"Who is she?" I muttered as we trudged along the snow covered path up the mountain. "Who is Sandra?"

"Don't think she'll tell us," Alex pointed out. "She essentially kicked us out."

"Not really," Robert inputted. "We're in a hurry technically. Who knows what Team Flare is up to."

"Yeah, unfortunately we can't just run up the mountain," I watched my breath fade away. "Team Flare could be at the Frost Cavern, but they also might be doing something near it. Can't be too sure."

"Glad we decided to buy the coats when we did," Alex said as she let a snowflake fall onto her gloved palm. "A lot of snow and cold up here."

A cawing noise came from above and we looked up to see Corvisquire circling down towards us. I held out my arm and he landed on it. "Find anything?"

"Caw," he fluttered his wings, pointing his beak up the path. After a few more steps, the ground began to slope down, leading straight to the mouth of a cave.

"Must be Frost Cavern," Robert said. "So they're in there after all."

"Footprints," Alex pointed at the fading prints. "Snow's covering them up fast, but they're leading into it."

"Let's go then," I held up my pokeball. "Thanks, Corvisquire. An ice cave probably isn't best suited for a Flying type like you."

"Caw," he agreed and I returned him.

"Alright," I let out Mawile and Greninja. "We're after Team Flare again. Let's go put a stop to them shall we. Mawile, I need you to be ready to attack at any moment. Greninja, you'll be able to hide in the darkness, so show us your shinobi skills."

Mawile nodded, staring at the entrance of the cave. Once we were right outside of it, we could see the dark blue ice covering the cave floor. Ice stalagmites and stalactites rose and grew from the ceiling, many connecting.

"Dark inside," Alex noted, tossing a pokeball. "Come on out, Pyroar."

"He won't provide light unless he breathes fire," Robert said.

"At least he'll keep us warm," Alex rubbed her Pokemon's mane fondly.

"Well, lucky I brought these," Robert dug out a couple of flashlights from his backpack and handed one to each of us. "They'll come in handy."

"An understatement," I said, flicking the switch. Three beams of light lit up the cave, making the shadows seem longer. Greninja went ahead of us, sticking to the shadows. The only way I knew he was still there with us was if I searched for our bond.

"Hey," Robert pointed his gloved finger ahead. "There's a light."

Sure enough, a bit away, was a small light, getting bigger the closer we got.

"Lights off," I said, switching mine off, followed by Robert's and Alex's. "Stick to the side of the walls. Hopefully we weren't seen. Mawile, be ready just in case."

Once the light source got closer, we could make out three Flare grunts, two guys and one woman.

"At least we got the easy job," one of the guys said, swinging the lantern out in front of him, none of them looking to the sides of the tunnel wall. "We only need to keep people out. Should be simple enough."

"Easy for you to say," the woman rubbed her arms. "It's freezing in here."

"Can't wait for the new world," the last grunt said dreamily. "There probably will be less of cold places like this."

"Idiot," the woman growled. "It'll be an ideal world for Humans and Pokemon to live in. Where do you expect the Ice types to live?"

"Oh yeah..."

Alex looked at me questioningly and I took a moment to think. I shook my head after a moment and we waited for the grunts to get far enough away for us to turn our lights back on.

"They shouldn't be an issue," I said, glancing at Mawile, who was glaring down where the grunts disappeared. "Save that anger, Mawile. We're not done here."

"We'll need to go deeper," Robert warned, shining his light down the tunnel. "What happens if we can't find our way out?"

"As long as it's a straight path we should be fine," I said, rubbing my chin. "Just in case though," I reached out for Greninja, looking at a shadowy section of the tunnel. "If you see any side tunnels, keep track of them. We don't want to get stuck in here forever."

"Gren," he said from the shadows.

After walking for another couple minutes, we reached a cavern with light. It was large, huge ice crystals jutting from the ground. There were around ten grunts, all of them walking around the area with devices in their hands.

"They're scanning the ice," Robert muttered beside me. "But for what?"

"Why don't we go and ask," Alex stood, punching her hand, Pyroar stepping up next to his trainer, letting out a small breath of fire.

"Hold up," I held up my hand, stopping her. "There doesn't seem to be one of their scientists or higher ups around. That means there's more of them around. We should look for the person in charge of this group and take down everyone else. Who would be," I scanned the grunts, finding the one I was looking for. "There, him."

I pointed at the one grunt who seemed to be recording data on a tablet, the only one not scanning the ice. "Leave him to me. I'll need you guys to take down everyone else."

"Do you even have to ask?" Alex smirked.

"Greninja," I said. "Keep to the shadows and take down anyone you can."

I waited another second, then brought my hand down. "Go."

I went first, Mawile running ahead of me. The icy floor allowed me to run faster, past all the surprised grunts.

"Alright then," Alex shouted somewhere behind me. "Let's take these guys down. Flamethrower!"

The grunt I was heading for turned around in surprise, his red-orange sunglasses slipping a little, showing his wide blue eyes. Mawile jumped, swinging her jaw. To the grunt's credit, he managed to let out his Houndoom before Mawile could make impact. She swung her body to the right to avoid the blast of flames from the Fire and Dark type.

The grunt gripped the tablet tightly. "How'd you get past the guards!?"

Mawile leaped next to me as I grinned. "Simple enough to slip past them. Now, why is Team Flare here?"

"Like I'd tell you," he snarled, a bead of sweat dropping down his face despite the cold temperatures. I noticed he moved his tablet behind him.

"Looks like it's the hard way of doing things then," I nodded at Mawile. "Ready?"

She crouched, her back jaw snarling.

"Houndoom!" the grunt shouted. "Fire Blast!"

A symbol of fire appeared, bearing down on Mawile.

"Iron Defense!" I yelled.

Mawile held her ground, sharpening her defenses as she took the explosion of fire head on.

"Our turn," I gripped a fist. "Draining Kiss!"

Mawile touched her hand to her mouth, pulling away as Houndoom's life force was sucked into her, healing her wounds.

"Blast them all to hell!" the grunt cried, backing up. "Inferno!"

My eyes widened. "In a place like this! Mawile, get back!"

I stumbled backwards as a column of raging fire erupted in the middle of the ice cavern, shaking the entire cave. The ice around Houndoom instantly melted, as did the the ceiling. Icicles shook across the room, some coming loose and crashing to the floor. I caught myself before I fell to the ground, looking back to make sure Alex, Robert, and their Pokemon were safe. Chesnaught was using his body to cover both of my friends, Pyroar nowhere in sight, probably returned to his pokeball.

Mawile leaped over my head, smashing an icicle to pieces before it hit me. I raised both hands to cover my head as ice shards rained down on me. The heat was intense, but it was dying down, the inferno's size dwindling.

"Thanks, Mawile," I grunted, placing a hand on the ground to steady myself. "You have to stop this! Sucker Punch!"

Mawile skidded on the melting ice, running in an arc to get to Houndoom.

The Flare grunt was on the ground thanks to the force of the Inferno, shouted, "Stop her! Fire Blast!"

Houndoom turned towards Mawile, blasting another Fire Blast.

"Mawile!" I shouted.

She gave a shout, energy blasting around her. It enveloped her, streaming behind her with golden and silver energy. She rocketed towards Houndoom, bursting through the Fire Blast and slamming into the Fire and Dark type with great force. The Inferno had ceased now, Houndoom flying backwards and crashed through an icicle. Mawile collapsed to one knee, winded.

"Good job," I praised her, standing back up. "Giga Impact, huh. Pretty dang powerful move."

Mawile half-smiled, then clenched her teeth as she stood fully, the effect of the Giga Impact wearing off.

The Flare grunt had scrambled to his feet and was running down another tunnel. Mawile made to give chase, but I shouted, "No! Let him go."

Mawile looked at me with confusion, but I walked over to where the grunt had dropped his tablet. The screen was cracked, but I would leave it up to Robert if it still worked. I turned around to see the cavern in disarray. Most of the grunts were fleeing towards the exit while a few seemed unconscious. None of them got impaled by an icicle, so I felt relieved.

"Relief?" I thought, a bit surprised, but then happy. "It seems I've come a long way since being that boy who's life was could only be described as hell."

"Hear, give me," Robert said when he and Alex came over, holding out his hand. I handed it to him and he began messing with it.

I turned to Alex. "You okay?"

She smiled. "Yeah. Chesnaught was a good shield."

"Hey," Robert looked up. "I'm okay too, you know, in case you were wondering."

Alex smirked, tapping the tablet. "Get back to work, techno boy."

"Man," Robert began focusing on the tablet again. Rather, I don't think he ever stopped messing with it, even when giving his remarks. "I would prefer Techno Man."

Alex and I both laughed at his expense.

After a minute, Robert looked up. "Okay, slightly fuzzy screen, but I think I got the gist. You should know, I was barely able to scrounge up any information... and the tablet just died. Great."

"Hey," Alex tapped her foot impatiently. "Hurry it up with the information."

"Patience is a virtue," Robert said in what he probably thought was a wise tone. "I wasn't able to get information outside of what they were doing here, and even then I don't think it's everything, but it should be enough," he cleared his throat. "It seems they're here to retrieve an artifact or something. It's called the "Frozen Light". I think they mean to use it as a power source for a weapon..." He let that stay there, that one word already confirming something I had already reached the conclusion of.

"We know that Xerneas and Yveltal were both taken," I said, thinking back to what Sandra told us earlier. "Radiance has already shown in interest with Xerneas when they stole an artifact, which was part of Xerneas. I believe Eve means to use Xerneas to bring Cassandra back to life."

"Just what we need," Alex groaned. "Cassandra on our backs like she was in Alola."

"So if we can reach that conclusion," I furrowed my eyebrows. "That must mean Team Flare has Yveltal. Now that we know for sure Team Flare is building a weapon, I think it would be wise to assume it's for this Ultimate Weapon Sandra talked about in the story."

"Those grunts from before," Robert snapped his fingers. "They were talking about a new world. An ideal one."

"Sandra said the power of the Ultimate Weapon fueled by the power of a legendary would be planet-wide," Alex crossed her arms. "A goal like killing all life wouldn't make sense for a group like Team Flare. What if their plan isn't to wipe out life entirely?"

"An ideal world," I mused. "One where a select group of humans could start over."

"Come again?" Robert asked.

"What if Team Flare is meant to be the only surviving humans," I explained. "What if their goal is to begin life anew..." my eyes widened as a thought occurred and I tried to remember. "What did Lysandre say again back at the cafe in Lumiose?"

"What?" Alex looked confused, then her eyes widened. "He was speaking to Diantha about not wanting her beauty tainted by the world's ugliness."

"That's it!" I exclaimed. "We know Lysandre must be the leader of Team Flare. If we think about what he said, specifically the ugliness of the world, then his views must be that he sees this world as a terrible place."

"Evil organizations," Robert lifted a finger, then began lifting more. "Cults, politicians... I can see why he would think that."

"So he means to destroy the world and rebuild it to be a better place for humans and Pokemon," Alex finished my thought. "This better be his objective because if not, we just used a lot of brainpower for nothing."

"Okay," Robert held up the tablet. "That was a tangent. Back to this. They want this Frozen Light thing for the Ultimate Weapon it seems. It's resting place is somewhere in this place, the Frost Cavern. More likely further in, but they still had grunts here to make read for signals. Last thing I was able to find out about this artifact is that it dates back to thousands of years."

"Maybe..." Alex waited a moment. "3 thousand years. It would fit with the story we were told. What if this Frozen Light was used as the power source for the Ultimate Weapon back then? Maybe it was the thing that absorbed the life force of the Pokemon."

"You brats seem to know a lot more than you should," a woman's voice said. We all turned to see a large group of people coming out from a tunnel. Team Flare.

The woman in the lead wore red leggings, a red undershirt and tie beneath a white vest, and her hair, lipstick, and sunglasses were red as well. Must be the admin of the group. Following her was the blue haired scientist from the Power Plant and around a dozen grunts.

Blue Scientist stepped forwards, looking around the cavern behind her blue visor, carrying a metal box in her hand. "Quite a battle happened here it seems," she settled on us, Chesnaught and Mawile getting into defensive positions. "Ah, we meet again, Zeno. You were right last time, we didn't have all the facts, so we did a bit of digging."

"Zeno, Alex, and Robert," the admin said. "You were all vital in the process of saving Alola 7 months ago. Of course, much of it has been kept under wraps, but we were still able to learn a lot about how strong you all are. Which is why stopping you here would be in the best interest of Team Flare, for the sake of you three not ruining our plans."

"Aw, thanks," Robert rubbed the back of his head, looking mighty happy. "They recognize all of us being a threat, not just you Zeno. Feels good to be appreciated."

"Yeah, Zeno," Alex said mockingly, grinning as she gave me a light punch in the shoulder. "Time to let us have some of the glory in being recognized as heroes."

"What should we be called..." Robert mused, rubbing his chin. "Heroes of Darkness? Nah, too anti-villainy. Ooo, I got it!" he grinned, looking a little cocky. "How about the Defenders of Order."

"Defenders of Order?" I looked at him. "Where did that come from?"

"You know," Robert waved his hand. "Our main enemy is the Cult of Chaos. What's the opposite of Chaos? Order. We're the Defenders of Order. The Order of Order came to mind, but that sounded weird."

"Are you all quite done?" the Flare admin sounded exasperated at this point.

"Oh, yes," I smirked. "Sorry, I was letting Robert take the attention so you wouldn't notice anything odd."

Before the admin had time to widen her eyes, a pink wind blasted the grunts from the side, knocking many over. As the admin whirled around, Alex let out her Ninetales. "Flamethrower!"

"You too," Blue Scientist yelled, sending out her Houndoom, whose Flamethrower negated Ninetale's attack.

"Honchkrow," the admin shouted, throwing out the Dark type. "Use Dark Pulse on the trainers!"

"Chesnaught," Robert thrust out his hand and his Pokemon got between us and the attacking Pokemon. "Spiky Shield!"

Chesnaught raised both arms, a green shield with spikes appearing in front of him, defending us from the attack.

Mawile leaped back near us, the grunts all having pulled out a Pokemon.

"We'll finish you here," the admin threatened, pointing a red-colored fingernail at us. "Attack!"

"Now!" I shouted.

A blast of water in the middle of the grunts and their Pokemon caused confusion as Greninja leaped from the icicle he had been clinging onto from the ceiling. He landed on the ground, placing his webbed hand on the rock and ice floor, cracks spreading towards Team Flare. Three geysers of water sprung forth, blasting away grunts and their Pokemon.

"I call left," Alex ran to the left, her Pyroar and Ninetales following her.

"Fiiiine," Robert sighed, shrugging to me as if to say, "What can you do?" and ran to take on the grunts on the right alongside his Chesnaught.

"Guess the admin is ours to take down then," I grinned as Mawile and Greninja got ready on either side of me.

"Children who talk big must be put down," the Flare Admin said, Honchkrow flying above her head, and she let out a Manectric. "Dark Pulse! Thunderbolt!"

"Iron Defense!" I shouted, taking a couple quick steps back. "Water Pulse!"

Mawile let herself take the Thunderbolt, bearing the attack as Greninja held back the beam of darkness with a sphere of water. Then four grunts ran forwards, a Mightyena, Scrafty, Liepard, and Golbat joining in the battle.

Mawile didn't back down, her back jaw growling fiercely, her expression one of defiance. Greninja looked at me and nodded his head.

"Alright," I breathed, letting our connection frequency become equal. "Connect."

Our connection surged, a column of water sprouting around Greninja. Inside, his dark form was constantly moving and his red eyes flashed. The top of the water tornado struck the ceiling, shaking the cavern.

"Let's not bring the place down on us," I warned. "Now, release!"

Greninja rushed the tornado forwards into the enemy Pokemon, the water around him exploding outwards, blasting away the Scrafty, Mightyena, Golbat, and Honchkrow. The water came rushing back, forming his cloak and weapons as he flipped backwards.

As a bolt of lightning arced towards him, I shouted, "Thrust your blade into the ground!"

Greninja slammed a water blade into the ground, cracking the ice as he leaped backwards. The water blade acted as a conductor, attracting the lightning to it. Greninja slid backwards, two shurikens forming in his hands.

"What is that Greninja!?" The admin yelled in surprise.

"He is," I shook my head. "No. We are the Kage-Shinobi. Water Shuriken!"

Greninja spun the shurikens in his hands, charging forwards, the weapons growing bigger and sharper. He slid to a stop, using his momentum to throw them. One took down Golbat while the other blasted Liepard backwards.

"Honchkrow," the admin growled. "Wing Attack!"

"Don't forget about Mawile!" I shouted, the Fairy type leaping above Honchkrow. "Fairy Wind!"

Mawile swung her jaw, the blast of pink wind sending the Dark type crashing to the ground.

"Play Rough!" I yelled. "Greninja, Night Slash on Manectric!"

"High Jump Kick!"

"Crunch!"

"Discharge!"

As Greninja descended on Manectric, the Electric type unleashed a dome of electricity and at the same time Scrafty was aiming for Greninja's left side and Mightyena for his right.

"Hydro Shield!" I shouted.

Greninja swung his cloak off of him, stretching it around him, expanding as he did. All three moves collided with it, causing the bubbles to explode outwards. The Discharge fizzled out as Scrafty was made to faint midair and crash to the ground. Mightyena flew backwards into his trainer, sending him and the grunt sliding away.

"Alex!" I shouted over to her. She was busy handling the last couple grunts and their Pokemon with most of her Pokemon out. "Where's the scientist!?"

Alex shook her head and I looked over where Robert was. He must've heard me shout because he shook his head as well.

The Admin withdrew her fainted Honchkrow while her Manectric bounded to her side. "And the penny drops. We got what we came here for grunts! Let's go!"

"Greninja!" I shouted, but several grunts threw small objects on the ground, smoke releasing into the air, obscuring the grunts. I heard them all rush towards the exit, but there was no way I could pursue. Unless...

I closed my eyes, letting our senses become one. We ran side-by-side, the process jarring and I nearly missed tripping over chunks of ice. Then we were out of the smoke and I could see Team Flare running through the dark tunnel, their flashlights letting me see again, but they were far up ahead.

"C'mon," I growled, sprinting after them, Greninja getting ahead of me a little. I felt a surge of energy that nearly made me lose my balance, but I kept running. I could see daylight ahead, the light white from the snow.

"Quick Attack!" I grunted.

Greninja sped ahead, bouncing off the tunnel walls for momentum. He collided with the back of a grunt, bringing her down. He leapt forwards, hitting a grunt in the side of the head. I could hear a loud noise now, like that of a motor.

"Stop them!" I shouted, but Greninja was only able to bring down a couple more grunts and Pokemon before I heard the noise of a helicopter lifting off. I burst out of the cave and knee deep into snow to see a cargo helicopter rising in the sky, the blue haired scientist waving down at me with a smile on her face. The force of the chopper blade blew snow into my face, nearly making me fall backwards as the helicopter flew over the mountains and out of sight.

I slammed a fist into the snow, Greninja coming up to my side, laying a hand on my shoulder. Soon, we were joined by Alex, Robert, and Mawile.

"Where they go?" Robert asked, looking around as he and Alex surveyed the grunts and Pokemon Greninja managed to bring down.

"Helicopter," I shook my head. "They got away with the Frozen Light. If what we came up with is their actual goal, then we just let them get away with the one thing that will power the Ultimate Weapon."

"I'll contact Looker," Robert said, walking a couple feet away as he powered up his Holo Castor. "He'll need to know this information, plus these grunts need to be arrested."

"We win some and lose some," Alex said, kneeling down next to me, offering a small smile.

"We lost against them in our last encounter, remember," I said bitterly. "Radiance got away with Volcanion and Flare got away with information from them."

"Well," Alex struggled for a moment, then sighed. "You're not going to give up, are you?"

I looked at the ground for a moment, then chuckled. "Of course not."

"There we go," Alex slapped me on the back as we both stood. "I mean, we are the Defenders of Order now."

"I came up with the name," Robert raised his hand, back to us. "Remember that!"

Alex and I both laughed and I smiled at her gratefully. Team Flare may have gotten away with a powerful artifact, but that only meant we would have to step up our game.

...

"So, um," Robert looked back at us after a couple minutes. "We'll have to stay here and make sure no grunt escapes until the International Police arrive..."

I groaned and Alex let out her Pyroar. "Okay, starting a fire then."

"Should have rope in my backpack," I shrugged it off, looking through it. "Greninja, Robert, help me tie them up. Mawile, feel free to knock them unconscious again if they wake up before we can finish."

She nodded and we got to work as the day stretched on, snow still falling lightly around us.

Huh. I'm noticing that I'm able to write longer chapter than usual now. Generally regular filler/plot chapters like this stay in the 2000-3000 word range. This is 4000 plus. Also why it takes longer to write. Anyway, something came up the other day and I am in the process of editing a future story idea, but all's good, no worries. Still busy with school and unfortunately for me, it won't be ending until near the middle of June, cause my school sucks. Fun. Toodles