Chapter 23

The Dome

Starshine sat silently, pondering on her words. Flint was taken aback by her story, but still on the edge of his seat to hear more. "So? What happened next?"

Her stare towards the ground slowly grew into a glare. "It's not important right now. I ran away and that's when things went downhill for me. In any case, that's pretty much my relationship with Azrith. We're not on the best of terms. And anyone who was friends with my father shouldn't be on good terms with me, either."

There wasn't much else to their conversation that night, so they had went to bed to awaken the next morning.

Just as all days were in Jagorii, it was hot and muggy. The four walked in a line, chained together, while a few guards escorted them to the Dome. Flint could fell his entire body shaking with fear. As they approached closer to the Dome, cheering could be heard. The thought of people eagerly waiting to watch others die only made Flint's stomach turn.

They were escorted into the Dome and now waited in a room. The room wasn't much different than the cell they were locked up in. They were alone to themselves and their thoughts. Flint couldn't stop thinking about Rose. Flint wasn't much to cling to people and he grew used to living on his own after leaving his pack. But everything changed when he had met Rose. Taking care of her and raising her became his new purpose. But being in Jagorii made him feel alone again, and he realized then how uncomfortable it felt.

Starshine noticed that Flint was deep in thought and approached him. "Is something bugging you?"

"I need to get back."

"I know, I know. We're working on it."

"No," he interjected. "I need to get back to Rose. She's still young and has a lot to learn. I need to get back to her and make sure she's safe."

Starshine sat in front of Flint and placed a paw on his shoulder. "And you'll get back. We all just need to focus and work together. Worry less about that, for we have bigger issues to deal with here in the present."

Flint swatted the espeon's paw away. "I'll worry about what I choose to, and right now, I'm worried about Rose. There's just... too much more her and I need to do..."

"You care about her a lot then. Do you not?"

"I do. I'd do anything just to make sure she was safe."

"Again, worry about ourselves first, because if we don't make it out of here alive, then she won't be safe for long."

The door to their room opened and a bisharp walked in. Flint recognized him from the meeting he and Starshine had with the Emperor. The bisharp stood tall and had a powerful stride to his walk. He walked to the center of the room to grab everyone's attention."

"Good afternoon, your highness," he said with a half bow. "If you and your members could follow me, I'll be escorting you to the PNR."

"PNR?" Flint asked.

"The point of no return," replied the bisharp.

Flint felt his blood run cold as he heard his words. The bisharp turned around on its bladed toes and walked out of the room. Starshine and the others followed but Flint hesitated. He eventually found the courage to follow them but every step he took felt heavy.

The bisharp lead the group to another door and opened it. On the other side was a room where sand covered the floor and large, metal gates awaited them at the other side. Light bled through the gate and the roaring sound of an audience could be heard. As they stepped onto the sand, the door closed behind them and the scrapping of metal locks could be heard from the other side.

"So this is it, huh?" The pancham said flatly. Starshine stared at him from the corner of her eye. "Do you even have anything to say before you lead us to our deaths? Before we go out there and spill our own blood for these savages' entertainment?"

Starshine still said nothing to him and both glared at each other. The pancham spat towards her and walked closer to the gate. The Princess could feel anger boiling within her, but not towards the pancham. The anger towards the Emperor still burned deep inside her and she refused to let him have his way. With confidence and valor, she too stepped up to the gate.

Both the joltik and Flint stayed back a bit. Neither of the two were at all prepared to fight. Flint looked towards the joltik and could tell she wasn't exactly a strong fighter. She looked a bit young too, possibly just starting her role in being a soldier for Mardol's army. Flint took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly while walking with the joltik to the gate.

After a few moments, a low rumble vibrated through the ground and the gate began lifting over them while drooling the residue of the clumps of sand wedged within it. And there they were presented to the arena. It was oval in shape and the heart of it looked like ruins of an abandoned town. Towers of stone erected from the sand with chunks of their sides missing, toppled over walls provided some cover, and a fair bit of stone pillars sprouted from the ground at different angles.

The crowd shot a 'boo' at them as the walked towards the center of the field. The arena's walls were tall and had a magical barrier around it to protect the audience (or perhapse to protect them from the audience). Flint looked down towards his paw, observing the bracelet they were forced to wear since they had arrived. The bracelet that prevented them from using their attacks. A nullification bracelet to be specific. Flint understood that they wanted them to die, he saw no clear solution to getting out alive.

The gate on the opposite side of the arena began opening and out walked a pokemon presented in glorious, red armor. Flint felt his gut drop even more as his eyes met with the scizor. Razor walked upright with a prideful gate as he approached the four. He flexed his pinchers open and closed a couple of times, sending a sharp metal-on-metal snap across the field. A flame of pent up aggression burned in his yellow eyes and were mostly locked on Flint.

"Flint," Starshine said barely above a whisper. Her voice had a sound to it carrying an emotion with it that made it clear that she was frightened, a sound that unnerved Flint. "Give me your paw."

Flint looked down towards his bracelet with a confused stare and then back at Starshine. The look of worry on her face only emphasized the urgency of their predicament. Flint lifted his paw shakily while looking at the Princess with a questioning look. Flint suddenly felt a force push against him and the next thing he saw was Razor standing where he was once standing and the Princess was behind him with her gem glowing red.

Flint was frozen in place, trying to grasp what had just happened. Razor's eyes where still locked on him but then shifted to the Princess. With a violent force, he swung his pincher backwards at her and it collided with an invisible barrier. It took Flint a bit, but he now realized that Starshine was using protect.

Starshine pounced back and flung sand towards Razor's eyes. Razor guarded his face using his pinchers, which was just the opening Starshine had been looking for. She tackled him while his guard was down and connected pretty easily. Starshine then readied another tackle. She jumped up but was stopped by the scizor.

His large, red claw was firmly around her neck. One wrong move, and she could potentially cut a vital vain. He looked dead into her eyes while slowly pushing her into the sand. "You're lucky I'm not allowed to kill you just yet."

What? She thought to herself, but was cut off when Razor sent a forceful blow against her nose. She felt dizzy, her vision was blurry, and blood had quickly found its way through her nose.

Razor got back up and turned around to face the other three, each slowly backing away from him. Flint casted a worried look towards the Princess, but even he knew there wasn't anything for him to do.

"Run," Razor said flatly.

Both Flint and the joltik bolted. The pancham, however, stayed behind. The two glared at one another, not moving a muscle. Razor was the first to speak.

"Your two comrades left you behind, and you still choose to protect your Princess?"

The pancham tightened his fists. "I'm not here to protect her. I could care less about her at this point."

"Then why stay back? What have you to prove?"

"I have nothing to prove. I no longer stand for Whitestone, or even Mardol for that matter. I'm as good as dead at this point, so you might as well just kill me now. Just make it quick."

"You choose a cowards death, and for that, I shall not oblige you."

Razor's wings spread open as he charged the pancham. With his claw closed, he punched the dark-type with extreme force. The blow was enough to knock the wind out of the smaller creature but Razor didn't stop there, he carried the pancham with his punch and threw him against the nearest wall. The pancham felt as though his gut were on fire. Tears had found their way through his eyes and a fowl flavored liquid oozed from his mouth. He tried to stand back up on his shaking legs but collapsed back down to his hands and knees.

Razor had walked next to the pancham. Using his claw, he picked him up by the throat and pinned him to a wall. The two now locked eyes with one another, though one certainly had nothing but fear in their eyes. Razor cocked back his other arm and smashed it into the pancham's face. His nose had been broken upon impact and now dripped a fine line of blood, his eyes had rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp. Having finished his deed, Razor dropped the bleeding panda on the sand and began his hunt.

Elsewhere, Flint had found a good amount of concealment underneath some rubble. There was a small opening but was otherwise easy to miss. Flint hid in the shadows trying to catch his breathe and steady his panicking thoughts. One thing that still puzzled him was why Starshine needed to see his paw. He looked down at the magical bracelet with a growl and tried gnawing on it, though unsuccessful in his attempts in removing it.

Then he started wondering about the location of the everyone else. Last he saw, Razor and Starshine were left where they last battled. He and the joltik ran away but eventually split up. Flint wasn't too keen on splitting up as he was a strong believer in strength in numbers. He had no idea of the fate of the pancham.

I just hope the both of them are safe, he thought.

Flint silenced his breathing at the sound of shuffling outside. He wondered whether or not he should investigate but ultimately decided against it as not to compromise his hiding spot. The shuffling grew louder and Flint crawled further back and dug his claws into the ground in case he needed to attack. Suddenly a figure appeared at the entrance causing Flint to stiffen his posture but he let out a sigh of relief when he was able to make out the shape of a joltik.

"Thank goodness it's just you," he said.

"So much for splitting up, I suppose."

"You seen the Princess or the pancham around."

She shook her head. "I'm 'fraid not. I feel so stupid for leaving her behind, though. My main duty is to protect the Princess. And what did I do? I ditched her. Just left her there at the mercy of that damned scizor." She let out a long sigh. "I don't stand a chance at becoming a royal guard."

"Wait, you're not a royal guard?"

"Me? Gods no. I'm not even evolved just yet."

"What does that matter? Aurora hasn't evolved, so what difference does it make?"

"She's a different case. She's actually good at combat and being a leader."

"Could have fooled me," Flint laughed. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over it though, there's literally nothing we could do. We have these magical bracelets preventing us from doing anything. Yeah, you could blindly sacrifice yourself to protect her for, what? Another minute or so? But then she would have even less people here to protect her."

"It's still my duty, it doesn't matter if I die so long as I'm carrying out my orders to protect. Where's the honor in running from a fight?"

"You're wrong. There's no shame in running from a fight you cannot win, only a fool would fight with odds so heavily stacked against them."

"But what if it was to defend someone you strongly cared about? What if you were to defend your loved one or your own child? Would you just run away or would you lay down your life for them?"

Flint shut his mouth and stared out the exit to their hiding spot. She was right. Flint saw a vision of Razor standing over Rose while he just ran away. It left a sour taste in his mouth. He wanted to go out, but just one last thing held him back from doing so. The fact that Starshine wasn't Rose. Flint had no strong emotions for her, neither positive nor negative. To put it more bluntly, Flint cared more about his safety rather than hers. But then one last thing gave Flint the push he needed. Starshine had a plan. She had always had a plan though none of the others knew what it was. The only way they could enact the plan was with her help.

Flint went towards the exit and looked back at the joltik. "Let's go save us a Princess."

Starshine rolled onto her stomach in a weak, lethargic motion. With heavy breaths, she fought herself onto her all fours and then glanced up at the sun. Its burning brilliance ignited a sense of confidence within her as she basked in its warmth. She closed her eyes and her gem began to radiate a bright light and she began siphoning the sun's energy. She snapped open her eyes, creating a small shockwave around her and forcing her bracelet off.

Starshine then raised her ears trying her best to pick up any semblance of sound. She couldn't hear anything much in the distance, though it didn't help with a roaring crowd being the primary sound in the atmosphere. She chose a random direction and ran off in search of anyone.

Can't kill me yet? They really are trying to make a show out of this. This scizor also gives me the vibes that he isn't too keen on bringing swift deaths to people and from another observation I can see he and Flint aren't on good terms with each other. I need to find them quickly if we want so much a chance as escaping this place.

As Starshine turned a corner, she skidded to a stop when she was met with Razor. "You just can't stay down, can you?"

"I won't lay down my life that easily. Look, let's talk about th-"

"No," he sternly interrupted. "You're not talking your way out of this, especially with the Emperor watching."

"This is supposed to be a spectacle for your audience, is it not?"

"What are you on about?"

"The way you were talking to my pancham earlier, you chose not to kill him since he embraced death with open arms by your hands. The way you denied it was as if you have your own code of honor that you follow. If so, do you find honor in fighting foes unable to defend themselves, or are you content with these effortless kills?"

Razor thought for a moment, Starshine knew her words meant something. "Perhaps you are right... But then again, the four of you outnumber me. To just let them free of their bracelets is just as effective as if I were to cut my own eye out for your favor." Razor then noticed Starshine no longer wore her bracelet. "And from the looks of it, you know some way to counter the spell. Perhaps the odds are already equal, only you stand in my way."

"But you can't kill me, can you?"

"That may be true as of now, but there is nothing against me incapacitating you."

Razor's right claw began to glow a radiant white energy and he prepared to attack the Princess. Starshine quickly countered by blasting psychic energy on the ground before her. A torrent of sand shot up. Razor jumped back, but just before he landed, another blast kicked up more sand. Razor had no choice but to maneuver his way through the onslaught. The blast eventually came to a halt and Razor stood with his guard up, panting lightly. As the sand cleared, he could finally see Starshine. However, there wasn't just one of her, there were multiple.

Double team, Razor thought to himself. This could be interesting. Now, which one is the real one?

The espeon clones got into a defensive stance and their gems began gleaming. Razor's claws began glowing again and adrenaline began to run through his body. All at once, the espeon began shooting beams of psychic energy from their heads while Razor flew at a great speed towards a random target. Uncertain of which was the real Starshine, he could make fatal blows and instead would suffice for less lethal attacks. Which is what he did towards his first target. He cut off one of the espeon's forlegs. Her eyes widened in shock but eventually dissapeared in a poof of smoke.

Razor wasn't surprised, he had been expecting that most of the ones he'd attack wouldn't be the real Starshine and she wouldn't waste her efforts being defensive with a clone. His goal was to weed them out until he found which one was the most defensive and the weaken her so he could hunt down the rest of the combatants.

One after another, Razor made guick work of the fakes and had now narrowed it down to two. Razor rushed in towards the two. One decided to fire a psybeam at him which he chose to take head on and continue his attack. Before he could attack the one that had assaulted him, he found himself frozen in midair and noticed his body was encased in a pink aura. He cursed himself for being too careless around the psychic type.

He was then tossed against a pillar and the other espeon rushed towards him to tackle him in his gut. He fell onto both knees, clenching his gut. The same espeon rushed towards him once more, but he was quick enough to grab her by the throat. He no longer cared whether or not it was the real and cut into her throat in a quick, clean fashion.

Just like the rest, the espeon faded into a cloud of smoke. Razor held a deep glare at Starshine as he stood back up. The crowd was on the edge of their seats in anticipation to see what the two would do next. Razor could see the confidence that sparked in Starshine's eyes. He knew the rest of this wouldn't be an easy battle but he wasn't exactly planning on disappointing the Emperor either.

Razor was the first to move. His wings had unfolded and he zipped his way towards the Princess. Starshine stood her ground with protect, the scizors claw rippled the air around her. As razor tried to overpower the barrier, Starshine prepared her next attack. Razor immediately felt a sharp pain inside his head causing him to fall to the ground. To him, it felt as if his mind was boiling and that his head would explode. The psyshock did a considerable amount of damage and Razor began to briefly wonder how much worse it'd be if he were not resistant to psychic energy.

Razor bit through the pain and lunged towards the espeon. He was able to make her lose focus on her attack which has all the time he had needed to get in his hits. Razor swung his claw upward, the momentum lifting Starshine off of her paws. While she was still airborne, Razor took hold of her tail tightly and yanked as hard as he could downward. Her tail had been both broken and ripped from her in the aftermath and she was now facedown in the sand writhing in agonizing pain.

"Now, stay down-" The tailless Starshine had then vanished into a mere cloud of smoke. Razor stood there petrified.

She... she... His claws tightened in anger for being such a fool. That bitch will pay.

The real Starshine was currently caked in a thick layer of sand, maneuvering her way through the battlefield. The sand now covering her fur made a very convincing disguise. She was pretty confident that no one in the crowd had noticed yet.

That double team did a number on me. I was able to make the last couple look convincing but it came at a cost of my own energy. He's no doubt just about done, I only hope it baught me enough time.

The Princess had been searching for Flint and the joltik by sending out occasional brain wave signals using a response from their brainwaves as a sort of mental sonar. She received a response and noticed that they were moving. Now all she had to do was narrow in on their position.

She sent out another signal and received one back quicker than usual. She craned her head towards the direction the signal came from and saw a shattered frame to some sort of building. She ran towards it and made her way inside. The interior was dark, the only light coming from the doorway entrance and a ray of sunlight that shone through a chunk missing from the ceiling. The floor was primarily stone, though mounds of sand had dominated the interior floor over time.

Starshine found the layout for the Dome to be rather odd. She couldn't tell how old the crumbling buildings were, but she could tell that they looked much older than the Dome itself, leading her to believe the Dome had been specifically built around the structures. The age was mainly shone in the layout of the stones and even the fact that doorways had no actual doors in them, nor was there any indication a door was at one point in them.

Perhaps the Jagorii were not the first to inhabit this land, she thought.

She continued exploring the withered building, trying her best to see in the poorly lit rooms. Her ears twitched as she heard the shuffling of paws coming from upstairs. Navigating a bit more, she found a set of stairs. Time had taken it's toll on the brittle, stone slabs. She made her way up the stairs and searched around the top floor. The upper floor was more exposed to the elements giving way to more holes that peered outside.

She followed the sound of nearby whispers while carefully stepping out of the path of the sunlight. As she neared the whispers, they grew quite. Starshine rolled her eyes, assuming the two had picked up on her presence.

She cleared her throat and spoke. "You two can come out now, it's safe."

The first to emerge from the shadows was Flint. He had a look of concern as he approached her. "Princess, you're safe. That's... that's definitely a relief." Flint's eyes traced around her body, lingering slightly longer around her wounds. "How are you holding up?"

"I'll manage. Where's the joltik?"

"She's keeping guard." Starshine's confused stare was enough for Flint to elaborate more. "Her and I made use of this building to scout the outside area. We stick to the shadows so we wouldn't be spotted from the outside all while we have perfect view points on most of the battlefield."

"Admittedly, that's rather clever. Now that we're all together, we can work on killing this scizor together. First, I'll need to see your bracelet."

Flint nodded and just as he was about to present it, they heard a scream in the adjacent room. Both stopped immediately and ran into the room. The joltik was backed into a corner while Razor stood at the entrance of a hole in the wall. He had a bit of a surprised look on his eyes when he saw Flint and Starshine enter the room.

"Hmm, and here I thought the joltik was hiding alone in the shadows. Now that you're all here together though, this should be a bit more interesting."

Razor prepared to launch himself at his closest and most defenseless opponent, the joltik. Flint wasn't sure what had came over him, but he mustered the courage to charge the red bug. Flint ran towards the insect and rammed his head into its chest and carrying the two of them out of the hole.

Razor had been caught off guard and forgot to retract his wings during his fall and as he came into contact with the ground, a loud snap could be heard. Razor's eyes widened as his body went into shock. Flint fell onto the hot sand with his eyes shut in pain and his head throbbed from impacting the metallic bug.

Starshine and the Joltik ran to the crevice to peer down at them. Starshine glared down at Razor and began charging a psychic attack. Razor fought against the sharp pain in his back and was barely able to dodge the espeon's attack. The two then glared at each other both now rethinking their strategies.

Starshine set her paw on the joltik's bracelet and released it of its curse. The bracelet then slid off the joltik with ease. "Distract him," Starshine instructed.

Obediently, the joltik climbed out the hole and held its position on the wall of the building. She crawled to an area with a better line of sight for Razor and shot an electroweb in his direction. Razor was easily able to slash through the webbing. He grunted realizing fighting the joltik would require him to somehow get close to her which was now made harder with his broken wing.

Using a claw, he scooped big clump of sand and hurled it at the electric bug. The joltik squeaked in surprise and tried avoiding the ball of sand heading her direction but was instead pelted in the face. The joltik lost her footing instantly and plummeted to the ground. Razor began moving in for the kill but as he looked out the corner of his eye, he saw that Starshine was currently removing the curse from Flint's bracelet.

Razor skidded to a stop and quickly changed direction to take down his new threat. Before he could even get a third step in, he felt something coiling around his legs which made him trip. He looked down and saw an electroweb tied snugly around his legs sending a tingling sensation throughout his frame.

With a growl, the scizor stood back up and approached the dazed joltik. He grabbed her by one of her forelegs and dangled her in the air, slowly applying more pressure to his grip. She yelled in pain as the steel burrowed it's way into her flesh leaving a fresh trail of blood running down her arm and onto her body. In a desperate attempt, she tried electrocuting the bug but to now avail. In a swift movement, Razor threw her behind him, clamping his pincher all the way shut and cutting off her arm in the process.

The joltik flew through the air and came into contact with Starshine's side, causing her to fall on her side. Starshine looked down at the joltik with a gasp. She got back to her feet and began observing the open wound on the convulsing joltik.

"Flint!" She said in a panicked voice. "Buy me some time."

Flint, who was just now getting over his headache had noticed that the bracelet had now been removed. He looked back at the two and felt ice running through his veins as his eyes lingered a little longer than he would have liked on the joltik's wound. He then looked back at Razor who dropped the arm nonchalantly. Flint got low to the ground and growled at the approaching scizor. It felt good to him to feel the smoke exhaling from his lungs again. He could feel his inner flame burning inside him.

Razor wasted no time and charged the growlithe. Flint launched a fireball which Razor slid under. From his slide, he was able to kick up some dirt. Flint reacted in time to shield his eyes, though, now his guard was down. Razor surprised Flint with a downward swing to his head that made Flint go face first into the sand. Before he had the chance to recover, Razor had kicked him in his side, throwing him a couple meters.

Flint lied in the sand, panting. His headache now returning and his side flaring up in pain. Razor looked down at Flint with disappointment in his eyes. Flint tried to get back to his feet but struggled, he instead settled on trying to launch a fireball. That, too, failed. He was instead met with a coughing fit.

"Look at yourself. Two hits and your pretty much out for the count. You're too fucking pathetic to be left alive." Razor knelt down to meet Flints eyes and then locked his muzzle shut using his pincher. "You were the last hope in saving the Princess and you failed her and her followers. Sitting her at First, I felt I would find no joy in killing you. Yes, I have a bit of a vendetta against you, but you still pose not much of a threat to fight against. I do, however, find joy in killing off the last semblance of hope Starshine had in survival. Now, don't resist, just let it happen."

"Hey, dumbass," sounded a voice behind him. Razor turned around to be met with Starshine. The joltik was resting peacefully on her back and Starshine had an attack charged up, one made of psychic energy that was in the shape of an arrow. "Maybe you should focus on battling instead of ranting."

Razor was sure Starshine was going to launch the attack straight through his chest but was caught off guard when he saw her crain her head upwards and launch it into the air. The pink arrow shot high into the sky and as it lost momentum and plummeted back to the ground, it split off into hundreds of smaller arrows that began raining from the sky.

The crowd began to scream as random spectators were impaled by the psychic arrows. Some died instantly, not even knowing how they died, while other were fatally wounded on the very edge of their death while the remaining few were either injured or were lucky enough to evade it entirely.

Razor was petrified as he looked up at the storm of arrows that rained from the sky. Starshine seemed to ignore him entirely as she ran to Flint and put two paws on his side. She gently closed her eyes and the three of them vanished from the bloody scene before them.

In a flash of pink light the three pokémon appeared in what seemed to be a room of sorts. Flint's eyes were wide in confusion. He looked around and tried standing up again feeling dizzy while doing so.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Starshine. "Take it easy, you might have teleportation sickness."

"Teleportation... sickness?" He had asked while trying to regain his bearings.

Starshine seemed tense, constantly monitoring her surroundings. "Correct. Your body isn't used to ripping through the fabrics of space so, naturally, you'll be a bit queasy your first few 'jumps.' Now, I haven't the time to explain all of this. Hold tight, we're going to jump a few more times."

"W-wait-" Flint tried but was interrupted by a magical aura sealed around his body.

The supernatural phenomenon happened again. Flint witnessed as the scenery around him collapsed on itself. It was as if a picture had been painted on a sheet of paper and then that paper had been crumpled into a tight ball. All that was visible for that moment, however brief it was, was pitch blackness. No color, no light. Nothing. And then a new scenery inflated perfectly in front of him in the reverse fashion as the previous change. Though it felt like a notable time had passed, it had only actually been about a second for the teleportation to finish.

Flint felt dizzy yet again but was still able to tell they were somewhere else now. Flint flinched backwards and looked up towards the structure in front of him. It was a large, metal wall made out of sheets of rusted metal and decorated with an uncountable amount of spikes which protruded at chaotic angles. Despite its formidable appearance, there was no doubt in Flint's mind that they were now outside the walls of Trithix.

His heart nearly skipped a beat and he could feel both his tail slightly wagging and the grin that steadily formed on his muzzle. "We... We did it. We actually did it."

"Don't rejoice just yet, we still need to cover some ground and get a safe distance away from here."

Starshone teleported once again and they found themselves even further away. They were now along the edge of the mountains that bordered the city. Starshine took a moment to catch her breathe before using teleport a fourth time. This time, the were somewhere in the middle of the desert, the mountains not too far from them. And then one last teleportation later, they were even deeper in the desert.

Flint collapsed on the sand prepared to regurgitate after all of the teleportations. Starshine quickly looked around. She began to grow a smile when she noticed the mountains were no longer in view. She also noticed the sun was subtly beginning to descend the sky. She then looked the opposite direction and pointed her paw.

"We continue on foot that way. There we will find the ocean and begin the voyage back to Whitestone."

"Princess," Flint said between breathes. "I don't know if I have the strength to continue much longer. I... I need to rest."

"Our rest is coming, we just need to press on a little longer. And then we will be free. We'll try and find somewhere safe for the night before continuing tomorrow."

Flint got back up on his paws and nodded at the Princess.

The sun had set and the night grew cold. The Dome had been painted in the blood of the audience. Medical units were still coming in and out to tend to the victims of the assault. Now walking onto the arena was The Emperor. His eyes were calm but that was just to mask the anger he felt inside himself.

He scouted the area until he came across a red bug. Razor was hid under a building trying to tend to his broken wing. Azrith walked over to the scizor and grabbed him by the waist to bring him to his eye level.

"You failed today, Razor."

"My Lord, I- Ack!"

Azrith had tightened his grip around the bug. "Don't waste your breathe on excuses. You failed to kill four pokémon, three of which were stripped of their move pools. What an embarrassing display you put on."

"The Princess, though. Why didn't the bindings affect her?"

"She was able to lift the curse."

"You knew?"

"I did. I thought you'd be able to handle it, especially with your modified speed. I seem to have put too much trust in you though."

"My Lord, I ask of one more chance. If not the Princess, then at least just the growlithe."

The aggron glared down at Razor. "I shall grant you another chance." Azrith dropped the scizor and turned to walk away. "Count your blessings, though, I only have few to give."

Azrith continued walking towards his next point of interest. Sitting alongside the walls was a lone pokémon who had survived by chance. Their body had been roughed up and they were currently gripping an open wound on their should that was caused by Starshines earlier attack.

Azrith knelt down to the pancham. "You're an intriguing little fellow. I see a hatred that has scorched your heart and ripened your soul. You feel resentment towards the Princess. We share a common enemy." Azrith then extended a hand. "Free yourself from the chains of your past and mould yourself into the flames that will burn into the future. Join alongside my army and I will help you."

The pancham wanted to say something but the words failed to escape his mouth. He could only manage a nod before his eyes grew ever heavier and he fell into a deep slumber.