SURPRISE!!! This is a story I've written for exclamation man's birthday; not only because he is a great author who has lots of good ideas, but also because he'd had the wonderful idea of writing a crossover chapter between his story „The Valley" and my story „A Mansion made of Dreams". I will start working on my part of that chapter these days now, and I can only hope it'll be as good as what he has come up with. But until then, I decided to write something for his birthday that'll hopefully appeal to him; a story about a rebel, about oppression and freedom, about fire-type-Pokémon and, of course, about love! Who wouldn't like a story like that? Alright, ex-man, this one's for you. Enjoy ^^!



PLEASE NOTE: I do not own Pokémon, and I have to say that I'm kind of proud of it, because the idea of capturing animal-like creatures to make them fight each other is pretty sick, actually. Whatever, each species of Pokémon referred to in the following text is the property of their rightful owner, however, the actual story belongs to me. 


WARNING: This story contains an act of sexual intercourse (only oral) between a male Arcanine and a female Ninetales, which is described to be very abusive. If you do not want to be exposed to anything like this, then please stop reading now, or at least don't blame me for reading something you don't like.


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The Fall of a Kingdom





The Stantler was focusing completely on running from his pursuers. It was a natural reaction, natural and understandable, and yet it would still be the cause of his demise. Lorciel was making more and more haste, dashing on all fours, closely following the panicking normal type. For a Charmeleon like him, it was an unusual way of running, since his species generally preferred to walk on their hind legs only. But he had found out that, with a little training and concentration, he was able to gain much more speed this way, and speed was the most important thing about being a hunter.
The second most important thing, of course, was a threatening look. Because of this, Lorciel held his tail raised, so that the flaming tip was hovering right above his head. Even though this slowed him down a little, it was worth it; it was an aggressive pose that always served to strike the hearts of his prey with fear. An occasional growl, combined with baring his sharp teeth, and even Pokémon that were taller than him turned their tails and ran. Lorciel had always been confident of his own abilities, but he still realized that all this would be a lot harder, maybe even impossible without the help of Aerion.
The Quilava was running right besides him. His eyes were locked on their prey, and the two Pokémon's flames formed a streaming orange line, that cut through the forest like a blade of pure heat. Even though neither of them had reached their highest evolution level yet, their appearance always worked the way the wanted it to work.
The Stantler was quick, it ran to the right and to the left in an attempt to lose its pursuers. But Lorciel and Aerion had been hunting since almost the very beginning of their lives; not that either one of them had really wanted to, but they had been assigned for it. „This is how society works." They had heard that sentence way too often already. Always with the society, and that everyone had to do their very best in order to keep things the way they were. Now, the hunting itself wasn't so bad; what bothered Lorciel was the fact that he had to do this for about six hours each day, always bringing back more than fifteen dead Pokémon, and he still never got more to eat than a Rattata had meat on its bones. But this seemed to be his fate. Work hard to earn it and then give it away; definitely the way society worked for him.
He was tired. The Stantler seemed to be way faster than any other Pokémon they had caught today, and it appeared to be smarter, too. Whatever Lorciel and Aerion did, it just wouldn't run in the direction they wanted it to go. For a moment, the Charmeleon thought about just giving up... But suddenly, their prey dashed off to the left, heading right towards the place where it was supposed to run to.
Lorciel and Aerion tried to make especially much noise. They roared and growled, they shouted at the running Pokémon. It worked; the Stantler turned to look over its shoulder. Had it continued to focus on its escape, then maybe it would have noticed the Persian hiding in the tree right above its head. But as the Stantler recognized it had run right into a trap, it was too late already. The feline Pokémon came down on its back, and the sudden impact combined with the increased weight made the Stantler tumble and fall to the ground. It shrieked loudly, desperately trying to get up again - but just a second later, the Persian had already torn its neck open. A gargling sound came from the Stantler as its life ended.
Panting heavily, both Lorciel and Aerion closed in on the scene. A puddle of blood was forming beneath the dead Pokémon's neck. The Persian turned around.

„What took you so long? It's boring to sit in a tree all day!"

„My, shouldn't we all pity you for having to do such hard work?", the Charmeleon snarled. He sat down on the ground. His legs were shivering. Luckily, this catch had been the last one for today. The Persian bared his teeth.

„Remember who killed it", he just said. Then, he turned around and began marching off into the woods. „I'm going to get the others", he added. „You two watch the prey."

„I'm pretty sure it won't go anywhere", Lorciel muttered. The Persian didn't hear him, as he had already disappeared between the trees. Lorciel let himself fall over on his back and looked up at the afternoon sky. He frowned as he recognized two familiar shapes, circling above this part of the forest.

„Look", he said to Aerion, who now sat down and turned his head to watch the sky as well. „It's them again." He had seen those shapes way too often, and they always reminded him of the same thing: He'd never get away from here.
It was a Pidgeot and a Fearow. Whenever he had to go out hunting, those two, alongside with other flying Pokémon would watch him from the sky; not to ensure his safety, of course. They were there to make any kind of attempted escape impossible from the start.
„If I had wings", he mused, „I would have already flown away as far as possible from this stupid place." He sighed. „We'd have to find some flying type who's not such a total moron, maybe they would help us..."

„Don't be a fool", interrupted Aerion. He never talked much, but that didn't keep him from bringing his friend back into reality. „Those guys are taught to be completely obedient. Trivaar needs them more than anyone else." Lorciel nodded slightly. Aerion was right, of course. King Trivaar's highest priority was to make sure that nobody escaped, and he knew how to manipulate Pokémon so they would obey him. It was all about education. A few days after a child was born, someone from the royal staff would come to examine what duties this new Pokémon would eventually have to fulfill. They could either be a hunter if they were fast, a member of the king's guard if they were strong, big and intimidating, or a worker. Workers had all kinds of different things to do, and it depended on what they were most talented with. Aerion's sister Shenava was a worker. It was her job to decorate the stones, which would later be used to enlarge king Trivaar's residence, with carvings. This, of course, didn't include any kind of creativity, since she was not free to carve whatever she wanted, but was given an example and then had to dublicate that over and over again. When she had first started her work, she had cried every day because her paw hurt so much, but now that her claws had grown used to the steady abuse, she didn't even complain anymore, at least when she was at work.
Lorciel sat up again and took a look at the corpse. He was salivating.

„Hey, Aerion", he spoke in a low tone. The Quilava turned to him, not saying anything. „Wanna take a bite?" Aerion looked away again.

„They'd notice", he replied. „They always do." For a moment, Lorciel just looked at him. Then, he let himself fall over on his back again.

„I hate this place so much."









A little while later, two Machokes stepped out of the forest, alongside with the Persian from before. They were pulling a construction after them that was made from twigs and branches; actually it wasn't more than a poorly designed platform to place the prey on so that they wouldn't have to carry it. Without saying a word they lifted the Stantler and threw it on the construction. Then, they turned to head into the direction from where they had come from, followed by the Persian.

„Come on", he shouted over his shoulder. „It's enough for today!" Lorciel and Aerion quickly got up and followed as well. They walked until they came upon a river, and then followed it upstream. Lorciel knew that this river marked the border of the territory they were allowed to move in. If they hadn't had to hunt, they hadn't even been allowed to enter the forest. It was strictly forbidden to travel too far from king Trivaar's house, that lay directly at the center of the region he referred to as his kingdom.
King Trivaar's residence was the only shelter in the territory that had really been built, and even now the constructions still went on. Every other Pokémon lived, depending on their size and the size of their family, either in things like hollow trees or small burrows, or in one of the caves that had been dug out from the large mountain wall at the northern end of the kingdom. Lorciel was lucky that his parents were Charizards, so they needed a big place to live in. A cave was just much more comfortable than a burrow. But most families lived in caves, anyway, and Aerion's was not an exception. Only single Pokémon, that hadn't been assigned a mate because there hadn't been enough Pokémon of the opposite gender at the time, and couples that didn't have children yet had to live at the smaller places. 
Still, nothing compared to king Trivaar's large residence. Each king in the history of the whole kingdom had added another part to it - or, to be more specific, had ordered his workers to add another part to it - so it was gigantic, compared to a cave. King Trivaar I. had started this tradition by having built a shelter for him that would offer more protection to wind and snow than a cave ever could, and then he had told his son, Trivaar II. to add whatever he thought would fit. Right now it was king Trivaar VII. who was in charge, but neither did Lorciel know what he was adding to the residence, nor did he care. The guards didn't let him near the building, anyway. The only ones allowed to enter were the king himself and the members of the council, that were elected every four years anew. Their duties were to first determine a new king, in case the former one had passed away or was found to be inappropriate by the council members, and to be their leader's advisors. But this whole system was nothing but a joke, actually; the king had complete control over his guards and could just threaten the council members to determine his son. But this wasn't even necessary, as the only candidates for the council that the inhabitants of the kingdom were allowed to vote for were all on the king's side, anyway. They always got more food than everybody else, and sometimes, if especially many females had been born a few years before so they hadn't all been assigned to a mate, a council member who had been especially loyal would be rewarded with a pleasure slave. Needless to say that all council members were male.









It was just another day, a normal day, just like every day that had ever been before. In the morning, Aerion and Lorciel got up, met at the place where all the hunters assembled and then went to do their work; in the afternoon, they returned to the kingdom and met with Shenava, who always waited for her brother and his friend to walk her home. Lorciel had always enjoyed being with the female Quilava, and she seemed to enjoy his company as well. Shenava was a little younger and a little smaller than her brother, and in opposite to him, she liked to talk. Sometimes Aerion would roll his eyes and tell her that she went on his nerves. But Lorciel always loved to hear her talk. She had such a beautiful voice...

„...my paw still hurts a little, but I guess it's much better these days than it was a few years ago. I really don't know why Trivaar needs all those carvings in the stones, I bet he doesn't even look at them. Seriously, I'm completely ruining my paw and nobody ever appreciates it, that's kind of frustrating, and..."

„Shenava", said Aerion in an annoyed tone. The female Quilava fell silent and looked forward as she walked, trying not to put too much pressure on the paw she had carved with. But since Quilavas moved on all fours, she had to bear with some pain, anyway. Next to Shenava walked her brother, and next to him there was Lorciel. There was silence for a moment as they made their way across the plains, in the direction of the mountains.

„Sometimes I really don't know why they make me do this." Lorciel smiled inwardly. She always had to voice her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried not to. „I mean, they could just build that thing without the carvings. Nobody really needs them. I doubt that Trivaar..."

„Shut up already!", snapped Aerion. Shenava jerked at this sudden outburst, her expression grew worried. But before she could ask what was wrong, Lorciel quickly explained:

„He's worried about that thing coming up these days." He nodded. „You know what I mean." Of course she knew what he meant. Aerion and Lorciel were both at the age where they would get a mate assigned to them. It could only take a few days now. Lorciel smiled as he thought about this. He was sure that Shenava would become his mate; his parents had told him that king Trivaar and the council always assigned those who would fit best. And there was no female he enjoyed being with more than Shenava. But he found it understandable that Aerion was worried; the Quilava had never really seemed to be interested in any of the females. But then again, he had never really seemed to be interested in anything.
The Charmeleon saw Shenava smile at him and he blushed. She was probably having the same thoughts he did. He looked forward to being her mate; not only would one of his secret wishes come true, but they would also be assigned a new place to live. Lorciel wanted to get out of his parents' cave so bad. They always told him about how great everything was; how great it was that they had king Trivaar, how great it was that they could all live safe and peacefully here and how great it was that they had a secured food source, if they just did as they were told. Lorciel's father, a large and powerful Charizard, was a member of the guard. In honor of his services, he had once been granted one wish. He had wished that his mate would never have to work again, and it had been granted by, as he called him, „the noble king Trivaar VI.". Sure, it was kind of a romantic story, and Lorciel didn't have anything against his father being devoted to his mate; he just was against his father being devoted to the king. Lorciel found it absolutely stupid to assume that, just because the former king had been a great leader, his son would automatically fulfill this task just as well. Besides, the young Charmeleon suspected that king Trivaar VI. had been just as lazy, decadent and tyrannic as his son now was and that the council just lied about it, as they lied about everything, anyway. Lorciel hated this kingdom, but he didn't know what he should do about it. He just didn't know.








„King Trivaar VII. sent us a messenger today."

Lorciel perked up. He had been concentrated on eating his share of meat out of a wooden bowl. Slowly, he raised his head. His father and his mother were sitting in front of him, leaning against the opposite wall of the cave. They both smiled, and the male Charizard even seemed to be proud. Now Lorciel knew that something very special must had happened. His father had never been proud of him, since he was a hunter instead of a guard, how the large Charizard had originally hoped.

„What kind of messenger?" The Charmeleon was not sure if he was going to like the answer. His mother's smile grew broader.

„He told us the name of your assigned mate." Lorciel tensed up. He knew this moment would come sooner or later, but he hadn't expected it to arrive that early. Suddenly, his mouth went dry and he had to clear his throat. His father seemed to greatly enjoy his reaction.

„You've probably thought about females pretty often already", he suspected as he rose to his hind paws, slowly making his way over to his son until he stood behind him. Lorciel didn't turn around. „Really, I feel as if it had been just yesterday that you hatched..." He placed his large paw on his son's shoulder. Lorciel didn't react at all. „...and today, you're almost an adult. Time's going by so fast, isn't it...?" A soft chuckle came from Lorciel's mother and he could see her belly jiggle. He knew his mother was carrying out an egg at the moment. There was a rule in the kingdom, and that rule said that every family had to have exactly two children to maintain the size of the population, though sometimes, parents were allowed to have three or four children even, but this only happened when it had not been possible to assign enough Pokémon to each other so that the number of families would stay the same in the end. It was no surprise that Lorciel's father, being the loyal servant to his king that he was, had felt obliged to have the second child with his mate as quickly as possible. However, for a reason that Lorciel's parents had never told him anything about, she hadn't been able to carry another egg until now. It didn't interest him, anyway, especially not at this moment.

„Don't take too long with this." She smiled at her mate. „The tension might kill him." His father chuckled as well and then rubbed his shoulder.

„Alright", he spoke. „You know, son, you're incredibly lucky. King Trivaar VII. assigned you to Shirvy. You might know her, she's a Charmeleon just like you, and her father even has a place in the council, so..." Whatever his father said next, Lorciel wasn't listening anymore. Even though he was a fire type, suddenly he felt incredibly cold. An expression of pure shock was written all over his face. For a moment, he couldn't believe it; then, just a second later, he found it to be ridiculous. Shirvy? He had never heard this name before. What on earth had Trivaar been thinking when he had made this decision? But he probably hadn't been thinking at all, yeah, that was the problem; that was the single cause of all the injustice, all the oppression and the miserable and controlled life he had. Nobody actually thought about what they were doing.

„This is crazy", he said, interrupting his father who had just gone on rambling about how much of an honor this was for their family, and that Lorciel would maybe even become an important Pokémon himself. His paw was still resting on the Charmeleon's shoulder.

„What is crazy, son?" This question was definitely not as unbiased as the Charizard had tried to make it sound. „You certainly don't think there's anything wrong with you becoming Shirvy's mate, do you?" His father was consciously putting pressure on him for the sake of his stupid beliefs. Lorciel took a deep breath. Well, one day it would have come to this, anyway. He had to face it.

„I don't love her, father. I've never even met her."

„I am sure you will come to like her, my dear", his mother said in a soft tone. Her expression was concerned and also seemed to be pleading him not to resist at the same time. „Our king would never have assigned you to her if he didn't thought you fit together."

„Well, maybe Trivaar has made a mistake." Lorciel's mother gasped. He could feel his father's paw gripping his shoulder more tightly.

„My son, first of all you should always adress our king by his full title, king Trivaar VII. And you also need to know that no decision he makes is wrong." The Charizard's voice had a certain coldness in it. His mother nodded.

„Our king is only interested in the well-being of our society, dear", she said in a slightly urging tone. „Each decision he makes is completely thought-through, you can rest assured of that. Please give Shirvy a chance, I am sure you will not regret it." Lorciel sighed and shook his head.

„But this is stupid", he said. „Why should I take someone as a mate just because Tri... king Trivaar VII. tells me to do so? I'd much rather become Shenava's mate, I mean, I know her and I like her, and I know she likes me, too, so..." His mother's expression changed from concerned to pitiful.

„She is not even one of your species, my dear, this would never work. Please trust our king's decision, he is very wise and knows a lot about these things."

„What does her species have to do with us becoming mates?", asked Lorciel. „Isn't love something that doesn't care about such superficial things?" For a moment, it seemed as if his mother wanted to reply something, but his father was first:

„Love, I think you should let me discuss this alone with our son. I don't want you to get into a fuss when you're in such a condition." Lorciel's mother placed her paw on her belly and then nodded.

„Whatever you say." She stood up and gave her mate a lick across his cheek, then walked off deeper into the cave. Lorciel's father, still holding his shoulder, guided him further to the entrance, where he sat down next to him. He then took a deep breath.

„Son, our whole society is based on trusting our king. Because we trust him, because we believe that what he decides is the best way to handle things, we can live together like this. If we didn't have this trust, then we couldn't have a society either, and we'd all be living for ourselves." He raised his other paw and pointed towards the entrance of the cave; the forest could be seen in the distance. „It's dangerous out there", he went on. „You have nobody to protect you, you have to do everything yourself. Everyone is your enemy, when you live out there." 'I wouldn't have to give away all the prey I bring down', Lorciel added mentally. 'Nobody would tell me not to leave a certain territory. Nobody would tell me to become someone's mate. I could be free...'

„Trust isn't relative", his father spoke. „Either you trust someone, or you don't. Either you believe that every single decision king Trivaar VII. makes is the right one, or you can't tell me you trust him." Lorciel swallowed. Though he tended to sometimes be a little emotional, he was far from being stupid. He knew that nothing he could say or do would ever change his father's mind, and that his life would become even more miserable if his father found out how much he hated this kingdom. He'd just have to lie.

„I see", he said in a low tone. „I'm sorry I doubted our king, father." He could feel his father's grip on his shoulder getting loose. When he looked at the large Charizard, he found a warm smile and that expression of pride again.

„You're a good son", said his father and gave him a pat on the back.










Lorciel had never been this grateful that his parents and he had seperate rooms in the cave. It was evening now, but he needed it to be night. This was it. Finally, he would attempt to escape from the boundaries that held him, from the rules of a society that he had never agreed with. His body was completely tense, his eyes stood wide open. The soft leaves he was lying on made gentle rustling sounds whenever he moved just the slightest bit.

Until this day, he had always managed to cope with everything. Until this day, he had always regarded the kingdom as something stupid and oppressive, but at the same time he had thought he'd be able to put up with that. His parents' stories about how horrible the world outside was had helped to create this sentiment; at least he was safe here in the kingdom. He didn't have to fight for his life every day. But this excuse to not fight back had steadily grown weaker and weaker, and now Lorciel had finally realized that he wouldn't be able to take it any longer. This issue about being assigned to a mate he had never met before was just the very tip of the iceberg. His life could be so much better. He had never, absolutely never felt freedom, and he knew it would stay like this if he continued to let Trivaar do with him whatever he wanted. If his parents wanted to be stupid and just let themselves be treated like dirt, well, then it was their decision. They didn't want to be free, because they were afraid of freedom. Lorciel did feel pity for them, but only a little bit; they had been raised with the ideals of the kingdom, but it was their fault that they had never done anything against it.

Lorciel's tail was swishing from the left to the right very slowly. The flame cast a flickering shadow of his figure on the walls of the cave. Time was going by, and he became increasingly nervous. At one point he just couldn't take the tension anymore. He rolled out of his bed of leaves and stood up, paying attention not to cause any noise. Then, he left his room. All of his motions were very slow, as he didn't want to risk waking his parents, even though they slept in a different part of the cave. Lorciel turned to the entrance and saw that it was indeed night. The moon and the stars shone brightly, though; he hoped his shady figure wouldn't be noticed by anyone. Silently, he sneaked out of the cave and then turned right. He noticed a potential problem; his tailflame! Each Pokémon that wasn't completely blind would see him for sure! He quickly thought about what he could do. It was no problem for him to control his flame so that it wouldn't burn anything, thus it was a possibility to cover it up with something. He needed something where the light wouldn't shine through... Then, he got an idea. He tiptoed back into the cave and saw, in the light of his tailflame, that the wooden bowl he had eaten his meat from was still lying on the ground. He lifted it up and tried to cover the tip of his tail with it; it even worked quite well, except that now the light shone directly out of the bowl's opening, seeming even brighter than before. Lorciel brought his tail to the floor and cupped its tip with the bowl, so that the open side was directed towards the ground. It would be fairly hard to move, holding his tail in such a position; he'd have to get down on all fours. But it seemed to be the best solution, as the light had been reduced to a very thin, bright ring at the opening of the bowl.

After trying for a few moments, he became able to coordinate his legs and his tail in such a way that he could move fairly quickly while still keeping his flame hidden under the bowl. Crouched down, he made his way out of the cave and then moved steadily along the mountain wall. He counted the caves that he passed, and then finally turned to enter one of them. This was going to be tricky. He had to wake Aerion and Shenava, but their parents had to stay asleep at all cost. Luckily, they also had a seperate room from her children, but Lorciel was concerned they could be too loud when he'd wake them. As he entered their part of the cave, he was greeted by the familiar sight of the large flames they had on their backs. He silently cursed himself for not having planned this in advance. How would they ever be able to keep themselves from being seen?
Nonetheless, they had to try. He couldn't escape from this horrible place, leaving behind the only two friends he had ever had. Slowly, he moved one of his paws and touched Aerion's shoulder. When he looked at the Quilava's face, he saw that his eyes opened immediately. Aerion didn't say a word. Instead, he simply stood up, looking at Lorciel.

„Trying to escape?", he assumed in a whisper. The Charmeleon didn't waste time on asking how he had been able to recognize that so quickly.

„Wake up Shenava and come with me", Lorciel whispered back. Aerion nodded. Then, for just a second, he smiled.

„I knew you'd do this." He moved over to his sister and softly nudged her shoulder with his nose. As she mumbled something in her sleep, Lorciel tensed up again, thinking even the slightest noise would wake the entire kingdom. Aerion nudged his sister again, a little harder this time. She opened her eyes, looking up at her brother with a weary expression.

„What..."

„Shhh!!" Shenava closed her mouth again. „We're escaping", whispered Aerion. His sister nodded.

„Oh", she just said. „You think this'll work?"

„We won't find out if we don't try", replied Lorciel. His expression grew concerned. „Still, we need to do something about your flames..." Suddenly, there was darkness in the cave. The only last bit of remaining light came from the Charmeleon's tailflame under the bowl.

„What flames?", asked Shenava with a low giggle. Lorciel was taken aback by this sudden development.

„You... You never told me you could just extinguish them..."

„You never asked", whispered Aerion. „Let's go now."



Without making any more noise, the three companions snuck out of the cave again. Aerion and Shenava had to slow down a little, because Lorciel couldn't move as fast as he usually did, for he had to keep his tail flame covered.

„Where are we heading now?", whispered Shenava. „The river or the woods?"

„We can't cross the river", replied the Charmeleon lowly. „But we shouldn't risk to cross the plains in order to get to the woods, we'd have to pass Trivaar's residence. Let's head for the river and then walk in the direction of the forest, we should be able to evade his guards that way." Lorciel was grateful that his father didn't have a nightshift this day; that would make it even worse if they got caught, after all. They did as Lorciel had proposed, marching along the mountain wall in the direction of the river. Meanwhile, the Charmeleon was asking himself why neither of them had objected to his poorly thought-out escape plan. But he couldn't ask them now. For the time being, they were still passing cave entrances, and he didn't want anyone to hear them talk.

It took a lot longer to reach the river that Lorciel had thought it would, which was mainly due to his slow movement. But the sun still wouldn't rise for about five hours, so it was alright. The friends continued their escape downstream, always taking cover behind smaller bushes and tall grass. Since no inhabitant of the kingdom lived so close to the border, Lorciel found it now safe to talk.

„Hey", he hissed, and Shenava and Aerion, who were walking right besides him, turned to the Charmeleon. „How come you weren't even surprised?"

„Surprised about you trying to escape?" Even though Shenava's voice was nothing but a whisper, Lorciel could still make out a faint hint of amusement. „Come on, Lorciel, we know you. It had to happen sooner or later." The Charmeleon nodded.

„So, why didn't you even try to hold me back?"

„You think we want to stay here?" The female Quilava shook her head. „Our family got word today that I'm assigned to become some Quilava's mate, even though I've never met him. I don't even know his name anymore." She shivered in obvious disgust. „Seriously, I won't let them do this to me." She smiled at Lorciel and answered his next question in advance: „I knew you'd feel the same about being assigned a mate, so I also knew you'd come." She looked forwards again. „It'll be great to be free, just think about..."

„Can't you just keep quiet for once?", hissed Aerion and his sister fell silent. „We'll get found out if you don't stop yapping!" After this, nobody said anything anymore. Lorciel's mind was occupied with something else, anyway. In the moonlight he could see the dark shade of the forest in the distance. It wouldn't be long now, and he could finally feel freedom for the very first time in his life. He should have thought of escaping much sooner. This was way easier than he had feared.

Then, within a matter of seconds, a large, muscular arm was wrapped around Aerion's body. The Quilava gave a surprised growl, and just a moment later the arm released him again, for the flames had reappeared on his back and burnt it. Aerion landed on his feet. From the left, there came low cursing.

„Run!", shouted the Quilava. All three of them dashed off as quickly as they could, trying to get away from the river so that they'd have more room to move. But they just ran right into their attacker's waiting arms; they had expected them to come this way. Three large Machamps closed in from the front, while two Primeapes quickly got behind the three fire Pokémon. On one of the Machamp's shoulder, there sat a Noctowl that was looking at Lorciel with an expression of superiority.

„Damn!", the Charmander cursed lowly. The Machamp with the Noctowl on his shoulder smirked.

„Now, what do we have here? Some kids, trying to steal a female?" He stepped closer to Shenava, who backed away a little. „Tell me, is any of those the mate you've been assigned to?" The female Quilava took a scared look at her friends. Both of them slightly shook their heads; they knew that there was a chance that at least she would be let go.

„No", she answered in a timid tone. The Machamp frowned. „So, why are you out here together with them, at a time like this, heading for the woods?" Shenava was about to reply, but Lorciel quickly came up with something.

„We forced her. It's not everyday you find such a fine female without a mate." Aerion nodded. He understood what the Charmeleon was trying to do.

„We tried to get away", he added. With an expression of disgust, he looked at the Noctowl. „Didn't know you had guys who can see at night." The Machamp's frown didn't disappear.

„It looked like she was going with you on her own will", he remarked. Lorciel shook his head.

„Well, she knew that we'd have killed her if she had tried anything." Shenava was looking at him with an expression of shock. But she didn't say anything. She understood what her brother and he were doing, and it wouldn't be any use if she ruined it. The Machamp turned to her again.

„Is this true?" Shenava looked to the ground.

„Yes." Her voice was so low, it was almost inaudible. The Machamp nodded.

„You, take her back to wherever she lives", he said, pointing at one of his companions. Then, he turned to Lorciel and Aerion with a sadistic grin. „As for you two, you will be punished in an appropriate way. For attempted kidnapping, but especially for trying to escape from our society."









The cages stood near the center of the plains, just a little ways from Trivaar's big residence. They were made from wood, but it was still impossible for Lorciel and Aerion to escape. Two guards were watching them all the time; they were exchanged every hour. Right now, there were a Rhydon and a Marowak.
The same Machamp that had caught them with his companions had told them what their punishment was: They would be starved to death. They'd get a bowl of water every day, but that'd be all; nothing to eat. Lorciel sat on the ground of his cage, which was a little too small. He had to stay in a crouched position. He looked over to the other cage, where Aerion lay. This had all been his fault. He'd be responsible for the death of his friend.

„Aerion...", he started, but stopped as the Marowake gave him a harsh poke with the bone he held.

„No talking!" Lorciel growled lowly, but decided to listen to his tormentor. Still, Aerion looked at him and shook his head. The Charmeleon wasn't exactly sure what this meant, but his friend didn't seem to be angry at all.

Occasionally, some Pokémon came past their cages. Some of them tried to take a closer look or even talk with the prisoners, but the guards instantly instructed them to move along, and neither of them disobeyed these two strong Pokémon.
Some time passed, and their guards changed. There was now a Primeape and a Golem; however, the Primeape carried a large stick, so that he would still be able to keep the prisoners from talking. Lorciel sighed. This couldn't possibly get any worse... Or so he thought, until he noticed his father running towards the cages. Even though there still was a certain distance between them, Lorciel could tell that his moves were fueled by anger.

„You! What the hell did you think you were doing?!" The large Charizard came to a halt right in front of his cage. His tail flame was much larger than usual and he looked at his son with an insanely hateful expression. Immediately, the guards stepped up.

„No talking to the prisoners!" Lorciel's father growled.

„I'm a guard myself and this is my son!" The Golem and the Primeape looked at each other; then, they shrugged.

„Okay, fine. But make it quick."

The Charizard kneeled down in front of the cage and took a deep breath. Then, he spoke in a tone of icy coldness:

„Your mother is at home, completely sick with worry. That's pretty dangerous in her current condition. Do you not care about her at all?" Lorciel sneered.

„Oh? I'm sorry, for a moment there I thought that the situation was bad for me, you know, being starved to death and all." His father gritted his teeth.

„That's what you get for trying to escape", he replied. Then, he shook his head. „Look, maybe there's a way of getting you out of this. If you ask king Trivaar VII. for forgiveness and vow him your eternal loyalty, then he might..."

„Shut up!" Lorciel was so angry at this moment that he launched a weak ember attack at his father. It didn't do any damage, but it was enough to make the large male take a step back. „I'm sick of you and your stupid society! I hate every single bit of it, and I hate that damned king! I am not going to ever accept anything of this, it's all just a system of general oppression and..." He had to stop as the end of the stick crashed into the back of his head.

„One more word and you're dead." Lorciel sank to his knees. The sudden hit had hurt way more than he had imagined it would. The Charmeleon had to hold his teeth together in order to not cry out in pain.

„You there, move along already!" Quite a few Pokémon had stopped to look at the Charmeleon, as he had shouted at his father. Now, they all hurried to go on with whatever they had been doing before. For a moment, Lorciel kept his eyes closed tightly, as he didn't want to cry inspite of the immense pain. When he opened them again, he saw that his father had turned his back on him.

„Farewell, traitor."








King Trivaar VII., a more than majestic Arcanine, was very busy at the moment. In fact, he was currently doing what he had always considered to be most important: assuring his dominance.
Sure, it was nice to be the Pokémon who everyone looked up to, to be the most important person in his whole kingdom; the only one who could prevent it from turning into a chaotic mess, where everyone did what they wanted. Whenever he told anyone to do something, they'd do it without asking a further question. Whenever he wanted anything, he received it; basically, he could just order someone to kill themselves, and they would fulfill his wish. That was, if they were loyal to their king and to their society... But every Pokémon living here was that, right?
Also, it was a great pleasure for him to live in the only really constructed house. He was something special, and he wanted his subjects to be constantly reminded of this. Whenever they passed his residence, they'd find it impossible not to notice just how great a leader he was. This was probably the reason why nobody had ever resisted. They respected him, for they knew: Without a higher being like him, they would all be lost and condemned to a meaningless, chaotic life.

„You're a good girl", he muttered. The slender Ninetales was lying on her back, right beneath him, while he kept on pumping his erection into her muzzle. She had her eyes closed, as she was diligently sucking on his penis. She sure knew how to do this; each and every Ninetales in his harem was an expert at this kind of service. The reason was simply that they were taught from childhood how to be a good slave; they never objected to anything their master wanted from them, in fact they never spoke at all when being around him, except, of course, when he wanted them to speak. But this happened only very rarely, if not even never. As far as Trivaar was concerned, females were there to mate and to have offspring with and nothing else.
The only Ninetales' in the whole kingdom all belonged to him. There were about thirty, and each of them was female. Additionally, Trivaar was the only one allowed to mate with them. Sometimes, when he didn't pay that much attention or when he wanted to do it, he impregnated one of them. If the child was male, it would be killed right after being born. If it was female, all the Ninetales' in the harem would raise it and teach it how to be a good slave, so that the harem of Ninetales' never grew smaller. There were about six young female Vulpix now that had grown from Trivaar VII.s seed. He sure liked to keep himself occupied.
Not one of the females in the harem had ever left the residence. Nobody, except the council members, knew about these Ninetales'. And since they were so important to the current king, his addition to the residence was a new room for the harem. He knew that, by the time when he would pass away one day, the population in the harem would have grown quite a bit, and so he had decided to solve this problem of having not enough space for so many beautiful females.
It had always been a tradition, so had said Trivaar's father, that a king only mated with these Ninetales', in order not to accidentally impregnate any of the common females, who were not worth such an honor. But at one point, an heir would always have to be found, and so Trivaar knew that he'd have to pick a healthy Arcanine from his kingdom someday and grant her the privilege of giving birth to his child. If it turned out to be a female, of course, both child and mother would be put to death; the child because it wasn't of any use, and the mother because of her obvious betrayal and disloyalty. A female who did something like that to her master didn't deserve to live, anyway.
Trivaar really didn't look forward to this day. He was absolutely not interested in having to deal with a son, trying to teach him what being a king was all about. Maybe he could get someone else to fulfill these duties for him. Anyway, for now he really didn't want to think about this. He was enjoying the Ninetales' tongue and her warm mouth way too much to be bothered with something like this.

Trivaar repositioned himself a little, so that he could thrust deeper into the female's muzzle. Right now, his erection entered her throat everytime he pushed his hips forward. The Ninetales didn't have any problems with this at all, since she was used to it. From the beginning of her life, she had been trained to provide as much pleasure for her master as somehow possible. Of course, Trivaar had never done anything with any of his females until they had been old enough to evolve into a Ninetales, but the theoretical instruction had always seemed to be enough to at least make them learn that they should never complain, regardless of what their master did. Certainly, a female who hadn't done this as often as the Ninetales that was now pleasuring him at the moment would never have been able to fulfill this task so well, but she would have still tried her best without objecting. Trivaar smiled as his mind trailed off slightly. Maybe he should start with the practical instruction even earlier? Vulpix were smaller, so they had to be tighter as well...
He was interrupted in his thoughts as he heard someone speak.

„My king...?" His head turned to the door that led to the hallway. A Parasect stood there, obviously not daring to enter the room. Trivaar kept on thrusting into the Ninetales' mouth.

„Can't you see I'm busy?" His tone of voice sounded quite annoyed. It happened way too often that he got interrupted when he had something important to do.

„I do apologize, my king, but this is rather urgent..." He stopped as Trivaar let out a groan and picked up his pace. It was great to have a female who knew what she was doing; not only was her tongue as soft and as warm as those of other Ninetales', but she also knew exactly where she had to move it to pleasure her master the most. The force of her sucking increased a little, as Trivaar's pumping became faster.

„Speak", grunted Trivaar. He had closed his eyes, trying to ignore the Parasect as much as possible. Still, he could hear the sound of that annoying Pokémon rubbing his pincers against each other in a nervous manner.

„My king, there appears to be a problem with one of the prisoners." Trivaar kept his focus on what was currently much more important to him, but still answered with a question:

„What prisoners?" The sound of the pincers rubbing against each other was heard again.

„I am speaking of the Charmeleon and the Quilava who tried to escape last night, my king." If Trivaar's mind hadn't been occupied with other things, he might have remembered that last night, when he had just been about to have his way with three Ninetales' at once, there had been an interruption as well as someone had informed him about those two Pokémon being caught and imprisoned. He hadn't cared about that, of course. Those guys who were in the council knew what they were doing, anyway, so he could entrust them with minor things like that. He raised his head a little as the pleasure he felt intensified and he started panting softly.

„What kind... of problem?" His knot had swollen to a considerable size now, and the Ninetales had to open her muzzle further to take it in, which made the whole passage less tight for Trivaar. He growled in disappointment and shoved his lower body tighter against the female's face, making his thrusts harder and quicker. However, this only served to bring the sensitive tip of his erection so far inside, that her tongue couldn't reach it anymore. It was frustrating, especially since he was so close to his climax.

„Well, my king, there...", started the Parasect, but Trivaar interrupted with a growl:

„Not now, you idiot!" He quickly pulled his penis out of the Ninetales' muzzle and raised his lower body a little, so that his gentitals were hanging right above her face. „Lick it!", he commanded. „All the way!" The female complied and started giving her master strong licks, from his testicles over his knot all up to the very tip of his erection. He gave a pleasured grunt.

„Harder!" The Ninetales' tongue pressed against the underside of his penis stronger than before. When it had reached the tip of his erection again, he felt it was time, as a familiar shiver went through his lower regions and he could feel his testicles tremble. He forcefully shoved his penis into the Ninetales' muzzle again and shot his seed deep into her throat, groaning with pleasure. The female drank it all down, as she was used to swallowing her master's semen. After Trivaar was done, he pulled his penis out of her muzzle again and stepped aside, now turning to the Parasect. The Arcanine was still panting lightly, but at least he had some time now to listen to this member of the council. The Ninetales just stayed where she was, not moving a single muscle. She wouldn't leave or do anything else unless her master told her to.

„What's with those prisoners now?" The Parasect nodded.

„Well, my king, one of them just won't stop yelling bad things about you, and about your kingdom." Trivaar blinked.

„What kind of bad things are those?"

„They're all lies, of course", said the Parasect quickly. „The Charmeleon claims you would oppress your subjects, and that nobody could be free in such a..." The Arcanine growled.

„One of those ungrateful children, I see. What stops you from just killing him?" The Parasect winced.

„His punishment is death by starvation", he explained. „If we killed him now, we would end his suffering earlier than he deserves, my king." Trivaar nodded. The Parasect had a point there. Still, he didn't really want to bother with this right now.

„Can't we just ignore him? My subjects are all loyal to me, they won't believe his lies." It was not hard to tell that the Parasect really wished to be somewhere else right now.

„My king, I do not intend to criticize your opinion, of course, but..." He knew that Trivaar didn't like sentences that started like that, and because of that, it was hard for him to look at his king. Slowly, his gaze wandered from the Arcanine to the Ninetales that lay on the ground, as she was the only other thing in the room that was interesting. „...maybe we should not let your subjects be exposed to something like this, after all..." Trivaar growled, and the Parasect fell silent immidiately.

„Don't look at any of my females", he spoke in a menacing tone. The Parasect quickly turned back to his king and then looked at the ground.

„I apologize, my king, I assure you that this will not happen again." Trivaar nodded.

„Alright", he said, but there was still an obvious hint of suspicion in his voice. Nonetheless, the Parasect carried on:

„As I was saying, my king, it might be better if nobody had to hear those lies. Even though I am sure that nobody will believe them, just as you said, my king, they are still highly annoying and the guards might not want to listen to this crazy Charmeleon all the time." The Arcanine sighed.

„And you had to interrupt me because of that? Doesn't either one of you guys have a brain?" The Parasect just looked to the ground. Trivaar smirked.

„Beat him unconscious", he ordered. „We won't take the pleasure of starving to death from him, but we can't allow him to spread lies about me, either." The Parasect bowed, as far as this was possible with its mushroom-like body.

„This is indeed the best solution, my king", he said. „Every Pokémon in our society feels honored to have a leader as wise as you are." Trivaar's smirk just grew broader.

„Well, you know what to do", he stated. „Go and leave me alone again, I still have to tend to some very important business."

„Of course, my king." The Parasect turned and ran down the hallway, making haste to fulfill his master's orders as soon as possible. When he was out of sight, Trivaar turned back to the Ninetales that was still lying on the ground. She hadn't moved an inch; even her eyes were still closed. The Arcanine lowered his head and whispered in her ear:

„Go back to your room and then return with one of your sisters. We are not done yet." Without saying anything, the female got up and left the room, following her master's orders. Trivaar watched her go with the same smirk as before. He loved being king more than anything else.










„Every Pokémon is born free!", shouted Lorciel with a hoarse voice. He had been beaten several times, and just about every single area of his body was either hurting or bleeding; or both. For about half an hour now he had been screaming, trying to get somebody's attention. But all the passing Pokémon quickly turned away and acted like they wouldn't hear him. „Every Pokémon has the right to make its own decisions! A leader like Trivaar cannot be justified, not even by..." Once again, he got hit in the back of his head. The pain was almost unbearable.

„Will you shut up already!", shouted the enraged Primeape. „Nobody's listenting to you, anyway!" Lorciel clenched his teeth for a second and then turned to Aerion. For some reason, the Quilava just watched him. He hadn't said anything since they had been put in these cages. Maybe he was angry at the Charmeleon, even though his expression told otherwise. Lorciel couldn't blame him.

„We're all equal!", he screamed, holding on to the bars of his cage in order to not keel over. „Nobody has the right to rule just because of their heritage!" Once again, he felt the stab of the stick.

„King Trivaar VII., as well as every single king before him, has been elected by the council members, which were elected by the Pokémon of the kingdom!", corrected the Primeape. The Golem just stood without saying anything, but he showed his approval with a nod.

„The council members are bribed!", shouted Lorciel. „As long as they vote for the king's son, they are promised a better and easier lifestyle than the rest of us!" The stick hit him in the back. The Charmeleon didn't know why they hadn't done anything worse to him already; sure, it was pretty painful, but it wouldn't stop him from speaking the truth. „The oppressor is one, the oppressed are many!", he went on. „We can't allow some lousy Arcanine to take our freedom! We can't let him make all the decisions!"

„DAMNIT, SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" The Primeape was really angry now, but he still didn't do more than hit Lorciel in the back of his head again. He then turned to the Golem. „If we can't make this little brat shut up soon, this is going to have some really uncomfortable consequences!" The rock Pokémon just grunted in response.

„Your lives do not belong to your king, but to you instead! Only you have the right to set up rules for yourselves!" The Primeape raised the stick again, when he noticed from the corner of his eyes that a Parasect came running across the plains in his direction. He knew what this meant, as he recognized the Pokémon as a member of the council and noticed that he came from the direction in which king Trivaar's residence lay. Inwardly, he smiled.

„Good news!", shouted the Parasect, still being about twenty steps away. „King Trivaar VII. has allowed to beat the prisoner unconscious!" Now, the Primeape's inward smile formed on his face as well.

„This is a task I feel most honored to fulfill." He approached the Charmeleon's cage. Lorciel yelled:

„Don't let them fool you! You don't need a leader! You can have live on your own, make your own decisions, choose your own mate! Neither do you need a king, nor do you need a society at all!" The Primeape quickly unlocked the cage and opened it. The last thing Lorciel saw was a giant fist coming towards his face. Then, everything went black.










When he woke up again, it was night. He felt dizzy and he had a horrible headache, which added just to the immense amount of pain he was feeling already. He could taste that there had been blood in his mouth a while ago; as he opened his eyes, he saw in the glow of his tail flame that two broken teeth lay on the floor of his cage. He quickly moves his paw to his mouth, feeling it over. Luckily, his jaw was not broken. Lorciel sighed. As he turned to his friend's cage, he saw the Quilava sitting there, looking at him just like before. The Charmeleon frowned. What had gotten into Aerion?

„Look, he's awake." Lorciel turned his head towards where the voice had come from and saw first a Dragonite, and then a Scyther with sharp-looking blades. He swallowed, and the taste of blood returned. The Scyther shrugged.

„Why should I care?" The Dragonite approached him.

„Dunno. I guess it's just important that I care." Before the Scyther had any chance to react, the Dragonite had raised one of his large paws and struck him over the head with it. Without a noise, the green bug Pokémon sank to the ground, unconscious. Lorciel couldn't believe what he had just seen. That Dragonite was a guard, wasn't he? Why did he just attack his companion?

Now, the large dragon type turned and walked towards Lorciel's cage. The Charmeleon felt intimidated by the Dragonite's mighty stature; he would have backed away, if this had been possible.

„You've got some guts, little guy", the guard stated as he opened the door of Lorciel's cage. „Making everyone realize that they've been cheated all their lives..." He shook his head. Lorciel didn't move. „Come on out", the Dragonite said. „It won't be long until the Noctowls see what happened. We've got to gather as much Pokémon as possible before that happens." Slowly, Lorciel stepped out of his prison. He wasn't sure if he could trust the dragon type; he was a guard, after all. Then again, his situation couldn't get any worse, right?

„What about Aerion?", he asked in a low tone. His jaw still hurt when he spoke. The Dragonite grinned in a strange way.

„He's quite the thoughtful guy, I guess", he stated. „Looks like he knew they'd knock you out sooner or later, so he started yelling the same things you did as soon as you couldn't do it anymore. It made the guards go crazy, since they'd had permission to only knock you unconscious, and they had to send someone again to get allowed to do it once more. That gave him some more time to inform more Pokémon." Lorciel blinked. He quickly ran over to Aerion's cage, closely followed by the Dragonite. He hadn't seen it before because of the distance, but the Quilava appeared to be just as wounded as he was. Obviously, he had woken up some time before Lorciel, though. Nonetheless, he smiled.

„I saw my parents and Shenava in the crowd", he informed Lorciel as the Dragonite quickly opened his cage as well. „They weren't allowed to approach, though. It gave my sister quite a shock to see you unconscious." The Charmeleon nodded and then smiled as well. He hadn't thought he'd ever get out of this cage alive.

„Thanks", said the Charmeleon. „It's good to know you didn't just sit quietly in your cage all the time." Aerion nodded. Lorciel then turned to the Dragonite behind him. „What's gonna happen now?" The Dragonite kept his grin.

„Now we're gonna have a revolution."








Just a few moments later, the three Pokémon were walking across the plains, heading for the caves in the north, shouting things like „The time for freedom has come!" and „The days of oppression are over!". Lorciel had found out that the Dragonite hated the king as much as he did, even though he was a guard. There were a few others who thought like he did, he said, but the most support they would be able to get would undoubtedly come from the workers and the hunters, since they hadn't been trained to be as loyal to their king as the guards. This was also why the Dragonite had never tried to start a revolution on his own; a guard could never have as much influence on the majority of the Pokémon as a hunter like Lorciel had. The Noctowls had noticed them by now, but the few patrols that were strolling around at this hour wouldn't attack them. This was not only because of the strength of the Dragonite, but also because the group quickly got more and more followers, that had already heard Lorciel's revolutionary paroles in the afternoon and were now more than ready to join the hunter, as he was one of them and there were no guards around that told them to stay away. About thirty Pokémon had joined them as they reached the mountain wall, and their numbers could only grow more quickly now, as most of the inhabitants of the kingdom lived in this area.

„Everyone!", shouted Lorciel as loud as he could, „EVERYONE, listen to me! Freedom has to be the most important thing in every Pokémon's lives and right now this freedom is taken from us!" A few Pokémon stuck their heads out of the entrances of their caves. They saw Lorciel, who was standing in front of what was practically a small army, with both of his arms raised. „Life is too precious to waste it like this! Your king has never done anything else than taking your birthright to make your own decisions, and you know this! You know how much you have had to suffer in the past, you know how it feels to do pointless work and to give away every piece of meat you've hunted down and every root and berry you found!"
He seemed to mention the exact right points, as a lot of Pokémon now came out of their caves to gather around him, listening to his words. He went on: „This is our night! This is the night where we will reclaim the freedom that living in this society stole from us! This is the night where we all will become individuals, where nobody will order us to do anything anymore! This is the night where we will bring down Trivaar and this whole kingdom along with him!"

„Yeah!", shouted some of the Pokémon around the Charmeleon. Gradually, new ones came from the plains or the caves. Still, Lorciel knew he had to further motivate them.

„We can do this! We have to trust our own abilities! The king is just one Arcanine, and he has about twenty council members to support him! They won't stand a chance against us!"

„What about the guards?", came a voice from the crowd.

„They will have to deal with their own problems!", replied Lorciel. The Dragonite who stood next to him nodded in agreement.

„Not every guard is on the king's side!", he shouted. „They have enemies in their own ranks!"

„As long as we combine our forces", Lorciel went on, „our army is at least four times the size of what the king can use against us, if not even more! This is the night where we will bring down the kingdom! This is the night of freedom!"

„YEAH!!" The call was much louder this time, as more Pokémon shouted more enthusiastically. Lorciel made a gesture with his paw.

„Follow me!", he shouted. „We shall not give up until this whole so-called society is destroyed!" With this, he began running in the direction where Trivaar's residence was. All the Pokémon he had reached with his speech were following him; the ground was shaking from the mass of feet and paws pounding against it. Then, he heard a familiar voice:

„Lorciel! Aerion!" He turned his head while running and saw Shenava closing up from behind, until she was running right besides her brother and the Charmeleon. She seemed happier than Lorciel had ever seen her before.

„You really managed to get a revolution started!", she shouted, trying to get the Charmeleon to hear her over the noise his army was making. „You're the one who's going to lead us all to freedom!" Lorciel blushed.

„Someone had to do it, right?", he replied. Aerion nodded.

„You really shouldn't be too surprised, Shenava." The female Quilava grinned.

„For freedom!", she shouted.

„For freedom!", repeated both Aerion and Lorciel at the same time.

„FOR FREEDOM!!!", came the collective shout from all the Pokémon running behind them.









Lorciel's father was nervous. Something like this had never happened before; a Noctowl, completely frantic, had woken him up from his sleep with the message that every single guard had to gather at the residence as quickly as possible in order to guard the king. Exactly fourty-two guards had followed this order, which meant that one was missing, as the Scyther was still unconscious. Also, the cages had been found opened and the prisoners had fled. One of the Pokémon who had always shown the greatest amount of loyalty for their king had been a traitor.
The forty-two guards were standing in front of the residence; behind them, there were the council members, and right at the entrance sat king Trivaar VII. A few rumors were going around, telling about a great army coming towards the residence and that the prisoners had something to do with it, but nobody was really sure. The Noctowls' reports had been very confusing and at some points, had contradicted themselves. But something dangerous was going on, that couldn't be denied.
The guards were standing in the battle formation they had rehearsed so often. Their highest priority was to defend their king, and thus they had to guard the entrance of the residence. In other words, if the danger would increase to a higher level, they would clog it up, so that none of the attackers could pass through.
The Charizard moved his tail from one side to the other very nervously. His flame was flickering. He didn't know what was about to happen or if the situation really looked as grim as the Noctowls had made it out to be. But then, suddenly, he noticed a shiver go through the ground. Most of the other guards sensed it as well, and they all turned towards the plains.
He wouldn't show any mercy.







As the Dragonite had advised them, Lorciel, Aerion and Shenava had let themselves fall back a little. Those Pokémon who were fully evolved were now running in the front. The residence was right there in front of them, it was just a matter of seconds until the decisive battle would start. Lorciel quickly estimated the number of Pokémon they'd have to fight against. As far as he could tell, there were about forty guards. Assuming that maybe eight of them weren't on the king's side made it thirty-two. Then, there were twenty council members, who really weren't good at fighting, and Trivaar himself. The Charmeleon smirked. These few guys against an army of maybe three hundred enraged Pokémon? This wouldn't be a problem!
The armies clashed, and Lorciel noticed confusion break out withing the enemies lines, as some Pokémon turned against those who had thought they were their allies. This made it impossible for the guards, who stood further at the back of their formation, to come and aid the first line of their forces, because they had to protect their king.
Now, Lorciel, Shenava and Aerion came close enough to the fight so they could partake. They stayed closely together, using the advantage of their relatively small size. Most of the guards didn't even see them, except for a Machamp; but before he could do anything, the three friends had already launched their combined fire attacks at him, and he fell over backwards. Now they were in the enemy's ranks, and a Feraligatr shot a water attack at them. But they could dodge swiftly, hiding behind the large body of the fallen Machamp. Then, they quickly dashed off into the crowd, where the water type couldn't follow them because of his size. And then suddenly, Lorciel ran right into his father.
The large Charizard turned around. When he saw who had bumped into him, his eyes filled up with hatred.

„You!" He took a deep breath and then shot a Flamethrower right at the place where Lorciel and his friends had been standing. They all jumped in different directions, avoiding getting hit by the attack.

„Yes, it's me!", shouted the Charmeleon and launched a stream of flames back at his father. The Charizard got hit by the attack, but it didn't do any damage. He shook his head and growled.

„I'll kill you!", he shouted. „You disrespectful piece of shit! I should have never impregnated your mother in the first place, then maybe..." He couldn't speak and further, as he roared loudly instead, swishing his tail around frantically. Shenava had bitten down on it; of course she had paid attention not to get too close to the flame. Lorciel's father couldn't seem to shake her off.

„You little..." He tried to keep his tail still and then reached out with his paw in an attempt to grab the female Quilava. But he stopped as suddenly her brother threw himself at him, crashing right into the Charizard's stomach with his head.

„Don't touch her!" The blow had obviously been harder than Lorciel had expected, judging by Aerion's size. His father sank down to his knees. But he wasn't defeated yet, not by far.

„You're gonna pay for this!", he growled and took another deep breath, launching another Flamethrower at Aerion. The Quilava noticed it too late, but luckily Lorciel had reacted sooner. He jumped at his friend, shoving him out of the way. Together, they rolled across the ground, evading the Flamethrower. But they wouldn't be able to get up again soon enough; already Lorciel heard his father take another deep breath. He knew that trying to get out of the way was pointless this time, so he just closed his eyes, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much. But then, nothing happened. Instead of a roaring flame, he just heard a dull sound, like a body falling to the ground. He slowly opened his eyes again and noticed his father, lying on the grassy floor, unconscious. Behind him stood the Dragonite, who had a few small battle wounds, but still grinned in his own unique way.

„Looks like you're in luck tonight", he stated. Now finally Shenava let go of the Charizard's tail and moved over to her brother and Lorciel. The Charmeleon slowly stood up again and suddenly noticed that he had held his friend embraced the entire time; he quickly retreated his paws and cleared his throat.

„Are you alright, Aerion?" The Quilava rose to his feet and stretched.

„I'm fine", he replied in a reassuring tone. Shenava smiled in relief.

„That's great!"

„You know what else is great?", asked the Dragonite. Lorciel, Shenava and Aerion looked up at him. He pointed over to the residence. „Look over there."








The Meganium that had been Trivaar's last hope fell as the two Typhlosions attacked it in unison. The Arcanine tried to back away, but a Persian was blocking the entrance of his residence. All his guards had either been killed, knocked unconscious, had turned traitor or were simply too far away to help him now. Even some of the bird Pokémon that had tried to defend him had been defeated; the rest of them had just flown away. He knew he couldn't escape anymore. The rebel army had him surrounded, they were closing in from all sides.

„Barbarians!", he shouted. „Scoundrels! You're going to pay for this!"

„Oh, will we?", asked an Absol that slowly stepped out of the crowd. A Hitmonchan came from the other side and got a hold of Trivaar, turning him over so that the Arcanine lay on his back. The king tried to struggle against the attacker, but the Hitmonchan just bent back one of his paws and the pain was so intense that he stopped moving immediately. Panting hard, he looked up at the Absol that stepped closer to him.

„Allow me, my king", he spoke as he took position besides the Arcanine, „to bow to you one last time." The black blade on the Absol's head shone in the moonlight and Trivaar's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen. He fought against the Hitmonchan's hold again, but the Absol quickly lowered his head, and the Arcanine's resistance ceased as the sharp black object met up with his neck.










„There", said Lorciel. „That looks good, doesn't it?"

After the king had been killed, the remaining guards and council members had surrendered quickly. All Pokémon of the kingdom had been declared to be free; within less than one hour, the society had been resolved. All the Pokémon had gone their seperate ways, heading off somewhere into the woods; not before thanking Lorciel beforehand, of course. The Charmeleon had been eager to go as well, as he hadn't wanted to wait for his father to wake up. Aerion's and Shenava's parents had allowed their children to accompany him; since they were almost adults and now finally free, nobody was interested in restraints anymore. The Pokémons' only interest was to live for themselves or in families, without a leader who would tell them what to do. Lorciel could tell that he was going to enjoy this new life greatly.
The female Ninetales' and Vulpix' that had been found in the residence had gone with Pokémon that were willing to take care of them and to teach them how to live as a free individual, rather than as a slave. Of course they had only been allowed to be accompanied by other females, due to the obvious risks of any other possible solution.
Lorciel knew he'd probably never see any former inhabitant of the kingdom again. They had all traveled in different directions, so the only way he would ever see a familiar face again would be by coincidence. But it didn't matter to him. He was independent now; he didn't need his parents, who had never truly cared about him anyway, and he hadn't had any other friends than Aerion and Shenava. The three of them had been traveling through the forest for a few days, until they had found a nice hill and had decided this would be a good place to settle down. It was far enough from their former home, and the surroundings seemed to be very appealing. For two days, they had been burrowing a cave large enough to provide room for three Pokémon.

„I agree." Shenava smiled, looking at the entrance of their burrow. „It'll be wonderful staying here." Aerion nodded.

„Alright then." He turned around and began to walk away. Lorciel and Shenava looked at him with expressions of surprise.

„Where are you going?", asked the Charmeleon. Aerion looked back over his shoulder and chuckled.

„Well, I figured it'd be kind of rude to stay with my sister, now that she has a mate." The female Quilava blinked and then blushed. Lorciel shook his head in disbelief.

„But we've built this cave for three Pokémon!" Aerion just grinned.

„Sure we did, and I'm glad I could help. Knowing you two, you'll need the extra space pretty soon... If you know what I mean." His sister blushed even redder.

„So... you really want to leave?" Aerion shrugged.

„We did all this to achieve freedom, after all." He looked at the forest and took a deep breath. „My place is somewhere else, I sense that. But I'll come visit you sometime, so don't worry!" Lorciel grinned and then walked over to his friend. He batted Aerion's shoulder in a playful manner.

„You're one of a kind, you know that?" The Quilava looked at him and nodded. Lorciel thought about how long they had been friends. It was ironic that they parted from each other now, after they had finally gotten the chance to lead a better life.

„Farewell", said Aerion. Lorciel nodded. Then, Shenava ran into her brother and pushed him to the ground, hugging him tightly with her eyes closed. A few tears wetted her cheeks. The male Quilava returned the embrace.

„We're gonna miss you", she whispered. He gave her a soft lick across her cheek.

„I'm gonna miss you, too." Slowly, Shenava let go of him again and sat down at Lorciel's side. Aerion stood up and chuckled.

„Hey...", he said in an amused tone, „make me an uncle soon, okay?" His sister looked at the Charmeleon at her side with a very special expression.

„You can count on us", she assured him. Aerion nodded.

„Alright." He took a few steps towards the trees, then he looked over his shoulder again. „We'll meet again someday!" And with those last words he was gone, disappeared between the trees. Lorciel looked after him for a while, then he turned to Shenava. She returned his look. A moment later, they both turned towards their burrow and a smile formed on their faces. Shenava started walking and Lorciel followed her without saying a word. They both disappeared inside of their new home, knowing that things would be going their way from now on.





And they were free.





(13176 words)



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Alright, so much for that. I really hope you enjoyed your present, exclamation man; as for any other person who has read this story, you should definitely check out this amazing author's work. You won't just do him, but also yourself a favor, really. Oh yeah, and some irrelevant information: I wrote this story in three days, and... well, it's 3:00 AM now. Just to let you know that I'm willing to stay up all night for a quality birthday present ^^.