Chapter 12
'The burns of death and love'

Slowly, a wall of ice melted, suddenly crumbling while steaming majorly. Seconds later, a little braixen cautiously peeked his head out of the narrow gap between tremendous stones and the hill of snow just next to it, which was the avalanche that had set. After a few seconds of aimless observing and listening, Beryl pulled himself back inside the gap, to see the tense little glaceon behind him, just staring up at the elegant fox boy with his enormous, beautiful, but terrified eyes.

'I-I don't see anyone Glim.' Beryl uttered. 'I don't even know what part of Dwy we're at, or even if our friends are okay.'

'Not- not even any unown?'

'Unown? Is that what this "Martyr" is?'

'No, no- well… I-I don't know exactly what it is. But here, he's- he's- it's in human form.'

The braixen turned and kneeled down to the quivering glaceon. He felt conflicted, wanting to argue that the humans were extinct, yet could not build the strength to disagree, seeing those big, distraught eyes before him.

'Glim, calm down…' he said, stroking the glaceon's face, seeing the ice needles erecting on Glim's back. 'The coast seems clear, which we need to get to anyway, remember?'

Not that he forgotten about the mission at paw, however, Glim was shaken out from the avalanches, what he saw on top of the cliffs, which was when he was attacked by the human remnant of Martyr. The glaceon's long diamond-shaped ears perked up when Beryl comforted him, reminding him about what they needed to do, but looking out of the cave was making his paws vibrate in shock. He really did not want to leave.

The elegant fox boy stood. 'Okay, I'll go first and if it's safe, I'll call you.' he said, already turning to leave the cave. Glim tried to stop him, but was ignored, letting Beryl skip hurriedly out into the open snowfield.

Outside, the mist had picked up, creating thick fog, so Beryl began glancing back to keep an eye on the gap he left from and to see what became of the avalanche. From where he was, the braixen could still see the top of Dwy, even in the fog, which seemed thicker along the coast. Beryl was worried, though he could not see any of what Glim had told him about Martyr, he was not seeing his friends either. Not wanting to yell out for his friends, Beryl ran back to the cave, to see the cowering glaceon had not budged.

'There's nothing, Glim. But, not even our friends either, we have to find them now!' without waiting, Beryl leapt out of the cave and began trailing along the slope. Glim meanwhile finally gathered the courage to stand and follow the braixen, afraid to be alone.

It was eerily quiet outside, despite the deafening volume of the avalanches that occurred. Not even the sea was moving enough to make its splashes. All the little glaceon could hear in fact were the paw steps of Beryl, sinking into the snow as he ran without him. The braixen followed the sloping hill until it was level enough, which he then jumped onto, sinking to his knees in the much softer snow. Instead of squeaking about how cold he became, Beryl looked out for anybody else, but saw nobody. Nothing but the mushy slope of snow, stretching to the coast, masked by fog. Perhaps their friends were already on coast, just further along, where the fog was hiding them, Beryl thought.

The braixen struggled his way through the thick snow before leaping out and only running five steps before hearing a voice echoing to his right.

'Beryl!' called Mercury, emerging round a tall rock, only appearing to the braixen as a dark figure in the fog.

The fox boy waved, replying to the lucario who did not appear to be alone, someone much smaller was just behind him. Beryl looked back to see if Glim had caught up, who had already made his way around the slope, standing metres behind the braixen, looking around frantically. Feeling safe, Beryl looked back to Mercury who continued running over, tailed by Austin the graveler, who kept grunting in annoyance about the cold. The braixen ran over to regroup, keen to ask if they had seen anyone else.

Getting left behind again, Glim noticed the three uniting on the open space. He was about to run over to unite as well, when he felt something, a faint tremor beneath his paws. The sensation felt so odd, he paused, and stared in shock at the direction he felt the rumble, which was heading over to his friends. The glaceon looked down, at his paws, which was only in front of the level slope made by the avalanche. He brushed the snow in front of him, realising something horrifying, he and his friends were standing on thin ice and something was underneath it.

The glaceon glanced up at his friends and screamed 'guys run!'

Beryl, Mercury and Austin looked at Glim with only curiosity on their faces, as they seemed to mishear him, when suddenly, the ice all around them appeared to erupt. As the three friends became hidden in rising snow and water, a great beast rose into the air, roaring like it had multiple voices, before crashing back into the water. The shocked glaceon caught a glimpse of Austin who was dragged into the water, while he was struggling to escape.

'No!' screamed Glim, running blindly toward the hole in the ice, unable to see any of his friends when all the snow and water fell.

'We pleaded.' whispered several voices, coming from the fog.

Catching the glaceon's attention were three green lights, emerging from the mist that had become much thicker. Glim already knew Martyr were present, but seeing the unown draw closer to him in that way sent more chills down his spine. Feeling as though he became targeted, Glim ran faster, passing the hole as he ran. As before he felt a faint rumble, when suddenly the ice just behind him blew upward, catapulting the little glaceon forward and making him helplessly slide across the ice. Glim quickly found his footing when he slowed enough and was unlucky enough to be seeing what was coming out of the ice water.

Struggling to climb its enormous body out the water, the Martyr manifestation clearly resembled a walrein and a granbull, as if their heads were merged, having the wide jaw and eyes of the granbull, while the head was the same fin-mask as a walrein. As part of that fusion, it had the granbull's bulky arms, still with its punk braces and collar, yet its body was very obese, giving it trouble leaving the water.

It seemed the fusion of that Martyr remnant was not just a walrein and granbull, Glim noticed what looked like a lone cannon behind its head and it was not until Martyr finally pulled itself onto the ice, was it detectably a kingdra also. Its misshaped mermaid tail with the seahorse fins, and the chunky, scaly back were the adaptations of the kingdra, which was fused facing backwards. The kingdra's head still had its eyes, just visible over the dominant walrein head, making it look like some cannon backpack. The whole manifestation was clearly chosen to be formidable yet durable in icy conditions.

'We wailed.' the voices continued. 'We died. We are Martyr. Revenge be ours!'

The giant sea lion hybrid roared, showing off it enormous teeth as it poorly leaped forward, giving itself enough momentum to slide toward Glim, who was quick to glow in light and fire his beam of rainbows, he knew that would fight Martyr. Upon contact, as with the previous remnants, Martyr wailed loudly, jittering and rapidly changing colours, while the nearby unown would also shake violently. However, the Signal Beam was not stopping the beast where it was, which proceeded to helplessly crash into Glim, who tried to leap away, ending up getting dragged along the ice, under the fat tail of the creature.

Martyr's sliding stopped rather quickly, leaving the little glaceon to struggle out of the intense weight. Desperate to escape, Glim suddenly slipped out when the sea lion lifted itself, making him fall on his front. When he quickly found his footing, he could see the towering beast raising its left arm, about to hammer him. Feeling the same reaction from the human form of Martyr earlier, the glaceon tensed, his crown shone instantly creating a spherical Barrier, shielding him just on time. Though he was majorly protected, Glim was struck through the very ice he stood on, sending him metres into the pitch black water.

Even for an ice pokémon, the water felt too cold for Glim, which was only uncomfortable for general ice types. Worse still, knowing that Mercury, Austin and Beryl were forced down there, he could not imagine how it felt.

Knowing that Martyr would be waiting on the ice, the glaceon figured to use Signal Beam again, before he would swim desperately for the breath he missed. Suddenly, a giant hand swiftly reached down from the hole and tightly grabbed Glim where he was. Immediately, he knew that Martyr was going to hold him there to drown. In a desperate retaliation, Glim burst out what was left of his breath, firing his beam of light at the arm, which forced the monster to let go as it tried to hold the glaceon still. Glim became desperate for air, swimming closer to the hole, but his efforts seemed in vain, when Martyr raised its arm, accidentally hitting the little glaceon out of the water, breaking more of the ice.

Hurling back onto the plain of ice, Glim slid away, breathing deeply, only hoping that his Snow Cloak would activate. Luckily for the glaceon, it seemed Martyr was occupied with something else. Out of nowhere, a bluish explosion flamed on the sea lion's head, making it flinch slightly, as a blue and black jackal-like pokémon fell from the air, landing meters away from Glim. Upon landing, the lucario spots the glaceon's faint aura.

'Glim!' shouted Mercury, turning to face Martyr, as it clumsily tried to find the lucario.

'Mercury!'

'What the hell is this thing!'

'Long story!'

Hearing their voices, the Martyr remnant knew it was facing the wrong way and instead laid down, which began to activate the kingdra. The fused seahorse inhaled deeply, making a horrific hissing noise, before shooting a laser of concentrated water into the sky. High in the air, the water arced, forming thousands of drops that froze out of sheer cold, turning into giant icicles and began to rain down like comets. Mercury could see its strategy and bolted to the cowering glaceon, swiftly picking him up as he was running. Immediately afterward, the icicles rapidly crashed into the ice like rocks, puffing up snow and mist on each impact that surrounded Martyr. Despite the thickness of the blinding mist, Mercury utilised his aura capabilities to see the presences of the ice that became pillars, erecting from the frozen water. Even when the icicles continued to rain down, the lucario elegantly sidestepped at the right moments, making every fatal ice strike a near miss, while he continued to circle round the front of the monster.

Martyr knew it would be too slow to hit the lucario, but attempted to counter his manoeuvre by using Dragon Tail, forcing the beat to make a mighty 360 spin, unleashing its sheer mass and weight. Only just spotting the dynamic movement of the walrein hybrid in the corner of his eye, Mercury was quick enough to leap up and high enough over the tail. The tremendous jump took both Mercury and the carried glaceon out of the flurry of ice, sending them crashing across the ice, sliding toward to the first hole Martyr had risen from.

'Shit, shit!' cried Mercury, trying to stop himself by grinding his right paw spike into the ice. Finally they came to a complete stop, right next to the hole. 'Whoa.'

Mercury noticed Beryl on the other side of the hole, struggling to pull himself out, desperately clamouring and wheezing like a dying rat. He looked a mess, all his fur completely matted, his ear fur just draped over his back and his face. Like fire type pokémon, his body was steaming viciously as a result of trying to heat up his body from the insanely cold water Beryl was taken in to. The braixen's change from charmingly beautiful, to looking like a struggling zombie, crawling away like he had no legs was horrific, and the lucario nearby only saw two seconds of it.

'Glim!' said Mercury, rolling away from the hole and adjusting his hold on the glaceon, so he was holding him with both paws. Almost face to face, they shared eye contact. The glaceon seemed frightened, yet serious, while Mercury took a glance to his left, to see where Martyr was from the distance, before looking over to the braixen. 'Beryl needs your help, go!'

Without warning or preparation, the lucario flung Glim over the hole as hard as he could. A little too hard though, sending the glaceon spinning out of control and crashing metres ahead of the half dead fox boy. Glim got himself back on his feet, shaking off the snow around him before running to the braixen who looked too disorientated to even recognise the glaceon. He dug his crown under the braixen's arm and lifted him up enough for Beryl to hold onto the little glaceon with one arm, but that was enough to show just how desperate the braixen's body was fighting for its warmth. Glim yelped, feeling his neck and back getting scalded by Beryl's sheer body heat, causing him to run as fast as he could.

Eager to help Glim and Beryl escape, Mercury swiftly kicked his way back onto his feet, by which time, the walrein hybrid was already charging toward him, though it seemed to be after what was behind him. Knowing that ice was vulnerable to fighting, the lucario focused the same blue flames in his paws and fired another Aura Sphere to the massive jaw of the Martyr remnant. On contact, it barely flinched and only gave a slight growl in pain, which also meant it was not stopping either.

The toughness of the monster forced the lucario to have some disbelief, as he had to dive to his left to dodge the charging monster. When Mercury succeeded in his manoeuvre, he continued to fire more Aura Sphere attacks at it. Again, his attacks were seemingly ignored and judging by the screams of Glim in the distance, the glaceon was not going to be running for long. In an attempt to slow down Martyr, Mercury leaped up, glowing silver and beamed his Flash Cannon attack into the thin ice in the path of the hybrid. The attack instantly cut a jagged line in front of the charging beast, causing it to fall into the water, crashing against the ice that had not broken away as quickly. Martyr sunk in to the water, while Mercury landed safely on the much bigger half of the frozen water that remained.

Further ahead, the glaceon was still screaming, running over the slope that he and Beryl had crossed previously, until both he and his burning hot braixen friend fell forward. Glim was shamefully relieved to have Beryl off him, allowing his back and neck to cool down and was uncaring about their tumble. The steaming hot braixen slid a little further than the burned glaceon, who became a little fidgety with the burn constantly stinging his back.

Suddenly, much further away from the two boys, Mercury began hearing violent, overlapping hissing and screams of rage as unown were appearing to glare at him from a distance. He had not noticed the unown, however, just by looking at their very existence, he could tell something was horribly wrong with them. Their auras were extremely fidgety and surprisingly big and a wavering in multiple colours, mostly red. Mercury only seemed curious and confused to what he was looking at, all unown had the exact same aura, like they were connected somehow. Whatever they were doing there, it was clear they were surprisingly powerful, yet overworked and outright bloodthirsty. He did not know what he should do, the unown seemed like they were trying to intimidate the lucario, but Mercury could not see what their intentions were or even if they were part of Martyr, not with the colossal mental mess that was visible through their auras.

Staring intently at the unown, whilst looking out for the Martyr remnant that had fallen into the water, Mercury felt a sudden gust of wind behind him, sensing that something had just materialised. He glanced round, only seeing the face of a dead human, who was already swinging a shining object against his head.

Glim was glancing round, looking out for the walrein hybrid when he heard a loud, sharp thud far in front of him. Before he got a good look at what the noise was, he caught a glimpse of some spherical object bouncing metres to his left at a great speed. The glaceon glanced left to see what it was, but it had already fallen into the sea, not far to Glim's left. Unsure of what it was, he glanced forward again, seeing two figures on the remaining half of the frozen water that appeared stable. The two human shaped figures had unown surrounding them, which then separated, floating away, as one of the figures simply fell on its right. There was no mistaking what the other was, Glim recognised the dark green outfit and the same shining object in its hand from before. The glaceon's eyes went small as he struggled to get back on his feet to either escape or aid Beryl.

Upon trying to approach the shivering braixen, who was trying to crawl away, Glim and Beryl was suddenly thrown up into the air by something crashing beneath the ice they were laying on. They were fortunate enough to not be hit into the water which was not far from them and instead further north, passed the cave they had left, but due to their previous situations, they were left helpless to crash onto the ice and slide out their momentum. Beryl used his momentum to roll further away, anything to get away, back into a cave or to warm himself up.

The glaceon meanwhile felt a pulse of injustice, making him look up with fire in his eyes. He happened to be facing the beaten, dizzied Martyr remnant, emerging from the water once more and hissing angrily at Glim. Before the giant hybrid could even begin to approach, the glaceon furiously roared his Signal Beam at the easy target, making it severely disorientate, scream and change colour for as long as Glim could. But then, while he held the beast with his beam of rainbows, he noticed a wellington boot stomp near the right of his face. Unable to move without letting the walrein hybrid go, the glaceon could only tilt his head and look up as much as he could, to see the tall human figure, with fury in its eyes as it raised its blinding weapon into the air. Glim knew what was coming next, the same that just happened to Mercury, but overwhelmed by both rage and terror, he only braced himself, tightly closing his eyes, refusing to stop Martyr. However, Glim's luck had struck back, when a wall fire blazed like a giant laser right next to the frail glaceon, seemingly ridding of the Martyr that stood next to him. The flame was so hot just standing next to, Glim called off his attack and poorly dived away from the blaze. It was then he realised how exhausted he was and light-headed his last attack made him, having no energy to move at all. The glaceon just laid on his left, seeing the Martyr hybrid still jittering from taking the Signal Beam, and nearby, the beam of fire was dying down, revealing something resisting on the end of it. It was the human, with its arm raised and burnt black, appearing to be enduring the ferocious flame within its hand. When the blaze finally died down, Martyr remained standing, but appeared to have lost its weapon. Instead, it retaliated by creating blue flames of its own, which Glim recognised to be Aura Sphere. Martyr swung its arm forward, firing the intensely shining blue ball toward where the flames were coming from.

'No!' screamed Angel, joining the fight, who Glim could not see, but recognise his voice.

A short explosion flashed, followed by the sounds of a manly scream and rocks being smashed from what Glim could hear. The only thing he saw then, was the human representative raise its arm at the worn out glaceon, suddenly lifting him in Telekinesis, making Glim squeak in surprise. He was then rapidly pulled through the air toward Martyr's hand, preparing to chokehold him. However, just before the human succeeded, it was blown back by a stream of darkness, falling near the damaged remnant and leaving frail Glim to fall where it was just standing.

'Get away from him.' angrily growled a low voice, familiar to the glaceon as he saw a big black front leg step in front of him, as if shielding him.

Martyr in the distance easily rolled back onto its feet, next to the mobilising walrein hybrid, still appearing to fight on. Until, a horn sounded in the thick fog, far behind the human. It was the sound of Captain Ariel passing by, ready to take the next batch of rebels. Taking one look back, Martyr quickly vanished, leaving its tremendous beast to charge forward, which it was then met by two beams of fire, one just above Glim. Joining the simultaneous attacks, multiple shining leafs zipped into it. All the attacks were not slowing down its rampage, but it and the kingdra half of it slowly hissed to roaring in pain. Just when it looked like it was finally about to fall, it took a critical left turn, flying toward Glim, whose conscious was barely holding. Suddenly, a certain weavile flew into the face of the beast, tackling with his giant darkened claw as hard as he could, countering the fierce momentum it built up. With the help of the strengthened flamethrowers, the beast finally came to a stop, only metres away from the defenceless glaceon and his saviour.

The Martyr remnant began turning black and shrinking as the previous forms had. The others had called off their attacks, but Angel, Beryl and Terri who were audibly present were freaking out at what they were seeing.

'Calm down!' shouted Karli, confirming her presence for the glaceon. 'I've seen this before! It's just gonna- um.'

Before Karli could even finish, Martyr had already shrunk to point of revealing three little pokémon once again. That time, the pokémon were a snubble, a spheal and horsea, which were all jittering and crying, but not in pain. As before, the three undead pokémon were held up by the nearby unown.

'What the hell?' blurted Angel, taking steps back, moving out from what Glim could see of the situation.

'One of them, killed us.' whispered three voices, resisting to cry. 'All of us.'

The little pokémon and unown then disappeared, the same method as the human, but so did Glim's conscious, as his sight just turned black while still being able to hear.

'What the hell was that!' continued Angel, not really asking anybody.

'Its- it's a- it's a long story!' interrupted Karli. 'We've gotta get to that-'

'The extraction!' called Angel, quickly running off.

'Wait up! You two okay?'

'Where's Austin?' cried Terri.

'We'll find him, but right now, we need to get to that shoreline.' Karli moved in the opposite direction of Angel, from what Glim could hear of her footsteps. Terri meanwhile stomped after the weavile. 'Beryl, you alright sweet?'

'I-I…' he puffed, breathing deeply. 'I can't move.'

'Hold on.'

While the kirlia was aiding the injured braixen, Glim in his void could feel something warm, nuzzling him.

'Don't worry Glim, I'm here. I finally found you.' whispered a familiar voice, who then licked behind Glim's ear. The tongue was uncomfortably hot, yet oddly pleasurable. Only one boy had ever spoke and touched the glaceon in that way.

'Shadow?' he mumbled, before passing out.

There were frequent jolts of awakening from the glaceon, while his friends were unaware of his peeking eyes and eavesdropping. He realised he was carried on the back of the very houndoom who fell in love with him and there was a desperate struggle getting onto the boat. Glim was not conscious for long.

'What the hell was that thing?' demanded Ariel, whose voice was stern, unsettling and serious.

'We'll explain later,' replied Angel. 'We have injured and we need to go, now!'

'Then get on board! What're you waitin' for?'

'Karli, move!'

'Then fucking help me!' argued Karli.

By the sounds of it, the kirlia and weavile were forcing something into the boat, who Glim assumed to be Beryl. When the glaceon's sight came for a moment, he could see the boat was merely a small, wooden supplies vessel with a weather proofed sheet tied over it. At the front, was the spoken lapras, Captain Ariel. The way she was leaning over and looking back, Glim could see that she was enormous and brutally scarred, all across her face. When the houndoom began to move into the cargo as well, the glaceon slipped out of consciousness again.

'Camellias is such a beautiful place, is it not?' asked another familiar voice. 'As beautiful as she is.'

'It's you again.' replied Glim, that time unsettled, unknowing of the mysterious female who he was talking to. 'Who are you?'

'Curious, are you not, Glim?'

'I don't know who you are, but you know me and what I'm doing. How do I know you're not part of Martyr?'

'That is a good question, but even though I can assure you that the question is quite the contrary. That is up to you to believe, for I have no proof right now.' she paused, and Glim had nothing to argue with. 'You must believe this though, something you need to know now and inform your friends as soon as you remember.'

'What is it?'

'When you dock on Verity's northern shoreline, you must cross the country region to avoid Larkspur Town, at all costs.'

'Larkspur Town? Why?'

'It is not in the headlines yet, but that place, being the most religious sect in Crio, has become a cult. You would have to be there, to understand just how bad it is over there. They may not have received any Dragon Raids, but they are faithful to the Republic and the town has pretty much turned into a slaughterhouse. In short, regardless of age, gender or faith, people who go in are extremely lucky to get out alive. Do you understand me Glim?'

'Yes, I do, but how will I convince my friends of this if I didn't know?'

'Tell them you heard rumours, or that Yuki gave you a final warning as you left.'

'Okay. Wait, how do you know Yuki?'

'That does not matter, Glim. It is best-'

'Actually, better question, that houndoom who saved me. Was that Shadow?'

'It was.'

'Then why didn't you tell me he was alive! I wanted to die at Hydrangea's prison.'

'Because if I did, you would not have ended up at Camellias, abandoning your friends and ending up in a far worse predicament.'

Glim paused. 'But… how do you know that?'

'That… is a question only you must answer.'

The two fell silent, which the glaceon then knew their conversation had ended.

The big pretty eyes of the little glaceon fluttered open, heavily disorientated after passing out and waking up on a constantly moving vessel. His vision was blurry, only looking up at the grey cover. Glim's hearing was returning, unveiling just how noisy it was where he laid. Just to his right, laid Beryl, still breathing in pain, holding himself tightly in multiple blankets and to his left were the remaining survivors, all in an argument, trying to understand what Martyr was. Karli seemed completely serious about what she had seen and kept telling when Glim wakes up, he would confirm the rest. By the sounds of what Glim was hearing above him, it sounded like it was raining too, unable to zone out the thousands of tap noises hitting the cargo cover.

Just by looking at the frail braixen, Glim realised both he and Beryl were resting in the emergency spaces, for those who needed medical attention. But his fur began to erect out of excitement and relief when he looked to his left, to see the very houndoom he had missed, just sitting right next to him, like he had watched him and waited for him to wake up. At that moment, Shadow appeared part of the argument between Karli, Angel and Terri. It was not until the weak glaceon budged as close as he could and touch the dark hound with his freezing little paw, did Glim or his houndoom get their reunion. Shadow glanced at him, gasping as he did, joining eye contact for the first time since they reunited.

'Glim!' cried Shadow excitedly, whipping his demon tail and partly climbing onto the bed to nuzzle the little glaceon.

Hearing the name, the argument silenced. Even Beryl put in the effort to roll to his left and see Glim awaken. The little glaceon looked so exhausted, yet intoxicated by the very sight of the houndoom before him. He wanted to cry, wanted to grasp the hound tightly, which he had no energy for. The last time he saw Shadow, flashing in his mind, was being chained on a freezing wall, well above an elongated meat grinder, hiding in darkness far below him.

'Shadow?' he croaked, already knowing it was him, but his daze made him demand confirmation.

The houndoom nodded happily. 'It's me, Glim… I'm here.'

'I thought you were dead.'

'We thought the same for you, when Lilac got raided.'

'How did you survive?'

'After the Dragon Raid, most of Symphonia caved in, but two girls came to free us. But… because of how messed up we were on those walls… the Republic cronies easily arrested us.'

Glim gasped. 'So they didn't kill any of you?'

'No, not even Jane who tried to fight back. We ended up at Hydrangea's Royal Talon.' hearing that revelation, made Glim clench his teeth. He realised that not only was Vice Vora the metagross lying to him, but his friends must have been in the same prison, the whole time he was there. 'When they took us there, I picked up your scent. That smell I could not forget. I knew you were still alive, but we were held there until a few days ago, when that magnezone overridden the prison and released us.'

The glaceon's ears sprang up. 'You mean Sergeant?'

'That's what he said his name was.'

'What happened to it? How'd you escape?'

'Wasn't difficult, but since we were chained, he and a few other rebel guards came and released us. Before we knew it, the prison became both an exodus and a warzone. Damn, we had to get out of there, the magnezone warned of another Dragon Raid coming, and then he got into a fight with that asshole metagross.'

'Vice.' said Glim, angrily.

'He was willingly sacrificing himself, to let us escape, but Jane went back to "return a favour" she said. But really she wanted to pummel that metagross for what he did to her.'

'What did it do to her?'

'Well, after you guys escaped, their mercenaries who came late, were demanding information about this female alakazam who broke you guys out.'

Having been released of the houndoom's warm grip, the glaceon shared eye contact with Angel and Karli for a moment, all sharing the same unsure expression. None of them knew who the alakazam was, making Glim answer back by shaking his head.

'We didn't know who she was either.'

'Yeah,' interjected Angel, Shadow looked back at him. 'She came outta nowhere, persuading me to bail out "chicks".'

'They also mentioned a sneasel.' continued Shadow, assuming the weavile to have evolved since that event. 'Was that you?'

Angel winked. 'It was, been keepin-'

'So then, they were super pissed about their guards getting wrecked like that and thought we knew who she was… the- the alakazam.' nodded Shadow. 'Jane started talking shit to 'em, predictably. And then that messed up metagross sunk his fist into Jane's head, almost killing her. Damn, when we got released, Meg and I had to run over to the medical centre to find Jane.' Glim recognised the name 'Meg', but had forgotten it was the bayleef he befriended in Symphonia. 'Turned out, she was alive and kicking, literally, and that she only lost an eye.'

The more he was hearing, the happier the glaceon was feeling, even though he was not showing it, to hear of his friends being alive. When Shadow finished, he budged more and more, trying to get off the steady cushioned bed. The houndoom finally stepped off, letting the glaceon try and climb down.

'Yeah, come over and sit with us Glim.' the little glaceon crept off the bed, struggling to keep his balance on the peaceful, silent waves. 'You okay Beryl?'

It took at least ten seconds for the braixen to with respond with 'I still… f-feel freezing.' he said, breathing deeply.

At the front of the boat, behind the tough wood between them, the captain replied with 'just keep warm and let the meds kick in, Bell sweetie. Shadow, you wanna warm him up?'

The captain's advice brought a shock to the houndoom's eyes, as he glanced to his little boyfriend a little concerned, but Glim did not seem affected by the suggestion. In fact, to him, Angel and Karli, it seemed like a good idea, since houndoom were fire types.

'Yeah,' interjected Karli. 'Beryl is suffering and needs to be warmed up!'

The weavile meanwhile, understood Shadow's hesitation, seeing as his priorities was with Glim, and it was commonly thought as a sexual act when guys hold each other. The glaceon however seemed immune to the masculine side of the conversation and just remained confused, misunderstanding the question in the houndoom's eyes.

Angel decided to answer on Shadow's behalf. 'Y-you're okay with that, right Glim?'

Still misunderstanding, Glim replied 'Uh- y-yeah, why're you asking me?'

'Okay, okay, Beryl!' called Angel and Shadow, both stuttering awkwardly.

'Yes?' the braixen weakly replied.

'Sit over with me, and I'll keep you warm, okay?'

It was not until, Beryl struggled his way onto the bench and leaning against the very warm houndoom like a couple, did Glim understand what all the awkward hesitation was about. However, he knew Shadow was deeply infatuated with him and that Beryl was suffering from the cold.

Altogether, the crew paused, just waiting for someone to answer. Angel was a little flustered about speaking on behalf of Shadow. The kirlia next to the weavile was waiting for Glim or Shadow to say something. The lonely cranidos seemed sorrowful, staring at the braixen. The glaceon remained staring at Shadow, keen to know more about Jane and Ben, curious as to why they were not with him. While the timid little braixen was getting himself comfortable on the houndoom, Shadow was plagued by worry, feeling like he was cheating his boyfriend, right next to him and desperate for someone to start the next conversation.

Answering Shadow's prayer was Karli. 'So… Glim. As you can see… some of us aren't here.' Karli said, as sensitively as she could. Terri nearby still stared at Beryl, seeming a little sadder, even Beryl sighed.

Glim looked around, only noticing that Austin and Mercury were not around, but then he remembered what happened and realised that the kirlia was subtly asking him about the lucario. Mercury was not actually going to join them, rather than to help them find the extraction point, but after the avalanches and Martyr's attack, everybody lost track of time, place and objectives.

'He… wasn't with you guys when we loaded up.' said Angel. 'Did he go back?'

'He was killed, by Martyr.' mumbled Glim. 'He was trying to help me and Beryl escape… but when I looked back, I saw them and Mercury fell down after getting his head cut off.' Angel sighed, Karli gasped quietly. 'I think I even saw his head roll by, before I saw them… it was really fast though.'

Shadow clenched his teeth, wrapping his demon-like tail over the glaceon to comfort him. However, the houndoom only ended up badly stinging Glim, rubbing against a long burn mark, making him jump up, squeaking in pain.

'Oh god, sorry!' cried Shadow. 'I'm so sorry Glim.'

In the middle of the group circle, the little glaceon spun round, trying to see his back.

'Yeah Glim,' interjected Karli. 'You have some nasty burns on your back. What happened there?'

Glim was just able to see one massive gash on the lower half of his back, mostly going over the top of the big navy diamond pattern of his coat. The one behind his neck, going past his shoulders was at an even worse condition. His wondering of how he got these burn scars did not last long, as he glanced at the vulnerable braixen who was still steaming and remembered the brutally hot contact he had, when they tried to escape Martyr.

'Oh yeah. That- that doesn't matter, what happened to Jane, and Ben?' asked Glim, approaching Shadow. 'Where are they?'

The houndoom paused. 'Well…'

It was only two days ago, on Monday, when the magnezone sergeant named Sergeant, rejected its loyalty with the Republic it had served for over eight years. Carried on throughout the night and Tuesday morning to infiltrate Hydrangea's Royal Talon prison, which was not particularly difficult for it. Sergeant found that it was not a most wanted fugitive until hours after the operation at the death camp. It seemed that Vice Vora, the brutal metagross who was in recovery knew about Sergeant's betrayal, even before the prime minister did.

Shadow resumed his story starting when he and Meg reunited with Ben outside the prison, while the riots were happening behind them. The prison, blaring its alarms had fallen into a warzone both within the death camp and on the outside, where rebelling citizens were charging in to either save the refugees or to destroy the outside while the Royal Talon was severely occupied. Having left the courtyards, which were ablaze with brawls and bloodshed, the houndoom and bayleef had to struggle their way out of a large hole broken through the main prison wall, amongst fleeing inmates. The scene looked like something seen in a war movie.

Knowing that Ben would have had to leave through the main entrance for getting a head start, Shadow knew he was going to head north and take cover in the nearest street alleyways to the prison. It did not take even a minute for the houndoom and bayleef to disappear into an alleyway, as there were so many of them, but they did have to run blindly for a minute to find Ben, despite being a big pokémon mutated from rubbish. He was not alone, Ben was accompanied with Clara the bellossom, a little fennekin who was scared out of her mind, a bergmite and a yanma. The giant pokémon made of rubbish appeared to be shielding the children, while Clara was comforting the bawling fennekin.

'Ben!' called Shadow, charging down the same alley.

'Shadow!' he responded. 'Sorry I took so long my friend.'

Shadow slid to a stop, seeming surprised, taking one glance at the three children who were present. 'Wait, for what?'

Meg had caught up and continued, running passed the houndoom. 'Clara!' she cried, proceeding to hug the bellossom, who was forced to make it a group hug as she was still caring for Cecily the fennekin.

'I took a little longer gett'in out of there.' continued Ben, looking at the children. 'I had to help these kids, we couldn't just leave'em.' though scared, Jenny the bergmite and Myer the yanma looked up at the garbodor like some hero. Given the situation at hand, Shadow could only respect him, as they were on the outskirts of a warzone. That however was not Ben's current point of notice as he looked at both Shadow and Meg nervously. 'Where's Jane?'

All in one second, Shadow's ears twitched, and pupils shortened as he glanced round and realised that their infernape friend had not followed them. 'Oh crap, Jane!' without any hesitation or thought, he bolted away, leaving his friends to only watch.

By the time the houndoom had leaped out of the alleyways, having to climb up one of the smaller block of flats to avoid the crowds, the wide street, between the residential block and the fearsome Crio prison was a complete swarm of brawls. From land to air, citizens sided with revolutionaries to fight the Republic and prison guards, which was everywhere. The brutal scene was packed with pokémon of all types, making just one fire and fighting pokémon difficult to spot. Trying to pick up Jane's scent was even harder, due to the warzone being an array of dreadful stenches. However, it seemed that Shadow did not need to smell to find her. Just being on the roof, he could see another fierce brawl taking place on the rooftop of the prison reception building, just opposite him.

On the very elongated building rooftop, neighbouring the enormous building for C-rated to D-rated criminal cells, the roof and its features was barely stable, enduring frequent tremors from a certain infernape and a metagross. Sergeant was also present, but it appeared badly hurt, slammed against the floor and the wall it was trying to free itself from. Jane and Vice Vora were not in much better conditions. The infernape had been given an eye patch for her right eye and judging by her situation, she was brutally torturing her fists and feet, all of which were on fire and covered in scratches. The enraged metagross meanwhile had changed colour, having turned a much darker navy and with dents all over it.

As soon as Shadow noticed the brawl, the infernape was already in the air, using the giant floating machine as a makeshift lift, who was desperately trying to fist her. Vice Vora hissed in rage, taking a hard swing, but Jane only blocked the punch away, using it to boost herself even higher and with the metagross overdoing its attack, the infernape took the opportunity to flip forward and use her gravity to strike a devastating backward-kick. As the kick emitted an echoing boom, the giant machine lost its levitation, hurtling down to the roof like a comet. Its impact caused the roof to break severely, chucking up chunks of fragments into the crater, where Vice Vora had crashed. Jane meanwhile had to hit the ground with her arms and feet, for being so high, which she landed flawlessly. Both the infernape and metagross leaped out of their landings heading toward one another. Jane appeared to erupt in flames, charging to the fierce machine, but was countered by Vice Vora when it zoomed forward with a lightning fast Bullet Punch. She was hit out of her momentum, but surprisingly, the attack did not hurt her too bad, so when she cleanly landed, wiping the blood from her upper lip, she was prepared for the zooming metagross that still approached. Right when Vice Vora unleashed its next fist attack, Jane grabbed the oncoming iron leg and used its momentum against it, swinging the enormous machine round and round until she leaped up and swung the metagross downward. Vice Vora smashed through the toughened roof, disappearing below, roaring as it did, while Jane almost fell down with it, grabbing onto the edge of the huge hole. Before she could finish pulling herself up, her beaten fist was met by a paw, hastily pulling her up.

'Jane!' said Shadow, badly hiding his amazement. 'You alright-'

Sergeant called out 'we need to get out of here, now!'

'What, why?' Shadow asked, glancing round to see the magnezone was barely floating, Jane just next to him meanwhile, easily stood back up, in spite of her own damage.

Sergeant slowly spun round, raising its only working magnet, pointing at the sky, where miles away, thousands of pokémon of different types where blackening the horizon. Another Dragon Raid was coming, confirmed by the sirens that began to blare for the sea bound city.

'Ah shit.' sulked Jane.

'We have approximately eleven seconds before we're up there with them!' answered Sergeant.

'Can you move?' demanded the infernape, while Shadow leaped hurriedly, only to stop and look back at Jane grabbing the magnezone.

'Not fast enough, just leave me.'

Jane then grabbed the big mechanical pokémon with both hands. 'Not happening.' she then spun round, swinging Sergeant as she did to Vice Vora and threw it into the air, giving it the momentum it needed to levitate over the main wall.

While Sergeant struggled to fly from the battlefield it disappeared into, Jane and Shadow followed suit, bolting off the main building rooftop and out of the main entrance, being far safer than going over the fiercely barb-wired wall. Though Jane was expecting to face an all-out war as soon as she left the gates, the street had suddenly turned into an exodus where the surviving pokémon stormed away, panicking over the Dragon Raid that was imminent. As anticipated, the bug pokémon of the Dragon Raid flew over first, directing where the raid is to strike, whilst detecting any possible VIPs or valuable targets. Only a second later, the prison began to blow up from right to left behind the infernape and houndoom as they ran. The explosions got louder, meaning that the street was getting bombed too as Jane and Shadow were being chased by clouds of fire, forcing them into the alleyway they were running to. The ferocity and loudness of the explosions put a fearful face on Shadow.

The alleyway was not complete cover, as rocks and bricks were falling from above, meaning that the houses were getting bombed too. Regardless, the pokémon that seemed to bottleneck the alleys were still shoving through violently. Some were taking cover, hoping not to be hit by any of the Draco Meteors or avalanche of bricks, some however already were and were just left lying faced down. Jane and Shadow continued to storm north, tailing the crowds of pokémon desperate to escape, when suddenly a massive beedrill zoomed passed the crowd, followed by a salamence, who slowed and looked upward as soon as he passed the crowd. The infernape just behind Shadow could see the giant blue dragon ahead of them had his eyes glowing and knew what was about to happen. She snatched the houndoom, tightly pulling him back as they both fell down for stopping too fast. Immediately afterwards, the alleyway in front of them seemed to explode, blowing them back as if Whirlwind was used, while the buildings that they were between came down like fatal rock slides.

Shadow looked up, horrified to see the massive pile of blood and rubble in the distance, where it was screaming with pokémon, to suddenly being quiet enough to only hear the sirens. 'Oh my god!' he shouted.

Jane meanwhile remained more alert, noticing that the buildings they were currently between had been affected too and began to crumble violently. She swiftly got back up and pulled the houndoom up like some kid. 'We have to go, now!' she said, turning round and taking a right turn down a quieter alley that was already demolished from the raid.

It seemed the Dragon Raid had finished its attack over where Shadow and Jane were running, making the infernape want to get out onto the streets to find her friends, passing another alleyway heading north as she ran. The houndoom meanwhile stopped, peering down that alley and called out for Jane to stop, who looked back to see Shadow run down the alley she passed. Down there appeared to be a family of pokémon taking shelter over something covered in rubble. Jane did not recognise it as quickly as Shadow could, but she realised the junky shelter was actually Ben, shaking off the rubble as the houndoom approached.

'Are you guys alright?' asked Shadow, dusting off the fragments and rocks from the garbodor.

'Ben!' called Jane running over.

The giant trash heap pokémon grunted in pain, only uttering the word 'ouch' but then asking if the little pokémon who were huddled up with him were okay. It seemed though that he and Meg got lucky and that the children were unharmed. They paused for a moment, hoping that the Dragon Raid had ended, even with sirens still blaring.

'Jane…' huffed Ben happily, twitching in pain. 'But where's… where's Sergeant?'

'Right here.' answered the magnezone, floating from the alley Shadow and Jane had come from. It slammed onto the hard filthy floor next to Jane, who crouched down, placing her hand over it. 'We should be safe now. The main focus of the attack was to cease the outbreak of the prison.'

Jane interjected angrily. 'Yet another Dragon Raid! How many dead? God knows.'

For the next several minutes, the crew remained still. On the lookout for any more attacks or survivors, holding each other close, whlie Jane, Ben and Shadow taking the roles of bodyguards.

The old war sirens finally silenced in Hydrangea City, which had rapidly become a clouded ghost city filled with dead bodies, rubble, blood and eerie silence. It was not the first Dragon Raid the city had experienced, or even the biggest, but due to riots that were active, the death toll was far greater than the previous attacks.

On the other side of the long row of houses, Jane emerged from an alleyway, hyper vigilant, on the lookout for any dangers, active vehicles, insectoid or dragons soaring well above. However, all she saw were small groups of pokémon here and there, at random locations, in the middle of the road or sheltering under whatever housing they could find. There was a lot of crying and the sounds of struggling as civilians or even prison guards were trying to help out pokémon who were hit by the raid or were buried alive. As with any Dragon Raid aftermath, the sight was horrifying. Bodies everywhere, creepy evidence of belongings, blood under rubble, pokémon crying while tightly holding siblings. Children who lost their parents and parents who lost their children. It happened every time.

The infernape was serious, but when she looked back, she could not help but seem a little miserable. 'It's safe.' she called, tilting her head.

Shadow came out next, followed by Meg and Clara, looking around cautiously, whose faces became depressed ones when spotting the same carnage. When the bayleef passed Jane, somewhat curious of people's situation, Ben stumbled out, carrying the children on his shoulders or on his makeshift hand. His mood was only sad and more occupied with comforting the children. Finally, Sergeant hovered out, flying over Ben and only descended next to Jane, trying to ignore the devastation.

'This is not going to end on its own.' mumbled the magnezone.

'Until one of the leaders fall.' answered Jane, resulting with Ben, Shadow, Meg and Clara to stare at her. 'We want this to stop? Well it ain't stopping until someone's head is ripped off in Haine.'

'And by "someone",' replied Sergeant. 'You do mean president Nicolai, right?'

'I don't care, either one will stop when the other is dead.'

'Not if Rancour falls, Jane. He may have started the uprising, but someone will always take his place.'

'Even if that does happen… I could still use his corpse for a little quality time with our fucking snorlax president, so then I can rip his head off too! Everyone's problem solved!'

'What am I talking too here?'

'Jane…' interjected Meg, seemingly worried for her.

'Your methods,' continued Sergeant. 'Are not to resolve peace for Crio, or to overthrow the broken, anti-democratic Republic. You just want them all dead.'

The infernape took one step closer to the magnezone, pointing at her one working eye. 'And can you blame me? Perhaps my husband can tell you the list of shit,' she said, hitting Sergeant away slightly. 'I went through because of it all.'

'Jane!' Ben interrupted, letting Jenny and Cecily down, who hid behind him.

'Oh wait, I forgot, my husband's dead… and my baby.'

After she said that, everyone stared in silence. Jane stood straight and turned right, unable to keep still after saying what she just said. Her only eye twitched and arms tensed furiously, but Shadow just next to her could see what she was actually doing. From his angle, the houndoom could see the twitching in Jane's eye and secret clenching of her teeth, showing her desperate fight to not tear up. Rather quickly though, her breathing slowed as she regained her calm and looked back at the content magnezone.

'My fight, is at Haine, which is where I'm going.'

Sergeant interjected. 'It is ours too, infernape. You don't have to-'

'No.' interrupted Clara. 'I'm not… I'm not going.'

'Clara?' asked Meg.

The bellossom began walking backward, shaking her head. 'I can't… I don't care about Haine, I'm still desperate to know if my family survived the Iris raid!'

'Then you go home.' replied Jane. 'You going with her?' asking the bayleef.

Meg flustered, having to make an important decision. 'Uh- I… I want to think about it.'

'Wait,' said Ben, turning round to the three children, before looking back at Clara. 'Do you think you could take these three with you?'

The fennekin, bergmite and yanma all stared at the bellossom, all with frail, innocent eyes. Clearly still shaken out, but warmed up to the idea of having a home to go to. Though Jenny and Myer were not even from Iris.

'Yes of course, I mean… I'll do my best-'

'Shadow?' asked Jane, which the houndoom just glanced at her, seeming surprised. 'Are you coming?'

'I told you, I'm going to find Glim!'

Ben, Meg and Clara glanced at the houndoom in shock. 'You mean… the glaceon?' asked Meg. 'Is he even still alive?'

'Yes.' answered Sergeant. 'If you remember there was an escape a few days ago.'

'That's right,' said Shadow, approaching the weakened magnezone. 'You also said you helped him somewhere, Camellias was it?'

'Correct, though he could be anywhere by now.'

'Once I pick up his scent again, I will find him. I need him and for all we know, he needs us too.'

'Sorry Shadow.' replied Jane, shaking her head. 'But you're on your own.'

The houndoom looked back at the infernape, not disappointed or sad, not after what she said about her experiences. Instead Shadow just nodded.

'That's fine Jane. I can find him by myself.'

Meanwhile, it seemed that the bayleef and bellossom girls were whispering to one another. Ben took notice of their quiet discussion when it seemed to be getting a little serious, with Clara having tears in her eyes and hitting the much bigger dinosaur in front of her, barely nudging her. They then hugged and Meg kissed the bellossom on her head.

'Is something wrong?' asked the garbodor.

The bayleef left the little flowery pokémon. 'I'm coming with you.' she said to Jane.

Seeing Clara cry, made Ben signal for the children to go to her, as she perhaps needed them as they needed her. In one pat, Myer flew and Jenny waddled to hug the weeping bellossom. However, Cecily remained looking up at the giant friendly garbodor, like she wanted him to come too. Recognising that look, Ben compressed his body down to seem on eye level with the little fennekin.

'Listen, darling.' he whispered. 'You're not the first children I've saved, but if I don't go to Haine, many more will die. Understand?' tiny Cecily nodded, eyes closed. Ben then stroked her furry cheek, with his softer hand. 'I'm sorry about daddy, but if he was here now. He would want you safe and looked after, okay?' again the fennekin nodded, her lips trembled violently as her tightly closed eyes leaked. Clara approached Cecily and held her close when Ben drew his hand away.

'And just like that?' asked Glim. 'You all split up?'

'I'm afraid so.' replied Shadow. 'Jane, Ben, Sergeant and that bayleef were going to head for Haine, but by crossing lakes Azelf and Mesprit to get there.'

'Are you serious?' interjected Karli. 'Those lakes are guarded to hell.'

'At the state boarders yes, but they said about crossing at the more unprotected areas at dark. People have been doing that well before the revolution even started.'

'I still can't believe that Meg and Clara were still alive.' said Glim. 'They helped me on the island.'

'Yeah you said. Which also answers why they knew you.'

'But… is that all Jane and Ben said? How come they didn't come to Camellias first, or to even reunite with me?'

'Well… if you really want to know, Glim. Jane thought you came to Camellias to escape the revolution. And she asked, if I found you… to persuade you to stay. Since you would be safer in Camellias.'

The glaceon paused. 'She did?'

'Hey,' blurted Angel. 'A little late now, right? At least you know your friends are alive.'

Glim paused again, before actually raising a smile. 'Yeah… and we're heading for the same place.'

'Haine is huge but...' said Shadow. 'We'll find'em.'