Clarence wobbled along under Mylious's strong pull but decided it was best not to say anything immediately. He trusted Mylious, and the night was still very young. As they walked through the overused central corridor, the stone slabs under his feet were wonkier than before. They slipped down the main stairs, which, if travelled far enough, would lead to the Lord's offices, the stables, the viaduct and the dungeon underneath the main castle.

"Mylious, where are we going?" Clarence asked, placed his hand on Mylious's hand and peeled it off of his arm.

"L-Lord J-Jun-Seo's off-office. H-He can h-help Aa-Aaron," Mylious stuttered.

"Mylious, what did I say about stuttering?" a voice rang out from down the corridor behind them. A tall black man with burning white eyes walked up to them. With each step, his cane tapped along the ground, and his stoutland plodded beside him.

"T-T..." Mylious started.

"How the in the flying fuck did you get here before us?" Clarence blurted out.

"Mylious, breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in, and breathe out. Think what you want to say, and slowly..." the Lord said, ignoring Clarence and placing his scarred hand on Mylious's shoulder.

"To try and s-s... stay calm and not be s-scared," Mylious squeezed out his mouth. His hands were pressed together, and his left hand stroked his right hand in a desperate bid to comfort himself. "My Lord," Mylious added on quickly.

"Don't bother bowing. Just tell me why you are down this corridor, which you know damn well is off limits to young Lords," the Lord said, as he took a key out of his pocket and wandered down a little further past the two teens. "Come." He pressed his key into the door and turned it, opening the wooden ornate door into his large room.

Clarence followed him inside and glanced around the room. The blue curtains hung over a large window. He couldn't help but stare out to the courtyard overlooking the city. The stained panels painted each section a different colour. He saw the festivities below; the fire spitters, the ice skaters and the mamoswine riders were all out in force.

Lord Jun-Seo walked over to the window and opened it, letting the snow slide in momentarily. His white squawkabilly blended in as he tied a small letter to her and waved her on. With a bit of squawk, she shot off into the blizzard.

"Aaron is in trouble, and I was wondering if you could h-h... rescue him from the Tauch," Mylious asked. He took a deep breath out and looked into the Lord's eyes. "Lord Jun-Seo, please."

"I cannot help him," Lord Jun-Seo said as he placed a long-rusted key ring on his desk. "Aaron needs to understand his place."

Clarence watched as Lord Captain Jun-Seo limped over to the sharpedo tank at the end of his room and thought, He keeps fighting, even now. He reached over the desk, picked up the keys, slid them quietly into his pocket, and turned to leave.

"S-sir, is it true? You really did fight Lord Elite De Jou?" Mylious asked, his eyes widened as he stared at the back of the Lord Captain.

"It is true. He blinded me with his torkoal, and took my leg. He refused to kill me, though. I was Lord Elite Hamilton's Lord Captain. He respected me. Alas, Lord Elite Piscar took over after his death. A blind man doesn't belong as a Lord, for he is defective beyond all measure," Lord Captain Jun Seo said with sadness. His sharpedo looked at him, snuffled with its pointed nose and wiggled its fins. Its blue body shot out small streaks of black as it waited with anticipation for the next piece of meat to drop into the tank. Lord Jun-Seo breathed deeply and dropped the meat into his sharpedo's tank before limping to his liquor cabinet. He took out a large bottle of dritze and uncorked it. Without the consideration to fetch a glass, he guzzled from the bottle before saying, "You boys understand that under no circumstances should you leave the citadel. Right?"

"Yes, sir," Clarence replied.

"S-sir!" Mylious replied.

"Have a good evening," Lord Jun-Seo said. He had drawn the word evening out longer than either teen had felt comfortable listening to it. He pointed his cane at the door from his seat, and the door slowly swung open, letting out a crying creak.

Clarence placed his hand on Mylious's shoulder, and without another word, the two teenagers left the room and shut the door. Clarence looked from side to side before hurried down the corridor away from the Lord Captain's office. The stone corridor seemed to narrow the further into the castle they got. At the end of the corridor stood the grand tapestry of every Lord who had ever been from Elktan. It stretched 10 metres across and stood 3 metres tall. Clarence reached out and touched the soft dubwool cotton.

"Just think, in 10 years, we will be on here," Clarence whispered. "So, Lord Captain Jun-Seo has been helping you with your stutter? That's brilliant!"

"Be quiet, Clarence. I-I find some s-sounds hard still," Mylious said as he pressed down on one of the stone bricks. A clunk followed, and the soft sound of gears whirring away filled his ears. The bricks slowly dropped down, revealing a narrow tunnel. "C-come."

"I guess Lord Jun-Seo knows about the secret passages too," Clarence mused, nudging Mylious. He glanced up and saw the large galvantula webs that had twisted through the corridor.

"I feel like a f-freak. I am 6ft 7 and only 15. I am t-taller than most of the L-Lords. All I w-want this festival is t-to n-not feel like a f-freak," Mylious sniffled. "H-here..." he said, pushing against a small dial at the end of the narrow passageway. "Oh, h-hello Zvi- Zvi-..." Mylious paused and took a deep breath. "Zvisht," he forced out. A small joltik dropped down from a web with the help of a large galvantula and landed on his hat.

"Wait, you know this joltik?" Clarence asked, and Mylious nodded back.

"She is m-my friend. W-when I get s-stuck, s-she comes and h-helps me." Mylious stroked her head, and she let out tiny sparks.

"I see," Clarence said.

Mylious pushed the bricks as hard as he could and opened the doorway into a boiling-hot room. His vision blurred from the red-stained air rising from the pit below. Above the pit, he saw Aaron. The metal pole he had been chained to was rusted and scorched by the fire below.

"Zvisht, can you unchain Aaron, please?" Mylious asked, and the little joltik jumped up and down. Mylious turned to Clarence and gestured for the key.

I hate this place, Clarence thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled the key off of its ring. The rusted key squeaked a little as it came loose but fell into his hand. The metal started heating up quickly in the hot room, and Clarence passed the key over to the little yellow fluff.

The joltik, key in mouth, pounced up onto the wall. Her sticky web coated her tiny blue feet as she crawled along the wall's warm metal edges. She looked down at Mylious and lifted one leg to wave at him before pouncing up onto the metal bar from which Aaron was hanging. Slowly but surely, she made her way along the rolling metal bar across the boiling pit, peering down to see the camerupt spewing its fire. She hurried faster until she reached Aaron.

"Hey, you want to help me out, huh?" Aaron gasped. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his skin was marked where the iron chains held him in place.

The little joltik nodded and stabbed the key into the lock of the chains. With her little legs, she turned the key until the shackles broke and fell into the pit below. She spat a sticky web at Aaron's arm so he could grab onto the metal bar without losing grip. The ooze made him feel sick, but he had no choice. Pull by pull, he reached the other side and dropped onto the metal flooring.

"Thanks," Aaron said, and the little joltik bounced up and down on his shoulder before leaping onto Mylious's hat. "Huh?" The door to the Tauch swung open. Aaron turned to see his older brother enter the boiling-hot room.

"Aaron, come on. You can't just break out. Dad will be even more pissed off," Erik Piscar said. His black hair stood on end, spiked at the front, with his braids running down the side of his pale face. A small stitched-up scar rested on his cheek. He limped over to Aaron and grinned.

"Still limping, I see," Clarence said with a smirk. "What was it you said to me? Oh, right, I bet I could beat you in a pokémon battle with my eyes closed."

"And then you kneed him in the balls when he closed his eyes," Aaron giggled and picked up his poké balls that had been stuffed onto the siding.

Mylious snorted and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

"Shut it, you filthy farmer!" Erik barked at Clarence. "As for you, slave boy, I can't wait for Dad's new laws to come into place. People like you will stay in the gutter."

Aaron paused and stared into his brother's cold green eyes before saying, "What new laws?"

"Dad is making it so more of the lower class end up in servitude or lower," Erik said, smirking. "Not a bad idea."

"What is wrong with you? These people have done nothing wrong except being unable to pay the taxes he hiked up. What would mum say?!" Aaron shouted, fists clenched and ready to whip out his poké balls.

"Lady Piscar isn't here. Remember? Anyway, it is time to go, Aaron." Erik grabbed his sword, reached out, and pointed it at Aaron's chest.

"You are right. It is time to go." Aaron swivelled on his heels and ran at Erik. "Let's go! Manal!" Aaron's houndour jumped in front of him, Mylious and Clarence. "Do you know what happens to someone bitten by a houndoom's fire? The pain lasts forever. Manal is a houndour, it might not last forever but it will hurt a whole fuck ton! Manal use fire fang!"

Erik reached for his pocket to pull out his poké balls, but the little houndour leapt on him and opened his mouth. He let out a low grumbling howl and flashed his fangs. He chomped down on Erik's arm. Erik quickly moved to knock the houndour off, but the flames had already started to pour onto his skin. Erik lowered his blade and placed his right hand against the scorching mouth of the houndour, grabbed his muzzle and attempted to swing his arm to push him off.

Aaron lunged forward and felt Erik's sword wobble and hit the ground with a thud as his brother's footing was not prepared to take on the full force of him. Aaron quickly placed his hand on the wall to steady himself and jump over his brother, who had been knocked cleanly to the ground in one fell swoop. "Come on!" he called out.

"Coming!" Clarence replied and grabbed Mylious's sleeve. The two ran to Erik, and Clarence stepped around him. However, Erik grabbed Clarence's leg while he yelled out in pain.

"What the fuck?" Erik wheezed out as Mylious's boot collided with his chest. "I'll kill you for that, slave boy!"

"Fucking run!" Aaron shouted as he charged down the corridor, holding his arm. He turned to see Mylious rolling down the corridor and scooping Clarence onto his back. "Criborn!"

"Criborn?" Clarence said. "Oh, shit... Criborn." Clarence felt himself flung over Mylious's head and smacking himself against the floor. He looked up and saw a houndoom showing his sharp fangs at him. He heard Mylious squeak and sniffle. The growling and snarling of the houndoom that had started to drown out the sound of Mylious. The bones on the houndoom's back rumbled with his growls.

"What are you doing? Who let you out of the Tauch?" Lord Criborn shouted and pulled out a sharp blade.

Alright, there is one of him and three of us. We could solo them, but that probably won't work out. Four of us, if we include Mylious's joltik friend. If I use my gallade, Clarence uses his gabite, and Mylious uses his blastoise, we might see tomorrow, Aaron thought. "Okay, Karaknook! Mylious send out Jajul. Clarence, send out Curcurak! Karaknook use brick break!" The gallade dived out of his poké ball and charged at the large houndoom.

The houndoom howled and lowered his curled horns. Dark smoke puffed around his mouth and leaked out.

"Zvisht, block it with electroweb!" Mylious shouted. The little joltik bounced on his hat and fired a twisted electrically charged web at the houndoom. The houndoom looked up, and his snout was coated in silk, stopping him from opening his mouth and firing a dark pulse.

To Aaron's left saw Clarence's gabite get bodied by a houndoom. The gabite let out a little gargle before slumping unconscious against the ground. The houndoom growled at them, and flames flickered from inside his mouth.

Aaron's gallade brought his arm down on the larger houndoom, and it staggered back down the corridor, before pouncing forward and biting down on his gallade's arm.

"Jajul, f-f-finish the big one with w-water pulse!" Mylious shouted; he ran to the houndoom, grabbed its horns and forcibly threw it into the wall. The water pulse swirled from his blastoise that appeared in front of him, and collided with the dazed houndoom and Lord Criborn.

Aaron drew his sword, and with a swing of the helm, he struck the water-pulsed Lord in the face. The Lord lay on the floor, with his eyes closed and his nose bleeding.

"He won't stay out cold for long," Clarence said.

Mylious knelt beside Lord Criborn and pressed his index finger against his pulse. He closed his grey eyes and prayed. Please be alive. Okay, there it is. Thank giratina. We are in so much trouble. I really want to just hide and cry in my room, but if I go there... Lord Piscar will find me and punish me. Maybe we should just tell him the truth. Yeah, we will all be in trouble, but at least we won't be put on trial for attempted murder or worse. His hands started to shake, and Mylious felt sick. He looked around at the spinning stone walls and reached up desperately at Aaron, who grabbed his sweat-soaked palms.

"We need to get out of here. Find some clothes or something and like, I don't know..." Clarence muttered.

Aaron waved his hand and started to run down the corridor to one of the archer's slits in the stone wall. Alright, we really need to get out of the castle. He peered out the slit and saw the blizzard blowing heavy snow around the citadel. I guess we have no choice. We have to fly out. There is a pilot's ledge not too far from here. He waved his hand again, and with his houndour running close behind him, he darted along the corridor.

"Aaron Ellio Piscar! How dare you disobey me!" Lord Ellio Piscar stormed up the corridor with his hand wrapped around his poké ball, ready to summon his spiritomb. "Shoot him in the leg!" he called out. By his side, two young archers pulled out short bows and drew two thin metal arrows made from the skin of a duraladon. The tips were sturdy, tiny scales dripped with a mixture concocted from a venusaur's stun spore. They released the arrows, and they sped at Aaron.

"Move!" Mylious shouted, and he pushed Aaron forward. The arrows both struck him in the left leg. "Agh, bastards," Mylious wheezed.

"Stop them!" Lord Ellio Piscar called out once more.

Aaron stared at his best friend, who limped forward and waved his hands to continue. "Use flamethrower to block the path behind us. Come on, Mylious." Aaron's houndour immediately spat fire, covering the corridor with fire and smoke. Aaron rushed forward, barely able to keep his balance, until he saw the small wooden door on the side of the wall. He pushed against it, opening the door to the outside, and peered down to see the sheer drop of the mountain. This better fucking work, or we are dead as fuck. He grabbed his poké ball, returned his houndour, and snatched hold of Clarence's jacket and Mylious's shirt.

"Aaron... what are you doing?" Clarence asked.

Aaron yanked on Clarence's jacket and Mylious's shirt as he threw himself off the ledge. They fell toward the mountain in a tumbling and twisting blizzard. Come on...Irkaknok, he prayed.