As Xerxes did the honor of unlocking the cell in which the three were contained, a click was triggered in the lock and the door swung open with a loud creek, causing everybody (even Croconaw) to wince.
As Eros looked over to Croconaw's cage, he drew the key from his lock and quickly shoved it into Croconaw's, yet he was stopped by a mourning voice, "No. I don't deserve to leave. Just leave me be."
Eros dismissed this and was trying to fiddle with the lock when one of the lightly armored guards snuck up on him and tackled him to the ground. The world went blurry for a second, but Eros regained focus to find the guard was no longer on him, but rather lying to Eros' side with an odd gash across his throat. To explain this, Eros looked to Xerxes, who had blood on the tip of one of her claws and a blank expression on her face.
Xerxes simply turned to Eros and whispered, "That... Felt... Kinda nice. I like the feeling of blood on my claws..."
Eros, although appalled by this, didn't hesitate to grab the two Pokemon under his arms and bolt down one of the halls. The two eventually rearranged themselves so that they rested easily on his shoulders. Albeit Eros wasn't the strongest of trainers, he certainly wasn't hindered by the diminutive creatures atop of him, even while dashing wildly around the fortress. Eventually, Eros turned a corner to find an assembly of heavily armored guards standing outside of a room hidden by the turn of a corner. And, like, fifty Vin Diesel looking guards staring right at him in bewilderment.
As Eros was about to turn the other direction and run, Surge tugged on Eros' collar and whispered, "I got this." Eros simply turned back towards the guards, who were staring in bewilderment as the escaped prisoner stood without speaking a word.
Surge simply raised himself higher upon Eros' shoulder, raising a few hairs on his back. Sparks of energy danced upon his face, surprisingly not affecting Eros nor Sicily. Just as the guards were about to make a motion towards the group, a sudden gust of wind, originating from all directions and headed towards Surge, urged the guards to withdraw; And so they did. Soon, a brilliant strobing light radiated from Surge, causing the rest of the hall to appear aphotic in comparison (which, after a surprising Google search, is a synonym for dark that only applies to the depths of water).
As this strobing ceased for but a second, a flash of lightning flew from Surge and down the line of guards standing in the hallway. This flash came with a bang, one that echoed many times into itself in the hallway, forcing the three to fall to the ground in pain. A blatant ringing rang in their ears, unceasing for what seemed like an eternity. Surely, someone would have heard, but lest they were immune to the effects of the echo, they would've surely collapsed from the noise. All in all, however, the attack was a relative success.
Eventually, Eros was able to stand up, as well as Xerxes and Surge (the last of the three seemingly less damaged by the blast). Eros, still suffering from a sharp ringing in his ears, motioned for the others to follow him into the room that the guards were blocking. They soon found themselves in a small room, barely enough for but 5 people, showing only a few overturned crates in the corner alongside a table in the center with a mysterious map, as well as various letters.
Eros, still shocked from the blast, stumbled into the room and dropped his hands forcefully onto the table, making sure not to land them on any of the papers. He let the two other out of his sight while he read the papers; And, for whatever risk he was taking standing here, he could have never done anything more important than read these papers.
Why? Because these papers held a key to understanding what was surely imminent destruction for all of Morono. Eros first looked over the maps, trying to comprehend what they meant. Although it clearly contained the entire Morono region in it, there was so much more to it than that island alone. On the map, albeit a bit confusing, he could see the city he assumed to be Utopia on the map, a small circle within a larger land mass that was once the entirety of Utopia. Then, looking around, he found many other dots, much like the one that represented the castle, along with a variety of strings and pins that showed some kind of connections between them. Various names and numbers accompanied these dots, such as "Highpoint Peak" for the one he assumed to be in now, along with "6.6 km". The map was a tad confusing for Eros, so he moved on to the other side.
Along the other side of the map, tracing past the Morono area and a few small islands, he managed to find another peculiar island, one which he couldn't find any identification for save a small town off to the side with the words "Treasure Town" hastily scribbled onto it. And yet, this wasn't the entirety of the map in any circumstance.
Eros had been glossing over these, not having any understanding as to what they could be, but now he realized that the arrows sprawled across the maps were indications as to where to attack, showing the names of ideal soldiers to sent to lay siege upon Morono and whatever island "Treasure Town" was on. On a smaller map to the side, there were even more arrows, pointing across the various regions of the world, such as Sinnoh, Unova, Hoenn... Whatever was planned was along the lines of world domination.
Although Eros was lucky as to not run into any guards so far, he pressed his luck even more so and read the letters that accompanied the maps. If there was ever a doubt that this was an all out war, and a war with the sole intent of eliminating Pokemon from existence, it was gone now. Letters and endorsements from all of the other Utopian regions spoke of armies and weapons prepared for an all out war, although they were all that of the medieval era. Kings and dukes all spoke of possible plans for eliminating all life in Morono, and whether or not to eliminate all life in the rest of the regions (although the armies detailed in the notes couldn't surely touch any more than Morono and the surrounding areas).
Eros, thinking much of these notes and papers, quickly shoved about one fifth into the various pockets on his clothes, hoping that he would find a way to keep them dry. The ringing had fallen in volume quite a bit, to the point where the world seems muffled rather than silenced. Xerxes and Surge were looking about the room, revealing that the Pikachu had managed to pour a stored inkwell all over himself.
Eros, not wanting to make too much noise, simply waved for the others to follow him. Rather, as the lazy fucks they are, they jumped onto his shoulders and let him lead the way.
He wasn't trying to escape anymore; Eros knew that he couldn't escape an entire army, especially while he was in a city in which the water flowed in, making it impossible for him to swim away- that's it! Somewhere in the fortress, for all the water that flowed in, just as much had to flow out! And yet, how would he know where to find this outlet of water? It might not eve be in the castle. Eros simply paced along the hallways, looking into some of the rooms every so often.
At first, the rooms were filled with shell shocked guards in their barracks, kneeling in the corner and waiting for the ringing to stop. My, these halls must have good acoustics. However, as Eros made it farther and farther into the castle, climbing up a few sets of stairs, he eventually found a massive set of double doors, laid with brass decorations and with a gilded handle, depicting massive images of Articuno.
Eros, hoping that what he would find in this room would be helpful and not kill him, pushed against the door with all his weight and found a grand chamber before him. Along the sides were many mystical carvings, all forming an intricate sigil in the center of the room, much like that of the Equilibrium. However, that was far from the most interesting thing in the room; That title was reserved for the slightly hulking Articuno in the center. Its vivid blue hue of plumage emphasized the strands of turquoise ribbon that trailed behind, letting a light snow fall about as it wavered in the air, seemingly weightless. And yet, the creature looked far from happy, as if depressed or apathetic to its life as it was, barely bothering to look up towards Eros; Rather, it was appearing to be comfortable just lying as it was, in the way that birds roost.
A short, weary glance towards Eros brought it to speak in a sad, airy (yet far from raspy) voice, melodic in its tone, "Have food?" As it seemed, the mere presence of this creature hushed the ringing in their ears.
Eros, along with Xerxes and Surge, stood their, attempting not to gape as they took in the majesty of such a magnificent creature; Yet, this almost immediately deteriorated from the somber mood in the room. Eros had managed to speak, "Y-you're Articuno, aren't you?"
Irritated by having its question ignored, Articuno continued, "And you aren't allowed to have Pokemon in... Well, anywhere. Who are you?"
"I-I'm... I'm Eros. I'm here-"
"You don't have my food, do you? I'm calling the guards."
"N-n... N-n... N-n-"
Articuno was now staring, raising a single brow inquisitively. "Well, then, spit it out. Or are you just waiting for the guards?"
"No! D-don't call the guards!" Eros was hushing his voice, making it obvious that he didn't want to be found. "W-we were just... Looking... Around..."
"I'm not amused. Why are you really here?"
"Uh..." Eros, desperately trying to change the topic, asked, "Why are you here?"
"Me? Why am I here? Well... That's nice of you to ask. I guess. You certainly aren't a guard, not from here, no. But then, why should I trust you? I'll answer your question, but I'm not going to repeat myself, so listen well. I guard this room. Period. They bring me food, and I sit here and alert them if some pesky guard is messing around in here."
"... Really? You just sit here all day?"
"Didn't I make myself clear? Now leave me alone, if you don't mind." Articuno then lowered his head into a more compact roost, much like any other bird could.
Surge continued on Eros' behalf, "But how did you even get down here? Like, underwater 'n all?"
"Aren't you a strange Pokemon. To be honest, I haven't seen many for a while. How did I get down here, you ask? Simply put, I was here a long time ago when the Pokemon and humans were fighting in all. Really petty, I do say. The humans didn't stand a chance, no surprise. And yet, they insisted upon fighting, taking as many innocent lives as they could. Mercy on them, we took them down without an effort. Of course, they developed a weapon to plunge this island into the sea, then made these odd force fields. I suppose it would keep out the water. Not like I've seen the outside, though. Got trapped in this castle and, should I get some well deserved rest and food here, I spared them my wrath. They don't seem to take kindly to me, though. Or getting frozen in place (with justification, of course).
"Now, I rest here guarding this device. The force field, I think. Have to say, I've had a lot of time to think. Maybe I can fly the world again one day. Probably after the king kicks the bucket. The prince isn't much of a leader, with backhanded moves and all, so I don't expect that I'll be to cozy here any more."
Xerxes jumped in, "But the king's dead!"
Eros added, "He was poisoned, I think. Would make sense to think the prince did it."
Articuno simply sighed. "Oh. Should have known that kid was up to no good.
Ho-hum. Now, if you'll leave me be-"
"Hey," Eros interjected, "we're not really allies with these guys. We really swam here."
"Is that so? And I suppose you also fought their general bare-handed?"
"You see, I'm actually a Druid-" With this, Articuno picked his head up, adding an upbeat tone to his voice.
"A Druid? Druid, Druid, Druid... Oh. One of the magicians? I think I heard of the kind of old-fashioned magicians coming in here. Do you do magic tricks? It's awfully boring down here."
"Uh... No. I was actually looking for something called a Humanity Stone."
"That's great. Just great. Say, you mind showing me a trick or two?"
"I was wondering if you knew where a humanity stone was."
"I could tell you. But I won't."
Eros, finally understanding what he had to do, resisted his urges to show any kind of sarcasm and disrespect, rather focusing inwardly on his spiritual energy; However, this was more elementary for him than it was before. He soon dragged out a bolt of light, which seemed to grab the attention of Articuno, who was definitely pleased. Eros, pleased that Articuno was pleased, then proceeded to shoot sparks through the light, which dazzled everybody, from Xerxes to Eros himself. Soon, however, he felt exhausted, and had to stop his performance. "How was that?"
"Oh. Nice. It was nice. You know, to humans have come an awfully long way..."
"So, uh..."
"The stone, yes." Articuno raised itself into its haunches, waddling over to the back of the room, which had about five pours, all fitted with a Humanity Stone. With a raised wing, he begun, "These are the humanity stones. As long as you don't touch any of them, nothing bad will happen to the city. As you could imagine, this device requires all of the stones to function properly. This device, Angelsea, repels the water from the surface of the city and forces the currents of the waters touching this invisible sphere to flow around and down, to the bottommost section, where it flows into the rest of the sea. Developed by Sir Vahncourt in the year-"
"Uh, we were looking for a stone we could take."
"Oh? That's odd." Articuno returned to the center of the room. "I'm so sorry, but there's naught I can do for you."
"But... Maybe, if you were so kind... We may kinda have... One of the stones in the back?"
Articuno was now narrowing his eyes, quite untrusting of Eros. "You did hear what I said, right? If I remove that stone-"
"-The city will collapse and everybody dies. But, and, just as a personal opinion, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if everybody here died."
"Pardon me? Does that include you or me?"
"No, I mean... With the war and all..."
"Excuse me, Druid, but I do believe that war is long gone. These people simply haven't a way to really understand the joys of Pokemon anymore. If you were to see how-"
"I mean, the war they're planning."
"Pardon me?"
Eros proceeded to withdraw some of the papers he stored earlier, depicting the sketches of planned skirmishes and battles across Morono, as well as the rest of the world. Articuno looked these over silently, apathetic at first, but growing exponentially more grim and upset by the moment. By the time that he finished reading the last of what Eros spread on the floor, which he shoved into his pockets once more, Articuno was either upset or furious, or some combination of the both.
He almost quivered with rage, standing on his haunches and staring Eros in the eyes."Damn them to hell! I can understand one small war like the one a while ago. Sure, maybe you humans and your government can talk intrinsically about human affairs. Sure, I can even turn a blind eye to killing a few Pokemon. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. But going to other regions, killing THEIR Pokemon- and not just the Pokemon, but the humans too- and then planning to do so to the rest of the world, and for what? Some old grudge and ideals? THAT, I can't condone! That's unacceptable! Screw them, screw them!" Articuno, with a raise of the wing, froze the doors that led into the room shut, which was met by some banging outside, origination from what was likely guards who arrived moments too late.
Articuno continued, "Listen, kid. I know that you must have something very important planned or whatever. Be the best trainer and stuff, and then some. Just realize that the only reason I'm doing this for you is because you showed me just what these people were doing. And to think, I waisted so much time..." Articuno wobbled over to the device once more, fury in his eyes.
"Wait, Articuno! If you deactivate it, how will we get out?"
"... I'll make an ice barrier around you or something. Just hold your breath."
"And... And will you make it out safely too?"
Articuno was standing just a foot or two away from the device, having one talon firmly planted around one stone. "... If that's the way fate it for me. I can't really say. Now brace yourselves, there's going to be some shaking."
As Articuno said this, he drew the stone from the hole, tossing it to Eros. As he did so, a firm rumbling and steady quake, along with distant screams of terror, amounted to what was the apocalypse for the Highpoint city of Utopia, as the water skies fell from above, shattering the homes and lives of those who were unfortunate enough to live in the city. As they party heard the force of the sea crush the castle above, as well as flood rapidly into the hallways of the castle, Articuno wrapped its massive wings around the group, expending its magic to form a barrier formed of thick ice around the trio to protect them from the cascades of water that slammed into the room shortly after. And, as it seemed, Articuno was lost in the storm.