Urodaros groaned.  “I can’t believe this.  Do we even receive any nice letters anymore?”  The envelopes in the charizard’s clawed paw were angrily thrown on his table, making a loud, papery smacking sound.

A charmeleon walked up to the charizard.  “What’s the matter, Dad?” he asked.

“The usual, Dillak.  The usual disagreements that are against us finally trying to make peace with the humans.  All your mother and I want to do is make contact with them and finally move back to where the humans live, and live with them in peace.  I’ve met them, son.  They can be nice people.  Truly nice.  Your great-great-great-great grandmother was the first to lead Pokémon away from human cities and towns and into our own place to call home.  It was abusive back then, but time changes things.  They’re not that bad now, and I know it.”

“I remember you telling me, Dad.  You had to keep your short leave a secret because you’d scare everyone.”

“Not scare everyone,” Urodaros corrected.  “No no no, the people of this kingdom just don’t understand how segregating it now is between us and them.  They’d overreact, surely, but it wouldn’t scare them.  They just... they don’t understand.”

“So you’d scare them,” the teenager repeated as he sat down in a chair across from his father.  “They want nothing to do with humans.”

“Yes, they don’t.  That’s the problem.  We shouldn’t keep ourselves from humans just because of their ancestors’ actions from three centuries ago.  It’s... unfair and unjust.”  He gazed away for a moment, then looked at his son again.  “What if a human came here?  Or what if a human-turned-Pokémon were here, assuming the stories were true?  What then?  I doubt I’d get the final say before someone would end their life right there.  I doubt I would even know first and foremost.”  He leaned back in his chair.  “Who am I kidding... urgh.  This kingdom is full of children who want to play ‘hero’ against the humans.  I’m sick of it.  They always have something to say about them.  I can’t change how they feel, but what I can change is getting willing people to leave and return to human territories, and arrive intact just as I know we will.  And if we have to live there for even longer just to get the point across, then so be it.”

The both of them stared into the fireplace.  Urodaros breathed a small stream of flame into it, keeping the warming fire alight.  The two of them were in the living room.  The floor was composed of marble, the walls of wood planks, and the ceiling of painted wood, with wooden beams running in different directions.  Most of the castle ceilings were painted in a way that they told, through visuals, the story of what they called the Exodus, a time when over 60% of non-wild Pokémon sought refuge from their oppressive human owners.  They journeyed for miles and miles, searching for a homely place.  It was five days of walking, no transportation of any kind.

The rest of the living room was filled with couches, tables, chairs, the fireplace, a balcony, and three doorways, one of which was a quick access point for castle guards.  In case of emergency, the castle had a convenient design where it was a bit simple for guards to reach a room, should an emergency call button be pressed.  The flaw it had, however, was that it was difficult to navigate.  Guards were ordered to study maps of the confusing layout to be most effective.

Urodaros and Dillak sat quietly.  Then the charmeleon broke the 10 minutes of silence by saying, “Dad, I could hear you two yelling from one of the gardens.”

“Who?  Oh, you-- not you too...” he replied, the palm of his paw colliding with his muzzle.  “Look, I--”

“She wanted to be a sylveon, right?”

Urodaros was silent.

“You told me she already knows a fairy-type move.  You should give her a break and just be more... I don’t know, affectionate?  If you want her to grow up and evolve, you gotta start cutting her some slack.  She works hard to be more grown up as it is.”

“But I give her love.  What more can I do?”  Urodaros slouched in his chair a bit.  “And her mother... doesn’t she give enough of it?  They connect well as it is.”

“Sindi needs it from you next, Dad.  She’s ready to grow up now.  You just need to give her the space she needs, on the inside.”  Dillak rested his paws behind his head, shifting his body to sit more casually.

“But--”

“Watch your tail by the way.”  He noticed how close his father’s tail was to the chair, and the charizard promptly stopped slouching.

Sighing, Urodaros continued, “But we argued over fighting being necessary to survive.  She’ll never understand at this rate.   Even your mother tried to reason with her.”

Dillak shrugged.  “One step at a time, I guess.”  He looked out the window.

It was almost night.

Sindi laid on top of a dresser, gazing outside.  She could see quite a bit of the Pokémon city from high up in her room of the castle.  As night drew closer, the lights of the city became prettier.  To Sindi, it was a dazzling sight.

Her room was a little average: A canopy bed with dark red curtains, a dresser, windows with a nice view, dark reddish hardwood flooring, stone walls created in an octagon which shaped the castle tower of her bedroom, and the cone-shaped roof was made of wood.  What kept her from seeing its shape from the inside was a layer of small stone tiles that were located at the circular base of the wooden cone. 

If I weren’t stuck in this castle so much, I’d be out in the city more.  As cool as it is from up here... well, being up close and personal is a whole lot better.  She blinked.  Besides, I’m feeling kinda sick of the whole medieval thing this castle has.  I like modern more.

She stared at the city for the next 10 minutes, until she heard knocking on her door.

“Come in.”  The eevee shifted her body to comfortably face whomever came in.  “Hi Dad,” she said, her father’s blue eyes being the first thing she saw.  “Did you need me for something?”

The charizard walked in, looking a bit down.  “No, but uh...  Look, er... how is your day going?”

Sindi slowly raised a brow.

“Urgh...  I don’t know what to do.  Even Dillak said I should consider your feelings more, as did your mother.”

“Aaand?~” she chimed.  Her face didn’t change, but she was at least a bit interested in what her father had to say.  And that’s saying something.

“Aaand I want you to be who you wish to be.  I won’t... force your paws any longer.  You’re getting older.”

“I still don’t want to learn to fight.”

“And I disagree with that still, but even though it, to me, was my means of connecting to you, your mother and I see it best that we hire a tutor for you instead to replace me.”

“Really?  Eugh...”

“Because we don’t see eye to eye very well.  And I’m sorry for that.”  He walked closer.

Sindi tilted her head.  “Why do you think that’ll change anything?  I still don’t want to”

“That would be a conversation best left between you and your mother.  I’m... not capable of answering that question in a way that is suited for you.”

She opened her mouth, but then paused before a moment before finally uttering, “What?”  She was surprised that her father had even said that.  As far as she knew, it didn’t seem like him at all.

Urodaros nodded.

“Then... what about me and you?  You’re saying you want to connect to me more, right?”

“That’s why I want to make it up to you.  Tomorrow, we will go out.  We’ll do whatever you want.  If you want to buy--”

“No, Dad, I don’t want anything bought for me.  I just want to explore and take a look around.  I haven’t been outside of the castle much, you know?  Remember, I’m 18 years old.”

He nodded.  “Then we’ll do it, first thing in the morning.  I promise.”

“Wait, real--”

“Really.”

“Dad, you--”  She was cut off by Urodaros walking up to his daughter, giving her a warm hug.  Skeptical, she hesitated for a moment.  But in seconds she hugged him back.  “Thanks,” she said, lightly smiling.  She wasn’t used to thanking him for things.  It was then that she noticed just how rarely she said that to him.

“Not a problem,” he nodded, taking a step back after their hug.  “It became concerning for me as I seemed to... disconnect from you, if you understand what I mean.  It’s... difficult, you see...”

“Dad, don’t push it~” she said with a giggle.

“Yes, well... tomorrow we shall leave the castle for as long as you wish.  So long as it’s not forever, of course.”

“Daaad...~” she chimed.

He nodded understandingly, smiling as well.  “Yes, I’ll stop.  He made his way back to the door and stepped out.  He grabbed the knob, ready to close it, and asked one last thing.  “Do you need anything before I leave?  And will you be going to bed soon?”

“Not right now, and not yet,” she replied with a brief shake of her head.

“Very well then.  Goodbye for now.”  And with that, he closed the door behind him.

“And... thanks again!” she said through the door.

Back and forth Uriel went in her comfy rocking chair, holding her baby charmander and looking at his adorable blue eyes, taken straight from the father.  “Awww, who’s a good baby?” she cooed as she lightly scratched the charmander’s belly with one of her claws.  The baby giggled happily in response.

She was in the living room, the very same one that Urodaros and Dillak were in before.  Uriel was staring into the fireplace.  Something about fire just lit up her attention.  She could watch flames dancing in the wind all day.

“That’s you, Iril!  You’re a good baby, yes you are.”  She scratched his belly again.  A sudden rumble made her push her claw into Iril’s belly a little bit, poking it.  “Huh?”  She set her baby down in the chair she sat in and rushed over to the balcony.

Looking down, straight down, she could see a crowd of Pokémon.  She saw them banging against the castle doors with what appeared to be a battering ram, in fact a large white ram being carried by several people.

“What the...?”  She darted off to warn Urodaros and the rest of the Royal Guard.

The only things protecting the castle were the building’s own rampart-style walls, which were on average the height of 35 feet and connected the castle to the four small, empty watch towers.  There were no external walls marking a perimeter to prevent intrusion, and the only obstruction from entry was the castle’s front--and only--gate.  All the defenses were made to protect the city itself; the castle itself had no outer defenses.

The guards, all in uniforms, rushed to the castle’s ramparts and were immediately being bombarded by trebuchets that were built a couple of miles away, as well as an array of ranged attacks that were innate to the attacking Pokémon..  Returning fire, the guards used every ranged ability they could at the hundreds of people bashing at the gates.  From aura spheres to octazookas, a myriad of different balls and bombs struck against the ground and the castle walls.  The ones besieging the castle didn’t have the height advantage, but that didn’t keep the wall from eventually being blasted to the point of several Pokémon guards being knocked off, falling to their deaths.

One of which was a noivern, who quickly flapped his wings to return to the fray.  He was the captain of the Royal Guard.  “Don’t let them through!” he commanded immediately after landing back on the wall.  “They’re much stronger than we expected, about as strong as us.  And this castle doesn’t have any of its own defenses except... fire carts.  You two!” he pointed his wings at a dragonite and a magmortar.  “Get into the storage and roll the fire carts out!  We’re gonna have to get old-fashioned!”

The pair rushed off to the castle storage, which was conveniently not too far away.  Heading inside the storage room, they found six fire carts inside.  Even though they haven’t been used before, they were clearly well maintained and dusted nonetheless.

“Six?!” the magmortar spoke up.  “And we have no backup arrow magazines to rearm them!  No way only six will do!  If we’re going old school, why don’t we just use burning oil?”

“No one expected opposition to get this far,” the dragonite explained.  “And... all of our defenses are on the city walls!”

Groaning and grunting as he pushed the fire cart onto the rampart with the dragonite guard, the magmortar said, “Why couldn’t we have anything better than this anyway?  Humans use bullets, we’ve got fire arrows?  What?”

“Recent leaders didn’t want to pour too much Poké into defenses.  We’re lucky to have electricity running in the castle.  The Arvilios has been getting more and more anti-violent, even before the current ones took power.”

“Unngh...  And look what’s happening to us, we’re gonna die because of that!  We could have better fire carts than this!  Like gun carts!”

After their brief chatter, they brought two fire carts to the wall, then went right back in to get another two.

The fire carts had exactly 25 incendiary arrow rockets to rapidly fire before needing to be rearmed--not that they had any extra ammo lying around in the castle storage.  The carts themselves were made of wood, and had flag versions of the Arvilios coat of arms: Two charizards, Urodaros and Uriel, holding a shield with 18 different colors with a little image associated with each of them, signifying the the 18 different types of Pokémon.  It was a coat of arms that changed several times throughout history.

“Cart Alpha, take aim!” the noivern captain ordered.

One of the fire carts were promptly aligned to fire upon the castle’s front gate.

“FIRE!”

...

...

Not a single arrow was launched.  Not one.

“I said FIRE!”  He looked at the lucario who was near the fire cart.  “Fire that thing!  NOW!”

“I am sorry, I cannot--”

“Let me see that!”  The noivern approached.

The lucario held his paws behind him and started to charge up an aura sphere.  With eyes of reluctance, he looked at the captain.  “I cannot allow that.”

“What?!  You’re supposed to be with us!  You’re a member of the Royal Guard, Jarus!”

The sphere was reaching its full size.

The noivern charged at the lucario, staring at what he knew was his imminent demise.  He tried to lift himself into the air, but he was more hurt than he thought he was from being knocked off of the wall.  “Grrrr!”  You have no sense of justice, you treacherous fool!”

“Forgive me.”  Failing to reason with the lucario, Jarus fired his aura sphere.  The attack was devastating, and shredded the entire rampart of its garrison.  Bodies, blood, stone, and wood were flung into the air as the upper part of the wall was ripped from bluish energy.

Urodaros and Uriel stood in their throne room, overlooking the battle below  They watched with horror as the Royal Guard was being destroyed and the hostile Pokémon stormed the castle.

“This is it, then,” Urodaros gravely said.

“But why...?” Uriel questioned, looking at the three children next to her.  “They knew we did not have the defenses in place to combat a threat from within.  We thought all of the Pokémon in this city were at least loyal enough to not attempt an open rebellion such as this.  Why?  Why would they do this?”

“They want to play hero against humans.  They’re children.”

“You always say this, Uro.”

“Only because it’s true.  I know what they want: to usurp us, thinking they can run the city themselves.  I bet they will even consider going to war against the humans in the future.”  Urodaros crossed his arms.

“No, don’t say that!  After everything our family has done to maintain a sense of balance and harmony...”

“They’re too consumed by hatred to know what ‘harmony’ is,” Urodaros mocked.  He approached the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To help the Royal Guard.  I’m done sitting around waiting for my demise.  I may as well face it with my comrades.”

“No, I... I...”

The male charizard walked a few feet before reaching the door from the throne.  His paw reached for the door... but then he stopped.  Turning around, facing Sindi, he used his wings to quickly approach her, scooping her into a hug, kissing her on the forehead.  “No matter what happens, I will always love you.  Never forget that.”

“D... Dad, I--”

He put her down, then swooped toward the door.  The charizard swung it open.

“DAD WAIT!”  She ran after him, only to have Dillak clutch her tail to keep her back.  “LET GO OF ME!” 

“If I do not survive... know that I am proud to have been your father.”  He pushed himself through, shutting the door behind him.

“NO!”  She stared blankly at the door.  “No...”  Sindi began to tear up.  As she looked down, she was lifted up by Uriel, who tried to comfort her.

“I have to go with him.  I am sorry... but I must.”  She glanced at the banner above the throne, which featured the Arvilios coat of arms.  “That coat of arms has gone through several iterations, and it has a meaning.  A meaning that never changed.”  She set the eevee back down.  “My children... I love you all.  I love you with all my heart.”  She picked up Dillak and Iril and held them close.  “Now we must defend what we love: our people, our city, but most of all... the three of you.”

“Mom...”  Tears started to run down the eevee’s face.

Dillak nodded.  “We’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you, dearest.”  She walked toward the throne room door.  After opening it, she too disappeared behind it.  Uriel wanted to give what would sound like a temporary “goodbye,” but even that felt like too much to her.

“Dad... Mom...”  Sindi’s tears pooled on the black and white floor tiles, running between the cracks.  Her ears fell as well.  Nothing of her mood seemed to change when Dillak put a clawed paw on her shoulder.

“They gotta do what they gotta do.  It’s a family thing.  Plus if we’re gonna live, them joining the guards will give us better chances to, you know...”  He didn’t dare finish that thought.  It was too grim, even for him.

“I know, but... I... I didn’t get to...”  A white glow slowly engulfed her body.

Dillak retracted his arm, smirking at what he was seeing.  He knew what was happening, and it made him happy.

“I...”  Following it, an odd feeling surrounded her.  She struggled to identify it as good or bad.  After a few seconds more, the light faded away, and Sindi fell to her face.  “Unngh...” she groaned.  After opening her eyes, she saw something in front of her.  Its end was in two shades of blue, followed by another, pinkish shade, and the rest a pale cream color that followed her all the way to her left ear.

“Wh... what is this?” Sindi asked.  “Is...?”  She noticed that she able to move it.  It felt quite much like it was a part of her.  “Th... that’s a...”  As she waved it around a bit in front of her, she looked at her front paws.  Pink and pale cream, just like part of the ribbon.  “Does th... does that mean I’m a...?!”

“A sylveon.  Yep.”  Dillak put his paw back on the eevee-turned-sylveon’s shoulder.  “I knew how much you wanted to be one.  I tried to get father to give you what you needed to get your wish.”

“Dillak...”  She softly wrapped him up with her ribbons and pressed him against her, a new kind of hug.  “Th... thank you...”

“Dad did it, not me.  Just like suggesting a present.  And... easy on the ribbons!”

Sindi released the charmeleon from her grip.  “I...!”

BANG!

The door was smashed open, and all sorts of Pokémon flooded the throne room, surrounding them.

Guess it’s a goodbye gift... Dillak thought, trying to ignore the sadness that he was starting to feel.

A male grovyle walked into the room.  He looked around, silent for a moment.  “So... this is it, huh?” he eventually said.

“Wh-who are you?!” the sylveon demanded.  Dillak eyed her worriedly.

“I am Xani Jynerva, leader of the Circle of Unity.  We are an organization founded with one sole purpose: ensuring peace within the kingdom of Arvilios.  Unfortunately, the late King Urodaros and Queen Uriel had plans that would bring ruin to us.  This was treason to the state, and thus they had to be...” he crossed his arms, “dealt with.”

“Just tell us,” Dillak interrupted, “are they dead or are they not?”

“We, at the Circle of Unity, have elected that the Arvilios family is too untrustworthy; you will cause nothing more than trouble to the kingdom.”

“That doesn’t mean you’ll kill us, right?  We... Iril and I are just kids!”  He hugged the charmander.  Iril stared inquisitively at the grovyle.

“Sorry ‘kids,’ but your parents are to blame for what’s about to happen.”  His right forearm started to glow green... and he quickly dashed straight for the two brothers.

“You can’t do this!”

SLASH!

The sylveon didn’t turn her head from where Xani was just a second ago.  Then she realized what she heard.  Flesh tearing... violently, as if done with a blade.  Gulping, she slowly turned her wide-eyed head, her body quivering in fear.  She couldn’t even hold herself still.

Then she saw it.  Blood.  Their throats slit.  Their bodies laying lifeless.  Their blood seeping from the cuts in their necks.

They were dead.  Gone.  Forever.

No...  The sylveon mouthed the word, but she found it hard to speak.  She almost felt as if her voice disappeared.

“That should be all of the Arvilios dead.”

A lucario walked in.  “A rumor of a hidden child exists.  I have also checked several journals; no such confirmation.”

“Thank you, Jarus,” the grovyle spoke, approaching the catwalk behind the throne room.  “I recall these rumors as well.  An eevee.  But have you seen how many eevees we have killed based on rumor alone?  It is likely dead by now.  Even if these rumors were true, no such thing would have survived our assault regardless.”

Jarus approached the sylveon, then picked her up by the neck.  She constantly dripped tears onto the floor.  “What of this one?”

Xani turned around.  “If we asked her who she sides with, she’ll most likely say, ‘not Arvilios.’  She’s likely the protector of the children, in fact.  But here we have her paws shaking.  Obviously being protective didn’t pan out.”

“If that were true,” Jarus interjected.

“Either or, release her as we did the others who are neither guard nor Arvilios.”  He brushed some of the blood off of his forearm.

“As you wish.”  Jarus calmly set down the sylveon.  “You.  What is your name?”

“S... Sindi...” she stuttered with fear.

“I see.  Farewell, Sindi.”

And like that, she darted off.  “I-I gotta get outta here!” she said to herself.  She passed by several pools of blood.  Most of the time, she didn’t even find bodies with them.  She definitely couldn’t find the bodies of her parents--not that she tried to.  It wasn’t something she wanted to see.

Tiring herself out from running all the way through the castle, the sylveon at last reached the broken door, ignoring every pool of blood she could see.

“Huff... huff... gotta... keep... movi--”

“Brothers and sisters!”

Th... that voice...  Sindi turned around, looking up.  It was Xani on the catwalk.

“The end of our time of plight is nigh!  With the Arvilios family destroyed, and their castle besieged, we now have their lineage beneath our feet.  Now that we have our future secured, we can begin to take the needed steps to rebuild ourselves!  Reshape ourselves!  We will become what we must in order to build a brighter world.  We will, in no time, show the humans that we are not to be trifled with!”

The growing crowd in front of the castle cheered wildly.  Pokémon from all corners of Arvilios City came to hear his speech.

“Arvilios... is no more!  As leader of the Circle of Unity, I will take the helm of this mighty machine... and rewrite history as we know it.  Our time has come, brothers and sisters!  Our time of rebuilding, our time of redemption!  Our time of revitalizing Pokémon glory!  Farewell Arvilios City, for you have outlived your purpose!  From your ashes comes forth Jynerva City!  Long live King Jynerva!  Long live our legacies!  LONG LIVE OUR FREEDOM!”

“Long live our freedom!  Long live our freedom!” the crowd chanted.

Sindi tried as hard as she could to block her ears from the loud crowd.  She had heard enough already.  She couldn’t take anymore.  All she wanted to do was run away, mourn, and cry in peace.

“Long live our freedom!  Long live our freedom!”

Almost there... she thought as she rushed through the gathered Pokémon.  She turned her back one last time to look at the catwalk.  Then she saw something that made her stop in her tracks.

She saw a serpent-like body next to the grovyle, and was able to identity two colors: black and green.  Then she saw more: black frills on the back of its head and hexagonal shapes all across the body.  Sindi noticed every feature of a kind of Pokémon known to monitor ecosystems--and it was there, siding with Jynerva.

Is that... she blinked repeatedly, almost trying to not believe what she saw, a zygarde...?