The street had fallen remarkably quiet for this time of day. It was in no short thanks to the slow-burning horror that had come to grip the city in the past few weeks, but still. It was as if the afternoon had froze up in the eyes of its enemy, waiting for the staring match to erupt into action. Was the plan already ruined? Has word somehow gotten out in the last few hours? No. It couldn't have.

The Persian found himself pacing about the lobby of the guild barracks, catching more than a few worried glances from his own hired forces as they prepared for battle. Even now, the guildmaster ran through the numbers in his head. The cost of the manpower and equipment. Reparations, if something went wrong. Raw time, from what he would have otherwise been doing instead of this. Would the blow be worth it at all?

All that math he had assembled in his head was reduced to meaningless numbers when the lieutenant of the Order of the Guard approached him. The Arcanine bore their knighthood around their neck, flowing like the rest of their mane, as they approached the guildmaster and glowered down at him.

"My forces are ready when yours are, merchant."

Persian suppressed a scoff. "My forces were ready two hours ago, when I first arranged for this to happen. I'm not the one that exasperated every detail of the operation. That would be you."

"What did you expect me to do? Put my trust into one of the craftiest pokemon in the city without checking over the facts?"

"Why put the two together? Did you not think the information I gave the Order would be sound?"

"No. I'm just not keen on being used if I'm not sure of what I'm being used for." Twin plumes of smoke blew from the Arcanine's nose. "I don't know how long you've been holding onto the knowledge of this gambling ring, but I'll make it absolutely clear. This is for the betterment of the city-not whatever game it is you're trying to play. So long as you keep your word and pitch in your half of the operation, I'll assume it's out of your sense of honor instead."

The Persian made his best attempt to look offended. "Why, I only came across this information a few nights ago! Of course I would turn it in as soon as I was able! Now stow with your reservations! We've wasted enough of Rusty Mountain's time as it is. Let us get on with it."

As the hour begrudgingly turned, the operation were finally underway, and not a moment too soon. Persian had ordered the captain of his own mercenary regime to sum up his forces according to Arcanine's orders. Soldiers of both factions rushed past as the guildmaster strolled out into the evening chill. Finally, this ordeal was in the hands of the Order now. Now all there was left to do was survey their partially-competent handiwork.

If there was a pokemon responsible for being a look-out for Shardurr, they would've scarcely had the time to react as a platoon's worth of guards stormed the streets surrounding the block. There were supposedly three entrances to the gambling hall, each one in a different building, linked by underground passes constructed against building code. Onlookers and civilians, or nefarious pokemon who were fortunate enough to look the part at the time, were quickly herded out of the way, and the city block was seized.

With a bit of barbaric shouting and some coordinated communication between telepathic pokemon, half the force burst through the doors of the three businesses and started to scour the buildings. Persian watched with a fleeting interest, still feeling the pull of time better spent elsewhere. A yawn almost broke past his lips even as violence broke out inside of the blacksmith he'd chosen to observe. Was Shardurr really so careless? Did they even try to hide the entrance?

Apparently there wasn't much resistance. The ferocity of the assault combined with sheer numbers and the element of surprise and brought about results in just a brief handful of minutes. Any pokemon that tried to flee the scene met with forces that had surrounded the block and were detained. The all-clear was given.

"About time," Persian muttered to himself, starting towards the smithy to see the fruits of his efforts. "All that waiting for such a short endeavor. I could have been done with this hours ago. Inbred mongrel…"

The entrance to the blacksmith was empty and undamaged, apart from a few scuffs near the counter and some spots of soot Persian took care to step around. He didn't have to travel too far past the forge to see the filthy hole that Shardurr scum likely shambled down. The latch to the innocuous door had been busted open with apparent ease. They really hadn't bothered after all.

Down into the belly of the border of West District he went. His nose was immediately assaulted with a noxious cocktail of crude pipe smoke and spilled alcohol. The shouting-fights below seemed like the only kind of fight that the occupants of the ring had left in them. All there was to see by was some haphazardly positioned scone at the end of the stairwell.

Rows of toppled tables and broken chairs filled the first chamber he came across. A caped Leavanny was in the process of binding several detained criminals together with one continuous silky thread. Less-compliant crooks had been beaten unconscious by the swarm of guards, strewn about the place among the scattered suites of cards and loose coins. The ones that stirred a little too much came to find a Bisharp's foot pressed into their throat.

Late as it was in the day, it seemed Persian's plan to tear off a chunk of Shardurr was successful. Better to be proactive than to wait while the fools gained the upper hand. That was Mandibuzz's downfall, but it would not be his. That Weavile-he knew she was plotting something. He knew that Rusty Mountain was next. Of this, Persian was sure, and like the dozens of guilds that crossed his path before, she would fall just the same.

More incessant yelling. A handful of Persian's own mercenaries were attempting to keep an apprehended Incineroar from struggling free. A strike to his gut put him in his place for a moment, but in that brief silence the Incineroar looked up to the guildmaster. Four eyes of the same color met. Then, Persian turned away, disinterested.

"You POMPOUS FUCK!" the Incineroar shouted, earning yet another swift blow to his stomach. Even that didn't seem to stop him. "You did this to me! I'll kill you! Chenza will kill you! Shardurr is going to tear you and your empire apart, Persian!"

A stronger strike to the side of the head brought some much-appreciated silence.

...

"Ya gotta listen to me! It makes sense when you think about it!" insisted Linoone, exaggerating his point with a wave of a claw as he staggered in his stride. "I'm a delivery guy, working for a delivery guy business! It's a simple thing-there's like dozens of 'em already around here! And I mean I ain't wrong, am I? Just because I'm deliverin' money and smuggled shit doesn't mean I'm not deliverin'."

Vallion rolled his eyes and let his gaze come back around to the slums that he and Linoone crawled through. The alleys were tight, the turns were cramped, and there was a strange musky scent that gave him the impression that there were too many pokemon living in one place. The benefit of building so much in such a small area was that very little of the snowfall actually managed to pile up in the street, and the temperature was markedly warmer than in more open blocks. Though it was exceptionally dark around here.

"This is still definitely a bad idea," the Serperior finally concluded.

"Aw, pipe down! You agreed to it still! Look at you now, still agreein' to it as we speak!"

"I have willingly taken part in a lot of bad ideas in the last month and a half, Linoone. That doesn't make this one any better."

Linoone shook his head, nearly missing the corner they were meant to turn at as a result. "Quit worrying about it! This gives us both a better alibi, yeah? My wife's reassured that I ain't just pretending to run around doin' a job she ain't ever seen me do, and you get to...have a nice home-cooked meal."

He blinked. "So you're using me as leverage to convince your wife you're not in with a gang?"

"Hey! Only partly! It's just that's a pretty hefty part."

"I shouldn't even be out in the open right now," muttered Vallion as he was reminded to look over his shoulder for the umpteenth time since he left the tavern.

"Bright-eyes, why the fuck are you here, then?"

"Because you asked me to be." Vallion tasted the air and frowned. "And curiosity's about to get me killed."

Killed might have been a stretch. As populated as these slum avenues were, it didn't look like anyone living around here was going to bother even risking a glance at him, much less stick their nose in business that wasn't theirs. These folk already had enough misfortune as it was. Still, he wasn't exactly fond of being seen out in the open when there might not have been more than a handful of Serperior in the entirety of Paradise. There wasn't exactly much room to wonder if he was the same one in the newspaper.

In spite of his reservations, the short journey came and went without any hiccups. Linoone gave Vallion a wink before he trotted over to his little hole in the wall-which was almost literally a hole in the wall, by the looks of it. The intermediately-small sized door gave Vallion doubt that he'd be able to fit at all, but even those thoughts were pushed aside when Linoone ushered for him to stand a ways back.

"You- You did tell your wife about me coming, didn't you?"

"Yeah, sure I did! Now lemme just- I gotta get the door open. It gets stuck real easy, right? I was s'posed to get it fixed like two months ago, but then I ran into some trouble, and then winter came so we can't deal with it until next spring. You- Ngh, damn! You know how it is, ri-?"

The door suddenly gave way, sending Linoone flying in the other direction. He tumbled over himself twice and crashed head-first into a crumbling pile of snow on the corner of the road. As he laid there in humiliation like a limp ribbon, a trio of excited voices came pouring out from the hovel. Three Zigzagoon came bounding through the open door in a name-appropriate running pattern and crashed into the same pile of snow as their father, one after another.

Linoone burst out of the pile in a powdery cloud, desperately trying to wrangle up his children by the scruffs of their necks before they got too dirty. Chuckling could be heard just below Linoone's continuous stream of frantic mix of scolding and pleading. In the doorway was another of his species-smaller and more petite, with a sharper snout. She stood on her hind legs and giggled at the sight, but soon lost her smile as she turned her head to Vallion.

He acknowledged her with a grin of his own, but looked away and pretended to study something else. He knew that the glare of a Serperior was naturally a bit intense, even when he wasn't trying to be. Though admittedly it felt impossible to seem intimidating while Linoone was busy trying to drag his swarm of monsters back into their home. Funnily enough, all it took to get the Zigzagoon back inside was a few words from their mother promising dinner.

"You're supposed to push in first, remember?" she laughed, making way for the scampering tide.

""I knew that! I was distracted, see? I brought-" Linoone brushed himself off and gestured towards the Serperior. "I brought Bright-eyes like I said I was gonna! Can't say I cave in for all of my promises now!"

"I can see that." The two Linoone briefly met in each other's company, passing by with a loving brush of their cheeks before the wife turned back towards Vallion. "I've heard him yap quite a bit about you, Serperior. Come on out of the cold. I've already started dinner."

A horrible pang struck Vallion in the chest. He nodded and started forward, but all at once he'd been reminded of the loneliness that had been shoving into the back of his mind-of the emptiness underneath his chin where Panne's head should've been at night, so that her ears stuck up past his cheeks and surrounded his face. Like before-like always-he swallowed the gloom and proceeded.

Vallion was right in that he could only barely fit into the house. His head nearly touched the ceiling when he extended his back the natural amount. It wasn't necessarily cramped so much as it was just compact.

Most of the upholstery on the furniture appeared worn-out from the constant abuse of youth-faded claw marks and tiny rips repaired with thread. Though the room had been recently cleaned, various toys and dolls had somehow found their way from the middle of the floor all the way to behind the couch. His forked tongue tasted something salty cooking in the distance.

"Woah!" One of the Zigzagoon came barrelling out of the hall, their eyes locked onto Vallion. "Who're you?!"

"Who's who?" Another spilled into view and did the same thing. "Ooh! Mister, who are you?!"

"They're our guest for tonight," said their mother, ushering them back. "Be good for me, okay? Don't pester him just yet. Did you check on dinner like I asked?"

Vallion had already lost track of which was which, but one of them raised their nose in the air. "I did already! It was boiling still!"

"Well did you stir it?"

"Uh- No? I forgot to."

Linoone's mate tapped them on the head. "Then go stir it, silly. And help your brother take the pan out of the oven."

Only after a few extra seconds of gawking did the pair of Zigzagoon finally run off back into the kitchen. Vallion went ahead and remembered to dust himself off over the welcome mat, but somehow still felt more out of place here than he did among Shardurr. It wasn't until the mother came over and offered a handshake that he felt like the living room wasn't separated by some invisible barrier.

"Nice to meet you," she said with smiling eyes, claw in vine.

"Likewise."

Even in that small moment as they parted, the female Linoone had somehow managed to tidy up half the room of the toys that were strewn about. "Feel free to get comfortable. I know it's not exactly impressive around here, but it's warm. I know how you grass types get in the winter months. I'll have supper ready in a few minutes."

The Serperior was left alone with his accomplice. Linoone was still trying to get ice out of his fur, but he still found the time to prod Vallion in the side with his elbow. "See what I meant? The gal's legendary. She could wrangle a horde of wildlings with one claw tied behind her back. Still don't know how a guy like me could luck out so hard."

"I've always been confused as to how you ended up doing what you do for a living. This just makes me more confused."

"People need stuff delivered, right? Somebody's gotta do the job. If not me then some other schmuck who needs the money to feed his three little monsters."

As if summoned by mere mention alone, the scampering sounds of little paws beat against the rug. The two Zigzagoon from before jumped over one another to get into the living room, along with a third who only peeked out at Vallion from around the corner.

"Hey mister!" shouted the shaggier of the two. "What are you? Why are you so tall?"

Vallion tilted his head down. "I'm a Se-"

"He's like that scary guy that stands next to the king! The umm, a Serper!"

"No, you dummy! He's a Snivvy! Kricketot told me he used to know a Snivvy once! Hey mister, how are you so tall? Can you tell me how so that I can be tall, too?"

"Kids!" Linoone butted his way in once more. "Give the guy some space, will ya? You're gonna suffocate him before we even get to eat!"

The Serperior shrugged out his vines. "Oh, I don't mind." He coiled up to bring his head lower to the children, turning specifically to the shaggy one. "All you have to do to get taller is be patient. Growing takes a lot of time for your body to do. If you keep eating your greens, it'll happen even faster. That's how I got so big, and why my scales are so green."

"Oh, I knew it!" screamed the Zigzagoon with neater fur. "That's why the scary Serper's all yellow and short! He's just not eating vegetables! I bet he just eats sweets all day because nobody tells him he can't!"

Shaggy grumbled. "Aw. I wanna be taller than dad, but I don't wanna be green!"

"Hey, oi! I'm not that short!

Vallion chuckled. "Well you don't have to be green, since you're not grass type. You do still have to be patient, though. It takes time to grow up, and you don't wanna do it too fast or you'll miss out."

"Miss out? On what?" said Neatfur, their eyes going wide.

"It's a secret still," Vallion whispered, a vine to his lips. "Trust me. You'll get there one day, and you'll know what that secret is. For now just be happy knowing that you'll definitely be taller than your father."

"I'm not-" Linoone stuttered. "You shut up, Bright-eyes! You don't even know how large my species gets!" The chorus of giggling from his children only spurred the moment on, drawing a grumble from their father. "That's it, you little scamps. You went too far this time. Get over here!"

Linoone's streamlined movements contrasted from the evasive pivots of the little Zigzagoon. Bouncing off of and sliding beneath furniture, the game of chase got rowdy enough that the mother of the children had to scold everyone all the way from the other room. Linoone took the brunt of it while the two troublemakers got off scot-free, rolling over one another as their game continued into the hall. The shy Zigzagoon seemed to get swept up into it, but not before shooting Vallion one last glance.

"Hmph!" Linoone dusted himself off. "Don't go givin' the buggers any ideas. I already get it bad enough as it is. You got kids of your own with that Delphox?"

The Serperior shook his head. "No. Not quite yet. Our lives are still a bit too hectic. It's hard enough being a professor, and that's even after giving up most of the adventuring parts."

"Ah right. I forgot that you weren't a- uh, a delivery man like me. Well when you finally do get around to rearing some snot-nosed brats that make fun of you, I'd say you probably got what it takes."

...Yeah. Maybe he did. Perhaps after Nexus University goes enough classes to raise its own generation of professors, then maybe...

The wait wasn't too bad. Linoone's wife had likely been well into the process of cooking dinner before they ever arrived. Vallion did end up having a few minutes to warm back up and have a glance around the place. Apart from the well-worn interior, little bits of character shone through in the very corners of the home. Barren wooden walls with very particular patterns in the textures, and the few pictures that did exist were clearly very important. A brief glance through the crack in a bedroom door revealed a pair of intertwined marital scarves hanging from the wall.

The dining room itself didn't seem like it was meant to hold more than three smaller-sized pokemon, much less an entire family and a fully grown Serperior. With a bit of rearranging and the fact that none of them really used chairs, there was barely enough space for all of them. Add the dishes and the plating, though, and it was fairly claustrophobic. Linoone was crammed in on Vallion's right, while on his left was the wide-eyed Shaggy. Sitting as far as physically possible was Shy-or so he called them, since he could barely tell them apart otherwise.

"So Serperior," Linoone's wife began as the final plates were being set. Buttered potatoes, garlic bread with cheese, and tomato soup. "You're my husband's coworker, isn't that right? Is this the sort of thing where the manager drops in for a meal like at an office job?"

"Something like that," he replied with a shrug.

"That ain't so at all, Bright-eyes! That'd be much stuffier, and it's not like I'm fixin' for a promotion or whatever! Just wanted to have a time with someone I consider a pal-that ain't no crime, is it?"

"Well I suppose not. It's not like I'm in charge of who gets promoted and to where, even though I guess I am a higher rank than you."

The female Linoone's eyes narrowed, her pupils suspicious and predatory. "As a delivery man?"

"...Yes," the Serperior slowly answered. "I'm in charge of the orders. I don't actually go out and deliver them to anyone. It's more obligatory than anything, since it's not too difficult to figure out what to do with an address and a box."

"I see." Her eyes didn't get any less accusatory, but she did at least start going for her food. "Have you been working with my Linoone for long? It's rare for a Serperior to come live around these parts."

"Oh, I just traveled here a couple months ago. From Water Continent. The winters here are...well, I think I came at the wrong time of year to say the least. I do like the work for what it's worth-especially the parts where I'm inside. Definitely don't mind pushing papers in this kind of weather."

"Mmm."

The ensuing silence was thankfully not particularly silent. The three Zigzagoon still had a lot to say to one another-especially Shaggy, who would not stop going on about what his friend Kricketot said the other day about fireworks. It was something about sparklers, but the story was presented in such a way that what Kricketot originally said changed every couple of sentences. Shaggy commonly ignored Shy whenever she tried to point this out.

The food was clearly the unsung hero of the whole night, though. A home-cooked meal made with love and excess was something Vallion didn't even realize he needed. It was probably the best thing he'd eaten since coming here. A perfect combination of savory and fattening to make up for what the constant cold had stripped off of him. He didn't even mind the quiet since his mouth was almost always full anyway, but he found time to give his compliments anyway.

"I know it isn't particularly fancy," said Linoone's wife. "But it's affordable, and it fills you up enough to push through the weather." Her gaze locked on Vallion's neck. "Does your mate cook for you?"

He chuckled. "Oh, not usually. She's fine with basic recipes, but the moment you pass a certain number of steps she starts getting a little too creative. Not that I'm much better. It's only the two of us, though, so it doesn't have to be complicated."

"How does she get along with the climate? What's her species?"

"Delphox," Vallion answered, feeling his glare grow more wistful by the second. "It's not really dangerous for her up here like it is for me, but she'll definitely complain as if it was. I don't mind it all that much to be honest. It feels too quiet when I go without."

"Heh. A Delphox and a Serperior. Just like that story of with the two heroes, huh?"

"We get that a lot," he said, gladly returning to his plate before that comparison could develop any further.

Sparklers were also made out of shooting stars that fell into mystery dungeons, according to Shaggy. The stars would hit a wand that was laying on the ground and push all the magic out one end so that it could live inside the stick itself. The Zigazgoon with neater fur disagreed, citing that he had seen flying types go up and catch the shooting stars in a bag to put into sticks later. Shy quietly noted that sparklers were made out of 'glowy powder' and not stars.

For as much as Linoone's wife made, there were many hungry mouths to feed. Dinner came and went rather quickly. Dishes were nearly piled up and whisked away to a busy-looking kitchen. With a bit of coercing, the three kids-now thankfully sluggish from the meal-were sent off to go wash up in the other room. Linoone himself followed shortly after, weighed down and bloated from the four potatoes he must've scarfed down in a matter of minutes.

Vallion had the moment to voice his compliments to the chef personally while she fiddled with a stack of bowls. "Thank you again for the meal. I feel like it's been ages since I've felt this full."

Her lips pursed, curling a bit above her fangs. She looked on at the dishes with a sort of distant stare. "I'm still a bit surprised. You've made such an impression on my sweetheart that he actually invited you over. He doesn't get along with many pokemon, you know. Never really has. This sort of thing has never happened before."

"I'm an agreeable sort, I guess," said Vallion with a downward tilt of his head.

"He's become more confident, too. A little bit more sure of himself. I noticed right away that something happened. I'm assuming you're involved with that, aren't you? You've done something that inspired him, right?"

It was getting dicey. The Serperior averted his gaze to an open cupboard and started trying to count the plates. "Inadvertently, maybe. I just try to look out for him is all. He's a little hardheaded, though I'm sure you know that already."

The female Linoone had already pulled away from the dishes. She stood on her hind legs in front of him and closely examined the Serperior's face. "I've known that pokemon almost all my life. He doesn't deliver anything, and I'm sure you don't either."

"...What makes you say that?"

"Because he's a terrible liar. You're not, though, which makes me worried. Clearly you don't mean any harm, and he's so awful at lying to me that I would know if you were, but you still don't come from a nice place, do you?"

Vallion rolled his tongue in his mouth. "No. No, I wouldn't say I do. Not right now, anyway."

"Yeah. I figured." Her stern expression broke after a few seconds and became pleading. "I'm not upset that he feels more sure of himself. I'm just worried that it might cause him to run into trouble he can't slip his way out of."

"I-..know what you mean."

She sighed, pivoted an ear towards the bathroom to check how much time she had left, then turned back to the dishes. "I don't know who you are, and I doubt I ever should, but if you're really someone that's supposed to be on his side...just watch out for him, would you? He's about to do something horribly stupid-I just know he is."

The intensity of the promise was washed away by a tide of shouting as three Zigzagoon came crashing through into the kitchen. That post-meal sluggishness lasted all of three minutes, it seemed. Linoone's mate shifted gears completely as she started to gently wrangle her children, all the worry that was locked behind her eyes not moments ago disappearing without a trace.

By the time Vallion had digested this and started on his way out, the kids decided once again that they were extremely interested in him.

"Hey Serper!" Shaggy cried out after him. "What does the ceiling feel like?"

"What?" He looked up, half-expecting that he'd been missing something obvious the whole time on the surface six inches above his head. Nope. It was just a plane of wood, same as the floor. "I guess it'd be somewhat rough? Maybe it has a splinter or two? Actually, you know what? I could let you see for yourself if you wanted."

The Zigzagoon's eyes practically glowed. Shaggy must've stretched himself an extra half of his body length in preparation for Vallion's vines, laughing maniacally as he was hoisted into the air. Apparently the texture of the ceiling was a great mystery, and Vallion had just helped him solve it.

"Ha! You're all so tiny down there! Everything's so tiny! Dad, you're all short!"

Linoone didn't appear like he enjoyed being short. "Just keep talkin', mister. You're really gonna get it when you get down from there."

"Hey! Me next! It's my turn next!" shouted Neatfur, bouncing back and forth over Vallion's coils.

Eventually everyone got a turn to decipher the mystery of the wooden ceiling. Even Shy finally opened up to have a turn running her paws over the boards above their heads. Vallion asked Linoone if he wanted a turn, which got a good laugh from everyone except him. The Serperior couldn't really help it, honestly. Linoone was exceptionally easy to pick on. The smiles of his kids at least seemed to put him at ease.

The fun couldn't last forever. After some distracted goodbyes and one last meaningful glance from Linoone's wife, Vallion slithered outside and frowned at the cold. He stretched out over the street with a huff, working out all the kinks that he earned from packing himself so tightly into that excessively-snug home. It was funny. Even after all that, he was going to leave with the longing in his heart hurting worse than ever.

"Bright-eyes. Wait."

Linoone had come after him, the patter of his claws against stone coming shortly after his voice.

"What is it?" Vallion turned and answered. "Did I forget something?"

"No, no. Nothin' like that. You left in a hurry, though. I had one last thing I wanted to get off my chest."

The Serperior hummed. "I just got too homesick is all. Anyways, shoot. I've got all the time in the world."

Linoone swallowed at a lump in his throat. "You know, I mean what I say when I say it. You're playin' a big role for everyone around here, not just me. What I'm trying to say is that you should watch out for yourself, too."

"I already am."

"Not like that. I mean-" Linoone shook his head, then glanced around the vicinity for listening ears. "I'm still Alexander's snitch, yeah? Chenza's playing big hands, but there's no way she's gonna stay ahead of the game forever. I'm proof that she's got chinks in her armor. I'm proof they're gonna be found, too. When the king and his wave of boot-lickers comes crashin' down on her, they ain't gonna care who you are or what you're doin' there."

"I know. I already knew that. I'm prepared to deal with that."

"Well you better be," he said, exhaling through his nose. "I don't know why, but my munchkins seem to have taken a liking to you. I don't need them finding out the knight captain disemboweled you in the streets, yeah?"

"...Yeah. I'll make sure to watch out. Keep out of trouble yourself, Linoone. I'll see you around."