Chapter 15:
'A satanic wish for peace'

The sky remained black, only slightly lighter than the dark swampy wasteland that stretched between river Mesprit and the capital. All the light that was visible was the faint blood-red glow, beaming over the sky in the south direction. They could not see it yet, but Glim and his friends knew their first look at Haine was going to be chilling. The only reason they could not see it, were the tall blades of grass, stretching much higher than them, as if willingly shielding their eyes from the sight of the capital city.

Despite the earthy, cold and muddy swamp, there was no smell at all. No scent of freshness, clean air plants or anything. All Glim could smell was just air and the faint pheromones from his friends. It was so noticeable and uncomfortable, like everything around him was dead, except death has its own stench. What he was sniffing was just nothingness.

By that time, Angel's long coat and muddy legs had defrosted from his accident, though his coat was still very stiff and wet. Of course, he wiped off the mud from his legs himself, though Beryl was kind enough to help him clean up, but like most braixen, he was reluctant to touch anymore mud.

Nobody was talking, just following Angel in a single line, while McGregor tailed them and keeping watch over the crew. It was a stealthy suggestion by the weavile to remain quiet since they left Statice, but even before they reached the river boarder, there was at least whispering. The little glaceon thought perhaps it was something to do with the swamp that was depressing everyone. It only got as noisy as hearing a pack of people walking through a soggy wetland infested by rustling grass. At one point Glim lightly gasped as he felt something wet touch his bottom, he glanced back, only to see his affectionate houndoom smiling in an apologetic way.

Minutes later, the seven friends climbed out of the swamp and onto level ground. Suddenly the entire horizon ahead of them was very different, without the shield of the tall grass. Stretching before them was the forsaken capital of Haine. It looked like something from an artist's abstract painting of hell. The remaining grassland, most of the sky and many of the buildings on Haine's northern continent were pitch black, but also lit up on fire or by the very frequent lighting storms and explosions.

Most of Haine's upper level, where the richer or political pokémon would reside was mostly intact, but its black silhouette was visible due to the reoccurring flames an explosions. It was a wonder how the supports holding the entire structure up were still there with all the forces discharging all around the ground level of the city. It seemed that no one dared to go above the upper level, not with the infamous Storm Walk well above it. One look up and Glim could see the array of lights, which were the many aircrafts that remained afloat, housing the forces of the dragon raids.

The sight gave Glim a stroked, freezing him further than he already was. The glaceon was not alone, Terri and Beryl took a step back, almost falling back into the swamp. McGregor looked over at his daughter, hoping she would have a change of heart, now that she had seen the condition of Crio's revolution. Karli however only showed determination, taking a deep breath, but she would not deny she was nervous if she was asked, it would be less sane to say otherwise. Shadow meanwhile stood by his glaceon and wrapped his tail around his, letting Glim know he was with him.

Angel was probably the only one fit enough to enter Haine, not because of his aching back or ruined coat, but because he felt he had nothing to lose. He was the first to carry on, taking a slight left turn. His expression was fearless, but inside, his mind repeatedly flashed images of his rescuing of Belle and her death. Meeting Karli and her friends, finding that most of them were killed in Iris' dragon raid. Seeing the carnage of Hydrangea city, seeing the homeless refugees of Statice and the cinccino he could not help. It was all too much sometimes, making him flinch and shake his head violently, like he wanted it all out of his head.

'A-Angel wait up!' said Karli, only noticing he left. 'Where're we going?'

'The tracks, remember?' he replied.

'Oh.'

'We will not be able to get into Haine from this level or any of the above, so we're going under.'

The weavile marched on, while Karli kept glancing back at the still crew looking at one another. The giant dusknoir eyed Angel and the tracks that were barely visible in the distance. McGregor then took a deep breath as he also looked at the crew to his right.

Shadow whispered to Glim 'It'll be alright sweetheart, I'm with you.'

Glim nodded sheepishly.

Beryl meanwhile was getting second thoughts, completely paralysed by what he was seeing. The main level of Haine looked like a highly active warzone and to think it was only the morning, it all seemed too daunting to dare entering. His warm fur began to point backward, somehow telling him to run away, but as much as he wanted to, he did not want to abandon his friends. So he stood, staring into a hell made real, until something small and cold slipped into his left claw. It was the little claw of Terri, who was also unnerved by the same sight. The braixen looked down at her, unsure what to think or if he should say anything.

'Come on guys.' said Shadow, glancing at Terri and Beryl and moving passed McGregor with Glim following close behind.

Only half a mile away, Angel found himself behind a chain-link fence, which stretched all along the desolate swarm of train tracks on the other side. The tracks appeared battered in the faint light of fire in the distance. Clearly there had been fights on them, judging by the dents, broken rails, there was even a derailed train locomotive and carriage further down the line. Looks like the train was used in an attempt to escape, which was only blocking the railways.

Moments later, Shadow and Glim arrived behind the weavile, who was still observing the dark mess of railroads, heading into four different tunnels. All of the tunnels were pitch black from where they stood, which was hundreds of yards away.

'Angel,' said Glim quietly. 'Is that-'

'Shut up!' whispered the weavile, staring and listening intently toward the tunnels. It seemed there was nothing there and the only noises audible were the ongoing explosions and demolition of the revolution of the city before them. 'Okay, I can't see anybody over there, but stay on guard.'

Just as Angel finished, he leaped up, climbing the fence. By that time Karli also caught up.

'We going in there?' she asked and Glim nodded.

McGregor caught up just afterwards, looking back for Beryl and Terri, who were not far behind. The dusknoir looked ahead to see Angel landing hard on the other side, almost crashing whilst making little noise. Karli just afterwards approached the fence, keen to follow the weavile.

'Um, Karli.' said McGregor.

'Yeah?' she replied, glancing back at her father.

'I'd rather you shadow sneaked through the fence.'

At first, Karli looked up for razor wire, seeing nothing and observed the ground behind the fence, which appeared flat and far enough away from the thick metal tracks.

'Why?'

'Well, I just would not prefer the gentlemen here to see up your dress.' he said, but Karli rolled her eyes and leaped up, climbing the fence. 'Wha-'

The dusknoir sighed, looking down and shaking his head. Glim and Shadow averted their eyes respectfully, though the houndoom could not help but grin. The kirlia's climb over did not last long as she was over no more than ten seconds. Her landing however, was considerably quieter and elegant. McGregor meanwhile simply went through it, almost showing off.

By that time, the braixen and cranidos had caught up, but the houndoom on four stern legs was debating how he would get over. The glaceon next to him jumped onto the fence, being light and nimble enough to climb it, but he stayed hanging on it, looking back at his boyfriend.

'How the hell am I…' muttered Shadow. 'Yo, Angel. How are Glim and I supposed to get over? I can't climb this.'

The weavile looked back and answered 'you can dig, you can jump, you can find a hole. Fuck sake, it's a chain-linked fence bitchdoom.'

Shadow looked left and right. 'Alright, alright. Would we be spotted if I used Flamethrower?'

'Probably.' replied Angel looking around, just when the houndoom on the other side breathed in swiftly and breathed out a dynastic stream of fire, making Karli and Angel flinch. The weavile looked at Shadow in shock, taking steps back from the blazing beam of light and grabbing his own head in frustration. 'You idiot!' he shouted through clenched teeth.

'What?'

'I said "probably" and you did it anyway!'

Glim who was on top of the fence when Shadow used his move had fallen off, crashing on the soft gritty surface. He squeaked quietly, and Karli ran over to help him up.

'We needed to get through,' argued Shadow, climbing cumbersome through the fence. 'And there doesn't seem to be anyone here right now.'

'I hope not!' replied Angel, looking back at the tunnels.

Once the houndoom was on his feet on the tracks, Beryl went through the same hole, turning round to lift little Terri through as well. The group had all come through or over the fence and on the wide road of broken railways. With the overturn locomotive and two carriages almost blocking off the railways behind them, the crew headed to the city's underground level.

There were four enormous tunnels, two neighbouring each other, presumably going to the centre of the city, while the other two on opposite ends were much further apart. The tunnels on the far left and right were at an angle, heading to outer continents of the underground level, or even heading up to the ground level.

The ground was incredibly uneven and rocky. The tracks were either misplaced, sticking into the ground or gone. Angel was unnerved, looking at every debris warily. It was obvious to him there had been fights where they walked.

'Wait.' whispered McGregor, glancing back. Suddenly Angel, Glim, Shadow and Karli turn their backs to each other. 'I thought I heard something.'

When the dusknoir finished his sentence, all at once they found their selves surrounded by three different crews that came from adjacent directions. A golurk and an armoured talonflame landed hard from above, taking opposite sides, while two excadrill shot out of the ground, one behind McGregor who was at the back, and one near Shadow who forced him to back closer to his friends. From the tracks they just left, two sandshrew, a scrafty and a heracross stood, bursting out of debris that poorly hid them. The tunnels meanwhile had a baltoy, a vibrava coming out of the far left tunnel, while a gabite and a vikavolt zipped out of the far right.

The ambush was so quick, that most of the crew panicked, bunching closer to one another. Karli had leaped back, bumping into Terri and her father, Glim flinched, looking around in confusion, while his houndoom barked at the excadrill before him. Beryl meanwhile seemed to not panic and just raised his claws innocently. However, Angel nearby the braixen only took one look around him and glared at the tunnels past the levitating vibrava and baltoy. He could see an opportunity he and his crew were not going to get again.

'Freeze!' yelled the excadrill closest to Beryl and Karli.

'Down on the ground!' squawked the talonflame, holding his position above the group.

As much as the braixen, cranidos and glaceon wanted to surrender, so no one would get hurt, they had no idea if they were revolutionaries or part of the Republic. Instead, most of them stood motionless, while Beryl remained showing that he meant no harm.

In the heat of the situation, the weavile up front saw everything in slow motion, seeing the ambush closing in quickly with hostility. He could hear Karli and Shadow shouting, stating they were just outsiders. He had to make the tough decision of taking the opportunity before him, as the baltoy and sandy dragonfly approached him aggressively. Angel looked back, to see Terri cowering, covering her eyes, while McGregor was getting confrontation from the golurk who was even bigger than him. The dusknoir however, was not looking at the towering ancient pokémon, he was turning to face the weavile on the other side. Angel inhaled, somewhat shocked to see McGregor who nodded at him. He could only assume that the responsible dusknoir was agreeing with the opportunity that sprung to his mind.

The weavile looked ahead again, seeing the vibrava about to swoop into him, which was when he executed his last resort. With nothing to lose, Angel swiftly hurled ice at the vibrava, ignoring the pain in his back and causing her to spiral and fall to the ground. As if he was using two moves at once, the weavile bolted toward the baltoy who was low enough for him to jump over and give it a back blow with his fist covered in ice, managing to not freeze himself that time.

Immediately, when the smacks of shattering ice hit the vibrava and baltoy, everybody present saw the movement before the two ground types even fell to the ground. Angel then hurled another Ice Shard perfectly at the gabite in front of Beryl, getting him in the neck and knocking him on his back. The braixen gasped and flinched seeing it.

'Leg it!' screamed Angel, sprinting for the closest tunnel, which was the far left tunnel for him.

'What the f-' cried Karli as McGregor quickly turned, grabbing her and Terri and sinking into the ground.

'Halt!' screamed the talonflame, swiftly gliding into the tunnel after the weavile.

In the panic Shadow roared out, blasting fire at the excadrill and steering it left in an attempt to force the other pokémon back. The golurk however, was merely a wall to the houndoom as most of the ambushers dived for cover behind the giant. Reacting in a similar way, the braixen nearby drew out his wand and beamed fire in front of him, forcing the other excadrill and vikavolt back. Glim meanwhile fired his beam of rainbows at the levitating stag beetle that began to charge visible electricity. The bug was forced back, dodge rolling out of the glaceon's attack.

Unaware of what happened to Karli, McGregor and Terri or even how many of the ambushers were present, Glim yelled 'let's go', running past Beryl who tailed him. The excadrill near the braixen was not giving up, he leaped into the air, diving for Beryl when he was met with a tremendous force of flames from the houndoom who quickly followed them into the far right tunnel. Leaving the excadrill to crash into the wall of the tunnel, yelling and on fire.

Already deep into the darkness, the three boys ran as fast as they could but keeping to each other's side, convinced they were being chased. None of them looked back even once, only left and right to listen out for each other as it frequently got pitch black in the tunnels, passing few fires and flickering lights as they ran.

Glim, Shadow and Beryl may have escaped, but in the tunnel opposite the one they entered, Angel had already ran a mile, attempting to lose the fiercely fast talonflame that was managing to keep up with him. The weavile would jump through broken pillars and neighbouring tunnels when he had the chance, however the fiery bird was also intensely acrobatic. Every sudden leap left or right was a simple side aileron roll for the talonflame. He was tempted to use his gale wings, but it would require him to stop and the weavile was as drastically quick as he was. Drawing on Angel closer and closer frustrated him more, they were both in desperation for the race to end.

In yet another tunnel, much longer than the messy, broken tunnels they had just ran through, Angel anticipated the persistent bird to still be on his tail. Having seen the shapes of the tunnels all being round, the weavile ran up along the wall until he was almost upside down. The pursuing bird knew what Angel was doing and made a manoeuvre where he was gliding away from him, slightly slower and arced upward as soon as Angel looked back and leaped with gravity on his side. The talonflame attempted to use Flame Charge, but was not quick enough, resulting them colliding in mid-air, with the weavile striking the bird on his head. The impact also bounced Angel out of balance and further into the air, leaving him to crash on the stony ground. Neither of them were in great condition in their situation, but with an injured back already, the weavile wailed out, fighting himself just to get back up. However, the fiery bird had an assault vest to brake his fall.

Metres from the struggling weavile, the talonflame stood dizzily. It only took moments for him to fully regain consciousness as he got close to passing out. Steaming blood trickled down his face and beak, sealing one eye closed and he focused on Angel, who was crawling away. After several deep breaths, the talonflame fought back his light headedness and leaped closer, tripping as he landed only three metres away from his target.

Angel rolled onto his back, only realising he failed to kill the talonflame. In the little strength he had left, he threw a shard of ice at the slowly approaching bird, who was taking it like nothing, only making him angrier. The talonflame in armour began to heat up as he got closer, walking more steadily, while Angel furiously threw ice at him, which only began to turn into dust as the bird shielded his face with his huge wings.

When the furious bird was right before the incapacitated weavile, he stretched out his right wing attempting to swing at Angel, who managed to block the finishing attack with his left arm, getting them into a fiery grapple. Unable to move his legs, Angel resorted to using whatever dark type attack he had left, making his left arm glow black and scratching the talonflame on his face. The attack knocked him over, but still conscious, while Angel's arm was burning from blocking his attack. Every part of the weavile's body burned, from his legs, his back and his arm. He could only endure as the fiery bird got up once more, squawking in rage, also having difficulty in getting up.

Suddenly, the bird was struck by some projectile hard and heavy, which knocked him onto his back and became still and silent. The weavile watched in dizziness and tried to roll over to see who else was present, but he was stopped by slimy hands and the sound of something very heavy approaching behind him.

'Easy buddy.' said a voice of a butch female. At that moment, Angel closed his eyes as the two began to drag him away. 'That was pretty amazing what you did back there.'

'What're you doing?' asked the other, who sounded so much deeper and masculine. 'How do you know if he's one of us?'

'He just fought off an ambush squad, trying to get in. Nobody, no Republic nor citizen would ever wanna get into this shit hole unless they wanted to fight.'

'I hope you're right.'

Between the distance of Angel and the boys who took the tunnel opposite, a dusknoir began to rise from the ground far in pitch blackness. His eye was squinting, trying to resist himself as he continued to stride through the floor.

'That's it I can't Shadow Sneak any further!' grunted McGregor.

Karli peeked her head out of the shadows. 'Then let us-'

Suddenly the dusknoir, kirlia and cranidos burst out of the ground from the shadows that glinted purple. The force made them lose balance, Terri fell on her face and McGregor crashed on his front, catching himself poorly. Karli was the only one to land on her feet, glancing round in the darkness as she did.

'Where is everybody?' asked Karli.

McGregor lifted himself up and helped up Terri as he did. 'Likely split up. We had to get out of there quick.'

The kirlia shook her head. 'What the hell was Angel thinking? He just left us!'

'Actually Karli, I had foreseen this event.'

'You did? But why didn't you tell me?'

'In case I was mistaken, or you would try to stop him. What Angel did back there was not only allow his escape, but also the others. As far as I know.'

'You didn't see them in the vision?'

'Not when Angel made his escape, but I did see them in another vision, alive.'

'So where are they now?'

'That I do not know. We had to act fast, which is why we ended up down one of the middle tunnels.'

Karli sighed, looking down the tunnel, where weak light from a dying fire showed what she assumed to be an underground platform.

'We need to find them. We're too unsafe apart. I saw Angel run down that left tunnel so we know where to start.'

'Agreed, he was on his own and being pursued by that talonflame.'

'Then let's go!'

Karli ran ahead, looking left as frequently as she could for any path way or tunnel.

'Shouldn't we head back?' cried Terri, only running fast enough to run alongside McGregor. 'We could take the same tunnel that way.'

'That is if that ambush is not still there,' he replied. 'Which judging by their numbers, I would not recommend it.'

The little cranidos did not reply and just continued running to catch up with Karli.

Shadow slid to stop, glancing back. 'Whoa wait!' immediately Glim stopped and also glanced back, while Beryl continued to run, until he passed the houndoom and looked back himself. 'I don't think they're chasing us.'

The glaceon interrupted, worriedly. 'Where is everybody?'

'I-I don't know. I thought Karli and the others would follow us.'

Glim took one leap toward the blackness they had come from and looked back at the houndoom and braixen. 'We have to go back!'

'What!' cried Beryl breathing heavily.

Shadow too had a look of puzzlement on his face, though he understood Glim's feelings.

'We have to know if they escaped!' cried Glim stamping his paws.

Shadow and Beryl took a moment and looked at each other.

'You coming?' the houndoom asked.

After a little more breathing, the braixen looked down and shook his head. 'O-okay.'

The glaceon quickly ran ahead, not as quickly as before and Shadow followed, looking back at Beryl who also gave chase after a few more breaths.

Even though they slowed their pace, Glim, Shadow, followed by Beryl reached near the end of the tunnel they had ran from, feeling they went much quicker somehow. Perhaps because they were not running for their lives, that the speed of reality caught up to them.

Being the darkest in colour overall, the houndoom volunteered to peek into the spot where they were ambushed, so they were less likely to be spotted. He did not even go right up to the edge of the round concrete tunnel, instead he took a few steps from within the tunnel to remain in the darkness.

All Shadow could see were what looked like a struggle, between the heracross trying to help his excadrill ally. The golurk was also present, holding the other excadrill who was groaning in pain. They were all complaining, either shouting to get going or blaming each other. The houndoom drew back, looking over at the glaceon and braixen, who were up against the wall.

Shadow shakes his head. 'They're not there.' he whispers.

Glim nods in relief and runs down the tunnel again, quickly followed by Shadow and Beryl. However, his relief turns to worry, wondering where his friends could have gone to. He knows Angel went down the tunnel opposite, but where Karli, her father and Terri could be, he did not know.

Angel's sight blurred, revealing himself to be laying on a thin spread of hay. Unaware he just passed out, he got up suddenly, thinking he was still in a fight with the talonflame.

'Whoa, whoa!' called a deep voice, who stood before the weavile and put his claws over his shoulders. 'Easy soldier!'

The pokémon stopping Angel from getting up revealed to be a golem, who had friends present. Also holding the weavile down was a weaker smaller leaf of a leavanny.

'What the f- he's up already?' called the butch voice of Gem, running to join her friends, who were managing to keep the feisty weavile down.

Angel took a moment to observe, breathing heavily. By that time his vision had cleared and realised he was no longer in the fight he was running from. In front of him were the golem and leavanny with concerned expressions. They both had black and red scarves on, the golem had his around his neck like a rider's mask and the leavanny had hers around her right shoulder. Behind them approached a toxicroak who had her scarf around her neck too, except hers was spun backward to not irritate her poison sack, protruding from her neck.

'Take it easy, you're safe now.' continued Marcus, gently releasing the grip on Angel's shoulders. 'We have one question though.' the golem placed his foot over Angel's torso, forcing his weakened back to take some of Marcus' sheer weight.

Immediately Angel grunted, struggling to get the golem off him. Kylie the leavanny was also quick to object, gasping as she saw the 'megaton' pokémon place his foot on him.

'No, no!' she squeaked. 'Get off- he's already injured!'

Marcus just shushed the slender plant and bug hybrid, as he was not putting all his weight on the weavile.

'We want to know why you're here. Are you fighting for Crio or for yourself?'

'I'm here to join the Crimson!' Angel finally shouted.

'Ha!' boasted Gem, pointing at the golem. 'Told you so, he's one of us.'

Kylie interrupted, slapping her leaves on Marcus' leg. 'Get off, get off him, he's one of us!' The very heavy dinosaur shelled within a boulder quickly relented, taking his foot off Angel. 'He's also hurt his back too.'

'We saw- well I saw what you did for your friends back there.' said Gem 'That was not something most outsiders survive, let alone a head on fight with their squadron leader, mate.'

While the leavanny knelt down next to Angel, the weavile's eyes opened widely, remembering about his crew. He tried to sit up, only to be met with great pain harnessing his torso, back and collarbones.

'My friends!' he choked, trying to look back. 'Did any of them come after me?'

'Come after you?' replied the toxicroak. 'Dude, you legged it. If a talonflame couldn't catch you, your friends sure weren't.'

Angel paused, still trying to look back as Kylie glowed green, using Aromatherapy. He then looked back at the toxicroak. 'Did any of them escape?'

She nodded. 'From what I saw, I'd say all of them got away. Your hits allowed that houndoom and other two out of there. The other way though, while the others behind them just disappeared into the ground.'

The weavile did not quite understand what she was saying, but hearing that they all got away was enough for him. The leavanny continued to glow green as Angel attempted to sit up, much less painfully that time. Kylie offered her leafy hand, which when the sharp claw pokémon took hold of her, turned out to be far stronger than she appeared. In fact, the slender grassy insectoid was using another technique that made Angel's entire body glow slightly, somehow making him strong enough to stand back up again. When the weavile stood, he looked surprised and a little light headed, as the leavanny kept her leaf hand on Angel's shoulder.

'You took some serious damage.' said Kylie. 'You'll have to stick by me for now.'

The weavile looked at the leavanny, only noticing that her leaf was placed on him.

'Kylie's our naturalist nurse.' said Gem. 'They're easier to find than drugs. 'fraid you'll be stuck with'er until we get back.'

'What's your name?' asked Marcus, looking back, after observing the dark, lonesome platform they were standing on.

'I-it's Angel.' he answered.

'That's not your name.' said the toxicroak, shaking her head.

'I don't like it either, but I'm afraid it is.'

'Nobody names any dark type Angel, come on!'

'Then what do you think my name is?'

'Just tell us!'

Angel rolls his eyes angrily. 'Homo Gobo McDumbass! What else!'

Gem laughs out loudly, while Marcus said 'that's… probably not your name either.'

'No, it isn't! But apparently it's not Angel either. Do I need a nickname?'

'I would have stuck with Angel, but… I'm pretty sure-'

'Homo Gobo McDumbass!' Gem guffaws. 'That is totally your name now.'

'Whatever,' shrugged Homo Gobo McDumbass. 'Where're we going anyway?'

'If you're really one of us.' answered Marcus. 'We'll take you to one of our hideouts in this sector, but we'll have to go onto the "truth level" first.'

'Truth level?'

'It's what the Crimson are calling the ground level, because of what the Republic are doing to us.'

Angels nods understandably.

Much further south-east, Karli climbs out of a hole that had clearly been made by a fiercely strong fire attack, creating a tunnel of its own, between the underground level and what appeared to be a mall. The location was dark, misty and battered with ash and broken glass. Rather frequently, the skylights would flash as the outside remained fiery and explosive.

'Karli,' said McGregor, floating up behind the kirlia. 'Do you even know where you are going?'

'I've never been to Haine, dad.' she replied angrily. 'I was only trying to reach that other tunnel, but couldn't go any further.'

The dusknoir floats out, with the little cranidos tailing him. 'Well, just so you know, we are now on the ground level. We must get downstairs asap.'

'Okay, then let's go.' the shiny kirlia was eager to get going. 'Maybe there's another station or parking lot downstairs here.'

Karli ran off and McGregor called for her to wait up, so he turned to pick up Terri, sunk into the ground slightly and sped across the messy mall ground.

Travelling miles into the unknown grounds of a warzone, separated from several of his friends was not Glim's intention, however he remembered the primary operation set by Angel, was to find either a member or base of the Crimson Revolution. None of them knew how to join them unfortunately, so at that point the glaceon could only think about winging it. He still wondered how they would just trust anyone who wanted to join, when anybody could be sent by the Republic.

'I can't see shit.' whispered Shadow, wall hugging the tunnel as they walked.

'Hold on.' said Beryl.

Suddenly a light sparked from his wand, revealing the two boys who then squinted at the light, and then glanced around, only to see that they were yet in another dark tunnel with no light.

'You know, for Crio's capital, the city sure isn't busy.'

'We are in the underground train tunnels though.'

'Oh true.' answered Shadow, while his glaceon ran ahead, noticing something in the wall they were walking by. 'Glim, what's up?'

He stops, turning left, peeking into a gap, shaped like a doorway. Above the doorway had a rusted sign saying 'rail maintenance'. Glim used his tail to signal to Shadow and Beryl to come over to him quietly. When they did, they could hear noise down the tight passage. A mix of machinery and a crowd of voices.

'I can hear people.' said Beryl.

'Really?' asked Shadow. 'I'm only hearing hissing and clanging.'

'No, I can hear people too.' responded Glim. 'There's either a base or something down here.'

The passage, even with Beryl's light was pitch black. In case anybody was coming up or watching, the houndoom signalled the braixen to put the light out as they descended. The passageway was only wide enough for the average machoke and was a flight of old age stairs made of rock. Perhaps they could not see because there was a right turn only ten steps down. One look right from that turn, revealed a long length of a hall, which was lit up and busy with pokémon.

With nobody at the doorway, Glim rushed into the open area, where the sounds got much louder than it was a minute ago. The location was huge, whatever it was, it had been converted into a refuge zone. All around there were shanties, crudely built buildings that were barely straight or stable. As was heard above, the sound of the refugees was being drowned out by the constant whirring and breathing of machinery, which were being used to generate electricity, oxygen or energy for the underground.

Listening out for the pokémon was ominous, as the most common sounds to hear were arguing, shouting, crying and the simultaneous chanting whenever a fight broke out. Those who did not have a shanty or even a tent, only had blankets, like those who live on the streets without a home. Most of which had friends or families to sleep next to, while those who were alone never looked happy.

Glim walked, eyeing so many of the civilians who were just curled up in their blankets, all orange and yellow, like the tents that were provided at Statice. A nidoqueen who looked incredibly tired was stroking her nidoran, as well as a zigzagoon who was with them. The children were somehow asleep in spite of the noise. Near that family was a riolu caring for a quilava, putting his blanket over him. The quilava looked very sick, jittering as he breathed, though the riolu kept a brave face and placed pink ear muffs on his friend.

On the other side was a row of pokémon either hiding their selves or on their own. It hurt the glaceon to look at the misery or despair on their faces, so he glanced away, but as he did, he saw down the path of several shanties. The first thing he saw was an eevee getting slapped by a miltank, who was shouting at her about running away. Glim heard little of the scene, but just seeing the little eevee being hurt by a much larger female in pink instantly reminded him of his own trauma. He really wanted to go over and defend the eevee, but she got loose, kicking back as she did and ran off, sneaking down a narrow space between two shanties. The miltank cursed, screaming 'Hattie' and demanding her to get back, but Glim knew the eevee would not.

'Hey.' whispered Shadow, making his glaceon jump. 'You alright?'

Glim nodded, keeping calm as Beryl also approached, holding his ears down.

'I was just…' muttered Glim, shaking his head. 'Just wanted to look.'

Shadow could read the sadness off the little glaceon and looked up at the braixen, who also was not enjoying the sounds.

'It is pretty loud in here. You want to get going?'

The glaceon shook his head. 'We don't know where we're going. Why not ask for the whereabouts for the CR base?'

The houndoom nods quickly. 'Oh okay, yeah. Um… you mind if we stick together though. I don't trust this place.'

Glim nods too. 'Okay. Let's try… wait, where's Beryl?'

Shadow glanced round, noticing that the pretty fox boy was gone.

Climbing stairs seemed much easier for Angel in his current status, however, he was told that was only because he was held on by the leavanny, who was cycling her use of Helping Hand. As long as they stuck together, he would not fall down so easily in spite of his dangerously low level of stamina.

The weavile, arm in arm with Kylie, following a toxicroak and tailed by what looked like a living boulder shot up a flight of pedestrian stairs and onto an open street of fire. Nearby buildings were highly damaged, on fire or frequently had flying types, bug types or dragons shooting passed them. On the grounds, there were fires seemingly lit all on their own, while blood and dead bodies were everywhere. The sight was chilling even for Angel. The first thing he saw was a gang of mostly steel types in a huge fight with three dragons and a milotic. When suddenly two salamence swooped from above and fired what looked like swarms of fireworks, covering the entire fight in an enormous cloud of light, which generated a mushroom cloud and shockwave that threw Gem over into a roll, while Angel could only endure it, making him fall over.

'Dude get up!' screamed the toxicroak, already running left, heading for the alleyway between public housing and an oddly placed pub next to a main road.

The weavile easily got back up as Kylie seemed to be holding onto him more than the other way round. Marcus spun out from the stairs, into the air and landing perfectly on his feet, forming cracks in the floor when he landed.

Angel then grabbed the slender bug lady, carrying her on his arms, despite she was much bigger than him and sprinted after Gem, with the golem following closely behind. As long as the leavanny kept using her Helping Hand, the weavile was not going to stop, even though he could feel the strain and need to breathe deeper.

They made it to the alley, unscathed and undetected. By which time Gem was leaning against the pub wall on the other side, looking over to the path heading left. She looked over at Angel.

'It's not far from here, but it gets hairy here!'

'Right!' he replies.

'There's a magmortar, a yanma scout and a zangoose. Marcus?'

'I'll get the mortar!' the golem volunteers. 'But you'll have to distract him.'

'On it.'

Without warning, Gem darted out of the alley, running in an arc to the building opposite where the Republic cronies were stopped by. The magmortar appeared to be shouting into the main entrance, but his voice was inaudible with all the destruction happening all around. The bluish-purple anthropomorphic frog dived to the side of the building that was a rundown hotel and looked back at the alley, where Angel stood, watching the toxicroak. She then signalled for Angel to run straight across while she ran to the corner of the hotel, where the zangoose had taken one too many backward steps. It seemed he was in an argument of his own with the giant flame pokémon yelling at the hotel.

'Whoa!' screamed the zangoose, glancing to his right as he noticed Gem swiftly approaching.

The white and red catlike creature was too late to attack the toxicroak, who gave him a swift uppercut with a black claw. The attack sent the zangoose onto his back, several feet away, which is when Angel sped past with Kylie in his arms. The magmortar noticed his ally falling back and immediately raised his cannon-arm at Gem who had enough time to lunge at him and clap her slimy claws at his ears. Flinching back slightly, the magmortar growled as the weavile ran past him too. Immediately as Angel ran clear of the giant flame pokémon, he heard what sounded like an earthquake chasing him, when suddenly he hears an enormous smack as Marcus rolls ahead at a great speed, chucking up dust and blood trying to stop.

When the golem stopped, he was facing opposite the weavile. They then all fell to an unbearable sound above them. The yanma was screeching a glass scraping sound louder than the explosions. Angel fell to his knees, but the leavanny remained in his grip as he looked back to see Gem in pain and on her knees too.

'The yanma!' shouted Marcus.

Angel looked up, squinting from audible pain and could see the little dragonfly descending, but also backing away.

The weavile threw Kylie into the air, giving him the chance to throw a shard of ice at the yanma, hitting her directly between the eyes. She spun and struggled before hitting the ground. While the yanma fell and releasing everyone present from the terrible noise, the zangoose had got back up, not too far from Gem. He took one look at the remains of the magmortar, who became a carcass already buried within bricks. The scar-faced pokémon hissed in disbelief and hit the toxicroak away as quick as he could, before turning to catch the falling yanma at a blinding speed and dashed off down the same alleyway his enemies had emerged from.

'Gem!' called Marcus, just when Angel caught the leavanny as she was. 'You alright?'

The toxicroak knocked into the wall nearest to her, but she swiftly got up, looking out for the cat ferret hybrid who had already ran away.

'Yeah I'm fine!' she yells back, getting up and running past them. 'Pass this building and down the next subway, come on!'

Not even a minute later, the weavile alongside a fast rolling golem ran round a street corner into another valley of burning buildings. Ahead of them, Gem waved to them to hurry up as she leaped down a flight of stairs between two buildings. It did not look like one that the public would use normally unless to escape a fire, but it was opened and between two buildings. Angel had to skip over two dead bodies when he crossed the road, one rattata and one bibarel, before he ran into the stairwell, in fact he was running so fast he fell down it. Kylie gasped as she and Angel helplessly tumbled down the concrete in darkness. Their fall was not long, but the weavile was suddenly feeling powerless again.

'Quick, get up you two!' said Marcus, carefully descending down the stairs. 'Whoa these stairs- shit!'

Suddenly the golem slips on his back, instantly sending him forward into a tumbling bowling ball. The leavanny screamed seeing the giant boulder shooting toward them, but then he was caught by Gem who stood between them, forcing the megaton pokémon to stop on the blood soaked stairs. She was struggling desperately as Angel crawled out, trying to get out of the way.

'Quick quick!' grunted the toxicroak. 'Get out of the way!'

Kylie shuffled back, pulling the weavile well away from the dangerously heavy golem.

Gem could not hold the enormously heavy rock pokémon any longer who slowly slid down the remaining steps, pushing her back and almost crushing her feet. When Marcus had landed on the same level, he popped his head out of his shell with a worried expression, while the toxicroak spun round, flicking her wrists in pain.

'Fuck!' she cries.

'You alright?' Marcus asked.

'We will be when we get back!'

She walked ahead down the dark subway, a little calmer than before.

That time Kylie was the one to lift Angel onto her leafy arms. The weavile looked totally exhausted but alive, awake and in great pain.

In the biggest mall of the Singlehorn Sector, Karli was still running. Just behind her, McGregor tailed his daughter.

The mall was desolate, misty from smoke, dust and ash. Most of the stores were predictably closed down, smashed to pieces, dead empty or bordered up. At least, Karli thought they were all empty.

Running down what looked like an endless trench of abandoned stores, the kirlia heard a whoosh beside her before being tackled by her father, propelling the both of them further ahead. McGregor had grabbed Karli, spun and stopped to see a thick stone pillar swing down, smashing to pieces when it hit the ground.

'Where did that come from!' said Karli, rolling out of the dusknoir's arms.

McGregor looked up at the walkways of higher levels. He let go of Terri too, who was also staring up at the mall ceiling, which was at least three floors up.

'Who's there!' demanded McGregor, clenching his armoured fist.

'Dad, you can go up there. We'll-'

'I am not leaving you alone, in a warzone.'

Something sounded metres behind them, making scratching noises. Karli caught glimpse of a dark figure moving behind a tall advertisement sign. Meanwhile the cranidos who also heard the rushing claws looked behind them, instead she saw something duck away from above them.

'We're being watched.' Karli whispered angrily.

'Where are they?' replied McGregor, still looking up.

Taking a leap from Angel's strategy, Karli focused her power on the large sign ahead of her. In one wave, the sign and whoever was behind it was smashed into the wall just next to it. The smash echoed as loud as the crash of the pillar.

Immediately, the kirlia bolted in the direction of the path she thought she cleared. Her father by that time finally turned round as Terri was not quick enough to process what happened.

'Karli!' called McGregor, taking the helpless cranidos, sinking into the ground and speeding after the kirlia once again.

The three were passing by what appeared to be a court for the mall's biggest restaurants. However, it was merely a giant curved path to the fleeing kirlia as she kept running. Above she could hear multiple noises of scratchings and flapping rushing across the level just above them. The dusknoir was wary of the noises, keeping his deadly eye on the above level.

Far ahead something shot down into the ground, making the entire ground ahead of Karli split up, vomiting earth like a volcano as the tremor shot toward her. Out of reaction, the kirlia pounded the floor, summoning her Reflect, which deflected the falling rocks. The attack would have been far worse if executed much closer.

The dusknoir risen from the ground, leaving the cranidos he held to fall on her front while he spun round to cover Karli's back. His timing and accuracy proved to be unnecessary when instead of an attack, the trio was met by a shower of rocks that surrounded them. The rocks however, failed to hit the floor, instead they remained afloat and boxing in McGregor, Terri and Karli. The giant ghost veteran had seen the unusually sharp floating rocks before.

'Stealth Rock.' he said.

'Got'em!' screamed Jack, a tyrunt who landed just after using the technique.

The little dinosaur pokémon had not come alone, several children began jumping over the railings from above or emerging from the closed stores. There were at least twenty of them, it was difficult to count with them all running around the rocks, also unable to get passed. Even from the major earthquake just emitted in front of Karli, a phanpy climbed over the destroyed floor.

The kirlia, looked back at her father, afraid, but serious. McGregor also remained determined, maintaining a sinister look.

The children meanwhile were clamouring around the sharp rocks, calling out multiple homicidal threats, like saying they were going eat tonight and they were going to evolve, all excitedly.

'Not today kids.' growled McGregor, reaching out his armoured arm in front of his daughter.

Karli nodded to the dusknoir's proposal. She grabbed Terri, just managing to pick her up and they jumped onto McGregor's hand who then flung them up onto the second floor. The giant ghost then slammed his fist down onto the ground, causing the ground all around him to break. Almost every child had been blown back by the Earthquake, except for the two who already ran toward the nearest wall to chase after the little girls falling onto the second floor.

To break their fall, the kirlia forced energy between herself and the ground she was about to crash onto, along with the heavy cranidos. She herself did not endure much of a crash, though Terri simply slammed on the floor.

Only one floor below, McGregor was able to use the sharp floating rocks to his advantage as they had been used to surround him, which would also act as a barrier. He remained afloat, with crossed arms, just taunting the children to get him. His real objective was to act as a distraction so the other two could escape.

The cumbersome cranidos with her tiny arms struggled to stand up, but with the psychic ballerina by her side, she felt so much safer. Karli stood just in front of Terri with a rather cheesy heroic stance as the two children, one a trapinch and the other a meowth ran with angry faces toward her. Right as the two kids came close to Karli, she suddenly summoned a barrier, making the two crash and bounce back like they ran into a mirror.

Behind her, crossing an overhead bridge was a sneasel, also charging to her with a face like he was trying to be scary. Karli looked back out of reaction, spotting the quick sneasel speeding to her. Terri was up by then, but she cowered, covering her big head with her little arms. Unable to keep the Reflect up and use Magical Leaf in her position, or use psychic type attacks on ignorant dark types, Karli resorted to using the little cranidos herself. She quickly grabbed Terri in psychic energy, making her squeak in surprise and then threw her by her rocky head first into the sneasel, which flung him over the railing. Terri was released and belly flopped on the ground, she had a shocked expression as she looked back at Karli.

By that time, the meowth had got back up and attempted to jump over the shining pink wall between her and Karli, but when she made the jump, the kirlia dismissed the Reflect, making it disappear and leaving the meowth to crash roll across the ground. Only a metre away from the scratch cat pokémon, Karli used Psychic to force her to give the floor a violent head butt. The kirlia then leaped onto the meowth and swung her arm out, summoning five leaves that shot into the trapinch who only got back up.

Another tremor rocked the location, coming from below as McGregor was practically juggling the young thugs, using the ground. The tremor had even shook Karli and Terri off balance.

'You want more?' shouted the dusknoir.

'Stop! Stop! Stop!' yelled a garbodor, swinging down on his junk laden arm from the second level.

The giant rubbish pokémon slammed face-first onto the courtyard, near many of the angry children. Noticing the garbodor, the kids immediately stopped attacking the three. Some of them ran away, many of them to hurt to move, while a few paused still, staring at the garbodor. Those who stood still looked nervous.

Karli ran over to the railing to see what was happening, also to help Terri onto her feet. She exchanged a look of curiosity with her father, who looked up at her, still surrounded by the Stealth Rock.

'You did it again, didn't you?' cried the voice of a female bayleef, running in from where Karli and her crew had first entered.

The bayleef helped up the garbodor, both of them had a black and red scarf, either on their neck or arm. The giant grass pokémon looked furious, approaching Jack, who only looked miserable.

'We're were only playin.' argued the tyrunt.

'Then what's this about!' she said, nodding at McGregor. 'We can see you used Stealth Rocks. Your mother's going to be pissed!'

'Uh, Meg.' said Ben.

'No hang on!' complained the bayleef, looking around aghast. 'How many did you bring this time?'

'It's just us…' mumbled Jack.

'Are these children of yours?' asked McGregor, rising from the floor passed the floating rocks.

'Was it just you they attacked?' asked Meg.

The dusknoir looked back to the second floor. 'Karli, Terri.'

'Oh my god.' the bayleef sighed, watching the little kirlia jump down to the ground floor, followed by Terri who tried to stop herself after seeing the height of the fall.

Little Terri landed on her back, which looked painful from Karli's point of view and yet again she had to pull her back up.

'Jack... Miri…' said Ben, approaching the tyrunt and phanpy. 'It's not your parents you should be worried about.'

'There's no food!' complained Jack. 'Everything back there is shit!'

'Shut up and listen to us Jack!' shouted Meg. 'What Ben's saying is… what are you going to tell the parents of the all these other children?'

Both McGregor and Karli shared a look of shock, looking at the wounded children all around them. There was at least ten of them, either twitching, groaning in pain or not moving at all. Suddenly the kirlia remembered what she did to the meowth.

The garbodor was counting the wounded children with a monotonous tone 'I see Kiera, Joanna, Bergs, Zack… uh… was Samuel with you?' he asked looking at the tyrunt.

Jack looked around. 'I don't see him. He wanted to be the scarer this time.'

By "scarer", Karli wondered if that was who was creeping up on them, when she used the giant sign to crush them against the wall. Her pupils turned small and chills ran up her back as she looked down the long path where she made the attack.

Glim and Shadow walked out of a steaming hot pathway between shanties, getting them to the other side of the room as they search for Beryl. It was very hot down there with all the refugees of different species around, making the little glaceon pant. Being near his houndoom did not help much either, but he was safe with him.

'Hey Shadow?'

'Yes sweetheart?'

'People down here have lost loved ones… I think it be best if you gave back my tail.'

'Oh.' replies shadow, looking back at his tail which he wrapped around Glim's, like many quadrupedal couples do. 'Sorry, didn't know I even did that.' he chuckles.

The glaceon walked ahead, looking out for their fiery fox friend. Why he would disappear confused Glim, they were in the middle of a refuge site within a warzone. Being quite close to the right hand side of where he and Shadow had emerged from, Glim turned left and started looking left to right. As before, he was either seeing struggling families or distressed pokémon who were alone.

A lonesome white vulpix had caught Glim's attention when Shadow came next to him and pointed at two individuals further ahead on the same side. There was no mistaking that one of them was a pretty braixen with an unusual blue wand in his tail. He appeared to be talking to someone, hidden by a plank of wood.

The glaceon ran a little closer to the braixen who was kneeling, before he noticed that Beryl was on the verge of tears. Glim stopped suddenly, making the houndoom behind almost crash into him. He then looked back to Shadow and tilted his head, signalling him to follow him. The two moved left into another pathway between shanties, attempting to approach the braixen without distracting him.

Beryl, on his knees was holding the paw of an unwell fox pokémon, a delphox. She had her back against the hard brown wall and her eyes were black and dreary. She was poorly covered in the blanket she had been provided and smelled of overheated electricity. Somehow though, she had a smile on her face, yet the braixen before her did not.

The little fox boy took a deep breath, blocking out all the noise around him as he looked back up at the delphox, still with tears having soaked his face.

'Why didn't you come to save me, or Julie?' whispered Beryl.

The smile on the old delphox had dropped. 'You think I did not want to?' she stroked the braixen's face with the paw he was holding. 'Sweetheart… I was not going anywhere with this.'

She slowly lifted her blanket, revealing her front to be mostly black, with deep cuts and green wounds forming craters in her body. Seeing it made Beryl breathe in again, his voice cracking as he did.

'The… the Chrono Necrosis.'

'Yes… when one looks into the future too much, or alternative futures, the spells can do great harm. To the point of needing sacrifices or even life to project them.'

'But why would you do that?' he cried, holding the dark cold paw on his face.

She paused, staring at Beryl's beautiful wet eyes. His cheeks were a charming shade of red, while his voice matched his desired femininity. All of which made the delphox so much happier for him.

'I had to know if you would be safe.'

Her braixen looked down, clenching his teeth before breaking down, forcing him to hug the delphox. She was held tightly, while she got her smile back, nuzzling Beryl and stroking the back of his head.

'Beryl…' she whispered in his ear. 'You should know, just how happy I am for you.' Beryl lifts his head off her shoulder to hear her better. 'I had been watching your future since Hydrangea was taken over. And when I saw you rescued by your friends and growing attached to them, I could not stop myself. I wanted to see you so badly. You changed so much during your journey. Helping Glim, trying to save Belle, befriending that broken weavile. Standing by your friends up against that monster. You've become so brave.'

The braixen breathed deeply, releasing the embrace between him and his mother.

'I'm going to-' he stutters. 'I'm going to get you out of here. I won't let you die down here.'

They joined eyes again, making the delphox smile more, but then she shook her head.

'Do not make promises you cannot keep Beryl.'

He pauses. 'I don't care… I don't want you to die down here.'

'You have to leave me sweetie.'

'No! I can't.'

'It is not me who needs you, Beryl. Your friends are in great danger without you. You take a great role in future, especially one that comes shortly. I do not want you to lose any more friends than you already have, along with losing me too.' Beryl looked down again, trying so hard to resist crying, but he just cannot help himself. 'Sweetheart.' she strokes his burning furry cheek. 'You are looking for the Crimson Revolution main headquarters, correct?' the braixen had completely forgotten about his objective, but it made him snap out of his bewailing. He nods, beaming his very sparkly eyes that had gone red from crying. 'There is no "main headquarters", only bases with secondary leaders. Commander Rancour could not risk losing his revolution if his one base was found, right? He is quite the legend from the visions I have seen. But, the closest base nearby is below the Egg Sector, only a mile south-west if you return to the tunnels. Okay?' her braixen pauses again only to nod seconds later. 'Remember what you said? "There is no greater performance than reality?" Well, I am afraid it is happening my child.'

'You don't have to do this.'

'I know… but I have nothing left but you.' they paused again, before the delphox nods over to the glaceon and houndoom watching from a distance. 'Go… your friends are waiting.'

Beryl did not even look back, he only stood slowly, eyes still locked to those of his mother as turning away became increasingly hard. He was uncaring of the pain in his legs for kneeling and still oblivious to all the noise of the refuge site. Finally, he closed his eyes and turned round. The pretty fox boy figured that his friends would not be just behind him, but watching from meters away. He opened his eyes to see Glim and Shadow standing side by side in the pathway ahead of him.

The little glaceon had a worried expression, afraid to approach Beryl in the state he was in. Thankfully, Glim could stay because the braixen was coming to them.

'Beryl?' said Shadow. 'You alright buddy?'

He stopped just in front of them, wiping off his tears. It was pointless to hide that he had been crying, not that Beryl was trying to hide that.

Glim just remained still and silent, keeping a sympathetic face.

'I'll… be fine.' the braixen choked. 'We have to go. Back where we came in.' he said pointing at the corner on the opposite side of the room.

'If you say so Beryl.'

Before the houndoom moved, Beryl raised his paw.

'Wait!' they paused, staring still into the distraught eyes of the fox boy, who then looked back at the delphox. She was still watching and smiling. 'One moment.' he whispered to his friends.

Shadow and Glim nodded sorrowfully as Beryl turned and walked over to his dying mother, who still kept her smile. He knelt down and picked through the junk that had piled up around the fox woman, until he found a thick stretch of material. It was perfect. He looked up at his mother's eyes once more.

'I'll miss you.' he said, attempting to wrap the material around her head, but his paws were twitching violently, until they were met by the paws of his mother. She helped him wrap the bind around her face, until she could no longer open her eyes.

'I will miss you too.' she whispers.

Beryl knew, the last thing his mother wanted to see, more than anything else was his face. Without the ability to see, she would die without seeing anything else. Those thoughts passed through his mind as it made him tear violently as clenching his teeth stopped nothing. His entire top half gave in to crying out, while his legs propelled him to run. He flew passed the little glaceon and houndoom, heading for the exit he suggested without looking back.

'Beryl!' cried Glim, chasing after him.