From his cage, Blitzer unwillingly witnessed his Anomalied abductors taking him deeper into Whitiara’s snowy wastes, towards a mountain he had hoped to never see again. Alas, he was powerless to stop them. He laid down in the cage, Sisu lingering in his head.

‘It’s the Smaugus base, isn’t it?’

‘Wish I could say otherwise Blitz, honestly…’

Blitzer curled into a ball, sticking his tail right under his jaw. Painful as the scorching heat might be, it felt liberating from the dire prospects ahead. For a moment, everything was forgotten, and the physical pain matched the wounds in his spirit. Cleansed it, even.

‘Ey! What are you doing? You’re gonna roast yourself!’

‘It’s deserved.’

‘What? What the hell are you talkin’ about, Blitz?’

The Charmeleon covered his face with both claws, eliciting a chuckle from one of his captors. ‘I deserve it. You heard me right, didn’t you? Why wouldn’t I deserve a little hurt?’ he asked Sisu, his jaw twitching under the heat; without realising it, his tail edged away.

‘Uh, maybe because you lost your damn mind, and now you’re not even thinkin’ straight anymore?’ Sisu asked, swaying back and forth in his head like she was trying to smack his soul. ‘Cause why do you deserve pain? For what, being captured?’

‘That and leaving my best friend behind… What kind of friend am I?’

‘One in a bad situation, that’s what! Like it was your fault you got stabbed in the back like that. Hell, if we all thought like you do right now, then I gotta find the nearest cliff to jump off. You see one nearby?’

Blitzer grumbled under his breath. Moments later, one of the shadowy captors jammed a wooden rod into the cage, prodding his side.

“Shut it.”

Tail flame energised, Blitzer stuck it back under his jaw. ‘Look, I’m not happy. Where are we going? Right to the Smaugus! The last people I want to be with right now!’ His claws dug into his scales. ‘This is terrible… we might as well be back in Luminity. They’d just kill us right then and there…’

‘BLITZ! Get it together! We’ll figure a way out of this!’

‘No we won’t.’

‘Yes we will!’

‘No we won’t! Stop pretending otherwise! Just let me suffer in peace!’

‘Uh, you know what? Might just agree with you there if you weren’t messin’ me up at the same time! I’m up here too, y’know! You’re practically sticking that fire into my face!’

Blitzer now laid his tail beside him. ‘Is it?’

‘Yup! There, already feeling better… and it ain’t just me who’s benefiting, ‘aight?’

‘If you say so…’

‘Just stay vigilant, alright? Got an ace up my sleeve if they’re takin’ us where I think they’re takin’ us. Ain’t no one taking Sisu down so easily.’

With the Marshadow’s voice ringing in his head, Blitzer resigned himself to wherever fate would take him. Even as the mountain grew taller, and the captors pulling the cage up its slopes barked out orders, he kept his eyes buried under his claws. No need to stare Death in the eyes. Deep down, the pointlessness of it was clear. But if sticking his head in the sand provided the slightest comfort in the frigid wastes of reality, then he’d oblige. Like a beast giving into its urges.

In dire times, a Pokemon’s true nature came out. And it was far more feral than one would like to admit.

The gates screeched as they were pulled open, the wheels of the carriage squeaking as they rolled for the final time. Once inside, the gates closed as fast as they had opened, shutting the door on whatever freedom Blitzer had left. The cage was thrown open.

“Get out.”

Blitzer was grabbed by both of his wrists. Anomalied Smaugus members pulled him out, him struggling as valiantly as he could, but it was not to last. With the grace of a rock, he was thrown onto the floor, rolled onto his belly, and pinned down as his wrists were bound by a thick rope.

“Ngghh…”

Claws tied behind his back, and his tail dragging over the ground, Blitzer’s captors forced him to his feet. Weak as his legs were, he had little say in the matter. In the end, the Ampharos standing before him called the shots.

“Lord Chronos has been expecting you. Do not keep him waiting.”

Blitzer bared his teeth. “What if I don’t want to see him right-”

Spit flew out Blitzer’s mouth as the Ampharos smacked him in the face. “I said, do not keep him waiting. Now come.”

With the courage knocked out of him, Blitzer groaned. The Smaugus members flanked him from all sides, the Ampharos leading the way through the dark caves. It was as dreary and oppressive as last time, the black walls resembling an underground prison more than a city. With the way Ampharos led him around, ‘prisoner on a leash’ fit him like a glove.

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Much like his first stay at the base, few other Smaugus crossed their paths. Knowing their code, interacting with a prisoner could be a death sentence for them. Social or literal, the difference meant little. Blitzer shut his eyes and let his captors guide him. He went numb to the beatings, or the soul crushing loneliness.

If only Sisu could steal his soul right now.

‘Might wanna keep your eyes open.’

‘I’d prefer not to.’

‘Yeah, me neither, but don’t wanna piss ‘em off even more.’

Unlike the Smaugus, the consequences for disobeying Sisu were non-existent. What impact did her protests have, aside from a little annoyance? It distracted from where he was headed.

And where else would he be headed, but the same black cavern that Ampharos had dumped him in the last time? The black cavern where Chronos dwelled, the light of their tail flames alone keeping the darkness at bay?

As the beating of his heart sped up, and his breaths grew shakier and shakier, Blitzer knew better than to have optimism. The Ampharos left him behind without a word. There was but one light in the cave this time. And no one besides Blitzer to face the monster lurking within.

“Look who has returned.”

A growl reverberated off the walls, shaking the pebbles lying on the floor. Blitzer’s breathing intensified as the ground itself quaked. If even the floor was afraid, what chance did he have? His limbs throbbed, his jaw was sore, and he was but an ant compared to what was in the room with him. The beast that now stomped towards him, eyes basking in a purple glow, and scales coated in a vapour that smothered all colour.

His teeth chattered.

“Why, what do we have here? All on his own, without any of his friends to help him this time… no rock or excuse to hide behind, his cowardice exposed for all to see.” Chronos’s jaws snapped as a flame appeared in his claw, revealing his inky body in all its ‘glory’. “You are entertaining, if anything…”

Blitzer’s arms shook. “Wh… what do you want?” he asked, voice as meek as a Rattata’s.

Before Chronos answered, a voice echoed in Blitzer’s mind; it sounded distant. ‘Don’t listen to him!’

“I could ask the same of you…but we both know you are not here on your own volition,” the Charizard growled, the flame illuminating the many scars on his body. “We both know you were captured. Defeated.”

Chronos’ growls did the talking for him, as Blitzer gave nothing but silence as an answer. He shook his head. “Let me ask this of you instead… Do you know why I brought you here? Do you know why you weren’t sent back to your mentor?”

“Skal…?” Blitzer mumbled. Chronos stomped the ground right before his toes, eliciting a wince from Blitzer’s entire body.

“Fool. What other mentor could I be speaking of? Answer the question.”

Blitzer covered his chest with both arms. “...You think I’m weak. That’s why.”

The hulking Charizard scoffed. For a moment, he vaguely resembled Blitzer’s reflection in a stream.

“Not even a quarter of the answer, but I will accept it. You are weak. Pathetic. Little more than a maggot that hasn’t learned to fly… and that is precisely why you fascinate me. You were the exact same way when you hatched. Equally as weak, feeble, unfit to last long. Yet you managed to survive.”

Blitzer grimaced. “You.. y-you know nothing about me! When I hatched… you weren’t there…”

Chronos smiled like a monster who had found his next meal. “Oh, but I do. I know an awful lot more about you than you are willing to believe, Thanatos. Deny it all you like. But history and fate is always in the hands of the strong”

For Blitzer, the slightest sense of familiarity passed through his mind when he heard the name. Thanatos. Everything else the Charizard said might as well be a blur. It nestled inside of him, like a bug crawling over a carcass.

‘Sisu?’ His claws bawled up into weak fists. “Don’t play games with me…” he muttered.

‘Don’t listen!’ the Marshadow’s voice repeated, quieter this time.

The Charizard circled around Blitzer with lumbering steps, his tail dragging across the ground as he spread his wings wide… all the while, a smile ran over his scarred snout.

“It’s been so long, son. I cannot say I was looking forward to this moment. Having to confront the one Pokemon of my own blood, who I presumed dead… Evidently, he spared you. That soul devouring ghost spared you his wrath… and here I was, believing he’d see my failure as a fine alternative.”

Blitzer struggled to shut his eyes as the dragon kept on circling. Kept on lumbering. Kept on growling. He felt so small in comparison, he couldn’t help but look Death in the eye.

“Nevertheless… if this is what the Renegade intends, then so be it. You are not just any failure, Thanatos,” Chronos hissed. “You are my failure. My greatest failure. An insult to my blood, to all Charizard and to anyone aspiring for greatness. Look at you… whimpering, cowering, wishing it would all end instead of doing something about it. I couldn’t shape you into a warrior. A leader. A king. Always picked the wrong playmates, too timid and weak to kill a Caterpie…”

As if the knife hadn’t been twisted deep enough, Chronos kept on pushing. Blitzer’s grimace and humiliation only got worse, until by some happenstance, he ended up clamping down on his tongue by accident. And he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“STOP ALREADY! Just… I’m not! Weak! My name is Blitzer! Not Than-a… I have value!... I have… others…”

Blitzer’s voice tapered out. He was a shivering wreck, desperately searching for a response, any response. And all the while, Chronos circled around him, grin widening. The massive teeth and claws, the inky black scales and the stare fierce enough to pierce through the soul weren’t the main source of fear any longer.

He truly had nothing left to say.

“See? Deep down, you know the truth yourself. You’re nothing, Thanatos… son of mine.” The blackened Charizard spat beside himself, his saliva sizzling as it sank through the ground. “But consider yourself lucky. I have plans for you.”

Chronos’ pupils shrank into slits. In the blink of an eye, one claw went straight for Blitzer’s throat. Blitzer could nary scream as the Charizard raised him to eye level, legs kicking around, hands yanking to pull the claw loose. He felt the individual talons dig in… only to stop as they struck scales. The relief was short-lived.

He was going for the scarf.

“Ngggh!!” Blitzer cried out, voice muffled. Chronos grinned at him.

“Step one. You won’t be needing this rag any longer.”

“NO!!!”

With a swift yank, the blue scarf was ripped from his neck. The knot came undone, and the fabric flew off in pieces. Chronos let Blitzer go moments later, throwing him back first onto the floor.

It lasted for the most agonising seconds of Blitzer’s life. Before he knew it, a foot stomped down on his jaw, nearly crushing his nose.

“Shut it, you pathetic Charmeleon. Your little friend is a dead man walking. You won’t see him again. Your old life is as dead as he will be. You will not need that rag any longer.”

Chronos lifted his foot from Blitzer’s snout, then kicked him in the chest with enough force to throw the air out of his lungs. Moments later, the Charmeleon hacked up the remnants of an Oran Berry from his stomach, pain surging through his body. He groaned.

“Get him out of here. Do not bring him back until the time is right.”

To the sound of a low growl, the Ampharos and a Chesnaught came into the lair, and dragged Blitzer away. He drifted in and out of consciousness, the pain of the stomp, kick, and subsequent dragging eased by the turmoil inside.

He really was no one, was he?

‘Blitz?’

By the time he was chucked into a prison cell, he lacked the strength to move, and tears in his eyes made it hard to see where he’d ended up. Did it matter, though? Did it matter that he had been chucked in a rectangle, with some meagre straws and a hole in the ground? That he had no light except his everdimming tail flame? Or even his injuries, for that matter?

Did it matter now that he had hit rock bottom?

‘Blitz?’

Sisu’s voice bounced around his head. Some company that was. She’d kept herself hidden like a good little ghost. Didn’t stick a finger out for him. Blitzer teared up as he clawed at his bare neck.

‘Don’t talk to me. Please.’

‘Sorry. I’ll get us out of here, okay? Pretty crap prison, not gonna lie. Still got my ace, so-’

‘Shut up! I don’t want to hear it! I’ve heard enough today!’

‘Blitz? L-Look, let ‘im pretend like he’s your real dad all he likes. Ain’t no way some deadbeat loser like ‘im can lie his way through to you. Don’t matter if he’s biological, he ain’t-’

‘Shut it! Just shut up! I don’t want to hear it anymore!’

‘You can’t just let ‘im win like that! C’mon, we’re gonna bust outta here, prove ‘im wrong, and kick his-’

“SHUT UP!” Blitzer roared. “SHUT UP! SHUT UP!! SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!”

The Charmeleon screamed at the top of his lungs. His screams echoed off the walls and chilled him to the bone, the catharsis short lived. By the time he shut up, all he could hear was the laughter of the guards outside.

Sisu didn’t say anything else.

It became silent.

The presence Blitzer felt inside his head fell away.

He lay on the ground, nursing his chest whilst slowly crying himself to sleep.