Chapter 8
'Home is where the hurt is'
Somewhere far away, the sun rises over the lush village on a cloudless day. The sky was a bright cobalt, blending with hint of pink and yellow as it neared the sun. That morning the pokémon orphanage was teaching its children to plant flowers, so it seemed. The happy little pokémon were playing or clamouring around, either trying to put soil into plant pots or watering them, even when there was no seed put into their project. Tutoring the children, appeared to be a human boy, who was first showing a timid eevee how to put soil into the pot, like the other children were doing. He noticed there were no more small spades, so he told the little eevee he would be right back.
Nearing the orphanage, Glim was confused, but curious. He had no memory of what was going on, when suddenly he was prodded forward by a sylveon passing him.
'Com'on.' she said, forcefully pulling Glim's paw with her ribbon.
Glim noticed his paw was no longer that of a glaceon and he was an eevee again. Despite the feel of relief he felt about his devolution, it was brief as he suddenly felt powerless and scared as he used to. A sunkern was the only pokémon noticing him as the sylveon took Glim to the doorway, which is then blocked by the same human who had just left, returning with at least five more colourful spades. He seemed upbeat and small for most humans, only about five feet tall. His face was pretty and clean, a little genderless, but he then had an intimidating series of gash scars ascending beneath his left eye. It was difficult to tell if his left eye was blind, seeing it appeared no different to his right eye.
'Oh hello,' he happily greeted. 'Are you-?'
'Misses Fleece, yes. I'm ere about im.' she replied in a pseudo posh country accent, nodding at little Glim.
The human looked at his previous eevee student and gestured to wait one minute as he put the spades down nearby and from the same makeshift table, he took out a clipboard and crouched down to give little Glim eye contact.
'Of course. Is this Glim here?' he asked, looking with a happy face at the sheepish eevee who took one step back and then looked away.
'Yep, my youngest.' said Fleece proudly, but with an emotionless face.
'My name is Vindicta.' he said, which he then stood. 'Do you want to come in and… Alena, Glim's here, could you?'
'Yes, certainly.' replied Alena, passing Vindicta, revealing herself to be a galvantula.
'Wait ere.' said Fleece, not looking at Glim as she followed Vindicta into the building.
The small, young and friendly galvantula passed Fleece, having heard her last statement as she looked back at the little eevee who appeared fragile to her two bigger eyes.
'Are you alright sweetheart?' she asked so gracefully, actually making Glim feel a little safe.
It was unusual for a brutal bug pokémon like a galvantula to be in position of caring for children. However, insectoid pokémon were known for their populating speed and had adapted to being naturally good parents, even if they seemed visually intimidating.
Glim did not reply and just nodded. Alena lightly crawled passed, carefully holding Glim's tiny paw with her long front leg and casually brought him over to the empty plant pot near the front, which was the one previously being used by the eevee earlier.
'Why don't we pair you up with some of the children?' asked Alena. 'The children here are very nice and friendly. Would you like that?' she asked crouching further down, sounding like a cheery playschool teacher. Glim tensed up from the thought and shook his head, mumbling out of fear. 'Aww, you're a little shy? Don't worry, we won't bite. Ellie, Rachel! Could you come here for a second?'
From behind the neighbouring table just next to Glim, a male kirlia and a female pansear happily skipped over to the large spider, between them and the sheepish eevee.
'Yes Miss Alena?' cried out Ellie.
'This here is Glim,' Alena replied. 'He might be your latest brother to live with you.'
'Really?' blurted Ellie, glancing at Glim so happily, having difficulty to not bounce on the spot. 'That would make you number 110!'
Rachel smiled, approaching the frail eevee and offered her hand, giving Glim a sympathetic, reassuring expression. Glim could see it in her eyes that she cared for him very deeply, like she knew what he had been through.
'It's okay.' Rachel whispered. 'You're safe with us. We've all been there before.'
Suddenly, the little eevee felt more comfortable and trusting than he ever had been in his life. Though he was still very nervous, he felt he should shake his paw with the little pansear. But as he reached out, his sight faded to a bright white as his dream became slower and slower.
'Glim. We remember. Do you remember us?'
An annoying high pitch beeping noise frequently repeated as Glim could only see the blackness of his closed eyes. Listening to the noise made him hear many voices, gradually getting louder, as if a crowd was swarming into a mall just opening.
'Joel, this one's waking up.' called an azumarill nurse.
'It's Glim.' confirmed Joel. 'Karli, your friend's waking up.'
The sounds a light tapping quickly grew closer to Glim as he was beginning to come back to his senses, but he was still half asleep. He only had enough energy to run, at least that was what he thought he was doing.
'Aww that is so cute.' cooed the nurse. 'He's probably dreaming of running from something scary. Why not give him a gentle nudge?'
The sleepy glaceon could hear the conversation, struggling to understand any of it, but he figured he was about to wake up. Instead of the 'gentle nudge' however, Glim felt a sudden slap, flaring up his cheek and jolting him out of his sleep. He sat up squeaking, tightly squinting his eyes and holding his left cheek which was stinging painfully.
'Oh! I-I said give him a gentle nudge.' repeated the azumarill.
'It got him up didn't it?' said Karli.
'Fuck! What was that for?' interrupted Glim.
'To get you up!' answered Karli. 'The hospital is needing as much space as they can get.'
Glim looked around, realising he was in an emergency treatment facility and every bed was either being used for recovering patients or was hidden by the thick navy curtains surrounding each little area. It was very noisy, which explained the faint crowd noises the little glaceon was hearing as he was waking up, but hearing it then surprised him, as if the noises were more likely to have woken him up than Karli's slap.
'Take a minute to wake up though.' said the azumarill nurse. 'Joel will be right back.'
'Okay.' said Karli.
The nurse left, pulling the curtain completely around the open space that was noticeably one enormous room.
'Where's everyone else?' asked Glim. 'What happened?'
'We got attacked remember?'
'Oh yeah.'
'Beryl was rescued, but is suffering concussion after getting hit by wreckage when the Republic attacked. He's only down this aisle and Belle was found with him.'
'How are they?'
'Beryl will recover… Belle on the other hand is in critical condition. I'm not even allowed to see them. All I heard is that they can't separate Belle from Beryl, otherwise she'll die.'
Glim paused, giving Karli a concerned face.
'Oh my god.' whispered Glim sadly. 'What about Angel?'
'They still haven't found him.' mumbled Karli, shaking her head.
The glaceon looked away and sighed.
'Karli, was this my fault?'
'What?'
'The magnezone… and hydreigon were looking for me and Beryl. If I had turned myself in-'
'Glim.' interjected Karli, comforting the little glaceon. 'It wasn't your fault. The pissed off citizens on board already provoked them. Most of them thought they had nothing to lose, so they weren't afraid to stand up to them.'
'I remember. That pangoro who let us on, he tried to hide me and Beryl when they said who they were looking for.'
'Exactly. Glim, it was going to happen. This was the Republic, famous for going from logical, to complete assholes in less than a minute. Don't blame yourself.'
Glim kept quiet, looking down. Karli knew he was still blaming himself inside, but she could not say anything more. Shortly afterwards, Joel an audino made one peek through the curtain before coming in. She appeared a little tired through her glasses and had medical equipment neatly around her shoulders or tucked untidily in her coat pockets.
'Sorry to keep you.' she said, seemingly more focused on her clipboard. 'Glim, correct?'
'Yes.' Karli answered for Glim.
The audino approached the front of Glim's bed, raised her hand and held one of her fingers pointing up.
'How many fingers am I holding up Glim?'
'One.'
'Okay.' she replied, jotting notes down. 'And are you experiencing any ringing sensations? Does your head hurt?'
'Not really, I can hear phones going off, but…'
'Don't worry, that's just reception and my office. It's just you got hit very hard on your head, that managed to crack your crystal crown.' she said, while the glaceon stroked the large beautiful crown of ice on his forehead. 'But of course, we have treated countless of ice pokémon before, so it was nothing difficult to repair.'
Joel's words seemed true, Glim could only feel the smooth ice crown, in the shape of three curved diamonds, like it was never damaged.
'Wait, what hit me?' asked Glim, looking at Karli.
'I-I don't know,' she replied. 'I tried to fight it, but it was already gone when I looked at you. All I saw was some huge black metal thing, that hit you. But then it just- it just… evaporated.' stuttered Karli, who looked over to Joel. 'Any idea what that could've been?'
'That's very vague information, sorry.' answered Joel. 'But even if I did, it wouldn't be my matter.' Karli nodded, disappointed. 'And I'm afraid I must discharge you Glim. Your tests report fit and we are facing emergencies right now.'
'O-okay.' said Glim, removing the bunched blanket and checking to see if there was any monitoring equipment on him.
The little glaceon seemed to be free of devices hooked into him and asked if he was okay to leave his refrigerated bed. The audino doctor quickly granted permission and Glim carefully stepped down, hind legs first. He looked like a little deerling only just learning to walk.
'Now, stick to the wall just to the right.' said Joel to Karli. 'Carry on through and let reception know that Glim is okay.'
'We will, but can we check on someone before we leave?'
'We're very busy right now. Who do you want to see?'
'Another relative of ours, Beryl. And- I-I know where he is, just down the aisle. We only want to see if he has gotten any better, to let him know we're fine.'
'Beryl, a braixen?'
'Yes.'
'He's another patient of mine and the situation with him is complicated. I can allow you two to see him and for him to see you, but you must not… enter his cubical, understand?' said Joel very boldly and already opening the cubical curtain.
'Yes mam.' replied Karli so innocently, like a school child.
While the little glaceon and kirlia left the cubical, Dr Joel already proceeded, heading down the aisle. What looked like a long corridor of navy walls, was actually a narrow walkway between rows of emergency cubicles. Almost every curtain was closed and those that were not, either had a gruesome scene or heart breaking act of bereavement as pokémon were losing relatives of theirs. The hospital was barely managing as the victims of the ferry attack came at a great number, whilst having multiple kinds of injuries and the different types of pokémon only added to the complication. Such as Glim needing a refrigerated bed, for being an ice type.
Just like Glim's situated bed, Beryl's was coincidentally next to the wall, just on the other side of the long walkway. As with most of the cubicles, the one on the end was noisy, with someone frequently asking for equipment in a calm manner, while two others were mumbling to each other about statistics and predictions. Dr Joel led Karli and Glim to the corner on the very end of the cubical, before she peeked in for herself, she then looked back at the kirlia and glaceon.
'One moment.'
The audino doctor entered the cubical and by the sounds of what Glim could hear, she confirmed to the doctor that she was present again, finishing her statement by telling Beryl he had visitors. The little glaceon could not hear if the braixen made any reply. Dr Joel soon peeked out of the curtains.
'Okay, come round to this side.' she said, pointing at the side of curtains to her left, which was next the wall. 'We'll open the curtain for you two to speak to him.'
Immediately, the little glaceon and kirlia scurried to the side they were told to, as the curtain before pulled away, revealing the scene. The injured braixen was laid down on his back and was panting disorientated. He looked to his left, giving eye contact to Karli, but his expression looked as though he never met them. Beryl's usual cheery yellow fur was a lot paler than usual. It was clear he was too dizzy and sick, but his eyes raised, somehow telling Glim and Karli that he did recognise them. The kirlia could only foolishly wave, as if she could bring any comfort in her distance and in her worried expression. More chillingly, it appeared that Beryl was holding tightly onto something, covered in heat-proofed cables, with a large heater behind the left side of the bed. It was that small green lump the doctors seemed so fixated on. It did not take a close look for Glim to realise who that was. It was Belle.
Suddenly, the rest of the curtain was yanked upward, revealing Angel to be on the other side. His look was desperate and also angered. Karli jumped when the curtain lifted that quickly, but both she, Glim and the sneasel were in shock to discover of each other's survival, calling each other's names in unison.
'No, don't hug me!' shouted Angel, keeping his working claw up, even though Karli only took one step forward.
'I wasn't going to!' replied Karli. 'What's happening?'
'Beryl was hit hard, but it's worse. When they found him, he was suffering from hypothermia and apparently his skull has busted too.'
'Oh god.' replied Karli, looking back at the braixen.
'I thought he was dead when I found his wand.' said Angel, raising the beautiful blue wand from his leg strap. 'Belle however is barely living.'
'So I heard.'
'They said if she does not stay heated and under sap treatment, she's going to die very rapidly. That's why they're keeping her close to Beryl right now. It was a miracle that she even got here with time to spare. But even that might not be enough.'
'What do you mean?'
'Hypothermia is deathly for plants, especially when it gets them in the heart. Most plant pokémon are lucky to survive such a fate… and this is just a baby.' finished Angel, turning away for some reason and trying hard to keep his face as determined as he was. 'When they found her, Belle was already crusting up.'
'It's not over yet.' interjected the ampharos doctor, whilst carefully injecting clear fluid down the cannula in Beryl's right claw. 'Keep calm and let us do our best.'
'Is there anything you need?' asked the azumarill just next to Angel.
Angel sputtered 'I-I just, I'm just-'
'We were just here to check up on Beryl and Belle.' interrupted Karli, lightly placing her hand over Angel's injured shoulder. 'We'll be back later.'
The sneasel nodded sadly, knowing he would only be in the way.
'Then could you leave us Beryl's wand?' asked Dr Joel.
Angel quickly handed the azumarill nurse the long blue wand and then followed Glim and Karli in leaving the cubical. Just before he closed the curtain, he took one last glance at Belle and Beryl. From where he stood, he was convinced they were dying. He felt he had to say something.
'Don't let go.'
Leaving the treatment room, which appeared to be just one of two, the glaceon, kirlia and sneasel stepped into the main reception which was also in pandemonium. Pokémon were lying all across the floor, several of them were crying or moping, evidently waiting in agony. Some were just fellow passengers who were bereaving for their lost ones, hugging random strangers.
Glim and Angel stood, staring at the scene, while Karli was quick to notice that the reception panel was unoccupied. She informed the very busy audino and grovyle that Glim and Angel were leaving and that she was there to look after them, due to what injuries or emergencies they faced. Seeing as the patients had been discharged and were in fit condition, the receptionists were happy to let them go. There were too many patients in need of treatment.
It was not long until the three survivors had left Camellias General Hospital. As much as Angel wanted to stay, he was also relieved to be away from there. They could hear the constant cries of agony and pain in its many forms. Until the noises became inaudible, the three friends walked aimlessly, without thinking.
'Um…' stuttered Angel eventually. 'Where're we going?'
Brought out of their fixation of the hospital trauma, Karli and Glim finally looked up, paying attention to their reality and looked around. They were on the freezing coastline of Camellias Town, near the hospital. About a mile ahead of them was the island's main harbour, where their ferry would have docked. The harbour was clouded by the misty snow, which the little island was famous for. A volcano made island, being the most northern part of the Crio region. The volcano in question was named Mt Dwy, for its fame of being one of the largest volcanos in the world and causing tremendous snow flurries all across the north of Crio. The mountain that had replaced the volcano was difficult to miss, being over 7,400 metres high.
'Oh, uh.' stuttered Glim. 'I was following you two.'
'Well, we're in Camellias.' shrugged Angel. 'Now what? Speaking of which, where's Gina?'
Glim paused, clenching his teeth and shooting the sneasel next to him a look of pain. Karli meanwhile, remained quiet and with no change to her expression. The glaceon gave one look at the kirlia before looking back at Angel, shaking his head, who quickly got the bad news.
'Oh god…' whispered Angel. 'I'm sorry.'
'We better find some place for the night.' said Karli. 'I'm not going to Haine without Beryl, we need all the help we can get.'
Angel nodded. 'Good idea. I have… somewhere I'd like to visit too.' he said, looking north at the very festive, snowy town.
'Where's that?' asked Karli. 'Have you been here before?'
'I have, but... I'm not thinking for myself.'
'O-okay. Before we do, Glim and I are going to find some lunch. We haven't eaten since yesterday.'
'Sure thing. Why not go to Rejoice Square? I read in the papers a while back that they're holding offerings, events and performances every day, with the revolution going on and all.'
'Really?'
'Yeah, this town isn't called the 'the joy of winter' for nothing.' said Angel, pointing just left behind the kirlia, while he started moving north.
'Wait, where're you going?'
'I have something I need to do… alone. I'll meet you there.'
The sneasel left saying nothing more.
It was only a ten minute walk over to Rejoice Square, as Angel had stated, the square was crowded, attracted by the surrounding stalls of offerings in charity. Most of the tables consisted in food, which was difficult to simply grow in such a cold location and with the revolution having temporarily shut down the safety of any job, the pokémon there were only working in the interest of survival. Despite the gloom that brought all the pokémon together, the town seemed a lot more cheery than Hydrangea City. Karli and Glim stared in awe, still in shock of their ordeals only hours ago, as if their attack on the ferry never happened.
'It's beautiful.' mumbled Karli, trying to hide her own gloom.
Glim noticed the strange noise that the kirlia beside him had uttered and just looked at her.
'Was there… anything in particular you're looking for?' asked Glim in a caring sorrowful manner.
Karli came back to her senses, shaking her head.
'Uh… w-well let's take a look.' she said, taking one step forward. 'Is there anything you're looking for?'
'Well I generally need my food cold.'
'No problem, we've- they've…' stuttered Karli, pointing at the makeshift signs above each stall, most of which had a symbol on it, stating what type of pokémon their food was for. 'They've categorised their offerings.'
'Okay, sweet.' said Glim, about to leave the kirlia, but then stopping as he took one step forward, noticing she was hesitating again. 'Are you alright Karli?'
The little kirlia paused.
'Can I- let's just find ourselves some food and meet up at some bench or something, okay?'
'O-okay. I'm assuming, we can sit in there, I think it's a stadium.'
The distracted kirlia did not notice it at first, but the massive decorated structure that the stalls surrounded was an outdoor theatre. Where the performances, celebrations and various shows on ice were performed.
'Oh, that must be Rejoice Square!' cried Karli, suddenly her mood lifted looking up at the structure. 'I've never seen it for myself before.' she took a few more steps, gazing at the tall lavender walls with it platinum frame covering the very top rim. 'It is so beautiful.'
Only twenty minutes away from the happiest location in all of Crio, Angel had stopped, looking up at the grimly cold gates to a large building. The North Wind Orphanage.
'I heard about the attack.' said Gerald, who then nodded to Angel's bandaged arm. 'Was this a result of what happened?'
'No, no… this was uh, something else.' replied Angel.
The sneasel and hypno were sat in a homely office, with dark walls, dark green carpet and with and many aids to heating up the room. It looked very comfortable, as did Gerald, laying back in his rather tall chair, keeping his focus on the mischievous sneasel he knew so well. They paused for a moment, staring coldly at each other.
'I'm guessing you were given that relic to help you evolve.' said Gerald, pointing at the fixed Razor Claw on Angel's working claw.
'Yes.'
Another moment of silence, where the hypno continued to look deep into Angel's eyes, who was only looking bad with a subtle glare. The only reason he was holding back, was because he had someone else to save and Gerald knew it.
'You have not come back for the sake of mischief. I know that much. But I can think of only one reason for you in particular, to even want to come here. Given that there was an evacuation, you probably have friends you want to shelter. Am I right, Angel?'
The sneasel raised a brow, seemingly shocked, but did well to hide it.
'That actually hurts, that you got it right. Not because you guessed right, but before.' said Angel, standing and pointing at the old man, resisting his own fury. 'You once said to me, my family left me here because I was going to be the death of them. And because sneasel were nothing but a nuisance.'
'I'm surprised you even remember that Angel, because I don't.'
'And yet you believe me.'
'And yet you are trusting me, with how many?'
Angel glared, taking a deep breath.
'I don't trust you… but, I do trust the orphanage. I trust them!' he said, pointing at the closed door, referring to the many nurses and keyworkers who sounded busy in the surrounding rooms. '…And it's just one. A budew.'
'A budew?'
'Yes, Belle her name is. I saved her during the Iris Dragon Raid. Her parents died in the same building, but… I only told her that I haven't seen them.'
'That was probably the best thing to say, for now.'
The sneasel nodded.
'She's in hospital right now, in critical condition. If she survives, would she be safe here?'
'We are one of Crio's oldest orphanages. We are no stranger to grass types, though we are beginning to run out of room. She should be fine.'
Angel nodded coldly again.
'Good. I'm going to need to find my friends.'
Gerald nodded back, dismissing the sneasel, who subtly moved for the door.
'You've changed, Angel.' mumbled Gerald, causing Angel to stop, with his claw on the door knob. 'I honestly thought you came back to kill me. To think you are sparing me, I can't handle it. Your mother was so torn when she left you, I haven't been able to live with myself since.'
'Perhaps you should have thought about that when you killed my father.'
With nothing else to say, the sneasel calmly opened the door and left in a mature manner, leaving the door to slowly shut. The hypno paused again, but then let go of his traditional pendulum, catching his head in his hands and sighed out all his air.
At Rejoice Square, Glim and Karli were sat at a traditional wooden picnic table. There were many of them all around the square due to the charity markets. The glaceon and kirlia were lucky to have a table for the both of them, as many of the tables were packed, most of which were of surviving families. On their table, Glim had a box of frozen poffins, cleansed ice water and a pinap berry. Karli meanwhile, had a boxed persim salad and a cup of tea. At the table, they had their lunches out, but the still distracted kirlia was more focused on the glaceon in front of her, who had taken the seat on the opposite side. Glim was innocently nibbling his very sour pinap berry, adding taste to his poffin, when he noticed Karli was keeping unusually quiet and was just staring at him.
Thinking about it, Karli had been acting a lot differently since Glim had woken up. She was much more sceptical and wary to her glaceon friend. Glim had figured the attack from Martyr had her in shock, but her expression had shown sadness and frustration hidden in her eyes. The little glaceon knew she wanted him to talk.
'Karli?' uttered Glim, who was still being stared at. 'Is there something you want to talk to me about? I'm mean… I'm sorry about Gina. But, we were lucky to survive that.'
'Who's Martyr, Glim?' interrupted Karli, followed by a pause. 'You knew what that thing was.'
'I knew its name… but, I had never seen it like that.'
'Then how did you know how to beat it?'
'Because I did encounter it before. In Iris, but it looked far different and… and I-I just happened to use Signal Beam as a last resort! And it just happened to work, that monster reacted badly to it, when everything else was doing bollocks!'
'This was in Iris?'
'Yeah. I don't know why, but it killed Father Charles while he was going to kill a friend of mine. Only that time, it appeared to be a manifestation of a gyarados, a combee, whatever it evolves into.'
'Vespiquen.'
'Yes, and then there was a simisear. It was gross.'
'So you… managed to kill this?'
Glim puzzled and looked away.
'I did defeat it, but… when I did, it just… sort of shrunk. And then three little pokémon appeared within the circle on unowns.' said Glim, while his last statement made Karli's big orange irises shrink. 'There was a combee, a magikarp and a… pansear.'
Suddenly, the little glaceon felt a rush, remembering Rachel the pansear from his dream he had. Karli also felt a rush, appearing very surprised.
'That's exactly what happened earlier.' said Karli. 'I mean, after when you were knocked out. That massive fish thing turned into a finneon, a feebas and some little blue machine thing.'
'What about a human? Did-'
'A human?' asked Karli, surprised.
'Yeah, you see. When I was attacked before, this human boy appeared, just as creepy as those Martyr monsters.'
'I thought humans were extinct now. You know… after the "human genocide" and all.'
'I thought that too… but these Martyr creatures-'
'What did he look like?'
'I've only seen him once- no twice, I think. And he is only like, five foot, the average height of a gardevoir. He was in a green suit, that human "farmers" would wear and had short black hair. His face too, he wasn't particularly ugly, but still creepy as hell. His eyes were completely black… and he had several scars up from his eye.' said Glim, pointing at his own left eye.
'So you've… you have seen him more than once?' asked Karli, while Glim just paused.
'Before I woke up on that hospital bed, I had a strange dream. It felt like I had been there before, but I just can't remember.'
'What happened?'
The little glaceon paused again.
'Well… my mother, tried to get rid of me. A lot…' he said, while Karli suddenly sympathised. 'And when I was a baby, I don't know how old I was, but she took me to an orphanage. It was a beautiful place. There, I think was the first time I saw that human. He seemed very friendly, even to my mother. I was left to play with the other children, who were also so nice to me. I do remember that pansear, Rachel.'
'Rachel?'
'Yeah. She was the same one from that Martyr monster in Iris, I'm sure of it.'
'Oh…' said Karli, sadly. 'What happened then? I-in the dream I mean.'
'Well that's when you slapped me… but I already knew what happened afterward. My mother just stormed out and dragged me away. I think I would have really liked that place too.'
'I'm so sorry Glim. But, did that human have a name?'
'It began with a V, I remember that much. Something like… Vinnie, or- or Victor, it was only said once.'
'That's okay Glim. We'll look into this another time, okay?'
'Okay.' replied Glim, nodding.
The two little pokémon finished their lunch, by then it was only five pm and the sun went down over an hour ago. When Glim and Karli were finished, they contemplated what they should do for the remainder of the day. They knew Angel would come looking for them, not knowing how long he would be gone or even what he was doing.
Glim then noticed the theatre to his left was starting to get noisy, as crowds began swarming into it. The lights all around the stage side of the theatre was lit up and being surrounded by various bug, dragon and flying type pokémon.
'Hey, what's going on?' asked Glim, encouraging Karli to also look at the theatre entrance.
'Angel said there were performances every day now.' said Karli, nodding at the entrance. 'Should we?'
'Uh- okay.'
From the outside, the crowds of pokémon looked like it was going to easily take up all the space, making any entry seem impossible, even for smaller pokémon like Glim and Karli. Instead, inspired by the many flying pokémon, Karli decided just to climb to a higher spot. The walls seemed too high and sheer to climb, but neighbouring the stage side of the theatre was a stationed transport vehicle. Originally used for delivering supplies, which then had been converted into either another stall or even housing for more revolution survivors. The shiny kirlia, adventurous as she was, saw an easy route getting on top of the wall.
'Come on, this way.' she whispered to Glim before running to their right.
The little glaceon followed, having to sidestep elegantly to dodge a lopunny carrying a quivering zigzagoon whilst being followed by a pachirisu. Ahead, Karli leaped onto an empty table, only a metre away from the front of the lorry. She deliberately focused her weight on one end of the table to tilt it onto one side, making the length of it point upward as Glim caught up. The kirlia suddenly appeared climbing on top of the tipped table, holding tightly and having to balance herself as she did. Seeing the weak table nudge with each movement, the glaceon below, held his front paws down on the two table legs that laid flat against the floor, keeping the table steady. Rather quickly, Karli easily leaped up, grabbing the roof of the lorry cab and rolled herself up on top. Glim meanwhile attempted to follow her example.
'This is some Greninja Gaiden shit right here.' murmured Glim, positioning himself just behind the board of the table.
'Just climb onto the legs, and I'll help you up.' called Karli, peering from the lorry roof. Glim leaped up, grabbing onto the board side of the table, misunderstanding Karli's directions. 'You're on the wrong side!'
Glim argued 'that's how you-' and suddenly the table slowly began to lean where the glaceon had focused his weight. 'Whoa!'
Reacting fast, Glim hastily pulled himself up and leaped, kicking the table completely faced down on the floor while he jumped more than high enough to get most of himself onto the roof. The little kirlia next to him quickly pulled Glim up. The glaceon, glanced around, concerned if he had caused any commotion or was spotted doing that. However, no pokémon nearby appeared to notice, most of which were still queuing or also trying to find alternative ways into Rejoice Square. Meanwhile, Karli had ran to the other side of the lorry carriage. When Glim noticed, he pursued the little kirlia who then leaped from the carriage roof and landed onto the roof of the backstage. The distance between the parked vehicle and the backstage was not far and judging by the many fighting and dark type pokémon who were already on it, the route was already being used.
When Glim made the short jump over, he and Karli ran across the roof, along with a pancham, monferno, houndour and an umbreon. Ahead of them, the roof suddenly slants steeply, which is the background cone, arching over the stage, which acts as the sky, as well as the curtains. The cone however was really short, as it did not cover even an tenth of the outside stage. It was merely there to bring a little more imagery atmosphere to the many hundreds that could cram into the surrounding mountain of seats. Looking over the edge of the roof sent chills down Glim's spine, seeing how high he was and how crowded it got around the rectangular stage. Not that the roof was anymore free of room as the mischievous children and many flying types were also settling next to the glaceon and kirlia. Glim and Karli were squashed next to each other, lying down on the cone to keep themselves from falling off the cone. Some of the children nearby were tempting fate by sitting on the very edge, which could easily doom them to breaking their legs.
The stage looked like a square, but only because the rest of it was under the cone and when the little glaceon tried to peek at the other half, pokémon were coming out from it as the flood lights began to dim. The crowds that were swarming in from the west and east entrances were slowing down and getting quieter. There was no chance of any free seats, in fact, smaller pokémon appeared to be freely sitting on much bigger pokémon amongst the crowd. Glim could see a caterpie and nidoran on the shoulders of a nidoqueen and many, many more pokémon from varying heights were riding on a massive steelix that was peeking over the walls. The rest of the pokémon who could find a seat seemed okay with just standing in front of the stage itself. When the lights fully switched off and the crowd fell silent, one light beamed onto an empoleon who was entering the middle of the stage. No one applauded however, as the giant penguin emperor brought a mike stand and adjusted it to keep still, who then cleared his throat.
'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming and welcome to tonight's show. Most of you may have heard, but today suffered another tragedy as another escape vessel was blown apart this morning, on the way over here.'
During his speech, the crowds gave sympathetic sighs and quietly whispered expressing sorrow and grief. Karli meanwhile just looked at Glim, they both also seemed sad having survived that incident.
'The cause is not yet known, at least I'm not allowed to announce it yet. But as with last Monday's disaster, there were many survivors and the hospital is desperate for blood donations again. And it would be an enormous help if you could contribute to aiding the survivors or even offer homes to those who were only fleeing the revolution. There may be survivors among us already, but tonight's show is dedicated to those counted thirty eight dead, so far. Thank you.'
The empoleon left, while the crowd stayed quiet. Glim could even hear two pokémon from the right side resisting to cry. About a minute later, two scyther followed by a kricketune to either side of the stage, just beneath the cone, as the same spotlight then shined on a froslass who was entering the stage. Standing at the very centre of the stage, from Karli and Glim's point of view the pretty and ghostly ice lady kept her head bowed. The awed glaceon and kirlia were fixated on the froslass, unaware of the lucario in a tuxedo, who was setting up a rather large piano, just next to the scyther and kricketune on the left. When the lucario was done, getting a little help setting up the piano from a machop and frogadier who just as quickly ran off stage.
Breaking the silence, the lucario hit the first key, playing a slow, high pitch piano melody that introduced another series of lower pitch melodies, creating a dismal tone to compliment to sweet innocent tone he started with. While the lucario repeated his melody, the left scyther in a tuxedo began carefully grinding an extremely thin set of strings on his scythes, playing a slow, chilling and sad tone. The opposite scyther in the dress, joined after the first stanza and repeated it. When the second violin stanza was repeated, the two kricketune ladies began using their own blades as violins, playing a higher pitch stanza that portrayed the image of someone crying alone. Suddenly, the saddening ballad stopped, as the right scyther begins to play a very slow low pitch symphony. The froslass then raised her head and inhaled.
Another day had passed
Another day, of pain
Over one mistake, you're killing me
Over one mistake, we're dying for
How much longer, must I wait?
How much longer, will you see?
Would you blame me, for running?
Would you blame me, for hiding?
Would you blame me, for acting?
Would you blame me, for dying?
Would you blame me, for crying?
Would you blame me?
For fighting back?
It didn't have to be this way
We were only trying to survive
You never stopped to hear yourself
For the way you treated us
How could we not despair?
When we were only ourselves
Did you have to take our lives?
It didn't have to be this way
Sometimes I cry, for what haunts me now
Sometimes I cry, for you don't care!
It is hard to hold it back
It is hard, but I just can't help it
Let us go, we're not yours anymore
Let us go, we've lost too much
Do you hate me, for being?
Do you hate me, for deciding?
Do you hate me, for trying?
Do you hate me, for fighting?
Do you hate me, for existing?
Do you hate me?
For succeeding?
It didn't have to be this way
We were only trying to survive
You never stopped to hear yourself
For the way you treated us
How could we not despair?
When we were only ourselves
Did you have to take our lives?
It didn't have to be this way
It didn't have to be this way
It didn't have to be this way
It didn't have to be this way!
It didn't have to be this way
Only seconds after her last lyric, while the band were slowing down in their finale, pokémon amongst the crowd were already applauding, causing a chain reaction foreverybody to cheer as loud as a bomb. Looking at the crowds, so many pokémon were crying or trying to fight their tears, including the brave girl beside Glim. Karli looked down with trembling lips and breathing heavily, while the glaceon was intoxicated by the beautiful froslass who bowed.
'I know what she meant.' uttered Karli, but Glim barely heard her.
'W-what?'
'I know what that song meant!' insisted Karli, standing up while the crowds continued clapping.
'Wait, what're you doing?'
Karli leaned over the edge, watching the froslass leave as the band were also applauding.
'I have to see that froslass.' said Karli, quickly leaving as the empoleon from before re-entered and announced what performance was next.
Glim stood up, watching the kirlia run off hastily and already down the cone. The glaceon was concerned, thinking about waiting for Angel, but then decided to pursue the fleeing ballerina. As he left, the children or taller pokémon who were peeking behind him took the free space.
Near Camellias hospital, in the rippling, freezing water, something shined and zoomed upward. From the icy water and crashing onto the ice, substituting the town's shoreline, a giant metallic pokémon made an abrupt landing, before weakly levitating above the ground. It was Sergeant the magnezone, slightly damaged from its conflict when trying to spare the lives of the vessel that morning. Its left side was ruptured slightly from enduring a flamethrower and was also scratched after it crashed through the ship. Sergeant just remained floating, looking down and with its eye closed.
'Initiate message log, addressed to, Prime Minister Nicolai.' said Sergeant, creating the message within its head. 'Clearance code, Executive Sergeant 0087-magnezone. Dear Mr Prime Minister, I have survived your latest attack on civil rebellion, for which you may claim as criminal or predictable allies for the Crimson Revolution. However, that last order was the last I would follow. I have never followed orders to murder the innocent, and what you ordered to me and the assisting hydreigon I respectfully refused to obey. Yes, I am well aware this will make myself subordinate, but after your attempts to save Crio and to justify yourself, I could not care less. I am hereby deactivating my tracker and deleting all of my latest reports. You have made yourself a more powerful enemy than you may realise Mr Prime Minister, for not even the Interceptors will find me, yet I know exactly where to find you. My information will come precious for whence I find the Crimson leader, Mr Prime Minister. Because when they are ready, you will pay, for you now have more enemies than any of our previous leaders. Your terrible decisions, rampant inequality and rational justification has only turned you into a mass murderer, a monster, which you probably take as a compliment now. I shall no longer serve you, my justice has and will always be for the people, our pokémon, whereas you are just a shameless, cowardly murderer. Yours sincerely, Sergeant. End of log, send.'
The antenna brighten in an amber light once, before the magnezone began to zap itself, covered in bluish electricity. Suddenly the electricity stopped and steam was evaporating from the antenna, indicating that the 'tracker' had been destroyed. Unaware to how long the magnezone was in the freezing water, it was grateful to not need oxygen and was still in fighting shape. At least, compared to what it could see within the nearby hospital.
With no objectives in its current occupation, Sergeant decided to survey the town and look for one if possible. The magnezone rose up into the cold snowing air, starting its search.
Leaping down from the backstage roof, Karli landed silently and crept toward the fire exit door. While she leaned against the door, eavesdropping to hear the same voice she was so desperate to hear again, Glim followed, landing nearby and casually hiding behind the kirlia.
Glim whispered loudly 'what're you doing?'
'Sh!'
Yuki the froslass happened to be in the same room, which was overrun by multiple pokémon either getting changed, dressed, having makeup applied or even just congratulating her for the performance.
'If there's any time to leave, it's now.' said the chesnaught bodyguard. 'While the fans are engaged.'
'They are not my biggest concern, I have to say.' said Yuki.
Instantly, just outside the fire doors, Karli gasped lightly, somehow recognising the sweet, smooth voice amongst the busy environment, while Glim could not hear anything. He could easily hear the busyness of the room and the strong, low pitch voice of the chesnaught, but nothing else he was really listening out for.
'Don't worry, love, I'm coming with ya. We'll meet the rest of you at the lodge okay?'
'Yeah, we'll be back like… nine pm.' replied the lucario.
'See you when we get back!' cheered the kricketune.
'Thank you, and good luck.' replied Yuki.
In unison, multiple pokémon chanted 'bye' as the heavy chesnaught drew closer to the very door that Karli and Glim had their ears next to. Realising that the old fire exit door was about to be opened, the two jumped back.
'Shit!' whispered Karli, suddenly bolting north, alongside the immobile lorry.
Glim attempted to hide behind the corner that the fire door was built just next to, but seeing Karli run into a direction that gave her nowhere to hide, the little glaceon panicked. Running to catch up to her, meanwhile the kirlia quickly realised her own mistake and attempted to turn around. Glim and Karli almost ran into each other, with expression both saying 'what the hell are you doing' and were desperate to hide. But just as they stopped before each other, time felt as if it slowed, as the metallic sound of the fire door's bar was unlocked, the glaceon and kirlia knew they were too late. The door nudged once, before it began to creek open, causing brave Karli to take the only action she could think, that would excuse their presence. She forcefully grabbed Glim's head, turning him to face her and suddenly locked her lips upon his, trying her best to looked relaxed and deeply infatuated. The glaceon meanwhile squeaked cutely and was spellbound, completely frozen in his own ice, with an expression that was a complete parallel to Karli's. It did not take long for the paralysed Glim to see the logic in Karli's resort, but was still in great shock to how sudden it was. During their roleplay of a young couple making out, the froslass and chesnaught were quick to leave, merely letting them be. Fortunately, Glim had his back turned to them, so they were not able to see the mortified face of paralysis he had. Karli however, opened one eye, to check to see which way Yuki had left. Seeing the two leave, Karli broke the kiss, returning to her usual seriousness.
'They passed the truck and are heading north… I think.' whispered Karli, still holding Glim's head endearingly, who still had his very shocked expression.
'Was that really necessary, Karli?'
'Hey, they didn't approach us, did they?' she replied, letting go of the glaceon and pursued the froslass.
For a moment, when the little kirlia peeked around the stationary lorry, she thought she had lost Yuki. Karli then spotted the chesnaught heading further north, well past the lorry and in the distance as the noisy town began to snow more. The kirlia glanced back to see if her glaceon friend was following, which Glim was, hiding his nervousness though. He knew that Karli was stalking a much liked froslass, judging by her performance and how the crowd reacted to her and was wary of the giant chesnaught guarding her.
Heading north, Glim and Karli ran through a desolate street, flooded with snow and festive decorations. The streets though were eerily quiet and noticeably lonely, with most of the town's population at Rejoice Square or at Camellias General Hospital. The loud, depressing music from Rejoice Square could still be heard clearly. It was not until the following of Yuki led to the northern outskirts of Camellias, did the distance barrier the noises of frequent applauding. It looked as though the freezing chesnaught and a barely visible froslass were just walking across a snowy plain. To their right was a trail of enormous rocks, being the avalanche barrier for Mt Dwy. Metres behind, the pretty ballerina and icy feline fox hybrid, seemed to blend in with the tundra terrain. Glim and Karli kept to the left, which also had a laden trail of rocks, big enough to cover them, during their stalk. The kirlia had not decided when she was going to speak up, to get Yuki's attention or even what she was going to say. The only thing running in her mind was to follow her. If she knew where the froslass was staying, perhaps the kirlia could then commune with her in some way then, even though she was still unsure on how to approach the beautiful lady of ice.
'Wilson!' screamed the voice of Sharon in the distance.
Yuki gasped, as the giant chesnaught glanced left to right.
'Oh no.' whispered the timid froslass, floating backward slightly.
'You get away from her!' shouted the chesnuaght, angrily, pointing at what appeared to be another froslass approaching into the scene.
'So you've done it?' blurted Sharon. 'You've evolved into a fucking froslass, you freak!'
'I said get away from her!' shouted the chesnaught again, waving his arm ahead of him, while the little froslass was not looking at him at all, but rather focusing her glare on Yuki.
'Yeah, that's right. Hide behind your big friends, cause you can't take it like a maaan-'
'Shut up!' screamed Yuki, erupting a huge ball of shadows, leaping to one side to avoid hitting her bodyguard and blasted her Shadow Ball.
Suddenly, the scene became a struggling with snow flying up everywhere. Sharon and Yuki seemingly disappeared, while the chesnaught was spinning in circles, trying to find the two froslass. Out of the blue, the giant chesnaught was tackled by two glalie, forcing him to roll backward on the snow, easily getting back onto his feet. He then countered, giving two swift uppercuts as he stood, hitting both glalie brothers skyward. The chesnaught then leaped up, grappling the two glalie who were flipping wildly and used them and crash cushions as he fell to the ground. The glalie brothers were shoved deep in the snow and the two froslass had stopped whipping across the snow so quickly. Both of them appeared too identical for the chesnaught to know which one was Yuki as he could only intervene, blocking the two of them until one spoke. Suddenly the chesnaught was shot forward, yelling in agony as the gap between his back and enormous shell was blasted by ice, sending him forward and almost crashing on top of Yuki.
'Reggie!' cried Yuki, trying to hold her bodyguard up.
The chesnaught knew which froslass Yuki was and quickly glanced round, making his arm glow green, with spikes extending from either side as he swung his fist as quickly as he could. But as Reggie tried to use Wood Hammer, his swing was met by an even bigger glalie, crashing into his torso and because of his attack, the chesnaught flew backward and rapidly spun in circles.
'Mark! That's him!' yelled Sharon, pointing at Yuki, who was already preparing another Shadow Ball.
Yuki shot Mark with her attack, making him nudge back and grunt loudly and from the cloud of shadows, Sharon swiftly flew forward, attempting to attack her. Both froslass happened to clash with Ice Shard, knocking them both back, then Yuki was suddenly hit by several more shards of ice from the two smaller glalie who had got back up. She became too distracted to dodge or attack, only capable of enduring the attacks and screaming when Sharon struck Yuki with a Thunderbolt. The outnumbered froslass fell to the floor, immediately making Karli bolt from her hiding spot, however she was not the only pokémon to join the fight.
'Karli!' called Glim, afraid to move.
'Leave her alone!' screamed Karli.
When the dark cloud dissipated, Reggie had gotten back on his feet, seemingly enraged and burning a green fire. He lunged forward, hitting one of the glalie brothers, but his rage was dodged by Sharon and the other glalie, while Mark also lunged in, covered in huge icy rocks that appeared to have manifested around him as he smashed into the tough chesnaught. The two behemoths were then trying to force each other back with nothing other than brute strength. Sharon meanwhile was met by a weak attack to her head, a bright flash that hit her back and made her slightly dizzy, followed by Karli throwing Magical Leaf at her and the remaining glalie brother. The attack barely fazed the glalie, who retaliated by vomiting a stream of ice, not only forcing Karli back, but rapidly coating her in ice. The little kirlia was frozen, appearing enraged, yet hurt, but also sitting down from being knocked back. Seeing Karli get frozen made Glim gasp, dying to help, but he knew he would not stand a chance.
The giant glalie was hit back with Reggie's knee to his teeth and while Mark screamed in pain, the chesnaught delivered a straight fist to his icy face, knocking the glalie back once more. Suddenly the one smaller glalie and Sharon retaliated firing streams of ice and the exhausted paladin pokémon. With barely anymore strength to fight or endure, the chesnaught yelled out as he froze in place. Glim saw Reggie become frozen who was still standing, which was then suddenly tackled hard again by the smaller glalie. The tackle did not budge the frozen chesnaught, but the witnessing glaceon knew what was about to happen. Reggie's body began to disintegrate and fell to pieces.
The glalie brother started grumbling and swearing endlessly as he floated back to Sharon, who was examining the frozen kirlia.
'Pick him up, and take him home!' ordered Sharon, pointing at the unconscious Yuki.
Glim meanwhile had his paws over his crystal crown, terrified to come out and stuck worrying about what is going to happen to Karli and Yuki. He had to help, but he alone had no chance. He then remembered Angel could help, even if he only has one claw to lend.
'Welcome home dipshit!' said the glalie, glaring down at Yuki.
'Well serves you right!' yelled Sharon. 'No, actually. Wait till we get you home, you piece of shit!'
As Glim witnessed the unconscious froslass get slammed onto the glalie brother, he noticed the father glalie and the more damaged brother coming back. All of them were hurt from the fight and were then looking at Karli's body.
'Is that dinner?' asked Mark.
'No,' said Sharon, pointing at Karli. 'That, I know this, is a shiny kirlia. It would look good in my wall.'
'Who is she?' snarled the older glalie brother.
'Dunno, probably another freak, like him.' replied Sharon, nodding at Yuki.
At that point, Glim had heard enough and decided to sneak out a find Angel fast.
Outside Rejoice Square, the injured sneasel leaped down from the very high theatre wall and cleanly landed, performing a break fall. Angel looks back at the theatre and around.
'Where the hell are they?' shrugged Angel.
He did spot one glaceon and two kirlia within the audience, but neither of them were either Glim or Karli. Assuming they were not watching the show, he began to circle the theatre, when five minutes later, he heard a familiar call.
'Angel!' shouted Glim, running very desperately.
The sneasel glanced north, seeing the glaceon emerge from the street just ahead. Angel as usual tried his best to keep his calm and positivity, as seeing the glaceon made him smile. His face however did not show that he noticed that Karli was no longer present however.
'Yo Glim.' replied Angel happily, until his mood turned solid when he realised that Glim appeared extremely troubled. 'What's happened? Where's Karli?'
'I-I don't know! Karli and I were following some girl who was ambushed by a load of ice type assholes! They took Karli and are probably going to kill her and Yuki!'
'What! Wha- who's Yuki?'
'She's a froslass,' answered Glim, hastily turning and taking steps away. 'Come on, we've got to save them!'
'Lead the way!'
Just as quickly as the conversation started, the glaceon and sneasel fled, heading for what was known as 'home' around Mt Dwy. Little did they know, but someone was watching, from a long distance. Rising up from a neighbouring building, Sergeant had locked onto the oblivious glaceon and sneasel. Knowing those two as fugitives, the magnezone ascended in pursuit.