Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Treasure Hunters of the Mountain

by Lance Sunshine

A Legendary Pokémon mad with grief and rage has been unleashed onto Itori. The son of royalty denied his crown will burn the kingdom to the ground to stand king of the ashes, and no Pokémon can stop him. The greatest treasure hunter of all travels to the place where life began to save the world he knows from the flames.

5. Chapter 5

p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Chapter Five: Her Name Was Topaz/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Charmander… those in the know say that's the way to go." - Ash Ketchum, Pokémon Episode 001: Pokémon, I Choose You! (Indigo League)/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The sounds of battle surrounded us. We sat on the benches to the side of the field as embers flew, bodies thudded against bodies, an outraged squeal of pain echoed off the walls./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The training grounds were comprised of rectangular patches of land distanced by smooth earth paths, surrounded on all sides by high stone walls, and lined with the flags of the eighteen, sorry, emnineteen/em Chieftains of Itori (an extra squeezed in for "Lord Ayers" underneath the Desert Region's flag), along with the flag of Itori itself, the flame. All uniform in size, aside from the Skarsgard emblem, the biggest of all./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" There were one-hundred-and-fourteen fields in all, sets of six based off different natural battlegrounds. A plain field. A hot-coal field. A pool of water dug into the ground. A grassy plain. A barren tundra. An icy rink. A kid-sized mountain range. A thorny shrubland, dotted with poisonous mushrooms. A desert. Two perches set 20 feet off the ground. The rocks and purple saxifrage flowers of the tundra, glowing with pink psychic-type energy. A marsh, currently buzzing with two bug-type soldiers. A rocky field. A shadowy stone structure set on a wispy plain. A tangled blue-and-green jungle. A dark forest. A glacier, with walls hard as steel. A snowy polar battlefield. The chipped tiles floors of a castle under attack. Not so natural, but necessary./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" On one of the plains fields, the Victory Hunters were training a new recruit for the armed forces, Commander Atlas' nephew, a remarkably young-looking Charmander named Darius. He stood across the battlefield from Tess, panting heavily. The bug-and-steel-type looked unfazed, but perhaps a little concerned for the Pokémon standing across from her. Darius let out an flurry of glowing orange beads. Tess floated leisurely to the side. Darius scrunched up his face and came running at her, raising his claw, making it very clear what he was intending to do. Tess tilted herself so he Scratched her across the head, not the face. The Charmander yelped and clutched his fingers. Tess looked pleadingly at the stands. Avalon impatiently waved her on./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Tess's whole body yawned open wide. Darius' eyes widened; he cringed away and held his arms above his face; the Forretress bit down on his wrist, lifted him an inch off the ground, tossed him back down. Quite possibly the tamest Bug Bite I'd ever seen. The boy lay cringing in the dust./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Darius is unable to battle," Scar said nonchalantly, "Tess is the winner."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "This brings back memories…" Tobias muttered./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Poor boy," said Asa, "he's certainly trying."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Avalon drew her paws over her face. "Oh, he's just not suited to this."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Give the kid a bit of time," Agatha said, "he's only been in training a few weeks."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "And he's only six months old, in fairness," Teo added./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "It's not his physical abilities, it's his emattitude/em," Avalon said, and her tone had taken on a slightly pleading tone./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Darius trudged off the field, arms hanging. Avalon whistled at him, and he glared up at her. She nodded her head back onto the battlefield./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "We're not done yet. I want you to land at least one clean strike first."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Darius threw his head back and whined, trodding heavily back into place. Niamh handed him a Sitrus Berry, he ate it at a painfully slow pace./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "This still hurts," he held up his arm./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Niamh placed a patient hand on his shoulder. "I'll ask that no one hits you there then. But don't worry, we really just want to focus on your emattack/em now."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Will we have to focus on emgetting/em attacked after that?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "'Fraid so, sweetheart."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "emUgh/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" I wanted to slap the kid. Yeah, that's right, I thought it. Trust me, scroll, you would too./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Avalon waved Baz down. "Blocks only."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Just let him hit me?" the Octillery asked./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You mind?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "From him? Not a bit."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Baz scuttled down to the battlefield and waved Darius forward. He walked up like he'd just been asked to approach a bowl of live maggots./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Avalon leaned over to Art. "You ever wonder about just… emslightly/em sabotaging him. A bit."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Art chuckled. I was less amused./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You're supposed to be emteaching/em him," I said sternly./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Oh no, I'm not taking that from you, Sharknado."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" emSo/em glad that nickname stuck./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "The kid is only here because of emactual/em nepotism," she went on, "and because he's a Charmander. I didn't try to wrangle my girlfriend in before she was ready."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Couldn't have if you wanted to," Agatha said, "Ginger's a Boltund."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Not even a fire-type," Art added./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Avalon nodded agreement./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "That matters?" I asked, ignorantly./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Queen Octavia wants Charizard," the Magnemite explained. "Most of our arms and armour are modelled on Charizard, our training regimes were made by Charizard, our entire emarmy/em revolves around Charizard. The Enderpyres are our highest-ranking soldiers. And what did half of them consist of only a year ago?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" I glanced at Alex. I don't think he heard./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "emCharizard/em, Professor. All of them fire-types, too, bar Commander Brady." (Coast the Barbaracle.)/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Twenty-four monarchs so far have been Charizard," said Avalon. "Four Charmeleon, two Charmander. Itori was built by their hands."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" A red flash. Black smoke curled on the horizon./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "And they built it for emthem/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Keep your head up!" Bonnie called down to Darius. "Look for gaps in her defense!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Come on, kick her ass!" Nate cried./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "She doesn't even have one!" the kid snapped back./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" He balled up his fist and swung wide. Baz raised a tentacle and blocked and his hand slipped right off her. He tried to punch straight through, Baz easily swiped him aside. Darius growled and breathed in deep; orange burned through the line of his mouth, he was going for a close-range (emvery/em close-range) Ember. Baz's tentacle flicked out and smacked him in the face. Darius squealed and clutched his nose./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "That's it!" he yelled, throwing up his hands."I'm done! No more!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Giratina below, she didn't even emattack/em you!" Avalon cried./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Leave me alone!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The Charmander scurried off the field. Niamh went running after him./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Maybe he just doesn't want to do this," I said./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "The other day he was asking when he would start getting paid," Avalon replied./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" I blew air out of my cheeks. "Oh yeah, bad sign."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She nodded her agreement./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "All right, since we have the hour spare, why don't the Pokémon who actually emwant/em to train get some work done?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Agatha stretched her back, picked up her weapon (now updated with a handle grip, thicker and longer chains, and stronger bands to hold the scallops in), gave it a swing for good measure. She looked at Alex./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Fancy a quick round?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "No, no way," I said immediately, "he's still recovering."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex frowned. "What, you're embarring/em me from training?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You're damn right I am."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" He turned to Avalon. She seemed sympathetic, but said:/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Give it a couple of days, at least."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She patted Agatha on the shoulder, and they stepped down onto the battlefield across from one another while Alex moped. Asa gave him a supporting pat on the back./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Beads of water danced around Agatha's feet, then surged into a torrent, rising up to a point above her head and crashing back down. She kick off the ground and the jet propelled her forward, flickering dew drops everywhere. Avalon leapt to the side. Agatha landed just past her, catching herself with her hand, then kicked off again. Too close to dodge, Avalon crossed her arms in front of her to absorb some of the blow./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Agatha's eyes widened. Avalon kneed her in the stomach and pushed her back. In less than a second water trickled from the Dewott's scallops and turned to gushing streams as she swung them, cutting Avalon across the chin. She swung again. Avalon blocked with her arm then twisted it around to grab the chain and toss it aside. It cut her again on its way, but she didn't flinch. Another Aqua Jet came her way, but she span to the side to dodge./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The Typhlosion's flames blazed across her back then wrapped around her body. She tucked herself in and went rolling at her opponent. Agatha tucked and rolled away. Avalon wheeled back around, bounced once. The Dewott summoned Aqua Jet and went rocketing towards her. Suddenly the ring of fire shot into the air. Agatha stumbled to a halt. Avalon landed but behind her. She tucked in her arms and lowered her head. The flame across her back spread out line a fan; blazing shoots climbed into the sky, then came crashing back down as flashing meteors. Agatha tried to run, but they spread too far, too fast. Trails of fire snaked across the battlefield as they fell on top of her. Orange-and-black smoke filled the air./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Agatha is unable to battle!" Scar declared. "Avalon wins!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Avalon dug through the rock, it crumbled as she kicked it aside. She reached down and pulled Agatha to her feet. The Dewott coughed, banged her chest, then gave a good-humoured smile./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "See back there?" Avalon said to her. "While I was in Flame Wheel, I bounced once to show you what I was about to do. You need to pay attention to minute details like that."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Agatha nodded. They chatted together as they made their way back up, is if they were on their way back from drinks at the inn. emThat's/em the attitude a soldier needs to have to training. Asa trotted over to tend to their healing./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Nate stretched his arms. "How about we finish up what we started yesterday, Bonfire?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I believe you were well finished off yesterday, Nathaniel," Bonnie said with a small smirk./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Oh, but I'm not finished with you yet."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The Houndour nodded to the battlefield. "After you."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Bonnie's almost always beaten Nate before," Art said to me. "He's looking cockier now he's evolved."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" I chuckled. Rookie mistake./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Nate came running, arms sensibly tucked in, not betraying his plan of attack. He lifted his sharp, heavy hand in an uppercut. Bonnie lifted his forepaws, caught the Charmeleon by the back of his hand, and stabbed him in the eyes with his own claws. Foul Play. Expertly done./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Nate stumbled backwards. Bonnie's hackles raised. The Shiny's eyes glinted, a toothy grin on his face. White, green, and pink light pulsed between his palms. He thrust them forward and a four-legged, wingless dragon twisted through the air, scales shimmering and feathers ruffling. In the corner of my eye I saw Alex flinch./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Bonnie dropped to the ground and the dragon soared over his head. He breathed in deep as he got to his feet, and Flamethrower ripped through the air. Nate threw himself to the side then slapped his own thigh./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "See that? Muscles like emsteel/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Funny you should mention steel." The fur Houndour's tail flattened, turned grey. Sunlight glared off its surface./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Bonnie feinted right, stuck him in the left thigh. Nate hissed and turned his body. A tender spot. Bonnie landed, prepared to pounce again. Nate struck with a side-ways jab. His claws dug into Bonnie's side just as the Houndour's tail cracked across his face. They collapsed on top of each other./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Both parties are unable to battle," Art declared, "this battle ends in a draw."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Evenly matched," Nate panted./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Hah," said Bonnie, "for now."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" They picked themselves up and came striding back up the hill, each looking as pleased with themselves as if they'd won the battle with ease. Next up, Jessie faced off against Art. Alex sighed and put his head in his hands. Niamh came trotting back; she shook her head at Avalon, apparently her mission to bring Darius back around had been futile. She sat down next Alex./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "How are you feeling?" she asked./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Stressed. A little frightened. Not feeling funky-fresh right now, I have to admit."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You must have heard about the Varia brothers."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex went still. Niamh shared a look with the other soldiers. It seemed like she didn't want to be the one to break the news./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "They escaped, Alex," said Agatha./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex's eyes went wide. Then his chest started to heave. He looked all around him, as if they might be there right this moment, hiding in plain sight. Waiting for him./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "No one told you?" Tess said, incredulous./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "That's fucked up," said Baz./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Asa came running. Time for some in damage control./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Alex—"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex rounded on him./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "The Varias emescaped?!/em When did this happen?!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "It was… a while back"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Asa," Alex growled./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "It was several days ago," said Agatha. "Alex, I swear, we thought you know."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Several! How many exactly?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Asa shuffled his feet. "It was on the 10th of the Drake."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Eight days ago. I'd checked emboth/em our letterboxes. No letter had arrived from the Skarsgards./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I can't believe this…"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I can't believe no one emtold you/em," Scar said, glaring at Asa./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "It wasn't my place," said the Bulbasaur, a touch defensive./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "How the hell did this happen?" I asked./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "How did you let emthem/em of all prisoners escape?" Tobias added./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "emEvery/em prisoner escaped."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" All three of us were speechless. Jessie and Art had stopped mid-battle to watch us./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Every single prisoner in all seventeen jails escaped. We managed to re-captured most of them, but hundreds fled to the wild areas, and we've been working day and night to track them all down. So forgive us if we didn't want to cause emmass panic/em in the south as well as the north."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex put his face in his hands. "What about my parents?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I'm sorry?" said Asa./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "My emparents/em. Enya and Cedric. What happened to them?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" His silence told us everything./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Heads turned and Pokémon stepped aside. A Flareon carrying a messenger back came trotting through, a letter stamped with the royal seal in her mouth. Alex sighed./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Always a knack for timing, emyour grace/em," he mumbled./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"An Incineroar and a Haxorus guardsmon opened the double-doors. Our footsteps echoed in the wide, hollowed hall rang, and as we stepped through it was like stepping into another region altogether. Pokémon moved about in a calm flurry, rigorously graceful. The cream-and-peach tiles were smooth and clean. An Axew wiped the floor behind us as we walked. Rude. The pale-blue ceiling stretched so far up even I had to crane my head. The chandelier had not been replaced. A party of six guardsmon led us up the stairs, marching on either side: Armarouge, Ceruledge, Volcarona, Charizard, Baxcalibur, Swellow, Scizor. We hadn't been back since the battle. The halls were filled with staff, yet they felt hollow. Haunted. I looked down. People have died on these steps. Where my dirty feet were now treading./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Floor two was the armoury, I recalled. We were marched down clean, polished, pristine hallways. All signs of damage had been covered over as if they were never there. I guess that was the idea./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex was seething. Octavia could have reached out to him just as easily as Asa. It wasn't quite the same level of betrayal as that of a friend, but this impromptu meeting was certainly bad timing. It's just lucky Tobias was there to keep him calm./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" In the room to our left, an Agile Farfetch'd was being fitted for armour by a clearly overworked Tinkatuff. In the next, a Scovillan was blasting fire against an identical chest plate and cuirass (that's right, I know my stuff), while a Fraxure watched on, taking notes on paper that was surely doomed to be ash in a few seconds' time. The glass windows to our right were red, orange, yellow, descending to colourless. I allowed myself a small smile. The Forest Fires were t now going around the city, separately, gathering as much information as they could about the Forest. About the mysterious pillars of smoke on the horizon. And now, about the Varias, too./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Moltres damn it!" the Fraxure behind us yelled./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Floor three had been completely reconstructed. Delicious aromas wafted from every room. Larder, pantry, buttery, a whole room dedicated just to spices (in a city full of fire-types, in fairness), even one each dedicated to making PokéBlocks, Poffins, malasadas, curries, and sandwiches. There was also small garden with wide clear windows growing fresh fruit and vegetables. Four rooms were combined into one to make a bustling kitchen. I took a peak inside. A Slurpuff stirring a pot of some pale-pink liquid. A Flapple rolling out dough. A Ruby Swirl Alcremie (topped with strawberries, if that's relevant) sieving sugar onto a pie. A Tropius tossing a giant wok of rice and vegetables with his mouth. A Bounsweet bouncing around in a giant wooden barrel, trampling in berries for wine. A Polteageist grinding beans for coffee./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" I silently noted that not a single dark-typed seemed to be working in the castle. Dragon-types were unavoidable, of course, especially with Mount. Chronicle so close by. I nodded to a Garchomp guarding the door to the fourth floor, she nodded back, more acknowledging nod than I usually got from the castle's staff./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" There were no more cages on the fourth floor. This seemed to be the academic's realm, libraries and a wax-making room and scribes working at desks. There was also an art gallery, a music hall, and a stonemason's room, where a Crustle was chiselling away at a block of basalt, carving on image of Lord Vex Foask, Octavia's Dusknoir friend, out of obsidian. They were partners, it was obvious to everyone. But that presented a real problem. They could never have a child together, and the Skarsgard lineage was running thin. Things hadn't been the same since Princess Topaz died. It was rumoured that a Skarsgard had done it. Hell, some people believe emOctavia/em did it (and maybe they still do). Their family had been split in half. There would have to be some awkward conversations when the time came for the Queen to choose her successor./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex looked at the statue, a grand seven-foot-tall thing, and said: "Glad to see we have our priorities straight, at least."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" To my surprise, three of the guardsmon laughed./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" We turned a corner. The rooms along this corridor all held one purpose: Laboratories. One held plants lined up in four different rows, growing on different kinds of soil, hidden behind veils through which different kinds of light shone through, watered with a vast range of liquids, or fertilised with bizarre substances of unnatural-looking colours. In the next were rows of water tanks, each holding held an identical lineage of different seaweeds, algae, rocks, and coral. Some were growing, some were eroding. Some were changing colour. Some were changing shape. In the third room rocks carved with different symbols, or ground into dust, or set alongside growth charts. Rocks with fossils embedded inside. The last room was closed off./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" We stopped before the next set of doors, the Charizard and the Baxcalibur climbed the steps to pull them open. Alex took a deep breath as we climbed. Before, the fifth floor had been a foul-smelling mess drenched in poisonous-purple. Now the walls were spotless; new buttercup-yellow tiles had been placed, fading into candlelight orange. The windows were clear and the corridor was sunny./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Dozens of paintings hung in golden frames between the windows or the pillars on the other side. Two of them must have been new; they depicted Octavia during the Battle of the Dragons. One a more literal depiction, the other a, what would you call it? An artistic take. We'd asked not to be painted. Mostly because we couldn't be bothered sitting for a collective twelve hours (or however long a portrait takes)./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" To her credit, Octavia had not taken credit for defeating the Varia brothers herself, although that would have been a good look for her. The pantings were honest, at least. One depicted her and her heavy orange-and-blue armour taking up bottom-left side, a black-and-red Blast Burn comet roaring from her mouth, as a party of a dozen poison-type Pokémon cried out in alarm. Asa was just below her, his vines reaching around and creating a rope-like border. He doesn't exactly strike me as the "I want my portrait done" type, but also not as one inclined to say no to a polite request. The other was her in her armour with her longsword sword, dug into black-and-purple ground, head bowed, the Varia flag burning behind her, with smears of red, either fire or blood./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" One illustration in particular caught my eye. A Cherrim, Sunshine Form, dancing in a ray of yellow, real sunbeams shining through the windows to the painting's left and right. The title card read simply: em"Hope." /emMy students seemed drawn to it, too./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" We passed by the Hall of Monarchs. Alex stopped./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Come on, move along now," said the Scizor guardsmon./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex gazed up at her, feigned Lillipup-eyes. "I'd like to pay my respects."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The Scizor shrugged, then began fiddling with the lock. Beside the door was another painting, another Charizard. Slimmer than Octavia, with wider, softer eyes. Yellow, instead of the typical purple or blue or green. A gentle smile on her face, with a small impish fang poking out. She stood gazing far off into the distance, a greatsword pointed towards the ground. She stood on untouched green grass, a setting sun and darkening sky behind her. She wore silver tiara around her head studded with orange and yellow gems. The Queen's elder sister. In line to the throne, until she was murdered in this very castle eleven years ago. Her name was, damn it I should know this, it was…/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Topaz," said the Charizard guardsmon, he was looking at her with misty green eyes./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I'm sorry," I said, "were you close?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" He looked at me, somewhat incredulous. "She was our princess," he said simply./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The door clicked open./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Two minutes," the Scizor said as she waved him in./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Proud monarchs lined the wall. Names, species, dates, and descendants were carved onto gold plaques nailed into plinths beneath them. All bore the last name Skarsgard, bar one. Some had other last names borne before their crowning etched in as well. Blythe, Penn, Géroux, Albion. Stretching back a-hundred-and-fifty-one years, and every single Pokémon to sit on Itori's throne had been immortalised in stone here. Even Dreigo./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" An obsidian monolith (the same masonry as Queen Octavia), placed amongst the Skarsgard rulers, an eternal tribute to a king of forty-two days. Alex stared up at him, not even blinking./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "He's angry," Tobias whispered to me, "but trying not to show it. He doesn't want to come across as aggressive."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Why do you think he wanted to come here?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex answered by spitting at the statue's feet. The guardsmon both cracked grins./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Good lad," said the Baxcalibur./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Come on," the Swellow said, waving him along. "Let's not keep the Queen waiting."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 13px;" /p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She greeted us in the great hall where we'd found Zweil's gruesome Spectre. The Skarsgard emblem hung from a gigantic banner covering the back wall. The fossils and the suits of armour had been removed. Queen Octavia had draped herself over a gold and red throne that positively shone. The arms tapered into draconic skulls, fangs bared. The back of the chair was carved into the shape of a roaring flame. She wore a blue sleeved tunic laced with glossy pale-blue thread, with purple briefs to match. A navy cloak lined with orange fur was wrapped loosely around her muscled shoulders (loosely enough to show off the muscle). A ring of fire opals glinted around her neck, and a golden crown had been fitted to her specific dimensions, six sharp spikes studded with obsidian, fire opal, and topaz. At the tip of her tail just below her flame was another golden band, a red Gem embedded within. She looked like she could hop from a formal ball to a battlefield at a moment's notice. (Maybe that was the plan.)/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Vex hovered behind her, undressed but for a Skarsgard-emblem ring on his right-hand middle finger (Imagine being flipped off not just by a Lord, but by the whole emkingdom/em). We stood across from her, the guardsmon still surrounding us, me with my claws hooked behind me and my back straight, the others looking like scolded schoolchildren. The rebellious kid and the shy one. The power imbalance bounced off the walls of the room. This was our first time meeting Queen Octavia since the War of the Dragons. The tension was electric. Luckily, I'm a part-ground-type./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "We appreciate you sending your guardsmon to escort us, your majesty," I said, "given the recent dangers that have presented themselves."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "My pleasure," the Queen replied. She had the deep husky voice of a Charizard, but underneath was a regal elegance./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The guardsmon remained where they were./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Sir Albion," the Queen said, a slight nod to each of us in turn, "Tobias, Professor. It's wonderful to see you again."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex said nothing. I gave him a very small kick./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Likewise, your grace," he said, not quite looking at her./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "How was your journey?" she asked. "I trust you took the easier route this time."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "We travelled by the Taiga Region, your grace," I said, "it was a pleasant trip."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia smiled. "A beautiful part of our country. I'd always dreamed of setting up my own little villa there. Never the time."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I'll bring some pine tree seeds next time I come by that way, you could plant them here and make believe."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She laughed. "Sounds like a plan. Love a guy with a sense of interior design."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Why didn't you tell me the Varias escaped?" said Alex./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia's smile dropped./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You aren't a soldier anymore, Alex," she said, voice as heavy as the air, "you have no right to demand access to emmilitary secrets/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I have a right to know if my life is in danger," he rebutted. "emWe/em have a right to know; Tobias and Khan were with me when we defeated the Varias, everyone in the Academy could be a target!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia was a picture of nonchalance. "I won't let that happen. I already have scores of my Pokémon out there handling the situation."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I don't even think you emunderstand/em the situation."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I don't think you understand where you are, boy," Vex said, the voice of an adult flexing his power over a child. Well, there's another adult in the room right now, emmy lord/em./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Do I really need to explain to you why we don't declare major political issues to anyone who could possibly be relevant?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Yeah, I think you do," Tobias said, "because I think the three of us are pretty relevant to this."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia looked at him like she only just noticed he was there. It made my blood boil. She turned it Alex and spoke:/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "We keep information like this close to our chest because it only takes one wrong person to find out before things go emwrong/em. And when things go wrong, people get emhurt/em. If you remained in Emerald Town, you would be at very little risk from the Varias. The same cannot be said for the Pokémon in this room. Their home is only a two-day journey north-west of here, four at most with an army. If anyone's lives were in danger, it was emours/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Her expression turned into something a bit more remorseful. "And now, unfortunately, that does include the three of you. I… appreciate this is not easy information to digest. You may also have heard Enya and Cedric Albion have escaped as well."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Yeah, heard that around the same time."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "They weren't with the Varias."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Alex blinked./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "They headed south. In the direction of the clifflands."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "And you didn't think that was at all relevant?!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "They don't want to hurt you, Alex." For once, her voice was gentle./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "How can you know that for sure?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Because for the past year they've asked every single day if they can talk to their son. To apologise to him. And every single time they were denied, because you told me you didn't want to see them."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I don't even know them. I don't have any memories of them."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia frowned, as if she was now just register the scar on Alex's face. "That reminds me, what happened to…?" she drew her finger along her own forehead./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Are you going to arrest them again?" Alex said, ignoring her./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She sighed. "If you truly feel unsafe with the two of them loose, I will send for my air force to apprehend them. But I honestly don't see the point. And to be perfectly honest, I sympathise with them." She ran a thumb along the side of her finger. "It's a horrible feeling. Not knowing where a loved one is. Not knowing if they're alive or dead."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I am alive," Alex said./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "By the grace of Moltres. One of my watchmon tells me you arrived here huddled in a shroud."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Speaking of gods./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Your grace," I said, "we're actually glad you called us up here. We have urgent information regarding our neighbours to the south."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "As far as I know, we have no conflict with Tenrai."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Tenrai isn't the problem," said Tobias, "it's the Archon emhimself/em."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Malik Grieve," the Queen said, as if it were a name she'd heard only distantly, "what about him? For the past eight years he's been wholly distant from us. Much more so than his predecessor Bruiser."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Does this have something to do with the fires that have been occurring across the southern settlements?" asked Lord Vex./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" So he's only been attacking settlements./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Your grace," Tobias said, "the Archon of Itori himself is behind these attacks."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The room emptied, only us and the dust particles left in it./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You've seen this?" Octavia asked./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "We all have. We have several dozen witnesses, although many of them are still in Karma City seeking rescue. It emis/em the Archon. Alex and I confronted him ourselves."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She looked to Alex, back to him./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Whatever for?!" Vex's voice boomed. "Doesn't he realise the destruction he could cause?!"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I believe that may be the point," I said./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "For what reason?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia spoke before any of us could answer:/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Malik Grieve is a Charizard, correct?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Correct," said Tobias./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Describe him."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" So he did: Taller than average, enough to make his bulky frame look almost lean. Rich, red-orange skin. A red flame with whisperings of yellow. Evening-sky-blue wings. Purple eyes./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" Octavia drew her hand over her mouth./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Leave us," she said to her guards./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" The Charizard guardsmon blinked. "Your grace—"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "emLeave us!/em" she roared, her cape falling across the throne as she got to her feet./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" They turned and marched out of the room. Only Lord Vex she allowed to stay. The Dusknoir took both her hands in his, tenderly, and helped her back down onto her seat. She put a hand to her head, the other clutching the dragon's head so hard I was worried she might break the skin. Or the head./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "Your grace?" Tobias said cautiously./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "His name isn't Malik," she said quietly./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "You're…" I said, "you're sure, your grace?"/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "I'm positive. I know what he looks like."/span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" She put her head in her hand and took a deep breath./span/p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;" "His name is Fitzroy," said said, her voice grave, "he's my nephew my sister's son. He's the one who killed her."/span/p