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Chapter Ten: Memory
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" Did you know that the average Grass Type needs approximately seven to nine hours of sunlight per day to maintain healthy cognitive functionality? I found that fact interesting. Tell me, how long have you been trapped here? Weeks? Months? Regardless, your head must be doing torturous things to you. Why not come out of there and you'll see. None of this is real."
[Time and Date Redacted]
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Axis slowly floated down the deserted street of Loyalty; the squad of four Magnemite buzzing excitedly behind him at the prospect of yet another arrest. The deputy scanned the rows of dwellings that lined the main road; the newly mandated curfew had to be enforced.

Forty-eight hours had not yet passed since Gear's disposal, and Richelieu had already laid the foundation for a totalitarian state in which he was the dictator. This is only the beginning if the plans I saw on his desk were true, the deputy thought inwardly.

The units chattered among themselves as the last of the sun's rays disappeared from the sky, officially marking the beginning of the mandated blackout that lasted until dawn. Axis switched on his built in searchlights. The lower ranked officers switched on their lights following Axis's example; their beams sweeping the seemingly empty street for violators of the new rule.

Despite putting on an act for the governor and the traitors, he was forced to call comrades. He sincerely hoped that they didn't come across an unfortunate soul who failed to make the deadline of sunset. The beams of light flashed across the stone buildings and dark alleyways, almost as if they could chase the darkness away to reveal a treasure of some sobbing citizen to arrest.

The moon was obscured by a large bank of clouds, blocking its natural light and making the Square seem even more like an abandoned city than the bustling marketplace it was. Hovering across the open area of the market square, Axis and his squad turned down the right hand road off into the major residential district.

Axis couldn't help but think of the possible reasoning behind Richelieu's plans. Control was the obvious answer, but he knew something else was lurking behind that. Some unseen motive that was almost certainly detrimental to the majority of the populace of the town. Shaking away the thoughts, he refocused himself on the task at hand. His orders from the Skarmory had been little more than to patrol the streets.

They didn't get any kill lists anymore, though the lack of specific targets --whether true felons or falsely accused-- essentially made every citizen within the town a target. The Magneton shined his light behind the countertops of the wooden stalls, occasionally flashing his light quickly, trying to send a warning signal to any citizens not yet indoors.

Focused as he was in his thoughts of the future, the deputy immediately snapped to attention when the sound of clattering metal reached his sensors. Twisting around in the air, his beam instantly centered on a small feline figure frozen in fear. Axis scanned the Pokemon within the same instant; his three cores searching the town census database for an identity.

The overly curly tail and predominantly grey fur marked it as a Glameow, and the monthly census narrowed down the identity to two individuals, one of whom had recently been gravely injured in a dungeoneering incident.

Arianna Glameow: 17 years of age. Citizen since birth. Record: none, Axis determined, his brain ninety-nine percent sure of positive identification. The Glameow remained motionless against the stone wall of the house, a small metal plate with various fruits lay forlorn on the ground directly underneath her. Only the telltale signs of her extremely shallow breathing revealed she still had a pulse.

Her sharp, blue eyes darted from side to side looking for any possible escape route, but finding none that looked promising. Before he could make a formal declaration of arrest, Axis heard the fine-tuned whirring noise from the squad behind him that signaled only one thing. Axis spun around to face the Magnemite who were charging up for a debilitating stun attack.

"ZzT! Wait! Don-!" he screeched in vain as eight separate spheres of lightning shot by him, superheating the air surrounding the protesting deputy for an instant. The thief's shriek of terror was quickly replaced by pitiful whimpering and the odor he analyzed as charred fur. Unable to turn around and face the grievously burned and paralyzed female, Axis floated in stunned horror.

His cores shouted out to him the numerous laws and statutes his officers demolished within ten seconds, but he couldn't comprehend any of it at the moment. Almost subconsciously he slowly willed his magnets to turn his hovering body to face the injured Pokemon.

What he saw caused his cores to short-circuit. Arianna's grey fur was now peppered with small circular bald spots, each one angry red and sizzling slightly. Tears leaked from her eyes as she bit her lip in an effort to not show weakness to the guards by crying.

Axis was roughly suddenly pushed aside by two of the Magnemites. The Magneton's speakers failed him as he watched the two brutes each clamp one their magnets over her forearms. Her repressed whimpers turned into screams of agony as the two started to drag her over the cobblestones in the road.

"I'm so sorry..." he buzzed softly as the thief's screams faded away as she fell into the abyss of unconsciousness.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, he repeated in his mind; the words sounding more and more hollow every time he said them.
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Leo never felt so free, so exhilaratingly alive, and so curious as he ran through the concrete corridor. The flatlights plastered on the ceiling and walls giving the hallway a clinical feel to it as it lit the area with a stark, white light.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Immediately cancelling his forward momentum, he slowed to a stop; his well-worn shoes to skidding across the gritty stone floor to stop at a glass window embedded in the wall.

Standing on the tips of his feet, he was able to see down through the glass into the vast room below. Labyrinths of wires and piping began from unseen generators, ran dizzily across the walls, and ended in a tangled jungle on the floor. Over the covering of wires, pipes, and machinery worked several men in lab coats no longer white from repeated stains of sweat, electrical burns, and grime from the machinery.

In the center of the chamber stood an enormous machine of unknown purpose. It stretched from floor to ceiling with wires connecting to it at every possible point. Beneath the machine, under metal grate, a set of wide, metal fan blades sat motionless. Over it, a set of three electrical arrays pointed down from three dirtied, steel arms on the ceiling; each matched up with a receiver at the base of the machine.

Aside from the giant contraption, Leo was fascinated by the dozen men who, despite the chaos, managed to continue working and make progress. He watched wide-eyed from his perch above them as they shouted calculations and directions at each other as they prepared the gargantuan machine in the center of the room for launch. Fortunately for him, there was an air duct grate nearby through which he could hear snatches of the scientist's commands.

"-- the signal is fading, we have to hurry before it's gone."

"-- up to ninety percent. Be sure not to overload it."

"--must account for the temporal differences."

He didn't understand any of their jargon, but he knew they were gearing up for something big. He watched as three of the men pressed sequences of buttons on the many keyboards littered around the lab. Giant mechanical arms lifted the final wires into place, connecting the machine with the power source.

Scientists gathered around the three computer stations spaced about the room around the colossal apparatus in the center of the chamber. Their fingers flew across the keyboards in order to bring life to the metal structure.

"-- start the rotors. Bring the power level to eighty-four point two percent exactly. Easy now, don't damage anything. We don't want a repeat of yesterday."
"-- charge each of the arrays oppositely. The ensuing collision will--"

The wires hummed excitedly as precious electricity flowed through them into the machine. The metal blades at the base of the experiment began the rotate with an almighty shudder that knocked Leo to the floor. Their joints and connectors screeched loudly in protest of movement as they shifted into position.

As Leo picked himself off the floor, he again peered through the window. The steel blades were spinning rapidly, much to the anticipation of the science team. Leo only heard snippets of their orders above the buffered air coming off the spinning blades.

"--reroute power from auxiliary generators if you absolutely have to. Be sure to--"

"--the system can't operate on that level for longer than--"

"-- override protocol. We have to try this while the signal is still receivable. Otherwise--

The gargantuan machine shuddered as electricity danced among its slowly spinning arrays, bright beams of raw positively-charged power aligning with the negatively-charged receivers. This collision of polar opposites forced the beams to reflect and off each other, making them seem to race about the open center core of the experiment.

"--predictable results so far. Power on the magnetic field; prepare for impact!"

The reinforced glass of the observation window vibrated with the shaking of the experiment. Leo watched in awe as the erratic beams were suddenly compressed into a small electrified sphere, even as the facility shook from the tremor resulting from the activation.

"--align the signal coordinates. Quickly! Before it's--"

The scientists seemed to be swarming their computer stations like ants, each either typing madly, or making minute adjustments on electrical power levels. The small sphere of confined electricity seemed to ripple and slowly expand as it was held in place by the magnetic pulses. Leo pressed his face against the glass, his breath fogging up the window slightly as he hoped to see whatever was going to happen in the core.

The core of compressed energy glowed as it suddenly expanded to fill the entire open space between the top and bottom of the machine. Leo's eyes widened as colors began to bleed into the white center of the core, turning it into a canvas of superheated plasma. He could see distinct hues of green and blue congregate at the top and bottom of the core, forming fields of emerald grass and limitless skies of some uncursed world.

"--trace the signal! This is it! We've got it! We've--"

A violent tremor suddenly rattled the chamber; the machine began to spark as the core misaligned. The picturesque field was torn apart and replaced with the golden sands of a barren desert.

"-- lost the signal! It's beginning to--"

The arrays started to spew forth lightning as the world within the core altered once again, this time becoming a molten red volcano. Leo could feel the heat radiating through the window an entire floor above.

"--attempting shutdown! It's not--it's not shutting down! The system's--"

The room began to quake as the tremors continued to erupt from the malfunctioning experiment.
Green fields, stormy oceans, mysterious glowing orbs within a night sky, vast clouded mountains, and blue skies all flashed briefly in the center core before vanishing as quickly as they had come. Leo was entranced by the images; all of them far more vivid than anything he'd heard of before in legends.

It only remained for a split second, but a single image was burned into his thoughts forever. A shimmering veil of sky dotted with pure white clouds. In the middle of it, a vast glowing orb, far brighter than anything Leo had ever seen before. Leo shielded his eyes from the intense brightness of the celestial oddity.

He blinked once and the picture was gone. In its place a peaceful looking mountain range and valleys, the strange orb still floated in the sky far above the pinnacles of the peaks. Just as he grew accustomed to the strange thing in the atmosphere, he heard the yells of the science team once more.

"--shut off the power! We can't take much more of this!"

"--data is unretrievable! We can't!"

"Do it!"

Leo wanted to see more, he had to. He had only glimpsed the tiniest ray of something spoken in myths. The sphere that floated loftily in the heavens was direct proof that there was more to the legends and rumors. That somewhere there was more than perpetual dull skies. Something greater than a still sea. Something with more life than the dying land. Something that promised freedom to whoever was courageous enough to reach through and grab it.

"-- data! We can't! Not until we get a proper reading!"

"-- I say. Shut. It. Down."

Leo pressed his hands against the glass in protest. He couldn't let these visions of paradise be torn away from him. He slammed his fists into the window, ignoring the stinging pain from the resulting impact. He could only watch in stunned horror as two men in the lab dashed to opposite walls on each side of the room where levers controlling the current were placed. They each grabbed a lever, and even as the machine shuddered once more, they pulled down.

Leo's world then turned pitch black.
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Kelly would never forgive them. She didn't care what they said in their letters to her; dried ink failed to compare to actually hearing their apologies in real life. They had abandoned her. Left her completely alone. All to pursue a political faction that meant more to them than she did.

She had spent enough tears over them. She had to learn to adapt and survive. To fend for herself against the odds, even if it meant forming a rescue team with a Riolu she met in order to scrape together a pitiful excuse for a living.

She could almost see her father sitting in front of her. His black fur contrasting with the dim yellow rings circling his body.

"We love you, Kel. We did what we did because--", his soft voice cracked, before she interrupted. "No! I don't want to hear you!"

"Kelly, please listen. I only want to--" he started to say before being cut off by his daughter.
"No. Not anymore."

The Umbreon simply closed his eyes and sighed. He looked back up at his daughter, tears forming in the inner corners of his eyes. Kelly wasn't moved in the slightest. She returned his pleading gaze with a stare colder than ice. Out of the mists came another figure on all fours. Kelly tried to keep her face stern as she saw a pink-furred Pokemon sit down next to her father.

"Mom," Kelly said, barely containing a sniffle as she acknowledged the older Espeon's entrance.

"We did what we did. Nothing other than Dialga can change that fact. We only wanted--"
she explained, her voice oddly soothing to Kelly. It had been a long time since she'd heard either of them, but comfort wasn't enough.

"It's what you wanted?! You wanted to leave me?! For the Colonies?! You wanted this?!"
Kelly screamed at her parent's illusions, her voice strained.
Her mother ignored her outburst and walked forward to her daughter. She placed her paw on Kelly's shoulder, causing her to wince slightly. She saw her mother's paw on her fur, yet couldn't feel it. She saw her mother's head lean into her, rubbing affectionately against neck, yet the touch was not felt by Kelly.
"We left in hopes that we would return within a week. You can see that didn't work out." she said, pressing her head against her daughter's. "You have no idea how lost we felt without without you with us. We missed you so much. We missed you, Kelly."

Kelly couldn't take it anymore, she took a deep break before letting out a soft sob. Her sobs grew closer together as she cried into her mother's intangible embrace. Her entire body shaking as she gasped for breath amid her breakdown. Eventually, she gathered herself once again. She raised her head to look around, only to find that her parents had vanished from her sight.

"M-mom? Dad? Where are you?! Where did you go?!" Kelly asked the empty space around her, beginning to panic as she shifted her gaze to every possible direction. The misty void around her began to shudder and shake, forcing Kelly to dig her claws into the ground to avoid being tossed around like a child's toy.

"Why do you hate us, Kelly? Do you realize how much it hurts us to hear you say those nasty things?" her father's disembodied voice rang out through the void. Each resounding echo growing in intensity rather than fading. Kelly only squeezed her eyes tighter and she clung to the ground even harder as the tremors worsened.

"Kelly, I will only ask one more time: why do you hate us?" her father asked, his voice icy and emotionless, contrasting sharply from what Kelly previously heard. Kelly bit her lip to keep from letting the words affect her.

"Tell me! Why do you hate us?!" the void screamed at her in her father's voice, the sound-waves rattling the foundations of the ground. Kelly let out a weak scream as the ground violently lurched forward, tearing her claws from the floor.

"I-I don't know..." she whimpered as the demented voices of her parents tormented her further.
She pressed her front paws to her ears even as her body was slammed repeatedly against the quaking earth. She ignored the pain, but failed to block out the voices.

"You ungrateful, useless, excuse of a daughter. We cared, sheltered, and nurtured you your entire life, and when we are held up against our will, you turn on us? We should have left you a long time ago!" This time is was her mother's voice, shrill and distorted, that berated her. Every hateful word Kelly heard broke her resolve down. She couldn't believe that her parents could share the hate she reserved for them.

Tears began to well up in her eyes as her parent's voices tortured her mind. She failed to see that the ground started to crumble and fall into darkness. Blinded by tears, she tried to run across the falling void; she stumbled more than once on the heaving ground, skidding over the sharp fragments of floor.

She yelped as she felt her bruised hind legs fall through the floor into nothingness. She clung with all her strength onto the bit of stable ground in front of her, trying to avoid the abyss that awaited her like a hungry predator.

"You said you hated us! You wanted us gone! You turned on us, your parents! the voice, now an unholy amalgamation of both her mother and her father screeched at Kelly as her grip began to fail her.

The abyss growled in irritation, it's deep tone rattling the ground and weakening her grip on the frail patch of stone she clung to in fear. She grunted as she tried to pull herself up, her back legs flailing around in the open air beneath the cliff as she tried to gain leverage.

The chasm of her nightmare, fed up with waiting, roared with another tremor that shook the entire void. Dust and mist clouded Kelly's vision, making her eyes sting and throat burn as she had no choice to breath the dirtied air in. Her arms were burning with fatigue as she tried to resist the abyss's attempts to swallow her whole.

The bottomless chasm roared again, demanding her immediate surrender. Despite the pain and exhaustion, she refused to give into the void's desires. She never submitted before, and she wouldn't now. Nothing would make her, not the void, not the quake, nothing.

"You are not our daughter. Not anymore. Get out," the voice coldly ordered. The mist seemed to channel its tone as its icy embrace wrapped around the Jolteon. Kelly shivered as the chill pressed from all sides. Her claws slipped a few precious inches closer to the edge, making a shrill screech along the floor. The broken stone slicing into the pads of her paws, making small smears of blood appear along the rock.

"Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! the invisible voice screamed. That was the final straw for Kelly. Her bloodied claws reached the edge of the cliff with nowhere else to go besides down. She pulled her head up one last time before her grip failed, her tears staining the yellow fur on her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered weakly before her claws broke through the thin layer of rock. The abyss screeched in triumph and hungrily opened its maw wide to receive her.
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Jay panted in exhaustion as he set down the final sack of seed. The sun was starting its nightly journey into the western horizon, signaling the end of the day. Jay checked his surroundings before leaving. The wooden structure his family used to store grain seemed secure enough, and the gates into the fields were all shut tight.

He tried to whistle a tune he had heard earlier that week in Silver's trading market as he walked back to his family's small dwelling. The talent was not his forte and the original jaunty tune of the song was butchered by the Riolu's sad attempt to recreate it.

Jay stopped along the dirt road when a silhouette of two Pokemon appeared on the darkening horizon. They were coming from the capital. Jay knew exactly who they were. Their loud talking and clanking armor plates made them out to be guards of the city. Taking a deep breath, he jogged a little faster along the road, hoping to keep ahead of them. He suddenly wished that his family's home was a lot closer to Silver.

The guards' conversation seemed to get louder as they somehow seemed to get closer to him, despite his efforts to outrun them. As quick as lightning, a beige feline Pokemon sprinted past him and quickly turned around, blocking his path. Jay dug his paws into the dirt as he attempted to stop. The marauder was a large cat that he'd run into before and known by name.

"Felix," the Riolu huffed, glaring at the guard. The Pokemon cracked a shrewd smile, showing off his sharp teeth at the same time. He moved his head to look down on Jay, the ruby red gem embedded on his forehead glinted in the fading sunlight.

"Farm filth, it's been a time since we last talked, hasn't it?" the Persian sneered. The guard slowly circled Jay, the metal plate armor on his long back clinking with every careful movement of his legs.

"Hmph, I don't need to talk to you lot. You've already got this month's taxes from us," Jay said, stubbornly crossing his arms. The Persian stopped his circling and stared directly at the Riolu, his red eyes boring virtual holes into Jay.

"You're joking. You've gotta be kidding me right now!" Felix exclaimed, the faint beginnings of a laugh easing their way into his words. "Come here, you lot! You guys won't believe this," he called behind Jay. Jay whirled around to find that the group of guards now significantly closer.

"Felix? What'sss thisss ssstreet rat prattling on about thisss time?" a long snake-like Pokemon asked, its black and gold form slithering around behind Jay and hissing in the Riolu's ear. Jay gulped as he heard the Seviper's poison-laced blade swish through the air and come to a rest, far too close to his throat for comfort.

"Apparently," Felix said, placing a paw on Jay's head while the Seviper guard held him in place with the threat his blade. "Our 'friend' here doesn't know the news yet! Can you believe that?!"

The Seviper lowered his head to Jay's level. "Really? Doesss our friend really not know the newssss?" he asked incredulously, flicking his forked tongue out quickly. Jay struggled against the snake Pokemon, trying to squirm free without slicing his neck on the precariously positioned blade.
"What are you two idiots talking about? What news?" Jay growled, letting every ounce of hatred for the two Pokemon seep into his words.

Felix raised his paw and boxed the side of Jay's head. "Watch your mouth, dog." he spat. He backed off and took a deep breath as he calmed himself down. "Well, it appears that your dear father owes the Kingdom quite a bit of money. His taxes have been short these last few collections,"

"No! You're lying! I saw him pay them myself! They were paid in full!" Jay countered, only earning yet another threatening glare from the Seviper. Felix and the Seviper looked silently at each other for a second before both bursting into laughter.

"Y-you really-- haha --- think he paid in full? Oh Arceus alive, you've got to be kidding me right now! We wouldn't be on our way to arrest him if that were the case, now would we?" Felix asked with a sinister chuckle.

"What?! No!" Jay screamed as he ducked underneath the Seviper's blade and coils. He bent his legs and jumped up towards the Persian, arms outstretched. He hit the guard around his neck and tackled him into the dirt. Jay only saw red, slightly different shades of red, and more red. The Kingdom had taken nearly everything we've earned, and now they had the gall to accuse us of not paying enough? he thought angrily as he raised his arm.

Felix had barely time to register what had happened before Jay's fist collided with the side of the Persian's head. Not thinking of the consequences, he raised his arm again for another blow, yet he never completed the swing. The Seviper's tail reached around, wrapped around the Riolu tightly, and pulled him away from his comrade on the ground.

Felix coughed as he dizzily pushed himself up, Jay could see that unless he broke free immediately, life about to get much worse for him. He struggled against the snake Pokemon, trying to free his arms from the merciless coils, but to no avail.

"Let's go, we've got a job to do. Deal with the runt and let's get on with it," Felix growled, trying to keep his claws from violently disemboweling the Riolu.

"No! No! No! You can't!" Jay screamed, kicking vainly against the Seviper's tightening coil.

"Give him a small dose of poison. That'll shut him up for a few hours while we finish up this job. We can come back for him later," the Persian ordered as Jay tried even harder to push against his captor's bonds. The Seviper nodded to the other guard and raised the blade on his tail. Acidic drops of sickly purple fluid dripped from the point of the blade.

Without warning, the Seviper brought the tip of the blade to Jay's left arm and dug it into the flesh. Jay screamed in agony as the blade swiftly exited the wound, leaving several drops of potent poison in his opened bloodstream. Jay's screams suddenly quieted down as all feeling in his arm vanished, replaced by a slight tingling feeling.

He tried to look up at the two guards, but their faces seemed stretched and distorted beyond recognition. He heard them talking, but their indistinct words seemed to be spoken through a film of water. His arms and legs relaxed and suddenly; he wasn't concerned about that fact that the guards were on their way to ruin everything. He couldn't have cared even if he tried. His senses drained from his head as the poison shut every inch of his body down.

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A Few Hours Later
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Kingdom Army Camp: New Rain: Northern Division

"That's enough, Leaf. I know it wasn't your idea. You are excused from this meeting," said a large light blue reptile as he motioned for the small creature with a large pink flower bulb on its back to leave the tent. The Ivysaur nodded and quickly left, brushing aside the flaps of the tent. The large blue Pokemon then turned towards them, setting his enormous jaw to as close to a frown as he could possibly manage.

Leo looked around the tent. It wasn't the largest of the cloth structures he'd seen today, but it was spacious enough to fit the Pokemon Jay called a Feraligatr with reasonable comfort. Aside from a small, roughly cut wooden desk and a few wide segments of logs that served as seats, there was nothing of seemingly any real value inside the tent.

He looked to his left. Jay and Kelly both sat on a stump and on the ground, respectively. Both were trying and failing miserably to hide their fatigue evident by their dull expressions and occasional yawn. To his right, though, was a stranger. His skin was about the same light blue as the Feraligatr's, but that was where the similarities ended. In contrast to the large stature the general of the camp possessed, he was about as tall as Leo. The fin on the back of his head, his webbed feet, and rounded black tail indicated that he was a Water Type, yet another reason why Leo felt uncomfortable sitting so close to him.

The stranger glanced at him for a split second before looking away; going back to his task of feeling the sharp edge of his two schlops he carried with him. The Dewott -- or at least, that's the name Leo heard the Feraligatr yell when he summoned him-- didn't seem the least bit concerned that the general was glaring straight at him with enough intensity to ignite fires.

While the Feraligatr seemed to be putting his thoughts together, Leo took the time to put his own thoughts together. The last thing he clearly remembered before waking up on a piece of cloth that smelled like rotten fruit next to Jay and Kelly was that they were ambushed somewhere in the fields by a group of Pokemon.

After awakening from their drugged slumber, they were immediately marched through the camp to this tent. Along the way, Leo saw quite a few Pokemon either moving wooden crates into piles or practicing their attacks in a sparring ring, a simply drawn circle in the dirt. Pokemon with natural spines and scales seemed to be a staple of the camp, nearly everyone Leo saw has some type of armor or appendage that could be used for fighting purposes.

With a loud cough from the Feraligatr, Leo's wandering thoughts were brought back to the present as the general finally seemed ready to speak to them.

"Riolu, you and your team are the least of my concerns at the moment. I will deal with you all after Noah here," the general announced, causing Jay to exhale a sigh of relief.
The Feraligatr turned towards the Dewott, who acknowledged the general with nod of his head before returning to his shells.

"Tell me, Noah. What exactly were you thinking last night? I want to know what went through your head that made you lead an attack on this team," the general asked, his gruff voice striking fear into Leo despite not being spoken to at the moment. The blue otter looked up at the irritated Pokemon and raised an furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I was simply carrying out the orders you gave me at the beginning of my watch. It was from those orders that I gained the idea of detaining these civilians who very nearly walked onto Kingdom property without authorization. That's what I was thinking, General Torrent, sir," Noah said calmly as he continued to sharpen his shells. Torrent groaned as he rubbed the sides of his head in annoyance. Leo had a feeling that this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

"Noah, my orders said to patrol the camp and alert me if there were trespassers, not attack and knock out the first civilians you saw!" Torrent exclaimed, his impressive jaw feet from the Dewott's face. Noah slowly took his black paw and wiped several small droplets of Torrent's saliva off his face before answering.

"Frankly sir, you never clarified what to do with intruders, so I interpreted it in my own fashion and acted accordingly. I was only thinking of the security of this camp, sir. Who knows what these Pokemon might have done if I hadn't detained them?" Noah replied, the natural air of tranquility around him not punctured by Torrent's irritation in the slightest. The Dewott looked over at the confused team. "No offense, you guys," he quickly added.

"What do you mean I never clarified my orders? I explicitly told you what and what not to do while on watch! I never told you to use Sleep Seeds of all things! Don't you know how potent they are raw? I swear, I've met rocks more apt to follow orders then you!" Torrent yelled.

"I very much like to meet those rocks, sir. Perhaps they can teach me a lesson in humility, sir," Noah responded in as serious of a tone Leo thought impossible to reach. Torrent stood and stared at the Dewott for a moment, not knowing what exactly to make of the statement.

"Just shut up for now, Noah. I can't talk to you anymore. The camp healer says it's bad for my health to hold a direct conversation with you for more than two minutes at a time. So, just stay there and stay quiet while I deal with our guests," he said, choosing to ignore the recruit until later. He turned to the other side of the room where Jay and Kelly were seated. Leo watched as his colossal stature towered over him.

"So, despite what Noah here says about you lot, I'm convinced that you're not the crazed trespassers he's made you out to be. Tell me, why you all were heading toward a Kingdom camp?" Torrent asked, directing the question to Jay.

"W-well, sir. We, uh, we were just walking through the fields, yeah. We didn't know there was a camp here, sir. We were just passing through on our way to Silver City, and then we were ambushed by that lunatic!" Jay stuttered before pointing an accusing paw at the Dewott who simply nodded in return. Torrent narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"That, my friend, is the worst cover story I've heard in a long time and I've had to deal with Noah for the past few months. Tell me the real story, before I call someone to take you lot back to where you came from," Torrent demanded, seeing straight through Jay's poorly built lie.

"I … uh... you see, we … umm..." Jay squirmed in his seat. To Leo, it looked as if his mind failed to think of the right words. Torrent gave up on the team leader, leaving him to quietly sit on the wooden chair. He shifted his glare to Kelly.

"So my dear, would you kindly tell me what you were doing in the field near our camp?"

Kelly was either frozen into silence, or Jay's failure to get cognitive words spoken had spread to her, only worse. She refused to answer Torrent's question. Sighing in exasperation, he turned to Leo, who grabbed his tail in fear of the strong Water type.

"So, Charmeleon, are you going to shut up like a Clampearl the same way your teammates did? Or, are you going to shed some light on the situation?"

Leo said nothing, partly out of sheer fear of the roughly seven foot tall general and partly because Jay was discreetly shaking his head telling him to keep his mouth shut. The general lowered his head until he was far closer to Leo's face then Leo would have ever liked him to be.

"Charmeleon, you do realize that I have the authority to detain you and your friends for up to forty-eight hours simply for being here? I suggest you tell me what you know before that has to happen," Torrent ordered, his interrogation going nothing like how Gear's did. Leo gulped and mouthed a silent apology to Jay and Kelly. Alright, he thought, here goes nothing.

"We were escaping from a town to the west of here, Loyalty Square, actually. We were forced out of the town when a squad of Magnemites raided our base. We managed to--" Leo said before Torrent silenced him with by clapping his blue clawed hand onto Leo's shoulder, the action nearly snapping the Charmeleon's shoulder blade.

"Say no more, son. That's all I needed to hear--" Torrent started before he, himself was interrupted when a feathered Pokemon flew through the entrance flaps of the tent and had to swerve to avoid slamming into the general. Leo almost allowed a smile to form when he saw that the avian intruder was none other than their first and only client.

"S-sorry, sir! I-I was completing an errand … when I heard you were talking to … this team. I wanted to explain ... them to you, sir," Icarus said breathlessly, panting in between phrases.
Rather than expel the bird from the tent for being out of conduct, Torrent shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, let's have it. Why are they here, Icarus?"

"W-well, sir. I was flying above the Valley Forest dungeon on my way back from Loyalty and I saw them marching through the fields. I had found out that they were being hunted from the governor's deputy, sir. These three are good Pokemon, sir. They freed me from the smuggling ring in Spore Meadows even when I couldn't repay them, sir. Evil Pokemon wouldn't do that, sir. I mean, it's not in an evil Pokemon's nature to just randomly help out some prisoner when they're... captured.... ring..." Icarus explained, his rambling trailing off into indistinct mumbling as he realized he'd talked too much.

Leo was expecting Torrent to at the least disregard Icarus's tirade or throw him out of the tent. He sure wasn't expecting Torrent to smile, teeth sticking out from where his top and bottom jaws met. Icarus seemed surprised at the general's action as well, flapping his wings once.

"Thank you, Icarus. You've just made my job easier, if anything. I've known about the corrupt Magnemites for a long time. Ol' Gear and I had a system where he'd try to get wrongly arrested civies outta town and to me whenever I set up came here. He musta not gotten a message out to me yet about you three," Torrent explained, seemingly trying to remember the complexities of their plan.

"S-sir, there's a slight problem with that," Icarus quietly said, trying to keep as silent as he could in an attempt not to embarrass himself by rambling again. This snapped Torrent out of his reminisce of days past.

"What are you talking about, messanger?"

"Well, sir. Gear … he … um … he's … been put out of commision, sir," Icarus reluctantly said, trying to find the right words to say.

Torrent refused to beat around the bush. "So, he was finally taken down, huh? Who did it? Because I'll rip them apart once I find them. Icarus, tell me everything you know this instant,"

"He was killed two nights ago, sir. The Magneton deputy, Axle, or Axeil or something. Anyways, the guy told me everything. This Skarmory came in claiming to be from the government. He said he was a governor or some fancy title like that, could have been a duke or noble for all I know. The guy was stuck up, had a real attitude, I tell you, I've never seen someone any more short tempered--" Icarus elaborated, slipping into meaningless dialogue before being cut off by Torrent.

"You're going to in a minute, unless you get to the damn point already!" Torrent growled as he cursed at the blubbering Pidgeotto.

"S-sorry, sir! A-anyways, Gear refused to act on a kill list and apparently this Skarmory walks in with a guard of Magnemite and saw his disobedience. In short, Gear told him to fall off a cliff and the governor sent his units to attack him, and turned Gear's own units against him, I think. The deputy wasn't entirely sure what happened at that point, or the next few minutes. The next thing he saw was Gear's burning body lying in the midst of a sea of Magnemite fragments. And then that governor guy ripped out Gear's eye, I think, I'm not entirely sure I heard that right, the guy seemed pretty nervous when he told me the story. Anyways, Gear was killed and that Skarmory ordered the kill list to be enacted, which lead to the raid on Team Salient's base, sir!" Icarus finished, gasping for breath at the end of his lengthy exposition, pleased that he hadn't rambled too much during it.

Every soul inside the tent, from Torrent, to Kelly, even the strange Noah went quiet, as if they all had agreed to an impromptu moment of silence to honor the fallen officer. It was Torrent who broke the silence first.

"He didn't deserve what happened to him. Anyone but him would have caved to corruption a long time ago. Gear was the best unit I ever served with. He saved my life in the second Bandit War in the Battle Sand Caverns. I'll never forget that. And when he became sheriff and I a commander in the army, we knew what we had to do to protect the citizens from the Kingdom's corruption," he said solemnly, not looking directly at anyone. Leo couldn't see for certain, but he thought he heard a series of low sobs coming from the mighty Feraligatr.

"S-sir?" Kelly asked tentatively, speaking for the first time since she entered the general's tent.
Torrent immediately looked up and wiped his face with his scaly arm. Leo could see that his eyes were somewhat red, confirming his theory.

"Errm, yes. Umm, you lot, Salient, we'll figure this out later. Noah, make yourself useful and show them around the camp and get them situated. Oh, and they're also sleeping in your tent as punishment for your actions. Icarus, you stay. I have a message that needs to go out. Dismissed," he ordered. Icarus worriedly glanced over to the team and tilted his head as if telling them to leave now. Noah stood up from his seat and motioned for the team to move as he corralled them through the flaps of the tent.

The group of four stood for a moment in front of the dull brown exterior of the tent, seemingly soaking in all that had happened in the past few minutes. They had been woken up, interrogated, accused of trespassing, apparently saved from a fate of prison by Icarus, and now forced to bunk with a Pokemon who knocked them out and knocked them out them the night before. Leo simply knew this was going to work out perfectly.

"So, um … I'm sorry for ambushing you guys and all that. Are we … good?" Noah asked, extending a nervous hand outwards to Jay. The calm and collected air he had around him inside with Torrent seemed to vanish as soon as they were outside. Jay reluctantly grasped the Dewott's paw and shook it as he muttered something about it being a regular thing lately.

"If you guys couldn't tell from back there, my name's Noah," he said introducing himself, "I don't think Torrent mentioned your names, if you have any. I know some Pokemon from the North prefer to use the traditional species name, and all that."

"Yes, we have names. I'm Jay, and this is Kelly, and Leo," Jay said, motioning to each of his teammates in turn as he said their name.

"Wonderful! Now I'll give you the grand tour of the place!" Noah said with a big smile as he walked out in front of them.

"This is Camp New Rain, the northern division. To the northeast you will see the supply tents," he said as he motioned to a cluster of tents and stacks of wooden crates scattered haphazardly around the area.

"To the southeast and southwest you'll find where most of us will be sleeping tonight," he pointed to yet another bigger cluster of tents that made up two-thirds of the camp.

"To the northwest you'll find the training areas and the mess tent where dinner will be held soon, hopefully," he informed, directing their attention to yet another cluster of tents, but this time they were spaced out among smoking sand pits and blackened boulders, evidence of the moves being practiced there.

"And that's your tour. Welcome to Camp New Rain! You'll quickly learn why most fugitive Pokemon would rather go to jail then here," he said with a grin, even as the team's spirits fell yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Move! They've found us!

He could barely breathe, his lungs were on fire. The faster he tried to run, the harder it became to get a single mouthful of precious air. His feet slapped along the stone corridor as he ran from the ever pursuing sentinels.
"It doesn't help that you're so… uggh … heavy! Why am I carrying you?!" he screamed as he sprinted down the hallway, his arms aching with the added weight of his companion.

"Because I can't move as fast as you can. Now shut up and pay attention! There should be a branching pathway coming up. Don't miss it or we'll be doomed."

He grunted in irritation, but knew that the answer was true. Pushing the pain as far back into his mind as he could, he tightened his hold as he continued to run. His gaze darted from left to right, trying to distinguish the path his friend told him about from all the other identical patches of stone wall and crystal wiring.

"Approximately twenty-two point seven meters to go until the passage... Wait! I'm detecting something! Tri-Attack beams coming up fast on your left! Dodge them!"

"Got it," he said as he lurched his sprinting body to the right, nearly slamming into the rock walls of the passageway. He watched in smug satisfaction as he saw several beams of red, yellow, and blue light go whizzing by him and fizzled into nothingness against the stone floor.

"Be careful! There's an intersection ahead with sentinels on the left and right!

"Whatever you say..." he whispered as a plan began to formulate in his sun-deprived mind. He'd be ready for whatever was there.

"I'd tell you we're doomed, but that only makes you get creative."

He smiled as he reached the intersection. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw several sentinels on either side. He knew he literally only had one shot for this to work, if it didn't … well, he didn't want to be reminded again of the possible fates that awaited him if he failed here.

"This will be the death of both of us..."

"Here goes nothing!" he screamed as he leaped into the air, the momentum of his sprint carrying him forward. He vaguely saw the hailstorm of plasma energy passing underneath him, nearly burning tips of his feet as the sentinels fired at him.

The forces of gravity and friction eventually brought his flight to an end. He stumbled slightly as he tried to regain his balance and run at the same time. He nearly grinned as he escaped yet another death trap.

"Don't think we're out of this yet! There's the path to your right! Take it now!"

He didn't think twice, he immediately changed direction, his feet scraping against the stone. He tossed his heavy friend into the opening and then dived into the almost invisible hallway. He watched breathlessly as several bolts of plasma shot past it, fizzling as they harmlessly hit the stone walls.

"Don't stop! Keep running! Keep running! Pick me up and run! Run!" He dashed over to his friend and hefted him into his arms. Looking down the dark hallway, he knew whatever was done there was infinitely more desirable than the plasma of the guards.

"I'll never stop running. Not until I see the sun again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Kingdom … is weak. It's a sandcastle built up over time by passing children, just waiting to be decimated by the advancing tide of time."

"When will the tide come in and end our suffering? We have suffered too long underneath the tread of the Kingdom. When will the tide come in, master?"

"... It will come when the moon aligns and the arbiter has made his decision in our favor. When the king of the sand crumbles like his palace, that is when the tide will come in."

"But what of the envoy to the false arbiter?"

"What about the envoy?"

"If his message is delivered, then the tide will freeze and retreat and we will never be free."

"... Don't worry. I have spoken to our benefactor concerning this. They have arranged everything. The envoy's message will be lost in the tide."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
End of Chapter Ten
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Description
Chapter Ten: Memory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Did you know that the average Grass Type needs approximately seven to nine hours of sunlight per day to maintain healthy cognitive functionality? I found that fact interesting. Tell me, how long have you been trapped here? Weeks? Months? Regardless, your head must be doing torturous things to you. Why not come out of there and you'll see. None of this is real."
[Time and Date Redacted]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Axis slowly floated down the deserted street of Loyalty; the squad of four Magnemite buzzing excitedly behind him at the prospect of yet another arrest. The deputy scanned the rows of dwellings that lined the main road; the newly mandated curfew had to be enforced.

Forty-eight hours had not yet passed since Gear's disposal, and Richelieu had already laid the foundation for a totalitarian state in which he was the dictator. This is only the beginning if the plans I saw on his desk were true, the deputy thought inwardly.

The units chattered among themselves as the last of the sun's rays disappeared from the sky, officially marking the beginning of the mandated blackout that lasted until dawn. Axis switched on his built in searchlights. The lower ranked officers switched on their lights following Axis's example; their beams sweeping the seemingly empty street for violators of the new rule.

Despite putting on an act for the governor and the traitors, he was forced to call comrades. He sincerely hoped that they didn't come across an unfortunate soul who failed to make the deadline of sunset. The beams of light flashed across the stone buildings and dark alleyways, almost as if they could chase the darkness away to reveal a treasure of some sobbing citizen to arrest.

The moon was obscured by a large bank of clouds, blocking its natural light and making the Square seem even more like an abandoned city than the bustling marketplace it was. Hovering across the open area of the market square, Axis and his squad turned down the right hand road off into the major residential district.

Axis couldn't help but think of the possible reasoning behind Richelieu's plans. Control was the obvious answer, but he knew something else was lurking behind that. Some unseen motive that was almost certainly detrimental to the majority of the populace of the town. Shaking away the thoughts, he refocused himself on the task at hand. His orders from the Skarmory had been little more than to patrol the streets.

They didn't get any kill lists anymore, though the lack of specific targets --whether true felons or falsely accused-- essentially made every citizen within the town a target. The Magneton shined his light behind the countertops of the wooden stalls, occasionally flashing his light quickly, trying to send a warning signal to any citizens not yet indoors.

Focused as he was in his thoughts of the future, the deputy immediately snapped to attention when the sound of clattering metal reached his sensors. Twisting around in the air, his beam instantly centered on a small feline figure frozen in fear. Axis scanned the Pokemon within the same instant; his three cores searching the town census database for an identity.

The overly curly tail and predominantly grey fur marked it as a Glameow, and the monthly census narrowed down the identity to two individuals, one of whom had recently been gravely injured in a dungeoneering incident.

Arianna Glameow: 17 years of age. Citizen since birth. Record: none, Axis determined, his brain ninety-nine percent sure of positive identification. The Glameow remained motionless against the stone wall of the house, a small metal plate with various fruits lay forlorn on the ground directly underneath her. Only the telltale signs of her extremely shallow breathing revealed she still had a pulse.

Her sharp, blue eyes darted from side to side looking for any possible escape route, but finding none that looked promising. Before he could make a formal declaration of arrest, Axis heard the fine-tuned whirring noise from the squad behind him that signaled only one thing. Axis spun around to face the Magnemite who were charging up for a debilitating stun attack.

"ZzT! Wait! Don-!" he screeched in vain as eight separate spheres of lightning shot by him, superheating the air surrounding the protesting deputy for an instant. The thief's shriek of terror was quickly replaced by pitiful whimpering and the odor he analyzed as charred fur. Unable to turn around and face the grievously burned and paralyzed female, Axis floated in stunned horror.

His cores shouted out to him the numerous laws and statutes his officers demolished within ten seconds, but he couldn't comprehend any of it at the moment. Almost subconsciously he slowly willed his magnets to turn his hovering body to face the injured Pokemon.

What he saw caused his cores to short-circuit. Arianna's grey fur was now peppered with small circular bald spots, each one angry red and sizzling slightly. Tears leaked from her eyes as she bit her lip in an effort to not show weakness to the guards by crying.

Axis was roughly suddenly pushed aside by two of the Magnemites. The Magneton's speakers failed him as he watched the two brutes each clamp one their magnets over her forearms. Her repressed whimpers turned into screams of agony as the two started to drag her over the cobblestones in the road.

"I'm so sorry..." he buzzed softly as the thief's screams faded away as she fell into the abyss of unconsciousness.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, he repeated in his mind; the words sounding more and more hollow every time he said them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leo never felt so free, so exhilaratingly alive, and so curious as he ran through the concrete corridor. The flatlights plastered on the ceiling and walls giving the hallway a clinical feel to it as it lit the area with a stark, white light.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Immediately cancelling his forward momentum, he slowed to a stop; his well-worn shoes to skidding across the gritty stone floor to stop at a glass window embedded in the wall.

Standing on the tips of his feet, he was able to see down through the glass into the vast room below. Labyrinths of wires and piping began from unseen generators, ran dizzily across the walls, and ended in a tangled jungle on the floor. Over the covering of wires, pipes, and machinery worked several men in lab coats no longer white from repeated stains of sweat, electrical burns, and grime from the machinery.

In the center of the chamber stood an enormous machine of unknown purpose. It stretched from floor to ceiling with wires connecting to it at every possible point. Beneath the machine, under metal grate, a set of wide, metal fan blades sat motionless. Over it, a set of three electrical arrays pointed down from three dirtied, steel arms on the ceiling; each matched up with a receiver at the base of the machine.

Aside from the giant contraption, Leo was fascinated by the dozen men who, despite the chaos, managed to continue working and make progress. He watched wide-eyed from his perch above them as they shouted calculations and directions at each other as they prepared the gargantuan machine in the center of the room for launch. Fortunately for him, there was an air duct grate nearby through which he could hear snatches of the scientist's commands.

"-- the signal is fading, we have to hurry before it's gone."

"-- up to ninety percent. Be sure not to overload it."

"--must account for the temporal differences."

He didn't understand any of their jargon, but he knew they were gearing up for something big. He watched as three of the men pressed sequences of buttons on the many keyboards littered around the lab. Giant mechanical arms lifted the final wires into place, connecting the machine with the power source.

Scientists gathered around the three computer stations spaced about the room around the colossal apparatus in the center of the chamber. Their fingers flew across the keyboards in order to bring life to the metal structure.

"-- start the rotors. Bring the power level to eighty-four point two percent exactly. Easy now, don't damage anything. We don't want a repeat of yesterday."
"-- charge each of the arrays oppositely. The ensuing collision will--"

The wires hummed excitedly as precious electricity flowed through them into the machine. The metal blades at the base of the experiment began the rotate with an almighty shudder that knocked Leo to the floor. Their joints and connectors screeched loudly in protest of movement as they shifted into position.

As Leo picked himself off the floor, he again peered through the window. The steel blades were spinning rapidly, much to the anticipation of the science team. Leo only heard snippets of their orders above the buffered air coming off the spinning blades.

"--reroute power from auxiliary generators if you absolutely have to. Be sure to--"

"--the system can't operate on that level for longer than--"

"-- override protocol. We have to try this while the signal is still receivable. Otherwise--

The gargantuan machine shuddered as electricity danced among its slowly spinning arrays, bright beams of raw positively-charged power aligning with the negatively-charged receivers. This collision of polar opposites forced the beams to reflect and off each other, making them seem to race about the open center core of the experiment.

"--predictable results so far. Power on the magnetic field; prepare for impact!"

The reinforced glass of the observation window vibrated with the shaking of the experiment. Leo watched in awe as the erratic beams were suddenly compressed into a small electrified sphere, even as the facility shook from the tremor resulting from the activation.

"--align the signal coordinates. Quickly! Before it's--"

The scientists seemed to be swarming their computer stations like ants, each either typing madly, or making minute adjustments on electrical power levels. The small sphere of confined electricity seemed to ripple and slowly expand as it was held in place by the magnetic pulses. Leo pressed his face against the glass, his breath fogging up the window slightly as he hoped to see whatever was going to happen in the core.

The core of compressed energy glowed as it suddenly expanded to fill the entire open space between the top and bottom of the machine. Leo's eyes widened as colors began to bleed into the white center of the core, turning it into a canvas of superheated plasma. He could see distinct hues of green and blue congregate at the top and bottom of the core, forming fields of emerald grass and limitless skies of some uncursed world.

"--trace the signal! This is it! We've got it! We've--"

A violent tremor suddenly rattled the chamber; the machine began to spark as the core misaligned. The picturesque field was torn apart and replaced with the golden sands of a barren desert.

"-- lost the signal! It's beginning to--"

The arrays started to spew forth lightning as the world within the core altered once again, this time becoming a molten red volcano. Leo could feel the heat radiating through the window an entire floor above.

"--attempting shutdown! It's not--it's not shutting down! The system's--"

The room began to quake as the tremors continued to erupt from the malfunctioning experiment.
Green fields, stormy oceans, mysterious glowing orbs within a night sky, vast clouded mountains, and blue skies all flashed briefly in the center core before vanishing as quickly as they had come. Leo was entranced by the images; all of them far more vivid than anything he'd heard of before in legends.

It only remained for a split second, but a single image was burned into his thoughts forever. A shimmering veil of sky dotted with pure white clouds. In the middle of it, a vast glowing orb, far brighter than anything Leo had ever seen before. Leo shielded his eyes from the intense brightness of the celestial oddity.

He blinked once and the picture was gone. In its place a peaceful looking mountain range and valleys, the strange orb still floated in the sky far above the pinnacles of the peaks. Just as he grew accustomed to the strange thing in the atmosphere, he heard the yells of the science team once more.

"--shut off the power! We can't take much more of this!"

"--data is unretrievable! We can't!"

"Do it!"

Leo wanted to see more, he had to. He had only glimpsed the tiniest ray of something spoken in myths. The sphere that floated loftily in the heavens was direct proof that there was more to the legends and rumors. That somewhere there was more than perpetual dull skies. Something greater than a still sea. Something with more life than the dying land. Something that promised freedom to whoever was courageous enough to reach through and grab it.

"-- data! We can't! Not until we get a proper reading!"

"-- I say. Shut. It. Down."

Leo pressed his hands against the glass in protest. He couldn't let these visions of paradise be torn away from him. He slammed his fists into the window, ignoring the stinging pain from the resulting impact. He could only watch in stunned horror as two men in the lab dashed to opposite walls on each side of the room where levers controlling the current were placed. They each grabbed a lever, and even as the machine shuddered once more, they pulled down.

Leo's world then turned pitch black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kelly would never forgive them. She didn't care what they said in their letters to her; dried ink failed to compare to actually hearing their apologies in real life. They had abandoned her. Left her completely alone. All to pursue a political faction that meant more to them than she did.

She had spent enough tears over them. She had to learn to adapt and survive. To fend for herself against the odds, even if it meant forming a rescue team with a Riolu she met in order to scrape together a pitiful excuse for a living.

She could almost see her father sitting in front of her. His black fur contrasting with the dim yellow rings circling his body.

"We love you, Kel. We did what we did because--", his soft voice cracked, before she interrupted. "No! I don't want to hear you!"

"Kelly, please listen. I only want to--" he started to say before being cut off by his daughter.
"No. Not anymore."

The Umbreon simply closed his eyes and sighed. He looked back up at his daughter, tears forming in the inner corners of his eyes. Kelly wasn't moved in the slightest. She returned his pleading gaze with a stare colder than ice. Out of the mists came another figure on all fours. Kelly tried to keep her face stern as she saw a pink-furred Pokemon sit down next to her father.

"Mom," Kelly said, barely containing a sniffle as she acknowledged the older Espeon's entrance.

"We did what we did. Nothing other than Dialga can change that fact. We only wanted--"
she explained, her voice oddly soothing to Kelly. It had been a long time since she'd heard either of them, but comfort wasn't enough.

"It's what you wanted?! You wanted to leave me?! For the Colonies?! You wanted this?!"
Kelly screamed at her parent's illusions, her voice strained.
Her mother ignored her outburst and walked forward to her daughter. She placed her paw on Kelly's shoulder, causing her to wince slightly. She saw her mother's paw on her fur, yet couldn't feel it. She saw her mother's head lean into her, rubbing affectionately against neck, yet the touch was not felt by Kelly.
"We left in hopes that we would return within a week. You can see that didn't work out." she said, pressing her head against her daughter's. "You have no idea how lost we felt without without you with us. We missed you so much. We missed you, Kelly."

Kelly couldn't take it anymore, she took a deep break before letting out a soft sob. Her sobs grew closer together as she cried into her mother's intangible embrace. Her entire body shaking as she gasped for breath amid her breakdown. Eventually, she gathered herself once again. She raised her head to look around, only to find that her parents had vanished from her sight.

"M-mom? Dad? Where are you?! Where did you go?!" Kelly asked the empty space around her, beginning to panic as she shifted her gaze to every possible direction. The misty void around her began to shudder and shake, forcing Kelly to dig her claws into the ground to avoid being tossed around like a child's toy.

"Why do you hate us, Kelly? Do you realize how much it hurts us to hear you say those nasty things?" her father's disembodied voice rang out through the void. Each resounding echo growing in intensity rather than fading. Kelly only squeezed her eyes tighter and she clung to the ground even harder as the tremors worsened.

"Kelly, I will only ask one more time: why do you hate us?" her father asked, his voice icy and emotionless, contrasting sharply from what Kelly previously heard. Kelly bit her lip to keep from letting the words affect her.

"Tell me! Why do you hate us?!" the void screamed at her in her father's voice, the sound-waves rattling the foundations of the ground. Kelly let out a weak scream as the ground violently lurched forward, tearing her claws from the floor.

"I-I don't know..." she whimpered as the demented voices of her parents tormented her further.
She pressed her front paws to her ears even as her body was slammed repeatedly against the quaking earth. She ignored the pain, but failed to block out the voices.

"You ungrateful, useless, excuse of a daughter. We cared, sheltered, and nurtured you your entire life, and when we are held up against our will, you turn on us? We should have left you a long time ago!" This time is was her mother's voice, shrill and distorted, that berated her. Every hateful word Kelly heard broke her resolve down. She couldn't believe that her parents could share the hate she reserved for them.

Tears began to well up in her eyes as her parent's voices tortured her mind. She failed to see that the ground started to crumble and fall into darkness. Blinded by tears, she tried to run across the falling void; she stumbled more than once on the heaving ground, skidding over the sharp fragments of floor.

She yelped as she felt her bruised hind legs fall through the floor into nothingness. She clung with all her strength onto the bit of stable ground in front of her, trying to avoid the abyss that awaited her like a hungry predator.

"You said you hated us! You wanted us gone! You turned on us, your parents! the voice, now an unholy amalgamation of both her mother and her father screeched at Kelly as her grip began to fail her.

The abyss growled in irritation, it's deep tone rattling the ground and weakening her grip on the frail patch of stone she clung to in fear. She grunted as she tried to pull herself up, her back legs flailing around in the open air beneath the cliff as she tried to gain leverage.

The chasm of her nightmare, fed up with waiting, roared with another tremor that shook the entire void. Dust and mist clouded Kelly's vision, making her eyes sting and throat burn as she had no choice to breath the dirtied air in. Her arms were burning with fatigue as she tried to resist the abyss's attempts to swallow her whole.

The bottomless chasm roared again, demanding her immediate surrender. Despite the pain and exhaustion, she refused to give into the void's desires. She never submitted before, and she wouldn't now. Nothing would make her, not the void, not the quake, nothing.

"You are not our daughter. Not anymore. Get out," the voice coldly ordered. The mist seemed to channel its tone as its icy embrace wrapped around the Jolteon. Kelly shivered as the chill pressed from all sides. Her claws slipped a few precious inches closer to the edge, making a shrill screech along the floor. The broken stone slicing into the pads of her paws, making small smears of blood appear along the rock.

"Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! the invisible voice screamed. That was the final straw for Kelly. Her bloodied claws reached the edge of the cliff with nowhere else to go besides down. She pulled her head up one last time before her grip failed, her tears staining the yellow fur on her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispered weakly before her claws broke through the thin layer of rock. The abyss screeched in triumph and hungrily opened its maw wide to receive her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jay panted in exhaustion as he set down the final sack of seed. The sun was starting its nightly journey into the western horizon, signaling the end of the day. Jay checked his surroundings before leaving. The wooden structure his family used to store grain seemed secure enough, and the gates into the fields were all shut tight.

He tried to whistle a tune he had heard earlier that week in Silver's trading market as he walked back to his family's small dwelling. The talent was not his forte and the original jaunty tune of the song was butchered by the Riolu's sad attempt to recreate it.

Jay stopped along the dirt road when a silhouette of two Pokemon appeared on the darkening horizon. They were coming from the capital. Jay knew exactly who they were. Their loud talking and clanking armor plates made them out to be guards of the city. Taking a deep breath, he jogged a little faster along the road, hoping to keep ahead of them. He suddenly wished that his family's home was a lot closer to Silver.

The guards' conversation seemed to get louder as they somehow seemed to get closer to him, despite his efforts to outrun them. As quick as lightning, a beige feline Pokemon sprinted past him and quickly turned around, blocking his path. Jay dug his paws into the dirt as he attempted to stop. The marauder was a large cat that he'd run into before and known by name.

"Felix," the Riolu huffed, glaring at the guard. The Pokemon cracked a shrewd smile, showing off his sharp teeth at the same time. He moved his head to look down on Jay, the ruby red gem embedded on his forehead glinted in the fading sunlight.

"Farm filth, it's been a time since we last talked, hasn't it?" the Persian sneered. The guard slowly circled Jay, the metal plate armor on his long back clinking with every careful movement of his legs.

"Hmph, I don't need to talk to you lot. You've already got this month's taxes from us," Jay said, stubbornly crossing his arms. The Persian stopped his circling and stared directly at the Riolu, his red eyes boring virtual holes into Jay.

"You're joking. You've gotta be kidding me right now!" Felix exclaimed, the faint beginnings of a laugh easing their way into his words. "Come here, you lot! You guys won't believe this," he called behind Jay. Jay whirled around to find that the group of guards now significantly closer.

"Felix? What'sss thisss ssstreet rat prattling on about thisss time?" a long snake-like Pokemon asked, its black and gold form slithering around behind Jay and hissing in the Riolu's ear. Jay gulped as he heard the Seviper's poison-laced blade swish through the air and come to a rest, far too close to his throat for comfort.

"Apparently," Felix said, placing a paw on Jay's head while the Seviper guard held him in place with the threat his blade. "Our 'friend' here doesn't know the news yet! Can you believe that?!"

The Seviper lowered his head to Jay's level. "Really? Doesss our friend really not know the newssss?" he asked incredulously, flicking his forked tongue out quickly. Jay struggled against the snake Pokemon, trying to squirm free without slicing his neck on the precariously positioned blade.
"What are you two idiots talking about? What news?" Jay growled, letting every ounce of hatred for the two Pokemon seep into his words.

Felix raised his paw and boxed the side of Jay's head. "Watch your mouth, dog." he spat. He backed off and took a deep breath as he calmed himself down. "Well, it appears that your dear father owes the Kingdom quite a bit of money. His taxes have been short these last few collections,"

"No! You're lying! I saw him pay them myself! They were paid in full!" Jay countered, only earning yet another threatening glare from the Seviper. Felix and the Seviper looked silently at each other for a second before both bursting into laughter.

"Y-you really-- haha --- think he paid in full? Oh Arceus alive, you've got to be kidding me right now! We wouldn't be on our way to arrest him if that were the case, now would we?" Felix asked with a sinister chuckle.

"What?! No!" Jay screamed as he ducked underneath the Seviper's blade and coils. He bent his legs and jumped up towards the Persian, arms outstretched. He hit the guard around his neck and tackled him into the dirt. Jay only saw red, slightly different shades of red, and more red. The Kingdom had taken nearly everything we've earned, and now they had the gall to accuse us of not paying enough? he thought angrily as he raised his arm.

Felix had barely time to register what had happened before Jay's fist collided with the side of the Persian's head. Not thinking of the consequences, he raised his arm again for another blow, yet he never completed the swing. The Seviper's tail reached around, wrapped around the Riolu tightly, and pulled him away from his comrade on the ground.

Felix coughed as he dizzily pushed himself up, Jay could see that unless he broke free immediately, life about to get much worse for him. He struggled against the snake Pokemon, trying to free his arms from the merciless coils, but to no avail.

"Let's go, we've got a job to do. Deal with the runt and let's get on with it," Felix growled, trying to keep his claws from violently disemboweling the Riolu.

"No! No! No! You can't!" Jay screamed, kicking vainly against the Seviper's tightening coil.

"Give him a small dose of poison. That'll shut him up for a few hours while we finish up this job. We can come back for him later," the Persian ordered as Jay tried even harder to push against his captor's bonds. The Seviper nodded to the other guard and raised the blade on his tail. Acidic drops of sickly purple fluid dripped from the point of the blade.

Without warning, the Seviper brought the tip of the blade to Jay's left arm and dug it into the flesh. Jay screamed in agony as the blade swiftly exited the wound, leaving several drops of potent poison in his opened bloodstream. Jay's screams suddenly quieted down as all feeling in his arm vanished, replaced by a slight tingling feeling.

He tried to look up at the two guards, but their faces seemed stretched and distorted beyond recognition. He heard them talking, but their indistinct words seemed to be spoken through a film of water. His arms and legs relaxed and suddenly; he wasn't concerned about that fact that the guards were on their way to ruin everything. He couldn't have cared even if he tried. His senses drained from his head as the poison shut every inch of his body down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Few Hours Later
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Kingdom Army Camp: New Rain: Northern Division

"That's enough, Leaf. I know it wasn't your idea. You are excused from this meeting," said a large light blue reptile as he motioned for the small creature with a large pink flower bulb on its back to leave the tent. The Ivysaur nodded and quickly left, brushing aside the flaps of the tent. The large blue Pokemon then turned towards them, setting his enormous jaw to as close to a frown as he could possibly manage.

Leo looked around the tent. It wasn't the largest of the cloth structures he'd seen today, but it was spacious enough to fit the Pokemon Jay called a Feraligatr with reasonable comfort. Aside from a small, roughly cut wooden desk and a few wide segments of logs that served as seats, there was nothing of seemingly any real value inside the tent.

He looked to his left. Jay and Kelly both sat on a stump and on the ground, respectively. Both were trying and failing miserably to hide their fatigue evident by their dull expressions and occasional yawn. To his right, though, was a stranger. His skin was about the same light blue as the Feraligatr's, but that was where the similarities ended. In contrast to the large stature the general of the camp possessed, he was about as tall as Leo. The fin on the back of his head, his webbed feet, and rounded black tail indicated that he was a Water Type, yet another reason why Leo felt uncomfortable sitting so close to him.

The stranger glanced at him for a split second before looking away; going back to his task of feeling the sharp edge of his two schlops he carried with him. The Dewott -- or at least, that's the name Leo heard the Feraligatr yell when he summoned him-- didn't seem the least bit concerned that the general was glaring straight at him with enough intensity to ignite fires.

While the Feraligatr seemed to be putting his thoughts together, Leo took the time to put his own thoughts together. The last thing he clearly remembered before waking up on a piece of cloth that smelled like rotten fruit next to Jay and Kelly was that they were ambushed somewhere in the fields by a group of Pokemon.

After awakening from their drugged slumber, they were immediately marched through the camp to this tent. Along the way, Leo saw quite a few Pokemon either moving wooden crates into piles or practicing their attacks in a sparring ring, a simply drawn circle in the dirt. Pokemon with natural spines and scales seemed to be a staple of the camp, nearly everyone Leo saw has some type of armor or appendage that could be used for fighting purposes.

With a loud cough from the Feraligatr, Leo's wandering thoughts were brought back to the present as the general finally seemed ready to speak to them.

"Riolu, you and your team are the least of my concerns at the moment. I will deal with you all after Noah here," the general announced, causing Jay to exhale a sigh of relief.
The Feraligatr turned towards the Dewott, who acknowledged the general with nod of his head before returning to his shells.

"Tell me, Noah. What exactly were you thinking last night? I want to know what went through your head that made you lead an attack on this team," the general asked, his gruff voice striking fear into Leo despite not being spoken to at the moment. The blue otter looked up at the irritated Pokemon and raised an furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I was simply carrying out the orders you gave me at the beginning of my watch. It was from those orders that I gained the idea of detaining these civilians who very nearly walked onto Kingdom property without authorization. That's what I was thinking, General Torrent, sir," Noah said calmly as he continued to sharpen his shells. Torrent groaned as he rubbed the sides of his head in annoyance. Leo had a feeling that this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

"Noah, my orders said to patrol the camp and alert me if there were trespassers, not attack and knock out the first civilians you saw!" Torrent exclaimed, his impressive jaw feet from the Dewott's face. Noah slowly took his black paw and wiped several small droplets of Torrent's saliva off his face before answering.

"Frankly sir, you never clarified what to do with intruders, so I interpreted it in my own fashion and acted accordingly. I was only thinking of the security of this camp, sir. Who knows what these Pokemon might have done if I hadn't detained them?" Noah replied, the natural air of tranquility around him not punctured by Torrent's irritation in the slightest. The Dewott looked over at the confused team. "No offense, you guys," he quickly added.

"What do you mean I never clarified my orders? I explicitly told you what and what not to do while on watch! I never told you to use Sleep Seeds of all things! Don't you know how potent they are raw? I swear, I've met rocks more apt to follow orders then you!" Torrent yelled.

"I very much like to meet those rocks, sir. Perhaps they can teach me a lesson in humility, sir," Noah responded in as serious of a tone Leo thought impossible to reach. Torrent stood and stared at the Dewott for a moment, not knowing what exactly to make of the statement.

"Just shut up for now, Noah. I can't talk to you anymore. The camp healer says it's bad for my health to hold a direct conversation with you for more than two minutes at a time. So, just stay there and stay quiet while I deal with our guests," he said, choosing to ignore the recruit until later. He turned to the other side of the room where Jay and Kelly were seated. Leo watched as his colossal stature towered over him.

"So, despite what Noah here says about you lot, I'm convinced that you're not the crazed trespassers he's made you out to be. Tell me, why you all were heading toward a Kingdom camp?" Torrent asked, directing the question to Jay.

"W-well, sir. We, uh, we were just walking through the fields, yeah. We didn't know there was a camp here, sir. We were just passing through on our way to Silver City, and then we were ambushed by that lunatic!" Jay stuttered before pointing an accusing paw at the Dewott who simply nodded in return. Torrent narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"That, my friend, is the worst cover story I've heard in a long time and I've had to deal with Noah for the past few months. Tell me the real story, before I call someone to take you lot back to where you came from," Torrent demanded, seeing straight through Jay's poorly built lie.

"I … uh... you see, we … umm..." Jay squirmed in his seat. To Leo, it looked as if his mind failed to think of the right words. Torrent gave up on the team leader, leaving him to quietly sit on the wooden chair. He shifted his glare to Kelly.

"So my dear, would you kindly tell me what you were doing in the field near our camp?"

Kelly was either frozen into silence, or Jay's failure to get cognitive words spoken had spread to her, only worse. She refused to answer Torrent's question. Sighing in exasperation, he turned to Leo, who grabbed his tail in fear of the strong Water type.

"So, Charmeleon, are you going to shut up like a Clampearl the same way your teammates did? Or, are you going to shed some light on the situation?"

Leo said nothing, partly out of sheer fear of the roughly seven foot tall general and partly because Jay was discreetly shaking his head telling him to keep his mouth shut. The general lowered his head until he was far closer to Leo's face then Leo would have ever liked him to be.

"Charmeleon, you do realize that I have the authority to detain you and your friends for up to forty-eight hours simply for being here? I suggest you tell me what you know before that has to happen," Torrent ordered, his interrogation going nothing like how Gear's did. Leo gulped and mouthed a silent apology to Jay and Kelly. Alright, he thought, here goes nothing.

"We were escaping from a town to the west of here, Loyalty Square, actually. We were forced out of the town when a squad of Magnemites raided our base. We managed to--" Leo said before Torrent silenced him with by clapping his blue clawed hand onto Leo's shoulder, the action nearly snapping the Charmeleon's shoulder blade.

"Say no more, son. That's all I needed to hear--" Torrent started before he, himself was interrupted when a feathered Pokemon flew through the entrance flaps of the tent and had to swerve to avoid slamming into the general. Leo almost allowed a smile to form when he saw that the avian intruder was none other than their first and only client.

"S-sorry, sir! I-I was completing an errand … when I heard you were talking to … this team. I wanted to explain ... them to you, sir," Icarus said breathlessly, panting in between phrases.
Rather than expel the bird from the tent for being out of conduct, Torrent shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, let's have it. Why are they here, Icarus?"

"W-well, sir. I was flying above the Valley Forest dungeon on my way back from Loyalty and I saw them marching through the fields. I had found out that they were being hunted from the governor's deputy, sir. These three are good Pokemon, sir. They freed me from the smuggling ring in Spore Meadows even when I couldn't repay them, sir. Evil Pokemon wouldn't do that, sir. I mean, it's not in an evil Pokemon's nature to just randomly help out some prisoner when they're... captured.... ring..." Icarus explained, his rambling trailing off into indistinct mumbling as he realized he'd talked too much.

Leo was expecting Torrent to at the least disregard Icarus's tirade or throw him out of the tent. He sure wasn't expecting Torrent to smile, teeth sticking out from where his top and bottom jaws met. Icarus seemed surprised at the general's action as well, flapping his wings once.

"Thank you, Icarus. You've just made my job easier, if anything. I've known about the corrupt Magnemites for a long time. Ol' Gear and I had a system where he'd try to get wrongly arrested civies outta town and to me whenever I set up came here. He musta not gotten a message out to me yet about you three," Torrent explained, seemingly trying to remember the complexities of their plan.

"S-sir, there's a slight problem with that," Icarus quietly said, trying to keep as silent as he could in an attempt not to embarrass himself by rambling again. This snapped Torrent out of his reminisce of days past.

"What are you talking about, messanger?"

"Well, sir. Gear … he … um … he's … been put out of commision, sir," Icarus reluctantly said, trying to find the right words to say.

Torrent refused to beat around the bush. "So, he was finally taken down, huh? Who did it? Because I'll rip them apart once I find them. Icarus, tell me everything you know this instant,"

"He was killed two nights ago, sir. The Magneton deputy, Axle, or Axeil or something. Anyways, the guy told me everything. This Skarmory came in claiming to be from the government. He said he was a governor or some fancy title like that, could have been a duke or noble for all I know. The guy was stuck up, had a real attitude, I tell you, I've never seen someone any more short tempered--" Icarus elaborated, slipping into meaningless dialogue before being cut off by Torrent.

"You're going to in a minute, unless you get to the damn point already!" Torrent growled as he cursed at the blubbering Pidgeotto.

"S-sorry, sir! A-anyways, Gear refused to act on a kill list and apparently this Skarmory walks in with a guard of Magnemite and saw his disobedience. In short, Gear told him to fall off a cliff and the governor sent his units to attack him, and turned Gear's own units against him, I think. The deputy wasn't entirely sure what happened at that point, or the next few minutes. The next thing he saw was Gear's burning body lying in the midst of a sea of Magnemite fragments. And then that governor guy ripped out Gear's eye, I think, I'm not entirely sure I heard that right, the guy seemed pretty nervous when he told me the story. Anyways, Gear was killed and that Skarmory ordered the kill list to be enacted, which lead to the raid on Team Salient's base, sir!" Icarus finished, gasping for breath at the end of his lengthy exposition, pleased that he hadn't rambled too much during it.

Every soul inside the tent, from Torrent, to Kelly, even the strange Noah went quiet, as if they all had agreed to an impromptu moment of silence to honor the fallen officer. It was Torrent who broke the silence first.

"He didn't deserve what happened to him. Anyone but him would have caved to corruption a long time ago. Gear was the best unit I ever served with. He saved my life in the second Bandit War in the Battle Sand Caverns. I'll never forget that. And when he became sheriff and I a commander in the army, we knew what we had to do to protect the citizens from the Kingdom's corruption," he said solemnly, not looking directly at anyone. Leo couldn't see for certain, but he thought he heard a series of low sobs coming from the mighty Feraligatr.

"S-sir?" Kelly asked tentatively, speaking for the first time since she entered the general's tent.
Torrent immediately looked up and wiped his face with his scaly arm. Leo could see that his eyes were somewhat red, confirming his theory.

"Errm, yes. Umm, you lot, Salient, we'll figure this out later. Noah, make yourself useful and show them around the camp and get them situated. Oh, and they're also sleeping in your tent as punishment for your actions. Icarus, you stay. I have a message that needs to go out. Dismissed," he ordered. Icarus worriedly glanced over to the team and tilted his head as if telling them to leave now. Noah stood up from his seat and motioned for the team to move as he corralled them through the flaps of the tent.

The group of four stood for a moment in front of the dull brown exterior of the tent, seemingly soaking in all that had happened in the past few minutes. They had been woken up, interrogated, accused of trespassing, apparently saved from a fate of prison by Icarus, and now forced to bunk with a Pokemon who knocked them out and knocked them out them the night before. Leo simply knew this was going to work out perfectly.

"So, um … I'm sorry for ambushing you guys and all that. Are we … good?" Noah asked, extending a nervous hand outwards to Jay. The calm and collected air he had around him inside with Torrent seemed to vanish as soon as they were outside. Jay reluctantly grasped the Dewott's paw and shook it as he muttered something about it being a regular thing lately.

"If you guys couldn't tell from back there, my name's Noah," he said introducing himself, "I don't think Torrent mentioned your names, if you have any. I know some Pokemon from the North prefer to use the traditional species name, and all that."

"Yes, we have names. I'm Jay, and this is Kelly, and Leo," Jay said, motioning to each of his teammates in turn as he said their name.

"Wonderful! Now I'll give you the grand tour of the place!" Noah said with a big smile as he walked out in front of them.

"This is Camp New Rain, the northern division. To the northeast you will see the supply tents," he said as he motioned to a cluster of tents and stacks of wooden crates scattered haphazardly around the area.

"To the southeast and southwest you'll find where most of us will be sleeping tonight," he pointed to yet another bigger cluster of tents that made up two-thirds of the camp.

"To the northwest you'll find the training areas and the mess tent where dinner will be held soon, hopefully," he informed, directing their attention to yet another cluster of tents, but this time they were spaced out among smoking sand pits and blackened boulders, evidence of the moves being practiced there.

"And that's your tour. Welcome to Camp New Rain! You'll quickly learn why most fugitive Pokemon would rather go to jail then here," he said with a grin, even as the team's spirits fell yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Move! They've found us!

He could barely breathe, his lungs were on fire. The faster he tried to run, the harder it became to get a single mouthful of precious air. His feet slapped along the stone corridor as he ran from the ever pursuing sentinels.
"It doesn't help that you're so… uggh … heavy! Why am I carrying you?!" he screamed as he sprinted down the hallway, his arms aching with the added weight of his companion.

"Because I can't move as fast as you can. Now shut up and pay attention! There should be a branching pathway coming up. Don't miss it or we'll be doomed."

He grunted in irritation, but knew that the answer was true. Pushing the pain as far back into his mind as he could, he tightened his hold as he continued to run. His gaze darted from left to right, trying to distinguish the path his friend told him about from all the other identical patches of stone wall and crystal wiring.

"Approximately twenty-two point seven meters to go until the passage... Wait! I'm detecting something! Tri-Attack beams coming up fast on your left! Dodge them!"

"Got it," he said as he lurched his sprinting body to the right, nearly slamming into the rock walls of the passageway. He watched in smug satisfaction as he saw several beams of red, yellow, and blue light go whizzing by him and fizzled into nothingness against the stone floor.

"Be careful! There's an intersection ahead with sentinels on the left and right!

"Whatever you say..." he whispered as a plan began to formulate in his sun-deprived mind. He'd be ready for whatever was there.

"I'd tell you we're doomed, but that only makes you get creative."

He smiled as he reached the intersection. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw several sentinels on either side. He knew he literally only had one shot for this to work, if it didn't … well, he didn't want to be reminded again of the possible fates that awaited him if he failed here.

"This will be the death of both of us..."

"Here goes nothing!" he screamed as he leaped into the air, the momentum of his sprint carrying him forward. He vaguely saw the hailstorm of plasma energy passing underneath him, nearly burning tips of his feet as the sentinels fired at him.

The forces of gravity and friction eventually brought his flight to an end. He stumbled slightly as he tried to regain his balance and run at the same time. He nearly grinned as he escaped yet another death trap.

"Don't think we're out of this yet! There's the path to your right! Take it now!"

He didn't think twice, he immediately changed direction, his feet scraping against the stone. He tossed his heavy friend into the opening and then dived into the almost invisible hallway. He watched breathlessly as several bolts of plasma shot past it, fizzling as they harmlessly hit the stone walls.

"Don't stop! Keep running! Keep running! Pick me up and run! Run!" He dashed over to his friend and hefted him into his arms. Looking down the dark hallway, he knew whatever was done there was infinitely more desirable than the plasma of the guards.

"I'll never stop running. Not until I see the sun again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Kingdom … is weak. It's a sandcastle built up over time by passing children, just waiting to be decimated by the advancing tide of time."

"When will the tide come in and end our suffering? We have suffered too long underneath the tread of the Kingdom. When will the tide come in, master?"

"... It will come when the moon aligns and the arbiter has made his decision in our favor. When the king of the sand crumbles like his palace, that is when the tide will come in."

"But what of the envoy to the false arbiter?"

"What about the envoy?"

"If his message is delivered, then the tide will freeze and retreat and we will never be free."

"... Don't worry. I have spoken to our benefactor concerning this. They have arranged everything. The envoy's message will be lost in the tide."
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End of Chapter Ten
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