Ace followed his father to the throne room, one of the servants took Jewel to her quarters in the east tower. Harold sat on his throne and continued his conversation with Ace.

Harrold: So, how was your trip Ace?

Ace: As I said father, educational. I feel the Ambassadors have more of a point then you give them credit for.

Harrold: Ace, those fools would have us give up our ambitions at being a great power!

Ace: Perhaps, but, they have a point, the world's been at war for 2000 years, perhaps we could try to make the Dark kingdom a great power WITHOUT more bloodshed.

Harrold: This is why I didn't want you to go there Ace, those fools have poisoned your mind. Our plans will succeed, when the fools to the south in the RGS alliance march off to war, we will blitz into their exposed flank, and conquer them before they can mount a real defence. Have no fear.

Ace: It's not that I think the plan won't work, it's that I feel perhaps there may be another way.

Harrold: Don't be a fool, conquest is the most effective way to make our kingdom great, and our people prosperous.

Ace: Of course, Father. Then the plan's proceeding well?

Harrold: We simply wait on our foolish neighbors.

Alexis flew the two over the RGS territory to the location of their main slave camp. Kareena looked over the Pidgeotto's side with a pair of binoculars, which had recently been invented in the normal kingdom to improve the effectiveness of air reconnaissance like the kind Kareena was doing now.

Kareena was looking carefully for signs of Matthew, in addition to weak points in the defences of the camp. She noted guard towers, walls, what the structures that appeared to be the barracks, armoury, and headquarters, as well as the massive pit mine in the center of the camp. She carefully mentally mapped the camp, before they had to turn back, as Alexis was getting tired, and the biting cold of the high altitude was getting to Kareena, even with the cloak she was wearing for extra warmth.

When she and Alexis returned, she quickly ran into a room with mapping materials to sketch out the camp on a map. This process was repeated for an entire week, as Kareena's map improved, a plan could be more feasibly produced. If she could only do so.

Matthew slowly came to the realization that he couldn't get out of the camp on his own, and planning a large scale rebellion, was impossible. It'd be discovered before they got enough numbers to succeed. He felt hopeless. Foreman helped him get acclimated to his new life, he learned how to dodge danger, and settled down, for the grueling times to come. The few snippets he overheard from the guards, indicated more and more, the camp was going to need to go into overdrive, to fuel an active war machine. One day he saw a Pidgeotto flying far overhead, he shielded his eyes, and looked up at it. He shrugged his shoulders, and got back to work.

Kareena looked down through the binoculars at the figure scampering off back to his labors. She couldn't make him out well, but she knew she'd found Matthew. She rejoiced internally at that. When she returned just before noon, she remembered something, at the beginning today, the guards had been a bit more staggered, disorientated. The ambassadors had gotten her the delivery schedule for the camp, and she realized that yesterday had been a delivery. The guards must have been suffering from hangovers. She suddenly had a cunning plan, a bit more observation, and it may just work.