Interceptor's Wish

by Masterdude21

What started as a young man's search for his abducted mother spirals out of control. Soon, he is fighting a desperate war for survival against greater odds than a more generous God would have allowed. The enemy is everywhere and allies are far too few. With the entire region at stake, who can prevail when fate itself seems set against you? - Novelization of Pokemon Rejuvenation.

17. Union

Chapter 5: Imprisoned

Union

~~~~~~~(I)~~~~~~~

---

Emma loved it when a plan came together.

In a sweeping shutout, Valarie had won the tournament and gained access to the Prestige Room once again. Just a few hours ago, at nightfall, Valarie would have pulled Saki and Braixen up to the Prestige room. There, they would have followed the secret path through the processing room and to the computer that regulated all the Sigils.

How were they supposed to get through that door? The answer was simple. The system there automatically sent out each minecart when it had approximately 45 pieces of ore loaded into the cart. To make sure that they'd have enough to send the infiltration team through, Adam had taken it upon himself to mine as many rocks as he could. That way, he could stack up 45 pieces for Braixen and Saki to get into the control room.

There, they would meet up with Nancy and destroy the Sigil's control room, but only when Emma gave them the signal.

The signal being communicated by the radio she'd stolen from that guard back in the Dining Hall, of course.

That was the logistics of it all, but no battle was won by logistics alone. Next came the actual breakout itself.

A rebellion.

Will would stay down in his room until the Sigils were down. Then, he'd do what he did best and wreak havoc. He'd lead the rebellion, break Team Xen's hold on the prison and smash through the guards. Not an easy task, but every part of the plan needed the best person to complete it and Emma was certain that no force on Blacksteeple Island could keep Will from busting Aelita and his mother free from Xen's hold.

And just like Will had his part to play, so did Emma.

She just hoped that she could pull it off.

"Neved?" She asked, knocking on the Warden's door for what she hoped would be the final time. "Are you in there? I need to talk to you."

"Yes," his voice came from the other end. "Come in."

She did just that, closing the door behind her as Neved watched her enter. "It's good you came," he said with that deep, rumbling voice of his. Emma found it too difficult to gauge his thoughts. "I wanted to talk to you too."

"Oh? What about?"

"Probably best for you to go first."

"Fine with me. I wanted to talk to you more about this place. I hope you don't mind, but I took a stroll down to the pier where you found me."

"And?"

Emma felt her heart perform a little flutter. This was it. Everything depended on this moment. "I noticed there was a ship there. I was dumbfounded by its marvelousness."

"That's my ship," Neved said with a nod. "It was given to me when I adopted this castle."

"Wow!" Emma exclaimed, and she had never before had to fight so hard to fake her enthusiasm. "I wouldn't exactly call myself a ship aficionado, but I do enjoy observing certain vessels."

The corners of his mouth rose in an almost imperceptible smile. "Is that so? Well, when this all is over, I can take it for a ride."

"Well, about that…" Emma said, wishing that her heart would stop beating so hard. If it didn't calm down, Neved would surely hear it. "I was wondering if we could do one today? I'm just really excited to see it in motion, you know?"

She saw Neved contemplating her question. Unfortunately, he didn't contemplate long. "That isn't possible."

"Huh?" Emma said, fake disappointment dripping from her words. "Why? I was really excited to go for a ride, too…"

"Hmm." Neved turned away for a moment. "You remind me of my daughter. Young, but spunky and enthusiastic. She would always ask me to take her for rides across the sea."

"I don't blame her, it's an experience."

Neved faced her again and his expression was resolute. "Nevertheless, it's impossible. It seems like this place is coming to a rest today."

Oh, that was not good. That was very not good. "Coming to an end?" Emma asked.

Neved sighed wearily. "A few days ago I've received notice that we've met our quota, and that Madame X will be appearing soon."

Dear mother of god.

The whole world slowed to a halt. Emma stared at the man in horror, frozen. "Wh-What?" She sputtered.

Neved's dark eyes narrowed. "You're surprised? You know that name?"

She did. Everyone did. It was the one name they all feared, the one name that could send entire operations to their death spiral within moments.

Madame X.

Panic blindsighted her, hard. She'd nearly fled from the room when she realized that this didn't have to be the end yet. This didn't have to mean that everyone was lost. Time! She just needed to cut down on the time!

"I need your key!" Emma said, not bothering to keep the fear from her voice. "The key to your ship!"

"Excuse me?" Neved said.

"If Madame X is coming, then I can't stay here!" Emma begged him. "I'll ask one of the guards down by the pier to take me away!"

"Slow down," Neved said, his deep voice impossibly calm. "If you fear for your life, I wouldn't. I will protect you. I've already told Madame X of your involvement, and she approves of your efforts here. In fact, when this is all over, she may ask for you to become an Admin."

He sounded so proud, like it was an achievement worthy of praise. He didn't understand – he didn't get it! "I can't…" Emma whispered. "I…I just can't."

Somehow, Neved saw reason. "I understand. Will you feel better if I give you the key?"

"Yes!" Emma urged him.

Wordlessly, Neved dug into the pockets of his trenchcoat and took out a large, metallic key. He handed it to her, his expression…remorseful?

"Are you leaving now?" He asked her, his voice quiet and almost sullen.

"I…"

"Just make sure you're on the ship by the afternoon," he continued.

Emma nodded. She didn't have the time for anything else. Leaving a puzzled and disappointed Neved behind, she fled from his office.

"Valarie? Saki?" She hissed into the stolen radio. "We need to talk! Something's come up!"

The radio was silent.

Frowning, Emma made sure that she'd pressed the right button. "Hello? Can you hear me? Please pick up?"

Something was wrong. Why wasn't Valarie answering?

Something had gone wrong.

No, no no no! it couldn't end like this! Not when she was this far!

"Will," she breathed. It all came down to him now. He was still out there. Unbreakable and reliable as ever. She needed to find him and quick!

~~~~~~~(II)~~~~~~~

---

Will hated it when a plan fell apart.

In the not-so-metaphorical calm before the storm, Will expected many things to happen. Most of them would be ways the plan could fail. Every person in Emma's insane and brilliant plan had their own role to play, which meant that every person involved was a risk to the plan as a whole.

What if Valarie couldn't get the others up? What if the guards spotted them?

Perhaps more reasonable to assume, what if Val, Saki and Braixen got caught? Any fight they got into that wasn't immediately won would result in their defeat. There were simply too many Xen members here, including not one, but three Xen Admins.

Will didn't have a way to plan for an unexpected failure, but that hadn't stopped him before. So that night, he woke up around four in the morning and began working through every plausible way things could spin out of control, and what actions they needed to get wrangled back under control.

So when Emma came running down the hallway, out of breath and desperately yelling his name, Will guessed that things hadn't necessarily turned out to their benefit.

"Will!" Emma gasped, skidding to a halt in front of his cell. "Thank goodness you're awake! Will, things have gone terribly wrong!"

A cold hand seized his stomach and began tying it into knots.

"What happened?"

"I went to Neved's room as planned, but he told me something that can ruin everything! Apparently Madame X is making her way here to this island as we speak!"

Well, crap. That was one what-if he hadn't thought about. Facing down the woman who inspired fear in Neved wasn't something he felt confident about. "When?"

"She's expected to get here by the afternoon, if that happens…none of us will be able to take her on, no matter how strong we are all combined!"

The panic in her voice was almost visceral. If this woman was as dangerous as Emma made her out to be, then taking her out with surprise attack at range wouldn't be an option.

Aelita had told him that the best way to win a fight was to avoid it. Win or lose, someone might leave you with irreparable damage in the best of cases.

They could beat Madame X simply by not being on the island when she arrived. "Where are the others?" He asked.

"I tried contacting them both but they won't respond! I feel like they might have been caught, or worse! But…if they were, Neved would have surely told me, so I'm not so sure…change of plan! You'll have to go check on them! I would do it myself, but – "

"I understand," Will said. "I'll get it done."

Relief visibly washed over Emma and she hurried to open his cell. "We don't have time to wait! We're initiating the plan now! Once you go down there, disable the Sigils. I'll go down to the cellar and save Aelita from her confinement, I'll lead the rebellion with her!"

"Where do I go?" Will questioned.

Emma bit her bit. "Getting there is going to cause us trouble…the Prestige Room has been completely locked down and because of Madame X's arrival, all tournaments have been canceled. But I have an idea! A few days ago I latched a sticker on a guard without him noticing! I used that to monitor his movements! He went through the doors in the cafeteria, then somehow later appeared through the library at night! That's how I found out about the tunnel from there to the secret hideout behind the garden. They may still be open. They might not be patrolled."

Will started to put the pieces together. "So, we go through the library?"

"No, no, going through the library is too risky right now. If you use the entrance I opened up near the secret hideout, it may lead you to the same place!"

"Hearing an awful lot of "may" there, Emma."

"We have no alternatives! Good luck Will…we're going to need it."

They parted ways. Will began running to the garden. It was an official, sanctioned morning, which meant that none of the guards seemed to care about their prisoner sprinting through their halls with a purpose.

Good. Every second counted, and Will pushed himself to go faster than before. His body didn't have a lot left in it, but knowing that this would be the final day in this freaking castle helped a lot. He made it to the garden in record time, shoved his way past the tree in the secret entrance and booked up past the house, up the stone path where Emma had found the secret passageway.

True to her word, a section of the floor had been upended, revealing a rusty ladder that led him into some sort of underground tunnel that wouldn't seem out of place in the Wispy Ruins. He followed it along until he found what seemed to be a dead end, but he knew better than to let that deter him.

One part of the wall looked weird, like it had been painted over with a different coat of paint. He pushed against it and was pleasantly surprised when that section of the wall suddenly slid aside.

"Nice!" Will whispered.

A second later, he heard what sounded like whispers coming down from one of the tunnels, and he quickly froze, before darting over to the shadows in-between two entrances and hiding away.

A pair of guards came walking down the middle path of the T-intersection, too occupied by their conversation to notice Will as he scampered for cover. "So that's what this whole place is for?"

"That's what Neved told me, anyway. Apparently after the failure at Carotos and Goldenleaf Forest, Madame X proposed this plan. To capture and destroy all of the strong trainers in the region."

"Hm. I can understand kidnapping Valarie and the other leaders, but what about the civilians of Akuwa Town?"

"Bait, probably."

A sudden chill ran down Will's spine and he suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Were these guys for fucking real? Destroy all the strong trainers in the region? That would have to be hundreds of people. Thousands. More.

"Bait for who?"

"You know, the one that started it all. That trainer from Gearen City."

You have got to be fucking kidding me, Will thought. Back then, he thought that Neved had been messing with him. Some psychological torture bullshit or something. But that was legit? Madame X had built this goddamn prison because he'd stopped them from kidnapping an innocent girl? He started this?

"Supposedly his name's William. Talk about a spanner in the works."

Will couldn't hear another second. He skulked away, unseen, and began making his way down another hallway. He passed through another fake wall, walked into a little reading room with a small table and –

Someone flew from underneath the table and threw themselves at his legs, punching at his stomach as they tried to shove him to the ground.

Holy shit! He thought, startled. In a reflex, he grabbed a fistful of the woman's hair and then slammed his knee against her jaw, hard.

She let go of him almost instantly and fell to the ground, moaning as she held her chin. "Oooouch! You freaking savage! Just wait till I – huh"

Will stared at the woman on the floor with confusion. He…he knew her! "Pianolady?" He said, pressing a hand against his protesting abdomen.

"Y-You're Will!" She exclaimed. Will hurried to help her get back to her feet, taking a quick look at her face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to ambush you like that! I never expected you just to walk through the hidden corridors like that!"

If he'd been leading with a Pokemon, Will was reasonably sure Pianolady would never have played a piano again in her life. "What were you thinking?" He hissed, dismayed at what could have gone wrong if he'd been more trigger happy.

Rubbing her sore chin, Pianolady explained, "I wasn't! I thought a guard had finally found me all the way back here and I wanted to subdue them before they could haul me back to my cell! But it's you!" Her energetic expression dulled. "Oh. That means they finally got you too…"

"I'm getting you out of here," Will told her.

"You're here to save us?" The woman said. "What would you say if I said I already knew?"

Will would have probably told her that she'd lost her marbles. The only reason he'd amounted to anything around here was because of Emma. "Uh…"

She laughed. "Your friends snuck down here earlier. They're waiting for someone's signal? But I usually hang in here because it's where I want to be. Not where those criminals want me to be. This room is connected to my cell! Come take a look!"

Will followed her out through the underground hallway –

- and straight into Pianolady's prison cell.

"See?" She said, watching him look around in amazement. "It's hidden behind a bookcase! Because of that, I can roam around at night and not get into trouble!"

Team Xen had turned this place into their little murder prison without ever mapping out all the hidden paths and passages? Why hadn't they bothered to be more careful? He couldn't imagine it was carelessness. Were they that arrogant? So sure of their own victory that they hadn't bothered to think of a way their enemy could still find an advantage?

"Your friends should be in the next room over. There shouldn't be any guards down here, but be careful!" Paniolady urged him.

"Stay in your cell and stay safe," Will said. "When the signal comes, this place is going to turn into a battlefield."

"Oh, I can only imagine," Pianolady said, her eyes all but sparkling with delight. "Go get them!"

Will ran through the winding hallways, running past rows upon rows of cells, all of them filled with people from the S.S. Oceana. Dozens of them. Some called out to him as he ran by them. Most just lay there, staring at the ceiling or the wall, or buried underneath their blankets in the bed. So many people, kept here…as bait? Just for him?

Because he'd kept them from taking Melia?

He couldn't dwell on that now. Every second counted. There would be time for more self-loathing later. He had a castle to burn.

"Froslass, are you ready?" He said.

The newly-evolved Ice - and Ghost-type materialized behind him. She uttered a haunting little cry and circled around him, flickering in and out existence as ice crystals began forming on Will's shoulders.

"Shadow me, wait until my signal," Will told her.

Froslass fluttered over to his shadow, dove into the floor and then vanished.

Attagirl.

Will pushed himself on. This would be the final stretch. He had to give this everything he had and then some more. Too many lives were at stake for him to let something like physical discomfort or pain slow him down.

A guard sprinted down the hall to his right, yelling at him to stop, brandishing a baton.

Will didn't slow down as he sent out Nidoking. "Stop him!"

The man had time to recognize the sudden threat, his combat boots skidding across the floor as he tried to turn away and run, but he was far too slow. Nidoking seized the man by his chest and flung him through the hall. The man landed in a heap about fifty feet away.

Will didn't bother to see if he got up again. He saw a door blocking his way. "Nidoking, the door!"

Nidoking raced by him on all fours, slamming his armored body against the metal security door so hard that he nearly busted it from its frame. He dug his clawed hands in-between the door and the frame and heaved. Superdense muscles overcame the security mechanism in about two seconds and Nidoking wrenched the door open, then rammed his body against its frame again, jamming the door open and keeping it that way.

Will sprinted past him. He found himself in a large room with several entrances. In front of him stood a massive computer terminal of sorts, with what looked to be an entire month's worth of purple crystals jammed into a processing machine atop the console.

That looked fragile and important.

Will would have stayed to tinker around, but something wasn't right. Valarie, Saki and Braixen should have been here. Where were they?

An elevation to the left of the machine had caught his attention. With Nidoking in tow, he hurried up the steps and further into the facility. After just a dozen meters the black interior of the base turned into another cavernous mine, with long meters of cables and a steel latticework connecting what looked like hundreds of kilograms of machines together.

There, in the middle of the room, lay his friends. Will cursed under his breath as he dropped down next to Saki, Val and Braixen. "Nidoking bring up the rear," he ordered.

He was about to check for injuries when out of nowhere, Nidoking roughly seized him and shoved him to the ground, pinning him there with his body.

A split-second later several projectiles slammed into Nidoking's armored back like cannon shots, impacting so hard that the noise itself nearly deafened Will.

"Blaziken!" He shouted as Nidoking let go of him and pivoted to face their attackers, blasting them with a quick spray of poisonous barbs. Then, Nidoking leapt aside as a freaking Houndoom sprinted up the stairs and towards him, flames leaking from its parted jaws.

Following that Houndoom was nobody else than the woman responsible for abducting his mother all those weeks ago. The purple haired woman with the sunglasses, looking just as calm and collected as when she'd watched Neved choke the life out of him back in their base.

Madelis flanked her, a terrible grin plastered on her smug face.

"Would you look at that? Seems the insect finally fell onto your web," Madelis said. "Hello again William!"

Two more Pokemon spread out around her. One a bipedal plantlike Pokemon with a vague humanoid build, the other a gray and purple reptilian Pokemon with sharp, curved teeth and slender limbs.

"Looks like you were right, Madelis," the other Xen Admin calmly said. "Things fell into place, exactly as envisioned."

They'd picked the wrong fucking prey for their web. A burst of flames roared through the hallway, scattering Madelis' Pokemon and sending the two women scrambling for cover. The next instant, Blaziken shoulder-checked Houndoom out of the way, before taking up her position at Will's side. She seized his shoulder in a clawed hand and pulled him behind her, out of anyone's line of fire.

"So Will, you thought you could just waltz in here and mess with our plans?" Madelis shouted at him from behind one of the machines. "A bold move from someone who got themselves locked up in prison:"

Houndoom blasted Nidoking with a wave of black energy that melted the rocks beneath him. Nidoking threw up his arms to protect himself, then brought his foot down on the ground, hard. A series of massive, sharpened rocks erupted from the ground, speeding towards Houndoom with incredible speed. They tore through the metal framework like a knife through butter, but Houndoom was faster still and leapt for cover.

Madelis' two other Pokemon both attacked un unison. A whiplike vine cracked through the air, but Blaziken intercepted it with her right arm and let the vine wrap around her arm. She didn't have the time to reel her foe in, as the other Pokemon scampered towards her across the floor, launching large globules of boiling acid or poison at her.

"As they say, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime," Madlis laughed.

Blaziken wrapped her arm around Will's waist and kicked off, leaping high in the air to avoid the poisonous gunk even as the Grass-type released her whip at the halfway point.

"Let's sweep this up quickly! Madame X will be here soon and we don't want this to be the first thing she sees," the other Admin said.

Houndoom leapt atop one of the machines and unleashed a blistering stream of fire at Nidoking. Nidoking rolled across the floor, seeking cover behind the craggy rocks he'd thrown up with Earth Power before. With a snap of his tail, he shattered a spire of stone as thick as a man and twice as high and the stone shattered into a thousand pieces, sending a cloud of shrapnel at Houndoom.

"Speak for yourself! I want to see the look on William's face as he looks up at Madame X, broken and beaten!"

The Grass-type kicked off with powerful muscles and gave pursuit. Blaziken put Will down and shoved him back, before bringing her leg up and out to sweep aside her enemy's own kick.

"I want to see his eyes as he realizes how much worse he's going to get it!"

The foe immediately disengaged, shoving itself backwards with frightening speed before leaping in the air. Ir performed a salto and then brought its thin leg down on Blaziken hard. A burst of petal-shaped energy burst from its body as it moved, forcing Blaziken to wreathe herself in flames to push back. She threw up her right arm to the incoming drop kick, intercepted a Sludge Bomb by flinging a burst of flames in its way with her left arm, then quickly took two large steps back when the other enemy dropped down low and attempted to sweep her legs from beneath her body.

"Come Nastasia! Join in, let's see him squirm against four on two! Five, six, I don't care!"

"No you don't!"

A Sylveon leapt atop one of the machines and unleashed a Dazzling Gleam just as the enemy Poison-type could fling another Sludge Bomb towards Will. The flash of light blinded the reptilian Pokemon and it quickly scampered aside to avoid a follow-up attack.

And his mother emerged from the back of the cave! "You two were so caught up in knocking out these three that you didn't even notice me," she said.

"Great," Nastasia sighed. "Now we have to deal with this sorry excuse. Fine, let's just get this over with."

An image of helplessness - of screaming at a looming Nastasia, powerless to stop her from taking his mother - flashed through his mind. A snapshot of every nightmare he'd had since his escape from the Oceana.

Behind Will, Nidoking uttered a shaking scream. That was followed by a pained shriek from Houndoom, who flew through the air and slammed into the wall behind Madelis.

Nidoking, battered and covered with burn marks, leapt atop one of the machines. His claws wrenched apart metal as he found a holding, then shrieked his defiance for all to hear.

Personally, Will couldn't have said it better. No way would he ever let anyone take the people he loved away from him again. No way.

Nastasia sighed. "We might need reinforcements. This could be too much."

"I'll handle Nastasia, you take care of Madelis," his mother said, her voice calm and as cool as ice.

Madelis scowled something fierce. "Houndoom, come back. Tsareena, I want you to kick that annoying pest in half! Florges, blind these fools!"

She sent out a third Pokemon - a slender Fairy-type with a white upper body and a crest of flowers and petals draped across its shoulders.

The Grass-type - Tsareena - bounded towards him, but Blaziken had something to say about that. Flames erupted around her wrists and she threw herself into a rolling kick, forcing the Tsareena to skitter away or risk burning to a cinder.

Will shut out everything around him - every thought, every concern, every noise and sight of Nastasia's battle with his mother that could have distracted him - and focused on breaking down Madelis.

With her third Pokemon keeping Nidoking occupied, blasting him with radiant bursts of energy, Madelis' intentions were quite clear. Her Tsareena would bypass the distracted Blaziken and probably do something very violent to Will.

That Poison-type evaded a massive chunk of stone that Nidoking flung its way, then paused to spew a thick stream of poisonous gunk towards Blaziken. At the same time, Tsareena vaulted high into the air to get past her. Blaziken couldn't jump away to prevent the gunk from blinding her, as that would leave Will wide open.

Blaziken was forced to take the blow even as she turned her back to her opponent and went for the Tsareena. The attack struck her hard, but still Blaziken managed to wrap her clawed fingers around the Tsareena's leg. She heaved and jerked the Grass-type out of the air before she could land a drop kick on Will.

"No!" Madelis snapped, her hand dropping to the satchel at her hip. "Fine, Cinccino - "

This seemed as good a time as any. "Froslass, disable Madelis!"

And Froslass emerged from the wall behind Madelis, who seemed none the wiser, and draped herself across Madelis' body, pressing her ghostly arms down on her limbs and coating her in a thick layer of freezing air. Madelis' fourth Poke Ball clattered to the ground and Madelis sucked in a breath of air, before sinking through her knees as a truly bone-chilling cold settled within her marrows.

"Madelis!" Nastasia exclaimed.

Like Geara before, her Pokemon reacted to the surprise attack on their trainer with characteristic alarm. Like with Geara's Marowak, it left them wide open. Nidoking sent Florges flying with a savage Poison Jab, while Blaziken flung Tsareena's limp body towards Madelis' last Pokemon. It flattened itself to the ground, but didn't count on Sylveon striking its flank with a powerful Moonblast.

The Xen Admins crumbled. Mom had kicked Nastasia's ass. They'd beaten them!

In that moment, Will felt with a sudden clarity that he now had Madelis' life in his hands. He could end this here. Tell Froslass to go all the way. Keep freezing Madelis until her lungs were filled with shards of solidified blood, until the water in her eyes froze over and her heart shattered.

It would be easy. It would be deserved. She would have had so much blood on her hands if he hadn't stopped her before. She would never stop hounding him otherwise, would never give up hunting him and his mother now.

Madelis locked her gaze with his, anger and utter helplessness in her eyes. In that instant, as Madelis looked at him, she saw something in him. And Will saw the anger turn into horror. Fear.

That gave him pause.

It would be so easy…right? She derived it, didn't she?

…that fear in her eyes made Madelis look so small. Vulnerable.

Human.

How could he ever do something like that to another person? He wouldn't let them turn him into someone like them. He wouldn't be judged. Not by the likes of them.

"Tch, there seems to be no cure for incompetence," Nastasia spat, oblivious to what was going through Will's mind, oblivious to the true situation of her fellow Admin. "But that goes for me too."

"Back down!" His mother said. "We have beaten you."

Nastasia raised her hands in a non-threatening manner even as Blaziken flanked Will, her breathing calm and steady despite her injuries.

Will tore his gaze from Madelis. "Don't let them try anything funny," he told his mother. "They're not taking you a second time."

"Taking her? When Madame X gets here, we're not going to be taking anyone," Nastasia said with amazing calm given her situation. "Try and escape. Try and take everyone we've got into that battleship. Watching you run around with false hope will bring tears to my eyes. With laughter, of course. Come Madelis."

"Ah-ah," Mom said as if she were scolding a child. "Where are we going?"

"Away," Nastasia said. "You've beaten our Pokemon. We can't stop you. So we won't stick around."

It wouldn't be the first time an unarmed Xen member tried to attack him while his guard was down. Will couldn't let them leave. They had to -

"Very well," his mother said with amazing calm. "But if one of you tries to harm my boy again, I will give no quarter. You will die."

"...noted," Nastasia said, with that same calmness in her voice. "Madelis, can you move? Oh, you are so useless at times. Come…"

Will watched Nastasia wrench Madelis upright. Madelis, shaken, frigid and utterly beaten, couldn't even muster as much as a single scathing remark when her partner pulled her upright and began half-carrying, half-pulling her out of there.

"Whew…that was definitely a gambit," Mom said, exhaling a shaky sigh. "Waiting for someone to show up, I mean. I used your friends as a distraction. I must apologize to them."

"Mom…did you mean that?" Will asked her.

"What, sweetie?"

"Giving them no quarter. Would you…" he licked his lips, which suddenly felt really dry. "Would you really have killed them?"

She gave him a tired smile, then walked up to him and pulled him into a soft, warm hug. "To protect my child? In a heartbeat. Every parent would kill - or even be killed - for their children."

Wearily, Will resisted the temptation to just rest his head against his mother's shoulder and close his eyes. "No quarter…" he murmured. "That is so fucking cool."

"Tch," his mother clicked her tongue at him. "Language."

Will chuckled. "Sorry."

"But I'm glad you're okay! That's what matters the most to me!"

"I missed you."

"I missed you too! I"m sorry our reunion had to happen like this, but it'll all be over soon. Come, let us wake your friends."

He recalled his Pokemon but kept Blaziken out. Sylveon padded over towards him, then wrapped its feelers around Will's arm. Something like a soothing, warm buzz spread from his arm to the rest of his body, driving back the pain and exhaustion of his muscles. The throbbing in the back of his head lifted, and suddenly found himself feeling much sharper and clearer than before.

"Hey, thanks," Will said,

Sylveon cooed happily, then padded towards the unconscious trio, carefully using his ribbons to nudge their faces and revitalize them. One by one, Will's friends got back to their feet.

The power of a Fairy-type, he supposed.

"Yowch, that hurt real bad," Valarie muttered as she rubbed the back of her head. She looked around, saw that the coast was clear and sighed in relief. "I think freeing mom might have been too soon. They must have, like, captured us on video cam or something. That Nastasia woman was strong. Real strong. Stronger than you, Saki."

"Yeah, I kinda got bonked on the head and that was it," Saki said with a shrug. She didn't bother getting to her feet either. "Didn't have my strongest Pokemon on me anyway."

"It happens," Braixen said, rubbing a furry little hand across Saki's head. "All is well that ends well, right?"

"We have no time to waste!" Will's mother said. "We have a system to disable!"

"How are we gonna do that?" Val asked.

"Mom, Saki, let's take a look at that console back there," Will said, jabbing his thumb in the direction he just came from.

"And if that doesn't pan out?" Braixen asked with concern.

Well, that was where plan B came into view, wasn't it?

~~~~~~~(III)~~~~~~~

---

Emma came to a halt before Aelita's cell. "Aelita!" She shouted. "I'm here for you!"

Startled, Aelita leapt from her bed. "Wh-What?" She stammered. "What are you doing?"

Fumbling with the lock, Emma replied, "I'm getting you and everyone else off this island right now! Are you able to fight?"

"Yes - I mean, what?" Aelita said, confused. "How can we fight? They have those things that prevent us from - "

"Will is taking care of those as we speak," Emma said, putting as much confidence into her voice as she could.

As if on cue, the entire castle shook in its foundations and a series of explosions went off in the distance. Like firecrackers, but probably packing a looooot more firepower. Will was dependable as always, but subtlety wasn't his forte.

"It has begun!" Emma gasped.

"What has begun!" Aelita demanded. "Don't talk in such a scary way!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Emma said, hurrying to unlock the door and get Aelita out. "I'll explain on the way, come on!"

~~~~~~~(IV)~~~~~~~

---

Screw subtlety, Will thought as Blaziken blasted the locked door off its hinges. He'd promised he would tear this castle apart stone by stone if it meant getting his people out and he was a man of his word.

When they got back through the hidden passageway into Braixen's little hideout, the air was thick with smoke. The not-so-distant noises over at the garden and the castle suggested that a war had broken out. Thunderous explosions split the air, screams of men and women alike became an incoherent mess and all the while, Will heard the telltale noise of nonstop energy discharges. It looked like everything was kicking off.

"Wow, it's already all smokey and harsh out here," Saki said, stopping to take in the sight.

Val pulled her along. "Emma and Adam must have noticed that the Sigils have finally died down! Word of this must have spread and..well, this is the result!"

With Braixen leading all of the survivors of the S.S. Oceana through the library's hidden passage, everything was falling into place. One final effort, one massive breakthrough and they could finally leave this cursed place behind.

But they didn't know the situation at the castle yet. For all they knew, Emma's effort would have gone poorly, which meant that the riot could have been about to fall apart. In that case, they were about to walk into enemy territory.

Val, Saki and Braixen took a different direction. Spreading out would be the best way to divide the guards.

"Froslass. stay close to me," Will ordered. With Sylveon's little gift, he could keep on trucking, but that had its limits. One errand attack could knock him out and then everything would fall apart. "Give me cover. If anyone breaks through, you're the last line of defense."

Froslass pirouetted around him several times, gradually becoming less and less visible until she had fully disappeared into the snow and ash-laden air.

"Blaziken, Nidoking, lead the way," he continued, addressing his two strongest fighters.

He felt his mother's hand on his shoulder. "Will, let's fight together this time! With our strength, we're unstoppable!"

He smiled at her. "Let's get them!"

Together, they began running back to the garden. Nidoking smashed his way through the tree that separated the two gardens, nearly giving a heart attack to the guard who had been stationed there.

"What!" He shouted. "How - !'

He didn't have the chance to send out his Pokemon. Nidoking grabbed a hold of him, took a second to roar in his face and then flung the guard into the river.

"You've become such a strong trainer!" His mother said as they fanned out into the garden. "I couldn't be more proud!"

More voices and shouts. The guards had spotted them from above and frantically sent out their Pokemon in an attempt to contain them.

"The Sigils! Why aren't they working?"

"They're not booting up! We're exposed!"

"That, you are," Mom smiled

A Gyarados reared its head from the river, roaring in rage. An Ariados dropped down from the Absol statue and an Ambipom came rushing down the wall towards them. Will had no choice but to engage all of them at once.

Blaziken enveloped herself in flames and intercepted Ariados. Nidoking slammed his fist into the floor and sent a jagged spike of earth erupting beneath the Ambipom, while Sylveon kept the Gyarados distracted by pummeling it from range.

Will never knew his mother was such a capable battler. Sylveon's Moonblast splashed across Gyarados' face and the impact sent the entire thing just reeling back.

But there were a lot of guards standing in their way with a lot of Pokemon. Blaziken and Nidoking went back and forth, never staying in one place for longer than a second, constantly on the move. Blaziken slammed into a hostile Zangoose like a comet, kicking it halfway across the garden. Nidoking used Earth Power to cause the ground underneath the gate to explode, causing half the inner wall to collapse in a violent mess of dust, debris and screaming, flailing guards.

Every now and then Froslass materialized around Will to fling sharpened stakes of ice someone's way, before quickly disappearing into the snowy air again.

Will laid waste to the garden, breaking free the captive Pokemon they'd kept on display, wrecking their statues and generally wreaking havoc. Their advance was like a mad blitz, every step compounded by a fiery explosion or feral scream. Nidoking stepped in front of Blaziken when an Elektrode began charging up. A split-second later, a flash of lightning arced between the two and struck Nidoking head-on.

Nidoking, solidly grounded and fresh out of patience, took the Thunder like a champ. Sylveon sprang into action from between his feet and flung a Moonblast at Elektrode to knock it out.

Like a hammer against an anvil. Every guard they drew in was one less body Emma had to deal with.

Will's heart hammered away in his chest, pumping more adrenaline through his system with every beat. Whatever Sylveon had done to him made it hard to keep track of his exhaustion - he couldn't tell how far he'd pushed himself yet. All that meant was that he could push himself harder.

"Come on!" Will shouted his challenge as Nidoking plowed through the pile of debris and stones that had once been the guard-house between the garden and the castle.

And Blacksteeple's guards answered him.

~~~~~~~(V)~~~~~~~

---

"Our guests have become rowdy," Neved sighed when the guard captain came to report. "And today on all days…"

"And…that's not all, sir," the captain nervously said. "The S.S. Oceana prisoners have also been freed. Not only that, but they have released the prisoners on the lower floor as well." Neved could hear the man nervously swallow. "Including Aelita."

Neved took a long, slow moment to process that. He sucked in an annoyed breath of air. Somehow, William was responsible for this. That thorn in his side had not managed this on his own, however. The common denominator was…well, he hated to have to reach that conclusion in the first place, but he could not ignore the facts. "Where is Emma?"

"I don't know. None of my men have seen her."

Neved scoffed. "Gather the guards and protect this castle. Your opposition will be relentless. I shall make my way to the pinnacle." Neved looked the captain in the eyes. "Make sure you calm everyone, even if you have to destroy them. Madame X will be here soon. Even if this place is in chaos, we have to make sure she's pleased by whatever is going on."

The guard, as pale as a sheat, shook his head. "I don't know what's going on sir, but I will do my best!"

"See to it," Neved dryly said.

There could be no doubt. William would come for him. He had seen it in the young man's eyes when they discussed Aelita. WIlliam would free those he cared about, then he would come.

And in doing so, he would waste the precious time he could have used to flee the island. He would come for the pinnacle to confront the Warden. Then, either Neved would crush him, Madame X would arrive.

Either way this would all be over by the end of the day.

~~~~~~~(VI)~~~~~~~

---

Nidoking busted through the wall, which exploded outwards in a shower of debris and dust, catching the pair of armed men who had been lying in ambush by surprise. As they lay there, bleeding and dazed, Will and his mother stepped through the opening and Sylveon calmly blasted their Machamp with a Moonblast.

"How did you know they would be waiting for us?" Mom asked, sounding impressed.

"Experience," Will said. Team Xen had meant business from the very start. They hadn't shied away from terrorism, hostage taking, torture and ambushes. So when he came across a perfectly normal door left unlocked in the wake of this mess, it hadn't taken him long to put two and two together.

"I see…"

Will walked into the main courtyard of the castle. On his way there, they must have fought their way through a small army of guards. There didn't seem to be an end to Blacksteeple's contingent.

Nidoking uttered a sharp cry and Will spun to his left, readying himself for the next obstacle.

"Nancy! Is that you?" An old man wearing a sailor's uniform exclaimed as he hurried towards them.

Wait a minute…that wasn't just any sailor's uniform, that was a Captain's outfit! Augustus? Here, in the open?

"And by the Gods, is that Will?" The old Captain continued. He didn't look any worse for wear. "What a momentous reunion this is!"

"Augustus!" His mother cried out. "You made it out okay!"

"That spunky Braixen led us out of that stuffy cell," the old captain explained. "Now, I may not be a youngin', but I can still fight!"

"No fighting for you sir!" Mom's voice cracked through the air like a whip, and Augustus stiffened. "We have a ship we need you to sail for us!"

"Hmm…that's a job I can do for sure." The old man laughed to himself. "I suppose that's…more suited to my skill set."

Will didn't see any Pokemon on the old man. Had Augusts been ready to throw hands with the guards by himself?

A moment later, Will heard the sharp noise of shoes crunching on snow and he glanced around. To his surprise, he saw Emma of all people running down the path towards him.

"Emma! It's good to see you again dear!" His mother said.

"Hey Em," Will said. "Objective achieved. What's next?"

Emma looked at him grimly. "Trouble."

Of course. Things couldn't ever go according to plan, could they? Well. He had a feeling things had been going far too smoothly. "What is it"

"The key Neved gave me earlier…I had a bad feeling, but…"

"What's wrong with it?" His mother asked, concerned.

"This key isn't for the ship that's down by the pier. I don't know if Neved suspected me, or if he didn't want me to leave, but…"

"EMMA!" Someone roared from above.

Will looked up. There, at an alcove atop the main entrance of the castle, stood the bastard himself. The Warden of Blacksteeple Castle.

Neved.

The Xen Admin dangled a silvery object from a key. "This is what you are looking for, correct?" He shouted. "I always keep the key on me. If you wish to claim it, you better make your way to the pinnacle of Blacksteeple Castle. Make haste. Your time is running out."

That made things simple. Saved Will the effort of having to hunt him down. He took a step towards the main gate -

- and his mother's hand clutched his arm. "Will, Emma, you are not actually going to that man, are you?" She said.

"I'm getting that key," Emma resolutely said. "No matter what. Neved won't let me leave. He's in the way. I knew it would come down to this eventually."

"You do know he will have laid a trap for you?"

"I'll help you spring it, Emma," Will said.

A pained look crossed his mother's features. She clenched her teeth, but then she nodded. "I know we just reunited…and it pains me to see you go again…but in the short time we've spent together, I've realized that I have to let go." She took a deep, shaky breath. "You've come so far on your own. You don't need me anymore. My purpose…it's been fulfilled so long ago."

"What are you talking about?" Will replied. "We'll go up there, throw Neved off the castle and be back before you know it."

"...Augustus and I will take part in gathering people and escorting them to the ship. We…will all be patiently waiting for you to return, key in hand," his mother said.

"Please be safe," Will urged her. "We're almost out."

Again, she smiled. Again, she looked so sad. "You don't need to worry about me. Sylveon is all I need. to get through."

Sylveon uttered a happy little cry.

"And if Sylveon falls, you have me to rough up some pesky guards!" Augustus said with a rough voice.

"You heard the Captain," his mother laughed. She turned to regard Emma next. "Oh, and Emma? If it comes to it, don't forget what we talked about."

Emma didn't respond. Will assumed that his mom had warned Emma that she too would be given no mercy if she turned out to be a traitor all along. Suspicions of triple-adgen shenanigans, he didn't know.

"It won't come down to that," Emma quietly said, barely audible over the howling wind. "Don't worry. Come Will. We got a job to do."

Right. One final effort.

"Come Blaziken," Will growled. "We have a score to settle."

Across the courtyard, through the gate and into the castle. Will expected resistance, but all he saw were unconscious or otherwise unmoving guards sprawled across the floor.

"Aelita said she would help with the rebellion inside the castle," Emma explained once they made it through the first hall. "We should meet up with her and make our way to the pinnacle. Let's do this, Will. For everyone."

It looked like the riot had gone far better than Will could have hoped. So many guards had been taken out of commission by the enraged prisoners that Emma and Will never encountered any resistance on the ground floor. Saki kept a solemn watch on the entrance to the cell block below.

"I got this area covered!" She yelled. "No more guards will come up from the barracks! Let's fight the power!"

They hurried upstairs past the Dining Hall, where Val and Adam seemed to have things under control.

"Where are all these guards coming from?" Adam said "I don't remember seeing this many guards before."

"Don't worry about a thing Will! Adam and I have this floor covered!" Val told him. "You gotta confront Neved and get that key! We're rooting for you!"

The floor above, including the hallway to Neved's office, was completely devoid of enemies as well. A trio of guards had been unceremoniously heaped on the floor, One of them looked like something had severely broken his nose.

Considering what these people had been doing to Aelita, Will guessed it was a small mercy. Blaziken stacked up on the door and flashed him a look.

Will nodded.

Blaziken brought her leg to her knee and kicked the door down. She, Emma and Will barged inside -

- and Aelita was right there. Her hair, usually tied in a high ponytail, was down. She looked pale and tired, but otherwise unharmed.

"Emma? Will!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening. "Th-That's -" She took a shaky step back. "Will… I didn't…want you to see me like…this…" she muttered, casting her gaze to the floor.

Will stepped towards her and flung his arms around her. He pulled her close against him, exhaling a little sigh of relief. Hearing that she was alive and kicking was one thing. Seeing her….knowing that she was okay and would recover completely…that was a feeling he couldn't easily describe.

"You're okay," he muttered. "Are you hurt? I know he…he did things."

"Me?" She mumbled, blinking in confusion. "Y-Yes, I'm okay. It's been rough, but I can keep going. But you!" She pulled herself free from his hug and gave him a grave look. "Those bastards nearly killed you! Will, how are you walking, let alone fighting?"

A healthy combination of bad food, worse sleep, some Sylveon healing magic and a single-minded determination to save the people he loved while spiting the people he hated. "Good people took care of me," he quietly said. "The rest is autopilot. Come on. We have a key to conquer."

Shakily, Aelita smiled. "Y-Yeah. I looked around here, but I couldn't find it. It's not in this room."

"It's on Neved," Emma said, walking past them and heading to the door. "He has ir on him. We'll have to take it from him."

"Good," Aelita said as something dark flickered across her face. "I've gotta give him a piece of my mind for what he did. To me. To Will. To everyone."

Together, the three of them continued on. Blaziken was up front to protect them against any further cheap shots. She kicked the door out of its frame and they continued to scale the castle, past the large alcove Neved had stood just minutes before and into the upper tower, They scaled a large set of stairs that snaked far above the main hall.

There, at the apex of the castle, Neved waited for them. He was seated on a large, red throne at the far end of a plateau, surrounded by four statues, each depicting the same woman. Will barely registered that they looked familiar to him as he strode towards the man.

"So, you've come," Neved declared.

Will took a breath. He didn't shake. Didn't see red. No nausea or inpotent rage. He felt…like he'd been when he dealt with Geara. He felt cold, and strangely calm. Finally, after all the things the man had done, he had the chance to take Neved down once and for all.

One loose end that wouldn't come back to haunt him. One mortal enemy who wouldn't chase him down and keep hurting him.

One less monster in the world.

"Do you know what the price for treason is?" Neved continued, his voice perfectly calm, like he had invited them for tea instead of a fight to the death.

"Neved, this isn't a game!" Emma said, her voice fierce and trembling with emotion. "Give me the key!"

"No," Neved said. And he smirked.

"Neved!" Emma yelled. "Do you realize what you're subjecting the people here to if you don't? How can you sit there on that throne, fully knowing what our fate is to be? The passengers of the S.S. Oceana, the people of Akuwa Town! Hundreds of innocent lives are about to be snuffed out by Madame X! Please do the right thing! Release us! I am begging you!"

"I am doing the right thing," Neved said, his voice barely more than a whisper.."It's for the sake of my daughter. The lives of strangers versus the life of my child? The person that matters the most to me? People die every day. That is the sacrifice I am willing to make. Perhaps she doesn't approve. Perhaps she will resent me for it forever. But the gift I've given her will keep her safe."

Aelita took a step towards him. She was calm and dignified. She kept her emotions to herself. "I was someone's daughter too, you know? But you tortured me. For a reason I still don't know. You kept me locked up away from Will. You wish no harm upon her, but you did what scares you the most to me. Do you feel any guilt? At all?"

"You are Keta's daughter," Neved hissed. "That is all it takes for - "

Will's contempt for this monster reached a fever pitch. Even when they attempted to act like loving fathers, Xen's people continued to be the lowest of scum. Hundreds of families forever torn apart for the life of one girl? And then he somehow turned that around to justify torturing someone else's kid, innocent and unrelated, because he couldn't handle his own trauma?

It was too much for him. "Blaziken, take the key!" He said. "If he resists, break him."

The second Will opened his mouth, several blurry shapes detached themselves from the rooftop and dropped down to the floor below. Blaziken's kick came to a stop against the the thick, frosty chest of a massive crab-like Pokemon with two huge, glove-like fists.

At the same time, a Pokemon shaped like an igloo materialized itself from the howling wind while a massive Bug-type Pokemon with a pair of enormous mandibles shot through the air in a straight line towards Aelita.

"Hawlucha!" Aelita shouted, sending her own Pokemon into the fray.

Their Pokemon clashed. The massive crab-like Pokemon swung a gargantuan fist at Blaziken, who ducked low to avoid the blow and attempted a leg-sweep. Her foe was too bulky, with its weight far too low to the ground, and it didn't even flinch. It swung its fists at her in a double-handed blow and she was forced to perform a backflip to evade it.

As it swung at Blaziken, Hawlucha came down on the massive Bug-type Pokemon hard. He zipped through the air as its body glowed with a light blue shimmer, before striking it several times in rapid succession. The sheer speed and nimbleness of Hawlucha made it near impossible for his bulky opponent to defend itself. Perhaps that was why Neved decided to have his other Pokemon blast them both. It formed a ball of bright blue energy in front of its face, which exploded into several beams of energy that arced through the air and struck Hawlucha as well as Neved's other Pokemon.

Blaziken flung a wall of fire towards the igloo-shaped Pokemon and it summoned a fierce gust of snow to protect itself. The ice-cold temperatures helped and as the two attacks slammed into each other, they produced an enormous amount of steam.

"Hawlucha, come back" Aelita said, her expression tense as she and Neved both recalled their Pokemon and sent in their next one. "Staraptor!"

Blaziken dashed through the steam, her leg wreathed in flames as she lashed out at where Neved's Pokemon should have been, but she only struck empty air. Her foe had disappeared again.

Neved sent out a Manectric next, then recalled that giant-fisted Pokemon, Will recognized that the man seemed to be going after Aelita's Pokemon exclusively. If he knew his Xen tactics, Neved would try to wear down Aelita and then try to kill her when she had no Pokemon left to protect her. That would force Will to fight an offensive and defensive fight, which Neved could stall out until reinforcements arrived.

Will wouldn't let that happen. "Blaziken, come back. Nidoking, keep that Manectric away from Aelita!"

He only realized his mistake when Staraptor went on the offensive and the Manectric began gathering power, only to direct it at him instead. It surrounded itself with a white aura before launching a series of white, pulsing spheres in his general direction. moving far faster than he would have been able to run.

"Nidoking!" He shouted.

Nidoking threw himself in front of the attack. The orbs slammed into his body like bullets, exploding into white frost and ice as they washed across his frame. The force of the attack threw him off his feet. That strange Ice-type of Neved's reappeared in the hail again and it fired off another piercing beam of ice while Nidoking was vulnerable.

As it did, however, Staraptor blinked out of existence and reappeared behind the ghostly foe. His wings glowed with a steely glow as he struck. It wasn't the knockout blow they needed, though, and Staraptor was forced to evade when Manectric began targeting it instead.

"Palossand! Charge another Ice Beam!" Neved ordered.

Nidoking, half his body frozen to the ground, slowly shoved himself upright with one claw. Manectric turned its attention to Aelita's Staraptor. Sparks of electricity began gathering in the air.

Nidoking slammed the ground with both forearms and the ground between him and his foe exploded. A rapid series of eruptions blew the floor of Blacksteeple's peak to bits. Large, burning spikes slammed into the air and into Manectric's body just as it unleashed a Thunderbolt at Aelita's Staraptor. Two attacks at the right time, at the right moment, striking their targets' weak spot.

Two Pokemon down.

Neved sent out that massive, crab-like Pokemon again. He shook his head, then sent another Pokemon into the fight as well; a bipedal Rock-type with four arms, each lined with razor-sharp claws.

Will knew he had to increase the pressure, rush Neved down as fast as he could. Every second they wasted here was a second Madame X would arrive.

Houndoom and Aelita's Mienfoo hit the ground running, fanning out across the damaged battlefield to single out their targets.

"Crabominable, Palossand, strike that Mienfoo. Barbaracle! The girl!"

Three Pokemon to pin down two and then hit one of the trainers. Will had to admit, it was a simple and smart tactic. Mienfoo was forced to break off his attack on the lumbering Crabominable to protect Aelita, Neved's Palossand materialized in the hail to strike him with another Ice Beam.

Houndoom saw his opening. He sprayed the ghostly ice-type with a thin, focused stream of purple flames, bounding forwards as he did. Palossand attempted to escape the heat by disappearing in the snow, but Houndoom changed his flames, widening the stream of fire to blanket as much of the battlefield in flames as he could.

Mienfoo, tied down by the lean and fast Barbaracle, was unable to fend off both of Neved's Pokemon at once. As Houndoom knocked Palossand out of the fight, Crabominable landed a crushing blow that sent Mienfoo crashing to the ground.

"Enough! Crush the trainers!" Neved shouted.

Then, both Pokemon began sprinting towards Will and Aelita.

"Let's switch it up. Ready for a tag team effort, Will?" Aelita said.

"Bring it!" Will replied.

As Will recalled Houndoom, Aeilita recalled her Mienfoo.

Both sent out their Blaziken. Aelita's Blaziken wasted no time in intercepting the massive Crabominable, forcing it to shift its attention to the greater threat.

Will's Blaziken lunged for the Barbaracle. It swept at her with a curved blade of energy, forcing Blaziken to block with her two forearms. As its Razor Shell attack shoved her backwards several meters, Aelita's Blaziken came in from the side. He grappled the Barbaracle at waist-height, then threw himself backwards on the ground and suplexed the Barbaracle into the air -

- Where Will's Blaziken leapt into the air, grabbed both of Barbaracle's feet mid-suplex and swung it overhead. Aelita's Blaziken released her foe at just the right moment and Will's Blaziken slammed Barbaracle against the ground with enough force to shatter the floor beneath it. The impact was so violent that Will was surprised that the Pokemon's limbs didn't break off then and there.

"Now! Focus your attention on that other thing before it can recover!" Will ordered.

And both Blazikens threw themselves at Neved's Crabominable. His Blaziken threw herself into a full-bodied hook, driving her fist against its muscled face and sending it reeling. Aelita's Blaziken came in with a Flame Charged tackle from the rear just as it began to swing an oversized fist at Will's, striking a punishing blow at its spine.

Roaring, Crabominable whirled around and swung its fist in a horizontal arc, trailing water and bubbles, but Aelita's Blaziken flung himself into a roll and just out of range.

Will's Blaziken struck Crabminable's neck with her elbow. As it attempted to take her head off with an Ice Punch, Aelita's Blaziken drove his fist into its side, giving Will's Blaziken just enough time to jerk sideways and dodge the blow. She then struck a quick one-two combo of jabs and an uppercut, which made Crabominable stagger backwards.

It recovered quickly, blasting both Blazikens away with a burst of elemental energy, before singling out Will's Blaziken and driving a quick Crabhammer jab at her.

Blaziken was faster still; she grasped his fist between her two claws, then whirled underneath the outstretched limb and jerked it sideways, painfully behind its back. She sent it reeling forwards and Aelita's Blaziken came in hard with a Blaze Kick against its head, which sent it sprawling on its back.

Will's Blaziken leapt in the air, as Crabominable's bulky body slammed to the ground beneath her. She came down on its face with a burning drop kick from above, finally knocking the beast out completely.

Aelita exhaled a deep sigh. "That was amazing!"

"Is that the end of my conviction?" Neved said, recalling his fallen Pokemon. "What will fate - "

The second the path was clear, Will pointed at Neved and Blaziken shot towards him. She grabbed him by the front of his coat - she towered over him, a full foot taller than Neved - and then picked him up and slammed him into the ground.

A choked gasp escaped Neved's lips as his back slammed into the concrete floor. Blaziken placed a clawed foot on his chest, dangerously close to his throat. She'd gone easy on him. Likely didn't break a single rib.

Emma walked towards him, kneeling down next to him. "This belongs to us now," she said, snatching the key from his neck. "I don't want to damn your daughter to her fate, but this isn't right. Whatever you think the solution is, this isn't right."

"And what do you know?" Neved snarled. "You know nothing!"

"Emma, step aside," Will quietly said.

Emma shot him a confused look. "What?"

"All of you are ignorant to our situation!" Neved continued to rage, kicking and thrashing underneath to free himself. Blaziken applied more pressure and his angry screams turned into a pained wheeze.

Blaziken glanced at her. Emma stood too close. If she did her thing now, she would probably cover Emma with Neved's blood. Not a pretty picture. Will didn't want that. He'd rather have done this alone. Having Neved's death burned into their memories was the last thing Will wanted for them.

Mightyena kicked with broken legs, shoving himself towards Will…

He didn't want that image to stain them.

"Take Aelita and go back to the ship," Will continued. "I won't be long."

Emma's gray eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and disbelief. "What? N-No, you can't"

"Huh?" Aelita said.

"He's not the kind of loose end we keep at our back," Will said. That wasn't his reason, but it should have been rational enough for the ruthless Emma to see reason. "But you shouldn't have to see this."

"Will, what are you talking about?" Aelita said. She laughed nervously. "We - we can't kill him. We're better than that. You shouldn't joke about that."

Will looked at her mirthlessly. "He tortured you. You're arguing for his life?"

Aelita's brow furrowed. "Oh my god, You're for real. I…no, I can't let you do that, Will. I know you're better than that! You can't let him drag you down to his level!"

"I did that entirely myself when I had us walk into Akuwa Town," Will replied. "Least I can do is prevent that from happening again."

Emma slowly walked towards him, putting himself in-between Neved and him, as if breaking his line of sight would change his mind. "Will, think about this. Is that really what your mother would want? This isn't the solution. You can't let Neved do this to you!"

His chest tightened. They meant it. Emma and Aelita didn't want to see Neved die? They'd protect Neved…from him?

…god, where had he gone so wrong?

"You…do not have what it takes to end my life in front of witnesses?" Neved said. "For what purpose? Is your conviction that weak? Can you not kill another man because others might think less of you?"

…yeah, that was the crux, wasn't it? If he ended Neved now, Emma and Aelita would hate him. If he went through with this…h'd have kept his friends safe and he would get to leave this cursed place with his mother.

And his closest remaining friend and the girl who had saved his life would hate him.

Merely thinking about that sickened him to his core. He could live with killing Neved. He couldn't live with the consequences.

"Emma…" He grit his teeth. He didn't want to lose them. He wanted to stay with his friends more than he wanted the threat of Neved gone from their lives. "I don't want…I can't…"

"Shut up about conviction, you sore, hypocritical, miserable loser!" Aelita snapped at Neved. "We're fighting for what we believe in! Where has your conviction taken you? This castle's whole mission failed because we had the resolve to see our beliefs through!"

Everything happened at once. A shadow passed over the four of them. Something massive uttered an ear-splitting shriek and Neved began panicking."She's here?" He exclaimed. "So early!"

And a woman came from the sky. No exaggeration there; she leapt from above and landed right beside Blaziken and Neved. The woman, clad in a fully sealed armored suit complete with a red cape, moved like a blur and suddenly Blaziken got knocked back several meters, her claws gouging deep troughs in the floor as she did.

"Is that what you think?" The masked woman said to Aelita, brandishing her sword. "If that is the case, I'm here to challenge that belief."

A massive, avian Pokemon slowly descended from above. All red and black and exuding an overwhelming aura of power. More than Mewtwo. Worse than Giratina. This thing was a Legendary Pokemon on a completely different level, and that woman…

"This is…" Aelita whispered.

"Madame X," Emma said. She took a trembling step back.

Will stared at the woman with tired disbelief. This was Team Xen's leader, the person who had deemed him such a threat that she'd decided that abducting and murdering countless people was the correct solution?

She…had fought Blaziken back on her own. With a sword.

…this might become a problem.

Her faceless, reflective visor slowly moved from Aelita to Emma before finally settling on Will.

"Ma'am," Neved croaked. "I - "

"Enough," the woman said. "I don't want to hear it. I put you in charge of this castle and this is what you have to show? A disturbingly incompetent display, but I suppose I didn't expect anything more from you to begin with."

What…was with this woman's aura? It…it was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It was as if he stood before Indriad Theolia all over again, but somehow, it was more than that. Her presence, her posture, her manner of speaking - everything about her made Will want to curl up into a ball and die.

"Forgive me," Neved weakly said.

"These teens? These are the ones who gave you so much trouble? Hm…but these aren't ordinary trainers. Aelita from Sheridan Village. The shadow of her former self. The mystery girl Emma, the one supposedly on her way to Neverwinter. And finally…Will. The one I've heard so much about. In fact, you were the one who gave me the most trouble to begin with . You were the one who inspired me to give this wretched castle its purpose."

Madame X calmly walked back and forth between the three of them, like a hungry predator that couldn't decide which prey to rip apart first.

"Ahah…I suppose one would call it fate, that we would encounter each other like this. What countless strings of events has fate brought about. You should have killed Neved when you had the chance, boy."

"Don't talk about us like you know who we are!" Aelita shouted.

"Aelita, don't - ' Emma warned her.

But Madame X cut her off. "Your soul is fueled with fire. Fire that doesn't seem to belong to you." She paused, as if observing Aelita closely from behind her lifeless visor. "How curious…"

That took Aelita aback. "Doesn't…belong to me?"

"Guys!" Emma urged them. "We can't be here right now! We have to go!"

"Go?" Madame X repeated. "No, that can't happen. This is your final stand."

That was all Will needed to hear. He quickly stepped in front of Emma, knowing on some level that it was her whom the Xen leader would attempt to strike down first.

"Will!" Emma exclaimed, seemingly shocked at his action.

"That's…not going to happen," Will told Madame X. "Emma, Aelita, I'll hold them off. You have to go."

"But-!" Aelita protested.

"Take the key. Save the others."

Madame X swept her sword down at her side. "You continue to impress me, but your impressions will only get you so far." She raised her sword. "Fine then. You wish to save your friends. You wish to stall. I will not let you."

"Go! Run!" Will shouted. Froslass emerged from his shadow and created a cyclone of purple, ghostly energy that shot towards Madame X's Pokemon. At the same time, Blaziken unleashed a hellish blast of fire at the Xen leader. "Come on!" He yelled at the Xen dictator.

Her sword whipped through the air and bifurcated Blaziken's fire like it was a solid, physical object. "Yveltal! Decimate!"

Will's Pokemon threw everything they had at her Yveltal and it shook them off like they were but droplets of rain, In turn, it shrieked, and the very air grew still and quiet. Will's vision blurred and then turned gray as the Yveltal forcibly ripped the life from his body. The same happened to Froslass and Blaziken. They fell before his eyes. A second later, the floor rushed up to meet his face, and he barely managed to catch himself on his arms before he could break his head open on the concrete.

A terrible, painful cold wracked his body. Every muscle, nerve and ligament he had just lost what they needed to keep going. He felt Sylveon's power leave his body, and suddenly his limbs shook and ached and his mind clouded over.

Never before had he wanted to close his eyes and sleep this bad. He felt like he ought to crawl into a grave and pull the dirt in behind him.

Madame X's voice came from far, far away. "Somehow, I expected more from you, Will. It is clear to me now that the only reason why you made it this far was because my subjects were incompetent. You can't trust anyone to do anything."

Will couldn't get his limbs to work. He wanted to yell his defiance at Madame X. He couldn't muster more than a whimper.

Oh god. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be the end. It couldn't end like this, could it?

"It always has to come from yourself. But you all don't understand that sentiment, do you?"

This woman would kill him. Kill him and then the rest of his friends. She wouldn't stop there. She'd go after mom…Ren…Nim…Narcissa and the Eldest…anyone strong enough to oppose her.

"You go on about this so-called unity of friendship and then lose tact when the gun is pointed to your head."

Will's eyes opened. He stared at the woman fitfully. He couldn't get his vision to focus. His head throbbed painfully, like someone was taking a hammer to the back of his skull. He pressed his fingers against the concrete and tried to slowly push himself up enough to get a knee underneath him. Every inch of his body screamed in pain and yet he couldn't feel the concrete. He couldn't feel anything with his arms. Everything was numb.

"Don't be ashamed of yourselves though. That is human nature, but I won't fall into such a category. No more running. No more cowering."

But he breathed. He thought. He lived. So Team Xen could go screw themselves. Madame X could choke on her sword for all he cared. He wasn't going to roll over and die now.

So get up! He screamed at himself. Your mess. Your enemy. Get up!

"I see you live still," Madame X said. "Your dogged determination is impressive, but wasted. "This ends with you, Will!"

She raised her sword and struck at him, moving with superhuman speed and force -

- Will saw Emma leapt in front of Madame X's blade, saw the weapon strike home -

And then things got weird. A corona of bright, white light erupted from Emma's body. as Madame X leapt back as if it had burned her. Aelita quickly darted behind Will, took his Poke Balls and recalled his fallen comrades. "Get up," she whispered in his ear. "We need to run."

Will didnt even know if he could run.

"What is this?" Madame X demanded.

The flash of light fizzled out and…and…

Emma was gone. In her place lay a young woman with long, golden hair. She wore a gray shirt with a black skirt, grey leggings that went to her knees and a pair of white-rimmed boots.

Will's breath hitched in his throat. It couldn't be. She was dead. He'd seen her die!

"What is the meaning of this?" Madame X breathed. "Is that…It cannot be!"

Instead of Emma, the familiar blond-haired girl climbed back to her feet. She clutched her head and groaned. "Ugh, that did not feel good at all."

"Melia," Will managed to say. His head spun dangerously. "Melia!"

"You…you know who I am?" She said with shock. "My disguise!"

"I knew it," Madame X declared. "I felt it. Our bond did not dissipate! When I was told of your death I had no choice but to believe it, However…I knew deep within my core, that you had not left this world. Melia!"

"That's impossible!" Neved gasped. "Zetta said - "

"Zetta is absent," Madame X cut him off. "So is Geara and that traitorous Pokemon Professor. What I see before me is worth more than anything this establishment could ever achieve. Physical proof that things have not yet ended for us."

He couldn't believe it. She was alive…she was okay…she was alive!

"Will, you have to get up!" Aelita urged him.

He tried. His legs and feet were numb. They didn't listen.

"I've long awaited this day and now it has finally come!" Madame X declared.

"I've done the same, but it won't be the conclusion you;'re looking for," Melia said, all but spitting her defiance at the Xen dictator. She whirled around and looked at Will with an expression of painful concern…and warmth. "I came to this island to save an old friend! A friend that gave his all to rescue me so long ago!"

"You came to save me?" Will whispered through chattering teeth.

"Of course!" Melia said. "I would never abandon you Will. No matter the circumstances. Through time, space…you are my trusted friend and I won't ever forget what you've done for me!" She then cleared her throat, and when she next spoke her confidence and determination were nowhere near as strong. "That being said, I haven't saved you yet, and I'm not sure how I'm going to."

"Uncertainty is a weakness," Madame X said. "When you hesitate you lose everything."

"Will!" Aelita hissed in his air, carrying a quiet note of command and authority. "Get up!"

Will did, barely. His muscles twitched and clenched involuntarily. His head spun again and he almost lost his balance. Aelita braced him. How was she still this strong? His legs felt like dead weight.

"THIS time I won't hesitate," Madame X continued. "I'm prepared to lose even myself for it."

Will wasn't sure if the lady even operated with everything intact up there anyway.

"On that note, I think we should…RUN!" Aelita shouted. She shoved her arm around Will's waist and heaved, pulling him along with her as she burst into motion.

They ran - Will mostly hobbled - back the way they came. Will expected the Xen leader to wipe them all from the face of the earth with that soul-stealing Legendary pf hers, but that didn't happen. Instead, when the three of them tried to take the corner at Neved's alcove overseeing that courtyard, it was Madame X herself who came down on them hard. She slammed her sword into the ground between them and the impact of her landing ripped Will from Aelita and Emma's grasp. The three of them went up in the air and their momentum carried them straight over the edge.

They screamed and fell. Will felt the sickening lurch of gravity as his body tumbled into a free-fall -

Only for something soft and purple to appear beneath the three of them, slowing them down without turning them into red paste on the ground below.

"What the - " Melia said.

"Uh, guys, I don't remember there being a platform down here," Aelita said.

"There wasn't."

"Will and Aelita!" Someone yelled. "You stubborn sacks a poo! I tried to warn you but you two wouldn't listen!"

That voice…

"I remember that voice!" Aelita exclaimed.

And then freaking Nim materialized on top of them like a freaking Ghost Pokemon and Will had never been so glad to see her before in his life!

"I knew it! Nim!"

"Girl you look insane!" Nim said as she drifted towards them. "What happened to you?"

"Uh, long story," Aelita murmured. "I'll tell you later."

"Will, you look awful. Did you pick a fight with a Pangoro or something? You're leaking, by the way, gonna plug that up in a moment. And who's this?"

"Um, I'm Melia,."

Nim blinked. If the revelation that Melia was still alive shook her, she had a hell of a poker face. "Nice to meetcha Melia! My name's Nim and I'm here to break your fall!"

The psychic platform began moving through the air, across the courtyard and towards the pier. Nim floated closer, then seized Will's head between her hands. "One moment, gotta shove that soul back where it belongs."

"What?" Will sputtered.

Nim slapped his face a couple of times with her fingers. it wasn't anything harsh or even painful, but the numbness in his limbs seemed to fade away, and feeling crept back into his extremities.

"There we go! Now ladies and gentlemen, we are beginning our descent! As of now it's very clear - uh scratch that, it seems we are getting a bit of a flurry!"

As she spoke, the snowfall turned into a downpour.

"But the heat coming from this sick landing is melting the snow as it's coming down, oh my god! That doesn't stop pilot Nim from protecting her passengers from the scary scenario her friends are in! Thank you for flying with Nim Airlines, we hope to see you again!"

The platform beneath them vanished.

They were safe.

"Nim! That was amazing!" Aelita shouted.

"Nim you are my hero!" Will told her.

Melia looked around, her brow arcing into a frown. "This sudden change in weather…it's bizarre."

"Don't worry my dudes and dudettes! I try my best!" Nim said with a giggle.

"I don't want to ruin your fun, but we have a homicidal terrorist organization leader who's just on top of that castle," Melia said gravely. "And she wants to kill all of us, Nim included, so we should head to the docks."

"Um…I don't wanna be killed so let's get the heck out of here," Nim agreed.

Will thought that the lack of sleep and exhaustion was blending in the sudden surge of hope and relief and it made him feel a bit loopy. "We're leaving!" He shouted.

"Agreed, come on!" Aelita added .

The four of them hurried towards the terminal leading to the docks. His legs were slowly remembering whose body they belonged to, but Will couldn't seem to pick up the speed he wanted to. So Aelita and Emma kept supporting him - which he appreciated immensely, but also made him feel really awkward in a way.

"Things are quiet outside," Melia said as they made it into the terminal. Beyond that, it was just a long series of catwalks and piers to the ship. "I can only hope that means everything's settled and ready to go!"

"Even if it isn't, can we risk not leaving immediately?" Aelita asked.

"I don't think so," Melia agreed.

Will saw his mother running down the dock towards them, looking all worried. "Oh thank the heavens you made it!" She said. "Everyone's already on the ship. We're ready to go whenever."

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Nim agreed. She darted around Will's mother and hurried towards the ship. Aelita yelled after her, told her to wait and hurried after the psychic girl.

Mom rested her gaze on Melia. "Who is this, I wonder? Is this Melia, the name Emma told me was her true name ? The girl my son was so convinced he'd failed, standing right in front of us?"

"H-Hello," Melia said, her cheeks flushing red. "Turns out I was hiding more than just my name."

"Haha. Don't worry, I figured you were more than - "

The entrance to the terminal shook.

"No…" Melia gasped.

"What was that?" Mom asked.

"We need to go!" Melia shouted. "Now"!

"What's going on?"

"It's Madame X! She wasn't supposed to arrive yet but - '"

Will saw his mother's expression harden. "No, she won't just let us leave. Not without - " She cut herself off with a harsh sigh. "Will, Melia, please get yourselves on the ship. When you do, tell Augustus to get everyone out of here immediately."

"Absolutely not," Will snapped.

"We can all escape if we just leave right now!" Melia said.

"No, she'll follow us to the ends of the earth if she gets the chance," his mother said, sounding so matter-of-factly that she could have been talking about the weather instead of the psycho witch whom she should by all accounts never even have heard of.

"You can't!" Will said. "I'm not losing you again!"

She smiled - again, so sadly - and placed her hand on the crown of his head. "My sweetheart…if we're out in the sea and she begins poking holes in our ship, we're literally back at square one. You can't oppose her. You are about to collapse - don't think for a second you can hide that from me. The energy you're running on is entirely not your own. I will be okay. I will just distract her for a while. I'll find my way on the ship after you all are safe. Trust in me and my Pokemon."

Will shook his head. He opened his mouth to refute her, but he couldn't think of anything, anything at all that could reject her claims.

She was right. He hated it, but she was right. He was pretty sure the only reason he was still standing was because Nim had slapped some energy into his body. After what Yveltal did, the second that boost faded he'd crash and he'd crash hard.

And then what? He'd be dead weight. Mom would have to fight to protect herself and him.

Again.

"I don't like this!" Melia said. "Please just come with us!"

His mother gave her a stern look. "Remember what we talked about before Melia? It's time."

Will looked back and forth between the two, feeling completely lost. "What?"

"But…" Melia said, looking pained. "I just…I don't know if I…" She took a deep breath, then she took Will's wrist. "Will…I understand how you feel, but we can't stay here any longer! Your mother has made up her mind! She'll stand her ground here!"

A blade stabbed through the terminal entrance. It carved through it in three quick flashing motions, slashing it to pieces.

"Damnit, we'll give you support once we're on the ship!" Will said. "We'll be back for you!"

Melia and him ran. And he hated himself for doing so.

~~~~~~~(VII)~~~~~~~

---

The leader of the Xen Initiative came walking through the entrance she'd carved. She looked around. All she saw was Nancy standing in her way.

"Hmph. This is what they've left behind?" She said, her mask muffling her voice somewhat. Just enough to hide her identity from those who might have known her, Nancy suspected. "This soulless disgrace?"

"I know you didn't just come here to talk. Madame X. I won't let you leave these docks! Sylveon!"

Sylveon uttered a fierce cry. It conjured dozens upon dozens of psychic barriers that separated the two women from each other. Strong enough to hold whatever attack her foe would throw her way.

"And you expect this to hold me?" Madame X said.

"Of course not, but it'll buy the time I need to get everyone off this horrible island."

"A challenge well accepted." She lunged for the Reflect barrier with superhuman speed and veracity. Her blade slammed into the barrier, which stopped it just inches away from Nancy's face. Cracks formed at the point of impact, but they held.

"Sylveon's Reflect is strong. We've trained in secret below the castle. All for this moment where I would sacrifice everything for Will. Because my love for him far exceeds my fear of you."

Madame X leant into her blade, digging it deeper into the psychic barrier. "Fear has completely left, you say? That's utter nonsense." The cracks began to widen. "Even when someone makes the ultimate sacrifice, fear riddles a person to their core." More cracks appeared in the barrier, slowly spreading to the other panels as well. "That is because fear is what drives humans to survive. Without it, we'd be nothing but souls lost to the wind."

Nancy turned away. She felt cold shivers run down her spine. Every crack, every little bit of damage in her barrier…

"Even now," Madame X said, "when I shatter your pitiful barrier. With each crack, a shiver is sent through your soon to be lifeless corpse!"

She was right. Of course she was right! What person would want to die? Who didn't fear death?

She finally had him back. She could finally be a family again. Her child. Her sole reason for being in this region in the first place. She didn't want to lose that all over again!

"I don't…want to die!"

She turned and fled. She recalled Sylveon as she did.

Madame X struck again. the barrier shattered. The chase was on.

~~~~~~~(VIII)~~~~~~~

---

Mom ran as hard as she could, but the Xen leader was right on her heels. She was getting closer with every step she took. What on earth could stop that woman? What could even slow her down?

Already the ship was moving. Team Xen couldn't stop them now. One more effort!

"Houndoom!" Will said. "Stop her! Whatever you do, don't hit mom!"

Houndoom barked, then began blasting the pursuing Madame X without pause. Out of nowhere, an Aura Sphere slammed into the walkway in front of Madame X's feet, and she skidded to halt.

Togekiss soared overhead.

More flames washed over the Xen leader.

"Yes!" Melia yelled. "That's right Hapi! We won't let Nancy die here!"

Nim stood next to Will, nearly eating herself up with nerves. She fidgeted, constantly shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

"Buy as much time as you can and bring her to us!" Melia continued.

Houndoom struck Madame X again and again and each time, the woman managed to deflect or evade his attacks. She moved like some sort of nightmarish monster. Every motion of hers showed a grace and power that far outweighed that of a normal human. It was insane.

The neverending barrage of Aura Spheres and Incinerate blasts could have stopped an entire platoon of Xen grunts in their tracks but Madame X didn't slow down one bit. She ducked and weaved, moving with such blinding speed that Will's mind couldn't keep track. It was as if the woman erased frames of her movement from his head. She moved like a goddamn blur, almost as if she could somehow teleport several feet at once.

Nearly there, nearly there! Will thought, clutching the railing of the ship so hard that his knuckles were stark white. He felt sick to his stomach. "More fire Houndoom! Burn the entire pier to ash if you have to! Stop her!"

It unfolded like snapshots, flickering through his mind in slow motion. His mother reached the end of the pier. Togekiss was waiting for her. The distance between them melted away. Seven meters. Five meters. Three.

Just a few more steps.

Mom sprang towards Togekiss, her arm outstretched -

- and Madame X plunged her sword into her back. It burst from her chest and mom came to a dead stop. Blood poured from her lips as she clutched her abdomen in surprise.

Wil stared at the dock in shock. What…what was…did she…?

Madame X pulled her sword free.

Mom fell to the ground.

Something inside of him broke in half so cleanly that he could hear it snap. It was the sound of a dry leaf on an autumn day. It was the sound of bones shattering outside of an abandoned aquarium as onlookers screamed and screamed -

He was screaming too, now. There were arms and voices and shapes around him. A terrible, keening voice that could have come from his throat. He twisted and pulled and fought, throwing himself forwards, towards the railing, Over it. towards his mom. People snaked around him. They took him by his arms and his shoulders and his neck and they kept him back, back -

They were going. The ship was leaving, leaving her -

Helplessly, he screamed. In denial. In rage. In agony. Agony. Agony. He couldn't control himself. Tears flowed down his cheeks as screamed until he was hoarse, until he had nothing left to give, and he kept screaming…

They held him. Supported his weight. Spoke to him. He didn't hear what they said. It didn't matter. His mother was gone, gone, gone.

The tears tore deep, bloody gouges down his cheeks as he wept.

They brought him inside of the ship. His limbs had stopped working. They had to carry him. Others crowded around them. Bombarded them with words. Will couldn't stop crying. His chest hurt. It hurt so, so much. He couldn't bear it. It would tear him apart.

She was gone. He had given everything and they had taken her from him. They'd taken her and nothing he had done had prevented that.

Someone held him as he cried. He didn't see who. He heard her voice, though. She told him that she was sorry, over and over again. Ha barely understood her. Everything was hazy and blurry. Exhaustion and agony and grief flooded over him and everything inside of him fell apart.

He should have listened to Nim. Should have listened…

His room was dark. It didn't have any windows, just like his cell. They guided him to a bed. He laid down. They left him alone.

All alone.

The next few hours, all Will knew was the sobbing that racked his body, the shallow breaths that carried his pain and exhaustion through his limbs and the deep, bleeding pit that was left inside of his chest. Nothing stopped the furious grief from bubbling up and overwhelming him. It was too much, far too much. Grief and pain clawed at his mind, his thoughts. He simply didn't have anything left to defend himself against them.

Will cried until he had no energy left. At some point, he must have drifted off, because when he next opened his blurry, tired eyes, he saw people had brought him things. Water, some food. Towels. Fresh clothes.

A couple of handwritten notes.

Will turned his back to the table and closed his eyes again.

Sometimes, people came in to check on him. Aelita sat down on the bed with him. She whispered coothingly at him, asking him if he was awake, if he wanted to talk.

He pretended to sleep. He couldn't face her. Not after what she had endured. Because of him. Because he had insisted on going into Akuwa Town.

Should have listened should have listened -

Hours went by. Could have been minutes. Could have been days. Val dropped by. She gave him fresh water. Words of encouragement. She told him to eat. That his body wouldn't recover if he didn't take care of himself.

Will didn't care. He couldn't imagine ever caring about anything again.

Other times, it was Saki. Little Braixen. Captain Augustus. Adam. Telling him to hang in there. He didn't have it in him to talk to them.

And always, Melia was there. She looked at him silently from a distance, ever present, ever watching.

Melia, Melia, Melia…

A part of Will recognized how wrong this all felt. He'd grieved for Melia, and now he had her back. He'd gotten his mother back, and now….

It was all so wrong. So cold. God, he felt cold.

Should have listened -

He alternated between listening to the winter in his heart and feeling and thinking nothing at all. He lay in the cot, listening to the creaking and the groaning of the metal.

It didn't take long for the nightmares to start again. Snapshots and images coming apart and falling together in his head. Will couldn't bring himself to endure them, couldn't muster the strength to face them. When he woke up, images he never wanted to see again burned into his mind, he shoved himself back to his feet. His knees trembled.

He pushed against the door to his cot. It was open.

The inside of the battleship wasn't very intuitive, but there were signs everywhere he looked. It didn't take him long to find the way out.

When Will emerged onto the deck, everything was dark and cold. Wind howled across the steel prow of the Xen battleship. Clouds hung in front of the moon, plunging the rough seas around them into an inky blackness. He'd left his jacket behind. With only a short-sleeved shirt, the wind ripped at his body, chilling him to his core.

Will approached the railing. He placed his hands on the cold steel, and gazed out into the sea. It was like staring into a black abyss. He didn't see many stars. It was one of those very dark polar nights. Blackness everywhere.

An endless abyss.

It would be so easy to fall. To plunge into that abyss and disappear with the others. He didn't know if it would be worth it not to. His memories started on a ship, losing his mother to Xen. If they were to end on a ship, having lost his mother to them again…there was a certain finality to that. Like he'd come full circle.

Vaguely, he recalled Keta telling him that fate might have planned something far more cruel than simple death for him. There, at the edge of the abyss, Will could only guess at what Keta had meant. Still, this seemed as close as it could get…

"Don't you dare!"

Will didn't need to turn around and look at her to know who it was. It only made sense, he supposed. She had once told him that she'd be looking out for him…

Nim angrily stepped towards him, determination shimmering behind her dark eyes. Her hands were balled into fists. "Don't you dare do that, and leave us all alone!" She snapped, and Will felt the emotion burning in her voice.

He just looked at her for a moment, not sure what to say. Would he have gone through with it? Did he want to give up, now that he'd lost the one thing that kept him going through all the shit Team Xen had thrown his way? Without any memories to anchor him to this world, did he really not see a point in continuing on?

He didn't know. Did he really want to give in? He sure felt like it.

"I should have listened, Nim," he said. His voice was weak and rough, but he still got the words out. "Should have listened. None of this would have happened."

"What do you mean, none of this would have happened?" Nim snapped. "Did you not see that evil castle? Did you not hear what Team Xen had planned all along?"

It was simple. Will understood with perfect clarity what would and would not have happened. "If I had told Aelita we would be turning back, Team Xen wouldn't have captured us. He wouldn't have died. Aelita wouldn't have been tortured. She would never have arrived at the castle. Everyone would still be alive."

Snow began trickling from the sky. Large, white flakes that stuck to the cold metal of the hull.

"What about Melia? She would have gone to the castle to save everyone regardless!" Nim said, angrily stomping on the deck with her sandal. "Your…your mother was still captured there. Everybody was!"

"She would have gotten them out without me," Will said. "She wouldn't have had to confront Neved.. Everybody would have gotten out alive if I'd just listened to you, Nim."

Nim angrily started to retort…but then her voice trailed off. "So…what happens now?" She then said. "Again, you're blaming yourself for what others did? Are you going to give up?"

"There's…nothing else," Will whispered, his voice barely audible over the cold wind. Finding and saving his mother had been his sole drive here in Aevium, hadn't it? Even after they had taken everything else. His friends. His memories. His peace of mind. They kept taking and he had kept going because he had someone he loved whom he needed to find…until they took that from him, too. "I have nothing else left," Will reiterated, a spark of anger blossoming with his heart.

Nim bristled. She stepped towards him until their eyes were only an inch apart. Then, she shoved him against the railing and Will nearly his balance altogether.

"What about your BFF?" Nim then yelled. "What about me, huh? Or your Pokemon friends, who fought alongside you? Or, or, what about Aelita! About Melia, who came to the evil castle to save you! What if everybody wakes up tomorrow and you're gone? That pain you're feeling - you'll only have given the same to them! Is that what you want""

…no. God, no. Of course not. He didn't want to see anyone he loved suffer ever again.

Will couldn't meet her eyes. "They took her, Nim," he whispered. He'd wept until his body had nothing left to make new tears with and still he felt his eyes burn. Still he felt his throat tighten up. "I didn't want to hurt anyone, " he heard himself say, his words barely understandable. He felt her arms around him, felt Nim pull him away from the railing and against her chest. Tired, he rested his head against her. "They took her…they took her from me…"

"They did…" Nim said, her arms tightening on him. "But Melia said that they want to take more. The woman who took your mom wants to kill me, and Aelita, and Melia, and everyone your mother helped save. And also me, did I mention that?"

Her words were like a bucket of cold water. It wasn't over. Oh, it wasn't over. Team Xen would never stop. Everything would start all over again. They would take Melia again. They would kill anyone who stood in their way again.

God, it never ended.

He wasn't strong enough to face them. Hell, he wasn't strong enough to stand on his own. "How long…how long have I…?" He asked.

"Ehm, this is the second night. So, a little under two days "

Two days…so he had scraped together some sleep. Some rest. It wasn't enough. No amount of rest and recovery could make him feel like he would ever feel ready for anything again.

"She's gone…" he whispered.

"I know," Nim told him. "We're here for you. All of us. Me at a distance if there are others. I'm so bad at this. Come, let's get you back inside before the storm takes you…"

Nim took him back to his room. She told him to take as much time as he needed.

There was nothing else Will could do. He wept.

The ship continued to drift amidst the dark abyss.

~~~~~~~(IX)~~~~~~~

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AN…remember when I said I'd wrap this story chapter up with this update? Well, things got out of hand. I severely underestimated how much the story continued AFTER the escape of Blacksteeple Island. So…next chapter? *shrug*

Anyway, I have been looking forward to writing this chapter. There is so much room for character interactions, little conversations and scenes that the game didn't have the time or focus for.

Grief is very difficult to portray accurately. Everybody handles grief in their own way, so unlike with many other things, personal experience can only help an author so much. I've decided to handle it this way. This novelization was always meant to explore the story and characters in-depth. To me, this was one of "those moments" in the game that warranted a serious look. I am a sucker for drama and this chapter has a LOT of it.

Anyway, please leave a review if you liked this chapter, don't forget to drop a follow/favorite if you hadn't and I will see all with the next update!