He sees the new capsule plummet to the center of the island as he zooms above the trees with his bag in his grip. Curious but apprehensive, he descends to the peak of a tree and watches keenly. The capsule understandably doesn't explode, and instead, much like the preceding one, crashes into the earth and begins beeping.

Yanma's bag begins squirming again. Irritated, the clear wing animal plants one of his legs firmly on the bag to maintain order. While doing so, he listens.

A roaring static emits from the area where the capsule disappeared. Then, a voice: "Good morning, everyone. I pray that you can all hear me loud and clear, for this is some important information!" The voice is coming from what must be the most powerful loudspeakers in the world. The sheer volume of the speakers does a good job getting across the entire island, although there are minor blowouts now and then caused by the volume. "For whatever reason, we lost contact with the last one, so here is a new FM capsule, an improved version of its predecessor. We think it's now a good time to alert you with a list of current casualties. Number 2, Ala..." The voice sighs and waits a moment before continuing. "Number 2, Alakazam ... Number 8, Miltank. Number 16, Drifblim. Number 20, Braviary. We're very disappointed," drones the voice, though it feels as though there is a modicum of insincerity in it. "You should kill...each other more."

A different voice is then heard in the background but from the same loudspeakers. It is much more gruff and demanding. "Get outta here, you're talking too slow."

"O-oh, s-sorry."

The new voice takes over. "Yes, that's good advice right there. You all should kill each other more. Lucky for you, we've just thing to help out! In the FM capsule, there is an abundance of yummy foodstuffs and drinks to help resuscitate your starved and weak bodies. The first ones to make it to the center of the island (that's where the food is) will claim their prize. So, what are you waiting for? Stop writhing on the ground and get crawling!" The loudspeakers silences immediately afterwards.

Yanma cannot believe his ears. He has no time to waste, but before he can leave, he has to make things right—or at least try—between himself and those he recently victimized. He leaps off his perch and flies to the forrest floor, gently resting the bag on the ground. He unravels the copious amount of string tightened around the bag and opens the flap and waits. Eevee gingerly pokes her head out of the bag, followed by Whismur, then by Pichu. All three are clearly disoriented and nauseas from the ride. They look around, searching for their captor who will undoubtedly end their lives in the next moment or two. Their teary eyes fall on the clear wing animal, who returns the stare sorrowfully. "Listen," he buzzes, "I-I'm sorry. I don't mean ta scare you, but I was really hungry and I thunk—well, I got no time to explain. Forgive me, please." With that, he zooms up and disappears in a flash, leaving the children sitting on the ground. Alone.

Yanma is now regretting his decisions. He knows he is weak, his exoskeleton being oddly brittle and serving as barely any protection from the maw of another animal. Instead of fighting for his food, he had done the least honorable thing and targeted the vulnerable children. Otherwise, he would have never stood a chance against a developed and mature animal. The only beneficial attribute of his is his shocking speed, which he will rely on in getting that food from the capsule. It'd be such a piece of cake to get that food that he knew it wasn't necessary to keep the children with him. Plus, releasing the children put him at ease a little, though he is still repenting.

He continues on his way towards the center of the isle, which, at this rate, will be reached in less than ten seconds.

Several minutes before, Charizard and Armaldo were discussing Alakazam's death when the capsule hit earth. Once they heard the news, they didn't hesitate to prepare themselves, as they were fairly close to the center already; they might as well go, though they knew there may be some confrontations.

At that time, Manectric, too, wanted in on the food. "Perfect opportunity to test my speed," he spoke to himself, his mind clearing slightly. "And if I get killed...what does it matter?" He bolted out of his newly found grotto and sped down the mountain.

Sceptile and Kangaskhan were hysterical. When they heard the loudspeakers, they had assumed whoever kidnapped the children would be there.

And now, Yanma eagerly approaches the capsule. He roots himself and scouts out the area. To his horror, someone is already there, standing in the center of all the foodstuffs that had been ejected from the capsule upon landing. With a crystalline teacup in one hand, he looks at the white paper, through ruby eyes, in his other hand.

"That's impossible," Yanma manages to stutter.

Sableye looks at Yanma grimly. Holding the teacup up and motioning to the carton on the ground, he wordlessly offers juice to Yanma, who shakes his head angrily.

"Sorry," Yanma says sternly, "but I'm taking this stuff." As he begins grabbing food from the ground, Sableye tries catching his attention again with the paper in his hand. Yanma ignores him, looks up, and curses. "I forgot the bag." Knowing he won't be able to transport as much food now, he enters a state of panic.

"You plan on taking all the stuff?" Charizard emerges from the tree line, Armaldo reluctantly following behind.

"Oh, how!" Yanma screeches. How could all these animals possible have made it there so quickly? Either they were all hiding close by or they have inconceivable speed. Yanma is not amused. He slowly backs up, saying, "Hey, don't come closer!"

"Were you planning on taking all the stuff, and not leaving anything for us?" Charizard questions again.

"Uh, uh..."

"Who are all of you!?"

Yanma whirls around to see Manectric, staring perplexedly at everyone.

"So," Charizard begins. "There's now five of us here, and six food items." He peers at the food on the ground. Most of it seems to be loaves of bread and cheese. Dry food. Charizard steps forward slowly with his hands out, showing the three of them that he is not armed. "If we each take one food item, we can leave. Just like that. Nobody gets hurt. What do you say?"

Manectric blinks and snarls involuntarily.

Sableye tries grabbing their attention with the paper he is holding, but to no avail.

"W-what about the sixth food item?" Yanma buzzes.

"I will take it, if that is okay," #19: Cryogonal says robotically as it hovers from the trees, bringing with it a chilling wind.

"Who is that?" Manectric breathes, overwhelmed.

"There. Now there's six of us. One loaf of bread each." Charizard slowly eases his way to the bread, warily looking at Yanma, as if for a confirmation.

Yanma tightens his tiny fists. It isn't fair. Not at all. He clicks his mandibles in fury as he turns towards Charizard, who gulps.

"Charizard," Armaldo says in a small, nervous voice. "We should leave."

But it's too late.

Yanma lets out a disgruntled moan. Charizard backs away, ready to take defense, but to his surprise, Yanma relaxes. "Fine," he sighs.

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Lucario stumbles out into the clearing by accident and mutters softly. She brushes off her fur and looks up to see everyone looking at her. "Oh. Shiiit." Things would have been fine, but now there are seven of them, with only six pieces of bread, and Lucario is not one to disappoint.

"Who took them!?" shrieks a female voice. Kangaskhan bursts into the clearing and looks at everyone accusingly. Sceptile follows behind, looking equally distressed. "Who took the children?" the parent animal inquires again. "Was it you?" She looks at Yanma, who yelps and braces himself. Kangaskhan ignores him and goes on. "Or, was it you!?" she points accusingly at Charizard. "No, I know who it is," she says quietly. "Where is he? Where's that absol? Is he here!?"

Everyone is silent, shocked by Kangaskhan's temperament. Why do she and Sceptile care so much about the children when at least two of them must die, if not all, before the game ends? Parenting them is sweet and all, but ultimately pointless.

The parent animal contorts her face in dismay. "They were just children!" Her sobbing makes everyone uncomfortable, everyone except one, who clutches her pistol, tired of hearing Kangaskhan's persistent nagging. "They were children, and you kill them without a second thought because they're easy and defenseless," she cries out to a nonexistent Absol, or perhaps she's speaking to everyone in the clearing. Yanma fidgets where he hovers. He wants to tell her they're still alive, but that could get him killed.

Then comes a rather brazen remark from Cryogonal: "You say the kids were defenseless, but weren't you and Sceptile their defense?"

Kangaskhan glares at Cryogonal, a glare cold enough to chill even the crystallizing animal.

Cryogonal continues regardless. "Why didn't you save them?"

Kangaskhan gasps. "Why you—"

Sceptile interjects, corroborating, "At that time, Kangaskhan, you were supposed to be keeping watch. Did you fall asleep?"

Now, everybody is looking accusingly at Kangaskhan, who glowers back at them all. She howls in denial and starts up another tantrum, going on about morals and mandated ethical treatment of children.

Unbeknownst to most of the animals, three loaves of bread begin floating in the air and slowly making their towards the tree line. They're being carried by something invisible.

The parent animal stops talking as a blast is heard. Some animals take cover, frightened. One by one, the animals remove their hands from their faces and look at Kangaskhan, who's still standing. She is holding her throat, but breathes out steadily as the lump in her throat disappears. She felt as though her heart went into her lungs from the shock of the blast. She averts her glance to the loaves of bread that had fallen, and the now-visible figure of #17: Kecleon. Kecleon falls to her knees as her form fluctuates between visible and invisible before she completely collapses, dead.

The animals mutter amongst themselves in concern before they're interrupted by another blast and the thump of Kangaskhan's body on the ground immediately after. The unfazed lucario reloads her pistol hastily before taking aim yet again at another animal.

Once everything registers in Yanma's head, he knows he has to get out of there before he is caught in the middle of a nasty fight. He lurches forward for the food and seizes several items with his legs as the sound of gunshots rattle his ears. He makes his getaway but surprisingly is not fast enough to dodge any bullets. A bullet shreds his feeble body to pieces and he is dead before he hits the ground.

Lucario reloads the pistol indifferently as Armaldo, who has taken cover behind a tree, attempts to plow her down with a burst of rapid firing from his weapon, although his incompatible claws make it hard to aim. Once Lucario ducks and hides behind a tree, the other animals use the opportunity to lunge at the food. Cryogonal extends two chains of ice from its mouth. They try to grab hold of some food, but they fumble with it, giving the invigorated sceptile a chance to drive an awl through Cryogonal's center. Charizard, now armed and sheltered, and Armaldo focus on Lucario, both firing their guns at the tree she's behind. She decides to ignore them as she creeps around the edge of the tree and targets Sableye, who stands quietly besides the capsule. She fires. The bullet hits his head and simply ricochets off.

"What!" Lucario gasps as Sableye turns to look at her. He shows her the paper in his hand, which appears to be some kind of picture, though she can't see it clearly from where she is. It occurs to her that Sableye, and most likely the other crystallized animal, are somehow immune to bullets. She takes aim at Sceptile instead, all the while guarding her eyes from the splinters raining onto her as a continuous shower of metal from Charizard and Armaldo blasts through the tree.

Cryogonal's chains of ice have gotten ahold of Sceptile's body. She is lifted up into the air while maintaining a grip on the handle of her awl, still implanted in Cryogonal's face. Both of them struggle to kill the other. Lucario fires, but Sceptile manages to spin slightly so that the bullets hit Cryogonal's backside, spraying a fine mist of rainbow ice into the air. Cryogonal grunts as his body finally cracks apart from its center before suddenly shattering into pieces. Sceptile falls to the ground, along with Cryogonal's body fragments, and is soon shot down by Lucario.

"Stop firing," Armaldo says to Charizard.

The flame animal ceases fire, laughing at himself for wasting so much ammo. Though the tree blocks him from Lucario, he is unconditionally open to Manectric, who apparently has no weapon but watches Charizard anyway. Gasping, Charizard aims at Manectric, who backs away but maintains an intense stare.

"WOULD YOU ALL STOP!?"

The remaining animals peer from behind their trees and look at Sableye curiously.

Sableye looks pained when he talks, as though he is ashamed of his voice. He forces himself to proceed nevertheless. "You're all doing exactly what the game makers want you to do. But, look here." Holding up the polaroid, he says, "We've been tricked, I believe. More so, we have been betrayed." When no one leaves their station, he sighs and walks up to Charizard. "Look."

Charizard hesitantly takes the picture and scrutinizes it. He sees two...humans? One male, another female. They're smiling at the camera. Then he spots himself in the picture, and ... He frowns, suddenly becoming morose. "What?" he says softly in disbelief. Armaldo looks over his shoulder and at the picture. He, too, sees himself...with Charizard at his left and Alakazam at his right. All gathered around the humans, he sees Manectric, Sableye and Gengar and Drifblim, Sceptile and Kangaskhan and Miltank and the three kids, Umbreon and Absol, Lucario and Braviary huddled up together lovingly, and Yanma and Cryogonal and Kecleon.

A tear leaves Charizard's eye. "We-we knew each other before this?"

Armaldo shakes his head. "It can't be. I've no recollection of meeting any of them, and I've especially never met a human before!"

"It is true," says Sableye. "I overheard Alakazam talking with Manectric. He knew. I knew he knew."

Manectric shudders at the sound of Alakazam's name.

Charizard looks at Manectric. "You knew about this then?"

"What?" the canine shrills. "I don't know, man. It's all so messed up!" He twitches slightly, unnerved that everyone is now looking at him.

Charizard sighs and looks up at the tree where Lucario is hiding. He is surprised there hasn't been any open fire from her. Maybe she's no longer hostile. Charizard trudges towards the tree. Lucario suddenly appears and aims the pistol at Charizard's forehead.

"Watch it," she warns, though her weapon is secretly out of ammo—the only reason she hadn't killed Manectric when he was in the open. She notes that Charizard is no longer armed.

"Just look at this, please."

She waits, but yanks the polaroid from the flame animal's claws. She looks at it for a minute, her eyes wandering around. She lifts her head as it dawns on her. Her, and Braviary ... She, him ... They were ... She is hit with all the memories of her and the others being nurtured by those humans. They knew each other at an animal reserve. One day, they were all attacked and subdued by strange people who later began controlling the two humans. She vaguely remembers them saying something about "psychological experiments for profit."

Were each of them really the last of their kind?

Lucario closes her eyes and hands the picture back. Feeling the collar around her neck, she asks, "What can we do except fight? Whether or not we were all friends, we have no other option than to kill one another, and that is what I still plan on doing." She aims the pistol at Charizard and pulls the trigger.

Click.

Charizard blinks.

Lucario turns around and walks away, forgetting about the food, as her appetite was completely ruined. Next time she sees them, she won't show them mercy.

Charizard looks around at the clearing and at the bodies. That's a lot of food.

#01: Charizard
#02: Alakazam (blown up)
#03: Gengar
#04: Kangaskhan (shot)
#05: Eevee (?)
#06: Pichu (?)
#07: Umbreon
#08: Miltank (devoured)
#09: Sceptile (shot)
#10: Whismur (?)
#11: Sableye
#12: Manectric
#13: Armaldo
#14: Absol
#15: Yanma (shot)
#16: Drifblim (exited perimeters)
#17: Kecleon (shot)
#18: Lucario
#19: Cryogonal (stabbed)
#20: Braviary (neck snapped)