Chapter 9
'Family reunion'
Dashing through the snow, Glim spotted five figures in the usual white hurricane. As they did, Glim nudges the sneasel next to him, unintentionally hitting his sprained arm, signalling him to slow down. The family ahead were dangerous, three glalie and a froslass, who were strong enough to kill a brute chesnaught. Dragged by the froslass Sharon, was Karli, completely frozen and Yuki was lying unconscious over one of the glalie brothers. The family were approaching some dead end canyon.
'Is that them?' whispered Angel.
Glim only nodded, keeping his eyes on the family and hurried after them, when they passed around an iceberg. Using the snowstorm to his advantage, the little glaceon vanished in his pursuit, while the sneasel behind could only rely on his instincts. When Glim passed the large corner of ice, suddenly he leaped out, shocked and confused. The family were gone. All that he could see was a curved dead end wasteland. Angel meanwhile, had caught up, noticing that the glaceon was standing out in the open.
'Glim!' called Angel, with clenched teeth. 'What're you doing?'
'They're gone!' shouted Glim, running ahead.
'What?'
The injured sneasel leaped by the glaceon, sharing the same view of a long towering cliff of ice, curving round to the corner they had just left.
'Where'd they go?' said Angel, asking only himself as Glim ran closer to the walls of ice.
The glaceon stood with his side to the ice, looking to see any cracks or gaps they may not have noticed.
'Could there be a cave or something?' asked Angel, running up to the ice and stroking it with his working claw.
'That's what I'm looking for!' replied Glim. 'How the hell could they have disappeared like that? We were only like ten seconds behind'em.'
'Wait, hold on!' called Angel, frequently swaying his arm to his left and right, stroking the ice before him. Glim approached and Angel gave him a focused look as he began to walk to his left, making the little glaceon step aside. The sneasel stopped after taking four steps, 'Here, the ice here is pokémon made, artificial. There's probably a cave behind this.'
Angel was too busy examining the ice before him to notice that Glim had stepped back, before slamming himself into the wall and making a loud thud.
'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' shouted Angel, blocking the path between the glaceon and the ice. 'We don't-'
'What!' shouted Glim, angrily.
'Have you never played Metal Magearna Solid?'
'What? What the f-'
'We don't want to alert those assholes in there!' said Angel, pointing at the blockade of ice.
'Angel, we need to get in there, now! Got any better ideas?'
'Maybe.' he replied, staring at something far above, which Angel then pointed at. 'Is- is that a- what is that?'
Glim glanced around and looked up and noticed a wonky square patch sticking out of the white cliffs. The square had a coat of its own icicles and what seemed to have a dark grey outline to it. Both the glaceon and sneasel ran to the wall directly below it, as it was at least five metres high.
'Is that an air duct?' asked Angel, seemingly confused, before leaping up and scraping holes in the ice for him to keep his climb.
When the sneasel managed to get level with the anomaly, it was indeed an air duct, as he brushed off the icicles and dug his razor claw on the outside grate. Only after carving a few seconds, Angel pulled the grate off and tossed it aside. The duct had its usual airy noise and appearance of a dark chasm.
'It is.' called Angel, looking down at Glim. 'There must be a building or something around here.'
'Who cares, let's go!' said Glim, running up the wall, only to find the ladder of dentures left in the ice were tiny, even for his little paws. 'And how am I going to get up there?'
'I'll think of something.' said Angel, holding onto the vent, whilst sliding into it, legs first.
The desperate glaceon rolled his eyes in annoyance and came up with a reckless idea. He took several steps back, while Angel was rambling with ideas. Glim ran up to the wall, climbing it by only half way, forcing him to jump off and then fired a Shadow Ball at the snow below him. The ball of shadows exploded, sending the glaceon upward at a drastic rate, causing him to crash past the vent and on the steep icy slope above it.
'Whoa, shit!' said Angel, bracing himself.
By luck, Glim's sudden slide down, managed to land him on top of the vent, but due to its very small length from the wall, he was forced to only grab hold of the top of it. He was left dangling over the vent opening and struggling to climb into it. Angel then quickly hugged the glaceon and pulled him in.
'Bloody hell Glim.' said Angel, letting go of the little glaceon, as he turned and crawled ahead. 'If I knew you were that crazy, I wouldn't have helped you into Lopunny Cove, man.'
'I'm not crazy, I just want to save Karli!'
'You and me both, bro.'
Bolting out of her bed, Yuki woke up violently, finding herself in a room she hoped to never see again. The small bedroom, coated in ice, with no window, which she had suffered in throughout most of her childhood. The only source of light were of the dim corridor lights, left throughout the abandoned mine. All the timid froslass could hear were the angered chatter between Sharon and Mark. Though they were not shouting, Yuki had heard it all before and knew it would eventually degenerate into a competition of getting the last word. The sudden awakening had disorientated her sight and though she recognised her bedroom, Yuki did not notice the obese glalie, sitting in the corner opposite her.
'Mum!' called the glalie. 'He's awake!'
The voices silenced and Yuki knew what was about to happen if she did not act. Unfortunately, in trying to float upright, she immediately felt intense pain on her hollow back, while her left arm could only twitch, causing her to fall front onto the worker's bed she tried to get up from. As the hurt froslass tried a second time, she looked to the door to her right, to see the dreaded mother froslass about to grab her. Yuki quickly got up, trying to hit Sharon away, who blocked her attack with her left arm and pushed her back with her right arm. Yuki fell helplessly into the wall behind her. Sharon signalled for the glalie in the room to leave, pointing at the door. Meanwhile Mark, who waited for Scott to leave first, entered afterwards.
'Now listen here, you little shit!' said Sharon pointing at the angry froslass trying to get up. 'You had no entitlement to getting a sex change. I, as a mother, knew you were never supposed to be a woman. You think we are proud of you? No! I am not a happy bunny. Did you ever think about how we feel about your sex change?'
'Shut up!' shouted Yuki. 'Did you ever-'
Suddenly Sharon began repeatedly hitting the frail froslass, who could only cower until she cried, which then the mother stopped.
'How dare you, talk to your mother like that! You were in no position to put on this act. Who gave you that sex change?' demanded Sharon.
Yuki clenched her teeth, forcing her tears to stop, whilst still hiding herself under her arms.
'Do you really call it, a 'sex change' as if it's just an operation?'
'Yes.' interrupted Sharon.
'You have no idea, how it works or what I had to go through to achieve that!'
'How could you have achieved it, anyway? You came into this world a boy and anybody in our family would have said so otherwise. I asked your auntie Susan if she saw you a man or woman, she didn't say you were a woman.'
'Listen to me. For once, will you fucking listen to me!' screamed Yuki, rapidly turning red.
'Uh, oi!' shouted Mark stomping his heavy body of ice on the ground, trying to intimidate Yuki.
Sharon held out her hand, telling the glalie behind her to keep back, followed by slapping the froslass before her. 'Don't throw a hissy at me young man! I am asking you, nicely. Who gave you your sex change?'
Yuki, twitching in uncontrollable fear and helpless rage, incapable of saving herself or talking her way out, only looked deep into the pitiless pretty eyes of Sharon.
'You, wouldn't last a minute with them.' Yuki hissed. 'You think you know what's right for me, yet here you are, with your minions once again, interrogating me, because you don't understand me.'
'No, no, no.' interrupted Sharon. 'I never said that. I have never interrogated you. You, don't understand yourself.'
'Oh my god, just kill me, you lying monster!' screamed Yuki, trying to hit Sharon again, who easily blocked her.
'Oh grow up!' shouted Sharon, as the giant glalie floated past her. 'Hit him Mark.'
Outside the main structure, a loud scream echoed, resembling a banshee who had lost her lover.
Angel and Glim reached an opening above what appeared to be a walkway, when Yuki's scream could be heard echoing. The sneasel stopped for a moment, placing his ear, over the grate to the room below.
'Did you hear that?' said Angel, asking the glaceon just behind him.
'Yeah, it came from the left, wherever we are.'
Moving forward slightly, the sneasel tried to get as much of a look as he could get of the corridor below. Seeing no one or hearing any kind of footsteps, Angel dug his razor claw between the razor thin gap between the grate and air duct. In one stroke the grate broke and swung open, creaking on its hinges. Angel grabbed hold of the side without the grate's hinges and lowered himself below with his one claw.
As Angel held on, he looked up and whispered. 'Then let's-'
'Hey!' shouted Alex, from the other end of the corridor. 'Intruder!'
'Fuck!' grunted Angel, letting go and swiftly bolting ahead.
Glim meanwhile watched the sneasel leg it, who was pursued by the two glalie brothers, moving much slower. Neither of Alex or Scott looked up at the vent, while the little glaceon had taken a step back, only seeing the two glalie chase after Angel. At first, Glim was tempted to aid Angel, but realised the opportunity to find Karli and Yuki. Seeing that Angel was much faster than the glalie brothers, the glaceon decided to let them go. He then waited a little longer, just in case Mark or Sharon were also in the chase. Five seconds passed with the corridor only getting quieter. With the coast clear, Glim stuck his head out of the vent, before dropping out of it and landing so delicately on the freezing surface.
The surrounding environment was mostly made up of rock, with poorly setup metal beams supporting the cave. Alongside the vent which Glim had left, had almost a wall of pipes neighbouring it along the wall to his right. As for the source of the light, there were only olden cave lanterns hung up by the doors, making the long corridor appear very dark at the centre.
Glim ran to the end, where the glalie had come from, only hoping it was to lead back to their domain. Leaving the corridor, the glaceon found himself to be on a raised walkway, in a rather large factory of sorts. The cave was silent, no machines were running or even buzzing with energy. The walkway was built along a heavily lit up wall of ice and had two doorways. Glim tried to remember the scream he heard earlier, which only sounded to be coming from the left and that was when he was in the air duct. Picking blindly, the glaceon hurried to the doorway on the opposite end of the walkway, listening out as much as he could.
Angel leaped over a control mechanism that was coated in ice, missing the controls as he rolled across the hard ground. Shortly behind the sneasel, Alex belted his horn against the tight doorway and levitated over the controls, while Scott, just behind his brother jumped, hitting the ceiling and bouncing off the controls. Somehow, that destructive manoeuvre set the control panel to flicker online and distortedly buzz into action.
Running blindly, Angel rushed down a sloped corridor, which brought him to a large room that was also a dead end. The sneasel did not realise he was trapped until he leaped over two conveyor belts and a larger machine that appeared to be a dome with thick cables coming out of the top of it. Assuming that there was another exit, Angel simply crashed into the wall, while his built up momentum sprung him back, thudding against the giant dome-shaped machine. It was only a matter of time before the two glalie were going to find him, since the large machine was rather obvious cover, the sneasel thought.
Angel looked to his left, seeing the chasm of darkness that the conveyor belt was leading to, just next to him. The chasm from where he stood looked more natural that the tunnel corridors Angel had ran though. Due to the sheer darkness, the sneasel could not see anything, even if he was right next to it and knowing the machine was presumably designed to throw something down there, Angel was not keen to jump down there.
Only seconds after Angel had crashed, the glalie brothers entered the room. Immediately, Alex began looking behind the monitors and conveyor belts. Scott on the other hand leaped over his older brother and proceeded to the lonely dome. As the glalie brothers searched, the conveyor belts, began to twitch and squeak, shaking off the built up frost like dust. Several lights within the chasm began flickering and making creaking noises from above. Meanwhile, a siren sounded as the dome machine began flickering. The noise made Angel jump and accidentally let out a light squirm. His cry, though short, alerted the brothers immediately of his location.
The sneasel turned and jumped onto the tall dome machine, grabbing hold of one of the large cables and saw Scott checking round the dome below. The younger glalie was unaware of Angel's manoeuvre, but when the sneasel climbed up, Alex spotted and jumped after him, attempting to Headbutt him. With a second to spare, Angel mankey swung on the cable and landed on Alex as he flew up, stomping as hard as he could. The tactic turned into a collision, as Alex carried on, crashing into the wall near where the sneasel had crashed earlier, while Angel was hit up slightly, making him lose his balance and landing on his back, hitting the corner of the middle conveyor belt. Angel grunted in pain and quickly rolled forward in case the other glalie was just behind him. His prediction was not far off, seeing as Scott was also in the air, attempting to drop Headbutt the small sneasel. Angel saw an opportunity to strike hard, by taking a small backward step, right as the glalie sunk his horns into the rocky floor, the sneasel countered with a Metal Claw, swinging his razor claw upward. Immediately, Angel's arm had glowed silver, fiercely hardening his claw, whilst sending Scott up, crashing against into the ceiling and with three major gashes behind his head. Despite the sheer pain ice types suffer from steel type attacks, the glalie's adrenaline prevented him from feeling it, keeping him silent. When Scott fell to the floor, Angel's felt smaller as the metal mutation dissipated, but was still pulsing a strange glow. It caught his attention for a moment, but Angel did not realise that the glow was his razor claw helping him to evolve.
Ahead of Angel, who was slightly distracted, Alex quickly got back up, side shifting to his left and summoned a beam of ice. As soon as the series of glassy clinkering noises sounded, Angel leaped left, dodge rolling over the conveyor belt, which was at full motion. Landing neatly on his feet, the sneasel noticed the lights around the chasm wall were flickering long enough to reveal two machines that looked like claws. As soon as he saw them, the enormous claws automatically descended at the same time and pace. Keen to keep moving, Angel leaped forward, onto the conveyor belt to his left, while Alex, in mid-air, fired another Ice Beam at the floor below the sneasel. The slow moving belt did not hinder Angel much, despite it was moving backward and when he reached the edge, in level with the long fence against the chasm, he leaped and grappled onto the left claw pipeline. The claw itself was still descending below Angel, while he was just below the engine, built and supported at the centre of the massive chasm. Taking one look down and Angel could not see a thing, due to the lack of light.
'What an idiot!' blurted Scott, struggling to get back up.
The older glalie pursued, stopping up against the fence and fired yet another stream of ice. It was obvious to where it was being fired Angel thought, so he leaped onto the neighbouring claw, almost ten metres behind. Due to the claw's movement and the sneasel only having one working claw, Angel was sliding down the large pipe that continued to drop. Suddenly the claw he tried to climb up had stopped and shook violently, like it hit something. Angel had not fallen far, but the glalie brothers were waiting against the fence. Just as suddenly, the claw began to rise.
'Take the right!' said Alex to his brother.
Both glalie formed a freezing white ball before their huge faces, when Angel looked over to the other claw, which had a chunk of ice stuck around one part of the pipeline, from Alex's last Ice Beam. The sneasel leaped from the rising mechanism as the glalie were preparing to fire their attacks. Scott as ordered, hit the right claw pipeline, creating ice all around it, as Alex delayed his attack for a second. Angel landed on the chunk of ice, which clearly showed that the left claw was also rising, he then quickly jumped backward, as Alex fired again. The sneasel dug his razor claw into the wall only metres behind the claws and stayed still. The ice block that was stuck grew much bigger from Alex's second Ice Beam, but as soon as it rose into the mechanism, the whole block broke apart into smaller boulders. Angel let go of the wall, falling right in front of one of the boulders and kicked it as hard as he could. The boulder of ice flew up and smashed into the fence between Alex and Scott, who quickly moved back. Angel meanwhile, glided forward to grab onto the same mechanism again. When he succeeded, he found himself only a metre above the massive metal claw itself, which appeared to have an actual boulder within its grasp. Thinking quickly, the sneasel hung single handed, and the claw that was dripping wet, using the boulder to shield himself. His plan at first was to kick the boulder at the brothers, oblivious to how heavy it was, but he noticed it was big enough to hide his three foot body.
The claw reached the top, stopping instantly. The glalie brothers were still tense, eyeing the claws which were both holding similar chunks a soaked stone. Scott moved closer to the fence to look down the chasm.
'Did he fall off?' said Scott.
Alex stayed focused on the two rocks, figuring that Angel was small enough to hide behind them. The machines were making several loud cocking noises and began to slowly shift closer to the conveyor belts. When the two claws stopped just over the reinforced chain belts, Scott also looked up, while Alex jumped onto the belt, attempting to look on the other side of the held boulder.
As anticipated, Angel shot an Ice Shard right into the eye of Alex, just as he moved left enough to see the sneasel. Reacting to the glalie's sudden yell in pain, Scott stared at his brother, who then fell back, after hitting the end of the conveyor belt and landing him on the floor. Meanwhile the claw had twitched suddenly, indicating it had unlocked. Angel quickly positioned himself to face where he last saw Scott and blindly kicked the giant boulder, as hard as he could. Luckily for the glalie, one of the three claws, holding the boulder prevented Angel from sending it directly at him. Instead, the heavy boulder hammered the surface just next to Scott, as if it was a rhyperior using Rock Wrecker. The glalie jumped back in shock, hitting up against the fence. Angel had hurt his feet just doing that, making him groan in pain.
The glalie below noticed Angel, hanging with one claw and quickly used Ice Beam. The sneasel pulled himself up, which would not have mattered, as Scott ended up hitting the same claw finger that saved him. Getting hit by the stream of ice, caused the claw to start windmill spinning and when Scott noticed that, he continued using Ice Beam until the sneasel was unable to hold on anymore. It did not look like it, but the claw had spun at a great speed when Angel flew off it, unfortunately flying over the fence and leaving him to fall down the chasm.
'Ah shit!' blurted Angel, hitting the chasm wall and sending him to spiral.
The sneasel took a moment to recover his balance and resorted to his only method of stopping. Doing his best to glide over to a wall, he used his razor claw to dig into it, to slow his fall. By that time, his velocity had him falling very fast into the pitch black darkness. As soon as he slammed his razor claw into solid earth, his own claw began to steam and burn, making him growl louder the longer he took to slow. As he began to slow, the razor claw began to glow and slowly, his right ear began to grow, rapidly growing out of his head, while his claws and feet began to grow a third claw-finger. The intense pain was making the sneasel ignore it, but his highest tail fin had merged into the fin below it, while many more quickly grew around his neck and the back of his head. Coming to a sudden stop and shouting while doing so, the unique blue and turquoise light that was coming from Angel had stopped.
'Whoa!' shouted Angel in surprise, surveying what he could see of his body.
Angel realised how different he felt, his injured claw no longer felt in half as he just threw off the bandage that tore doing the evolution. He felt he had three claw-fingers, instead of two and was suddenly another foot taller. The feel of his toes and claws made him shake his body in joy, yet shocked. The sensation felt incredibly unusual for him.
'Holy shit!' cried Angel, happily. 'I've evolved baby, yeah! Oh crap.'
Not forgetting he was dangling in an abyss, Angel forced his other claw into the rock, sinking it much easier than before. Surprised by the force he had, he pulled away his claw and felt a huge chunk of rock just falling from the wall, like he had driven an excadrill into it. The weavile then laughed in shock, before resuming his climb.
'Oh yeah, this is awesome. Just you wait Karli, Glim!'
The little glaceon proceeded through the tunnels, trying to follow the scream he heard earlier until he led himself to a more natural ice cavern. Peeking around the corner of the heavy iced cave, Glim approached what appeared to be a supported metal house. Judging by the multiple pipes dug from the ceiling of the cave to provide oxygen, the house might have been the first accommodation structure for the mine. The cave walls however, looked poorly dug, thought Glim, until he noticed a faint silhouette in the long wall ahead of him. He squinted at first, trying to make out what he was seeing, but then noticed looking at the corner of ice he was creeping around had a kingdra in it. The sight made Glim gasp lightly, jumping back. The kingdra had her eyes tightly closed and appeared to be leaning back. When the glaceon noticed the kingdra, he looked at the wall just next to him, faintly seeing a frozen arbok, a pupitar, another arbok and a pinsir. Before turning around completely, Glim realised the whole cave was a gallery of frozen pokémon. The sight put tightening volts into the glaceon's spine and hind legs, making him cringe.
'Grow up!' shouted Sharon, whose voice could easily be heard coming from the house.
Glim quickly came out of his gaze of horror, glancing back at the house. As much as he wanted to rescue Karli, his blood began to heat up, just hearing the froslass mother again. She sounded rather like his own mother, with a poor posh accent with no shame of showing her arrogance. Seeing the frozen pokémon too made him realise, the family had been kidnapping pokémon for some time. The glaceon looked back, wanting Angel to come back at any moment, but remembered that he was already distracting the two glalie brothers. Glim was on his own.
Without thinking, Glim only had to hear the voices of the parents again, just chatting, to make the little glaceon to lose his patience and run toward the house. Leaning against the wall of metal, covered in ice, Glim crawled up to the doorway, which was wide enough to let two charizard pass through. The chatter was coming from the far left room on the bottom floor. The door to Yuki's bedroom looked rather narrow, but judging by the multiple scrapes and dents, the father glalie had stormed in there many times before. The glaceon already thought about just looking for Karli, whilst the rest of the family was occupied, thinking that the family would likely kill him. The whole gallery of frozen pokémon was instant evidence of their hostility.
Glim had a plan, though he had never seen a froslass until today, he had heard enough about them to recognise one and knew they were vulnerable to ghost attacks. With the use of Shadow Ball, the mother, having already fought previously, may be the easier target to knock out, but then there was Mark. The father glalie, was much bigger and having seen him fight the chesnaught earlier, Glim was going to need Angel to help take him out. Unless, the glaceon could strike him fast and hard whilst unaware. The only need for him, was for Glim to overcome his fear and to sneak around the sofa. His plan may sound simple, but knowing what the cold blooded family could do and being on his own, the glaceon was having sensations pushing him away. Feelings telling him to just forget Yuki and instead find Karli, or to find Angel or even to abandon all three of them. The fear was making him breathe heavily, seeming all too familiar to other family events he suffered.
The glaceon's train of thought was derailed, when he heard Sharon raise her voice once more, a slapping noise and the very emotional scream of Yuki. It was a combination, of distress, rage and pain. Three tones in one scream that gave Glim a flashback of his own parents, doing the same to him. Still hyperventilating, the glaceon's flashback blinded his sense of fear, as his eyes twitched and casually walked into the structure.
Keeping to his strategy, Glim was creeping over to the long, ice-covered sofa, trying to keep his footing as light as possible. He was getting so angry and pushy to attack, his voices screaming for him to blow the room up with Shadow Ball.
'You've twisted this,' shouted Sharon, shaking her head, tightly holding Yuki's bruised face. 'so far out of proportion, y'know? It's your own fault for hav'n the sex change. We've always said that you were a boy, you were born that way and no one would see you any different.'
'And you think-' interrupted Yuki, trying to stop Sharon's rant.
'This isn't my fault, your father's fault. Your fault.'
'Would you-'
'Not my fault, not your father's fault. Your fault.'
'Listen to me!' screamed Yuki, biting Sharon's hand, making her scream extremely loudly.
The mother froslass let go, leaping back, like she had been hit by a charging rampardos. To the witnessing glaceon and little Yuki's point of view, it seemed obvious to them that Sharon only screamed for Mark's attention and prompt a more aggressive reaction. When the mother screamed, the giant glalie in question was already fuming, but that was also when the eyes of the badly beaten froslass had met those of the tense glaceon, peeking over the sofa. Yuki's expression was masked by distraught, trauma and rage, when Glim's eyes were also showing fire, yet concern and somehow remaining so aggressively pretty. The sparkles in his beautiful eyes, sparked a speck of hope for the broken froslass, whose whole body was then tackled into the wall by Mark.
Glim reacted quickly, leaping from the sofa and roared a ball of shadows, directly at Mark, who had his back to the glaceon. The glalie disappeared further into the room, grunting in pain, hidden deep in the cloud of black mist projected from the attack.
'What was that?' demanded Sharon.
'Let her go!' yelled Glim, feeling the chilling rush, like he was standing up to his own parents.
Shooting blindly into the thick black mist, Glim generated his beam of rainbows, only hoping to hit either parent. The fog dissipated quickly when his Signal Beam impacted, revealing to be deflected by some glowing counterforce. It was Sharon, using Ice Beam on the other side, pushing the multi-coloured ray back. The raging glaceon did not notice the froslass fighting back, until he had to take a breath, which prompted Sharon to leap up and Mark to charge furiously at Glim who tried to fire another Shadow Ball, but was not quick enough. What became of the glaceon's attack merely burst upward, while he was head-butted with the sofa just below him and hurled through the tight window by amazing luck. The momentum had Glim sliding across the frozen ground on his front, which was aching from the attack.
During the brawl, Yuki, who was heavily damaged and suffered a torn arm, did her best to float back up again. Sharon, who was just in front of her, left the room and remained floating near the door, looking out for the glaceon.
Glim was not hurt too much, so he thought and limped back onto his paws with an open opportunity to run, having been flung in front of the exit. But then, emerging just around the corner were the two glalie brothers, Alex and Scott. They seemed tense and surprised to see the glaceon. The bigger glalie had clearly taken damage to his eye, which he kept squinting, while Scott had awkwardly bent horns and a chunk of ice missing from the crown between them. Seeing them, gave Glim a feeling of dread, not of his peril, but wondering what became of his friend. Running was no longer an option it seemed.
A loud pound sounded far behind the glaceon, which was Mark, sitting between the double doors. His anger seemed to be pointing at the glalie brothers. Sharon behind the father glalie temporarily left and picked something up, which Glim could see through the window, just to the left of Mark.
'This one is mine!' said Mark.
Alex and Scott took a step back, blocking the exit and Sharon returned, floating just next to her husband. Wearing a dark grey necklace, which had a multi-coloured stone in the middle of it. The glaceon was not sure of the reason for their stalling and was only waiting for the right moment to attack. The froslass glared at Glim and touched the jewel, which sparkled brightly, chain-reacting with the oddly shaped crown on Mark's head. The glaceon did not notice it at first, but it also had an unusual rock, frozen within the ice that also beamed brightly. Mark's whole body then flashed like an explosion and when the light of multiple colours faded, the glalie appeared to be even bigger, forcing himself to nudge out from the door frame. His two horns grew bigger, covered with ice and his mouth became far bigger and remained open. The jaw also grew two horns of ice but was also spikey and black, like he now had a beard. The ugly transformation made Glim's ears lower, horrified and confused, never seeing anything like it. First thinking that the family was in some relation to Martyr because of that.
When the glalie had finished transforming, Sharon was suddenly tackled by Yuki, who flew from the doorway behind her. Even though Yuki was hurt badly, she succeeded in constricting her mother, causing the both of them to roll violently on the floor, screaming and wailing attacks blindly as they did. Mark looked to his left, witnessing the brawl. The interruption gave the lonely glaceon his opportunity, swiftly blasting a Shadow Ball to the distracted giant glalie who was not quick enough to dodge it. Mark smashed back into the house, disappearing in a dark cloud again. Alex and Scott, witnessing the commotion were about to move forward, intending to aid Sharon, but just when Alex made his first movement, he and his brother were grabbed by their horns. Between them, a weavile came forward and pulled them back slightly.
'Guess who's back, fuckers!' said Angel, jumping and kicking the both of them away.
The glalie brothers were only kicked into the walls next to them, when Angel turned for the bigger glalie to his left, grabbed him, rolled onto his back and threw Alex into Scott. The little brother was sunk into the ice wall, while Alex bounced into the air, spinning wildly. The glaceon meanwhile turned round, happy to see the weavile, too tense to realise that he had evolved though.
'Angel!' cried Glim.
'You alright?'
The glaceon ran past Angel, heading out of the little cave. 'We've gotta go, now!'
'What? I was enjoying-'
Suddenly the front of the house broke apart, with Mark furiously charging forward, roaring like an exploud and with the eyes of an espurr. The giant glalie seemingly ignored the two froslass, as he bolted towards Angel, whose expression turned big-eyed.
'Whoa!' Angel shouted, legging it. 'What the hell is that!'
It did not take long for the much faster weavile to catch up to the little glaceon, while the giant glalie was also rapidly catching up. When Angel passed Glim, on a long metal overbridge, he quickly turned, unwilling for the boy to be hurt by the monster pursuing them. If his timing was right, he could hit Mark away with a Metal Claw, just before he could catch up to either of them. The glaceon was still running to pass his friend, when he noticed Angel raising his claw, making it glow silver and mutate longer claws.
That was the first time, Glim had noticed that Angel had evolved, but was too occupied to stop or think. He noticed that the weavile was not giving him eye contact and was in fact looking at something chasing just behind him. Glim passed the weavile, who happened to swing his massive silver claw at that moment, causing a loud, sharp clanging sound to echo throughout the enormous room. Mark roared in agony, getting flung off the narrow bridge. The glaceon was propelled forward from the collision force between Angel and Mark, causing little Glim to roll forward, with chippings of ice scattered all along the bridge.
With three long scratch marks, the evolved glalie fell, crashing onto the floor below, coated in ice dust. The large room, judging by the few apparatus, appeared to be for regular work stations, but never got initiated. The icy dust flung upward, poorly veiling Mark. Angel, well above leaned over the fence, laughing in smug.
'Ha ha!' he blurted, pointing down at the enraged monster. 'Take that! Take that! Mother-'
During Angel's rant, Mark balanced himself on the ice and leaped up like he was shot from a cannon, punishing the taunting weavile by smashing the overbridge completely in two. The half that Glim and Angel were standing on had completely broken off and froze up on impact, sending the two to fly off the bridge and also crash onto the unused floor below. The rest of the bridge, connected to the cave they just left, remained hanging on its remaining supports. His attack nudged the glalie back in mid-air, causing him to land back in the middle of the room.
At the back, just behind the remains of the fallen bridge, Angel and Glim burst out of the piles of icy dust. Glim was serious, landing in a tense stance, hiding what fear was in his legs and ready to fight for his life. Angel, having been struck by karma, only shook his head shamefully.
Metres away, the angry glalie shook what ice dust he had caught on his horns. Realising he was about to attack, the weavile quickly darted past Glim and took a threatening stance, preparing another Metal Claw. Unthreatened, Mark leaped forward and swung his side horns to collide with Angel, who tried to clash with his hardened, silver claw. Upon impact, the glalie took little damage having successfully hit the weavile upward, sending him into the air and fall behind the big-mouthed monster. Immediately afterward, Mark was forced back by a ray of rainbows, beaming from Glim's mouth. Mark was pushed into Angel who was struggling to get back up, due to the forceful shoving originating from the glaceon. Getting more frustrated, Mark growled louder and resorted to hitting the ground below, hard enough to cause an earthquake. Getting the full force of the attack, the grown weavile was launched into the air, yelling in agony, while Glim, even in his distance was also projected back, practically fisted by the ground below him. The Signal Beam faded and the little glaceon was hurled onto the fallen bridge, breaking his fall. Angel, on the other side had a much softer crash, only falling onto the mass pile of ice dust. But being so close to Mark in that attack had developed a great pain in his back and left arm, like he had been hit by a sledgehammer.
Glim hastily got back up, but was not quick enough to attack the enormous head monster recklessly ramming into him. The glaceon only jumped in a poor attempt to dodge, leaving him to face the force of Mark's Headbutt. The glalie continued charging ahead, while Glim was slumped on his crown, between his enormous forehead horn and right horn. Mark kept moving until he slammed into the rocky wall he was speeding to, crushing the glaceon against it, who wheezed out on impact. It could have been fatally worse, as most of the crash was absorbed by Mark's giant front horn, but Glim was still heavily pinned against the wall and in capable of moving. The giant glalie tried to grind the glaceon, who looked so tiny in that position, by forcing his body left and digging his horn through the wall. Glim could feel the force of the rocks scraping his cold hardened back, but despite the pain, he had no breath to scream and just struggled.
The weavile had mobilised, his pain drowned out by adrenaline, seeing the attack ahead made him think that Glim was going to be killed. Angel, with fury in his eye bolted to the left side of the room, where Mark was heading and tensed up his right claw, letting the metamorphosis activate again. When he was close enough, he back swung his claw against the momentum, hitting Mark with what felt like a sharp axe. Unaware of how powerful his adrenaline made him, Angel's attack caused the ice monster to spiral backward, out of the wall and fly into the wall to their right. Both the weavile and glalie roared in pain. Angel had fractured his claw doing that and Mark's facial armour and jaw received multiple cracks. The attack had the weavile tightly grasping his claw, hopping in pain, continuously roaring as he did.
'God damn it!' shouted Angel, eventually stopping and violently shaking his claw.
Meanwhile, breathing deeply on his back was the little glaceon who merely fell off Mark when he was catapulted from the wall. There was a frequent pulsating ache on Glim's back as he twitched, trying to get back up. Ahead of him, he saw his friend, still waving his claw, trying to shake off his pain. But then, far above Glim, two long arms stretched down, wrapping around the arms and body of the oblivious weavile who was facing the opposite direction. The arms were of Sharon, apparently winning her fight with Yuki. Angel was already in a tight bind by the time he realised he was about to be grappled. He struggled as the froslass rose the weavile upward and then suddenly, he flashed brightly, as lightning started sparking in adjacent directions.
'How dare you attack my husband!' hissed Sharon, gradually floating closer to the violently twitching pokémon.
Glim saw that Sharon was oblivious to his own presence and rose. The little glaceon sucked in air, summoning paranormal energy in a slow pace, due to his exhaustion. He then fired the Shadow Ball, directed at the airborne froslass. Just before it was about to impact, the smaller glalie brother swooped in, intercepting the ball of shadows, blocking the attack to his mother. The Shadow Ball promptly exploded, sending Scott to crash into Sharon, who was forced to let go of Angel, who helplessly fell to the ice. Sharon screamed loudly, as she crashed into the same wall as Mark did. The faithful block by Scott surprised Glim, who was then confronted by a much bigger glalie landing on top of him. Alex appeared to have taken a severe beating, covered in scratches and lack of ice. He forced little Glim down, with what energy he had left.
The menacing sharp claw pokémon rapidly stood back, badly hurt, yet tense from the lightning. Just in time to witness the giant glalie zoom in rage from the wall, easily revenge head-butting the paralysed weavile and sending him flying into the wall behind.
Witnessing Angel's peril just ahead, Glim felt to have more energy than the bully trying to pin him down. The glaceon rolled sideways, out of the pinning and when Alex attempted to bite him, Glim kicked the icicle still stuck in Alex's eye, using his hind legs. The Ice Shard clearly sunk deeper into the glalie's eye, making Alex roar and fall on his back. Glim meanwhile was numb to the agony in front of him. He turned left and quickly fired another Shadow Ball toward the massive glalie slowly approaching Angel. Suddenly the attack was intercepted again, blocked by another Shadow Ball that was fired from Sharon.
The detonation of two Shadow Ball created an enormous flash, a shockwave that shook the surrounding cave and dispersed a large cloud of darkness. Glim remained tense, waiting silently, anticipating either Sharon or Mark to emerge from the cloud at any moment. Coincidentally, the family within the fog were also waiting for it to dissipate. When it did, Sharon, Mark and Scott were all staring toward the little glaceon. All of them had bloodlust in their eyes. Scott was hurt, ice broken from his armour, Sharon just next to him had clearly taken rough attacks from Yuki. Both of them were nothing compared to Mark, who was missing ice from all around his body, his jaw was clearly dislocated and Angel's recent attack had left three very visible cracks, like scars trenching all across his facial armour.
The stunned weavile, barely capable of movement in his position could only sit, with his back to the wall, twitching like he was numb, while his willpower was trying to restart his body.
'Kill him.' Sharon hissed quickly, glaring at Glim.
Following orders like a good houndour, Mark growled and jumped up high, attempting to crush Glim with an Earthquake, when all of a sudden, the glalie seemed to explode. The flash was blindingly bright and deafening, causing everyone on the floor to duck down. Mark was heard smashing to pieces against the wall behind him, without making any reactions of pain.
'Mark!' screamed Sharon, looking back at the broken monster, just sliding down.
The glalie appeared to degenerate into his original form, but even then, his horns just fell off and blood gushed from his left side.
Glim glanced upward, to the source of the attack and could not believe his eyes. Near the tunnel, where he and Angel attempted to escape, was the unmistakable magnezone from Hydrangea's Royal Talon.
'Stand down, everyone!' ordered Sergeant, levitating above the scene.
'You just killed my husband!' screamed Sharon.
'He's not dead, froslass.'
'You killed him!' she continued, while the Sergeant's attempts to interrupt would not stop her. 'You could have killed me! How dare you attack me! What did we ever do to you! What did we ever do to you!'
Frustrated from the senseless yammering from Sharon, the magnezone genuinely developed an angry expression for its one eye and emitted an extremely loud screeching noise. The unbearable shriek sounded like metal loudly scraping slowly against a blunt blender, making everyone hold their ears tightly, except for the three glalie who had no arms or hands.
'I said stand down!' roared Sergeant, like it was using a megaphone. 'I am an officer of the law and I am here to sort all this out! What is happening?'
Looking back at the deeply broken glalie, Sharon zoomed over to Mark and hugged him like some hero.
'If you're an officer, than you need to know right now!' cried Sharon, who then pointed at Glim and the paralysed weavile. 'It was him and him! They came here to attack us!' she screamed, as loud as she could.
'No!' argued Glim, running out to stand below the magnezone. 'Angel and I were here to save our friend-'
'To kill us!' interrupted Sharon. 'Take'em away officer! They're murderers!'
Angel finally managed to stand and interjected 'says the froslass with tons of frozen bodies in that cave-'
Sharon interrupted again, spouting the same excuse, while Glim remained looking up at Sergeant, who was staring back. The magnezone's expression was emotionless and the glaceon knew it recognised him.
'Silence!' called Sergeant, using Metal Sound as a whistle.
Everyone fell silent again as the attention seemed to dawn on Glim and the sergeant far above him.
'Are you not Glim?' asked Sergeant. 'The little male glaceon who escaped from Hydrangea's Royal Talon Prison yesterday?' the little glaceon stayed silent, his pupils began to shrink. 'The same one whom I was called to arrest on the ship, which was then ordered to be destroyed?'
'That wasn't his fault!' interjected Angel. 'We all stood up against you! You're so called "law", what law is there now!'
Sergeant was quick to identify Angel, to be the same individual who stood up to him previously as a sneasel.
'You see officer?' said Sharon. 'They're nothing but criminals! Freaks!'
'No!' cried Glim, getting flustered and increasing in his breath rate. 'Just look in that cave! Our friends are up there!'
Angel pointed up at the same cave. 'Yes! Take a look-'
'Liars! If you look there, they'll run away officer!' interrupted Sharon.
The giant metallic pokémon took one brief look toward the cave, Glim and Angel kept weakly pointing at, but as Sharon was predicting, Sergeant did not want the two before him to run when he was distracted. However, one look at the tunnel entrance, gave him a glimpse of something white, only it could see from where it remained afloat.
'You're the liars!' argued Angel angrily, at Sharon. 'I have never seen a family more twisted than my own!'
The mother froslass retaliated 'It was you! Who broke into our home, attacked us! And we were defending ourselves!'
While Angel, Glim and Sharon continued arguing, Sergeant became fixated on what appeared to be nudging its way out onto the severely broken overhead bridge. The magnezone levitated over to the bridge, seeing the unusual white anomaly, was another froslass. It was Yuki and she was badly hurt, crawling herself out of the cave. She seemed to be lying on her left, so it was not until Sergeant was right up against the wall that neighboured the bridge, did Yuki spot the magnezone.
'Don't l-listen to them.' stuttered Yuki.
The magnezone swiftly drew closer to the hurt froslass, which was noticed by Sharon at the back. Angel meanwhile was in a new argument with Scott about what happened to Alex and how he was intruding their home.
'Are you alright?' asked Sergeant. 'Who's "them"? Please answer.'
The words of the magnezone, despite being much quieter than the argument below had seemed louder, catching everyone's attention.
'My family!' growled Yuki. 'They're monsters, who have been abducting civilians.'
'Don't listen to a thing he says!' yelled Sharon.
'The glaceon… I saw him. He tried to save me. His- his friend is also here… a kirlia.'
'He's lying! Just like all trannies!'
That last statement made the Sergeant take one look at Sharon. Its expression seemed confused, surprised and angry all at once, but not for the froslass in front of it.
'You see…? She can't even accept her own child, who she gave birth to… and tried to kill.'
The room fell silent as Sergeant scanned Yuki's wounded body, as its eye glowed redder and brighter, clearly burning in anger. When the scan ceased, the cold metallic pokémon paused.
'Miss froslass.' said Sergeant boldly, talking to the mother.
'Look out!' called Angel.
Suddenly a huge ball of shadows flew toward the fallen Yuki. The magnezone only had enough time to float on its side, between the Shadow Ball and injured froslass. The attack exploded, forcing the magnezone into the bridge, along with Yuki who it was protecting. The two were then veiled by a thick cloud.
'No!' shouted Angel, turning to the mother froslass who had a distressed, yet enraged expression.
The weavile, furiously attempted to approach Sharon, but was quickly hit up against the wall by Scott. Glim leaped to his left, also trying to confront the dreaded froslass. But just as he breathed in to summon another Shadow Ball, he was struck to his face by a lightning bolt, coming from the same monster. His crown thankfully absorbed the lightning, but Sharon continued electrifying the glaceon, who struggled to stay standing. She flew closer and grabbed Glim by the head while he was stunned and resumed her Thunderbolt. In the position she was doing it, the glaceon could only scream, losing all control of his paws.
Angel rose his claws and belted Scott on his head as hard as he could. His lack of energy and movement was preventing the weavile to escape the glalie's pin any quicker. Thinking tactically, Angel made one last hit on Scott, which was on his horn, making him rotate majorly, which allowed enough leg room for the weavile to climb onto the glalie's head. The paralysis was luckily not holding Angel back so much, as he leaped up, heading toward Sharon, who was busy frying the little glaceon. With gravity on his side, Angel swooped down, forming his claw into a long black and sharp figure and swished it through the froslass, leaving the weavile to crash next to Glim, who was released.
Sharon remained still at first, holding onto her hollow dress, which had severe cuts going across her body. That however was the least of her worries. She recognised her head to have a very similar rip, covering almost half her head.
'Mum!' cried Scott.
The froslass did not say anything and tried to look back, before her body deteriorated into dust, starting at where her body was torn. The younger glalie cried out for his mother again, which awoke something nearby.
Angel did his best to stand back up, but could only get onto his knees. In front of him was the electrified glaceon, twitching in pain, tensing his eyes and clenching his teeth. Only hearing the voice of Scott seconds ago, Angel looked back at him, with the best face of intimidation he could give. It seemed to work, as the glalie levitated back, looking over at Alex and back at Angel. However, the weavile noticed something else, a pair of red eyes, beaming from the wall to Angel's left. Emerging from the crater of rock, Mark roared, making a creepy hissing noise within his scream as he savagely charged towards Angel, who was also turning rogue. Before Mark could even reach the weavile, he was intercepted again, exploding into pieces completely and creating a bloody mess. He was hit by a Flash Cannon, which had temporarily blinded Angel for a moment. The weavile knew it had to have come from the sergeant, so he glanced back at the bridge, to see that it was still there. The bridge was a little crooked after Sharon's attack, but Sergeant and Yuki were still in one piece.
'Thanks.' said Angel, nodding.
'I… didn't…' stammered Sergeant.
Angel paused, looking up at the magnezone, who remained staring at the splattered remains of Mark. The weavile's attention shifted to the glaceon who was grunting in pain and trying to move.
'Glim, you alright?' asked Angel, not getting a vocal answer, but a slight nod from Glim. 'Is Yuki okay?'
'Yuki is secure and will recover.' announced Sergeant, levitating behind her, to see her face. 'Her injuries are not life-threatening.'
With the allies checked out, both Sergeant and Angel looked over at Scott, floating next to Alex, who remained breathing heavily, on his back. The younger glalie was trying to hide the fear in his face, but his eyes showed an obvious sense of tension to the weavile. Angel got up and furiously ran over to Scott.
Scott panicked 'No! Get away from me-'
Angel grabbed the small glalie and slammed him against the wall they were closest to.
'Weavile!' warned Sergeant.
Angel fiercely demanded 'If you two want to live, you'll show us where Karli is!'
'Y- yes, yes! I'll show you where it is, just let me go!'
'Let him go, weavile.' said Sergeant.
Reluctantly, Angel let go of the glalie who levitated onto the bridge and entered the cave of frozen pokémon. Shortly afterward, the weavile climbed up onto the bridge, which proved to be a bit of a struggle, due to his shocked state. In fact, only steps after landing on the bridge, the paralysis forced Angel's legs to weaken, making him fall to his knees.
Angel grunted. 'Damn it!'
'Are you okay?' asked Sergeant.
'Not yet.' replied Angel, getting back up and proceeding into the tunnel.
The magnezone continued to watch the weavile, while pulling the wounded froslass over the top of its oval shaped body with a unique form of magnetism.
'Is that okay for you?' said Sergeant, asking Yuki.
'Yes. But, please get me back to my colleagues, ASAP.'
'Will do in just a minute.'
Still on the floor below, Glim was still having trouble in standing up. He managed to roll onto his front, but could not stand up.
'Need a magnet Glim?' asked Sergeant, getting an odd look from Yuki and Glim. 'Well, I don't have hands or paws.'
'Weren't you going to arrest me?' replied Glim.
'No. But… this is not the time to discuss this. I need to get you lot out of here.'
'B-but, Karli!'
'Karli too, don't worry Glim. In fact, judging by what I saw, I may be coming here a lot in future. How many frozen pokémon were in there?'
'A lot. And I don't even know if they could survive that.'
'We'll find out for sure, later. But for now, let's get you out of here.'
An hour later, a civil investigation was started, after Yuki was reported found and returned to her friends, while getting informed of her ambush and the death of Reggie the chesnaught. Yuki was not fatally wounded, but was treated for what the attack had done to their star actress. In response to the attacks, Alex and Scott were arrested by local authorities and being held for further questioning of what other crimes their family had committed.
Glim and Angel assumed that Sergeant was doing the arrests and investigation, but they were wrong. The magnezone wished to remain anonymous and left the matter to the local police, who began their operation of carving out the frozen pokémon and thawing them, one by one.
The thawing process was the most dangerous part, as the victim could break apart if mishandled or burn to death if melted too quickly. On top of that, every pokémon varied from body tempatures and body stability, making the whole process dangerously delicate. Since Karli was first rescued, she would be the first to be revived, which was still going to take a few hours.
The brave glaceon and weavile, who had triumphed in their mission were receiving major gratitude from Yuki's theatre division. Having taken beatings of their own, they were also receiving help from the medical team. It only took at least two cheri berries to heal their states of shock, while their stamina would come back on its own. Despite their determination to save Yuki, Glim and Angel were not sharing the same room as her, but they were fine with that. The glaceon was more concerned about Karli, while the weavile was able to regain his cool and joke a bit. During their rest, they were talking to the lucario pianist, the empoleon announcer and one of the scyther violinist. Though respected, Glim and Angel felt very out of place in the happy go lucky team, but also because they had friends to check up on.
'If you ever need any help.' said the well-mannered lucario. 'I am sure dearest Yuki will be willing to repay for your rescue.'
'Pft, by "repay" he means sex.' blurted the scyther.
Angel laughed, while the lucario only smiled, shaking his head. Glim smiled too, trying to keep their spirit up, which was more difficult than it seemed. The glaceon was just disturbed by all that happened today, as with the previous few days. A day had not gone by without something so traumatising or tragic happening.
'Thank you.' replied Glim, talking for Angel. 'And we'll remember that.'
The glaceon turned and moved ahead, only a metre from Angel, who rushed up to Glim like he was getting left behind.
'Whoa, slow down Glim.'
'Hard. I want to know how Karli and Beryl and Belle are doing.'
'Oh crap, yeah!'
Suddenly, Angel's jokey attitude sunk, taken over by his seriousness again. Glim meanwhile was just happy to not lose a friend, even though he had to witness the deaths of Mark and Sharon in front of him.
'So… you okay?' asked Angel.
The little glaceon was awkwardly silent for a moment, before mumbling 'yes.' Angel always saw that way of answering as a no and that Glim did not want to speak, so he stayed quiet also.
It was only a twenty minute walk to get from Yuki's lodging over to Camellias General Hospital. Glim and Angel were not in too much of a rush, due to their exhaustion, but before they could approach the entrance, they spotted the sergeant, looking out to the sea. The weavile pointed the magnezone out.
'D'you wanna…?' asked Angel, nodding over at Sergeant.
'Yeah, yeah.' replied Glim.
The magnezone had a bold, troubled look in its eyes, like it was in deep thought.
'Hey.' called Angel, getting Sergeant's attention.
'Oh, hello. Can I help you?'
Angel and Glim paused, just staring at the magnezone.
'Well…' said Angel. 'Glim said earlier, that you weren't going to arrest us.'
'Correct.'
'Does that mean, you're… willingly betraying the Republic?'
Sergeant paused. 'Can I tell you something? Angel isn't it?'
'Yeah, yeah.' replied Angel, noticing the strange deep change from the magnezone.
'Well, back in the cave, I kind of broke a bit, I think.' said Sergeant, making the weavile puzzle. 'Right when I killed Mark, remember?'
'Ah yes. You sort of just stayed there in denial, can I ask what that was about?'
Sergeant paused again, looking down, meeting the pretty eyes of the sad glaceon.
'Well… I've never- that was the first time I had ever killed someone, you see. Never have I ever needed to kill or follow an order to execute someone.'
'That's why you attacked the hydreigon on the ferry, wasn't it?' asked Angel, while Sergeant looked back at the weavile, who had his caring expression. 'I heard you mention the Prime Minister or something.'
'When that crowd, including yourself, started rebelling against him, the Prime Minister himself… ordered me to destroy the ship. And kill everyone on it. How could you expect me to follow an order like that? I'm just a high ranking police officer, not a monster. Not like Nicolai. I left the Republic hours ago, deactivated by tracker and everything.'
'So, you're one of us now?'
'No, not yet. I will happily join the Crimson Revolution, offer the knowledge I have against the Prime Minister. But for now…' said Sergeant, levitating round to face the sea, in the direction of Hydrangea City. 'I have some… unfinished business to attend to.'
'Where're you going?' asked Glim.
'I'd hate to get your hopes up, little Glim.'
'Huh?'
'Do you remember, during your interrogation, Vice and I kept looking over at that window?'
In a flashback, Glim saw himself sat defencelessly behind the table. The vicious metagross called out 'confirm' to a pitch black window, which only received a hard knock.
'Yeah… I was wondering why you looked at it so much.'
'Well, what I will tell you, is that there was a rather complicated argument going on at the time and we were only given vague advice, about what to say to you.'
'O-okay.' replied Glim, confused.
'If the facts have not changed, I will return with haste. Is that okay?'
Still looking away from the glaceon and weavile was giving Angel cause for concern, like Sergeant was planning a suicide mission.
'Okay, but… don't get yourself killed.' said Angel.
'Sorry, but I cannot promise that. And by the way, Angel.' said Sergeant, levitating round to face the weavile. 'Your braixen friend needs you more than ever right now.'
'W-what, you mean Beryl? Where is he?'
The cold magnezone pointed one of its magnets toward the tremendous hospital they were previously about to visit. Without any hesitation, Angel bolted to it, while Glim looked back at Sergeant with a deep look of sorrow, recognising the saddened expression on the magnezone who remained staring at the hospital.
Already past the main reception, which had quieted down majorly since they first arrived, but there were still patients just laying on makeshift beds, while more pokémon were queuing to donate blood. Angel entered the left treatment room, remembering how big those rooms were. The noise had picked up, due to every cubical getting used and with emergency crews having arrived from around Camellias.
The journey to Belle's cubical felt so incredibly slow for the weavile for some reason, but even before the main walkway, Beryl was sat on a waiting bench, holding his head tightly. He had clearly been crying and his breathing was still breaking. His arm had multiple plasters on it, where he had equipment put into him.
'Beryl?' asked Angel.
Instantly, the braixen stood, ran over to hug the weavile, already knowing it was Angel. The fox boy however, broke into tears as soon as he embraced him.
'Beryl, Beryl!' struggled Angel, placing his claws on the braixen's shoulders and looking at him face to face. 'What's wrong? Where's Belle?'
The pretty fox pokémon slowly regained his breath, holding Angel's claws while he did.
'They… they managed to- to…' stuttered Beryl, having to breathe more and more, but also resist crying. 'They managed to save her… but she's never coming back.' he said, breaking down again, creating a thin waterfall of tears.
'What- what do you mean?'
Unable to use his words, Beryl took Angel's claw and they walked down the long path to Belle's cubical. It was the same one she was being operated on, with Beryl, when they were rescued. It was almost silent on the outside, except for one sound, a repetitive beeping sound. Already, Angel knew what to expect. He opened the curtain, to find nobody there, just a little budew, left of a heated bed for plant pokémon. She was wearing a carbon dioxide mask, allowing her to breathe and had multiple sensors stuck to her, but other than that, Belle was motionless and alone.
Angel entered first, staring at the unconscious budew, who was clearly alive, but then he looked back at Beryl, who had calmed down a little.
'The operation… was a success, but… she apparently died four times and b-because of her state when they found us, her brain was already too late to save. She's never going to wake up.' said Beryl, taking a moment to breathe. 'And they said… and they said she will only remain alive on life support… so we will have to decide when to take her off it, because she's already dead.'
Immediately, Beryl broke down again, sitting down on one of the folding chairs. Angel meanwhile knelt down, at the side of the bed, just watching the little plant pokémon.
'Are there any more options?' asked Angel. 'I mean, is there anything else they haven't tried?'
Not even looking at the weavile, Beryl just shook his head. Angel sighed in response, looking back to the sleeping budew before him. She looked fine, Belle's plant body was a bright green, there were no creases in her buds or the leaves she was wrapped in. But depression would sink in quickly, when Angel would notice the onslaught of medical equipment hooked around. Not the sensors, but the bed in particular, it was sizzling hot for the ice pokémon who was leaning against it. The bed itself was some kind of specialist soil that was so grounded, it made Belle look like she was lying in a comfortable bean bag. Even the light above them, though it felt like an olden street lamp, it was a specialised light, designed to replicate sunlight, trapping the warm air in a soft amber glow. Surveying the equipment however, was not lifting Angel's hope.
'Did she say anything?' Angel mumbled.
'Sorry?'
'Did she say anything? Like… while you two were stuck together, did she talk?'
Beryl weakly nodded. 'Before the doctor put me to sleep the first time round… she was coming to. She kept nudging me and asking for you. I-I tried my best to reassure her, telling her that you would be coming. I remember she also asked for her mum and dad… but I didn't know what to say.'
Angel shook his head, stroking the unbothered side of the budew with his claw.
'I never told her… but her parents were already dead when I found her, during Iris' Dragon Raid.' said Angel, continually stroking the baby, while Beryl stayed quiet.
The room fell silent of any words, with the braixen getting his calm, having cried all the tears he thought he had. The weavile meanwhile, just stayed staring at the budew for a little longer. His head sank, only imagining where Belle might be or what she would be thinking right there. Even imagining what could happen if she was to wake up. She would probably get all excited to see Angel and move as much as she could, despite her condition, just rustling in the soil, like she wanted to leap out of it. The thought was enough to make Angel give an eye smile, but he knew it was not going to happen.
Finally, Angel broke his silence. 'Beryl.' the braixen looked over at Angel, knowing what he was about to say, just in the way he said his name. 'We're going to have to do it.'
Beryl just stared at him, too broken to argue or agree. Instead he nodded at the machine just next to where the weavile was kneeling.
'The plug's over there.' Beryl said, so weakly, like his voice was blocked.
Angel looked at the plug. It was very big, but seeing as the only thing keeping Belle alive, it was scary just looking at it. The weavile felt an even worse dread than he did when he was up against that massive glalie before. He looked over at the sleeping budew once more.
'Belle?' he whispered, leaning closer to the budew. 'Can you hear me? It's Angel, don't worry. You will be seeing mummy and daddy soon, okay? They'll be waiting for you… and if they ask, tell them you've been a good girl. Well, you may not have been going to bed on time, but I couldn't blame you for that, not with everything going on. Just…' Angel paused, thinking of a way to say goodbye, which began to tear inside. 'Stay happy, okay?'
The weavile resumed his stroking of the little plant baby pokémon. Beryl nearby could see the strain, watching Angel's threshold getting weaker as his eyes began to twitch and voice cracked during his last statement. When Angel was done, he wrapped his claw over the plug and remained looking at the baby, whose life was literally in his claw. Just placing his claw around it froze up his will, having no strength to pull it. The weavile looked back and forth at the plug, seemingly getting angry and breathing quicker. The sight was making Beryl tear up again and make his lips tremble. Stuck, staring at the plug, Angel grunted angrily, looking down and loosening his grip for a moment.
'Is there really nothing we can't do?' Angel asked, not even looking at the braixen.
'Angel… you shouldn't tell lies, to help the child sleep.'
The weavile sighed, losing his threshold, looking back at Belle. For once, his eyes began to tear up.
'Then… could you do this with me? I don't want her to think that I was alone, when sending her off.' said Angel, while Beryl subtly nodded, slowly moving behind the weavile who was only slightly taller than him. 'This is really the hardest thing I've ever had to do.'
The braixen passed Angel by a margin to also see the budew, whose life they were ending as he placed his claw over the weavile's. Angel remained staring at little Belle, as did Beryl, just waiting for the dreaded command. He could not feel any movement or cold, placing his claw over Angel's, like the weavile was dead inside. All that changed when Angel sighed once more.
'On three… okay?' he said, so coldly.
'Okay.' stuttered Beryl, almost saying nothing.
'One… two.'
At the same time, the two boys ripped the plug from the machine. Replacing the ignored beeping with the chilling constant sound of one long beep. Knowing that had finished it, Angel just stood, as lifeless as the baby before him. Beryl let go of the plug and hugged the weavile, beginning to leak tears again.