unique claw onto the working arm of the sneasel, whose mood had become a little gracious as he and Belle kept staring at it. The pretty nails were reflecting the light from the lantern and Beryl's flame.

'You're not going to evolve immediately, so I highly recommend you stay out of any fights until you evolve.' said the alakazam, taking steps back. 'And I'm afraid my work is done.'

Everyone looked at the alakazam with confused or shocked looks, realising she meant that she was going to leave.

'Oh.' stuttered Gina.

'So you're not actually a survivor like us?' asked Karli.

'That is up to you to decide.' said the alakazam, looking at no one. 'I was sent to rescue him.' she said, turning to face Glim.

'Me? Why did you even save me anyway?'

'Long story short Glim… you can do something we can't.'

The room fell silent, the little glaceon just stared with a very confused and saddened expression.

'What the hell's that supposed to mean?'

'Karli could I speak to you, outside?'

'U-uh certainly miss.' stuttered Karli, just as confused as Glim.

'I will be taking my leave now. So best of luck.' said the alakazam, heading for the door.

'Well- well bye then.' said Angel, a little disappointed to see her leave.

'Bye, thanks for everything!' said Beryl so gratefully.

'Bye!' said Gina and Belle happily, but like Angel, they too hoped that the alakazam would remain a dependable bodyguard for them.

Glim however just paused watching the mysterious alakazam just pass him. He knows he should be grateful for being rescued from the death camp, but deep down, he knows he did not want to escape, he did not want to be part of the revolution any more, not after hearing of his friends dying because of him. Yet it seemed he was getting pushed back into it.

'Belle, you should be getting to bed.' said Gina happily, bending down to the little plant pokémon.

'No! I don't wanna!' she replied, stomping her little toes.

'Yeah come on B.' said Angel sliding off the counter and onto his feet. 'It's about ten now, I'm going to bed.'

'Oh okay.'

The budew jumped up as Angel easily caught her on the fitted claw. He took one look at Glim, Gina and Beryl, before moving to the stairs.

'If you guys aren't coming up, we'll see you tomorrow morning, alright?'

'No no, I'm coming.' replied Gina. 'Just a few things to do.' She said, suddenly twitching and glancing at the braixen behind her. 'Oh sorry sweetheart! We didn't get your name.'

'My name is Beryl.' he said, bowing like a dancer, making the pikachu giggle.

'You remind me of my boyfriend.' Gina casually replied, but then she gasped, looking away. 'Oh no, oh no.' she stuttered, holding her paws over her face as she tried desperately to fight something.

'A-are you alright?'

Gina paused silently, her face hidden away from both Beryl and Glim. The pikachu then inhaled which had the very recognisable tone of resisting to cry.

'Oh sweetheart,' said Beryl. 'Did something happen to him?'

'Beryl,' whispered Glim. 'She came from Iris, which got Dragon Raided.'

Gina could not hold her pain any longer and lightly sobbed, while Beryl had a sympathetic expression and leaned forward to hug the pikachu. Beryl had somehow forgotten his arm was still encased in web, which he did not remember until his arms were around the little mouse pokémon.

'Whoops. Um…'

The glaceon meanwhile decided to leave those two and wanted to find if Karli and the alakazam were still outside.

Having been in the darkness for so long, the dark street was more visible to the two psychic pokémon. They were only a few metres away from Rein ne dure, but were talking very quietly. The alakazam was crouching to see the little kirlia on eye level.

'I-I have one, you know.' stuttered Karli.

The alakazam paused, giving her an empathetic look of sorrow.

'My leader spoke about you, Karli.' she said, with a completely more feminine voice. 'But, they said that of which you already know, sweetheart.'

The kirlia raised the stone that was in her hand, which was a beautiful dawn stone.

'But… is it possible?'

'Karli…' she replied, placing her hands on the kirlia's shoulders. 'You will never become a female gallade, it is a virtual impossibility. At least, right now.'

Karli closed her eyes and sighed, holding her dawn stone tightly.

'Though it is not impossible for you to become a gallade. But of course, that would mean getting a sex change, which is possible mind you. But-'

'I can't go through that.' whispered Karli, shaking her head.

'Of course. The trouble is, especially with the dawn stone is apparently, it responds to the hormone levels of any snorunt or kirlia, which it then dramatically enhances it. Like a steroid, it majorly improves the body in its own way, but can also destroy it. People are trying to achieve feats of impossibility, like… male florges, a cascoon evolving into a beautifly. Those are things that have been achieved and a female gallade, I am sure is on that list too.' said the alakazam, reaching for her bag again and taking out what looked like a purple stone. 'However, my leader did request me to give you this.'

The stone was placed on the left hand of the saddened kirlia, who examined it, with a question in the way she looked at it.

'They call it an eviolite. I do not know how, but my leader tells me if a pokémon holds that, who can still evolve, the holder becomes so much tougher. Which I think suits you Karli.' she said winking. 'Despite your dilemma and desire, you don't shed tears.'

Suddenly the alakazam reached her arm out, sounding an echoing droning noise as she did. From the opened door of the toy store, Glim was pulled out and levitated toward the two ladies. He was struggling, unaware that it was the alakazam dragging him to them.

'It is rude to eavesdrop, Glim.'

'I-I was waiting to speak to you.' uttered Glim.

The glaceon was dropped in place, right next to Karli, who seemed uninterested and just staring at the eviolite.

'You want to know why I know your name.' said the alakazam. 'And why out of all prisoners, I was to rescue you and Beryl and on top of that, who I am.'

Glim paused awkwardly, as that was exactly what he wanted to know, but the fact the alakazam got all of his questions right in one guess and so calmly made him angry.

'There, it happened again! You knew everything I was going to ask. How is it you know me!'

'That right there was just me reading your mind. As for the rest of your questions…' the alakazam sighed. 'You, will find out overtime. I have to go.'

Both Karli and Glim stayed looking up at the alakazam who finally stood up. She seemed so different to most alakazam, the way she stood and spoke and because she had no moustache, she was so much more feminine. Her personality and seriousness was much like a gardevoir.

'And Glim. We're sorry.' she said, shortly before completely disappearing in a strange light.

The glaceon, just stood still, wondering what the alakazam was apologising for. Karli meanwhile looked at Glim just next to her and then turned round to head back into the store, where they were residing.