"Get behind, Fabian," his mom muttered as they stepped up the final flight of stairs. He complied without hesitation, falling back in line right next to Sofia. He hated to say it, but Fabian was starting to wonder if it was such a good idea to trust Sofia. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she was just so mysterious about everything, and the fact that she was keeping up the Northern Spearow schtick didn't help.

Sofia stared at Fabian for a few seconds. "I- uh, is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly.

Fabian shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Er- well, nothing about the past hour has been okay, but why do you ask?"

"W-Well, you sorta started staring at me," Sofia said. "I thought I did something wrong."

"Oh no, was I?" Fabian asked, taken aback. "Aw man, I'm so sorry!" He was so sure that he had kicked that habit already! "You're fine, don't worry! It's my bad!"

His mom stopped just before the top of the stairs. "Once we pass this door, we'll probably be attacked by several Flying-types. Stay on the defensive unless you have no other choice, and keep in mind that they can't kill any of us. Well, besides Sofia, but given the circumstances, she might be the safest out of all of us. Is everyone prepared?"

Sofia shut her eyes, accepting that this was the end. But when she opened her eyes, she couldn't see Dorinel. Instead, Iris Vanadis stood hunched over in front of her, leaking a waterfall of blood from her stomach.

"D-Dad?" Fabian said out loud to no one in particular. "No, he would never!"

"What is it?" his mom asked. "Did you see something about Dorinel?"

Fabian nodded grimly. "I think Dad was trying to attack Sofia, but you took the hit for her first."

"Doesn't bode well," Nero muttered. "I wonder, does that mean he's going to catch up to us before we escape, or does it mean he's already made it to the rooftop?"

"We should be ready for either," Fabian's mom answered. "I'm going to open this door now. Nero, Fabian, you two need to make a break for the water tower and try to empty it as much as you can. Don't, under any circumstance, let Nero get injured. I'll keep our enemies distracted for as long as I can, but I'm still injured from my fight with Claudius. Sofia, I want you to stay hidden. If Dorinel shows up, steer clear of him at any cost." She looked around. "Does everyone understand their jobs?"

The three of them nodded, and Fabian took a deep breath. His mom hesitated for a moment, then shoved her hand into the door so forcefully that it broke off of its hinges. She charged forward, garnering the attention of more than a dozen Flying-types. "Get moving!" she shouted, fending off a pair of Swellows.

Fabian didn't need to be told twice. He made a beeline for the water tower, with Nero and Sofia following close behind. The structure was built entirely out of steel, and standing on sturdy support beams. As much as he pulled, thrashed, and gnawed at them, not a single beam would do so much as budge. "I hope Mom's able to break these," he said.

Without skipping a beat, Nero and Sofia climbed through the beams, scrambling through a network of support triangles until they could find a platform below the tower to rest in. "Just focus on draining the water for now," Nero said. "I believe in you!"

"Of course he's not helping," Fabian muttered under his breath. He climbed up a ladder affixed to the tower until he was at the base of the tank, and bared his teeth. He didn't know if he could bite through steel, but if there was ever a chance that he could, it would have to take every ounce of effort he could muster. He knew one thing for sure: that this was going to hurt. Fabian's mouth hung open around the steel for a moment, and in the very next, with all the force he could, he crunched down.

Water was the first thing that rushed into his mouth, followed by blood, then loose shards of his own teeth. The shocking pain would've sent him falling off of the ladder if his hooked teeth weren't stuck in the tower. But he had no time to worry about his own safety. He tore his mouth away, pulling a large chunk of steel off of the tower and draining a significant amount of water. He collapsed, but before he hit the floor, his descent suddenly slowed, and he landed gently. "Thanks, Nero," he muttered, his lost teeth causing him to pronounce the th sound like a hard t.

Most of his teeth were completely gone, and the rest were half-shattered. He yanked those remaining teeth out of his jaw to make room for a new set. All Croconaws had a functionally endless supply of sets of teeth, but it was going to take a few minutes for the new ones to come in. But he needed to keep going, because that hole wasn't nearly enough to drain the entire tower in such a short amount of time.

A distant sound of flapping wings rapidly grew louder, and Fabian barely managed to duck before a pair of talons grazed his head spikes. They belonged to a Talonflame who Fabian immediately recognized as a relatively mediocre Vice Guildmaster named Quincy. He squinted at Fabian. "What are you trying to do here, exactly? What, you're not gonna go down unless our water supply goes down with you?"

Fabian spat some blood from the pool that had formed in his mouth. "I'm not gonna fight you. I don't care if you wanna kill me or not, just leave my mom out of this."

Quincy scoffed. "I get that you aren't the brightest, but even you should be able to tell that she's not getting away with this! The Guild is justice itself! The world can't function if we let people who would oppose justice roam free!"

"She didn't do anything wrong!" Fabian protested.

"You always were too naive," Quincy said, shaking his head. "I don't mean to sound cruel, but it's probably for the best that all of this happened. Let's face it, you were never going to make for a good Guildmaster. Honestly, we really should've let Guildmaster Dorinel get rid of you in the first place."

As soon as she heard this, Fabian's mom, who was fending off a team of three Swellows, stared directly at Quincy with a furious look in her eyes. "Don't say another word-" She was cut off by a barrage of strikes from a Hawlucha, which she barely managed to parry.

"You don't tell me what to do!" Quincy said, readying another attack. After forcing Quincy's words out of his head, Fabian ran his tongue against his gums. The new set of teeth had started to poke out, but they weren't usable yet. He tried to duck under the water tower's support structure in hopes that the space was too small for Quincy to fit in, only to be grabbed by the arm before he could make it. "I've got you!" Quincy declared. But before he could soar higher into the air, a boulder crashed into his wing and he dropped Fabian, howling in pain. "Who did that?"

"S-Stay away from him!" Sofia shouted, completely out in the open. She held her wings in front of her in a way that didn't really protect her face, and the way she positioned her talons seemed completely random. It could've looked like a fighting stance to someone who's never been in a fight before, but if it didn't fool Fabian, it definitely wasn't fooling Quincy. Some more rocks materialized around her, but Quincy deftly evaded each one she fired.

Quincy dived down at Sofia, but before he could strike, a forceful jet of water directly hit his body, coming from Iris's direction. The unconscious bodies of various Flying-types littered her surroundings, and although her blood was flowing from just about every part of her body that could bleed, she was still standing. Without a word, she got on all fours and barrelled towards Quincy, so fast that he didn't have time to take off.

"C'mon, Mom!" Fabian cheered. "He's no match for you!" Fabian knew this to be true for a variety of reasons, but a small part of him was beginning to doubt it. After all, those Flying-types shouldn't have been able to make her break a sweat, much less nearly succeed in taking her down. She was one of the only Pokémon in the whole world who could survive an encounter with Claudius Moreno for as long as she did, but doing so clearly pushed her well beyond her limits.

Fabian's teeth weren't completely restored, but they were good enough to bite with, and that was good enough. After climbing back up to where he left the hole in the tank, he chewed through more metal, expanding the hole to be large enough for him to fit through. He lost most of his teeth again, and he now had more blood in his mouth than he had saliva, but since he had lost all feeling in his upper body, it didn't hurt as much as before. The tank was still over three quarters of the way full, but it was draining faster now. "We just have to hold on for a few more minutes!" Fabian thought. "We can do this!"

Guildmaster Dorinel quietly stepped through the door, and that optimism was shattered. If his eyes were sunken before, they were miles below the seafloor now. He heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head. "I'll handle her, Quincy. Focus your attention on apprehending the other three. You may maim Fabian and the Zigzagoon as much as you find necessary, but do not kill them. I won't punish you if the strange Flying-type dies, but I'd greatly prefer it if you left her alive as well."

The vision of Iris taking a fatal hit for Sofia replayed itself in Fabian's mind. "Dad, stop!" Fabian pleaded. "Leave Mom alone, you can just take me!"

He shook his head. "If there's anyone I could be convinced to spare, it would be you, not Iris. I suppose I should've seen this coming, though. Her behavior has been suspicious for some time, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt."

Iris had to dive onto the ground to avoid a strike from Dorinel. "My behavior is suspicious? How about that slave driver you've been taking bribes from? Is he suspicious?"

"That's called lobbying, not bribery. Mr. Croft's company follows every law and regulation they are obligated to, so it isn't our place to judge the morality of their business. Besides, I still haven't decided on whether or not Rumas's slavery ban should be overturned."

"It is exactly your place to judge their morality!" Iris shouted, going for a punch that was too slow to land. "Why can't you do anything but make things worse? What happened to 'fixing the world together?'"

He grabbed her wrist and cut into it with his tusk, and he would've cut the whole hand off if Iris had yanked it away a second later. "You of all people should know how unrealistic that was. And for the record, those were Claude's words, not mine."

"Claude? Is that short for Claudius? No, that can't be right, why would Dad be calling him by a nickname?

"At least Claude's trying to do something," Iris said bitterly. "That's more than you can say." She shifted her attention to the water tower. "Fabian, get in the tank and take Sofia with you! I have a plan!"

The tank was still half full, but Fabian trusted his mom, despite everything that had happened. He hadn't paid much attention to what Sofia was doing, but now that he was watching her, he was impressed by how well she was doing for herself. Quincy was never able to get close to her without getting hit by a Rock Throw, and none of his fire attacks seemed to bother her too much.

"Sofia, we've gotta get into the tank!" Fabian said, grabbing her by the wing.

She blinked at him. "The tank? But I'm a Rock-type, I can't go underwater!"

"You are?" Fabian asked. He wasn't aware of any Pokémon species with a combination of the Rock and Flying types. "Nevermind, we can worry about that later! You'll have to handle the water for a few minutes! Mom says she has a plan!"

He dragged her up the ladder, and she continued fending Quincy off until they made it up to the rushing water. Clutching Sofia tightly, he dove through and swam up to the water's surface with speed he didn't know he was capable of. He raised Sofia up as high as he could, keeping her mostly out of the water. He couldn't see what was going on from inside, so he pressed his ear against the wall and listened.

"I fail to understand how they're any safer in there-"

The violent noise of tearing metal cut Dorinel off. "Nero, is this light enough for you?" Iris asked.

"I might be able to slow our fall to a non-fatal velocity, but upward movement won't be possible."

"What's going on out there?" Fabian shouted, getting no answer. "Mom, get in here, quick!"

Quincy yelped out in pain. "Hey, let me go!"

"Fabian, I'm sorry that all of this happened to you," Iris said, her voice soft. "Your life is going to get a lot harder now, and sometimes, it might feel impossible to keep going. But I know you can push through it. You're strong."

A moment too late, Fabian realized what she was about to do. He pounded against the steel walls to no avail. "Wait, stop! Please, you can't do this!"

"Let go of me!" Quincy shrieked. "There's no escape, give up!"

Fabian dove towards the exit hole, but didn't make it in time. The tank had been sent flying off of the rooftop. "I love you, Fabian," were the last words he heard. He could hear Nero's pained screams, and he could tell that he wasn't falling as slowly as he should've been, but none of that registered in his mind. Every single facet of his mind was occupied by one excruciating memory.

Iris Vanadis wore a calm, peaceful smile in her final moments. Fabian thrashed against his chains like a feral beast until the very moment that the sun arrived on the horizon, but it was for nothing. Atlas raised his arms to the sky, and golden orbs of light began to envelop her.

Every single limb in Nero's body was numb, which was infinitely preferable to the unimaginable pain he had experienced just seconds earlier. He felt himself going lightheaded every time he tried to remember what it felt like, so he elected to push it out of his mind. After all, he was surrounded by far too many people for him to allow himself to become unconscious.

"Are you alright?" Sofia asked as she pulled his limp body out of the tower wreckage. Nero's assessment of the situation was fairly accurate; he couldn't push it upward, but he slowed the fall enough so that the tower absorbed most of the impact. However, he didn't anticipate how strenuous it would be on his body.

"I'm feeling great," Nero answered, unable to move. "On an unrelated note, I don't plan on setting foot near a water tower for the rest of my life. If it's not too much trouble, would you mind moving me to somewhere less traumatic?"

She dragged Nero to a small valley where Fabian sat in front of a shoddy campfire, burying his head in a fetal position. After brushing some pebbles and gravel aside, placed Nero down on his stomach.

"Why do we have a fire going?" Nero asked. "Are we trying to tell the Guild exactly where to find us?" Fabian slowly lifted up his head and spat some water at the fire before lowering it back down.

"I feel so bad for him," Sofia said, shaking her head. "I wish I could comfort him, but I'm terrible at that kind of stuff."

"I've known him for less than two hours and I've seen him go through at least three mental breakdowns. I'm starting to think that he's just like that." He expected an angry retort from Fabian, but was only met with more quiet sobbing. If Nero would've felt bad for him if he didn't know better.

Sofia opened and closed her beak a couple of times before finally gathering her words. "I-I… Look, I know you don't like him, but now's not the time for this. Please, just tone it down." Nero opened his mouth to say something, but she immediately cut him off. "S-Sorry, that was really rude-"

"Don't worry about being rude to me," Nero said, smiling slightly at her flustered demeanor. "I don't have any respect for you, so it would be hypocritical of me to expect you to have any in return."

"O-Oh."

He turned his attention back towards Fabian. Nero couldn't fathom why someone would get this upset about their mother, but Sofia did have a point when she was telling him off. Whether he liked it or not, Fabian was the only person in the entire world with no financial incentive to hunt down and kill him. It would make no tactical sense to burn this bridge just yet. "You know, your mother isn't dead," he said. "Not yet, anyway."

"She isn't?" Sofia asked.

"Well, they can't kill her without transferring her power to someone else, so an early execution is out of the question," Nero said. "They'll have to rely on Head Guildmaster Atlas to have her banished, and that can't happen until the Solstice."

Fabian stopped crying. "You… you're right!" he whimpered, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes. "There's still a chance!"

"Don't get too excited," Nero said. Handing out false hope was his main source of income, but he didn't take any pleasure in it. "Even my Father is rarely successful in his attempts to raid Renegade's Edge."

"I'm still gonna try," Fabian decided. "She's the only reason I'm alive right now! I owe her too much to give up on her! Nero, you wanna come with?"

That last sentence was so absurd that Nero couldn't quite comprehend it at first. "No, that sounds dreadful," Nero said. "Why would you even suggest that?"

"Because I'm stupid and you're weak," Fabian answered. "We're both gonna die if we go off on our own, and I'm not throwing away my last chance to save Mom just because you're the worst."

As much as Nero loathed to admit it, Fabian was absolutely correct. It was a simple fact that Nero would've died ten times over if he didn't have the safety net that Branch 15 provided him. He wasn't going to make it very far without someone to fight his battles for him, and partnering with anyone else would be too risky to even consider. Luckily, Fabian said it first, so Nero didn't have to reveal how crucial this alliance was to him. "I suppose I might consider tagging along, if you accept my terms."

"Why does everything always have to be a negotiation with you?" Fabian groaned.

"I'm certainly not going to risk my life and travel to Renegade's Edge with you without any incentives," Nero said. "First of all, I'd like to have sole ownership of all additional funds that you happen to accrue, in addition to what you already owe me."

Fabian shrugged. "Go for it. I told you, I don't care about money."

"I suppose that's easy when you've been drowning in it for your whole life," Nero thought. "Perfect. Besides that, the only other thing I'll demand is that, once we reach Renegade's Edge, you help me set as many death row convicts free as possible."

Fabian stared at him like he had just suggested that they should burn down an orphanage together. "You're crazy! Why would you want to do that? They're criminals! They're getting executed because they deserve it!"

"I couldn't care less about whether or not they deserve to be punished," Nero said. "I also can't say I trust the Guilds to judge the severity of their crimes, but that's neither here nor there. The bottom line is, treating life as if it's a privilege that can be taken away is evil. If I'm going to Renegade's Edge anyway, I'm going to put a stop to it."

Sofia cleared her throat. "I… sorry, Fabian, I hate to say this, but I k-kinda think Nero might have a point? I'm supposed to be put to death right now myself, and I guess I kinda don't really deserve to be alive, but…" She hesitated. "I dunno, I just think I can still make things better, y'know?"

Fabian crossed his arms and scowled. "...Fine. I'm not gonna stop you, but I'm definitely not going out of my way to help you do that, either. And you still have to help me save my mom."

"Sounds like a deal, then," Nero said. In terms of raw strength, Fabian was nothing compared to even the weakest Guild workers at Renegade's Edge, so Nero wasn't missing out on much. Now, there was just one more loose end to tie up. "Sofia, what's next for you?" he asked.

"That's… a pretty good question," she said, after a long pause. "I-I guess I just want to hide out somewhere. Just try to survive, y'know?"

"I think we should kill her," Nero decided.

"What is wrong with you?!" Fabian shouted, more frustrated than angry at this point.

"Chances are, if she assists in arresting us, the Guild will drop her charges," Nero explained. "She hasn't done a single thing but lie to us, and she doesn't even have the common decency to be good at it. Why should we trust her to keep us safe when she has every incentive not to?"

"Shut up!" Fabian yelled. "I know she's obviously lying, but that's not an excuse to treat her like that! Didn't you just get done telling me about how we shouldn't treat life like it's a privilege?"

"O-Oh. Even you could tell, huh?" Sofia said, looking down.

"Of course I could, do you think I'm stupid?" Fabian asked. Before Nero could open his mouth, Fabian shot a glare at him. "Don't answer that." He forced direct eye contact with Sofia. "You were pretty good in that fight with Quincy! How about you come with us?"

"Huh?" Sofia and Nero both said at the same time.

"Yeah! I mean, you've got a long way to go with the fundamentals, but anyone can teach you that! Quincy couldn't land a talon on you! Also, I think I'll die if I have to spend the rest of my life alone with Nero."

Nero rolled his eyes. "If nothing else, I agree with that last point. She can come with, on the condition that she explains what her species actually is, why she's hiding it, and why she's a condemned criminal."

Predictably, Fabian frowned at him. "Sofia, you don't have to-"

Sofia sighed. "No, I probably should," she said, shaking her head. "You probably haven't heard of my species, but I'm what's called an Archen, and-"

"An Archen?!" Fabian shouted, his eyes practically sparkling. "Like the extinct bird Pokémon, that Archen?" She nodded hesitantly. "No way! How are you alive right now? Can you really jump two whole meters into the air? What type are you? How do you evolve? Can you evolve? What egg group are you in?"

"I… uh, sorry, I don't really like talking about it," Sofia said, causing Fabian to heave a disappointed sigh. "A while ago, some researchers found a well-preserved Archen fossil, and they did some science-y stuff to it, and I was born." There was a slight hint of bitterness in her voice. "I tried to escape, and it worked out, but it didn't go the way I wanted. Sorry, I can't tell you anything else. I just can't bring myself to relive it."

"Good enough," Fabian said with a shrug. "Alright, you're on the team!"

"I-I never even asked to- I don't think that's a good-"

By now, Nero had lost interest. "Oh well, welcome aboard. When is the Solstice, anyway?"

"Two weeks," Fabian answered. "But now that I think about it, the closest port to Rumas will take more than a month by foot. We'll probably have to take an air taxi to get there in time."

"Public transport is out of the question," Nero said. "Any other passenger could be a threat, and if we end up in danger, escape would be completely impossible." He twitched his paw, now finally starting to regain feeling in his body. "Ferrumark City isn't too far from here, is it? I've heard a few companies out there have started manufacturing private automobiles that don't require physical labor to move. Supposedly, the higher-end models can reach top speeds of fifty kilometers per hour-"

The sound of Fabian's snoring interrupted Nero, and he was so unreasonably loud that Nero assumed that he was trying to make fun of him. But no, he had managed to fall asleep, mid-conversation.

Sofia's eyes shifted around. "So… uh, do you think we should wake him up?"

"I'd rather not," Nero said. "The snoring is annoying, but nowhere near as irritating as he is while conscious. And let's face it, he's not going to understand what we're doing next whether we explain it to him or not."

"Oh. O-Okay."

Nero was feeling capable of movement once again, so he got back on his paws and turned away. "Well, I'll be seeing you in the morning!"

"Huh? Where are you going?"

He scoffed. "I'm not falling asleep anywhere near you two. For all I know, you and Fabian could be plotting to kill me."

"But I thought the only reason you're allying with Fabian is because he doesn't have any reason to hurt you," Sofia said.

"He has no reason to, but that doesn't mean he can't," Nero replied. "Don't worry, it's nothing personal, really. I've never even considered sleeping in the same building as my old caretaker Cato, and I knew him for more than ten years. I'm just not in the business of taking unnecessary risks, that's all."

"Doesn't that ever get exhausting?" Sofia asked. "Don't get me wrong, I know what it's like-"

"Better to be exhausted than dead," Nero bluntly stated, not looking back as he strolled away from the camp. It was only a matter of time before this conversation turned into an involuntary therapy session, and Nero wasn't interested. He wandered in no particular direction for a few minutes until he found a nice rock to hide under, shut his eyes, and after a few hours, drifted off into sleep.