Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, Pokémon, or any of the characters present. Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. Pokémon belongs to Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri.

It was a good thing Kaoru was leading the way up the mountain; otherwise, England would have given up on this plan. It wasn't so much the difficulty of climbing that annoyed him as it was how few footpaths there were for him. Kaoru and China were both smaller creatures than him, making them more agile and comfortable leaping across ledges and climbing precarious boulders. England was restricted to the one path before him– he was slowing the group down. Furthermore, this only path had sharp stones jagging out of the walls and ground, forcing him to carefully maneuver around them. Thank goodness the two ahead were able to clear some of the obstacles for him.

"How much further?" the Gallade called out as China finished destroying an obstructing boulder with his learned Focus Blast. Kaoru looked up toward the summit and pointed.

"Not far I think. I, like, see the guarding post."

"Is there a way to get up there faster?" asked China, realizing it would take another hour or so to reach it at their current pace. It wasn't supposed to be taking this long. The goal was to split into two groups: one to visit the Braviary Tribe, the other to the Mandibuzz Clan. They'd use the entire morning gathering clues about the children's deaths and, if possible, dissuade the leaders from initiating war. When evening came, they'd return to Mei's village, go over the evidence, and determine the real culprit. Then resolve this entire ordeal by tomorrow morning. But it was almost noon now, China fretted, if the position of the sun was any indication. That left them…

"What!?" America expressed everyone's shock when Mei returned and explained her meeting with the queen. "The Mandibuzz plan to attack in two days?"

"Did you tell her we're trying to help them?" China asked.

Mei sighed, nodding her head. "I did. I asked Queen Mandibuzz to reconsider, that we are looking for a safer solution, and that battle will be disastrous for everyone. But she says she can't negotiate with murderers." The Shaymin fumed. "She has the nerve to ask me to join her side but not try and seek a peaceful solution, stating my status will get the Braviary to reconsider messing with us. I told her the same thing I told the Captain: we won't join either side."

"Bet she took that well," muttered Peter, but to his surprise, Mei smiled.

"Actually, she did. Angry as she is, she understands this is not our battle. She and her group left without any commotion."

It couldn't be helped. Another hour had to be wasted before the trio reached the guard's post. Upon England stepping over the last ledge, a Mandibuzz spiraled down to the group, stopping their progress. "Halt!" she ordered, landing atop a boulder before them, "State your business for traveling across these grounds."

"We wish to speak to your queen," England candidly answered.

"I'm sorry, but the queen has no time to speak with you lot. She's busy preparing for war right now. I suggest you leave until notified of the war's end."

"But it's about the war," insisted England, "We're trying to help end—"

But the guard was adamant. "I'm afraid we simply don't have time to listen to any requests you or the villagers may—"

"We're here to help your cause!" China shouted angrily. Everyone froze and stared at the Mienshao. The guard blinked.

"You're…here to help our cause?" she asked, understandably skeptical. China nodded with confidence.

"Of course, aru. We wish to talk to the queen and tell her we plan to join your side. We don't think what the Braviary did was right, and we're going to assist in your battle. Is that satisfactory enough for us to pass, aru?" The guard was flustered as she looked between the faces of the three pokémon. England kept his as impassive as ever and even gave a small nod, confirming China's story. The guard flapped her wings in embarrassment and pointed toward a side path that led further up the mountain.

"Th-then I will inform the queen of your arrival." She flew away and the three took the side way.

England made sure the guard was out of earshot before whispering to China, "China, I hope you have something in mind. Otherwise, we'll be in something way over our heads that I for one don't particularly look forward to."

"Don't worry, aru, I have it covered," China replied back under his breath. "And I don't think we should be concerned about joining their war. We just need to get to the nest as soon as possible right now. Once we discover the perpetrator, we'll be able to avert most of the fighting anyway."

"Let's just hope that we'll get enough evidence to, like, stop them," uttered Kaoru before sighing. "Do you think your friends are having better luck?" The other two had looks of apprehension.

"That depends on whether or not America can stay focused on the task," muttered the Mienshao.

"But if Peter's anything like Sealand, we might be in trouble." England grimaced at the thought neither of the boys would be of any help. Maybe he should have gone with one of them if only to make sure they didn't mess this all up.

"Well Yong Soo's with them, and he'll make sure the two stay on track," Kaoru said.

"Really?"

The Mienfoo shrugged. "I'm not sure; I doubt it. I just thought you would have liked to hear some optimism."

"And that's why we're here," Peter finished with a chirp in his voice. Captain Braviary cocked a brow. He didn't look completely disbelieving of the three in front of him, but it was obvious he needed a bit more convincing.

"So let me see if I understand you boys: you two—" indicating America and Peter, "—wish to join our cause against the Mandibuzz?" They nodded. "Now, I remember you, Keldeo boy; you wanted to join earlier."

"That's right, sir!" the Keldeo grinned.

"But you, fledgling, had defended the Mandibuzz. What made you change your mind?"

"I met the Mandibuzz queen herself yesterday," answered America. "She was nice, but I didn't approve of the way she tried coaxing Mei into siding with her. A little underhanded for me." Which was mostly true– America didn't think it was right for her to separate Mei from her assistants and then try to convince the Shaymin to join the war when she clearly didn't want to. "That's why I figured it was time for me to join my own kind."

The Captain beamed at the duo before turning his attention to the third guest. "And you?"

"I'm just here as Mei's rep," Yong Soo played off very smoothly. "I'm supposed to observe if it's in our leader's best interest to align with you." The blue Braviary nodded in understanding.

"I assure you it will be. You said you just needed to look around my son's nest? Let me take you there." For the three, it was an awkward silence as they ascended to a small area that had once been clear. Now all that was there was a crumpled nest completely crushed underneath a landslide of boulders. A fully-grown bird wouldn't have survived the crushing rocks, let alone a baby one. America couldn't help catching the Captain flinch as they approached the pile. "…Here's Rufflet's nest. I give you as much time as you need to find out what or who was the cause for my son's death."

"Thank you, sir," America replied, tone completely serious, "We'll certainly do our best. Also, I know it's not my place to say this, but why don't you hold off from attacking the Mandibuzz. It wouldn't be right warring with them if you're doing so out of grief. Isn't that called revenge?"

"Maybe that's what this is then," Captain Braviary remarked coldly before flying back to his own nest. Peter got straight to business.

"Alright everyone! Time to find those clues pointing to the Mandibuzz!"

"Hold up, da-ze. We still have to prove that it was them. For all we know this rock slide was naturally caused." The Combusken raised a fair point. But how were they to find the clues? Search under every pebble until they found a footprint? Scour the ground for brown feathers?

"But that'll take forever," complained Peter once America gave said suggestions.

"You have a better idea?" The Keldeo pouted, having no answer for the Braviary's question.

England was at a loss. No red, white, or blue feathers anywhere. No signs that the rocks had been tampered with. All that was here was a pile of rocks over what used to be little Vullaby's nest. As he, China, and Kaoru continued lifting the stones away, he began to wonder if anyone did mess with the boulders at all. Maybe the bird was just missing and the rocks happened to have come down while she was gone. No, that was impossible– a guard would have found her earlier, assuming they patrolled the entire forest. Regardless, so far the evidence stood that the Braviary had nothing to do with this.

While moving the rocks with Confusion had been great practice for the Gallade, it was still more tiring to do than he would openly admit, so he took a quick rest leaning against a cleared part of the wall. They'd been worried at first of finding the mutilated remains, but so far they haven't found a speck of anything. Then again, they haven't cleared half of this mess; there was still time to find something.

As the breeze behind him picked up, he wondered if the three of them—and the other nations for that matter—were ever going to return home. Assuming they actually make it out of this possibly upcoming war, they still had to get through the desert to find some questionable archaeologist to give them the instructions to go back in time to find their friends before they use a magical stone that lets its user travel through dimensions. Going through that in his head one more time he realized that didn't make a lick of sense. Another thing that didn't make sense was how on earth could there be a breeze behind him if he was leaning against rock?

He checked his back. Yes, there was in fact a steady stream of cool air blowing, but it was not coming from directly behind him. He got on his hands and knees and began to feel where the source was.

"What are you doing?" China asked, pausing in his work to watch England crawl toward the pile. The Gallade pushed his hand in a tiny space between the mountain and the rocks.

"Here," he muttered. Then turning to the other two uttered, "Over here. There's air coming from behind this rock." At first China was confused as to why that mattered before it registered that rocks don't make wind; it has to come from somewhere. He quickly fired a Focus Blast at the spot, crumpling a few of the boulders. England took care of the rest with Confusion.

"Well that's certainly odd." In front of them was a dark tunnel, perhaps just big enough for Vullaby to crawl through. "Hello?" England called out into the tunnel.

"I doubt she'd be able to hear you," said Kaoru, "She's probably inside the mountain." England groaned. There wasn't much else of a choice now. Taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves he began to crawl into the tunnel. There was just enough room for him to do so, but it would be a pain for him to crawl back out if it turned out there was a dead end. China and Kaoru were lucky to be small enough to walk on four rather than pull themselves with their elbows.

England was probably four feet into the cave before he could barely see what was in front of him. "Great," he muttered. Kaoru must have heard him.

"What is it?"

"I can't see anything. For all we know this tunnel can wind all over the place."

"That's true. Hey, you, like, better hope it doesn't get narrower. How annoying would it be if you ended up stuck?" England paled at the thought. Why hadn't he thought of that beforehand? Too late now though. Just worry about each move at a time.

It was a slow crawl forward. One arm forward. Pull. The other arm forward. Pull. More than twice England felt someone—probably China—trip over his legs. There was no room to look behind and see who it was. And with no light to look ahead, England was ready to suggest turning around and—

"Aaahh!" He had moved his arm forward only to discover no ground below it. And with his body having shifted most of the weight, there was no way to regain his balance. He fell forward.

"England!" China quickly latched onto England's legs, and Kaoru grabbed the Mienshao's tail, but even their combined weight wasn't enough to pull the Englishman up. All three fell into the dark abyss.

America thought things could be moving along a lot worse. It'd been almost half an hour of them moving the rocks away. Peter was able to kick the smaller rocks with his hind legs. And Yong Soo used his sharp claws the smash them open. The American carried off the slightly larger ones. But something kept nagging at him as they worked. The rocks in the slide were of a different texture from the rest, and they also weren't as firm. Theoretically, all of the rocks should be the same, right?

"Hey dudes, I want to see something real quick." America flew to a higher section of the mountain, close to where the fallen rocks originated. He scrapped his claws against the surface.

Something was very wrong. Even up here the mountain's texture did not match with the rocks'. "Something's not right," he said as he swooped down to rejoin with the other two. "These rocks aren't of the same texture as the mountain."

"How do you know, da-ze?" Yong Soo asked him. "They look and feel the same to me."

"Look the same, yeah. But I can somehow feel that they're different. These rocks aren't as sturdy. If I had to take a guess, both these rocks and the mountain rocks are of the same composition but different, I don't know, ages?"

"What do you mean?" The Keldeo blew away more rubble with his Bubble Beam. They were making faster progress now. "Rocks can't age. They aren't alive or pokémon."

"Maybe not, but they do age just like peopl—I mean, pokémon do. And I know that older rocks are nearer to the top. But these boulders aren't as old as they should be. In fact—hold on one more second." He took off again, this time diving down toward the base of the mountain. A minute later he was back, carrying a small and broken off piece of rock. He tossed it before the two. "Feel that and compare it to the rubble."

They did. "It feels the same," Peter pointed out.

"Actually…" Yong Soo had a slight frown. His claws so delicately etched their way down the rough surface. "No…America's right. It's hard to notice, but the rocks aren't identical. This is less grainy."

America nodded. "That's right. But here's something even stranger: this rock was from the bottom. It's roughly the same as the rocks near the top, making them the same age, which isn't very surprising. But why is it these rocks we're moving are, assumedly, younger than the rocks below us?" The other two were silent.

"Gah! It doesn't matter, does it? Right now we need to find out what happened to Vullaby," Peter impatiently reminded them. He released a particularly powerful blast of water, shifting nearly all of the rocks. They tumbled forward. When the dust settled, America, Yong Soo, and Peter were all surprised to find a small tunnel behind them. "Ha ha! Yeah! I did it!" Peter ran for the hole.

"Wait up!" yelled America. How the heck was he supposed to get in there? He supposed he could bend low and enter that way, but…

…But he didn't have to think about that. Peter ducked in, and about five paces into the dark hole he suddenly vanished, and the two could hear his echoing cries as they got further and further away. Yong Soo raced in in alarm, and the same thing happened again. Not able to abandon his partners, America approached the hole. It was a tight squeeze, and his wings were pressed firmly against his sides, but he pushed himself inside, barely able to claw his way forward.

One, two, three, four…

There was no fifth step like he supposed. Only a sheer drop onto a very steep slide. He plummeted, the tunnel now wider than it was before, though still not wide enough for him to open his wings and hover. He slid on his stomach against the rough stone, more amazed he hadn't yet gutted himself against the rocks. Aside from his own cries, Peter and Yong Soo's could be heard as well, though he couldn't see them. And in the back of his mind, he hoped that there was some sort of exit at the end of all this for them.

They slid for no more than a minute before other echoes could be heard as well. Familiar echoes. Coming closer. Like they belonged to—

"Ouch!" Peter yelled out in pain. Something must have collided with him. "That hurt!"

"Who—ow! Peter?"

"What's going—ugf!—on here?"

"China!?"

"America? Ouch!" It seemed everybody was crashing into everybody as they tumbled down the dark slide. But at least there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Wait…when was that ever a good thing?

"Yaaah!" Everybody was thrown out of the mountainous rollercoaster tunnel, falling and landing in a clustered pile. Somehow England ended up at the bottom.

"Why does this seem to happen to just me?" he grumbled. The others achingly rolled off him. After getting to their feet, they all looked around the large cavern in mild shock. It was huge, probably as large as a football field. Eerie neon blue crystals were—quite literally—floating around the place, producing a strange humming noise and occasionally a spark of blue electricity. Even more oddly than the rocks was the vast amount of vegetation in the cave. Small but tropical-like plants and trees grew around the circumference of the cave, with grass covering the floor in large patches.

Everyone was impressed. "This place looks beautiful," breathed the Combusken. Kaoru walked up to one of the hovering blue stones and placed his paw against it. Static danced around it but he otherwise wasn't hurt.

"Chargestones," he observed. "These are, like, pretty rare crystals. They're one of the few rocks that can support limited amounts of life."

"And with so many of them here, no wonder this place is filled with plants," Peter observed. He looked behind them. There was a tiny creek that weaved from the mountainside to around the trees where it seemingly just cut off. If he had to take a gander, the water probably continued underground. That would explain how the grass and such got its water.

There was rustling from one of the bushes, causing everyone to freeze. A gasp, and then a tiny white and blue blur leaped out from the foliage. It awkwardly ran to America and wrapped its wings around him. "See? See? I was wight! My Pa was able to find us first." The baby bird looked up at the American. "Wait, I don't wemember seeing you at the nest before."

Another bird walked out from the brush. She glared at the adults. "You awen't Mandibuzz. Where's my Mammy? Did she send you here?" The missing children seemed to be taking the predicament they were in relatively well, not to mention didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact a bunch of strangers suddenly appeared from the roof.

"Um, are you Vullaby by any chance?" the Englishman pointed to the little brown vulture. She was wearing, unmistakably, a giant skull around her posterior as if it were a diaper. The chick nodded curtly.

"And you're Rufflet?" America asked the eaglet.

"Yep!" was the cheerful reply. He hopped back to the baby vulture's side.

"That's great! Both your parents think you're dead, you know that?" Both England and China whacked America. "What!?"

"Your parents are worried sick about you, da-ze," the Combusken clarified. "We came here to find you. They'll be relieved once they know you're safe, da-ze. You can go home!"

"Oh." For some reason, both children looked less than enthusiastic. Peter pointed this out.

"What's the matter? Don't you want to see your Mammy and Pa again?" Rufflet shuffled his feet, but Vullaby answered for them.

"We do. But we don't want our Mammy and Pa to tell us to stop pwaying. Wuff'et and I wike pwaying with each other, but our pawents don't. We never get to anymore." She paused, readjusted the skull she was wearing, and then continued. "When I fell down here after the wocks fell, I was scared. But Wuff'et said he fell down here too 'cause of the wocks. So we weren't scared anymore. And Mammy wasn't here to yell at us to stop pwaying."

"Yeah!" Rufflet agreed. "Pa couldn't tell Vuwaby to go home, so we could have as much fun as we wanted! At first we thought our pawents finawy wet us hang out together, but then we wondered if they wost us. We twied yewing, but they couldn't find us."

"The rocks outside," England noted to the group. "The Braviary and Mandibuzz couldn't hear them because the boulders were blocking their voices." He then crouched down to the level of the baby birds and said gently and calmly, "I know you may not like it, but we need to get you both back to your nests. Your parents are about to start a war over your whereabouts, something that is by no fault of your own. You need to return home before that happens." Rufflet and Vullaby moped at the prospect of not being able to see each other again. "Now then." He looked up at the hole in the ceiling they came through. "Do you think you can fly through that hole up there?"

"I can't fwy very well," Rufflet admitted.

"I can't fwy at all," Vullaby replied.

"And I don't think I'll be able to fit through the hole on the other side," America pointed out. The Gallade groaned. There was also the nearly vertical tunnel they'd have to crawl through.

Rufflet spoke up. "But hey! We can show you something."

"Spotlight: Mei the Shaymin"- Mei is the so-many-great granddaughter of the village founder, the original Shaymin who fought in the Battle of the Sealing. She is often seen as calm and collected, a trait she shares with her father, the previous head of the village. Mei considers the valley her small home is located to be relatively peaceful, even with the rivaling tribes—the Braviary Tribe and the Mandibuzz Clan—present on the two surrounding mountains. As a young Shaymin, Mei befriended the two children of the clans' leaders; those two later came to be known as Captain Braviary and Queen Mandibuzz. It was due to their friendship toward Mei they begrudgingly put aside their families' differences. But just like her ancestor, Mei is not one to tolerate violence. Rumor has it that she can transform into another form—called the Sky Forme—when conflict arises. Only two people have seen this other form: her friends and assistants Kaoru and Yong Soo.