BURNINGTREE

The angel of death was intent upon escape. The boy's lifeless body weighed next to nothing in his powerful arms, but heavy on his mind. The Hero of Fire, Burningtree, lept from rock to rock down Mt. Pyre.  The fire he had started was already raging among the stone corridors of Mt. Pyre, smoke billowing from its highest windows.

Solomon's going to kill me, he knew. The boy, Alexander Specter, was his only remaining family: the son of the sister who had died seventeen years go. I should have done it myself.

Burningtree figured that it would be good for the young man to kill his own father once he realized the truth. I let it go too far before I intervened, he thought to himself. When he finally did step in, it was too late. He had to make a split-second decision: save the boy's body or finish the job himself. It was the first time in a long time he had given up a kill.

He looked behind where he had come from, his bright red beak shining in the pale ribbons of fire that extended from his wrists. They wouldn't catch them, Burningtree made sure of that. No one was as fast or as skilled as the Draconid Assassin. His only concern was to bring Alex's dead body back to the hideout, the broken inn on the border of forest and desert, where he could have a proper burial.

He waited as his panting companion and his Ninetails caught up to them.

"Go on," Franco said. "Get back to the base."

"Not without you," Burningtree responded. He had already failed once today. Losing Franco, a spy and captain of Lord Specter's guard and knowledgeable informant of Mt. Pyre, would unleash Solomon's wrath. "They'll kill you if they catch you."

"I'll lose them another- UGH!" Out of Franco's neck sprouted an arrow.

I've done it again, he thought. My compassion has gotten another one. There was no use carrying Franco's and Alex's body, as well as Franco's Ninetails. He had to make another decision. The boy was the priority.

Burningtree lept away, leaving his friend and the moaning Ninetails to die by the lagoon. He caught a glimpse of himself in the lagoon's reflection as he hopped from rock to rock as the now smoking Mt. Pyre disappeared beneath the clouds. He was tall, and his legs flecked with black and red feathers. The feathers on his head raised behind his head. The flames from his wrists trailed him in spectacular ribbons as he sprung, almost flying along the water as the heat drew up wisps of mist.

The night was almost gone when he arrived back at the base, with the boy's body draped on his shoulder. Burningtree closed his eyes and placed his right hand over the jewel on his armored chest. The familiar sensation of the world speeding up caught him, and then he was two again: human and Pokémon.

Pyro the Blaziken still held the lifeless Alexander Specter in his arms. As the man's dark cloak slithered along the ground, the sentinel at the door of the broken inn awoke with a start.

"I... I wasn't sleeping, Sir Burningtree," the Draconid said. "I wasn't!"

"You expect me to believe some wild Pokémon wandered by and put a Hypnosis on you?" Burningtree growled. He didn't even turn his head to acknowledge the guard as he slipped into the cabin. It was better if no one noticed the bundle in Pyro's arms.

They found a room with a bed, and Pyro gently laid Alex down on top of it. Burningtree bowed his head. It wasn't out of respect for the boy, the loss of life, the loss of yet another of Solomon's family members... It was the realization that for the second time in a long time, Burningtree had failed. He was not used to failure. The assassin's method was quickness, and precision.

"I'm getting sloppy, Pyro," he said to his Spirit Pokémon.

"Blaze..." the tall red Pokémon tried to console him. Burningtree was having none of it. He heard the creaking of a door and instinctively palmed the hilt of a hidden dagger in his belt...

But it was only Teryn, the strong, beautiful girl not more than a few years younger than he. She was fierce, opinionated, and always ready to fight. Her temper and viciousness in battle reminded Burningtree of his long dead brother... He supposed that's what he liked about her.

"I heard you had returned," she said quietly. "You said you would come to me first when you got back."

"Leave me, girl," he didn't even want her to see his tattooed face- the face of a failure. "Now's not the time."

He felt the familiar touch of her hands on his shoulders. "Is that- oh!" She gasped. Her touch left him. "He's dead... Does Solomon know?"

Burningtree stood up in a hurry and turned to face her. "I said not now." His hand hadn't left his dagger. She noticed. Pyro gave her a sad look and Teryn backed slowly out of the door. He could tell her eyes were laced with tears.

Morning caught the assassin unawares. A knock rattled him awake. Burningtree stood up from his seat and stole a quick glance at Alex's body. It hadn't moved. The nightmare of his failure was real. He cracked the door. Teryn again, this time accompanied by a dirty young man who looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks.

"If you're not Solomon, I won't speak with you." He motioned to shut the door, but Teryn slammed a fist on it before he could close it.

"Solomon has taken the girl, Elli, and they've already left for Lilycove. I'll be leaving to go with them, soon," she said quickly. Solomon's plans were hastening. The girl, who was once the prisoner of the Draconids, had already been convinced to join them. At least he wouldn't have to deal with Solomon's wrath so soon.

"If it's a goodbye you're looking for, you've come at the wrong time," Burningtree scowled.

"Don't flatter yourself," she spat back at him. Teryn nodded her head back at the dirty man. "Some news arrived in the night, shortly before you did. You'll want to hear it." Teryn turned around, and Burningtree could hear her footsteps pacing back down the hall.

The dirty traveler stared up at Burningtree through the crack in the door, almost awe-struck.

"Spit it out, I haven't got all day."

"Sir. Mr. Burningtree, sir," the man began. The assassin was beginning to lose his patience. Now was not the time to test his patience. "I've come from Meteor Falls, sir... It's been taken over. The Empress' hold on it has vanquished."

That was news to the assassin. There hadn't been any plans by the Draconids to oust the Sea Bitch's forces. Who had acted without express consent? It was folly. The defeated shell force would just come back with more strength, as Empress Glamour had done when she drowned Pacifidlog. Numerous innocents would be dead... "If it was that blasted Paul who has done this tell him I'll have his head before the Empress does-"

"It wasn't us," the messenger pleaded, seemingly feeling Burningtree's anger. "It was a force from across the sea, led by Brandon Brightflame... Your brother. I seen it myself, sir. He had a Blaziken with him, bigger than Pyro. I wrote his friend a letter... told him we'd be coming to treat with them. I figured you might want to know."

"You did well. See to it that you're rewarded. Now leave me be." 

This was news he wasn't expecting. Burningtree's heart skipped a beat. It was something he had wished were true for seventeen years... and something he had wished against as well. For if his brother were truly alive, then that means that thing he had done- the crime he had committed- was real as well. He remembered how the little girl's eyes looked frantically from side to side as she choked to death when her Spirit Pokémon, the Spheal bled to death on her bed.

Every time he saw Elli's face, he was reminded of the girl he had murdered in her sleep. Jessi... her name was Jessi... And she had died for nothing, not even revenge now.

Burningtree's head began to swirl as he shut the door and walked back into the room. He sat down on the bed where Alex soulless corpse rested. He had murdered an innocent all those years ago... but Brandon was alive- or so the messenger said.

Solomon's orders were to keep watch over Alex, and make sure he got back safe to the base... but now... The assassin's family was alive. This changed everything.

"Blaze?" Pyro asked, but Burningtree heard "what are we going to do?"

"We're going to find out if it's true." The Draconid assassin stood up. He looked at the still body, not yet cold from the throngs of death. "Forget Burningtree." He cast off the cloak he had worn for years now. In one swift motion, he threw the dark cloth to the floor. If Brandon, his older brother, was indeed alive, he didn't need to avenge him anymore. He didn't need this new identity... He didn't need the Draconids.

If Brandon had returned with an army at his back, the assassin was sure that he could help reclaim their rightful kingdom of Mt. Chimney. When Solomon returned from the mission in Lilycove, someone else could fill him in about the dead boy and missing Franco. He was going to leave Burningtree the Assassin behind, and be Carson Brightflame once again. Solomon may have lost the last of his family, but that doesn't mean that I have to.

He gestured his head to Pyro. "We're going."

The Pokémon took a step to follow...

And then they both stopped.

"UUUUGH!" a voice inhaled. Carson couldn't help it. He turned and saw the boy, Alex, sitting up in his bed, panting frantically, and sweating.

"I'm dead... I'm dead," he repeated. "Banette died. I died. My Spirit Pokémon..." The boy's eyes met Carson's. "Is this hell? Are you here to torture me?"

He didn't know what to do. His eyes glanced at Pyro's. His thoughts drifted to the sleeping sentry from the night before. Hypnosis... How could I be so dull? The kid's Spirit Pokémon put him under with a Hypnosis attack to trick the fat fool of a father as its last act of life... "Don't be hysterical, you're alive. Now get up, kid. We're leaving."

"But... if I'm alive, where's Banette, my Spirit Pokémon?"

The picture in Carson's mind flashed to the corpse of the lifeless Banette. It's head had been crushed and misshapen. There was no doubt about it; that Pokémon was gone for good. The Ghost was really a ghost now. "Look, kid, I don't have time to point out the obvious. The Pokémon's dead and you're not. That means you never had a Spirit Bond. Now let's go."

Carson's heart nearly broke for the first time since he could remember. A tear glimmered in the morning light as it fell from Alexander's face and hit the wooden floor. What if Pyro had died? Carson Brightflame knew the feeling of loss all too well: first his father, and then his brother were dead to him.

No, not Brandon, Carson's hopes were rising with every second. He felt like a boy again. My family has come back to me.