Panne hopped off her staff when she drew near the counsel chambers. It felt better to slam her good foot on the granite floor and limp along, the effort assuaging at least some of her rage. It still wasn't nearly enough to calm her down as she stormed on up to the arched doors and grimaced at the pair of knights that were guarding them. Even that Kommo-o bastard was here. Lucky fucking day.

"There's a meeting," growled the dragon, positioning their decorated tail in her way. "Leave. Return again later, if you must."

"Who gives a shit, you overgrown lizard? Get out of my way. Hey, you know what?" Panne yanked the replacement to her writ of permission out of her arm's fur and waved it in the Kommo-o's face. "Alexander gave me a little piece of paper that says fuck off unless you're literally the king, so unless there's been an entire coronation I'm somehow not privy to, 'fuck off'."

She didn't wait to see the dragon's reactions, nor the Sylveon that was stationed beside him, hopping up on her staff and giving the doors a sturdy psychic knock. The force ended up pushing them open anyway, so she shot a glare at the knight captain and let herself in.

All four Masters of Paradise were gathered around one table and sat beneath one burning brazier. Alexander and Grumpig were on the windowed side while Flygon and that horrible green thing had to turn to look at Panne's entrance. It seemed like the Flygon was in the middle of reading off of the document that was in his hands-before she showed up, anyway.

"Alexander you lying sack of dying leaves!" Panne immediately shouted. "What did I just say about not fucking Val over?! Why am I hearing guards talking about how the Master of War nearly sliced the head off of Shardurr's Serperior?!"

The green pokemon spoke up with a grunt. "A gross exaggeration. Likely something that floated up through the barracks, no doubt. Never in our duel did I attempt to execute that Serperior. Had he not managed to escape, I would've simply taken him into custody and had his wounds treated."

"You're the one that did it?" Panne's ears flew back as she lowered herself along the length of her staff. "What's your deal, huh? Didn't Alexander tell you what Val was doing out there?! You must've already known by the time you tried to stick your horns in his gut! I doubt Alex told you that if you messed with him, that you'd be messing with me!"

"Hm. You must be his mate, then. He fought well for a lowlife, I'll admit. That Serperior also had the tact to not do something like charge into a meeting between Paradise's Masters. How were you even let through?"

"Because I go where I want, and I have ambassador privileges, and I'll mess you the fuck up. Why don't you have a spar with me, then? Why not see what kind of pretzels the lowlife's mate can twist you in?"

Alexander shouted above them both. "Will the both of you behave yourselves?! We're trying to conduct a meeting for Kyurem's sake! Master Virizion, keep your composure for crying out loud!"

The Master of War scoffed and turned back to the center of the table. "What a shame. I would've loved a good spar. Anything is better than another one of these stuffy conferences, discussing nothing for two hours and getting nowhere as a result."

"Virizion, we're discussing your conduct!" Flygon emphasized with a gesture of his hands.

"Yes, and not getting to any meaningful points about it. My actions have brought dozens of nefarious pokemon into custody. I don't see what you're complaining about."

Flygon pinched the bridge of his snout. "Half of them were Rusty Mountain, Virizion! Guildmaster Persian was already fortifying his defenses from all the contraband we kept finding in his guild's possession! Do you know how long it took me to get that wily stooge to open up his contracts and let the rest of Paradise in? At this point he's gonna take his fateless merchant empire and secede completely! That guild's already almost independent as it is! Paradise can't take a hit like that right now!"

"And how does that concern me?" Virizion huffed. "It could be some paupers on the streets, or aristocrats drunk on wine, or Reinhardt himself for that matter. Justice is blind-it doesn't care who's doing the crime. Persian's forces were clearly going to instigate a battle outside of their jurisdiction."

"It damns the whole situation," Alexander forced himself back in. "Not just from Persian's lack of cooperation, but from Shardurr's point of view. You cracked down on a fight with the intelligence we possessed, yes, but the repercussions are going to be far worse down the line. That information was absolutely classified to a small handful of pokemon at most, and the fact that we got our hands on it at all changes the situation far more than a couple dozen new prisoners. Chenza will know there's a leak."

Panne landed on her foot and stamped the butt of her staff on the ground. "That's exactly why this involves me! Not only did you pick a fight with Val, but you undermined his place inside of the gang! So long as that Weavile suspects anything, he's in trouble! And why aren't you just going after Rusty Mountain already?! They're the ones packing enough firepower to burn down half the city! What's Shardurr gonna do, break a few windows?"

"I'm trying!" Flygon whined, running his claws down his lenses. "I can't figure out how they're getting those damn bombs in! Everywhere I look-every trade caravan I upturn-is just a dead end! And it's not like we're getting anywhere for catching them since they're denying it the whole way down. Any day now I'm gonna end up stepping on a blast seed and this is all going to blow up in my face!"

Grumpig, who seemed more out of place in this situation than an ice type in a sauna, raised his hands as he spoke. "Let's just get our bearings again, why don't we? There's no need to get heated. I'm sure we can come up with a solution if we just worked at it from the ground up."

Virizion sneered. "Solution to what? I keep asking and nobody's given me anything that outweighs the benefits of pressing the attack. We need to lock this city down and quash the resistance utterly. If that means tearing through West District and rebuilding it, so be it. If that means ripping a hole in our eastern economy, so be it. These things cannot be left to fester, period."

"You're not gonna be tearing through shit while my Val is out there!" Panne shot back.

A crash gripped the room and deafened the argument. A flattened vine had been pierced through the center of the table, splintering a crack through the middle and sending papers flying. Alexander's eyes landed on no one, but burned with a barely-contained fury that only seemed to subside as he slowly pulled his claymore out from the wood, dragging the whole table an inch into the air before it slid free and slammed back down.

"This isn't working," he said, withdrawing his vine back into its sheath behind his neck. "I will speak with His Majesty about our next course of action regarding the state of the city. I expect that we will have to confer all of our future plans through him before we are able to act."

"NOW you lose your cool?" snarled the Master of War. "So that's it, then? We're just supposed to sit pretty and let Paradise's streets fill with gang symbols and violence? Do we let her people be subjugated by their own sons and daughters? Is that not what you were doing before I got back? Look at all the good that's done!"

Alexander's expression twitched as he turned to the Delphox. "Panne. Your investigation. How close are you to being done?"

"Oh not this again," Flygon groaned.

She rolled her eyes. "Well we're about halfway down the list. As long as nothing happens to Val that would make me stop, that is."

"Then for the love of the Hollow, get out of here and work on it. We're running out of time. I'll try my best to make sure no more toes are stepped on until Vallion can leave the situation he's in."

"Hmph! You better, you wilted piece of lettuce! Otherwise I'll go down there and dismantle Shardurr myself just to shut you the hell up!"

"What about me?!" she heard Flygon cry out as she made her exit. "I can't confer to the king about everything! If I'm about to start butting heads with Persian on a city-wide scale then I need all the executive power I can get! This cannot continue into the summer!"

Alexander's sigh was the last thing she heard out in the hallway.

...

A resounding bang vibrated through the walls, waking Vallion to the darkness of his underground room. What poor sleep he was almost getting was torn away, leaving the dull throbbing he was originally hoping to escape from. Was it even tomorrow yet? It was so hard to tell the time from down here. The pain from his injuries had subsided for the most part, so at least a few hours must've passed.

Another couple of crashes traveled down through the supports. It didn't quite sound like one of the average fights. The hollering was louder than usual, like the whole damn room was taking bets. Couldn't have been Brute dishing out his brand of justice if that were the case, either. Most pokemon just cringed at what that guy did to people. After the events of yesterday, Vallion knew that whatever was going on up there couldn't be good.

A minute later, there was a scrabbling his door. "Bright-eyes! You in there?! C'mon, let me in! You gotta let me in!" Linoone whispered as loudly as he could manage.

Vallion begrudgingly uncoiled from the nest of blankets he'd made and extended a vine towards the lock. As soon as he undid the clasp, Linoone came barreling through, scrambling to close the door behind him as soon as he got his bearings. Even in the dark, his wide eyes were wild with fear.

"Shh!" Linoone brought a claw to his muzzle. It didn't seem particularly necessary, since a round of accusatory shouting upstairs muffled everything anyway. "Bright-eyes, this is deep shit we're wading through! Oh, we're really in for it now!"

"Will you calm down? I don't even know what you're talking about."

"It's Chenza!" he sputtered. "She fucking knows there's a snitch! She's been raisin' hell about it upstairs for the past half hour! That Krookodile who pulled the cart's been getting it bad, and you and me are on the fucking chopping block next! Everyone that was around for that deal! And it's all because I opened my damn mouth!"

Vallion sprung to attention, his heart jumping into his throat. "What? But I spoke to her last night! She was angry, obviously, but nowhere near the degree of starting a manhunt! Last I heard her, she was loudly plotting against the guard themselves, not trying to sniff the both of us out."

"Well maybe you just didn't see her blow her gasket but I know for a fact that she is definitely up there sniffing for blood! I had to sneak down so that nobody thought to scruff me and throw me at her! Oh, damn that fucking Alexander! I should've never told him about that fight! No amount of coin in the world's worth this!"

The Serperior brought himself low to the floor, shushing Linoone and glaring at the door. When it became clear that nobody was around, he turned his gaze back around. "Just calm down, alright? Listen to me. We're going to sneak out of here."

"How?! It's absolutely packed up there-there's no way they ain't noticing us! And it don't even end there if we get away. She'll just come looking for us, and we'll have to answer to our shit eventually. Nowhere in this whole town's safe from that witch. I- I just gotta pack my stuff up and go! I gotta-!"

"Calm the hell down," Vallion finished for him. "Stop panicking. I'm going to fix this one way or another. I promised your wife I wouldn't let you do anything stupid. Seeing as I've already failed in doing that, I figure the second best thing is just getting you away from this place. Can you manage to hold it together for just long enough to get out that door upstairs?"

Linoone was hyperventilating, but he vigorously nodded. "If I get out on the streets, nobody's fucking catching me. Nobody's ever caught me. Yeah, yeah I could do that. I can manage that. Yeah…"

"Then I'm going to trust that you will. Let's not waste any time."

Linoone gasped when Vallion undid the lock and opened the door. He slithered out into the light, the torches still dim enough that his eyes didn't have too much adjusting to do. He beckoned to Linoone with a flick of his tail and slowly made his way down the hall. There was no one down here, of course. They were all watching the show above.

Keeping Linoone in his peripherals, he made his way up the stairwell and into the tavern proper, where a wave of sound washed over him before a musky alcoholic odor did. The Serperior came to the backs of the crowd, all pushing one another out of the way along the railings to get a better glimpse at the mayhem below. He could hear the Krookodile above the din.

"It ain't me! It ain't me, dammit! Let me go you crazy fuck!"

Shardurr's collective voice jeered and shouted and shook the very walls of the tavern. Their leader's shrill cackling overtook them all. Vallion glimpsed over the shoulder of a Samurott to see that all the furniture had been shoved out of the way, and in the center of the bottom floor a circle of bodies had formed. The arena was meant for a beaten Krookodile, who stumbled backwards covered with patches of blood and frost, and their Weavile opponent.

"That isn't proof!" Chenza cried out, her claws shrouded in a heavy mist as she walked after the Krookodile. "That isn't an alibi! That isn't even an excuse! You haven't told me shit, and I'm starting to suspect that you don't have anything better to say. Well we'd all love to hear why you ain't the snitch while you still have a tongue to say it!"

Her sentiment was echoed by a cacophony of riled voices. The Krookodile wasn't even attempting to defend himself. They simply braced for the jumping kick that Chenza launched into their stomach and stumbled backwards into the arms of the crowd, who sent them straight back into the Weavile so that she could plunge an icicle into their foot.

Vallion felt a lurch in his stomach. With another gesture of his tail, he attempted to lead Linoone around the outer wall of the room and down the stairs, wincing at the awful sounds of pain that came between the Krookodile's pleas. He could barely even contain himself as it was. How could these monsters cheer for this? When Linoone was home-free, he was going to come back in here and end this farce himself, regardless of what it meant for his mission.

In the end, they didn't even make it halfway.

"Oh?" Chenza made sure that her interest projected above the din. Vallion knew those murderous eyes had fallen upon him from the shudder that ran down his spine. "Why, if it isn't Bright-eyes! And you brought the runt with you, too! I couldn't have asked for better timing."

Chenza turning away from the Krookodile alone was enough to redirect the attention of the entire tavern. Blood and booze was already in the air. Vallion already felt like he was going to have to fight his way out of here.

"What do you want, Chenza?" he spat out.

"What do I want? Why would you take a tone like that? What I want is what we all want, after all. To find the fucking snitch that set us up in East District!"

Then came her echo. "They threw my brother in the dungeon!"

"Somebody's gotta pay for this!"

"Blood! Blood! Blood!"

Linoone practically tried to hide in Vallion's shadow. It didn't do much good with how almost every conceivable angle was filled with a pair of accusing eyes.

"And?" Vallion shouted back. "I made it out of the ambush just fine. I see no reason to go on some inane hunt when I could just get back to business as usual."

Chenza finally turned her body with her head. Everyone stopped paying attention to the wounded Krookodile, who managed to crawl out of the way.

"Are you serious? Business as usual?! Look around you, dumbass! There ain't gonna be any more 'business as usual'! The city's gonna just keep taking chunk after chunk out of us if we don't get to the bottom of this! We'll end up like The Family did so long as there's a traitor around! So why don't you bring yourself over here and help out?"

But Vallion remained firm. "I don't care about any of this, or any of you. I have better things to do."

She let out a cruel laugh. "Really? Is that so? Better to be detached, right? Well sure, you can run off and do whatever, but I'd like to hear what that runt behind you has to say about himself."

"Wha- wh- Actually I've got places to be, you know!" Linoone stuttered out. "Yeah, that's right! I ain't got time for this! I'm no traitor if that's what you're going on about!"

"I don't fucking believe you."

The tavern exploded into sound. Vallion had to smack away the hands and claws that clamored at him to get at Linoone. After the third or fourth attempt, he drew his vines and properly beat a swathe into the grabbing pit of hysteria.

"Enough!" the Serperior shouted over them. "What's the point of all this? Why rile everyone up and go after pokemon without any evidence? You're no better than a pack of wildlings with a grudge at that point! Get a hold of yourselves!"

Chenza stayed the horde with a motion of her frost-tipped claws. She walked towards them, the sea parting for her alone. "Evidence? Bright-eyes, you know why I suspect the pokemon that I do. There is only a handful of pokemon here that could possibly know what they needed to know to set that ambush in motion."

"About the plan you spoke openly about in public?! Chenza, anyone with an open window and good hearing could've reported that to the kingdom!"

Murmurs in the crowd. The seeds of doubt. Chenza's bloodthirsty grin inverted into a cautious stare directed solely at him. "That robbery was meant to get Rusty Mountain riled up, and it did exactly that. But it was supposed to take place miles away, far from the fighting that ended up breaking out! Why was the entire knighthood there if not for a scheme against us? We're being played for fools! Even now, after tearing through the north and burning The Family to ashes, there's someone here that still thinks Shardurr is full of gullible idiots!"

It was a wonder how the building hadn't already been demolished with the kind of energy that now permeated it. They were in the air, huddled along rafters, packed from corner to corner-all of them filled with an exponential fury. There was no way to win a fight like this. It was impossible.

"So!" the Weavile started again, standing just before Vallion with no one left between. "Why don't you slither aside and let me have a few words with the runt? Unless you're trying to hide him on purpose, hm?"

And then there was Brute. The Druddigon pushed through the bodies more than they parted for him, but his presence punctuated Chenza's order. Vallion exchanged hostile looks with the dragon before he edged out of the way and revealed Linoone to the world. All the light had completely drained from Linoone's eyes. He was still in vine's distance, nevertheless.

"What? What?! Why!" Linoone stood on his hind legs and pressed his back to the wall. "I didn't do anything! What do you want from me?"

The Weavile sniffed the air. "My, you're terrified. You're not keeping any secrets from us, are you? Got an excuse as to why you weren't on the job when Bright-eyes was attacked in the ambush? You were supposed to be there in the thick of it, after all! Hey everyone, doesn't it seem awfully convenient that Linoone wasn't around for the attack?!"

Apparently more convenient than whatever Krookodile had come up with, judging from the ear-shattering response.

"O-O-One of my kids was sick! What do you want from me?! We got lives outside of this! I just got lucky, that's all! That's all!"

"Oh, really? That's all? Well that can't be all," she mocked. "There's only a handful of us that could've done this, and that Krookodile was looking awfully innocent while I was beating the truth out of him. If you're as honest as that pathetic mug you call a face, then what are you willing to bet on it, hm? You think that kid's gonna tell the same truth as you?"

Vallion went rigid. "Chenza."

"Don't give me that, you limp worm! We're all involved in this! Our friends, our family, even our neighbors! Every summer we chug along in the service of the king, and in every winter we wither and waste away! Shardurr is the breath of Paradise! We are a gasp of life in the machine! Pokemon instead of cogs! This runs deeper than just us, so keep that in mind when you answer me, runt."

Linoone couldn't have flattened himself more. "I don't fuckin' know, okay?! You're all barkin' up the wrong tree! I ain't got anything to do with whatever the hell happened! Just lay off and let me out!"

Three talons entered the wall just inches away from Linoone's neck. "Guilty, guilty, guilty! You're lying!"

The crowd swelled in, pushing Vallion away at the same time. The Serperior had to fight against the current like he was in a brawl, bashing skulls back and getting smacked in return. His injuries from yesterday flared up and were dulled down in almost the same moment, relegated to the back of his perception from a flood of adrenaline.

"Do I have to get more involved to get you to spill?!" Chenza continued above the roar. "I could start with your mate and work my way down if you like! You can't lie to me and get away with it!"

"Don't! Don't just- I-It was me!"

Vallion clamored over a fallen Scizor. "Linoone, no!"

Even as the volume blasted over, Chenza crouched low and let a sinister pause fill the air. When she laughed, a cold mist crawled out from behind her fangs. "What was you?"

"I leaked the fight! It was me! I went straight to Alexander with it!"

Only then could Vallion get close enough to shoot his vines forward and pull Linoone out of the corner he'd pressed himself into. He was utterly defeated, limp in the Serperior's grasp. Vallion tried to hold him above the army of thugs, only to bring him back down from flying pokemon who tried to take swipes at him. Nowhere was safe. It was already too late.

Brute trampled over several pokemon to tackle Vallion, knocking over even more in the process and letting Linoone fall to the floor, who managed to weave through a few sets of legs but was stomped back into the ground by Chenza's foot. A halo of ice crystals emanated outwards from the point she slammed him down.

"Stay down you bastard snake!" Brute's arms were practically the width of Vallion's body, and were positioned perfectly around his neck and chest. No matter how many times the Serperior wrapped himself around the dragon's legs, he'd been caught. He let himself be caught. He let all of this happen.

"Now now, Bright-eyes! No need to get chivalrous for a traitor!" Chenza said as she reached down and took Linoone by the scruff, hoisting him to her level. He struggled for a moment, until the other trio of talons was situated under his chin. "Don't make me kill you, too! That'd be such a waste of a good footman."

"Wait wait wait wait wait-!" Linoone could barely mouth his words.

The Weavile pressed her claws deeper. "No more waiting! You're the snitch, aren't you? Tell it to them, not me!"

"Y-yes!"

Vallion bit down into the Druddigon's scales, but all it did was scrape the hell out of the inside of his mouth. He spat a fresh font of blood. "Linoone, enough! Don't say anything else!"

"Oh, you can say anything you please, you filthy rat! In fact, let's not keep secrets between us any longer! Go on and share with the rest of the class how you sold us out!"

"I- I-!" The claws arched over his neck. "I sell to Alexander! Straight to him, no middleman! He pays up to five thousand coins, depending on what I give up. Hide-outs, business fronts, all sorts of shit! They know about all that!"

At this point even Chenza had a difficult time holding back the gnashing teeth of her cronies. "Hey, fuck off! All of you, unless you wanna end up like the Krookodile did! Now. Linoone. Listen up, and listen well because your life is depending on it. Since you were their guy on the inside, now you're gonna be OUR guy on the inside. That sound like a nice compromise, hm? I'll even stop these bastards from tearing you apart!"

"Yes! Y-yes! I'll do anything! I'll tell him anything you want!"

A surge of disappointment washed over the tavern. It was all worthless to them without bloodshed. In the lull, Vallion had finally managed to break free of Brute's grip, bashing him in the face with the back of his skull and slipping away into the bodies. Even still, he couldn't get any closer. Not without setting Chenza off.

"Good!" she cooed. "But you're not out of your grave yet. I want you to convince me and everyone in this room why we shouldn't just kill you right now! Say something that tells me you're not more trouble than you're worth at this point!"

"What?! What what what I- What do you want me to say?! I already told you everything! Let me go, please!"

"Ah, lies again? You expect me to believe that a double-crossing whelp like you's got nothing left to say? Go on, then! Tell us some of Alexander's secrets while you're at it! Say something juicy enough and the deal's on! If you've got nothing on them after all, you're not gonna like what comes next."

"No! Let me go! C'mon, let-!" Linoone's wild eyes locked with Vallion's for a split second. The Serperior was still a good distance away, waiting for the right time to strike. A dozen desperate words were exchanged in that briefest moment, mostly hidden within the span of a tiny nod. Do it. Say what you need to say. Survive this in exchange for me.

The panic that clouded over Linoone's face parted, if only for a second. He twisted his head in an awkward way to get a better look at Chenza. Then, he spat in her face.

"I ain't got nothin' else to say to you!"

...

Why?

Why did he-?

What could have possibly-?

Her talons went in. Deep, deeper into Linoone's throat-a perfect stab. A life-ending stab. Vallion couldn't move fast enough. With a defiant shout that was backed by countless more, the Weavile dug in and tore away with a fistful of flesh. The scent of raw death and iron. A payment of blood delivered. Not even a scream from the Linoone. Not even a whimper could leave his lungs.

Brute caught up and grappled with the Serperior, pressing him to the ground with all his crushing body weight. Not that it mattered. It was already finished by this point. Chenza threw the dying Linoone to the ground, already made limp from the terrible efficiency of her cut. A puddle of blood already started to form beneath him as Shardurr celebrated its revenge. The traitor was no more.

With one final rake of his claws to exact his own revenge, Brute left the Serperior on the floor and roared. It was a struggle to even get back up, yet it would've been another senseless death to stay down and be trampled by the unruly hoard. He should have revealed himself earlier. He should have shouted who he was to the entire tavern minutes ago. He should have-...

"What a fucking disgrace," muttered Chenza, licking her claw clean and wiping at her face with the opposite arm. She looked to Vallion. "And you! What's wrong with you? Trying to defend him? It's not even worth going after his stupid fucking family now, you know. Did you two share a fucking death-wish or something?"

Vallion turned away, thrashed a passage into the crowd, and left for the exit. He wasn't worth following.