Chapter 16:
'Failing one another'

Outside of what felt like a refugee city of its own, Glim was stuck once more in the embrace of his distraught braixen friend. Beryl was deeply grieving for the loss of his mother, who was not dead so to speak, but considered that way as she was doomed to sit where she was left, unable to help and unlikely to survive the revolution. She at least got to see what she wanted most, her son, before he blind-folded her and ran in despair.

Beryl's furry body was hotter than usual, giving the little glaceon more discomfort than usual and difficulty to breathe. He figured that the pretty braixen was heating up because of his emotions losing control, which left Glim to sweat heavily down his front, while tears from Beryl trailed down his back. As uncomfortable as Glim was, he continued his hold, even though he was unbearably hot, he knew Beryl was not finished. The braixen continued to weep, far quieter than earlier. To comfort him a little further, the glaceon tried nuzzling the fox boy, stroking his head side by side.

Glim wanted to say something, but just could not think of anything, at least anything that would help, so he just kept to embracing the braixen and letting him get it out of his system. However his silence made time feel a little slow, so he wondered where his friends may be. Shadow meanwhile decided to stay a little longer in the refugee site to see if he could dig any information about the Crimson's base, regardless of their status of the revolution.

Most underground refugees were mostly made up of innocents who wanted nothing to do with it or were unable to escape. Then there were a percentage of rebels who became too injured to help the Crimson further. It seemed however that anyone from the Republic shared the same fate, either utterly insane, silent or suffering from desperation to have something removed from their heads, which they could not explain.

Eventually, Beryl stopped leaking optical waterfalls and was breathing slower, but he still held Glim tightly. The glaceon could easily sense that he was calming down and even his body heat was getting more comfortable, but something else was wrong.

'Glim?' whispered Beryl.

'Yes?' answered the timid glaceon, as softly as he could. The braixen paused long and hard, it seemed he had nothing to say too. 'Is there something you want to talk about?'

Glim immediately regretted asking that, fearing it would upset Beryl, but it seemed to change nothing as the fox boy meekly shook his head. Maybe he just wanted to hear that the little glaceon he was embracing was real.

Soon afterward, the braixen loosened his grip and in sync the two separated slowly. Glim remained staring up at Beryl where he sat, keeping a sympathetic look. The pretty fox boy however had a lot of water to wipe from his face which kept him occupied for a moment.

At that moment, Shadow called from the pitch black stairs where they had both entered and exited from.

'Hey guys,' he said climbing back onto the subway tracks, Glim and Beryl finally separated. 'Someone said there's a base nearby. If we follow this track and take the next right, I think. We can't miss it.'

'A CR base?' asked Glim.

'Yeah.'

'Can we really just walk in? Won't they… um.'

'I don't know much about the initiation,' Shadow said, looking back down the stairs. 'And that luxray said getting in won't be easy.'

'Did they say how?'

Shadow awkwardly shook his head. 'He got in after being rescued by revolutionaries, when his house fell on him. So I'm guessing it's more complicated than we first thought. But surely we can just say we're here to join.'

'Yeah.' nodded Glim, hiding a little anxiety that loomed within him. He felt as though something would go wrong, if it was that simple, than what would stop Republic cronies from doing the same?

The dark houndoom was eager to get moving, not excited but looking out for his boyfriend and Beryl. Shadow already moved steps ahead, turning back and stopping to see Glim helping the braixen. The fox boy was done and calmed down, only wiping the wetness from his face as he stood.

'Are you okay Beryl?' asked Glim.

Beryl only nodded, grabbing the wand in his tail and flaming a bright light so they could see through the pitch blackness ahead of them. The tunnel looked quite long, so they had some walking to do.

Haine in its revolution had four major bases of the Crimson, one big one stretching under the boarders of the Continent and Rogue sectors. On the most western side, Glim, Shadow and Beryl were heading for the base under the Egg sector, the smallest sector in Haine. The smallest base however was much further south beneath the Scorpion sector. The biggest Crimson Revolution base, known even by the Republic had to be Haine's Central Station, not only the biggest underground, but on the ground level too. The only reason it had not been dragon raided is because it sits under the upper level, where any supporter or executive of the Republic reside. Arguably, despite the upper level being only a 6th of Haine in length, it is believed to be more populated up there for dark reasons.

It was underground, where every CR base was hiding, other than the Central Station where Karli, her father and Terri was being led by a garbodor and a bayleef. All the children that were present in the mall were tailing them, except for the scraggy that Karli had killed.

The kirlia was still depressed about killing Samuel, though she had never met him and was taking initiative on a child who was going to attack her, it just hurt. She was just watching the crowded underground, seem to be slowly moving by, like nothing happened, nobody looking at her and just minding their business. What made it more harrowing was because of how dark it was, all she could see were faint red silhouettes, like she was entering Hell. It made her breath deeply, and again, suddenly fearing for her life, when she was met by a hand on her shoulder.

'Karli?' said McGregor. 'Are you okay darling?'

It seemed obvious to the dusknoir that his daughter was hurt about what she did, but asking her meant that she was cared for. To which she responded by looking back at him, with a smile and placing her hand on his.

'Thanks dad.' she replied.

McGregor continued to hover behind the kirlia as she proceeded to follow Ben and Meg. Little Terri meanwhile was sat on the mighty dusknoir's armoured shoulder, so she would not get lost. The underground path was very crowded, yet seemingly big too, it was probably a mall of its own before the revolution began.

The only part of the crowd that was catching Karli's eyes however were the moping children running around Ben. Some were moping, but the kirlia knew some of them were unnerved, afraid about their parents knowing where they were, yet not one of them were talking about Samuel, or looking back at Karli for killing him. Not that Karli wanted to be called a murderer, but it just felt so wrong, their friend was dead, killed by her and were acting like nothing happened. She was already overcome with guilt, but there and then she just felt sad. Not even Samuel's 'best friend', the tyrunt seemed at all down, in fact he was the one griping the most about wanting to fight the Republic. Every whine from the little tyrunt sickened Karli and it was noticeable.

'Karli,' McGregor spoke. 'Let me assure you, you were defending yourself.'

'No, dad!' Karli interrupted. 'I just- I don't understand why, why they're not affected by it all! Their friend is dead and it's like they've already forgotten him.'

'Karli. Perhaps, they have gotten used to it.' he replied, while Karli's face turned from annoyed to sad again. 'You had your share of hardships getting here, but in Haine, these things happen hourly, maybe even every minute. The children might be unable to mourn their losses, maybe they were not such friends after all.'

The little ballerina kept walking, having nothing to say. She began to fear instead of herself or her friends ending up like that. In fact, Karli had already seen it in Angel and Glim. The weavile was keen to leave them at Camellias and Glim was so sick of the revolution even before Angel was, when he opened out in the toy store at Hydrangea. The kirlia wondered if she would turn like that too, maybe she already has.

'We're not far now you guys.' said Ben looking back, stopping to let Karli and her friends catch up. 'CR Central is just some stairs to go.'

'I hope its downstairs.' said Karli.

'Oh it is, thank god.'

At the end of the tunnel appeared to be a far bigger room, like a ballroom, but when they entered, it was more of a chasm. Suddenly coming onto an enormous flight of stairs heading downward. To add to the fear factor, the stairs was seemingly a bridge, built suspended in air. Being in the middle spared Karli from seeing the blackness that was below, she could easily see the stairs was in the air, but noticing the ceiling stretching wider than whatever she was walking down. The only thing preventing her from seeing the sides and its guards were the crowds.

Light was beaming from below, where the stairs led to another location. The light however was also the source of the room lighting up in red, making it look rather creepy. Terri wondered if they were entering Hell itself and secretly so did Karli.

The next room they were heading for was far noisier than the crowded stairs they were on. It came as no surprise when they entered to find it to be an enormous community formed as part of the underground rail station. For at least two miles from where they could see, was platform after platform, several of which had trains locked down in their places and being used as shelters. There were people everywhere of all species. It looked more like a refugee site more than a rebellion base of operations.

Karli was eyes open when she entered that place. It looked so dark, even with its hardworking old lights, and there were many people upset and angry as usual, but then there were frequent battle cries and cheery atmospheres about taking the city back. Of course, some revolutionaries would not know a thing about what was happening outside of Haine. The revolution had affected the whole of Crio. Something else was concerning the kirlia, as with McGregor, they both noticed a tremendously thick pillar, dead centre of the underground. They assumed that to be the main supporting pillar that keeps not only the ground level from falling on them, but also a part of the upper level where the political enemies laid their heads.

The dusknoir pondered, unable to see the future in that moment, what were to happen if the Republic decided to evacuate the small area the pillar was supporting, and then destroy it from below? The entire station would collapse on itself and if the ground level or the pillar did not crush the station, the torn-off part of the upper level would. Thinking about it put McGregor on edge.

Karli approached Ben and patted him on his shoulder. 'Hey, are these all CR members?' she really had to speak up to get her voice heard.

'Mostly, yeah!' replied the garbodor loudly, stopping when he left the stairs. 'But this isn't where the Crimson recruit or make their plans!'

Meg was already on the ground with most of the children, other than Bergs and Kiera the injured meowth, who were held in Ben's unusual arms. The garbodor, followed by the kirlia, dusknoir and cranidos left the stairs and stood near the bayleef. At first Ben was getting Meg's attention when he looked back at Karli and her father, a little confused.

'Wait, aren't you members already?' he asked, glancing at Karli and McGregor.

'No!' she replied. 'But that's what we're here for.'

The giant trash heap seemed concerned, taking one look at Terri who was still grasping onto the dusknoir's shoulder and head, almost hiding herself.

'Even her, how old is she?'

Terri said nothing and just looked away. McGregor noticed the silence and looked at his own daughter, though she was twenty, she was old enough presumably to join the Crimson at least. It was difficult for them to want the assistance of children, either because of their naivety, inexperience and because they did not want to be responsible for broken parents.

'Would she be safe with you?' the dusknoir asked.

'Safety is not something I can promise,' replied Ben, closing the distance between himself McGregor and Karli. 'This is Haine.'

'I don't think-' Karli interjected, glancing at the cranidos. 'Terri, you said your family were killed in Hydrangea didn't you?'

Terri gave a depressive nod.

'Well you can do two things, she could stay with this group of children or you can take her with you. But bare in mind, if she isn't over twelve, the CR will not be held responsible with what can happen to her. That's all we can do right now.'

Karli and her father looked at each other and though they were okay with joining the CR, they felt worried for the innocent little cranidos. Of all her friends, she was the only outcast other than Beryl who did not really want to be there at all, she just wanted to be with her friend.

'Then do you mind if we have a moment to decide?' asked McGregor.

'Take as long as you want my friend.' replied Ben. 'You can find us at train car 'B244', it's the red one near the medical bay on platform… uh 31 I think. If you take-'

Karli interrupted. 'I'm not going to remember all that.

Her father chuckled, 'do not worry, we'll find you.'

'Okay, best of luck and take care.' said the garbodor in a positive manner, but also eager to move as Meg and the children had already began moving back to their station.

The little kirlia waves jolly, but then looks up at her father. 'What now?'

The dusknoir took the little cranidos into his hands and held her in front of him, looking at her as if she was his own.

'We need to make a decision,' said McGregor. 'Let's find somewhere quiet, okay?'

Terri nodded without saying anything and Karli looked around.

'Dad, you're not thinking of leaving her behind are you?'

'Let us find some space first and we will talk about what we shall do. Do you know what you want to do?' the giant ghost asked the little cranidos, who remained quiet. It seemed she was deep in thought, but really she had no idea what she was doing there and agreed that some space would be nice.

Nearby, while Karli and her friends came in from the north entrance, another crew scrambles into the underground site from a north-east entrance. It was Angel, barely walking, helped by Gem the toxicroak and followed closely by Marcus the golem and Kylie the leavanny. The thick crowds made it difficult to navigate through, but the strong toxicroak was in a hurry and refused to be pushed around.

'Coming through!' Gem called, looking unstoppable as she barged passed a heavy rhydon and cleanly slipped between an aggron and a swampert.

The toxicroak continued shuffling through until she reached one of many medical bays and bust the door open. The bay was dimly lit in a dark red and was surprisingly quiet with all the racket ongoing just outside. The atmosphere was creepy, survivors or relatives were crying at the back of what appeared to be a long corridor. It was as if lampent were swarming behind the lights waiting for the pokémon below to die, so they can burn their souls.

As soon as Gem stormed in, she practically threw Angel onto the nearest available bed. The weavile shook violently upon landing and coughed in pain while doing so.

'Sorry, is this bed being used?' asked Gem, looking down the corridor, but no doctors or nurses were present. By that time, Marcus and Kylie followed in. 'Ky, no nurse is available, can you tend to Homo Gobo?'

'Yes absolutely.' replied the slender insectoid, rushing to the other side of Angel's bed.

'The nickname lives I see.' grunted Angel, tightly grabbing his torso.

'Save the jokes buddy.' said Gem. 'We're suspecting wounds.'

The leavanny began to unbutton the coat worn by the weavile and opened it, revealing the ice packs stuck to his back after his injury from McGregor.

'Oh my god,' gasped Kylie. 'He's already injured.'

'Serious- dude!' added Gem. 'You've already wrecked your back, I think, and you came here?'

'It didn't stop me!' argued the weavile. 'It just hasn't set yet.'

'I can respect that, but that is balls crazy to do that shit you just did, run from a talonflame with that for your back.'

'I'll be fine.' replied Angel angrily and sitting up.

'No, Mr Homo.' insisted the leavanny, placing her thin leaf arms on the weavile, managing to force him back. 'You won't, you're condition is not just affected by your back.'

'She's right,' replied the toxicroak. 'You've already done you're head in too, why are you in such a hurry to get back up?'

'I need to find my friends.'

'If you're referring to the ones you ran from, they can be anywhere, this is Haine. None of them followed you either.'

At that moment, passing the elongated and barred windows, Angel's eyes widened and tensed as he saw a very familiar dusknoir float past, while carrying a little cranidos. He could not believe it, but it would have had to be an extraordinary coincidence if it was not them. Still being held down by Kylie, the helpless weavile pointed frantically at the passing dusknoir, who must have not seen him.

'There- that's them!' he shouted.

Gem and Marcus glanced at the stretching window for the dusknoir. It was much easier to see from inside the medical bay for being darker than the platforms outside it, which was likely why McGregor had not seen Angel beyond the foggy, dirty window.

While the toxicroak leaned over to see the giant ghost a little more, she, Angel and Marcus heard two thumps on the window. It was the blue haired kirlia, peeking through the window. She was staring at Angel, looking a little uncertain as she gave a wave, she must have wondered if the weavile just so happened to be him. When the weavile noticed Karli, he gave a frantic wave, desperate to regroup.

'Hey dad!' Karli called behind the window.

'Is that one of your friends?' asked Gem.

'Yes.' Angel grunted, while Kylie stuck a freezing cold gel down the weavile's sore back.

The kirlia ran to the entrance of what used to be an office, being the medical bay and walked in. She only glanced at the gloominess of the bay once and stared at the injured weavile with open eyes.

'Angel, are you alright?' she asked, approaching him near the toxicroak.

'Back still wrecked, head buncked, arm barbequed, utterly knackered and ears still ringing. Apart from that, having a fucking fab day.'

'Oh, his name is Angel.' grinned Gem.

'Is it just you, where's- where's everybody else?' asked Karli.

'I don't know! I was hoping for at least one of you guys to follow me.' replied the weavile.

'Oh and speaking of that, were you insane!'

'Yes.'

McGregor and Terri entered, both surprised to see Angel there of all places.

'You pretty much abandoned us back there Angel.' said Karli, glancing back at the dusknoir. 'But… my father told me why you had to do that.'

'Did everyone escape?' he asked on his side, looking up at the kirlia and at McGregor.

'I am fairly certain, yes.' answered the dusknoir. 'We are here regardless, however Glim, Shadow and Beryl I believe fled toward the Trap sector. Not sure where they are now.'

The toxicroak interjected, pointing at all four of them. 'Are you all…?'

'We're here to join the CR, yeah.' Angel answered.

'Oh kickass. We can help to get your scarves, I'm an admin you see. A sort of second lieutenant of the CR.'

McGregor raised his hand. 'That will be great, but right now, we have something to discuss first before we go ahead with this.'

'What?' asked Angel. 'We're finally here.'

'Terri?' said Marcus, staring at the little cranidos in McGregor's arm. The rocky monster had a very surprised look in his eyes.

The crew glanced at Terri and at Marcus, who was eerily staring back at the golem. She looked terrified. Karli meanwhile seemed surprised, while Angel appeared confused.

McGregor broke the silence. 'Greetings, are you family?'

'N-no,' stuttered Marcus quietly, still staring at her. 'I… Terri, what an earth are you doing here?' still, the cranidos stayed motionless and silent. Her breathing began to pick up as she looked more and more nervous. 'Where's Austin? Please tell me he's not here too, Terri.'

At that moment, Karli inhaled silently, understanding why Terri became so quiet. She turned her gaze to Angel, who had a more serious look to the golem.

'Who is Austin?' asked McGregor.

Gem interjected. 'Austin's his son.' she became pretty serious too. 'He and Terri were… there's no way you would've come here without him Tez.'

Terri slowly looked over at the window, curling her lips, trying as hard as she could to not cry. But her eyes failed her, leaking a lone pretty tear.

McGregor began to piece what was happening before him and even Kylie stopped what she was doing to listen. The dusknoir looked over to his daughter, who had a sad expression.

Karli crept passed Gem and the side of the bed so she could see the golem, who was looking more and more distressed. 'Could you-'

'Terri.' interrupted Marcus, just raising his claw at Karli and the pausing. 'Tell me, he's alive.'

Helplessly, the little dinosaur began leaking optical waterfalls. Karli stepped in again, attempting to comfort Terri and McGregor lowered her so the kirlia could hug her. At the same time, the giant golem turned around quickly and stormed out to the other exit. Gem wanted to call out to him, but knew he wanted space. On his way out, Marcus broke through the second door, letting it fall.

'We know what happened to him.' said Angel in a serious tone and the present crew looked at him, except for Terri.

'I can't advise you tell'em buddy.' said Gem. 'Not like that.'

'I never said I would, just… letting you know.'

The toxicroak looked at Kylie who slowly resumed her gel treatment to heal Angel's wounds. Gem then turned to little Terri, who was still holding onto the kirlia only just taller than her. She was confused how she did not recognise the cranidos before Marcus did, but she knew her just as well.

Gem sighed, something heating up in her back. 'Terri, we told you and Austin to stay at Camellias, with his mother.'

Finally, the cranidos lifted her head from Karli's shoulders, drenched in tears and losing control of her ability to speak. 'I couldn't stop him, I- he was-'

'And what about his mother! You couldn't have got her instead! Austin's dead Terri!'

'Stop it!' Karli shouted back at Gem. 'She's just a girl!'

Terri broke down, turned and ran out of the door just behind them.

'Terri!' called McGregor, wanting to leave, he glanced at his daughter first. His stare was asking a question and Karli nodded to say that she would be fine. McGregor left the medical bay to find the cranidos.

'Gem.' said Kylie worriedly.

The toxicroak sighed again, not having time to deal with family matters.

She spun round to the leavanny and weavile. 'Look, you make sure he doesn't go anywhere.' indicating at Angel, then turning back to Karli. 'Are you going to stay here?'

The kirlia paused glaring up at her and glanced at Angel, who nodded with regret in his expression. It comforted Karli to know that the weavile was not exactly friends with the toxicroak either, but if she was to join the CR, it would be best to cooperate.

'Okay, fine.' Karli sulked. 'But only here to stay with him,' she nodded at Angel. 'My father will be back.'

Gem paused, seeing the anger in the kirlia. 'No one's here to make friends, sweetheart. I'm sure you know that.'

'I do now.'

The toxicroak turned to Kylie again. 'I'm gonna inform Maladan of our mission, then I'll deal with Marcus.' she begins to head for the other exit where said golem had left. 'Nobody, is to approach him, got it! He's pissed!'

The leavanny interjected. 'Gem, none us are in any condition anyway-'

'Good! I'll meet you back in our quarters.'

She left and the insectoid plant hybrid resumed her aromatic work as Angel did his best to keep still. His burned arm was still twitching crazily from his fight with the talonflame. Karli meanwhile leaned against her back on the window. They were finally there, at a base of the Crimson Revolution, but she and the brutally tough weavile before her had barely made it. She wondered if she should have followed her father and was worried for Terri. On top of all that, where were Glim, Beryl and Shadow? The kirlia could only hope they were safe.

While Karli, her father, Terri had safely entered the biggest base of the Revolution and reuniting with Angel with recently befriended allies of his own, the same could not be said for the three other boys. A light blared brightly immediately forcing Beryl to avert his eyes. The braixen was in a prison room made of bricks and all alone it seemed. Glim and Shadow were nowhere to be seen.

'You know why you have been spared, braixen. Don't you?' said Charlotte.

The mismagius emerged from darkness.

'Where am I?' Beryl replied, suddenly noticing the dizziness in his movement.

The ghost, seeming to be nothing but a cloak and a big hat paused. 'Maybe it was a little stronger than I thought. My dear boy, you were put to sleep, while we… dealt with your friends.'

Suddenly the images flashed into the braixen's mind of what happened, making him gasp. He, the glaceon and houndoom had traversed down several dark tunnels, guided only by his wand light. The only other light they saw was a creepy red one, only lighting a guarded gateway. The gate appeared lonesome, protected only by an aggron and a machamp, both of which were heavily armoured, masked and scarred.

The next thing he saw was an argument between Shadow and the guards who appeared questioning them with knives for eyes. The houndoom is pinned down by the machamp, followed by a scraggy and a granbull coming out from the darkness to assist the guards. Glim meanwhile looked as though he was begging. Beryl meanwhile, at least as far as he knew was slowly taking steps back and dropped his special wand and raised his paws. When suddenly the aggron looked up at him, face completely hidden in blackness and charged toward the defenceless fox boy. The huge metallic dinosaur tried to dive tackle into him when Beryl quickly took a side step, narrowly dodging a fatal attack. Still he refused to fight and shivered in his surrender. Such appearance of fear made the nearby guards look at the braixen with scepticism when something passed them, a patch of dark fog which transformed into a figure with a long pointy hat. The being was known as a mismagius, who wavered her cloak at the others to hold their attack, but then she gave Beryl a disturbing look as her eyes flashed red and yellow. The braixen then blacked out.

'Where are my friends?' cried Beryl, tensing his paws.

Charlotte drew closer. 'You will not raise questions here, do I make myself clear?'

'Y-yes mam, but I-'

'As for your friends, you are best forgetting about them.'

'What?'

'They are clearly members of the Republic… unless you can convince me otherwise.'

'No! They're- we came all this way to join the Crimson. That is… you guys right?'

Charlotte smiled and shook her head, 'you're too innocent. Tell me where you came from.'

'I came from Hydrangea, which was where I met Glim, the- the glaceon. We were imprisoned together at the Royal Talon. Um…'

'And the houndoom?'

The braixen paused, pupils going small, 'I… first met him outside Camellias, on that… extraction point. He was tailing Glim all that time.'

'Tailing?'

'I mean, when Glim had been in prison with me, he was um- he was separated from Shadow.'

'The Royal Talon?' she asked and Beryl nodded. 'And how did he end up there?'

'I-I remember, he came from that island, Lilac I think, which got raided and he survived.'

Charlotte squinted. 'And was the houndoom with him?'

'I think so.'

'Sweet little braixen, your "friend" is a Republic agent.'

'What? But… Shadow's a dark type.'

'We've seen the Republic getting crafty. They've used dark types they captured to search for us and pinpoint where to Dragon Raid next. Words from the commander himself.'

'But Shadow isn't-'

'And do you not think it is strange that he was with your friend when Lilac got raided? We sure know about Prince Snowdrop, he was once one of our allies and when he was killed, nothing was stopping the island from getting raided! Perhaps that houndoom is only tailing your glaceon to keep track of him, knowing the potential he has.'

'N-no, they're boyfriends.'

'One of which, is a manipulated dark type. We know better than anything else about what dark types can do, our commander has warned us.' the mismagius levitated keeping a straight back, while her eyes remained fixed on Beryl's. 'I said to let go of them. Whether or not the glaceon is on our side, we will need more time for, but that houndoom must die.' her eyes then appeared calmed. 'As for you, it was obvious you had no ability to lie in your circumstance. If anything, you act like you don't want to be here.'

Beryl lightly shook his head and whispered, 'I… don't know what I'm doing. I just didn't want to be alone.'

'Don't worry.' said Charlotte, smiling. 'You won't be lonely with us, in fact, an ally like you could really help us.' the mismagius looked back and her cloaked waved across her, gesturing for someone to come in. 'Can you tell me, where you got this wand?'

A pangoro emerged from the darkness holding Beryl's unique blue wand carefully. The braixen shook his head.

'I don't know where it came from, it was given to me when I was being rescued at the Royal Talon. Some alakazam girl was saving me and Glim.'

'An alakazam?' interjected Charlotte. 'Did you know her?'

'We never got her name, but she seemed to know us.'

The mismagius looked back at the mythical wand which was placed on the metal desk between her and the braixen. With the light shining on it, it glowed as if it was an art relic made by arceus itself. A little too futuristic and beautifully crafted for a wand in that era especially.

'That wand is incredibly powerful and was indeed one for braixen and delphox, such as yourself. Wherever it came from, you're lucky to have it.'

'Do you, know this alakazam?'

Charlotte's smile transformed, leaving her with a serious face. 'The commander has told me rumours, one of which was of a female, but… it's too surreal to be true. But with you with it, we'd be happy to assign you to our cause. What is most important to you?'

Beryl looked at the wand and thought for a moment. It seemed his journey from Hydrangea had less meaning than most of his friends, he was just sort of there, getting taken with the wind because he had no one and nowhere else to go. All his friends were killed before he even met Glim. At first, he wanted to say to have a future, but knowing his dreams of being any sort of performer was already in flames, there could only be one other to have his priorities.

'My friends.'

The mismagius stared at the braixen for a moment. 'With the Republic still alive, people all around Crio are going to die, be them your friends or not. Or even if they win. We cannot let that happen.' they paused again. 'What is your name, braixen?'

'It's Beryl.'

'Very well. If you Beryl, so wish to join us, take your wand.'

It was what he and his friends made the journey for, but something was missing and for it, he would have to betray them. The braixen leaned back on his chair and slid his paws around him, as if hiding them. His eyes meanwhile showed sadness, looking away from either Charlotte or his wand.

'I want to think about it.' he whispered.

The mismagius puzzled, seeming a little angry and did her best to hide it. She calmly took the wand she could not use and glanced back and forth at it and Beryl.

'You're making a mistake my friend. But, if a little time is all you need, then so be it.' she turned, handing the unique wand to the pangoro who brought it in. 'Alison will show you to your quarters. This base isn't a refugee, but it is still pretty crowded, okay Beryl?'

The braixen nodded, appearing so small to them. With his answer, the mismagius left disappointed alongside the pangoro. Before Charlotte left, two light green flames glowed in the darkness, revealing Alison to be a marowak who approached Beryl. He stopped, when passing the desk and gazed at the pretty braixen. The muscular darkened marowak paused, just inspecting the fox boy before him, waving his fiery bone near him to see him. Beryl noticed the examination and gave the marowak a curious look.

'Beryl, yes?' Alison asked.

The braixen nodded and the marowak offered his claw, but Beryl simply stood. 'Are you Alison?'

'Alison yes. With me you will come.' he replies boldly and took his paw.

Despite Alison's rough atmosphere and way he moves, he held Beryl's paw very softly and was patient enough for the braixen to move with him. The fox boy however just remained obedient, letting the marowak take him where his 'quarters' were.

Beryl was taken down a dark corridor that led onto a raised walkway, over a busy cafeteria it seemed. It was not particularly big, but it was clearly housing all of its inhabitants well, there was no riots or aggression.

The braixen was less interested in the crew and glanced around the structure, which appeared to be a school cafeteria at one point, with all the lockers and advertisement boards over the serving hatchway. Below him however were multiple doors, leading to what he could only imagine were either array of classrooms, toilets or to the upper floor, which peered over the cafeteria like a watch tower. There was no sign of any facility for prisoners.

Across the walkway, Alison took Beryl down a stairway which brought them down a dark corridor with eerily black rooms on either side. Some the rooms had lights on, though these lights were of medieval methods, such as lanterns and candles. They were clearly sleeping quarters. Eventually, the marowak turned left, stopping in front of a door numbered 32.

'This be our sleep room.' said Alison, letting go of the braixen's paw and opening the heavy door.

Beryl's eyes shrunk a little, 'o-our room?'

'Yes.' he replied, waving his bone to create his usual green flame and lighting a candle he placed near the door.

Beryl entered the room and the shy braixen boy was quick to see the two beds being mere haystacks of a medium size. He realised that might be why he was paired with the marowak as they were roughly the same size and Alison likely had room for a roommate. Just when Beryl made that conclusion, the marowak answered it.

'Partner killed in previous mission, Alison alone.' he said so boldly, as if unaffected.

'O-oh, sorry to hear that.'

Alison stormed toward his haystack and angrily plonked his bone against his collection of chains and mats. 'Partner was asshole! He betray Alison and smell of poo!'

Beryl did not know whether to apologise again or to say 'good riddance' which he thought would have been a bit insensitive. Instead he only said 'okay' and nodded. It was obvious that Alison was not the talkative sort and English was not his first language.

'You smell of cream.' continued Alison, looking to the pretty braixen, suddenly losing a lot of his seriousness as he sat proudly in his hay bed.

'Sorry?'

'You smell nice and is… beautally-ful.'

Beryl smiles awkwardly. 'You mean beautiful?'

'Yes, very.'

The braixen paused for a moment, 'thank you.' he stared at the marowak for a moment. 'Wait, are you going to bed?'

'Yes, Alison had mission last morning. We Crimson need energy to fight, lots!'

'A-am I okay to… come back? I mean, know my bearings?' the mighty marowak tilted his head, not seeming confused but showing he misunderstood. 'I mean to, um… I return later, now I have look around.'

'Yes,' Alison replies boldly, 'you can seek, I remain here.'

'Thank you.'

With that Beryl calmly left the room and gently closed the door, his marowak roommate eyed him as he left. Alison then laid back down and smiled.

Terri had not run far from the medical bay. McGregor found her by a small makeshift playground, where multiple children were passing the time playing with each other. A group of boys of varying species were using train cars, opposite each other as goals for their ball game. The children nearby were seemingly oblivious to the despairing cranidos who was hiding in a plastic playhouse, she was barely small enough to fit into it, but it still hid her. She just wanted to be away, to be invisible, nobody to know her for what she did.

The giant dusknoir crept up to the playhouse, having given Terri a moment to calm herself. McGregor stayed out of sight for the little cranidos, so she would not feel that he was watching her. The dusknoir knew that Terri wanted to be alone, but then he could not leave his daughter in the same circumstance.

Still enduring the resisted sobbing of the little dinosaur, McGregor lightly knocked on the house. 'Terri?' he asked softly, 'can I talk to you my dear?'

The cranidos finally stopped. 'Is… Karli there?'

'No, she's…' McGregor looked back, unable to see the medical bay hidden behind the busy crowd. 'She is with Angel and I am not keen to leave her there.'

Terri paused, 'why'd you come for me? All I do is ruin everybody.'

She could not even finish her sentence before breaking into tears again.

'Terri… Karli sent me to find you because she is worried for you, I am worried for you.'

'Even… even right now, I've taken you away from her. And it's my fault!' she screamed. 'I could have stopped Austin from going and neither of us would've ended up here.' Terri took a moment to breathe and McGregor remained quiet. 'Leave me, Mr dusknoir. Go find Karli, she needs you.'

McGregor interjected, 'Terri, we're not leaving you here.'

'Then where're you taking me, up there? Don't…' she stuttered. 'I'll find that garbodor, then I won't be in your way.'

The dusknoir paused, suddenly more melancholic for the cranidos and took a moment to think. Terri had a point too, if she was to join them in their fight for Crio's salvation on the upper levels, she would likely get in their way and need them more. McGregor took one look into the future for the cranidos and strangely, he could not see anything at all, nothing but blackness. That often meant that her future was so clouded for having so many possible outcomes or perhaps having none at all. It hurt McGregor to want to leave, only making one slight drift backward made him feel like he was losing a daughter, when he barely knew the cranidos.

'Terri.' he said, patting her on the back. 'Could you come out a second?'

Unexpectedly, the cranidos did, she was slow and clearly distressed. She looked up, giving McGregor the most upset, soaking face. The dusknoir sunk down a little into the ground, so he was more on eye level with Terri and reached out to hug her. At first, Terri thought McGregor was going to take her back to Karli and Angel, but then hugged back tightly. Again, she leaked tears in receiving comfort.

After a while, they separated. McGregor looked gigantic to the cranidos, but in a heroic way, like he was to be looked up to. Terri was able to give a little smile, but then she sulked back into the playhouse and remained silent. The dusknoir remained silent also, but could not help stare at the little girl, something felt so wrong to him. At the same time, his fatherly instincts gave him the feeling of getting pulled back as he had a daughter of his own to accompany.

Back at the medical bay.

'What the hell do we tell him?' asked Karli.

'Nothing,' replied Angel. 'For now.'

The injured weavile was still on the bed where his wounds were treated, only sitting up.

'So, you two knew Austin?' asked Kylie.

'We met him,' answered the kirlia. 'But… it was pretty brief.'

Angel interjected, 'long story short-'

'No Angel.' Karli interrupted.

'They already know Karli, what's telling'em now going to hurt them?'

'Telling "em", her,' she replied nodding at the sitting leavanny, 'isn't what's going to hurt them, it's how you say it. Remember when you told us about Belle?' Angel remained looking ahead, without an answer. 'That golem has lost his son, and tried to keep Austin from coming here. I can see why Terri was so nervous when we met her, crying in fact. But it was Austin who encouraged her to come. He was dead serious about her too.'

'That sounds… kind of like Marcus actually.' said Kylie, who then paused, 'leave him be. I never met his son like Terri or Gem had, but he meant a lot to him.'

The little kirlia looked back at the murky window, 'where is Terri anyway?'

'Not coming,' said McGregor suddenly appearing, which made Karli flinch, but then give a worrying expression.

'W-what do you mean she's not coming?' she demanded.

'I spoke to her, said we would not leave her, but she said otherwise. It will be safer for her too.'

Karli was giving a slow series of nods, seemingly angry, 'oh, she said that?' she whispered.

'We're going to fight revolution Karli, it was a sensible decision for her.'

'And what was stopping her from staying with us for now?'

'Karli, Terri is going to find that garbodor.'

'Because of tha-' Karli yelled, but managing to catch herself. Her head tense and squinted as she tightened her fist. 'Excuse me.'

The kirlia turned to leave, storming off to where the toxicroak and golem had left.

'Karli!' called Angel. 'McGregor, I'm pretty confident she's gone to find Marcus.'

'She would not.'

'You wanna bet on that?' the weavile asked seriously and the McGregor gave him a stern stare. 'Dude, that golem is rock solid, at least be there!'

The dusknoir looked ahead once more, only hoping that his daughter would not act so recklessly and on aggression.

It was too noisy all around the Crimson Revolution base in the Trap sector, Beryl had to hold his large ears down when he wanted to think. He avoided the crowded areas, looking out frantically for anything that suggested prisoning.

The braixen climbed back up to the overhead walkway above the cafeteria, as there was a few areas up there he had not checked. Just climbing onto it, he checked the door that was right next to the stairs, but it was only a disused fire exit. So he turned to cross the eerily unsteady walkway, which was only held up by wires.

'Hey, sweetheart!' called some gurdurr. 'We can see right up ya skirt!'

Immediately the men at that table burst out laughing and Beryl sped up his movement, both flustered and annoyed. He had heard catcalls like that before, being a feminine braixen, but things often get much worse if the males had seen that Beryl was not a girl.

Beryl reached the corridor where he was first taken through by Alison, where he was questioned and it was dead empty. Continuing ahead however, there was a door that had 'staff only' stuck on it. The braixen was worried if that was for the school the location once was, or for the CR. Placing his onto the door he heard nothing, so Beryl pushed down on the bar that opened the door. Opening it slightly, he peeked through the gap and slowly opened the door until he realised nobody was in the area the door it led to. It was another very long corridor, except it was lit up unlike the others. It was surprisingly quiet with the cafeteria just being down the shorter corridor behind him. The entire left wall was a stretch of reinforced windows, completely black.

The fox boy entered, feeling more confident as he did, but as soon as he closed the door, two hard thumps on the window made him jump for his life. Glancing at the noise and almost rushing back out of the corridor, Beryl saw a figure he was not expecting. Behind the window was Glim, pressing himself up against it and waving madly. Instead of leaving, the braixen rushed up to the window and placed his paws where the glaceon had his.

'Glim!' Beryl cried. 'Are you okay?'

The glaceon appeared to say something, shaking his head as he did, but despite how quiet the corridor was, Beryl could not hear anything. The window was clearly soundproofed, though it could not been too thick as Glim was able to hit it hard enough to get the braixen's attention. As tempted as Beryl was to break the window to save his friend, he was afraid it would attract attention, not that he could anyway, the window was one of those with sturdy wires built within it and he did not have his wand on him.

During Beryl's train of thought Glim rapidly breathed ice all over the window on his side, completely fogging it up. The braixen stepped back in surprise, but quickly knew what the glaceon was going to do. On the fogged glass, Glim wiped a square, followed with many lines going horizontally, which looked like an air vent. Just next to the diagram, he wiped a long vertical line, with an arrow pointing at it from one side and wrote A-M3 on the other side. Beryl could only assume that code was a room, which seemed familiar.

After his directions, the glaceon moved further along the window, where the ice had ended. Glim and Beryl shared eye contact, both pointing at the number which was downstairs, but then the glaceon made some other act, standing on his hind legs and making a violent motion, as if firing a gun. The fox boy puzzled and mouthed 'what?' Glim however, repeats his gesture, only quicker and a little angry. Beryl figured he wanted him to fight or something, but then turned to show Glim that his wand was taken from him, no longer carried in his tail. The little glaceon then ducked down under the window and when he came back up he had hand the braixen's wand in his mouth. Beryl's ears perked up seeing it. Glim then pointed downward twice, telling Beryl to go downstairs. The glaceon then turned and ran off.

The braixen boy could not help but run up to the glass again, afraid of losing the cute glaceon. Though it seemed that Glim was not wasting time, was probably aware of Shadow's danger and was being brave about it. Beryl then took a determined look and ran back to the door whence he came in. As he opened the door, he took one last glance at the 'A-M3' room number and quickly left.

Beryl quickly made his way across the skywalk, only walking faster to not appear too suspicious. He had to go down the same stairs he climbed up, taking him down to the crowded room of pokémon, mostly consisting of guys, war heroes and psychopaths. When the braixen got to the floor below, he was not quite sure where to go and was not keen on asking for directions, but he wanted to try the exit far behind him which appeared to be connected to many classrooms. Regrettably he notices the table of guys who were catcalling him earlier, but hoped to pass without another call.

'Hey beautiful.' called the same gurdurr from before, all his mates all staring at the angry braixen who glared at the smug muscular pokémon. 'I like your butt.' he chuckled, as did his friends.

Beryl in a flash took one step forward and gave a ferociously loud slap to the gurdurr's face. So loud, it managed to echo in the very noisy room. The gurdurr seemed unfazed and still smug, but squinting in pain. His mates however began laughing as the braixen quickly walked away.

'Mate, you deserved that!' laughed the swampert.

The hawlucha laughed, pointing at the gurdurr, 'dude, your face- did that sting by chance?'

'Yes.' he replied with clenched teeth.

Their conversation was getting drowned out as Beryl walked away, whilst he shook his claw. He could not help his feeling a grave shock, disbelieving he just slapped a tough looking man with all his friends and getting away with it. He felt different, he felt terrified yet alive, somehow it made him feel good, he stood up for himself.

Still coming out of the shock of his action in the cafeteria, the braixen looked left and right at every room around him. All the lights were on, but none of their signs started with an A. They were all just numbers. Beryl began to get desperate and ran to the end of the corridor which led to two more either side. The whole place felt like a maze, however, just on the wall was a sort of map, which looked rather old, but at one look at it, the braixen knew where he was and found the specific room Glim numbered to be just down the corridor on his right.

After more running down creepy lonely corridors, Beryl found room A-M3 just around a corner. But it was not a classroom, from the outside it appeared to be some lecture theatre with much thicker, tighter doors that appeared to be sealed with magic. In the middle of the two giant doors was some shield, glowing a violet colour.

'Psst, Beryl?' called Glim, sounding to come from the corridor Beryl had left.

The braixen glanced back and quickly noticed the air duct just under the ceiling. He ran up to it, but it was a little too high for him to look into. He could tell Glim's voice was not only coming from it, but down some shaft as well, so the glaceon was not just behind the fencing he saw.

'Glim?' called Beryl, just looking up at the grate.

'Beryl! Thank god, we don't have much time, okay? They're going to kill Shadow when one of the teams come back.'

'I know! But how are we getting him out of here?'

'Hold on.'

For a moment the glaceon sounded to have jumped off something and spoke to someone, Beryl could hear him saying 'now'. Suddenly a loud thud was heard, followed by eerie screeching until something metal was pulled off. Then the grate above the braixen received a hard knock, denting it majorly and was hit a few more times until the bars bent outward, forming a hole.

The female machop breaking the grate was Penny, who quickly shoved the unique wand through the hole.

'Quick take your wand.' she said.

The beautiful blue wand flew out and Beryl caught it awkwardly.

'Use it Beryl,' said Glim, 'the door is sealed from your side, but fire magic should break it easily.'

'Be prepared though.' added Penny.

Eager to help, the braixen rushed into the tiny corridor to the large doubled doors that appeared bomb proof. He swished his wand in a circle and summoned a ring of blazing fire around the shield. At an instant the fire had spread around the corridor, as if it bounced and lit up the area. Immediately at the same time the shield made a horrific squeal sound, like multiple voices screaming in pain. Suddenly, Beryl remembered what Penny had just said to him. His face went from serious to pale and in shock as he witness a sword drawing out from the shield, clearly appearing longer than it. The gold sword had an angry red eye and two long purple cloths coming from under the handle guard. That possessed creature was known as an aegislash.

The sword left the doors as they continued to glow violet with the shield in place, it then pointed its blade at the fox boy who flinched upon sight of the aegislash's blade. Beryl cowered holding his wand over his face as the blade swooped across the air and ground against the unique branch, which forced the braixen back and turning right sharply. The aegislash carried on going and sunk its blade into the wall that was behind Beryl.

Frightened Beryl saw his chance to strike, but his paws were so cold and tense from the situation he was only quick enough to point the wand at the struggling sword. The aegislash was hissing, beaming its bright red eye as it yanked itself from the wall before Beryl casted any fire, it rose up and struck down as Beryl gasped, leaping backward. The blade missed him by an inch. Suddenly at full control that time, the braixen screamed and flicked the wand at the sword, blasting as much fire as he damn well could. The floor all around became a sea of amber flames, with the sound of a metallic roar within it.

The wash of fire quickly faded as the aegislash was revealed to have yanked itself out from the floor, spinning wildly away from the door or the braixen. Immediately however, the sword pointed at Beryl again, turned black whilst twitching and zoomed into the stomach of the fox boy, impaling him to the wall just next to the doors. Beryl did not even scream, he had not even realised he had a huge sword stabbed through him, all he felt was being scared and knowing the aegislash was right before him, glaring its terrifying red eye at his big pretty eyes. Fortunately the braixen had still tightly held onto the wand, so in a fit of survival, he inhaled and raged, belting the eye of the sword with his wand, blazing in flames. Both Beryl and the aegislash screamed until the flames once again died down, except the sword pokémon seemed to twitch violently and pull itself of out of the fox, leaving him to fall on his bottom. The sword also fell to the floor, still twitching and on fire, screaming its muffled voices until finally stopping and clanking onto once side. As the sword fell, the shield half stopped floating in front of the doors and crashed to the floor next to the braixen.

The glowing violet aura that walled the door had faded away. Immediately, there were two voices behind it signalling to hit it and the door received a huge whack, almost opening it the first time round, however the locks had not broken completely. Beryl realised he was right in the way of the door's opening space, but he could not move at all right then, so he braced himself when the doors slammed open and hit the walls on either side. As soon as the machop and houndoom burst through, they stopped quickly upon sight of the burnt aegislash.

'Whoa!' said Shadow. 'Holy crap… Beryl?'

Glim ran after they blew the doors open, but the one on their right slowly closed as the cowering braixen was behind it. The glaceon and houndoom spotted Beryl at the same time, but it was Glim who rushed to him first, quickly noticing the vertical gash on the braixen's belly.

'Beryl!' cried the glaceon. 'Are you alright?'

The braixen was breathing deeply, knowing something was wrong. He was only beginning to realise that the aegislash had impaled him. Blood began to leak quickly.

'He got stabbed by the guard!' said Penny.

'We have to help him- can you move?' asked Glim.

Beryl tried to sit up, drawing in his legs and attempted to stand, but he just had no energy to. All he achieved was the great pain he had not felt when he was stabbed, making him squeak loudly. Glim ducked just next to him and attempted to lift him using his body.

'Don't worry Beryl,' he continued. 'We'll get you out of here-'

'He'll have to stay.' objected Penny.

'What?' I'm not leaving him here!'

Shadow then stepped in, 'Glim wait, she's right, if we take Beryl, he probably will die.'

'Exactly,' said the machop, 'you can leave him to me, I'll take Beryl to the medical unit. You two need to get the hell out of here.'

Glim paused, seeming sad and reluctant as he stared up at Beryl's pretty face who also appeared unwell. He then nodded and let go of the braixen.

'The exit?' asked Shadow hurriedly.

Penny pointed down from where Beryl came running from. 'Down this corridor, two lefts, up the stairs and the first right, a fire exit.'

'D-down here, two lefts, upstairs and right.'

'Yes, and if you get yourselves out, head for the central station. You don't need to be a Crimson member to be there, whereas you do here.'

'Okay.'

'But what about Beryl?' asked Glim. 'He just helped us escape and killed that thing, isn't Charlotte going to kill him?'

'Don't worry, Charlotte trusts me.' Penny replied, approaching the incapacitated braixen. 'As for him and the guard, well I can blame that on you two.'

'O-okay.'

'Glim, we have to go now.' said Shadow worriedly. 'I'm sorry Beryl.'

The braixen's eyes began to squint as his blood continued to leak. The blood appeared not so bad on the outside, but they knew that impalement would cause far more internal bleeding. Glim took a step back, staring at the dying braixen's eyes. It hurt to see him that way, inside he felt it was already too late.

'We'll…' the tears began to fill the glaceon's pretty eyes. 'We'll come back for you, okay?'

Beryl gave a weak nod. He too looked as though he was never going to see his friend again. He dropped his wand and with all his remaining strength, the braixen leaned forward, grabbed Glim's head and gave him a short kiss on his mouth. He slumped back at the wall, close to fainting.

Penny quickly knelt beside the braixen, 'go, go!'

The glaceon hesitated for a moment, very close to crying as he ran down the corridor, accompanied by Shadow.