Welcome back once again! This chapter is relatively short compared to the past...several, but some noteworthy things happen.

Ok, fair warning before reading this chapter: even I had to stop a few times and walk away from it, because I knew what was included. I don't think it's that dramatic, and knowing folks that have prowled online several times over, I don't think that it's anything too bad. But it's definitely not family friendly, so, final warning.

Anyway, last time I mentioned that we were trying something different here, so...here goes. Enjoy!

...

[Glacial Run, Iceberg Empire]

On a frosty pathway far outside of the Iceberg Empire's capital city, a fire crackled from a broken signpost, as warriors followed the smoke and made their way over.

Magmortar adjusted his arm as he smirked, watching Zangoose storm over first.

"Isn't that going to just alert the city to where we are?"

"By the time they get here, we'll be long gone," assured Magmortar.

He glanced up as Gliscor soared overhead, and swept down to the path below. He sank down as Magmortar kept his attention on him, while Zangoose folded his arms.

"Hey, where's—?"

"Nobody report in until we get everyone here," thundered Magmortar, as Gliscor shivered.

"There better be some good news," grumbled Zangoose.

"Looks like we've got at least some," determined Magmortar, as he gazed past Zangoose, who turned to follow his eyesight.

Exploud shuddered as he lightly guided Garchomp by his claw, taking his steps quickly, but carefully. Garchomp slowed his movements for a moment, as Exploud twisted back and pulled him slightly, stirring the dragon forward again. He turned to find his comrades, and whimpered at the sight of them. Magmortar, however, grinned at spotting the two.

"Looks like our beast made it." He chuckled. "Good work on finding, Exploud."

"W-we'll need to patch him up," pointed out Exploud. "He was bluh-bloodied when I found him, and I d-don't know if it was all his or not."

"Stow it," commanded Magmortar. "We're still waiting on one of our masterminds."

"How do you know one of them made it?" Zangoose raised an eyebrow.

"Who do you think orchestrated this meeting?"

From shadows behind the crackling flames, Gengar rose up from the depths and grinned to her allies. She floated around, surveying each of the remaining group that she had gathered against the Iceberg Empire.

"Six of us, not counting those others that we were supposed to be with," she noted. "Not half bad, all things considered…"

"Don't see the twerp," piped up Zangoose. "R'we waiting on anyone else? Or do you want to go first?"

"For now, Marowak is mostly dead," revealed Gengar. "But, I have plans to work with him later. His rage is quite useful, eheeheehee…"

"Still died under your watch," contested Zangoose. "Good to know I'm not alone."

"Where is your partner?" Gliscor blinked as Zangoose twisted around to him.

"Dead, by that blasted frog," snapped Zangoose. "Was on my way to grab him for defending the palace, got a clear view of that bastard killing him."

"Sorry…"

"Yeah." Zangoose tapped at knives on his belt. "Went to kill him after, but picked off the other two frogs with him, so, consolation prizes."

"Well done," complimented Gengar. "I only blinded their little fox mage."

"Clearly, you didn't get pissed enough."

"Evidently not, eheeheehee…" She still smiled as she gazed down. "I had some unexpected company from one of Malamar's puppets…"

"Wait, what?" Exploud clasped his hands over his mouth and whimpered.

"Thought they only break free if the puppet master lets them go," brought up Magmortar. "Unless they crossed him off."

"Indeed they did," murmured Gengar. "Malamar is dead as well."

"So, that's what screwed you over," realized Zangoose. "That sucks."

"It does…"

"D-does that mean Kricketune—?"

"She died too, likely defending him," confirmed Gengar. "Or at least, I would imagine she did something like that, eheeheeheehee…"

"Then why's the dragon still dulled out?" Zangoose tapped his foot. "Was he one of yours, like the Emperor?"

"Oh no, not this one…" She drifted over to Garchomp, as Exploud flailed and scrambled aside. Gengar stared straight up at the dragon, while his gaze remained empty, not focusing on anyone or anything. "He has been a part of a much more exciting experiment. I wonder if it was successful…" Her beam widened as she traced the wounds on Garchomp's body. "Oh…just look at these…yes, he must have been a very successful effort, eheeheehee; very nicely handled, I'm sure…"

"Good to know." Magmortar shot a fireball at the burning signpost, keeping it ablaze. "What about the other part of your work?"

"On the others from the Grass Fields Kingdom?"

"That'd be the one."

"They failed, as expected considering our results," revealed Gengar. "By the time I had arrived, they were already overwhelmed by the knights."

"And the other two?" Magmortar watched as Gengar hesitated, and slowly shook her head. He seethed and rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"Relying on misguided town thugs would only get them so far," rationalized Gengar. "Had we properly handled our work here, we would have joined them and swiftly defeated their miserable defenses."

"Shouldn't have had me running distractions," complained Magmortar. "I could have done a lot more impressive work."

"We had all agreed you weren't the best option, based on location," reminded Gengar. "Were you, or were you not, dealing with the most Water Types of us all?" Magmortar snorted, but then nodded. "As expected."

"Those other dastards didn't do their damn job slowing anyone else down," grumbled Magmortar. "Had the other dragon and the fox gone after that turtle like they were supposed to, and beat him, we would've had a lot more to work with."

"Had he not cleared so much of the town?"

"Yeah." Magmortar glared into his bonfire. "And what about their idiotic magic warrior?"

"His betrayal was most unexpected," admitted Gengar. "Something about your actions set him off."

"How the hell should I have known about that?" Magmortar lifted his arm. "Should've roasted him alive before he stole the damned prophet…"

"Couldn't we still go after them?" Zangoose folded his arms behind his back. "I'm sure we could find a way to infiltrate their palace again, even without the dark fox's transforming techniques."

"This was our best attempt to steal him, and they'll be expecting us going forward," determined Gengar. "We'll need to reassess and come up with new strategies." She paused and gazed down at the ground. "Though…why didn't they have a clear advantage over us, if they had such a valuable tool at their whim…?"

"Might not actually be awakened yet," brought up Magmortar. "Didn't Malamar go on about the prophet's full potential needing to be explored?"

"Yes, he did mention something like that," recalled Gengar. "I'll…need to look into it further." She eyed Exploud. "We still have reporting to return to, eheehee…"

As the group slowly followed and settled their attention on him, Exploud whimpered and sank into himself. His eyes wildly shifted over everyone around him, and he shivered as he fumbled his fingers together.

"Wuh…what?"

"Don't you want to tell us about the events with your involvement?" Gengar's grin returned to her face, as she approached him. "You were supposed to be the one retrieving the prophet and keeping him safe, weren't you, dear?"

"Well, I…I…" Exploud shuddered as he backed away from her.

"If I wasn't mistaken, I think that, even after that traitor of ours stole him, you were supposed to fetch him, weren't you?" Gengar chuckled. "Yet, you failed."

"That…that wasn't…" Exploud cowered back, his eyes darting to watch as Zangoose circled his perimeter on his left. "The-they were too qu-quick!"

"Funny, I don't remember have trouble keeping up with mine," taunted Magmortar, walking around on Exploud's right.

"You're faster," contested Exploud. "You-you're all faster! I'm not…" He squealed as his back connected with Garchomp.

"It wasn't even a violent task," pointed out Gengar. "All you had to do was keep him under your watch. Nice and easy, eheeheehee."

"But…but…"

"Your failures only start with that," brought up Magmortar. "Because we both failed to stop the frogs and that duck, that's another mar against you. And unlike you, I gave everything I had into slowing them down."

"So did I!"

"Did you?" Magmortar scoffed. "Pretty sure that they kept appealing to you for a reason."

"No, they just…they…"

Whimpering as he looked around himself, Exploud found his companions all around him, and was left with nowhere to run. He clung tightly to himself and shuddered as they enclosed around him.

"Don't…"

"Hey!"

Everyone paused, before they turned back around to Gliscor, who stood off to the side from the group around Exploud. He held his pincers together and frowned at the others, pulling himself inward. For a moment, he froze, but then inhaled, and exhaled.

"Come on. We all messed up in the end," Gliscor pointed out. "But we made it out, right?"

"Actually, we didn't finish listing everything that Exploud did," corrected Gengar. "Perhaps not to his best, as Magmortar pointed out, but Exploud did aid in slowing our enemies en route to the palace." She spun around back to Exploud. "But that wasn't even my favorite accomplishment from you."

"It…wasn't?"

"Not at all." Her beam broadened. "In fact, I rather enjoyed how potent that sonic bomb of yours turned out to be. You know most of the tower that Emperor Empoleon was in?" She chuckled. "Blasted to smithereens. The whole spiral crumbled under that supersonic burst."

"So his little canned Boomburst actually did the trick," observed Magmortar. He snorted. "What do you know, Exploud? You have more value after all."

Though everyone seemed to relax around Exploud, he continued to tremble, checking behind him and noting that Garchomp remained where he was. His eyes shifted around wildly, as Zangoose turned to watch Gengar, who nodded to him.

"But you want to know who didn't have a lot of value throughout this campaign?"

Magmortar, however, pivoted around and started toward Gliscor. His eyes widened at the approach, and his wings launched up on either side.

Icy shackles erupted from the ground, locking onto Gliscor's limbs just as he left the ground. He was dragged right back down, as shadow bindings seeped from the ice and snared him in place.

Gengar lowered her arm as Zangoose flanked Magmortar, following him closer to the fang scorpion. Exploud shouted and managed one step forward, but was met with a claw against his back.

Gliscor struggled against his dark, frozen bindings, but failed to even loosen them. Magmortar stood over him, as a slow smile formed onto his wicked face.

"Remind me, what was your big job, Gliscor?" He mockingly paused as Gliscor grunted and writhed beneath him. "Oh yeah, you were supposed to make sure that our full artillery laid waste to the city." Magmortar reared his arm around. "Our very, very expensive ensemble of cannons. Ones that we were supposed to be able to use later on weaker kingdoms." Shifting himself back upright, he twisted back to Gengar. "What do you tell me happened to them again?"

"Utterly demolished within the crevices of the earth," confirmed Gengar.

"Right, right." Magmortar returned his attention to Gliscor. "So they're like you now: useless."

"How was I supposed to know that the lunatic knight sent out there was going to kill himself over stopping the cannons?!" Gliscor thrashed below. "He broke open the ice beneath us and got himself killed for it!"

"Do you want to know what I just heard?" Magmortar waved his arm back and forth. "That sounds like the knight was more committed to his mission than you were to yours. He was ready to die for his goal to succeed." His eyes narrowed on Gliscor. "And he did just that. Not by your doing, either, no, but by his. Your resolve should have been equal or greater than his; if it was, we would still have the artillery, and we would be standing here in triumph."

"You can't just blame this whole thing on me!"

"True, we can't pin everything on you." Magmortar shook his head. "But we can certainly point out where the brunt of this comes from, and considering that the rest of us were more successful in our work, the weight simply crushes you." At that, he stomped down on Gliscor, and elicited a wheeze from him. "Hefty, isn't it? Too bad that isn't even a fraction of the weight that the rest of us are now burdened by."

"Please," tried Exploud, but he froze again, as Garchomp's claw pushed closer to him.

"Not to mention that you've got an annoying reputation to run your mouth more than should," expanded Magmortar, as Gliscor's eyes widened. "What, did you think no one noticed that? I can't even imagine what you probably let slip against the knight." He chuckled. "At least he's dead regardless, so there's nothing to worry about there. Just barely, but it works."

"I…I've done…everything," managed Gliscor, as he coughed out.

"Apparently, in spite of those big ears, you don't listen well," contended Magmortar. "Otherwise, you'd understand that you've done nothing. We were able to disrupt the city's life, but not destroy it. We brought chaos upon the emperor and the Iceberg Empire, but it's nothing that they can't recover from." He snorted. "Hell, we took lives, meager as they were, but you couldn't even take down the one opponent that you actually grappled with. Exactly what use do you have?"

"Can't…"

"What's that?"

"Can…still have…use," forced Gliscor.

"Huh, you think so?" He smirked and nodded. "Yeah, maybe there are still ways you can make this up to us. Prove yourself, redeem your failures." Magmortar nodded, lifted his foot, and took five steps back from Gliscor. "After all, maybe the boss will still pay you after you've proven that you can earn a good keep."

"Yes…!"

"Sure, you could have your uses."

Lifting his head a bit, Magmortar grinned to Gengar, who merely reflected his and remained still. Zangoose darted aside to an equal distance, as Magmortar pivoted around and lifted his arm, aiming his cannon.

"Too bad you won't get to prove it."

Flames erupted and poured out from Magmortar's arm cannon. Exploud yelled out, but squeezed his eyes shut, cringing tightly as he heard Gliscor's screams. Garchomp remained steady against him, and though pressure surged in Exploud's throat, he kept it in, as he sobbed.

Once finished, Magmortar twisted back to Exploud. He stormed over and smacked him across the face. Scooping it up, he tightened his grip against the quivering subordinate.

"Do yourself a big favor: don't. Ever. Fail us." He glared at Exploud's whimpering face. "You got it?" Exploud quickly nodded. "Good." Magmortar pulled off from him and stomped off. "Get to our checkpoint, and gather our remaining supplies. We're getting out of here."

Exploud hurried off, as Garchomp's arm dropped from him, and he rushed as quickly as he could along the path.

"What about the smoke?" Zangoose flinched as Magmortar twisted to him. "Should we, uh, cover him…the body, with snow? Douse it out?"

"By the time anyone gets out here, it won't matter, and we'll be long gone."

"Why keep the crybaby anyway?" Glancing at the disappearing Exploud, Zangoose scratched his head. "He makes a strong sound bomb, but, ah, he's a lot weaker."

"It's because he does scare easily," pointed out Magmortar. "Makes it easier to keep him in line, after all."

"Fair logic," determined Gengar. "Though, rather brutal. We could have used him further. Alive, at least."

"Does it matter to you?" Magmortar shrugged. "You can make use of him, dead or alive, so do whatever you please."

Gengar rolled her eyes as Magmortar stomped off down the path. She waited as Zangoose looked to her; though he tried to maintain his threatening aura, his widened eyes and paled face gave him away.

"Clearly, we'll need to keep his temper in check, going forward," assessed Gengar. "To be clear, that much certainly wasn't part of the plan." She shook her head. "But remember that we cannot tolerate failures. Understood?" He quickly nodded to her. "Good. After them, make sure Magmortar doesn't change his mind on Exploud. They are both still…needed…"

Lazily saluting her, Zangoose chased after the others along the path. Watching him fade away for a moment, Gengar turned back to Garchomp. She carefully eyed him, as his face twitched.

"Hm…perhaps there is still work to do with you," she noted. "But, that's not for me to decide at all." Slowly, she sank into the shadows, but took a moment to glance up at the smoke trailing across the sky. Gengar returned her attention to Garhcomp. "Don't dawdle for too long; if you're caught out here, we won't be able to make use of your tremendous strength. And that is very much needed…eheeheehee…"

Sinking down, she vanished into the earth, as her dark shadow traveled along it, until it sunk far enough beneath it and out of sight.

For a moment, Garchomp surveyed the wintry landscape, taking in the sights. Water blurred his vision as he checked around. His eyes were forced shut tight, and when they were opened again, his stare returned to its usual emptiness. Silently, he followed the others, off to parts unknown.

[Elsewhere]

Further along the run, where the snow and ice lessened, Flygon soared a bit over the path, cradling Zoroark close to him. Studying him, Flygon rocked slightly with his flight, lightly swaying as he drifted along.

"How are you holding up?"

Zoroark remained silent, keeping his attention fixated on the glowing orange pouch in his hands. It brightened as they traveled onward.

"That means we're getting closer to him," determined Flygon. "So he can't be much further."

"I know."

"Then why are you staring at it rather than telling me that you're all right?"

"Because I'm not," confessed Zoroark. "And I need to think."

"So, why can't you tell me about any of that?"

"Oh, I don't know." Zoroark glared up at Flygon. "Are you going to tell me more about 'Gar' in return?" He waited as Flygon fell silent. "Didn't think so."

Another minute passed by as they quietly carried on. Then another. Flygon struggled to keep his attention on anything that wasn't Zoroark, focused on his flight through the decreasingly snowy lands.

Still focused tightly on the pouch, Zoroark took an occasional moment to glare at Flygon, before diverting his attention from his partner. Checking at the wounds on his body, he clutched himself.

"You're not doing well," noted Flygon, finally returning his attention to the fox.

"What part of me could possibly be doing well?!" Zoroark grunted as his arms shot out, and the pouch dropped below. He grasped at his sides as Flygon swept down to catch it. "Ah, you see?!"

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

"Can you at least tell me about what's wrong? Or if there's anything that I can do?"

"There isn't a single thing that you can do," snapped Zoroark. When Flygon opened his mouth, Zoroark snarled, forcing him to quiet down and listen. "You're not the one that had to hold an illusion and maintain a cover as a monk-like stoat for what felt like ages. On top of that, I had to research vulnerabilities and pinpoint the exact moments when the two mightiest of the Iceberg Palace were at their most relaxed, neither of which was an easy task. Plus, I had pretend to be friends with a bunch of other soldiers that would've been able to see through my faults if I wasn't careful or broke away often enough from them." He folded his arms and scowled. "That's all without mentioning the inevitable discovery, the ensuing fights, working with scum that we don't know anything about, or the part where my boyfriend apparently had his long lost ex come back from the dead, who he apparently still has feelings for!"

"That's not fair," shot back Flygon. "He…we didn't date, but…" He deflated and flew lower. "I don't know what happened."

"Then what do you know?!" Zoroark grumbled as Flygon glanced behind him. "Anything beats nothing, Flygon! You're the one being unfair!"

"…We were separated, from a long time ago." Flygon gazed down at the ground. "When we first left the Deserts Domain for the Mountain Monarchy, we tried to stick together always, and we had set up our lives in the mountains, but…" He shook his head. "I thought that I lost him."

"None of that even makes sense!" Zoroark threw his arms up. "I didn't know you when you came from the desert!"

"Well, that's where we were both originally born, and grew up," explained Flygon. "We didn't really know each other much until we were already evolved. And we were both young when we blazed through those stages." Flygon smiled slightly. "I guess that was part of our bonding."

"But how did you two even meet?! What even happened that you left the deserts to come to the mountains? Why did you two separate?"

"That wasn't intentional!" Flygon shuddered. "One day…he was supposed to be out to get some food and supplies, but while he was out, there was a rockslide, and I…" Flygon winced, trying not to shut his eyes entirely. "I never really found out what happened, but I just figured that, since that was where he had been that day…I even went to look for him once they opened that side of the mountain up, but…"

Both fell silent, as Flygon trembled and forced back tears. Zoroark lowered his shoulders, and took the sliding pouch from Flygon's tail. Staring at it for a bit, his frown drooped as it shined brighter.

"So…you two were close and setting up a whole life together," assessed Zoroark, as Flygon slowly nodded. "Yet you never got around to dating, so…what was he to you? What does he mean?"

"He…means a lot to me."

"And what about me then?"

"You mean a lot to me too." Flygon gazed at Zoroark. "This wasn't meant to ever be a competition. I mourned him, and I thought he was gone." He lowered his head. "I don't even know what he's doing working with that witch and her minions, because that's not who he is."

"…That's because it's not him at all," unveiled Zoroark.

"Huh?"

"Remember how they mentioned taking control of the emperor and the others?" Zoroark raised his shoulders again. "That evil duck knight mentioned the differences in controlled behavior, and the description lined up with how Garchomp was acting."

"Wait, what?!" Flygon sharply halted in the air. "You put that together and you're just telling me about it now?!"

"Oh, sorry, there wasn't a good time while we were being threatened and coerced to lay siege on the city!"

"Probably a good time to cut in so we can discuss that."

Blinking at one another, Flygon and Zoroark turned their attention downward, as Lucario held up his glowing green bell. In his lowered hand, he clutched at another orange pouch.

Descending upon him, Flygon lowered Zoroark to the ground, as he held himself together. Both glared darkly at Lucario, who surveyed around the landscape before noticing the two fixated on him. He lifted an eyebrow, and looked between the pair.

"…Have I interrupted?"

"That's besides the point," snapped Zoroark.

"You abandoned us!" Flygon flapped his wings as he narrowed his glare on Lucario. "When we needed you most, you took off!"

"Forgive me, I was trying to salvage whatever was left of our original mission," declared Lucario. "It was clear that they weren't letting us all get out of massacring the city."

"But you didn't even try," argued Zoroark. "Flygon saved your ass enough to escape most of them, and then we were forced to work with them against civilians."

"We could've killed people!"

"Did you?"

"No!"

"Then that worked out."

"They wanted to kill us," fired up Zoroark.

"Yet you both also look very much alive," mocked Lucario. "At least I suppose—"

"This isn't a joke!" Flygon stomped at the ground. "Look, just because we're not your best friends doesn't mean you just treat us like dirt."

"Lower than dirt," piled on Zoroark.

"Did I?" Lucario lifted his pouch. "I'm sorry, whose idea was the tracing spell?" Neither of his companions answered. "In fact, I specifically went out of my way to get another pouch similar to mine just to ensure you would find me as I did you," reminded Lucario. "Was that or was that not our agreed upon contingency?" He waited as the duo hesitated before nodding once. "As I thought."

"You still had enough time to grab that…other mage," pointed out Flygon. "What was the deal with him anyway?"

"Don't know, he would have been likely useful had I managed to escape with him," determined Lucario. "Likely, he's connected to the prophet, but we won't know that definitively."

"What, they stole him back?" Zoroark raised an eyebrow.

"The knights did," corrected Lucario. "He was far more cunning than I would have expected from him."

"Who?"

"That little penguin."

"…The red one?"

"Yes, and don't start about how inept he appeared," grumbled Lucario. "I sorely underestimated him on that."

"He had to be the weakest on the roster," teased Zoroark. He chuckled into a poorly contained fit of laughter. "Hell, I'm positive that he was! And he bested you?"

"With help from his very powerful friend that was supposed to be my captive, yes," snapped Lucario. "It wasn't a very straightforward counterattack against my escape."

"None of that was," contested Flygon. "You completely lost your composure when they were assailing the city. Why?"

"Long story."

"Are you seriously—?"

"Very much so," insisted Lucario. "That's personal. Regardless, it wasn't part of what we were originally instructed to do, and I want to get answers for that."

"With all of the hell that we're going to have to pay for showing up completely empty-handed, you seriously want to demand answers for something that goes above us?" Zoroark folded his arms and shook his head. "We were assigned onto this to keep a lower profile. If they wanted to be loud, they would've used the knights over us."

"We were always expendable," murmured Flygon.

"Rubbish." Lucario shook his head. "We had a deal, and we weren't aware of such high of risks to the matter."

"Still doesn't matter," persisted Zoroark. "All that they'll see is that we didn't capture the palace, we didn't regain or learn much of anything on the prophet, and we more or less contributed to resurfacing tensions that will escalate into full war."

"Wonderful, then we're all sorted."

"How—?"

"That's exactly what we're going to question the queen over," decided Lucario. "Why were we positioned to becoming such catalysts?"

"She's not going to tell us," repeated Flygon. "How many times do you need to hear that?"

"As many as you deem necessary until you two give up on trying to convince me otherwise." Lucario glanced at the bell on his necklace, noticing the green light fading. "We need to get going. This will guide us out."

"Where do we even go from here? Facing the Queen's wrath is only the beginning," reminded Zoroark as he followed Lucario. "This is going to become so much bigger than us. Hell, it already has."

"It's unlikely that we're going to see much use to her highness after this," determined Lucario. "Provided she doesn't have us killed, especially after I go in, then we'll have to find our own paths and figure out where we belong."

"Don't we belong in the monarchy and helping everyone else out there?" Flygon tilted his head. "You're acting like your disillusionment is all-encompassing."

"Maybe it is." His ears lowered. "I like feeling on top of matters, even if I'm not the one controlling them. This whole experience has been anything but that, from start to end, or whatever this is." Lucario tightened his grip on the bell. "That Mewtwo saved my life, but from those that were supposed to be our allies. We were supposed to retrieve artifacts and gather intelligence on a forming alliance, not position the monarchy into automatic opposition." Grinding his teeth, his eyes narrowed. "And I'm beyond livid about innocent lives being put into jeopardy. That cuts deep."

Flygon and Zoroark looked at one another, as Lucario seethed before them, though neither had a response to quell his frustrations. Merely following him to their checkpoint, they waited for him to settle down at least a bit as they carried on.

"…She would be so disappointed in me," murmured Lucario.

"Who?"

"No one important to you."

"Seriously?!" Zoroark clawed at his mane. "What the hell is it with you two and your stupid secrets?!"

"Two?" Lucario turned to Flygon, who folded his arms. "What secret do you have? About that Garchomp?"

"Yeah." Flygon turned his head away. "It's nothing, and it wasn't a secret. Just difficult to talk about."

"Call it and dress it up however you want," spat Zoroark.

"Boys, boys, come now." Lucario twisted away from them and refocused on his path ahead. "It sounds like we've all got our paths set on diverging, but we're not there yet. First, we focus on getting back to the Mountains Monarchy, and settle our matters before the Queendom." His grip relaxed on the bell as he lowered the necklace a bit. "After that, we go our separate ways and figure ourselves out from there."

"Shouldn't we stick together?" Flygon returned his attention to Lucario. "We've still got a lot coming our way. We've worked together for this long—"

"Look, you two still want to keep at each other's throats, be my guest," suggested Lucario. "I've got others to pester within our homelands, and I'm not sure if it's still that for me at all. But we get there when we're there, so keep it together until we do so."

"And then what?"

"First order of business for me is speaking with Queen Tyranitar," decided Lucario. "Nothing else matters until I get to that first. You two should come for that, and then we'll sort ourselves out after." He rolled his eyes and glanced back at the pair. "Are there any other ways that you want me to spell it out?" Both sighed but shook their heads. "Good. Let's hurry along, then. We've been lost in the cold for long enough."

All three continued through the trail, as they carried on to the tundra that awaited them. In the far distance of their path, a series of tall mountains awaited.

...

Ok, well, hopefully that first section wasn't too rough on my tough readers! Good on you, because I'm pretty wimpy myself, lol.

So, confirmed here would be that the attack in the previous chapters on Grass Fields Kingdom was indeed by those collaborating with the enemies of the Iceberg Empire. Shocking, I'm sure. Gengar was the one that showed up as her allies failed to defeat the knights.

And if you really were doubting it, Magmortar is evil! Arguably the most of his side, in fact. (If you are a fan of Magmortar, I am so, so sorry. I don't dislike them, but I was looking for someone to be the very bad guy.) Gliscor wasn't exactly the nicest around, but Quagsire might have tossed out a line or two that resonated with him, and he wasn't exactly fond of bullying someone that was even more terrified than he was. Sadly, that ends poorly for him, and he joins the ranks of the dead from this story.

With Lucario and friends, a few little tidbits come up. Flygon definitely had some kind of meaningful relationship with Garchomp prior to meeting Zoroark. Wonder how that'll shake things up in the future. But, they get a decent wrap up here, since they're on their way back home, and will be questioning Queen Tyranitar about what unfolded in the Empire, and why it ended up that way. Lucario is very much not happy with the results and wants her to tell him more.

Hm? Oh, is that the first time you've heard her highness referred to by name and species? Surprise! I've been sitting on that for so many years, and I was debating keeping it until the first chapter of the next story, but I'm sick of waiting, and it's kind of weird when these characters know who she is, but don't call her by name. Not that it matters by this point, since their portion of the story has concluded, but...name drop!

Feedback is super useful, so I'd really appreciate it being sent in! Even small stuff like "Wow, that was heavy" can be helpful, so, please feel free!

Anyway, that'll wrap up this chapter. Next time, we conclude with (probably) a longer chapter and back with our heroes. And no, I don't think anyone will be dying in that chapter, so I'll give your heart a break on that.

However! Something interesting will be happening at the very conclusion of the story, and that will lead into a poll for readers to participate in. It will be held on a separate website, and I will post it on my blog. More information will be available for that after the next chapter is completed, which will be later on in the year. I'll try to send out a few notifications and posts about it when everything is ready. Hopefully it'll be fun and pay off nicely, but it's an experiment and we'll see.

That should wrap it up here, so, see you for the finale next time. Thank you for reading! Please take care.