Hi everyone, SK here.

So once again I'll be apologizing for the stuff that happened last chapter, and one again I'll be pre-apologizing for the stuff that'll happen in this chapter.  There is so much going on right now it isn't even funny.

Like I said last chapter, we'll be taking a break from the fairies and we'll see what Valerie and co. have been up to.  Let's get to it, hope you enjoy!! :)

!!! WARNINGS: References to violence, death

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Lance sits down at the head of the Council table, all the Champions sitting around the Elite Four member.  There is only one who is missing, that person being Red, as the meeting he called theoretically shouldn't have started yet... or it wouldn't have, if Lance hadn't called everyone there early.

Him sitting in Red's usual spot is no accident either.

"Let's just cut straight to the chase," begins the red-headed man, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table as he speaks.  "I called you all here early for a reason.  It's about Red."  His voice doesn't even falter.  "It's clear that he's not fit to be the Champion anymore.  He still speaks of peace when the rest of his people shout war cries."

Victria nods, the wisdom she once had long-tainted by a fairy spell.  "I agree.  Unlike the rest of the world he still believes the silly fantasy that fairies are not out for our blood."

"I second that.  If he in fact wants to be a fairy ally then he shouldn't be allowed to be near any humans either."  Mayden's voice rings out strong and clear in the air.  "The only question is who to replace him with-"

"Me, naturally," points out Lance, but to his disappointment the other Champions look at him discouragingly.

"Red trained you-"

"And Red isn't me," the Elite Four member says in a low voice.  The Alolan Champion shuts his trap.  "I'll tell you why I should take Red's place.  Just like I broke the fairies by killing one of their precious "Leaders", I will break Red by getting rid of someone close to him.  We won't have to worry about him and his battle skills fighting back against us.  And if that isn't enough," he grins, "I know a way to find the place where the fairies live."

The other Champions are unable to hide their gasps.  "How!?" demands Dawnas.  

Lance's smile twists and becomes more cruel, which none of the other Champions seem to notice as their own thoughts are also filled with cruelness of the same caliber.  "Let's just say I have an ally, a fairy ally who's on our side.  She told me that she knows a fairy who is currently residing in our world, a fairy who has human connections.  I have located the school where they are at and will shortly be locking it down.  Apparently they themselves are also like Red and haven't been enlightened with the truth," he shrugs.  "The group also seems to be holding valuable information, so we will be taking that from them while at the same time baiting the fairy to make herself seen.  My ally says that once that happens, there is supposed to be an obvious opening for us to enter the fairy world.  When that happens, we will destroy whatever we find and capture as many fairies as possible."

As soon as he stops speaking the other Champions are left speechless.  One looks like he is about to say something, but that's when Red steps into the room.  The current Champion instantly becomes wary as he sees the setup, especially when he spots Lance sitting in his Champion's spot.

"Hello," he begins slowly.  "You're all here early."

"Welcome Red," Lance greets, standing up in his supposedly new spot at their meeting table.  "This will be the last time you come into this room."

Red's stance begins to falter, his guard coming up as he questions the Elite Four member's words.  "Excuse me?"

"You heard him," repeats Victria.  "Lance is our Champion now, as he is actually capable of fulfilling everybody's desires unlike you.  You have ten minutes to grab anything you need, and then you are a wanted criminal."

"I'm sorry- what?"

"If we are going to kill those creatures through a war, then anyone who doesn't want that is clearly not an ally.  People who aren't allies are going to be treated as enemies," explains Lance with a wicked grin on his face. 

Anger festers up within the now-former Champion.  "What happened to you, all of you," he asks mournfully.  "This spell is messing with all of your heads.  I don't know what's taking the fairies so long but they will r-"

"You now have nine minutes," drones Dawnas, looking bored.  "Use your time wisely, traitor."

Red scowls, but is smart enough to know when to fight and when to concede.  His footsteps, light and quick, can be heard leaving the room and the building shortly after his realization, and the Champions know that he knows better than to return to the Indigo Plateau any time soon.

"When is the next time you meet with your spy?" asks Selenio.

"Right now," Lance says coldly, standing up.  "And she is not a spy...  more of a manipulator.  I will be back soon and we can continue our meeting."  The new Champion follows Red's trail out the door, and he can see the former Champion at the PC with Nurse Joy.  He scoffs, shaking his head at the pathetic soul, and enters one of the back rooms.

The fairy is sitting there, and it's taking every ounce of his self control not to go and choke her.  "You're late."

"I was getting rid of Red," he tells her.  "He's gone, and after our little talk I'm going to go take care of that weak link you talked about, the one that'll break many chains at once if it's destroyed."

"Excellent."  The fairy doesn't even seem thrilled at all that her plan is coming through.  "How are you going to kill her?"

"Shotgun.  Same one I used to kill the honey-blonde one fairy," he answers her question quickly, he knows better than to mess with her.  He's learned that lesson already.  After a pause, however, he realizes that he hasn't asked her this question yet.  "Hey, A-"

"I told you, you are not allowed to call me that."

"My bad.  Your Majesty, why are you doing this?  Aren't you their Queen or something?"

The fairy Queen pauses, her eyes looking at her nails and seeing double.  "Because when you've lived long enough, you get bored.  And when you're going to die in a day or two or three, you realize that you no longer have consequences.  When you've lived as long as I have, you end up listening to your dark side at least once.  Well, this is my time to do that.  And Lance," she scolds, looking up at the human, "I saw how your hands shook when you were aiming that gun the first time.  You could've missed.  Don't do that today."

"Of course."  She's already told him all about how if the Light Leader didn't die and peace was made, she would have stopped, or at least prolonged, her successor's coronation long enough to the spell to drive everyone mad, mad enough to cause a mass genocide of all humans and fairies.  He doesn't need to hear a spiel about how if he misses his shot today there will be something worse.  He also still doesn't understand how she even saw his hands shake if she wasn't even there, but it doesn't matter now.  The deed is done and another needs to be done today.

"Then let's go over this.  You're going to eliminate the weak link, and after you do that you should see a green guiding light that will lead you to the fairies' home.  Destroy it, capture as many as you can, and then go prepare for your war."

"Understood, Your Majesty.  Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go lock down that school now."

"Yes, you do that.  I'll be waiting."

~~~~~~~~~~

Red

How dare they throw me out, I fume, storming out of the room filled with faux Champions.  How dare they.

I only know one thing.  If they are not willing to listen to reason, then they have just created a powerful force as an enemy. 

One of my duties as Champion is to make sure that people in need have their needs met.  If people are not willing to hear the truth that fairies are nothing bad (if anything, they bring more good to us because of their existence), then I am going to fight for the fairies to make sure that truth gets through.  They'll regret that.  I am a force to be reckoned with.

Nurse Joy is silent as I approach her counter, but my feet take me straight toward the PC.  Usually she's a bundle of smiles but the spell as worn her down, she looks dead inside.  Booting up the machine, thoughts of which Pokemon I could bring with me come to mind.  I have raised many strong ones, so this will be a hard decision.

You don't have much time, choose quickly.

As quick as I can manage I select the options on the PC, and six Pokeballs fall out in front of me.  I attach them to my belt, take one last look at this building, then leave.  It was a good run, but if they say they don't need me anymore then fine, I don't need them either.

I retrieved Raichu, Lapras, Espeon, Snorlax, Charizard, and Machamp.  I hope that's enough.

The buzz of a phone reaches my ears and I pull out the smart device as I walk away from the building.  It's Leaf, but before I read the new text it seems there's an older one I missed.

Leaf
Red, I have a confession to make.  Valerie came to my house last night and I didn't tell you, but she's staying with me and not the fairies anymore.  Idk what happened but I think there was a disagreement of some kind... plz do not tell anyone else this, she's a bit scared of being around us I think.  But come back asap, I need you to help me convince her to get back to the fairies so she can help end the mind plague.

Then, there's the more recent one that makes my stomach drop.

Leaf
RED RED HELP, ROSA JUST TEXTED SAYING THEY'RE ALL TRAPPED AT THE SCHOOL.  THERE'S POLICE THERE AND EVERYTHING, SHE SAID THAT THEY'VE LOCKED THEMSELVES IN THE CLUBROOM BUT THEY'RE BEING ATTACKED.  WHAT DO I DO????  CALL ME PLZ VAL AND I NEED HELP

There's something else I realize, something about one of my earlier thoughts.

It's not just me that knows I'm a force to be reckoned with.  Everyone knows that.  Even Lance, which confused me as to why he would make that his enemy.

In short, he's going to try and break me.

My heart starts pounding and I send a message to Leaf.

Red
Leaf whatever you do don't you dare go to that school.  I got kicked out.  Not Champion anymore.  Lance has something planned for me and I'm worried it'll involve you.  You and Valerie get out of that house, run into the forest, run to the fairies, do something but do not go to that school DO YOU HEAR ME?  I'm on my way and I'll meet you in the forest.  Maybe Valerie can help protect us and get us to the fairies or something.  

I send it and her text bubbles appear almost instantly.

Leaf
Ok... wow that's a lot but we'll talk about it later.  Stay safe.  I will too.  I love you.

Red
I love you too.  

I toss my phone in my phone back in my pocket and summon Charizard out of its Pokeball.  Hopping on its back, we begin to fly back toward Pallet Town.  I know I said that I'd meet her in the forest, but I'm going to stop by her house first to make sure everything's okay.

I'm praying that I can get there before whatever Lance has planned for her...

... because if he breaks her, then I will be twice as broken.

Valerie

"You did what!?"

"He can't even do anything, relax!" Leaf shouts at me.  "He got kicked out."

"He..." my voice trails away.  Leaf just told me that she text Red that I'm here, but he got kicked out of his Championship?  That's certainly not good news.  

The brown-haired girl shakes her head.  "Valerie you need to listen to me.  OUR FRIENDS ARE TRAPPED IN SCHOOL."

I gape at her.  "What?"

"There's police there and everything!" she shouts, throwing her hands up in the air.  "They're trying to arrest them because they're "traitors" for knowing information about the fairies and not revealing it-"

This is lining up grimly well with what I foresaw earlier.  "We need to go get them out."  Also, why didn't you lead with that!?

Surprisingly, Leaf shakes her head.  "Red said not to go to the school, he said that Lance might try and do something to me in order to get to Red.  He um..." she stares at me pleadingly, "he wanted me to ask you if you could bring both of us to the fairies.  We'd both fight for them," she adds, a guilty look in her eyes.  "I know you don't want to go back but-"

"For you guys, anything," I tell her firmly.  It doesn't matter how I feel about going back, but if Leaf and Red aren't safe here, then you bet I'm going to help save them.  I can figure out what I'm going to do when I'm back there later, although I'm most definitely coming back to save my other friends as soon as I can.  "Let's go right now, if Lance or whatever his name is is out to get you then we need to leave as soon as possible.  Do you have anything you need to bring with you?"

Leaf hesitates for a moment, and in a flash I can understand why.  The chances that she's going to come back to this house ever are so low that they can basically be called zero.  "I'll go get Ivy's Pokeball," she says in a rushed voice, and hurries out of her bedroom.  Her footsteps echo as she heads down the stairs.  While she's gone, there's something I have to do.  Gathering all my focus, although it's incredibly hard right now, I summon Nombles.

She's been out a couple times during my training, but not often due to the difficulty I still have in summoning her.  "Nombles, we're going back to the fairies... and August.  Gardenia, what am I going to say to him!?"

"I wouldn't worry about that," answers my Mist Pokemon with her signature silvery sound.  "Leaf should be your priority!"

"Aah, you're right."  Nombles is smarter than me these days.  "Let's wait for Leaf to get her Ivysaur-"

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse
Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse
Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse
Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse
Scorn to shot, bang to blood, crimson to corpse

The line repeats in my head following the visions, my hands clutch my head as migraine-like pain pulses through me.  My eyes widen as I see the vision come to life in my head, and it shakes me to my very core.  I have to get used to this, but first-

"LEAF!" I shout, flying through the open door and down to the first floor.  No no no.  "LEAF MOVE!"  I can't lose her today, I can't, I can't, I can't, but goddammit I might have been too late.

"Wha-"

Her voice sounds confused but I interrupt her.  "MOVE!"

"Wh-"

Her voice is cut off by a loud bang and I scream.  Turning human-sized I find my legs running faster and faster to my friend...

... my friend whose dead body just hit the floor.

One shot was all it took.

"LEAF!" I scream, my voice anguished and raw as I lean over her body.  Her eyes are frozen in place, wide and scared, and her clothes are spattered with her own blood.  The bullet struck her in her skull, imbedding itself somewhere deep inside her.

"L...Leaf..." a sob finds its way out of my throat as I cry.  My best friend just died today, I could've prevented it, she... she's gone.

Nombles hovers close to me, clearly grieving as much as I am.  Rage pulses through me, rage toward the humans, and my eyes dart toward the window.  A glimpse of red hair and brown eyes are all I catch before the shooter, clearly male, flies away on a winged-Pokemon.  

That's when it hits me.

He saw me.

We made eye contact.

Which also means...

He saw my wings.

Before I can rush to make my escape the door swings open.  My heart rate skyrockets, thinking its some sort of police officer or something, but it's only Red.

"L...Leaf...?" his voice comes out as a shocked question.  Tears slowly begin to appear on the former Champion's face as he walks over and crouches next to Leaf's face.  He gently closes her eyelids and sobs over her dead body.  As for me, I just sit in silence.  This isn't the right time to approach him.

"I-I tried," I stutter, "but by the time I reached her I was too l-late."

Red remains silent.  "I'm so sorry."  My voice breaks once again, but he still isn't speaking.  His only response is a nod.

Tell him the more urgent news instead.  "Red, the guy saw my wings.  If you still want me to bring you to the fairies then we need to leave now."  Even I don't want to follow my own words.  I want to stay here with Leaf forever, even if she's gone.

Yes, I know I have my spirit powers... but seeing her that way will make it hurt more.

He still isn't saying anything.  "Say something, please?"

"We can leave now... but first, let's go to the school and rescue her- your friends.  Then, Valerie," he adds, something in his eyes changing, "I swear to you on my life that I will help the fairies fight off the humans.  I swear to you that I will get revenge for Leaf."

"O-Okay," I tell him, a little taken back by his statement.  "But if- no, what am I thinking, of course we need to go rescue them.  We'll go to the school now- but I think I'll turn fairy-sized again, it'll be harder for the police to see me that way."

He nods curtly and I do as I just said.  Nombles, knowing that its her time to leave, returns to my soul.  Before I fly up to Red, I walk over to Leaf's Ivysaur's Pokeball.  I shrink it down to fairy-size and teleport it to the castle's safe room for safe-keeping.  It's fairly empty except for when there's an emergency, so there should be space.

My wings carry me back up to Red's height.  "Let's go," I tell him, both of us ready to get revenge for the girl we both loved.

That's a wrap people.  Jeez every single one of these chapters have had big things happening... it's so intense for you guys to read but man is it exhausting for me to write.  I need a break but I ain't getting one of those any time soon.

Anyway yes, Leaf is dead... and Val and Red are going to go rescue the rest of their little gang.  Will they succeed?

Find out next chapter!!  Stay tuned for more.