The voices from inside the house rang on and on incessantly, like sheets of rain falling on their ears, and all they could do was stand there and listen. Cyrus' face was taut, darkened, like some grotesque mask he was trying his best to keep firm. He wanted Cynthia to leave, she could tell that much. He wanted that more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life, but unfortunately Cynthia could not move. The bubbling, sizzling shock and anger rising like bile from her stomach kept her still, stuck in place.

"…that is NOT an excuse for that! What were you even thinking!?"

"Shut up–shut up! You don't know! You have no goddamn idea–!"

"I know that you are hitting our son! I should drag you out of here by the hair and throw you in a fucking cell!"

"When would you even have the time!? You come once a month and the only thing you do is scream and berate me! You have no idea what it's like… what he..!"

"You…!"

It was a quick, forceful sigh that came out of the man's lips. Like steam leaving a kettle. A few steps were heard as he rubbed his eyelids and breathed in deep.

"Fine. Fine! You know what, that's just fine, I'll be the bigger person here, as I always am. Here, since you clearly didn't understand it the last five times I explained it to you, let me–"

"Go fuck yourself."

That's as far as the man's patience stretched. He made a sound like a Glameow being grabbed by the tail, and his voice immediately snapped back to fury.

"I have a FUCKING company to look after! Do you have any idea how hard it's been to even turn a profit with the war going on!? For Mew's sake, the only reason my men and I haven't been drafted is because we provide an essential service to the war effort! If I weren't doing this I'd be out there fighting, so in the end it's all the s–!"

"Maybe that'd be better! Maybe if you were a real man and went to fight for our country you might get an ounce of sympathy and respect from us!" snapped the woman, almost spitting the words. "Busy with work? Give me a fucking break. Don't think I didn't hear the rumors of those 'little breaks' you take in the entertainment district with your buddies!"

"I–I…" Despite being taken aback, he recovered quickly. "W-well what do you expect!? The few times I come back home at night you're always in a bad mood, god knows why! All you have to do, all you have to do is look after Cyrus! I work all fucking day and sometimes all night too! I have needs and if you as my wife are not going to take care of them then what choice do I have b–!"

There was a sharp whistle of something flying through the air, then the sonorous crack of a fragile object smashing against a wall. The man cursed and threw himself to the side.

"Get out! GET OUT!" Words flew out of her mouth like poison, each one practically a snarl on its own. "I'm not gonna have you treat me like a piece of fucking meat on top of everything else! I should leave you and take half your money like you deserve, two-timer cunt!"

"Hngh! You'd have to get a good lawyer first! Good luck of that without my money you–!"

"FUCK! OFF!" There were sounds of pushing, followed by grunts from the man, closer and closer to the door. "Come on, leave! Leave like you always do and leave me alone with him! Should've known your genes would fuck him up f–!"

"He is just a child, he doesn't know how–"

"He's abnormal! He never leaves, never smiles, never goes out with friends! He's a quiet, sniveling pushover just like you! I c-can't stand it… Can't stand him looking at me with those eyes…" There was a moment of quiet, then another shove was heard. "Wanna stop me? Then stay! Help me raise our child! Either do that or leave!"

Silence, thick like molasses, swallowed the air for a long while, until finally the man clicked his tongue and they heard the sound of the door opening. Cyrus moved like lighting, eyes full of fear, and hid behind the trashcan on the side of the house. Cynthia did the same a second after, unconsciously.

Cyrus' father stood outside the door for a few more moments, then turned to his wife one last time.

"This is your fault."

He barely got to finish the sentence before the door was slammed on his face. He chuckled derisively, shook his head and left.

It was only a few minutes later that Cyrus stood up, said nothing, and started walking away. It took Cynthia a second to follow, still shaken, eyes wide like plates. They walked four or five streets before he said anything.

"Don't follow me."

"W-why… where are you going?"

"Nowhere," he said, voice dead. "It'd be a bad idea to come back home now. I'll walk around until she goes to sleep and I'll slip through the window."

"I… I don't…"

He stopped walking, so abruptly that Cynthia almost crashed into him. When he turned around to look at her, she was surprised by the calm, aloof look on his face.

"What's with the wide eyes?" he asked, voice loaded with poison. "Didn't expect that? Well, I warned you."

Cynthia gulped. "Why… I mean. You don't look… sad. Or angry. Almost like you're…"

Used to it. The words couldn't leave her mouth. It felt like there was a knot in her throat.

Cyrus grimaced at her. "What the hell is your problem? Have you been living under a rock your whole life?"

"No, it's just…" She looked down. No matter how she put this, she would… "I'm going to sound like an idiot. I realize how stupid it sounds now, but I thought parents were supposed to…"

Cyrus didn't need her to finish the sentence. Cynthia felt her blood boil at the pity that crossed his expression just then, but she couldn't quite complain or tell him where to stuff that pity, not after she'd made a fool of herself.

"I'm sorry," he said blankly. "Are your parents…?"

"They're alive," she hurried to say. "But my grandmother took me in. She… well, it's a pretty long story."

Cyrus looked like he was about to say something, but then those thin eyebrows of him furrowed together and he let out a grumbly 'Hmm'. He looked like a Prinplup deep in thought. It was almost enough to shake Cynthia off the anger and frustration she was feeling.

"…I've got time."

Cynthia blinked. "What?"

He saved his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to the side, pointing toward the harbor.

"There's this place I always go to when I have to outwait my mother's temper," he said. "It's under the docks, close to one of the city's generators. The humming makes your skin all tingly and it attracts a bunch of Pachirisu, but… it's nice. Peaceful, and no one ever comes to look for me there," he admitted, eyes narrowing for a moment. "Pokemon Center's probably more comfortable. But if you want to come with… well, I can't promise I'll be very talkative. But the offer's on the table."

And with that, he turned around and started walking. The previous look on his face told Cynthia he didn't expect for her to follow, nor to bother with him. Not after what she'd seen.

Unfortunately for him, Cynthia was quite fond of subverting other's expectations.

She wiped the glum look off her face, pushing all those bad feelings deep down her chest like she'd been taught, and with a forced smile she nodded and followed behind Cyrus.

----------------------------------------

Not that Reiko had ever stopped to think about it, but as it turned out, lava was a lot thicker than it was portrayed in movies and cartoons.

"Damn, another pool that's almost dried out."

She'd reverted to speaking Kantan now that she was alone with herself and her 'soul roommate'. Partly because it was easier for her, partly because it made it easier for Moltres to understand her.

Though, to be honest, Pokemon to human communication was the least of her problems right now.

Normally, the narrow, room-sized caverns she'd been traversing for the past couple days were illuminated by the pools of lava that had settled down at their lowest points, which she then had to make her way through if she wanted to keep going down. Unfortunately, this particular pool had all but dried out, only a few web-like strands of heat and light coursing through it like veins. So not only was the cavern pitch black, but her only way down was cut off.

Reiko sighed. This was a pain in the ass, but it's not like it hadn't happened a few times before. It just mean that this particular pool was cut off from the main flow of lava, so hopefully she'd emerge into a more spacious cavern she could rest in after traversing it. As for how…

"You're gonna have to lend me a hand here, partner." She raised her hand, and it immediately burst into flames. "Let's heat this back up so we can go through it."

The flame inside her burst to life, swirling and thrashing angrily. Reiko took a step back and grunted, eyes narrowing at the sudden heat enveloping her body, steam starting to rise from her skin. Great. Just what she needed, another one of Moltres' tantrums.

"I'll re-absorb the heat again when we're on the other side!" she explained. "Calm down, will you!?"

The piece of Moltres inside her was not convinced, unfortunately. This was happening more and more regularly ever since she'd embarked in her mission. No, more like ever since Percy had offered her an alternative as to how to stop Charon and Heatran. If the legendary Pokemon had been grumpy when she used most of its power for a fight that had nothing to do with Charon, then the mere idea of defeating and capturing the man without turning him to ash was driving it wild with anger. So wild that Reiko was having a tough time controlling it.

Still, she had to remember: Moltres wasn't as sentient as other legendary Pokemon were. She couldn't appeal to its logic. Which only left…

"Fine, I guess I'll just stay here and die, and neither of us will get what we want," she spat out. "How's that sound, huh?"

The heat in her chest stopped increasing. A foreign sense of uncertainty flooded her, which only made Reiko roll her eyes.

"You can feel them too, right? They're somewhere here, deep underground. But if I don't do this, we can't go any further down," she said, trying to sound patient. "Whatever method we end up choosing to deal with him… we have to get there first. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing."

It took almost an entire minute, but finally the flame inside her chest calmed down, reducing itself to its normal size. The air around her suddenly felt cold at the contrast. There was some reluctance there, but Moltres had at least understood her words.

Finally. Stupid oversized Torchic.

"Thank you for your understanding," she said, only slightly sarcastic. "Now…"

She walked over to the drying pool of lava and knelt before it, spreading her hands open as she lowered them down toward its surface. The flames licking up her fingers went from red to blue to white. The air sizzled and the surface bubbled, bursts of steam exploding outwards from her touch. The black outline of the pool was burned away to a bright, powerful red as the stone began to melt once more.

Soon, the lava flowed and bubbled as though it'd never gone cold. It was still thick, which meant it'd be just as much of a pain in the ass to get through it as every time before, but that was a minor worry.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Reiko sighed, her muscles complaining as so much of Moltres' heat left her body. Just a little more. She could feel the pool expanding outwards, flowing down toward the southern-most cavern, as well as every little bump and ridge on the rocky walls, as though the expanding heat were another one of her senses. Just a little more… it was almost to the other side. Once she traversed she–

There was a stir inside her. A hint of surprise, of confusion, and it wasn't long before she felt the same. Her brow furrowed. There was… something in there besides the walls of the cavern itself. Small, scattered all over. Boulders, maybe? They did feel as such, though their shape was too unnatural for that, smaller, longer protrusions coming out o–

Reiko's breath caught in her throat. Realization dawned on Moltres only a second after.

O-oh…

The big ones were Graveler, and she was pretty sure the small ones were Nosepass. Dozens of them, entire packs that hadn't been fast enough to escape the lava slide, and this was from just one singe dried out pool. How many of them had she passed by before, in the other rivers of lava she'd traversed? How many rock-type Pokemon had been swallowed by the eruption? Their insides melting, evaporating through their hardened cracks while their outsides hardened and fell to the bottom, never to be seen again?

And those are the ones that are still here. She shivered at the thought. For non rock-types, not even their bones would remain. How many of them…?

Her next heartbeat boomed with a heat and anger that was not all her own. Eyes shooting wide in panic, she opened her mouth but couldn't get a word out before Moltres' flame burst ablaze.

"A-AAAAAGH!"

The heat wave shook the dust off the walls and ceiling, only to incinerate them a moment after. The blinding, stark light of the flames now engulfing Reiko painted the cavern an ivory white for an instant, right before the heat burned it away to black. The air in the cavern sizzled, expanding as the walls, floor and ceiling began to smoke, the only exception being the patch right under Reiko, which had started melting.

"S-STOP! STO-PSTOPSTOP!"

Reiko had never felt pain like this. She thought she knew how hot fire could be, but nothing, not even her previous battle with the Winged Mirage had prepared her for this. It was heat beyond reason, beyond common sense. It was as though she were standing on the surface of the sun, every inch of her body engulfed in white, blinding flames, so powerful that even the innate heat resistance granted to her by Moltres was coming up short.

I-I'm g-gonna die. If I don't stop it I'm g-gonna…

But the pain, the heat, they were not what frightened her the most at that moment. It was the rage inside of her. An emotion so powerful, so alien that she had no frame of reference for it. Only a deity, only a primeval aspect of nature itself could have lived for long enough for this kind of ire to manifest. Reiko thought she had felt rage before, much more than anyone else, but that was but a pale imitation of the real thing. Like the difference between the painting of a flame and the flame itself.

As she lay there on the ground, squirming in pain, slowly dying, a part of her understood. Images flooded her mind. They were rough, more emotion than anything else, but she figured they were what passed for memories for beings such as Moltres. She saw the eruption of Cinnabar with her own eyes. Felt on a deep level, like she'd just felt now with this pool of lava, as thousands and thousands of Pokemon and people were swallowed up by the ensuing lava slide, not a single speck of them left behind. A millennia of nature, centuries of civilization… all gone in an instant.

She understood then. Moltres' rage, it wasn't just a tantrum, it wasn't just a desire for revenge. It was divine retribution. The quest both of them had set out on back then. To reach the man responsible and burn so brightly and powerfully that not even his ashes would remain in their presence.

No, that… that'd been back then. Now…

Please… p-please, Moltres, stop…

Of course, Moltres never had to worry about such a course of action. Even if its method of divine retribution meant burning itself to nothing like an exploding star, its essence would soon reassemble itself later down the line. Moltres couldn't die. It couldn't truly 'sacrifice' itself, and most importantly… it was nothing but a piece of nature's wrath made manifest. Even if Moltres could die, it would do so without regrets, as there were no humans or Pokemon shackling it down to life. There was nothing that it loved enough to prevent it from carrying out justice.

And back then, Reiko thought that was okay. She'd thought that, as long as she could make Charon pay, even if she ended up burning herself to cinders, it would be worth it. If her death meant justice would prevail, then she was willing to throw her life away.

But now…

I told you to stop.

The cavern had started to melt around her, so it wasn't easy for Reiko to rise to her feet. Still, she somehow managed, pushing herself up and standing amidst the furious flames, eyes closed, brows knit in concentration as tried her best to envelop Moltres' anger with her own, like two flames trying to quench each other out.

Slowly, with every deliberate breath, the flames enveloping her weakened. Moltres tried to resist her influence. It fanned and flared its fire with nothing but rage and desperation, but Reiko kept them surrounded, at bay, until all that fire was doing was consuming itself. Every time she breathed in deep, the heat would be absorbed inwards, from all around her body to the center of her chest, beating like a second heart. An emotion other than rage emerged from within her, from Moltres; confusion. Fear.

"I know this is your nature."

Her voice boomed with power when she spoke, the flames consuming her no longer wild and churning. They were now calm, flowing like water, like a cloak of light around her.

"It's not in you to think things through, or to listen to reason. You can't reason with a storm, with a fire," she said, calmly. "But is it really okay for a legend to hide behind an excuse like that?"

Moltres stopped fighting a little. She could tell its attention was now in her words. She closed her eyes, a sad smile forming on her lips.

" I was the same, actually. I thought that it'd be okay for me to follow my nature, as long as I got what I wanted in the end. But looking back on it, I think I was just looking for an excuse… for a place to die." Those last words came out thin with effort. "I figured that as long as I could burn that piece of shit to cinders, it didn't matter of I ended up burning alongside him. I thought that it was the right thing… that I deserved it. 'Cause I couldn't do anything the first time. 'Cause… I should've been there in Cinnabar with them when it happened. If I couldn't have saved them, at least I should have died there with them."

Slowly, with every word that she spoke, all resistance faded away, until both the heat inside her chest and the glow enveloping her were gone. She could feel a familiar emotion coming from Moltres.

"You feel the same way, right? Obviously you can't die, but all that anger… a lot of that comes from your own guilt. You were too late. You couldn't save the people of Cinnabar. Couldn't stop Charon. All of that has been eating away at you, hasn't it?"

Nothing came from Moltres. It was like the legend was doing its best not to react in any way that would prove Reiko right.

"It's okay. I get it," she said. "But… if you really do feel all that, I think it's cowardly to hide behind an excuse like 'That's just my nature' or 'I can't be controlled'. I… changed my nature. I decided that I'd not only make Charon face justice, but also come back alive to the people I love, and keep on living with these regrets." She raised a hand and pressed it tightly against her chest, feeling a second heartbeat inside. That of her partner. "If a weak human like me can do so much, then it wouldn't be a great look for one of the Winged Mirages to fall short of that, right?

"Besides, right now… I reckon the Flame of Cinnabar will be more needed than ever. It wouldn't be right for us to just burn away and abandon them."

No response came for the longest time. Both because she was waiting for a reaction and also because standing still felt really good compared to the pain her muscles were in, Reiko simply waited. In the end, she did feel something, right before Moltres' presence disappeared to the depths of her chest.

Understanding. A pang of gratitude.

Another rush of heat enveloped her, but this time it was calm, controlled. As Reiko took in a deep breath, she felt that heat warm her up from the inside, erasing her pain and giving her renewed energy.

She smiled and nodded, heading toward the pool of lava once more.

"Thanks, partner."

----------------------------------------

Maylene hadn't seen sunlight in days. Were it not for Lucario's company, she was pretty sure she would've succumbed to some kind of madness already.

Oh well. Only my legs need to keep working for me to do this job.

The echo was the worst part, honestly. Every step they took, every sound they made, every drop of water that filtered down the cracks in the walls and fell to the floor echoed clearly and loudly, making her jump every time. And it's not like she could ignore it. She was tailing Team Galactic; a healthy dose of paranoia was needed. If she weren't jumping at shadows then she wouldn't survive for much longer.

On the bright side, wild Pokemon weren't much of a problem. Since they were following the same path Team Galactic had, almost all the dangerous ones had been taken care of by them already, which ironically enough only made it easier to determine which way they'd gone. They could try erasing their footsteps all they wanted. All Lucario had to do was scan the area and choose the path that was less filled with wild Pokemon.

And so the past few days had gone by. Walking, resting, walking, occasionally fighting, walking some more, and once or twice avoiding traps and detection methods that Team Galactic had left behind. Keeping up a pace fast enough to eventually catch up to them wasn't easy, but there were no others that were more up to the task than Maylene and her Lucario. Compared to the kind of training her mother had put her through, walking twelve hours a day was nothing.

Sure, her feet felt like death at the end of each day. And sure, she was pretty sure she'd need to eat at least four Camerupt worth of food once all this was over to make up for the weight she'd lose, but still. They were keeping up pace. Every day, they got closer and closer to their prey.

"Think we should call it a day in a bit?"

Her voice came out raspy and breathless, and though all Lucario did was nod, even that gesture looked tired.

He walked to the nearest wall and pressed his paw against it, closing his eyes. A ripple of aura expanded off that spot, filling the air like a gust of wind and extending toward the dark caverns ahead. After a few seconds, Lucario opened his eyes again and gave Maylene a look she had no problem deciphering.

"Small cavern, a few minutes up ahead," she whispered. "Sounds good. Let's get moving."

The silence that followed as they made their way forward felt all the more heavier because she'd just talked, even though it'd been only a couple sentences. That was the thing about this… well, place wasn't a good way to describe it. A field was a place. A City, a glade, a garden, those were places. These endless, uniform tunnels felt more like…

She unconsciously grabbed on to her arm. Didn't even want to think it, but it was true that they reminded her of veins and arteries inside of a body. She'd seen caves inside of mountains plenty of times before, and she was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be like this. No matter how much they explored, the tunnels never got wider or narrower. At best they would occasionally open up to a small cavern, a blessed dead end, but that was only after walking past at least a dozen branching paths. It didn't feel natural.

"None of this feels natural," she whispered to herself, face scrunching up slightly. "You feel it too, right?"

Lucario said nothing, but she felt the slight change in his aura and knew that he agreed wholeheartedly. Then again, she didn't need to sense his aura to realize that. She'd never seen her partner walk with his shoulders so tense before, nor with such caution and attentiveness in his eyes. And considering the sorts of things he'd gone up against without even breaking a sweat…

Maylene shook her head. No, there was no need to think like that. These tunnels were weird, sure, but it was being trapped so far from the surface that was affecting their nerves, not the tunnels themselves. If s–

She stepped on a puddle of water without noticing and jumped at the sensation, almost hitting her head against the stone wall. Lucario turned around quickly, but his alarm quickly morphed into amusement at the sight.

"Son of a…" Maylene scrunched up her face, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Sorry, nerves. I just… need some rest, I think."

Lucario simply nodded and led her down the branching path at their left toward the cavern. And just like every time she'd accidentally spooked herself before, it felt as though the air in the tunnels got… thinner. The shadows getting slightly closer. As though these earthen veins were constantly trying to apply some sort of pressure on them. Like the most passive-aggressive version of an immune system ever.

Maylene didn't like the idea one bit, but at least she wouldn't have to think about it for much longer.

"You know, there's been some expeditions to these tunnels before," she said. Normally, she had no problem enjoying silence alongside Lucario, but this one felt too heavy for her tastes. "I heard that twenty years ago, a group of seven hikers entered Mt. Coronet from different spots. Their mission was to advance as much as they could through the tunnels in a week, and see if they could either find each other or at least a path to the summit in that time."

They kept walking. The sound of her voice made their steps echo more quietly. The tenseness in the air felt thinner.

"They ended up failing on both counts, though. Can you imagine that?" she asked, shaking her head. "A whole week of exploring the tunnels from seven different entrances, and at no point did their paths ever cross. That's why they call the insides of Mt. Coronet a 'painted hole' in maps. It would take too much money and effort to fully map them out, more than anyone is willing to pay."

This was one of the things she enjoyed about having Lucario as her partner. She could just talk and ramble all the live-long day whenever she fancied it and he didn't mind one bit. He couldn't reply, but he always listened earnestly. Candice was a wonderful girlfriend, of course, but no one had built up such a resistance to her ramblings like Lucario had.

"Actually… you know what these remind me off? The Underground." She let out a 'Huh' at herself. How was this the first time she'd thought of it? "Remember when we went down there to train when we were… shit, how old was I? Seven? Nine? Well, whatever, didn't the tunnels down there look a lot like this?"

Lucario frowned and, after a moment of consideration, gave a short nod.

"They say the tunnels from the Underground run under all of Sinnoh," muttered Maylene. "Maybe…"

She was silent for a moment, then just laughed and shook her head.

"No, there's no way. Mt. Coronet would've had to be flat for that to be the case, and I know for sure the Underground isn't that old. It's probably something el–Hm?"

Lucario cut her off by pointing at the end of the tunnel, which opened up to what looked like a small, spacious dark cavern. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank Mew," she whispered. "No kidding, I was only talking to keep myself awake. Let's get some rest a–"

She realized something was wrong as soon as she set foot inside the cavern. The ground under her feet was too smooth, too uniform, nothing like the bulky harshness of stone. She looked down, and her eyes went wide.

"What?"

Ceramic floor tiles. There were only a few of them in the floor and on the walls, the rest of them having been overtaken by rock and vegetation, but they were still there, clear as day. And judging by the design and the fact that one of them shattered as soon as she moved her foot, she figured they must have been incredibly old.

"D-did people use to live in these tunnels?" she whispered, shocked. "But how…?"

Her voice trailed off, however, as she noticed what lay on the other extreme of what she thought was a cavern, but clearly used to be a house of some kind. And against the corner where two of the walls met, barely visible and mostly covered in rocks and plants, lie what was unmistakably a human skeleton.

"O-oh…" whispered Maylene, probably sounding less horrified than she should've had. "I guess… my theory was right, actually."

The both of them stared at the pile of bones for a long minute, Maylene simply gawking and Lucario alternating between her and the bones, waiting for her reaction. Finally, she shook her head and snapped out of it.

"Well…"

She sighed with exhaustion, rubbing the back of her neck.

"…I'm too tired to look for someplace else to sleep," she said. "Guess we've got a roommate tonight."