HECTOR

            For once in his life, Brandon Brightflame was silent. Hector watched as the news made the exile Prince put his face in his hands. “My brother is safe then,” the red headed Prince raised his head. His eyes glimmered with tears of joy.

            They were gathered around a table: Brandon Brightflame and Combusken, Ares, Hermes, Hector, Eric Bell who had met them on the beach a while ago with his Sealeo, and his old angry companion and the Snorunt. At the head of the table, two men sat side by side: Eric Bell’s older brother, Aaron with his own Sealeo, as well as their father, the Chief of Mossdeep himself.

            “How can this be?” Brandon asked, his voice a whisper. All poise and swagger seemed to have left him, giving way to joy and happiness.

            Chief Bell spoke. A large Walrein with an intimidating stare sat patiently on his right side. “It was the Master of Intelligence who came upon this information.” He gestured to the old angry man who had accompanied Eric Bell on the beach previously. The Snorunt sat on his lap, ever smiling.

            “There are multiple reports and stories that differ among themselves,” he said in a hoarse voice. “But one thing remains the same: Solomon Forrest engineered a trap that Miguel Starfall entered into blindly and overconfidently. I can report with confidence that the man who stole the Lavastone Throne of Mt. Chimney is dead.”

            Hector sat in silence throughout the report. His eyes were on Brandon. His heart reached out to the man who had been through so much with him, since they met by chance in the dark cells of the Lavaridge Castle. Hector smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.         

            Brandon looked back at him and his confident, cocky smile returned to his face. “I can go home now. Carson… My people need their rightful king-”

            “I would advise against that, boy,” said the Bells’ Master of Intelligence. Hector noticed how the Snorunt seemed to stare right at Brandon. “To get back to Lavaridge, or even to your ally in the safety of the Foretree Kingdom, you would have to cross Sootopolis controlled waters.”

            Brandon brushed off the warning. “We’ve eluded them before. You’ve seen our under-sea ship.”

            “Aye, I’ve seen it,” growled the Master of Intelligence. His voice lowered and his eyes narrowed. “And so has Ahab, and there are countless Glamour Ships prowling the waters off of Mossdeep, looking for that ship. They know how you got away before. The Empress won’t let you escape again. There’s a bounty on your head, Brightflame. The Empress knows it’s you. All of my contacts in Lilycove, Sootopolis, and Pacifidlog are talking about it. They want you to try to go home. They’re counting on it.”

            There was silence again. Then, Chief Bell’s older son spoke. “Thank you, Lucifer. Your input is and always has been of utmost value to my family.”

            Chief Bell himself added, “Thank you for your report, you are dismissed.” Lucifer, the Master of Intelligence and his Snorunt bowed respectfully. The Chief stood up. He was strong and muscled. Hector judged that he was in his mid-fifties.

            Then Eric, the younger son of Chief Bell, spoke up. “If I may speak,” he said in the same easygoing voice as he had when he first met the fugitives on the beach, “My own circle of contacts is reporting that the majority of the Sootopolis navy is away to the South and West in Slateport. Ahab and Empress Glamour’s attention at the moment is focusing on conquering their prize. If our guest Prince Brandon wishes to smuggle himself back home, it would seem to me that there is no better time than right now.”

            The Master of Intelligence shot Eric the same dirty look he had when Hector had first encountered them. There is animosity between those two, he noted.

            Eric’s father, the Chief, smiled respectfully but authoritatively. “I thank you as well for your input, Eric.” He turned to his older son. “It seems my small council is at an impasse. Aaron, what say you on this matter.”

            It seemed to Hector that Aaron, though the older Bell brother, was more quiet and reserved. He glanced nervously at old Lucifer, and then again at his younger brother. “I trust Lucifer in this matter. It would be a mistake for Brandon and his friends to leave at this time.”

            “Thank you, Aaron,” Chief Bell smiled. He walked over and placed a hand on Brandon’s shoulder. “It would please me if you stayed but a little while longer. I trust my councilors, and so should you. I’m sorry the time isn’t yet ripe.”

            Brandon scowled and swiped the Chief’s hand off of him. “By rights I am the King of Mt. Chimney. I’m no King without a Kingdom.” Brandon and Combusken turned around and stormed out of the council chamber.

            Hector bowed to Chief Bell. “You must forgive him,” he said. “Brandon’s been through a lot, as have we all.” Hector gestured towards Ares and Hermes.

            The Chief nodded and said softly, “I understand.”

            Hector followed Brandon out of the door. He exited and sunlight hit him as he entered into the Shallow Garden of Mossdeep: a beautiful place outside the Chief’s hall of shallow tide pools where coral, and shellfish, and all kinds of life bloomed in a rainbow wave of colors. He paused for a second as he noticed Brandon looking off into the distance with his fists clenched. Combusken looked up at him sadly, its three clawed hand resting on the exile’s back.

            Eventually, the fisherman’s son found the courage to approach him. “Everything will end up fine, Brandon. We just have to stay a little bit longer. You heard Chief Bell.”

            “Yeah, fish-boy, I did.” He met Hector, eye-to-eye. “I’m used to doing what I want, and doing it right. The last year has been a wake-up call for me. I feel like I’ve changed, Hector, I’m not the man I once was, and it hurts to admit it.”

            “You have changed, Brandon,” the fisherman’s son replied. “For the better, I think.”

            That made Brandon smile. He looked down at Combusken. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I understand now, how Apollo felt. The chance to see his sister again, to protect her… to lay down his life for her if need be. I understand him now as I never had before. Every night I think about Apollo. I respected that man.”

            “We all did,” said Hector sadly. His thoughts passed over Luna, still deranged; raving and mumbling to the Mudkip Egg as if it were her dead daughter, Lily.

            “What about you, Hector?” Brandon asked. His eyes seemed to pierce into Hector’s very being. “Do you think you could do what he did? Sacrifice yourself to save someone?”

            Hector thought about Ryan, now but a distant memory. He was one of Hector’s closest friends, but when the battle of Mauville erupted around them, it was the fisherman’s son who had cowered behind a broken building, while Ryan fought to defend the city… against Brandon Brightflame. Things are different now, Brandon thought. That wasn’t Brandon’s fault, he did what his father, his King, commanded.

            “I’ve changed too, I think,” Hector said at last. “If I could go back, I would exchange my life to save Ryan, or to come between Chris and Swampert.” Hector saw Brandon flinch at the mention of Ryan’s name. Could he possibly be feeling guilty? “I know going forward that I would do anything it takes to save my friends.”

            “Do you think I’m your friend?” Brandon asked.

            Before Hector could answer, he heard the squishing of feet on wet sand. Combusken turned, ready to defend against a foe, but it was just Eric Bell. The younger son of the Chief approached them close, as if to whisper in their ears.

            “There’s not much time,” he said. “There are those in Mossdeep who would rather have you stay and turn you over to the Empress. If you want to go home, meet me here again at midnight.”

            As soon as he came, Eric Bell turned around and left, entering back into the hall of his father.

            Brandon and Hector looked at each other. “Lucifer,” Hector said. “He didn’t look happy when Eric said it would be time to go.”

            “Yeah, I saw that too,” Brandon said. “Get ready to leave this rock.”

            The evening came too quickly. Hector’s heart pounded as he went back to his chamber that the Bells had provided for him. He dressed in the armor Apollo had stolen from a ship, and over it he put a long dark cloak that would conceal him in the night. When the crescent moon reached its peak in the sky, he set back out for the Shallow Gardens.

            Brandon was already there with Combusken. They each wore the armor they had arrived on Mossdeep with. Brandon was polishing one of his twin swords with a smooth stone he had found in one of the tide pools.

            “Nice of you to join us, fish-boy,” Brandon said.

            “Us?”

            Brandon nodded over to two of the other pools about a hundred yards away, Eric Bell was approaching with Sealeo... and in a hurry.

            “What about Lady Love?” Hector asked. “We can’t let her fall into Ahab’s hands again. And what of Ares and Hermes?”

            “Bad news,” came Eric’s voice. He and Sealeo splashed towards them. “We’ve been found out, and the other two are dead. They’ve arrested Luna Love. Lucifer’s keeping her in my father’s house. Come, there’s no time!”

            Hector’s heart crashed, but like Eric said, there was no time. With that, Eric ran towards the ocean in the distance, his Sealeo sliding rather swiftly after him. Hector looked at Brandon and nodded. They ran after him.

            They caught up to him with Ares and Hermes when Eric stopped behind a rock before they came upon a lit street. Watchful Bell guards were patrolling up and down.

            Hector had to make himself heard. “We have to go back for her,” he said anxiously.

            Eric Bell’s eyes flashed and he drew his sword, a sticky red substance coated the top of it. Hector knew blood when he saw it. “It’s too dangerous. He tried to arrest me as well, the damned Lucifer. Always in my father’s ear he is. I had to cut my way through five of my own family’s guards before I realized she was a lost cause.”

            “Lady Love was our whole reason for being here,” Hector protested.

            “She won’t be the reason I’m staying, and I’m not going to let her be the reason that you die,” Brandon said to Hector. He turned back to Eric. “Where are we going?”

            “To one of my contacts’ ships. They’re waiting for us out in the water.”

            A year ago, Hector would have collapsed. But he was different now, and hardened. There was no time to be the same old, timid, scared Hector. He waited for Eric to let them know that the coast was clear before he followed him out into the beach and into the cold salty water.

            A small rowboat was waiting for the three of them. Hector took Combusken’s hand as the fire bird pulled him into the boat. He turned back towards the lights of Mossdeep, to send a quick, last prayer to Luna and her Spirit Pokemon, Gallade. He even was about to pay his respects to the unhatched egg when he heard voices and saw torches approaching them.

            “There they are!” called the rough voice of Lucifer. Hector could make out the old man’s shape in the darkness as he pointed towards them. “Snorunt! Stop them! Murderer!”

            The little Ice Pokemon shot a blast of snowy wind at the boat, but Brandon and Combusken rowed the boat away from it.

            “Sealeo!” Eric’s voice called. The blue seal Pokemon raised its head and shot icy shards back at Lucifer and the men on the beach, as they sailed farther and farther away from the enemies on shore. They were going to escape. “Haze!” Eric Bell finally commanded.

            The air became thick and heavy with a fog. “Don’t worry,” Eric said to Hector and Brandon, seemingly an eternity later. “We’re safe now.”

            Eventually, their little row boat bumped up against something larger. Hector put his hands out to steady himself, and they found a wooden wall.

            “Looks like we’re here,” Brandon said.

            The fog had cleared by now, and Hector looked up at a rope ladder that had been dropped down from the top of the ship. He saw light blue flags flying atop its mast.

            “Those are Sootopolis banners,” he said.

            “Of course they are,” Eric said as he helped steady the boat so that Hector could follow Brandon up the ladder. “There’s no better way to slip unseen past other Sootopolis ships. Now hurry; up you go before Lucifer sends my father’s navy after us.”

            Hector put his qualms aside and climbed. When he reached the top, he saw a glimpse of Brandon and Combusken on the ground, soldiers holding swords at the backs of their necks. Before he had time to react, a blast of cold air hit him in the back, and he collapsed to the deck as well.

            “Here they are, as promised,” came Eric’s voice.

            Hector craned his neck up and saw a large man with a Sharpedo painted on his armor. “Good job, Bell. Looks like you walk the walk and talk the talk. The Empress will be very pleased. Where’s the woman?”

            “The Odaran got to her before I did. You remember old Lucifer?” Eric said casually. “When the Empress rewards me I’ll make sure to get her back as well. She can’t hide forever.”

            Brandon spoke up, it was never like him to hold his tongue. “What’s the meaning of this, Eric? You lying, treacherous, slime! Ah!” The large man kicked him.

            Hector heard Eric step around on the ship towards Brandon. “Liar? I am no liar. I told you that there was someone in Mossdeep who wanted to hand you over to the Empress. It’s your own fault you trusted me.”

            “Why?” Hector asked.

            Eric and the large man laughed. “Why? I want what every little brother wants: his father’s seat. I should be the Chief of Mossdeep.”

            “And now that you’ve proven your worth to the Empress,” said the large man as he clapped Eric on the back approvingly, “you shall have it.” He pointed at Brandon, Combusken and Hector. “Take them to the brig.”

            Before Sootopolis soldiers threw them down below deck, Eric grabbed the two companions and whispered in their ears. “You’ll not start any trouble,” he said as he lifted his blood-stained sword up again. He smiled his charming smile again, but this time it twisted Hector’s gut. “Or you’ll meet the same fate as your two friends did.”

            When the top door of the brig closed, they were enclosed in darkness. The ship began to rock as the waves moved beneath them; they were moving. Hector could feel Brandon’s fiery anger radiate outwards onto him… but the fisherman’s son had no fight left in him. Ares and Hermes were dead, and they were going back to Sootopolis, This time, it was really the end.