Chapter 18:
'White heretic in metal'

A day had passed, when little Glim and his boyfriend were hunted by high ranking revolutionaries. Their tiring attempt to escape Bladeface and Charlotte had left them battered and exhausted, and if it was not for Ben Shadow would have been killed. The garbodor too had taken his share of the pain for his interference, but the misunderstanding was resolved. Although, Glim and Shadow were still on rocky terrain with the mismagius after their escape from the CR base in the Polka Dot sector, but also because she had gone to lengths to getting them killed when they were innocent. So for the rest of that day, Maladan and Gem took supervision of the exhausted glaceon and beaten houndoom. Thankfully, they were not hurt too bad and Ben being an amorphous poison type had easy ways to repair his damage.

It was Ben who reunited Glim and Shadow to Karli, McGregor and Angel. The kirlia could not help but throw herself onto the glaceon, embracing him. She had thought they were dead, though that was probably what happened to Beryl, having sacrificed himself for their rescue. Karli was disheartened about the news of their braixen friend and actually, so was Angel, not that he wanted them to know. Nevertheless, they had made it to Haine Central Station, the biggest refuge and headquarters for the Crimson Revolution.

Due to their troubles of getting into Haine, they were spared from having any assignments, since Angel already helped Gem, Kylie and Marcus return safely after completing their mission. Once the crew was mobilised, they were to report to Kylie or Maladan for their initiation.

Their 'room' all of which had to share was part of train car A561 on platform 2, quite far on the north side, which was just as crowded and noisy as the rest of the station. The room they had was only separated from the other rooms by curtains, pulled down the middle of the train car, like a public hospital. Within the space of their dirty cream curtains, were four hay beds and two hammocks. More than enough it seemed for Glim, Angel, Karli, Shadow and McGregor it seemed, but the hay beds were only big enough for the little glaceon and kirlia. The giant dusknoir however was not going to fit in any of the provided beds, so he volunteered to rest afloat, something ghost pokémon could do, though while still resting, they would become unable to control their movements. The two dark type men meanwhile took the hammocks, very close to the ceiling. It was obvious they had held very heavy pokémon before them.

Even though dark eyed, exhausted from the journey, all the running into Haine and around it and the lights off, Glim was having great difficulty sleeping. Like a brick was set in his head, but he just could not turn off. He just laid curled up in a ball in his patch of hay, looking at the silhouette of the train window through the curtains. It was still too noisy. Even though it was the next morning since they set off, the glaceon just could not sleep, or at least he could not get any more than what rest he got at the medical bay. At least that place was quiet enough. The little area was dark, and the neighbouring rooms had pokémon sleeping too somehow, so it was much quieter than being outside at least. But Glim could not help trying to get more and more comfortable to fall asleep, yet he just could not. He was facing the other side of the room, where Karli's hay bed was. It seemed she too was accepting that she was not going to sleep at all. The kirlia was laid on her back, her big head resting her hands and facing upward. Maybe she was also looking at the window silhouette like Glim was, just waiting for the time to pass.

'Karli?' Glim whispered.

Quickly the kirlia rolled her head to face the big eyes of Glim, who still looked so pretty even in his morning drowsiness.

'Yeah?' she whispered back.

'Have you been up all night as well?'

'I don't know… I've been awake for a while now.'

Glim paused, thinking of something to say, but then he remembered a question he wanted to ask before.

'Karli, what happened to Terri?'

The blue haired kirlia paused, staring sadly at the glaceon.

The day before, Angel stood with his back against train car B244, the one Ben and Meg were caring for both refugee children and orphans. The weavile waited, nothing detectable in his expression, he was just keeping out of a situation it seemed.

Inside, it was noisy as ever, like a primary school classroom. Other children were running around loudly, shouting out while playing their games. There was Kiera the meowth hanging on her risen bed, out of reach of Bergs, a little sewaddle who complained that he could not reach that high to tag her. Neighbouring the cranidos' bed was Zack the sneasel, just watching his friends further up the car. He was still injured from when Karli used Terri to attack him back in the mall. Zack's right claw was bandaged and was probably told to stay in bed, not that he seemed to mind.

Terri meanwhile was sat on her bed next to Karli, managing to block out the noises of the children. The kirlia had her arm around Terri with a saddened look in her eyes, while the little dinosaur was looking downward with a similar expression. The room felt silent to them, as if they were in their own void.

'So you're not… coming back?' asked Karli, pulling Terri until she was leaning on her. Terri paused and shook her head. 'What happened to Austin wasn't your fault, sweetheart.' the kirlia began stroking the cranidos. 'He wanted to go to Haine, and you didn't want to be left behind.'

'But I could've stopped him.' stuttered Terri. 'I should've told his mother that we were sneaking out… but, I was scared that he would hate me for it.'

The cranidos burst into tears, not so violently as before, like she was already exhausted from crying so much. Karli reached her other arm around Terri to hug her.

'You weren't responsible for his death though. And it wasn't right for that bitch to yell at you like that.' Karli paused. 'I- had a bit of a fight with them after what they said to you. And uh… we're on a rocky relation with them now, but it seems that Angel and I will get into the Crimson. I asked if you could be part of us, but my father told me about your decision.'

'I don't want to get in your way.' Terri uttered.

'I know… I just, wanted to see you before we joined. Just to know you would be safe.'

Terri paused.

'I shouldn't have come…' she said, her voice suddenly taking a serious tone. 'I would've been safe at Camellias, but…' Terri paused, shaking her head. 'I lost my family, I lost my only friend… and now, I don't know where I am. I just want to go home.'

She broke down again as Karli could think of nothing to say and hold her tighter. The kirlia was at a dilemma, she really wanted to help the poor cranidos, but could not think of any words that would help in her circumstance. Terri had lost far more than her, having to live with a family who once bullied her, then make a long, dark and dangerous journey to the heart of the revolution with a bunch of strangers to her. Perhaps worst of all, she was just a child.

Eventually, Karli decided to let Terri get her pain out of her system and hope she will recover in time. It was the only solution she could think of. When the cranidos stopped, the arm and shoulder which she cried on was very wet. She then released herself from the kirlia's embrace.

'I'm sorry.' Terri stuttered, struggling to maintain herself.

Karli shook her head, her hands on the arms of the little dinosaur.

'No it's alright Terri, it's alright.'

The cranidos paused again, breathing deeply and looked down.

'Just leave me,' she whispered. 'I'm not your problem anymore.'

Now Karli was feeling her lips tremble as a lone tear overflowed from her right eye. She wanted to tell Terri that she was never a problem for her or her friends. She wanted to hold her again. She wanted to stay with the cranidos for a little longer. But, she knew there was no saving what was left of Terri, at least there and then, so she gave the little dinosaur a kiss on her head and stood up to leave.

'We'll… come visit you, okay?' Karli uttered.

Terri only nodded, not even looking up at the kirlia's eyes.

'Shut, up!' roared Angel.

Immediately, Glim and Karli bounced from where they laid, squeaking in fright. The weavile was evidently sick from hearing Karli's story and decided to cut them off. The houndoom nearby struggled in his hammock as he thrashed out of his sleep.

'Wha- what's happening?' cried Shadow, glancing round the dark space.

It was quite likely that Angel had woken everyone who may have been sleeping in the train car, which became the worry for Glim who looked at the curtains around him. Karli meanwhile hand cupped her mouth, desperately resisting to laugh. Further down the car, there were two voices that muttered 'shut up' back, but that was all the glaceon could hear.

After Angel's poor attempt to quiet his roommates, Karli and Glim gave up in trying to sleep, so the two of them accompanied by Shadow left the train car. McGregor remained floating outside, with his arms folded as though he was somehow asleep despite the vast noise of the station.

'Dad?' said Karli, puzzling at the giant dusknoir. 'Hey dad.'

The little kirlia waved her hand within the giant ghost, making him mumble and fidget before suddenly waking up.

'Oh Karli,' said McGregor, shaking his head while his one eye flickered. 'What is going on?'

'How the hell can you sleep out here?'

'When you get older you'll understand.'

'You said that about Bargain Hunt, and I still find that boring as hell.'

The dusknoir looked at the three friends, noticing the weavile was not present.

'Where's Angel?'

'He got pissy and wanted to sleep more, and we're bored.'

McGregor looked down, wondering what they could do. They were due to have their initiation that day, but only when Kylie or Maladan were available and when their whole crew had come together. Angel meanwhile wanted more time and secretly so did Shadow, he was having difficulty walking with his front left paw after his impact the day before.

'Shadow and I haven't been here long.' spoke Glim.

'Yeah,' agreed Shadow. 'It would be nice to know the place, or at least the exits.'

Karli glanced around and shook her head.

'We haven't been around much either,' she replied. 'This place is huge.'

'All the more reason to know the whereabouts.' said McGregor. 'Let us stick together though, this is a bad place to get lost.'

The glaceon and kirlia nodded.

'Hey whatever happened to Ben, Jane, that magnezone and bayleef?' asked Shadow. 'Are they here too?'

'Ben and Meg are, yeah.' answered Karli, Glim meanwhile paused coldly. 'Who were the other two?'

'Jane's not here.' replied Glim in a serious tone. 'Sergeant got separated from Ben, along with another friend they met.'

'Did… Ben tell you this?' asked Shadow.

The glaceon quickly nodded.

'Ben's at a fostering train,' interjected Karli. 'Looking after refugee children and orphans.'

Shadow smiled.

'That sounds like him, do you mind if I see him?'

Glim and McGregor already began walking toward the overhead walkways.

'If he's available, yeah.' said Karli, quickly following after her father and the glaceon.

In pitch black darkness, someone was breathing calmly. Each inhale sounded troubled, and every exhale was weak. Somewhere in the void, another series of noises was repeating itself. A high pitched beeping that beeped every second, which lasted for thirty seconds before suddenly, Beryl woke up. He gasped into consciousness, first seeing the dark cream coloured ceiling, before looking down upon the rest of the room that had beds all along the room. Though his sight was blurry, it was easy for him to realise he was in some recovery room. The braixen's breathing got calmer as the image of a small giraffe-like pokémon drew closer and then turned.

'Marley, Beryl's waking up!' said the girafarig, turning to leave.

'Oh, thank heavens!' replied an older nurse approaching the dazed fox boy. Marley was a chansey, a very large, round pink pokémon who were stereotypically seen as nurses as it was common for them in countries worldwide. 'How are you feeling Beryl?'

His vision still had not cleared as he laid there. The braixen felt somewhat trapped in his bed without any power to move the feet he would stand on. Instead of asking 'where am I', like he wanted, Beryl wheezed out instead, like he was also trying to call for help.

'Don't worry sweetie.' said Marley, patting the braixen on his shoulder with her tiny arms. 'You're going to be fine, you just passed out from blood loss, but we have you recovering, okay?' the braixen stared into Marley's thin black eyes, unable to say anything in his deep breathing. 'You also have a visitor by the way.'

The chansey turned to her left to look at the ward entrance and gestured for someone to come in. Rather quickly, Penny came over to Beryl's bedside, followed by a purple marowak. The machop appeared serious still.

'Beryl, you alright?' she asked, as Alison passed her to stand just to the braixen's left.

Beryl recognised them in the blur of his vision, but was still too breathless to speak.

'Beryl, hello,' said Alison, raising a bouquet of cheap flowers. 'Alison bring you flowers!'

The chansey giggled seeing the marowak's flowers.

'He seems a little delusional right now,' said Marley. 'He has only just woken up.'

'Should we come back later?' asked Penny. Marley asked Beryl a second time if he was okay, but he could only whimper, too dazed to reply even if he could understand what they were saying. The chansey then agreed that the braixen should have a little more time to heal. 'When he's healed up a little more, can you tell him that his friends made it, they're okay?'

'Yes of course.' replied Marley. 'Who were his friends?'

Penny already started to walk away.

'It- it doesn't matter. But Charlotte wants answers from him about what happened.'

'No problem.' Marley sounded so joyful, though the news had the machop on edge.

Alison placed his flowers on the desk next to Beryl's bed, unsure of where else he could put them for the braixen to see. As the marowak turned to leave however, the chansey gestured to Alison to hand her the bouquet.

'We can put them on here darling.' said Marley, patting the foot boarder.

The marowak quickly handed Marley the flowers as she reached down for some string on the end of Beryl's bed. In a flash, the chansey had the flowers tied in the braixen's sight. He could in fact see them, but his consciousness was failing him as he seemed to also be rather tired. The fox boy whumped his head back on the pillows, letting the sounds drift from his mind. He could still hear Marley chuckling and Alison whispering something to her, before Penny called him over to leave.

Outside train car B244, Ben's shelter for infant refugees, Shadow and Glim stood. Little Glim looked back at the stairs further down the platform, where McGregor and Karli waited. They both wanted to leave Terri be after what she had been through, though it was Shadow's request for them to visit Ben and Meg.

'So Terri's here too, right?' asked Shadow.

The glaceon nodded.

The houndoom knocked on the giant iron door, wondering if that was how he was supposed to enter. It was the appropriate thing to do, to request attention for any household to allow their entry. If they were humans however, they would probably have just broke in like they used to and smashed all their pots for rupees. Seconds after his second thumping on the door, it opened revealing a tired looking bayleef.

'Meg!' greeted Shadow.

For a moment, the bayleef had to take a moment to recognise the houndoom before her eyes widened hugely.

'Oh my god, it's you… um.' she stuttered.

'Shadow.' the houndoom chuckled.

'Sorry, it's been a while.'

'Meg?' asked Glim, staring up at her.

The glaceon and bayleef paused. Meg recognised the cute little glaceon and his enormous glacial eyes, but something was stopping her from believing it.

'No way… Glim?' she cried in shock.

Immediately, the giant plant-like dinosaur leaped down to embrace the glaceon. She had not seen him since the fall of Symphonia, something that Glim had remembered, but also realised the irony as he was the one responsible for its destruction when Snowdrop was killed. 'I heard you had survived, but… I didn't think I would see you here, either of you.'

'Yeah,' said Shadow. 'We got here yesterday actually.' he shook his head. 'Rough as hell day.'

Glim nodded.

'It was.'

'Is Ben around?' asked Shadow.

Meg shook her head.

'No, sorry. Despite his injury yesterday, his Crimson lieutenant ordered a report from him and to attend a search party this morning.'

'It was us he saved yesterday,' said Shadow, a little depressive. 'Which is when he was injured.'

'It was? I did wonder why he got so worked up hearing that radio transmission.'

'Yeah and I wanted to thank him, I mean… our reunion didn't last long.'

'Radio transmission?' asked Glim, peeking at the gap between the door and train.

'It's how we communicate across the capital, Glim.' replied Meg. 'The frequencies are changed on a weekly basis in case we have non CR members listening down here.'

'But what if the Republic-'

'We have jammers for them. The commander organised teams of engineers to hide jammers all around the city so any radios above the perimeter would only hear fuzzing. The upper levels and Storm Walk are where the large majority of Republic are based.'

It was a smarter operation than Commander Rancour may have realised. By making a jamming barrier between the Crimson and Republic bases, he had not only created safe, simple communication for his revolution, but subsequently handicapped the communication between the upper levels and the Storm Walk. One operation managed to cut off the Republic easily giving orders to their most dangerous offences and spare Crio of more Dragon Raids. However, it was obvious that the Republic had more ways to commune with their Storm Walk as the Dragon Raids were still happening.

'Damn.' nodded Shadow, he suddenly had a confident expression. 'You guys are more organised than Nicolai.'

'Well… it's the commander who is, really.' answered Meg. 'Rancour wasn't known for Crio's best military commander for nothing.'

'I'm amazed that he even united this revolution so quickly, in the face of all those murders and bomb raids the Republic were doing. Wasn't he retired too?' Meg nodded. 'War heroes.'

The bayleef looked back inside train car B244, which was bustling with the orphans playing and making so much noise.

'L-listen, I've got work to do in the office. If you're here to see Terri, as I understand, she was with you during your journey here.'

Glim shook his head, making his ears sink slightly.

'She's…' Glim paused, looking back at Karli and her father in the distance. 'She's been through enough. I don't want to upset her too.'

The houndoom looked a little confused, but also saddened, he must have not heard what happened to the little cranidos.

'Understood,' nodded Meg. 'It will take her a while to recover, bless her.'

'We have our initiation today too, should we be worried?'

'Well… they won't make it easy. It depends on how you want to help.'

'I think most of us want to join the infantry and defences.' said Shadow.

Bayleef inhaled, looking away.

'Then good luck…' she said. 'I don't know what they'll have you do.'

Glim and Shadow paused, glancing at each other. The houndoom had a hint of regret in his eyes, but his little glaceon kept his innocent curious look. Glim honestly had little fear of what he was getting himself into. In fact, he was more afraid to see any unown or hear voices again, after that warning he got in his sleep.

A short while later, Shadow and Glim re-joined Karli and McGregor and ascended to the station's market floor. None of them asked about Terri, but were thinking of her.

McGregor and Shadow tried to distract themselves by surveying what was on the market level. Rather like the refugee sites around Crio, it was a mess of tents and stands of offerings. In those desperate times, pokémon were working to keep everyone alive and sane, while their payment was really to keep their place and to bond with every other refugee and revolutionary.

'So…' spoke Karli. 'Did she say where we must go for the initiation?'

'We are supposed to report to Kylie when ready, Karli.' answered McGregor.

The kirlia quickly shook her head only remembering that.

'Oh- yeah.'

Still, the crew kept awkwardly quiet. Unsure of what to say or do. Both Glim and Karli were too bored to sleep, while the kirlia was also too depressed about Terri. McGregor had no objections other than to safeguard his daughter after her encounter with Marcus, and Shadow was only keen to stay by the glaceon's side.

'Idly sucking your dicks I see?' bellowed out an angry mismagius, appearing behind the four friends, all who spun round.

'What?' said Karli and Glim, surprised.

Charlotte glared at the little glaceon and houndoom next to him, letting them know who they were talking to.

'Why haven't you lot attended your initiation yet?' she asked angrily.

'Some of us are still a little hurt after our little… incident.' replied Shadow, also annoyed.

'It is true,' added McGregor. 'Angel is still recovering and Shadow is waiting for his leg to heal a little more.'

'Are you Charlotte?' asked Karli. 'Second in command?'

'When your friend is up, be quick about joining us.' continued Charlotte. 'We're still keeping an eye on you two after what happened to our aegislash!'

'You were going to kill us.' said Glim, calmly.

Suddenly, the group became silent, as the floating ghost glared still at the little glaceon. Karli, who placed a foot in front of her friend, glared back at Charlotte.

'Whatever misunderstanding happened,' interjected McGregor. 'We must move on, we're allies now.'

'Not until you've passed your initiation.' hissed Charlotte. 'Now, report to Kylie when you're quite finished doing nothing.'

When she finished, Charlotte descended through the floor.

'She is just doing her duty.' said McGregor, concerned for his daughter's temper.

'Yes I know!' replied Karli, who then turned to Shadow and Glim and whispered. 'I thought you said you didn't kill that aegis-whatever.'

Glim whispered back, 'We didn't… but if we didn't take the blame, Beryl would've been killed if he survived.'

'Did he survive?' asked McGregor.

The little glaceon shook his head.

'I don't know.'

An hour later, Angel stood waiting in a dark room with his arms crossed. The room from what the weavile could see, appeared to be quite a large scanning room. In the darkness were mostly dark and bug type pokémon, they had their heads down on small screens that were all bright blue and each surveying something of their own. All the observing pokémon had headphones on and were scribbling notes and times on the scrap paper they had. It was a very busy sight.

The silence broke when a door far behind Angel opened. From it emerged a tall leavanny, followed by a crew silhouetted by the dark corridor they came from. Angel however, knew it was Kylie leading his friends to their induction to the initiation.

'Where've you been?' demanded Angel. 'Let's go!'

'Hey,' replied Karli. 'You're the one who wanted more snuggy buggy wuggies, you fucking pussy.'

Immediately Shadow exhaled the rest of his air and resisted desperately to laugh.

'Karli!' murmured McGregor. 'Neither myself or your mother would talk like that.'

The weavile seemed unaffected regardless as Glim, Karli, McGregor, Shadow and Kylie approached. The four friends stopped alongside Angel, surveying the dark room, while the slender bug pokémon passed the weavile and turned to face the latest recruits.

'Okay…' said Kylie. 'We're just… waiting for Maladan-'

Just as suddenly, the mentioned blastoise emerged from a door hidden in the darkness and was stomping by his much smaller technicians to approach the centre where Kylie stood.

'Present, Kylie.' Maladan called. 'I won't be supervising alone neither.'

The leavanny looked back to see the dark blue figure still approaching her.

'Sir?' Kylie asked.

'Don't worry, Kylie.' said Gem, passing the giant turtle, having followed him through the door. 'I'm here to catch you like I said, okay?'

The leavanny seemed more at ease, but the same could not be said for Karli. Her fists tightened, thinking that the toxicroak had joined the supervision of their initiation to torment her or boss her around. Thankfully, Gem never raised a look of intimidation and appeared to have no disregard over any particular member. If anything she was there for Kylie, as it was her first time initiating new recruits.

While the toxicroak stood with her sticky arms folded, Maladan stood into the dim navy light where Angel and his friends were still. Kylie appeared concerned, looking at the blastoise who quickly nodded at their recruits.

'So um.' called Kylie. 'We have five today-'

'Kylie,' interrupted Gem. 'Introduce yourself to the recording.'

The leavanny shook her head.

'Oh sorry! Um, this is Kylie, leavanny, accompanied by Maladan, blastoise and Gem, toxicroak. Today we have five recruits ready for their first task. All five of you are in for infantry and defence, correct?'

'Yes mam.' said Angel boldly.

McGregor only said yes, while Glim, Shadow and Karli merely nodded.

'N-names please?'

She started with Angel to her far left.

'Angel, weavile. Male, twenty-two years.'

The leavanny quickly took notes, before looking to Shadow just next to the weavile.

'Shadow,' he said. 'Houndoom, male, I'm nineteen.'

'Glim… glaceon. Male… and I don't know my age.'

Gem looked puzzled and glanced at the blastoise nearby. Kylie also looked back at Maladan.

'You think he is older than twelve?' asked Gem.

'He was mature enough to access nightclubs.' said Shadow. 'I mean, that's where we first met.'

Glim nodded, smiling at the houndoom. Maladan meanwhile gestured to Kylie to continue as she noted the glaceon's age as NA, she then looked over to Karli.

'Karli,' said the kirlia proudly. 'Kirlia, female, eighteen!'

'You're eighteen?' asked Gem, a little shocked.

'Yeah.'

'She is,' confirmed McGregor. 'She is my daughter.'

The toxicroak was pondering why Karli had not evolved as a lot of female kirlia become strong enough to evolve by fourteen. Gem had assumed that Karli was much younger than she was.

'A-and you?' asked Kylie, finally turning to the dusknoir.

'McGregor, paladin dusknoir. Male, forty-six.'

When the leavanny finished her notes, she looked at Gem, forgotten what she was supposed to do next.

'Looks good.' said the toxicroak. 'Now tell them what they will be doing for now.'

'Yes!' said Kylie, glancing back at the friends before her. 'For the infantries, you will all be given scarves. Wear them however you want, and best worn tightly so there's little to catch on them. But as for your first mission, anybody wondering why you're all in here? This is one of our radio communication rooms under Haine's Central Station. Throughout the city, we recieve distress calls, emergency assignments and calls for assistance quite regularly. You will wait here before… um one of our helpers, no, listeners picks up some urgent transmission that will suit your experience.'

Gem face-palmed while Glim and his friends nodded.

'As most of you are already pretty experienced,' interjected Gem. 'We may assign you to an emergency assignment that may be more difficult for nearby Crimson to tackle alone, or if something complicated happens. Sometimes, the Republic will try to use our radio messages to trick us, though they never realise that we change the frequencies often so they don't keep doing it.'

At that moment, Charlotte the mismagius flew in, drifting backward as she eyed the recruits. Her silent passing over the team made the houndoom jump when spotting Charlotte.

'This is under control, vice commander.' said Maladan.

The mismagius, kept her gaze on Glim and Shadow in particular, not that she trusted the others. She then flew over to a ledian on the far right of the room, where she informed the humanoid insect in whispers.

'When something comes up.' spoke Gem boldly, breaking the pause. 'It will be your mission to assist and comeback alive. Is that clear?'

'Yes mam.' responded Angel and McGregor.

It should have been Kylie saying that last line, however her supervisors had no problem finishing her briefing, maybe she would remember it next time.

'You're… free to chat to each other until your assignment is decided.' said Kylie, while Maladan went to speak with Charlotte, leaving Kylie's supervising to the toxicroak.

Little Glim in the middle was the first to look to his friends.

'So… do we just wait?' he asked.

'Enjoy it while you can.' replied Gem. 'Your mission will come shortly.' she and Kylie then pointed at the working pokémon all around them. 'See all the controllers here? They're always listening and sending messages to our home broadcasters, who relay things like news or Republic activity.'

True to her word, it was only minutes before a nuzleaf and a scyther were whispering loud enough to be heard, having trouble deciding what action to take over a call they had just received. The scyther stood and called Kylie and Gem over, who hurried over while Glim and Karli watched closely. It was almost impossible to hear what the stressed nuzleaf and scyther were saying as they were speaking so quickly. The toxicroak however, responded a little more confidently, saying 'perfect'. She and the leavanny rush back with a scrap of paper, completely covered in scribbles, notes and diagrams.

'Okay listen up!' called Gem, silencing Angel and Shadow. But before she read the notes, she glanced back at Kylie. 'No wait, you read it.'

Nervously, the leavanny took the paper.

'Oh, okay.' uttered Kylie. The notes were barely readable, but she could make out most of the key words. 'So something strange is happening. The caller claims to be a rebelling Republic "crony".' just hearing those last words, Glim's ears sprung up. 'It did not identify what specie it was, but according to the interceptors, it was definitely a machine. Its last known location was in the Tundra sector, south from here and has just survived a building crash down on it. It said that it has been targeted by powerful cadres of the Republic, as it is willing to leak vital information to any Crimson officer.'

The little glaceon paused with his pupils small. He knew who it was, but also knew who might be after it. Karli had no idea who the caller was, despite having been saved by it and heard plenty about it. Angel and Shadow meanwhile shared a similar look of suspicion, the weavile in fact glanced at Glim who was also looking back at him.

'This will be your initiation,' said Gem. 'You see, we can't trust anonymous callers as any of them could be Republics setting up traps, even with vital-'

'It's Sergeant!' cried Glim, everyone then glanced at him. 'It's a friend of ours, a magnezone.'

'Oh damn, of course!' muttered Shadow.

'You know this caller?' asked Gem.

Nearby Charlotte and Maladan looked back at the commotion.

'Yes,' replied Glim desperately. 'It saved me, Angel and Karli once.'

'And me.' added Shadow.

'And it really did rebel to the Republic after what happened on a vessel.' said Angel.

Suddenly, Karli's eyes shortened as she realised who they were talking about.

'Oh my god.' she said. 'That magnezone?'

'Where was its last known location?' demanded Glim.

'It was broadcasted from the Tundra sector.' answered Gem. 'Is this really an ex-Republic sergeant?'

'Sarg- that- that's its name.'

'We dunno what rank it was.' interjected Angel. 'But we know it was a member of high authority and was dead serious to stopping them.

The toxicroak and leavanny paused, actually appearing a little shocked. Gem look back to the mismagius, who she assumed to be listening and was right.

'Should we send Bladeface with them?' she asked.

'No.' answered Charlotte coldly, just watching Glim getting more impatient. 'If you're confident about this character being on your side, you go out and prove it, wearing your scarves. Fight your allies to prove that you're one of us.'

The little glaceon was beginning to feel the heat in his paws and forehead. His friend was buried alive and getting hunted, while he and Shadow are taking mistrust from a supposed ally who already misjudged and almost killed them.

Looking like her glaceon friend was about to explode, Karli decided to set them off.

'How do we get to the Tundra Sector?' Karli demanded.

'Take the direct south tunnel and you're there,' answered Gem. 'It's a very narrow sector but still a long one. Your "friend" is under rubble of a fallen building, somewhere on Post Avenue, Go!'

Immediately, Glim turned and bolted without his boyfriend, who was only following closely behind. Angel was the first to the door, yanking it opening for his friends to storm out.

It did not take long for Glim, Angel and Shadow to run down the very long and straight southern tunnel from Haine Central Station, before reaching the underground links of the Tundra Sector. Karli and McGregor meanwhile took a much easy route for them, by simply shadow sneaking through the ground that was above them, which led them to the same tunnel, only much further ahead. It took energy to use Shadow Sneak, which was also a vital means of attack and escape for pokémon like them, so they refrained from using it for taking shortcuts if they could.

The dusknoir was easily the slowest of the team, so Karli stayed by his side and looked back frequently until the rest of the team caught up. Despite Shadow and Glim ran on four legs, Angel was easily the fastest of the team on just two legs. The weavile was the first to leave the train tunnel, without thinking to check for any signs of a possible ambush. Looking at the state of the sector however, Tundra was already a mess of its own.

The Tundra Sector was not a small as the Egg Sector, but was easily the most awkwardly shaped as the result of a massive earthquake that sunk the sector so deeply that the neighbouring sectors of Scorpion and Royal were virtually leaning over it. As the earthquake was so long ago, the pokémon had built over the destroyed Tundra Sector, even though it was nearly on level with the underground. Even the sector borders were vastly crooked after the catastrophe. The sector was also home to the majority of poor in Haine, since the sunken land was ignored for years after the event, but also because it was not as profitable. A lot of the buildings that stood before Angel were cheaply nailed together like slums. It was easy to see how they would fall over.

When Glim, followed by Shadow, emerged from the tunnel, he looked surprised, he had thought that Haine had its own canyon.

'I-is this Tundra?' he asked.

'What, have you never been to Haine?' asked Angel.

Glim shook his head.

'This place was a shithole even before the revolution.' said Shadow.

Karli and McGregor caught up.

'Where're we going again?' asked Karli.

'Post Avenue.' said McGregor and Angel.

The little glaceon was glancing around, not seeing any street signs, and there were fallen buildings wherever he looked. Eager to find Sergeant, Glim darted forward and leaped from the tracks onto the mossy platform. Angel and Shadow followed the little glaceon, but Glim then stopped and looked up once there was no shelter covering him from seeing the sky. It was the first time he had seen the upper level, the enormous circular plate where the Republic resided and the south side was directly above them. From below, it looked like an old, but complex spaceship for a science fiction novel. The plate was held up by eight tremendously thick pillars, all around it, while the middle is held up with its own hive of buildings, mostly taking up space in the Royal Sector. The Singlehorn Sector housed the north-west pillar, the Polkadot Sector housed the west pillar, the Scorpion Sector housed the south-west pillar and even the Tundra Sector had one, being the southern pillar. However, those sectors were nothing in size compared to the Continent and its neighbouring sector of Royal, both of which safeguarded two pillars.

As it was ten in the morning, Haine was getting its light, except the sky was completely overcast by dark clouds. It looked like a cold storm was coming.

Glim resumed his sprint to search for any street signs, he left the old train station with Karli and McGregor closely behind, into what appeared to be an abandoned residential block. It was eerily quiet, all the team could hear were the escalating explosions and yelling from neighbouring sectors. Even though the sounds were so distant, to the little glaceon, it always felt like it was just the next street over.

'Hey!' called Shadow, further ahead. 'We know where Gate Village is.'

The houndoom pointed at a wall far ahead of them that had 'Gate Village' with a massive arrow spray painted on it, pointing north.

'We're not looking for that,' said Karli. 'We're looking for Post Avenue.'

'Some directions would be nice.' muttered Angel, glancing left to right at a lonesome junction. 'Wait, you guys get back!'

All of a sudden, the weavile dive rolled off the road and stood up against an abandoned block of flats, while Shadow sprinted to follow him. Glim and Karli were simultaneously grabbed by McGregor, who sunk down into the concrete and were taken closer to the train platform. The dusknoir brought Glim and Karli up under a parked lorry, so they could get a better view and remain unseen.

'Where did you go!' screamed a mechanical voice, echoing across the sector.

The glaceon and kirlia had to crawl closer to the end of the lorry's cover to see what just spoke. Glim had a feeling he knew who it was and his fear was confirmed as he spotted a lone metagross, floating over the badly built buildings in the distance. It was Vice Vora.

'Oh you've got to be kidding me.' whispered Glim, angrily.

'You know him?' asked Karli.

'Yeah. This thing is crazy tough.'

Vice Vora disappeared from sight, clearly in search for Sergeant also. Glim and Karli crawled out and leaped over the car park wall. On the street below, Angel and Shadow much further away from the kirlia, glaceon and dusknoir were keen to follow where the metagross had come from.

'Glim!' Angel whispered loudly, waving for him, Karli and McGregor to follow.

The weavile did not even wait, once he got their attention, he took off, running under the old age, towering red bridge. His guess is that Vice Vora had come from Post Avenue and was likely why Sergeant was buried under rubble. Glim however had the same idea and followed suit, making Shadow, Karli and her father follow after them.

Passing under the unusually high bridge, Glim and his friends lost sight of Angel. Ahead of them were two main roads and alleyways between almost every building.

'Oh crap, Angel!' called Glim.

'What?' said Shadow. 'He was only ahead like ten seconds, where the hell did he go?'

'He will find your friend.' said McGregor, with a finger on his head. 'But we better make sure to find Post Avenue when he needs us.'

'Directions, dad?' asked Karli.

'Hold on.' McGregor paused, squinting his one eye as he looked into the future of Angel and retraced his steps to make a shortest journey over to Sergeant's destination. 'Oh boy, we have a way to go.'

'How far?' asked Glim.

'It is just less than a mile,' the dusknoir replied, pointing at the direction that continued from the road they stood on. 'Take a left, down all of Scurbs Street, turn right and we will run into the fray.'

'Right!' called Shadow, taking off with his glaceon running alongside him.

'Go, go!' called Karli. 'We'll catch up!'

Neither Glim nor Shadow stopped when they turned left onto the narrow street, which looked surprisingly long.

Much further ahead and running blindly, Angel was keeping an eye out for street signs and fallen buildings. He was expecting something bigger, as the fight appeared to be between a magnezone and metagross, both very tough and strong pokémon, in a location of what was pretty much made up of giant shanties. If Sergeant was trapped under a 'building', it would have to have been a big one. As if the weavile was given the directions beforehand, he was already on the long west path that led toward Post Avenue, when he was really intrigued by the look of a junkyard, made up of supports and bricks at the end of it. Vice Vora must have believed that Sergeant had escaped. Angel kept running, every now and then he would look up and behind him, in case that metagross was above, he already knew how dangerous Vice Vora was. The weavile had his arm broken because of that very metagross, when he was a sneasel.

Angel passed a faded sign on the other side of the road, despite the rust and dust, it clearly said Post Avenue. Sergeant had to be in the mountain of junk, rubble and metal ahead of him.

Something odd was happening, despite how serious and tense he was, Angel was smiling and did not know why. He felt nostalgic somehow, like he had ran endlessly in dire situations before. Perhaps it was what was left of him, trying to be remembered.

What was left of Post Avenue was not in great condition as it had once been a high street it seemed and had endured a Dragon Raid, judging by all the craters all along the road for hundreds of yards. Whatever Sergeant had crashed into was presumably a giant block of flats, however it appeared the magnezone was not alone. On the floor, crawling away from the rubble on broken flippers was Tyson the delibird. His face showed he was in great pain and desperate to not scream.

'Hello?' Tyson called out, as soon as he spotted the approaching weavile.

'Are you alright?' asked Angel in a rush.

The incapacitated delibird spotted the CR scarf covering a part of Angel's left shoulder.

'A-are you a member of the Crimson?'

'Yeah, and I'm here to help, have you seen a magnezone?'

'Yes.' replied the delibird, weakly pointing at the rubble he crawled from. 'He's in there somewhere. Where's that monster?'

Immediately, Angel scrambled onto the sea of grey and multi-coloured junk.

'Sergeant!' he called, climbing the rocks and wood with his ear close to it. 'Are you there? It's Angel! Sergeant!'

The first thing the weavile could hear is an echoing grunt, coming from further up the pile and to his left. Angel quickly climbed up more, following the sound he was hearing.

'Hello?' uttered Sergeant.

Practically above it, the weavile began clawing through the rubble.

'Sarge, it's Angel, we've come to rescue you!'

'Angel? Is that really you? What happened to Vice Vora?'

'It's still around mate, but Glim and his friends are here to help.'

'Oh really? Hold on then.'

'What?'

As Angel paused, the junk below him began to crumble as a badly scratched yellow antenna poked out from the mass of grey. The weavile took a step back to let Sergeant levitate itself out of the rest of the junk. It was obvious that Sergeant had taken a lot of damage to remain afloat constantly, the magnezone was dented, burned and scratched all over. As it ascended on eye level with Angel, its floating appeared wonky, tilted to its right slightly.

'I really needed for the CR to send help, so I stayed hiding. Where's Tyson?' before Angel even pointed down at the delibird, Sergeant had spotted him and flew down to him. The weavile quickly followed, taking a big leap and then landed next to them. 'Tyson, are you okay?'

The delibird shook his head with tears in his eyes.

'I can't feel my flippers.'

'Then hold on to me,' said Sergeant, sinking it's left side, so Tyson could grab hold of the giant screw head behind its left eye. 'Angel, show us the way to base, before Vice finds us.'

Already, Angel looked back where he came from and immediately saw something in the sky heading toward them at a rapid speed.

'Too late!' shouted Angel, swiftly climbing onto Sergeant's right side, while Tyson held on for dear life.

'Hold on tight!'

The magnezone took to the air, while Angel frantically threw Ice Shards at the maniacal metagross speedily floating to them, looking like a giant metal X. The impacting ice chunks were nudging Vice Vora, but not enough to change its collision course, but then Sergeant quickly shot it with the strongest bolt of lightning he could muster. Suddenly the metagross hissed, twitching slightly, while its momentum carried it to fly lower, but in its twitching, Vice Vora flung one of its hind legs up, hitting Sergeant from below. The abrupt contact flung Tyson off the rising magnezone and start falling the great height they had climbed.

'Tyson!' called Sergeant, quickly regaining balance and then diving after the delibird.

Vice Vora lost control of its levitation and was forced to land on all fours on the rubble Sergeant had hidden in. It saw the magnezone swoop up, catching the delibird just before he hit the concrete. With that much momentum, Sergeant had to continue down the junction it was closest to, disappearing from Vice Vora's sight. It roared, folding up all four of its legs once more and flew in pursuit.

Sergeant used its gained momentum to its advantage to lose the mad metagross as it flew down a street at high speed. Angel on board was desperately trying to keep Tyson held onto the magnezone. The delibird finally got a hold of the same screw he had lost grip of seconds ago. The weavile meanwhile looked back, witnessing Vice Vora swiftly floating round the corner and began catching up to them at a creepily slow rate. Again, Angel using one claw, tried hurling more shards of ice at the pursuing metagross, and despite them all hitting, they just were not fazing Vice Vora at all. It continued getting closer and closer, when suddenly sergeant took a very sharp left turn, so sharp, that Tyson and Angel flung about, almost losing grip, while the metagross was going too fast to stop and crashed into a thick stone wall.

'Whoa!' screamed Angel, just watching Vice Vora bounce off the wall and tumble like a giant falling spider. 'Nice move there sarge!'

Floating as fast as it could, Sergeant continued flying into a tunnel for vehicles that was just in its path. It was not long before the metagross just behind them had stabilised and continued its chase.

In the tunnel, the magnezone had to light up the road ahead with its built in light at the centre of its body, so it would not crash into any wreckage or abandoned vehicles. Close behind them, Vice Vora roared.

Angel could only see the reoccurring light reflections on the metagross' X over its face as well as its blood red eyes. Before the weavile could throw any more Ice Shards, the magnezone he rode on, took another sharp left turn, down a tunnel junction. That time Vice Vora was smart enough to slow its momentum before turning round at the crossover, enabling it to not crash. Angel was keen to throw more shards of ice, anything to slow the metagross.

'Shit!' shouted Sergeant, light shining on what appeared to be metal tunnel door, which had closed down.

Taking one look at the inevitable collision course, Angel kicked forward, flinging himself ahead of the magnezone and with enough momentum to run quicker on the road.

'No keep going!' shouted Angel, sprinting ahead, building up as much momentum as he could.

With all his speed and power built up, Angel pulled his arm back, coating it in ice and threw the hardest Ice Punch he could, smashing an enormous hole in the tunnel barrier. Metal fragments flew everywhere as the weavile remained screaming after delivering that attack. The rest of the barrier was pushed into the shape of a sinkhole, while the rest of the metal around the hole became bent outward.

Sergeant flew through the hole which was just big enough for it, while Vice Vora had to perform a manoeuvre where it tilted forward, almost hiding its face, unfolding its legs and pointed them below it as much as it could, forming the thinnest shape as it could. The metagross had squeezed itself thin enough to also grind through the hole created by Angel and then reformed into its floating stance.

Suddenly, Angel took his speed and Vice Vora's manoeuvring to his advantage as he flew back at the flying metagross to strike down with a Night Slash, right on its X. Immediately, Vice Vora was belted downward from the attack, causing it to tumble on the road, while its built up momentum caused the weavile to bounce. Angel had less of a crash to endure, but his collision with the iron leg pokémon had hurt him on his torso and right leg. As soon as he found his footing on the road again, Angel gave chase for the magnezone who had gained quite a lead down the tunnel. Sergeant turned left where clouded daylight was coming from.

Outside the tunnel, emerging onto a street neighbouring the path the led into Post Avenue, Sergeant flew out, with Angel seconds behind on the ground.

'Sergeant!' cried Glim, waving his front paws frantically.

Shadow just next to the glaceon also called up for the magnezone. Sergeant heard the two boys shouting, as it dove down toward them. It looked pretty exhausted, having difficulty in staying airborne and sort of gently crashed in front of Glim and Shadow.

'Are you guys alright?' cried Karli, running out from Scurbs Street, her father meanwhile was likely far behind her.

'Glim, Shadow…' said Sergeant, barely able to float any longer.

'Don't worry Sergeant,' said Glim, placing his paws over the magnezone. 'We'll take you-'

'Uh guys!' called Angel, running to unite with his friends. 'You better get ready for a fucking party!'

At that moment, something big and sapphire blue zoomed out from the tunnel Angel, Sergeant and Tyson had just left. Glim and Shadow ran in front of the magnezone and delibird, staring up at the metagross who took to the air.

Vice Vora noticed the crew forming on the road far below it, which made it pause where it was. It glared down at Glim and Shadow, who were joined by Angel who took his stance alongside the crew.

'Blood will be spilled if you dare stand against me this time.' said Vice Vora, through its vocal modifier making it louder. The little glaceon knew it was really talking to him, though Shadow and Angel had their share of the message too. They all remained, shielding the magnezone with brave faces. 'So, be it.'

The metagross released from its levitation and began to fall directly toward the crew using its sheer weight and gravity to build up a devastating Meteor Mash. As soon as Angel saw the movement, he grabbed Sergeant and Tyson and swung them out of the way as quickly as he could. Glim, Shadow and Karli meanwhile dived forward.

Vice Vora collided into the ground, combining its attack with the Earthquake technique, sending Angel, Glim and Shadow into the air. As they were far from the metagross, the crew were not hurt much, Karli was merely pushed away. Easily rolling to her feet, she used Psychic to catch her glaceon friend and land him on the nearby house behind Vice Vora. Shadow and Angel however were left to land harshly, except their landing had nothing on the recoil of the metagross' impact, as its leg got stuck.

With the advantage, Glim leaped to the edge of the building rooftop and fired a ball of shadows, knowing that a metagross were vulnerable to ghosts messing with its psychic systems. The Shadow Ball exploded on top of Vice Vora, making it grunt loudly. The houndoom nearby attempted to use Flamethrower, while the metagross was stuck, but it pulled its leg out and leaped from the crater just in time.

The huge iron leg pokémon flew over Karli, attempting to land on her. The little kirlia was not tempted to try using Reflect to hold that beast, instead she leaped up turning completely black and zoomed through the metagross. Vice Vora landed, only flinching from Karli's weak attack. But as soon as the giant machine landed, it rose and swung down its leg, hitting the ground, intercepting Shadow before he used Flamethrower again. An earthquake formed at an instant, sending a chunk of ground up at the houndoom's face, sending him flying back with a face full of blood. The Earthquake was strong enough to send the nearby buildings to fall down, which made Glim turn tail and leap down to the ground, worried for Shadow who at that moment was still flying back.

Seeing the vulnerable little glaceon chase after his boyfriend, Vice Vora prepared to strike from that range with a Bullet Punch, but right as it was about to shoot off toward Glim, the metagross was met by another Shadow Sneak from Karli. The giant machine only ended up tripping forward, as Karli manifested on top of its head. She then leaped off with a backflip, while Vice Vora furiously waved its iron legs over its head, missing the kirlia with every attack.

Karli landed, metres away and knowing the metagross would be pissed, she summoned a Reflect as soon as she could. Immediately as the wall of light appeared, Karli was met by a metal force punching at the shield so hard it sent her flying back, tumbling metres away.

With the kirlia out of the way, the metagross felt safe to leap up once more to dive crash into its next victim. In the air however, Vice Vora had one of its legs grabbed by a single hand. By the time it had realised what was happening, it was thrown back down to the ground by McGregor. The impact sent the metagross to roll further down the street, where Glim and Shadow were.

'Do not, hurt my daughter!' yelled the dusknoir.

McGregor lunged down using Shadow Sneak, just when Vice Vora got onto its feet who attempted to retaliate with a Bullet Punch, but the giant ghost managed to block the whole iron leg, turn his own fist on fire and swing down. The metagross however had enough time to leap back, narrowly dodging McGregor's Fire Punch.

Knowing that it was surrounded again, Vice Vora hammered the ground, forcing Glim and Shadow to leap back. McGregor meanwhile only leaned back, having enough room for the ground to miss him. The giant ghost then turned completely black, as he zoomed through the ground, attempting to strike the metagross just on the other side, but in a turn of events, Vice Vora managed to block McGregor's Shadow Sneak, catching his fist with its claw. The huge mechanical pokémon then raised its front right leg, preparing for a fatal Meteor Mash, when the same leg was held up and restrained from moving by a weavile who slid into the crater at the right time.

'Payback bitch!' shouted Angel, stabbing his claw into the eye of the metagross, which made it scream demonically.

Suddenly, Vice Vora took off into the air via levitation, without folding its legs and with Angel's claw stuck in its eye socket.

'Angel!' called McGregor.

The dusknoir floated up to help remove the weavile, but then the metagross began spinning at an incredible speed. Even when McGregor reached out to grab Angel, he was hit back by what became a giant metal top. Down below, Glim and Shadow were too afraid to help, as either of their attacks could end up hitting Angel.

Leaving them be, Angel and Vice Vora continued to spin wildly higher and further away, until the weavile was finally free from the screaming metagross. But having been spun round so much, Angel was catapulted across the air toward Tundra Central Park, and Vice Vora chased after him in a frenzy.

With so much momentum, Angel was skimming on the road toward the desolate grassland and was eventually stopped by crashing through the wooden fence around the completely flat park. The weavile came to a complete stop on his back, looking upward, a little dizzy from what just happened. But then he saw the mad metagross zooming toward him.

'Oh shit!' he yelled, swiftly rolling out of the way as Vice Vora sunk its fist into the ground again.

Angel rolled back onto his feet, the ground not so delicate to Vice Vora's earthquakes anymore.

The metagross yanked its claw out in rage and zoomed toward the weavile with the same claw heading for his head. Angel however, managed to sidestep away from the Bullet Punch and deliver his own Sucker Punch, using dark energy to force Vice Vora away. It hissed in fury, glaring at the weavile, waiting for him to make a move, but Angel knew what it was doing.

Suddenly from the sage green ground, McGregor and Karli in shadow form shot up through Vice Vora, making it roar again. While it was distracted, Angel lunged forward going for the kill, but the metagross was not distracted enough, who then intercepted the frail weavile with a Bullet Punch to his stomach, sending Angel flying across the park, until he hit the broken fence on the other side.

Rage had coloured the metagross red in that position. As soon as McGregor landed, Vice Vora swung back with the quickest Meteor Mash it will ever perform, blowing the giant ghost paladin back almost a hundred yards away, while Karli sunk into the ground on landing.

The mad metagross looked ahead at Angel on the other side, who was clutching his torso. Vice Vora hissed and leaped closer to the weavile, who bravely stood, keeping his own face of rage. Face to face, the metagross rose its leg, about to crush Angel who sidestepped and sucker punched it again, but then Vice Vora jumped tackled into the weavile, pinning him against the poorly made fence.

Again, the undying metagross attempted to use Meteor Mash with Angel backed up to a wall, the weavile being so thin and slender however, Angel managed to stand up and block the Meteor Mash, redirecting its momentum onto the fence just next to his head. It looked like stalemate at that moment, with the two of them stuck in place, only glaring hell at each other, but Angel had enough room to raise his left claw, force it to glow black and cut down, slicing off Vice Vora's front right leg. It remained stuck in the fence, while the metagross only twitched, screaming in pain at Angel. The weavile then lifted his own two legs, knocking the machine's face upward with his knees and then double kicking it away from him.

Just when he felt ready to finish it, Angel collapsed on the spot, completely powerless and taken by pain to move any further. The psychopathic metagross before him however did not fare any better, having lost a leg, an eye and its mind. But while the weavile was incapacitated, Vice Vora was not and just on three legs, started to crawl like a zombie.

Suddenly the horrific sight of the insane approaching metagross was replaced by three very bright explosions. Vice Vora flipped over on the spot, losing another one of its legs, covered in dirt and became oddly silent. Finally, the scene went quiet as the body of the killer machine laid on its back, while the smoke from the explosion cleared up.

The explosions had originated from Glim's Shadow Ball, at the same time when Shadow was using Flamethrower and Sergeant, who had recovered enough to fire a Flash Cannon.

'Angel!' cried Glim.

The little glaceon ran over to the weavile, who was sat with his back against the fence, while Vice Vora's leg was still in it. The glaceon appeared to be looking at Angel's torso, before looking him in the eyes. At first Angel smiled and nodded, but the look in Glim's eyes had a desperate, fearful and sad look.

'Oh my god, Angel!' said Shadow, standing nearby his glaceon. 'Are you alright?'

The houndoom too, had a look of care, but hopelessness at the same time. Angel then looked down and saw it, just how much damage Vice Vora had done to him. His stomach, up to his ribcage was completely ripped open and gushing in blood, his legs were already coloured red from it. Angel even had to look at his claws, to confirm the truth to himself.

Angel weakly shook his head.

'I'll survive.' he said passionately. 'I won't die.'

The weavile tried to pick himself up even, but the strength in his arms depleted at an instant, leaving him to fall back down and pant.

'You did it!' cried Karli, coming back into the park, only seeing the body of Vice Vora first. 'Wait, where's-' Shadow stepped away and looked back at the kirlia, revealing what was happening. 'Angel!' shouted Karli, very quickly approaching the weavile. Despite the gory scenario, Karli knelt beside Angel and held his claw tightly. 'Hold on, Angel. You'll make it. Dad- Dad! We'll Shadow Sneak you back-'

'Karli, it won't matter.' muttered Shadow, miserably.

'What?'

'Just look at him Karli. Even if you and McGregor get him back, he'll bleed to death, inside or out.'

The little kirlia shook her head.

'I-I don't care. Dad, where are you!'

Seeing Karli refusing to give up was making Glim begin to tear up. It also made Angel smile, as the reality began to sink in.

'Thanks for believing in me Karli.' said Angel, using what was left of his energy.

Karli let Angel's claw rest on his lap, while she shook her head slowly.

'No… you believed in us.' she said, her voice beginning to break. 'Without you, so many of us wouldn't have got here. You stood up for us, came to save us when we needed help.'

Karli paused, on the verge of crying, while Glim was also fighting his trembling lips and tears.

Angel tightened his hold on Karli's little hands.

'Hey Glim.' Angel whispered happily.

'Yes?' Glim uttered, almost breaking down.

'Next time… you're getting me into a nightclub.'

The weavile lightly chuckled, as if breathing out the rest of his air. Glim did not know how he should react to the joke, neither did Shadow or Karli. Sergeant and Tyson could only watch as they were just as powerless. Coincidentally, that was all Angel's closest friends could do at that moment, remain by his side, as his claw weakened and finally fall from Karli's hands.