“Stay here! I’ll be back!” Pryce yelled as he jumped to his feet. The backup generator must have started up; the lights came on as he ran to the door. After checking that the coast was clear he took off down the hall out of sight.

Spencer started to pack up his bedroll again then grabbed a set of warm clothes for Tommy to throw on. Max and Spencer helped him dress quickly and then lowered him into his wheelchair, waiting for Pryce to return. They heard footsteps running down the hall and Spencer readied his bow. Pryce burst into the room, slamming the door behind him.

“They’re back,” he panted, out of breath. “My gym trainers are holding them off. I’m going to lead you three to the gym, the school buses are parked there. That’s where we’ll meet Professor Hemlock.”

They left the Pokémon Center, Max pushing Tommy’s wheelchair out through the emergency exit and onto the sidewalk. Pryce led the way and Spencer brought up the rear, holding his bow taut and darting his head back and forth looking around for assailants. Pryce unclipped a Pokéball from his belt and called out one of his Pokémon. Tommy looked on excitedly as an Abomasnow materialized in front of their party. The yeti clenched it’s fists and bellowed out a massive roar, whipping up a snowstorm all around their group’s immediate vicinity.

“The hail will provide us cover!” Pryce yelled through the falling snow and ice that were whirling all about them. “Stick together, let’s go!”

The four of them set off across town, running through alleyways and behind houses, doing everything they could to dodge the patrolling thugs that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. The goons were everywhere and the only reason that their group had remained undetected so far was because Pryce knew every road and alleyway in Mahogany Town like the back of his hand. Despite their sense of urgency, the trek was slow going. Trying to push Tommy’s wheelchair through the deepening snow was turning out to be a disaster.

“Let Abomasnow carry me and the chair!” Tommy yelled over the wind. “We’ll never make it with me being pushed around!”

Pryce looked back at him, “Are you crazy? There’s no way he’ll do that! He’s never even met you before!”

“Just tell him to carry me!” Tommy screamed.

Pryce scoffed but did as Tommy had said. He watched in disbelief as the yeti walked over to the boy and gingerly scooped him into its arms.

“What the hell just happened?” Pryce asked with a manic look in his eye. “How did you know that he would pick you up?”

“No time to explain,” Tommy said. “Get us to the gym, hurry!”

They raced on through the alleys, going twice as fast now that Tommy was no longer confined to the wheelchair. After turning down back roads and backtracking to dodge patrols so many times that they began to feel dizzy, their group came out of an alley into the street that the gym was on. Professor Hemlock was herding the students toward the bus and flagged down Tommy’s group when she saw them.

The four of them raced up to where she was standing but slowed when they got close enough to see what she was wearing. She was dressed in complete black and around her neck was a black scarf with a brilliant red R emblazoned on it.

“You!” Pryce looked on in horror. Over twenty grunts burst out of alleyways and from out of the bus, cheering and congratulating one another at their success. They were armed to the teeth with swords, daggers, and all manner of other weapons, not to mention the Pokéballs clipped to their belts.

“Of course, who else?” Professor Hemlock laughed. She snapped her fingers and the students that she had been escorting were bound and forced to the ground on their knees. “Call your Abomasnow away or I will start killing them.”

Tommy watched in horror as the rest of the class began to scream and cry. They were all shouting over one another to be saved, for Pryce to fight, and for Pryce to surrender.

“I think you should listen to her,” Tommy told Pryce from Abomasnow’s arms. He tapped the yeti on the arms and he was lowered back into the wheelchair; Abomasnow had brought it with him.

Pryce nodded and returned the yeti to its Pokéball. The snow and wind died down around them now that Abomasnow had vanished.

Tommy took a moment to look around, he saw that one of their group was missing so he asked Professor Hemlock. “What did you do with Aubrey?”

She laughed her high pitched laugh, “You still don’t get it? Do you, idiot boy?”

He looked behind Professor Hemlock, to the bus she was standing in front of, and stared disbelieving as Aubrey stepped out of it. His heart began to hammer away in his chest and he swallowed the lump in his throat. Spencer drew his bow taut, raising it and pointing it straight at her, but Tommy put his hand on his friend’s arm. The boy lowered the bow and hung his head.

“It’s not true, right?” Tommy spoke, trying hard to keep his voice from cracking. “I can’t believe that this is all true.”

“It’s true,” Aubrey said with a mischievous smile. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Tommy asked. He shook his head, desperate to believe that all of this was just some sort of sick joke, “You killed one of them when we were in the forest, it broke you! I saw it! Why did you do all of this?”

“For fun. That peon I killed was a sleaze who made a pass at me earlier this summer when dad was showing me around Team Rocket’s base. I never forgot,” Aubrey laughed. She reached behind her back and pulled Tommy’s knife from her belt. She twirled it between her fingers then threw it into the snow at his feet.

“Was it wise to utter that name, Commander Ryker?” Professor Hemlock chirped from beside Aubrey.

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Aubrey snarled. She pulled her own knife from her belt and held it to Professor Hemlock’s throat. To her credit, the woman didn’t flinch. “I’m in charge and I’ll do whatever the fuck I want!”

“Understood, Commander Ryker,” Professor Hemlock said evenly. “Forgive my insubordination.”

Aubrey had already completely disregarded Professor Hemlock and returned her attention to Tommy. “Pick up your knife.”

He made no moves and sat motionless in his wheelchair.

“Pick up your knife Tommy,” Aubrey said again. She sat down on the bus steps and leaned back on her hands, grinning nastily at her one time comrade. “Let’s make a deal, okay? You kill those three that are with you and I’ll let the rest of these students free. What do you say? Not a bad deal right?”

“Even if I wanted to kill them, which I don’t, I doubt that they would let me,” Tommy said. He looked back at Spencer, Max, and Pryce who were standing there with unreadable expressions.

Aubrey snapped her fingers and one of the goons stepped forward, grabbing the first student in the line and yanking him up on his feet. All of the other students started screaming as the thug dragged the boy a few feet to the side.

“No!” Tommy watched in slow motion as the goon drew his knife and raised it to the boy’s throat. He dragged it from one of the boy’s ears to the other and a fountain of gore erupted from the now gaping hole in the boy’s neck. The thug dropped the boy’s lifeless body to the ground where it began to quickly dye the snow below him crimson.

“Wrong answer, Tommy,” Aubrey sighed. “Pick up your knife and kill those three, or I kill another student. The blood of each of these students is on your hands.”

Tommy barely heard anything Aubrey said over the ringing in his ears. He stared down at the lifeless body of the boy who was still pumping blood onto the snow. It looked like the boy was staring straight at him and even though he hadn’t killed the boy himself, he knew those eyes would haunt him for the rest of his days.

“Was everything that happened to us a lie?” He asked Aubrey. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes, but he didn’t care. He tried to look at his one time friend, but could barely stomach the sight of her. “Four years, we’ve been best friends. Our first day of school together when you fought that kid who was bullying me? Yesterday morning in the cave? What we talked about on the bus? All of that meant nothing to you?”

He wiped away the tears from his eyes and looked at his friend who was staring down at her palms. She looked up at him, her face twisted in hate and rage and said, “Yeah, that’s right. It all meant nothing to me.”

She nodded her chin in the direction of the remaining students. Realizing what was about to happen, Tommy covered his ears and looked away as the thugs reached down to grab them. One by one, their screams died away until the silence left on the street was deafening. Tommy looked up at Aubrey, trying and failing to keep his eyes away from the gruesome scene that was splayed out in front of him.

“You can never take back what happened here tonight, Aubrey.” Tommy whispered into the silence. “This will haunt you for the rest of your life. None of us will ever forgive you.”

“Guess what Tommy?” Aubrey smiled wistfully. “I don’t need the forgiveness of you or any of the three dead men who are standing behind you.”

“We’ll stop you. We’ll stop Team Rocket somehow!” Spencer growled. “We’ll make it out of here somehow and tell the school all about this!”

Professor Hemlock laughed and gestured down at the bodies of all of the students, “Don’t you get it? There isn’t a school for you to go back to.”

Pryce stepped forward and shook with rage, “You mean to say that this isn’t the only place that this is happening?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Professor Hemlock smiled nastily. “We’ve hit every other expedition this weekend, the future of the school is finished.”

Pryce sank to his knees in the snow, “Why? They’re just kids. You people have ripped their entire futures away! The future of the trainers of this country!”

“That’s the point Pryce,” Professor Hemlock chuckled. “I would have tried to recruit you two years ago, you are a genius after all. But I knew you would never have accepted the offer.”

“Of course I wouldn’t have!” Pryce yelled, standing up defiantly. “You people are fucking sick!”

“Enough chit-chat,” Aubrey said, dusting her hands as she got to her feet. “Let’s wrap this up, we’ve wasted enough time. Grab Tommy, dispose of the rest of them.”

Spencer drew his bow and Pryce, Max, and Tommy readied their Pokéballs to fight. The thugs began to tighten the circle, readying their weapons and their Pokéballs.

Tommy heard a shrill whining noise echo around the plaza as the thugs closed in and he looked up just in time to see purple meteors streak across the sky. They hurtled through the air and exploded onto the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces and shredding the Rocket Grunts all around Tommy’s group. Screams of unimaginable agony was all Tommy heard and he watched as men and women rolled or dove into the snow, trying futilely to extinguish the draconic purple flames that were melting away their flesh. Tommy and his friends turned to face the handful of grunts that had been behind them but before the four of them could do anything, a jet black halo of darkness crashed into the second group. Whatever matter the darkness touched ceased to exist and Tommy stared horrified as men and women had their limbs detached from their torsos or died as their bodies severed in half.

A Hydreigon floated down next to them, and a man wearing a sneering dragon mask hopped off of the dragon’s back. He tossed a handful of Pokéballs from his belt and an assortment of bird Pokémon and dragon Pokémon appeared.

“Mount up,” the man spoke calmly. Not wanting to waste any time, Max and Spencer quickly helped Tommy onto the back of a Corviknight and then the both of them hopped onto a Salamence. Pryce leapt onto a Braviary and their group wasted no more time and took to the skies. Tommy looked down at the ground and saw Professor Hemlock and Aubrey staring up at them as they departed Mahogany Town. Neither of the two of them made any moves to chase Tommy and his friends down.

They flew across the sky until the man signaled towards the ground, all of his Pokémon descending in unison with him. They touched down in a clearing in the middle of a forest and each of them dismounted their Pokémon, Spencer and Max helping Tommy off of Corviknight and then lowering him to the ground as his wheelchair had been left behind.

“Speak with me,” The dragon man beckoned but when they all tried to follow he held up his hand. “Only Pryce.”

The two men stepped off to the side and Tommy watched the two of them have their conversation. He couldn’t hear anything that either of them said and had to content himself to simply watch Pryce and the man take turns speaking and head nodding. After talking for a few minutes Pryce suddenly clasped his hands together and bowed deeply. He returned to the clearing and mounted Braviary.

“This man will be returning you to Goldenrod, you are safe for now,” Pryce said to the three of them. “I have been given a task and it is imperative that I complete it. We will meet again, I know.”

Braviary took to the skies and within seconds Pryce was lost against the night sky.

The dragon man returned to the clearing and got back onto his Hydreigon. “Mount up, we have a long ride.”

Once everyone had gotten on their Pokémon again they took off, heading west back towards Goldenrod City. After 30 minutes on Corviknight’s back, Tommy was thoroughly miserable. His puncture wound throbbed in agony and his back was screaming in pain from sitting upright in the same position. Still the dragon man offered no respite and they continued ever onward across the sky. Forests, rivers, and mountains all fell away until Goldenrod could be seen on the horizon. They had been flying all night and by the time they began their descent, the faintest of color was beginning to creep above the horizon’s edge.

The three of them touched down and the masked man recalled the Pokémon to their Pokéballs. Nurse Joy was waiting on the school grounds with a wheelchair and the masked man walked over and began to speak to a round, graying man who had been standing next to Joy. Tommy was helped into the wheelchair by everyone and once situated, he, Spencer, and Max were called over by the elderly man.

The man had soft, steel gray eyes and extended his hand politely to each of the three boys, “It is a pleasure to meet you all, though of course I wish it had been under better circumstances. I am the principal of the school, Professor Camphor.”

“My task is completed,” the masked man said as he handed the Pokéballs back to the principal. He mounted his Hydreigon once again and, ignoring the protesting voice of the principal, he flew off into the early morning.

Professor Camphor sighed. “Please, follow me to my office. I have already received various reports from around the kingdom within the last few hours, but have not yet heard a verbal accounting of any of the incidents.”

He led the three boys to his office which was located in the administration building on the highest floor. Tea and cakes had been brought into the principal’s sitting room and he gestured to the upholstered chairs and couch, plopping himself in a handsome high-backed armchair behind his great wooden desk.

He asked for a story and the three boys supplied it, each interjecting and filling in various missing bits whenever one of the others forgot something. As the story progressed the principal's face became more strained and by the time it was done he stared blankly into his cup of tea.

“This will go down as the worst incident in the history of the school,” Professor Camphor sighed. “I cannot imagine a worse thing happening. The only bright spot in your story is that the name ‘Team Rocket’ was let slip. That name was not included in any other report and will need to be thoroughly investigated. To think that this Team Rocket has poisoned the minds of children…”

“Let us help!” Spencer stood up. “They cannot get away with this!”

“And they won’t!” Professor Camphor assured them. “But you will not be involved in the meting of any justice. You are children after all!”

“We’re strong,” Max spoke defiantly. “You have to let us do something!”

Professor Camphor smiled, he looked exhausted though the day had yet to even start. “I know just how strong the three of you are but until you are 16 and are considered to be of age my decision is final. We will wait for the return of the other students and professors. I must also convene the board of directors, they will need to come to a decision on whether or not to close the school.”

“You can’t close the school!” Tommy shouted. “That’s what Team Rocket wants! That’s exactly what they said! To prevent the nurturing of future trainers that can stand against them.”

“Unfortunately the decision does not rest with me, Mr. Hartford,” Professor Camphor spoke solemnly. “But believe me that I will advocate for the school to remain open, it is vital that we continue to educate and nurture the future generations!”

“How many students survived?” Tommy spoke softly after a lull in their conversation.

Professor Camphor shook his head, “I don’t know the exact amount, but the numbers look bad. The parents of all of these students…”

The face of the boy lying in the snow flashed in Tommy’s mind. He saw the slashed throats of the other students, dripping blood and dying the snow scarlet.

Professor Camphor clapped his hands, bringing Tommy out of his contemplation. “Allow me and the other Professors to worry about this situation. In the meantime it is up to you boys to get stronger. I say here and now, ask anything from me and I will procure it for you. You will no doubt be needed once you have graduated and come of age.”

“We can ask you for anything?” Spencer asked, a bit taken aback. “Even if it’s expensive?”

“Money is no object when compared with the future of the three of you,” Professor Camphor assured them. “I say again, ask me for anything and the school will provide it to you.”

“A Moon Stone,” Max said. He stared hard into the face of Professor Camphor.

“For you Nidorino?” Professor Camphor nodded. He produced a slip of paper and jotted down a quick note. “Consider it done.”

He turned to face Spencer, “And you?”

Spencer looked over at Max then said, “A Fire Stone, for my Growlithe.”

“And lastly, Mr. Hartford?” Professor Camphor asked. “What can the school provide to you?”

Tommy racked his brain, there were many things he wanted, his family and sister to be safe, Aubrey to return to him back to her old self, but nothing tangible that he could think of.

“I don’t know sir,” Tommy sighed. “Right now I can’t think of anything. Can I take an IOU?

Professor Camphor smiled and pocketed his pen and the slip of paper, “Of course. When you think of something, please come find me. You are always welcome in my office. That goes for all three of you.”

There was a knock at his door to his office followed by a loud bang as it burst open. Professor Larkspur came in, followed by Zach and a female chaperone with blue hair that Tommy didn’t know the name of. Zach gave Tommy a concerned look, looking at the wheelchair and his bandaged leg.

“We must speak with you principal,” Professor Larkspur rumbled. He looked down at Tommy, Max, and Spencer. “Privately.”

“Well boys, I will be in touch,” Professor Camphor said to Tommy and his friends with a dismissive tone. “Please forgive me for not showing you out. I have much to do today.”

Zach squeezed Tommy’s shoulder as they passed each other, “Head to the amphitheater. That’s where our classes are gathered. What’s left of them…”

Max, Spencer, and Tommy left the administration offices and made their way back across the still and quiet grounds towards the amphitheater where they had class every morning.

“It feels wrong to go in there,” Spencer said. He stopped pushing Tommy’s wheelchair and they paused right outside the door. “To think that all this time Professor Hemlock was a criminal.”

Max opened the door allowing Spencer to push Tommy inside. They walked down the hallway and exited into the amphitheater. Tommy could barely believe the sight that waited for him. Where once the amphitheater seats had been almost packed to the back, there were now maybe 30 students seated in a scattering of chairs.

“Tommy!” He heard someone yell. He looked over and saw Ashley and Nessa running up to him, relief clearly evident on each of their faces.

“What happened to your leg?” Nessa asked. She wrapped Tommy in a hug until Ashley pulled her off so she could hug Tommy herself.

“Let’s find a seat, then we can swap stories,” Max said.

They followed Ashley and Nessa back to where they had been sitting and launched straight into explaining what happened.

“Aubrey was the one who betrayed you?” Nessa asked. She shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it. She was so nice.”

“Believe it,” Spencer said. “That bitch played us from the first moment we got out there.”

Tommy clenched his fists at Spencer’s words, a subconscious reaction, but took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Thank goodness you’re alright Tommy,” Ashley smiled. “And you two as well, Spencer and Max. You three were the only ones to survive?”

“And Aubrey,” Max said, staring intensely at Ashley. “Were you two in the same group?”

The girls shook their heads, and Nessa spoke. “Ashley was with Professor Larkspur and I was with Melanie, the blue haired girl. She’s an alumni, like Zach.”

Tommy had been looking around while everyone had been recounting their stories, and he finally asked the question that he didn’t want to know the answer to.

“Do either of you two know what happened to Jon or Darius?”

Each of the girls shook their heads; the two boys had been in a group together and Tommy could only hope that they had each other’s back and somehow made it through.

The door to the amphitheater opened and Professor Larkspur strode into the room. He was tailed by Zach and Melanie and the three adults stopped at the front of the stage to address the remaining students. Absolute silence settled about the room as every student waited expectantly for Professor Larkspur to speak.

He took a deep breath then began to speak, his booming voice full of sorrow and regret. “This is the worst thing that has ever happened in the school’s thousand year history. The number of students who left on an expedition this weekend was 214. The number of students sitting here is 25.”

“189 students are either dead or unaccounted for.”