LEO

His father winced as Dusknoir levitated the chest-plate into place. He was still in pain, Leo noted. He had been asleep from the medicine for four days after the attempted assassination. The dagger in Lord Specter's shoulder had done a lot of damage to his muscle, and it took another day to cleanse it of infection.

"I won't be needing that," his father declared as Leo's Dusclops entered the room with a wheeled wooden chair. Leo nodded to his Spirit Pokemon, who pushed the chair back out of the chambers. "I will be needing one of these, however." Specter took the cane Leo was holding for him. "Now, to attend to court matters. Its high time the people of Mt. Pyre are shown that I'm not broken." Leo followed his father out of his chambers and they began to descend the tunnels to the Great Hall where his father sat. The going was slow, and thought Leo was strong for his age, still had trouble helping his large father balance himself.

Mother stopped them before they entered the room. It was the first time anyone besides the doctors had seen his father since the incident. "My sweet husband look what he's done to you."

"It wasn't enough to break me," his father growled low. "I owe our son my life- he did what any honorable son would do. For that I'm proud of him." He locked eyes with Leo and the boy nodded, Dusknoir and Dusclops standing by their respective Spirit Partners.

His mother placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed Leo. "I knew you would see what I saw all these years." She gave his father an angry look. "I told you he was treacherous- a jealous boy, lustful for power, born of a traitors' family. We should have been rid of him sooner. Thank the gods my son was there to stop him. If only I could have seen that boys' body to spit on it. How dare, he. How dare, he-"

"Thank you, Mother, but we have court to attend," Leo hushed his mother and escorted his father into the throne room. It still pained Leo. He could still see Banette's broken and twisted skull in his nightmares, and how it withered away into not but mist. He could feel Dusclops' emotion about it. He had grown up best of friends with Alex, his half-brother. The betrayal weighed heavy on his mind...

And Alex wasn't the only one. Franco, the captain of the household guard had tried as well to help that thing escape with Alex's body. Despite what his mother said about him, Leo knew his half-brother was of noble birth, and deserved a proper burial despite his crimes. Before his father's medical procedure, Specter told him not to mention the phantom that had absconded with his half-brother.

At long last, Lord Specter ascended his seat. Dusknoir stood behind him in the shadow of the chair to his left, while Leo and Dusclops stood on his right. There was silence as Leo gazed over the crowd- his father's servants, ambassadors from the other cities in the empire, Imperial soldiers... Then one person started to clap, and then another. Soon the whole room was full of applause and cheering. It joyed those in the court to see their Lord return to strength. Finally, Specter put up a large hand and the applause died down.

"I'm sure you've all heard I will make a full recovery, and so will Mt. Pyre. The fire that was set was swiftly contained and extinguished, and no lives were lost save that of Alexander and the traitor.

"Speaking of which, my household guard is relieved of their positions, and as of this moment shall be taken into custody by her majesty's men. This is a temporary measure until we can make sure that treachery has been cleansed from the ranks of my house."

Leo watched in sadness as the grey-clad Specter family guards were caught unawares. Finding themselves surrounded by the blue-armored Imperial soldiers, they laid down their weapons and were escorted out of the Great Hall. A murmuring in the crowd took hold once again.

His father's voice boomed throughout the hall again. "It has come to my attention that there are those that await my deliverance of justice in Her Majesty's name. Bring the prisoners forth." He beckoned.

Two Sootopolis soldiers threw a half-dozen or so ragged-looking men at the feet of Specter. Leo had been in charge of briefing his father on the situation before the court meeting. These men were caught in the midst of a burglary on one of the Imperial Barracks, stealing food from the shelves and favors from the ladies who prepared meals for the troops.

"Speak your names," he bellowed.

The prisoners looked at each other, one of them smirked and opened his mouth. "The name ess Gared, your Hi-ness," the man had an accent, one that Leo had never encountered before.

"And the crime of which you have been accused?" His father demanded.

"Which one?" asked one of the other prisoners, in a less broken accent than the first man. "We've committed lots of crimes."

A third man spoke "I think it is the one where we stole the food"

"No that can't be it, these buggers caught us while we were stealing those kisses."

The prisoners muttered in agreement. Leo was shocked at their brazen behavior. Surely, they knew they were about to be imprisoned? They showed no remorse, whatsoever, matter-of-factly confessing. He couldn't let them make a mockery of his father's court.

"I'll have you know that you're all facing a lengthy prison sentence." He glanced at caught his Dusclops' eye, the Pokemon could sense its Spirit Partner's confusion.

"Oi and I can't wait," grinned one of the prisoners sincerely. "Them commanders promised us a bounty but there aint nothing to steal or plunder from this country but rocks and stale bread. It'll be nice to have a meal sent to me like a king..."

"You got that right," another prisoner mentioned. "I bet these cells are more like suites for a rich merchant compared to Sondim."

"We'll be out soon enough anyway. That Brightflame fellow has quite a collection of fighters following him, and I ain't heard nuffin about no sea bitch."

The gathered crowd erupted in a clamour. Leo looked to Dusclops. So the rumors were true, he thought. His father stood up from his seat and raised a great hand.

"ORDER! THERE WILL BE ORDER!"

The prisoners seemed to take a great delight in the chaos... that is until one of them was knocked to the cold stone floor by a powerful blast of water. Leo hadn't noticed that Chris Marsh II had stepped forth from the crowd with his own retinue of soldiers. The crowd quieted down at the sudden violence.

"Begging your pardon, Lord Specter," Chris said. "I guess now's as good as time as any to inform the people of the Empire, you do the honors... I expect they'll want to know where it is they'll be marching to."

Leo looked at his father... Brightflame. Leo knew that name: the name of an extinct family, once the Great Kings of Mt. Chimney who ruled from Meteor Falls to the edge of the forests of Foretree. During Her Majesty's unification, the family was presumed gone from this world. Leo thought back to the tall, fiery shape of the thing that had taken his half-brother's body. It was a Blaziken, that's for sure.

"It's the truth," Lord Specter said to the hall. "As soon as Her Majesty gives the command and her spies inform us of their location, I intend to lend my full support to the effort to crush the returned rebel, Brandon Brightflame, and his band of foreign..." he looked down at the prisoners on the court floor, "...criminals. Court is adjourned."

The crowd emptied the hall in a furious chatter. War, Leo thought. It was something unheard of and unthinkable during her Empress' glorious reign. She had supposedly offered equality, and unification, and peace... Now, Leo dreaded the drums of war, but there were others, like Chris Marsh, who had an excited look about him.

Chris and his Azumarill joined Leo and Lord Specter as they made their way back up to his father's chambers.

"I assure you my men will weed out the Draconid spies in your house guard, my Lord," he said proudly.

"I thank you for your loyal and efficient service to me," Specter panted. Walking must have been difficult for him. They passed by a window in the mountain where they could see the lake below. In the fog, Leo could make out the shape of dozens of large ships. "We will expect to send our first retinue to Sootopolis to await marching orders when Chief Tiddall sends his forces to meet us here. We cannot leave Mt. Pyre unattended."

Marsh seemed to think on that. Leo could tell he wanted to leave as soon as possible, to march off to war to fight the foreign invaders and win glory in the name of the Empire. "Do you expect one of the Invader's armies is nearby?" he asked.

They had arrived outside Specter's chamber doors. Dusknoir's eye glowed purple and the heavy portal opened with a low creaking sound. "I expect that we haven't seen the last of the Draconids. We cannot let this foreign upstart galvanize the people against Her Majesty, or distract us and let that pesky band of terrorists, assassins, and outlaws gain any sort of foothold." Leo looked sadly at the metal basin inside his father's room where Elli's Luvdisc rested alone and anxious. His father grumbled as the door shut. "I miss the good old days when there were only two sides to a fight..."

At least she's not dead, Leo thought. His father and mother had feared that her disappearance would mean the end of the betrothal and shame upon the Specters. His Lord Father had taken extra security precautions to guard the girl's Spirit Pokemon, though her mother had left for Lilycove in tears days earlier.

He felt Chris's hand on his shoulder. "Leo," the older yet still young Lord said with a confident smile. His Armor was a royal blue trimmed with gold, and it bore a new sigil of the joined houses of Marsh and Spark. Chris Marsh II likely commanded more men and held more influence than any other of Her Majesty's vassals in all the regions. "I know you may have lost a brother, but don't forget that I was your brother far more recently. Something changed within him... He had traitor's blood and it manifested itself. I'm sorry if its partially my fault... I should have taught him a lesson when he smarted off to me on that ship when you came back home from your schooling."

"Alex was... confused," was all Leo could say before he left Chris standing there to take a walk outside. It still hurt him, to see Alex standing with the poker in his hand, and their father bleeding on the ground. He blamed the Draconids, of the situation they put him in, of his Aunt Caitlyn the true traitor who had poisoned his mind.

Dusclops leaned in close to Leo for support. "I just wish I could have said goodbye," he said, a tear gleaming in his eye. A Wingull took off from its perch on a tree and flew off into the foggy lake. "I wish you would come back home and we could go back to the way things were before..."