Ears, Book III: Paradise Apart

by Mimiga

The great northern city of Paradise is known as the largest gathering of pokemon in the world. Now that lofty title threatens to collapse the infrastructure its founders so carefully crafted. The coming winter holds the very thing Alexander has come to fear, and to preserve his city, he must confront the very mistake that changed his life, or there may not be a Paradise by spring.

29. Paradise Apart

Warning bells rang for miles around, sending a discordant, haunting sound across the cityscape. Every post, every tower, and every shouting voice all sent the same message: Run. Paradise was falling. Run for your life.

Vallion was forced to wade through an opposing current of pokemon as they flooded from one end of the city to the other. Fleeing citizens clumped up in chokepoints and trampled on those unfortunate enough to lose their balance in the chaos. Fights broke out among them, but were quickly extinguished by the sheer number of pokemon just trying to get away. There were a few level-headed souls attempting to guide the flow, shouting above the din or flying just above the average height of the crowd. Vallion wished he could help.

There was already looting. Shops being ransacked. Houses being upturned. No one was here to stop it apart from the few owners that stayed behind. Those brave souls weren't met with much opposition, as there were a plethora of other places that were completely abandoned and ripe for the picking. Still, the Serperior didn't stop for a second.

It wasn't until halfway through Post District that one of the few remaining members of the order of the guard saw him. An Unfezant draped in a common patrolman's garb twisted around to chase him.

"W-wait! Hey! You're that- You're Bright-eyes! You're one of Shardurr's bosses! Hey, stop right there!" He ignored the bird entirely, even as the flapping started to close in behind him. "In the name of Paradise, s-stop! Where do you think you're going?!"

In truth, he was much too out of breath to answer them, and his painfully dry throat wasn't helping. It was a struggle to push even a few words out. "Alexander! I need to find him."

"What?! T-t-to kill him?! I can't let you do that! I have to-!" The Unfezant squawked as a vine launched out and plucked them out of the air.

"Not to kill him! To warn him! Now shut up and help these people get out!" He tossed the guard away somewhere behind him, where their unflattering yelp faded into the distance.

As he drew closer to the capitol, the panicking crowds thinned out considerably. Several of the guilds based in these parts attempted to gather up everything they owned into mere carts and haul them off to safety, but there were much fewer civilians in general. Most actually noticed the criminal Serperior rushing towards the heart of the city, and promptly gave him a generous amount of space.

There were groups of pokemon donning Paradise's colors arranged by size and rank outside of the palace. Several were already rushing off towards the eastern frontlines when Vallion swerved around the corner. The Master of War was out in the center of the promenade to order them, stomping her hooves against the stone and demanding that the lines be maintained when several of her knights started on a path to intercept the Serperior.

"Alexander-!" Vallion gasped, skidding to a halt in the half-melted snow. "Where is he? Where's Panne?"

Virizion regarded him with a huff at first, gesturing with her head for the group she was just commanding to move out. They threw up swift salutes and did exactly that. "Well if it isn't our little double-agent. Come crawling back at the last second, have you?"

"Answer the-" his dry throat cut him off. "Answer the damn question!"

A frantic flapping came up from behind them. The Unfezant again. "M-m-master Virizion! The Shardurr Serperior has- has-!"

"You!" the Master of War barked at the avian. "Fetch Master Alexander from inside the capitol and return to your post immediately after!"

"I- Uh- Yes ma'am!"

Virizion turned back to Vallion. "There. That's as much as I'm about to do for a lowlife sellsword like you. Now, in exchange, why don't you make yourself useful and tell me what you know about the situation before I throw you into a cell?"

Good enough, he thought. "Shardurr's marching an army out of West District. They're setting off the bombs they stole to cause mayhem while they seize the east half of the city. I'm fairly certain they'll try taking the palace afterwards."

"And?" said Virizion. "I'm already well aware of that. Could you tell me something more useful and not waste my time?"

"Part of that army is already marching straight here. It's a two-pronged attack."

The Master of War's expression went dark. She turned to the regiment that was just about to march off towards the fires. "Stop! Everyone, stop! Change of orders! All units present, protocol A-4! Form a defensive perimeter around the capitol! I want all available scouts south and back in the next five minutes for confirmation on new possible movements!"

"She's making you choose." Vallion spoke to her back. "That's her plan. You were already spreading the guard thin to begin with because of the lockdown. Now you're all out of position. The force that's coming softens what's still here, where she'll swoop in and finish the job looking like the revolution's hero."

Virizion whipped around, a new kind of rage burning in her eyes that made her look twenty years younger. "We will hold the city, Serperior! Mark my words! I will personally erase Shardurr from history if I have to! And if you value your life you're going to help me do so!"

While the remainder of Paradise's protectors scrambled into makeshift positions, the gates of the capitol were shoved open with a clear psychic push. Master Grumpig practically tripped down the stairs, carrying far too many scrolls and books in his arms. A very flustered Unfezant flew over his head, and shortly after them came the other Masters. As Grumpig scurried off towards the west, Flygon and Alexander hurried towards Vallion. Reinhardt himself jumped down the entire set of stairs in one bound, and was quickly joined by the two knights that once guarded the door.

"Vallion!" Alexander shouted over the distance. "What's going on?! What took you so long?! Why am I just now hearing about the attacks on Rusty Mountain?!"

"Chenza figured me out," he said. "She captured me this morning. I was lucky enough that she wanted to make a scene out of killing me." Vallion looked to the waning sunset and growled. "It doesn't matter now! Tell me where Panne is first! Is she here? Is she safe?"

"We checked her room," Reinhardt began with a telling shake of his head. "A Noibat was reported to have come looking for her earlier. He was denied access to the front doors, and shortly after he left these guards heard a screech and glass shattering. The next floor up, another window had been broken, but from the inside. Last I heard today Panne had gone up to her room to sleep."

Swearing beneath his breath, Vallion turned to the columns of smoke in the dusk sky. "Shit. She's already left. She probably thinks I'm out there, too. I have to go!"

"Oh, no you're not. You're not going anywhere!" Virizion was a good distance away ordering her men, but she had never taken an ear off him. "If we're about to be under attack, I don't want you running around doing whatever you wish! Alexander, control your hound."

"My wife is in danger! Do you honestly expect to keep me here?" Vallion felt himself prepare to launch his vines at any moment, even if he didn't believe he would ever have to. "Chenza already has my scarf. No doubt she's going to try to use it to distract Panne. I know what that Weavile is capable of, and I'm not going to sit here and let that meeting happen just because you don't trust me!"

"Then allow me."

All the optimism and joy in Reinhardt's voice had long since left. What remained was the gruff severity of an adventurer, stoked in thousands of missions and battles. The Chesnaught tore off his royal garb like the silk was worth nothing more to him than rough cotton. He turned to Vallion and planted a fist on his own chest.

"I will find Panne out there, and I will protect her as best I can. You have my word, Vallion. This time, so long as I draw breath, no harm will come to her. Let me do this at least for you."

Virizion came storming back. "And what of the coming battle, Reinhardt?! You weren't here when he said that the Weavile's forces splintered in two! Half an army's marching straight here!"

"Then let them have it." The Chesnaught made a dismissive wave at the building behind him. "Paradise is its people, not its palace. I refuse to sit idly any longer while this menace terrorizes the city. A king doesn't hide behind his knights."

"And your family, Reinhardt? Did you forget about them?! Where would they flee?! There is no safer place for them than the palace!"

In an instant, the iron will that Reinhardt had on display seemed to dissolve. He looked back at the capitol building for longer than just a glance, and he saw a Lilligant staring out at him from just inside the open gates, infant Chespin clutched close to her chest in fear. All at once his clenched fists unfurled and his posture softened.

Alexander slithered into view, stretching out the crook in his back in preparation for battle. A long sigh left his mouth before he finally nodded towards Reinhardt. "It seems Grumpig certainly didn't seem to think that what you said is true, Virizion, considering how fast he's made himself scarce. No matter. Rein, Paradise needs its Aegis. Trust me to protect Lilli and your son. It's me Chenza wants, anyway."

"She'll be here long before whatever's happening in Rusty Mountain ends," Vallion said. "If she can't kill Panne, she'll go straight for you. I can't afford to let that happen, either. If I'm forced to stay here, I might as well return the favor, Reinhardt. Only if you promise me that you'll keep your word."

"I will," Reinhardt repeated himself, still crossing his heart.

Master Flygon started to shed his winter garments as well, unfurling his wings with a shiver. "I suppose Grumpig wouldn't be suited for warfare, anyway. Personally, I was a Vibrava the last time I served on a charter ship as security, but surely street thugs can't be worse than pirates, can they? Worry not, your highness. This is not a last stand."

The Chesnaught looked like he wanted to thank all of them profusely, but time was something they didn't have. Instead, he settled for a wide grin that steeled itself into a grimace shortly after. "I won't let you down, Vallion. All of you. Ser Kingler! Ser Sylveon! With me, to the fray!"

He gave one last look to his wife waiting in the entrance of the palace. There must have been a flurry of heartfelt words exchanged in just that glance alone, but it was over just as soon as it began, and the Aegis of Paradise was off.

Even as civilization came undone around him, Vallion felt the absence around his neck most of all.

"Enough standing around! If you're here to battle, prepare! That means you, Alex!" Virizion shouted through the daze, her every breath directed towards ordering a nearby soldier. "Somebody get Her Majesty back inside and put her somewhere safe! I need a field commander for the southern rooftops, dammit! And where are those scouts?! They should be back by now!"

There weren't many left to hold off what was coming. Maybe a few dozen guards, a handful of knights, and whoever else decided to join in the fight. There were more than a few civilians that came to defend their kingdom of their own accord. All the loyalty in the world couldn't hold a candle to Brute's ferocity, as they would all soon learn.

...

As Panne got closer to Rusty Mountain District, she encountered a seemingly endless wave of evacuating pokemon, the tide severely impeding her progress. A handful of guards tried their best to consolidate the chaos, but almost every street was packed. Even attempting to fly above the heads of the crowd would just have her collide with pokemon who had the same idea. Instead, she found a fire escape to help boost herself up and took to the rooftops.

Nibby fluttered above her head as she scaled the gaps between the slanted roofs, generally sputtering along and struggling to keep her pace. The twilight, dark as it already was, only allowed the growing inferno to shine even brighter in the blotted atmosphere. She could already smell the pungent black smoke. Very soon after that scent punched her, she started to hear the roar.

When the streets below started to seem clearer, Panne took a sharp turn and made the descent. A few looters, Shardurr or not, were scurrying about the place, picking at the scraps of all the belongings that were left behind in the middle of the streets. There were a few bodies strewn about, too, either barely stirring or presumably...Well, messed the hell up to say the least. By the look of the place, there must've been a pretty devastating fight on this block not too long ago.

After a bit of scrounging herself, Panne found a belt among the packs of luggage that were abandoned in the fighting. She started to fasten her lame leg into a curled position, making sure it was as immobile as she could make it. At this point she really wished she'd brought one of the harnesses from back home to really keep it out of the way, but this'll probably do.

It was only then that Nibby descended from the rooftops himself and found her. "Panne! Where did you go? What… What happened here?"

"Same thing that's happening everywhere else, Nibby! Anyways, I needed to find something like this belt. You don't get just how difficult it is to fly around with a floppy-ass leg throwing off your balance and being a vulnerable artery. Whatever! Let's just hurry!"

The road got progressively emptier right until finally they came to what seemed to be the first line of defense. A fire brigade prepared the block for its inevitable fate in the hopes that they could stall the flames, all the while a handful of guards were stationed to defend them, and was currently in the process of subduing a small group of criminals. One Machoke tried to run in Panne's direction, only to get struck in the neck with a metal pole when they expected her to just let them pass.

The Escavalier that had been chasing the Machoke came to stop them. "Halt! No civilians anywhere past this point! The evacuation routes are-"

"We're not evacuating, metalhead!" Panne interrupted them. "And I'm certainly not a civilian! Legally I'm probably an ambassador or agent or something, and I'm pretty damn sure I'm more qualified to go in there than you are!"

"Sir, could you- You have to let us pass!" Nibby corrected himself.

"Absolutely not! As the flames spread, and hordes of Shardurr root around in the ashes, it is positively suicide to enter this district with anything less than a full squadron! I have not yet heard back from my superior in the field, so I cannot in good faith allow-"

Groaning with impatience, the Delphox pulled out her writ of permission, waved it in the knight's face, and then crushed the paper between her fingers to toss at them. "Okay, shut up already! I've got places to be, metalhead! Goodbye!" With that, she dragged her staff around the obstacle and rushed off towards the glow, Nibby falling in not far behind.

The air carried an uncharacteristic warmth as Panne squinted against the rushing winds. She enjoyed it for maybe a block at most, but that warmth transformed into what would normally be an uncomfortable heat for anyone else. The air became difficult to breathe without choking, a horrid scent sticking in her nose. There, around the corner and two buildings down, the edge of the fire raged. It was almost blinding to stare directly at.

Out of the glare came three pokemon running. Two surged past her before she even got a good look, but the third was a Zebstrika who was pounced on by a pursuing Ambipom. The Ambipom proceeded to lay several successive strikes into the back of the electric type's head until they both tumbled over and skidded through the snow. The torn cape on the Zebstrika's neck was more than Panne needed to blast their attacker away with a compressed surge of crimson fire.

The Zebstrika scrambled to their feet moments later and took the opportunity to get the hell out of here. Nibby called out from above, and she quickly saw why. The Ambipom seemed to have broken away from a much larger group of twenty or so pokemon-one that was in the process of gloating over the bodies of three of the slower guards and finishing off one more.

Panne recognized the sounds before she recognized the silhouette of the lone knight. A Kommo-o, beating against what few of their metal plates remained attached to their body. A Ninetales and a Houndoom danced around the clearly exhausted dragon with a psychotic glee, torching their blackened scales even further and jumping away while other pokemon took free shots from outside of range.

"It's-..." Nibby's voice fell away from him. "It's the knight-captain."

Panne almost briefly considered charging into that massive group of Shardurr. Only briefly, though. There was plenty of ambient fire for her to control, but the odds were already so far out of her favor. And for what?

"You mean the one that gave away Val's identity to Chenza?" she said with a sigh, gripping at her staff all too tightly.

Another plate got torn away and fell to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Kommo-o turned and revealed that their tail had already been cut clean off from about four feet down. One of their arms no longer functioned, and there was a huge gouge taken out of their side. They were a dragon, after all, but nobody could survive a fight like that. Not with the damage they've already taken.

"He's already dead, Nibby." Panne concluded.

"...This way!" Nibby looked away from the scene and angled himself towards a narrow alley. "I can hear someone shouting from this direction! Let's just go before they turn on us!"

Without so much as a glance back, Panne followed him through the passage.

Both sides of the street were burning. The flames had to have crept up thirty, maybe forty feet into the sky further down, and it was only getting worse. Even Panne was starting to have trouble breathing in the murk of smoke that completely consumed the avenue. Cinders and ashes flew past her eyes as she hurried behind Nibby, who took off straight into the sky in front of one of the consumed buildings.

"Here, Panne! Second floor!"

A feeling of déjà vu swept over her for the briefest of seconds, but was washed away in the heat of the moment just as quickly as it came.

The Delphox wasted no time, sucking in what she could of the half-decent air before taking off into the red sky. She came to one of the shattered windows and swiped her arm through the arms of the flames. Her mind touched something alive and searing-something that had no right being as vast as it did. With another forceful swing of her hand, she parted the flames with her will and dove inside.

This place had maybe a few minutes before it was structurally doomed. Even through the thick curtain of smoke, the damage was obvious. Now, though, she was close enough to hear the cries coming from within. Repelling the fire in a sphere around her, she found that the latter half of the building was more masonry than carpentry. Only difference was that it felt like an oven instead of a fucking campfire.

There, at the top of a stairwell that looked like a descent into the abyss, was a Kirlia and an unconscious Poochyena. The Kirlia was wailing at the top of her lungs, and coughing at the same volume as every other labored breath. Although Panne couldn't lift living things with her telekinesis, she still could gather both the pokemon onto her staff and force the flames apart for just long enough to fly back out the window.

It wasn't much better back in the streets, but it was at least survivable. The Kirlia was utterly inconsolable. The Poochyena was alive, but had some clearly serious patches of fur burnt off that would require attention. Panne at least managed to convince the Kirlia to stay put at this intersection when Nibby found another possible victim trapped by the flames. A hero's work was never done.

This went on for building after building, life after life. There were some she couldn't save. A few lives were snuffed before she could reach them. A larger majority came to find themselves sticking their faces near the ground in the middle of the street, either unconscious or wounded or utterly shaken, gasping for clean air while the two of them did their work. Nibby scouted out for the trapped while Panne pulled them from certain death. It was taking its toll. Not quite enough to slow her down yet, but it was.

They ended up moving along with the spread of the inferno, following a path just slightly quicker than it. Anyone still caught in the middle was likely already gone, even those who might've been resistant to the flames. A fresh migraine pounding away, Panne and Nibby ushered the group of survivors down the road past places that were not yet engulfed. Then came the other problem.

While Nibby had flagged down a pair of retreating guards to lead the survivors out of the fray, Panne had to confront the four gangsters that were harrying them in the first place. Tearing away at the fire that raged on one side of the street, the Delphox converted swathes of it into red wisps to detonate at her will. Barriers of explosive flame and a whirlwind of steel and kicks. She would not be bested by these sniveling city upstarts.

But then came more and more. It seemed they'd come across the dregs of the revolution's main body, as Panne found that she was never engaged in a singular one-on-one fight at any point. Nibby tried to help, but all that investigative skill didn't translate to much raw power in his voice or breath. To make matters worse, a particularly thick fog of smoke descended over them in what seemed like moments.

...

Nibby was separated. He could still clearly hear her somewhere in the murk, but there was far too much ambient noise to pick out where, and the footfall that surrounded him clearly wasn't from her. The Noibat took off deeper down some yet-untouched canal of melted snow and called out her name. It got too confusing for him, his echolocation muddled with the roar of the flames. He exited out the corridor of brick, blinked out at the clearer air, and came to regret a great deal of his choices in the span of a second.

The street was in the final stages of being ransacked and vandalized by what seemed like a dozen Shardurr. Many of the pokemon were already starting to run off to move to the next part of the neighborhood, just barely outrunning the flames. There stood one pokemon in the middle of it all, bloodied knight's cape waving in the gusts of overheated air.

Chenza turned and spotted him at the mouth of the backstreet. The wicked smile that crossed her face somehow grew wider than it already was.

No. No. No no no no no.

He twisted around and surged back into the alley, but he had been frozen in fear for mere seconds too long. Halfway through the stone corridor he heard a horrible laughter bounce off the walls, accompanied by clawed footfall somehow more rapid than even his wing-beats.

"What's wrong, Noibat?! Didn't come to join the fun, did you?! All that running only makes you seem guilty! A true Shardurr should be proud to serve their king!"

Too slow. Just as Nibby was about to burst out of the other side, the Weavile passed him and kicked off the wall, barely missing him with a swing of her claws. It almost seemed intentional with the way she laughed. Nibby overcompensated and crashed into the corner of the wall, barely staying in the air.

"Fuck you!" the Noibat shouted in a strange flash of rage, catching himself and flipping around to face her.

She stood in the darkness around the corner, still cackling to herself. "Oh, come now! You were a useful tool up until this point. You're getting a single chance to be formally recognized as my subject and this is how you spend it? Tsk tsk."

The strings that had already snapped inside his head somehow found ways to keep breaking. "Your subject?! Look at what you've done, Chenza! You ruined my life! You ruined everyone's lives! This is all your fault, every single fucking thing that's happening tonight! I should've sold you out to Paradise years ago, you fateless, lunatic son of a bitch!"

An unbelievable pressure boiled up from the deepest part of his throat, filling his cheeks. Years of anger culminated into a single, ear-shattering screech that was directed straight at the Weavile. Chenza actually recoiled backwards, grimacing as she slapped her claws over her ears. Even the smoke itself visibly shifted from the force of his shout. But then he ran out of breath, and Chenza was still standing, and her grin was gone.

Not a word left her mouth. It was a different mode entirely, her expression going blank as a feral. She lunged forward with only the purest of intent to kill. Nibby tried to fly straight up and away, dizzy as he was, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her scale the side of a building like it was nothing and make the lethal pounce. This was the end.

The red cinders that swirled through the air started to shine a blinding light.

...

Panne detonated the wandering wisps between Nibby and the Weavile with a snap of her fingers. The two of them went tumbling through the air, cloaked in residual trails of smoke. The Delphox gasped as she jerked her staff to move forward, barely managing to catch Nibby in her arms before he would've hit pavement. Chenza struck the broad side of the building she'd just launched from, reflexively catching herself just as she was about to land on the street, but taking an immediate kneel from the blow.

"Who in the…" The Weavile trailed off as her eyes met with Panne's. She put out the remaining cinders on her stolen cape and huffed. "Oh! Oh, well isn't this just peachy?! It's the human's bitch, right on time! That noisy little shit just put me back into a murdering mood, but things are looking up! I can see my second trophy right around that pretty little neck of yours!"

Chenza held up her wrist and waved it around, making sure that Panne got as good of a look at it as possible. "And you know what? After what I did to that snake, it's only fair that you got one good hit in before I end you, too."

Even with the roaring flames finally catching up to them, caressing the buildings right on this part of the street, the silence was impenetrable. Panne went still again. She stared at the Weavile's wrist, then came back to her vicious eyes, then back down again. The Delphox didn't notice the army of Shardurr that cut through the black fog and marched up behind their leader. She didn't notice that she was still holding an unconscious Noibat under one of her arms. She didn't even feel like she was in her own body anymore.

What she did notice, apart from the feeling that she was sinking into an abyss, was the ebb and flow of the flames were drawing close.

"Panne, don't believe her!"

What? Who..?

It was someone in the distance behind her, where the inferno had yet to consume. Someone deep and commanding. The revolutionaries that saw whoever it was let out a war cry in response as they all began to charge forth past their new king. Panne finally forced herself to turn around. She saw an opposing surge of pokemon, clad in blues and greens, letting loose shouts of their own to beat back against the din.

There, in the curling trails of smoke, stood the king of Paradise.

"Vallion is at the palace!" Reinhardt shouted to her, a single wave of his hand sending another score of guards into battle. She vaguely recognized the Zebstrika from earlier in the mix. "Chenza stole his scarf to deceive you! Don't leave yourself open!"

The Delphox twisted back just in time to see a blur of black closing in on her neck. She hoisted her staff and deflected the blow, swung with her claws to clash with another, and summoned a concussive blast of heat to stop a hail of fragmented ice before it could fully form. The Weavile flipped backwards and howled with rage.

"What?! What do you MEAN he's at the palace?! How did he get away?!" Chenza let out a harrowing scream which tapered into a snarl. "Enough of this! Shardurr, slaughter the king! Slaughter them all!"

Panne redoubled her grip on her staff, a slew of swears in ancient tongue slipping her mouth. "Fucking Weavile! Tricky little shits, the lot of you! That's the second time that's almost happened! I'm gonna blow that fucking arm off whether you give me his scarf back or not!"

But Chenza wasn't stupid. Steel, horns, and claws all flashed around them, making it all too simple to slip into the chaos and cut a few hamstrings in a retreat. Still clutching at Nibby with one arm, Panne started to carve through the tide of pokemon to chase after the Weavile. The height she could hover in the air made her a target just as much as it kept her out of arm's reach. Within seconds she had to start batting various projectiles out of the air.

Just when it seemed like a Passimian was about to launch up and grab onto her staff, a massive form barreled through to the front and slammed them back down. Reinhardt was a being of raw momentum, crashing through three more pokemon with his shoulder in the same motion and dragging the Passimian with him the whole way, who punched and kicked against the Chesnaught to no avail whatsoever.

"Panne! Go! Don't let her escape!"

"Easier said than fucking done!" she managed to shout in return, ducking low below a torrent of water launched by god-knows-what in the back of the conflict.

The flames had finally caught up, and with it came a haze that made visibility a nightmare. Someone as small and sneaky as Chenza could easily make themselves scarce in a scene like this. Narrowly dodging yet another blast of whatever, Panne had to give up the chase before she had even started. She couldn't very well start blasting through these fucks with Nibby in her grasp.

The Delphox fell back behind the wall of violence, eyes stinging from the fresh flood of smoke. The silhouette of Reinhardt stood tall among the chaos, shrugging off blow after blow like it was nothing at all, and returning single swings with his forearm that punched through entire arcs of his opposition at a time. His loyal soldiers followed the example without hesitation.

...

The attack began shortly after Reinhardt left for Rusty Mountain District. They heard the fighting coming from the west side long before anyone sent word of it. Rolling thunder and rumbling impacts echoed across the courtyard's acoustic design. Vallion broke away from his assigned post and immediately made a line straight towards the source of the noise. Flashes of lightning and flame lit up the red dusk.

Before he could make it to the action, twin arcs of fire sailed across the sky and slammed into the side of the capitol, erupting into clouds of dust and rubble. One of the trails originated from one of the rooftops, where a Drapion was forcibly tossed off the side and tumbled most of the two stories down until they caught a balcony and partially stopped their fall. The other came from further down the road and struck the very northwestern corner of the building.

Faced with overwhelming numbers, a good deal of the guard immediately began to retreat from the rooftops and alleys, passing Vallion as they sounded the horn for reinforcements. As he came to the base of the building which fired the first volley, Virizion came blasting past towards the other source, a pair of flying types being the only things fast enough to keep up with her. Vallion started to scale the vaulted wall.

As he came over the ledge, he found a group of ten or so Shardurr huddled over an artillery cannon. It had clearly been carried by the Tyranitar that was nearby, though it was difficult to imagine how they got it all the way up here. A shout overtook them, and the boom of the cannon deafened Vallion utterly as the payload sailed past not more than ten feet away, crashing into the building once more. Before the smoke even cleared, a Turtonator got in position to load the next shot.

After he recovered from the daze, the Serperior surged over the side. He was faster than the revolutionaries expected, letting him sweep up a Flareon with their back turned and throw them off the side before anyone noticed what was happening. A Scyther swung around and tried to land a slash on him, but had the joints of their blades wrenched back as Vallion slammed his tail into their midsection.

The element of surprise was well and spent. All the Shardurr who weren't tasked with reloading the cannon attempted to surround him. A sharp pang of pain struck Vallion's left temple, his thoughts getting scattered by a surge of mental noise. A Meowstic in the back was baring into him with their psychic presence, and hard. His reflexes took over, swimming around the barrage of bodies that tried to pin him down to get at the psychic type.

Just before he struck, a violent quake shook the building and threw everyone off balance, including him and the Meowstic. A Druddigon had just jumped from the rooftop over onto this one. Their landing was so forceful that a swathe of shingles cracked and fell away in pieces towards the streets below.

Brute shoved the cannon out of the way to charge at the Serperior, a mighty beat of his wings propelling him forward. Vallion barely managed to get out of the way of the dragon's swinging claws as Brute put all his momentum into a single slash. The gale caused by his wings combined with the force of his passing, nearly pushing Vallion over the edge outright. He took the opportunity to go over and swiftly descend the side of the building on his own terms.

The avenues below had erupted into warfare. A Bastiodon whose crest was painted green and blue defended the mouth of the street while several specialists with metal shields accompanied them. Several of the guard were in the process of pushing back-

Right when Vallion touched down on the ground, a huge form dropped onto the brickwork and flattened a Jigglypuff underneath what sounded like several hundred pounds of weight. Brute ignored everything around him, turning his gaze solely towards Vallion.

"SERPERIOR."

Even those already locked in combat had their attention temporarily stolen by the roar. Vallion didn't want to face the Druddigon on a fair battlefield, much less one where he was likely to be interrupted by the chaos. He took off towards the barricade as soon as he was able. The bounding stomps of the dragon were never far enough behind him. When the blockade of shields tried to let Vallion through and prepared to close in on his pursuer, Brute unleashed a sudden burst of speed and waded through the guards like they were grass snagging at his heels.

The distance closed all too quickly. Ducking below a stream of fire, Vallion stuck close to the ground and slithered to the side, attempting to get his tail around the dragon's ankle. He couldn't commit and had to retreat even further back to avoid getting crushed. Brute wasn't horribly quick, but there was no room for error. Any mistake spelled a grave injury, no matter how glancing.

Their dance ended with a flash of verdant steel cutting a line through the Druddigon's wing. Brute took a mighty swing behind him with his tail, barely missing the crooked Serperior. Alexander's eyes wrinkled with pain just from the jerking motion alone.

Brute sized up his two opponents, his ruined wing not even drawing so much as a wince. A steady stream of flames rose from his nostrils as he exhaled. "Two humans that won't live to see the morning. You've made it convenient for me. This revolution will be much easier with you out of the way."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to do this?" Vallion cleared his throat and readjusted his stance. "I'm not certain Chenza would be particularly pleased to hear that you took our deaths away from her."

The dragon snorted. "I'm tired of waiting! Tired of holding myself back for someone else! There is no reason for the strong to show any restraint! There is no reason for the weak who cross me to go on living! Leaving you alive was a mistake I will not commit again, Serperior. I will not show mercy to those in my wake."

"Then we're on the same page!" boomed Alexander in return, sharpening the edges of his vine blades against one another. "I'll even skip the trial, Druddigon. We'll go straight to your execution."

"Hmph! Don't you have some magic words to say before it's legal for you to murder someone, snake? Something pathetic about my rights to live being waived?" Brute spat an ember in the Master of Law's direction.

Alexander crossed his blades and pointed them towards the dragon, just below the red of his eyes. "I've already said them once. I will not repeat myself."

Brute launched himself towards Alexander. The Serperior tried to leverage his blades to create space, but the dragon no longer seemed to care about self-preservation, calling the bluff and slapping his swords to the side with the bare back of his hand. It was clear that most of Alexander's defenses relied on that threat alone as he tried to duck away, his scarred body making every dodge just slightly too rigid.

The Master of Law would've had four claws rake across his chest had Vallion not wrapped his vines around the dragon's shoulder and jerked the joint back. Brute twisted around and lunged for him instead, but he was already well out of the way. Then the ringing sound of sharpened vines pulled Brute's attention in the opposite direction. The scales of his forearm blocked a slash meant for the back of his neck. The fluid motion of Alexander's technique landed another three glancing cuts before he was edged away by a stream of flames.

And so the tug-of-war went, with Brute forced to defend against the attacks of two Serperior at once. The tide came with Vallion's targeted jabs and flighty movements, and just the same it went with Alexander's cautious yet viciously effective swordplay. The dragon seemed too enraged to care about the mounting injuries of his carelessness. Cuts turned to gashes and multiplied. Pressure points and cartilage were expertly destroyed. And yet, Brute showed no sign of slowing.

The dam of guards broke at the edge of the street. Another scarlet blast arced across the sky and battered the crumbling wall of the capitol building Shardurr had finally busted through the line. The already tenuous battle quickly deteriorated as new combatants came to assist their rampaging leader. This couldn't be won on even grounds.

Vallion took the dragon's attention and bit down on his wing. Though his teeth hardly managed to piece the scales, he used his tail around Brute's leg as leverage to twist the joint into breaking. The dragon could only retaliate by slamming into him with the back of his hand, and while it didn't quite knock the wind from him, it wasn't a gentle strike. Slipping away, Vallion started towards the wall of the capitol, leaving most of the weaklings for Alexander.

He aimed for the small trees that were planted around the perimeter of the building. They weren't much, but anything was better than being in the complete open. The dragon was a thoughtless storm of rage, gladly chasing him into the plant bed without a second thought.

The Serperior immediately shot up the side of the tree and began to shroud himself in its branches. Brute hardly cared, sucking in as deep a breath as he could to douse the upper half of the tree in flame. Vallion slid down the opposite end of the trunk with only minor burns, twisting around to flick a short volley of sharpened leaves from his tail. Of course, Brute's hide was much too thick for it to have any effect.

Vallion circled around the tree, landing blows when he could and using the plant as a shield when he couldn't. The Druddigon put up with only three dodges before he dug his hands into the bark and roared, putting every ounce of strength into ripping the tree from its roots and swinging it at the Serperior. Vallion ducked below most of the branches, but caught a solid one on the side of his face and knocked lights into one of his eyes. He shook it off and simply moved onto the next tree, the whole section covered in fallen bricks and dust.

Another quaking shook the ground, throwing even Brute off-balance now that he had no good wings to balance himself. Master Flygon swooped from above and put all of their might into the landing, cracks in the stone pulsing out from where their feet touched down. Immediately following, the Flygon beat their wings to whip up a storm of the debris they just created, battering back a fresh wave of Shardurr before they could even make it to Alexander.

All the while, Vallion was running out of trees. The mound of rubble that blocked his path was growing by the moment as more shattered bits of rock and glass fell from the damaged wall. The sound of a cannon being hoisted over the edge of a rooftop exploded out over the town, but the damage was already done. The Serperior tried to back up onto the jagged pile of refuse, cutting himself almost immediately and attempting not to cough on the dust cloud.

Brute only saw an obstacle to crash through. Kicking up dust and shrapnel into his eyes didn't so much as phase him. However, the dragon's heavy footing was too much for the loose rubble, giving Vallion much more space than he had before. Still, a red glow started to bubble up at the bottom of the Druddigon's roar.

A horrible noise cut through the air. A blade coming through flesh and scraping against bone. A glowing edge pierced through Brute's abdomen. Alexander put his whole body into the thrust, shoving another three inches through before finally dragging straight back out. There was not even a pause before the dragon whipped around and slammed Alexander into the wall with the palm of his claws, causing him to collapse into the snow.

In the split second that followed, Vallion lunged for the dragon's back, but this time Brute anticipated it and grabbed the Serperior by the lower neck. Claws digging in with crushing force, he tossed Vallion with all his might, sending him rolling out into the promenade. A gust of wind took his place as Flygon flew in feet-first, delivering a flying kick that shook the foundation to the Druddigon's chest, cracking the brickwork behind him.

Whatever damage the blow surely must've caused, Brute's body and will still refused to fold. Pushing off the wall with nothing but his tail, he grabbed the Flygon by the ankles and forced them into the ground, then used the leverage he gained to hoist them up by the legs and toss them to the side. Then, he started to approach Vallion, a fresh font of blood trailing down a mess of broken scales.

Struggling to remain upright, Vallion coiled his body and readied for the next dance. The Druddigon made it only halfway to him before pokemon started to pass. What looked like a Corvisquire swooped past and detonated a payload of blast seeds over the dragon's back. A Clefable bounced over Vallion's head and launched a projectile of lavender mists. Even now, the Druddigon ceaselessly trudged forward, an undead look in his eyes.

Once more, Alexander recovered and rushed into the fray, giving Vallion time to engage on his own accord. Razor teeth gnashed at nothing. Claws swung and missed. Hardened scales gave way to dozens of shallow stabs and cuts. Pulverized muscles and bones took more and more damage. From afar, the guard of Paradise gave their support, battering the dragon with their own tools and abilities. Rage couldn't control a broken body, no matter how vast.

Brute stumbled as Alexander severed vital tendons in his right leg. In the same breath, Vallion put all his strength into striking at the opposite knee, risking retaliation but knocking the dragon to his knees all the same. The Druddigon tried to roar and vomited up a fresh tide of blood instead, adding to the many pools that were already staining the snow around him. He couldn't even put his curses into words.

Shaking, shivering, the dragon failed to rise. His destroyed muscles no longer responded to anything. Covered in blood that wasn't totally his foe's, Alexander raised his blades with some difficulty, crossed them over one another, and settled Brute's dense throat in between. Still barely propped up on his elbows, it wasn't even clear whether the dragon was still conscious or not.

"Begone from my city..!"

It wasn't a clean cut. Not through hide and flesh like that. The Master of Law put everything he had into the sharpness of his vines and he still had to saw through the dragon's throat, until finally…

Brute's arms continued to hold up a lifeless corpse. Even in death, he did not yield.

The invading Shardurr were already scattered by the efforts of Virizion and the brave souls that rushed into the fray. Those that were around to see their leader fall didn't stick around for much longer. These weren't soldiers. They were just regular pokemon that happened to live here, led astray for far too long.

The promenade beside the capitol building emptied of fighting rather quickly. Virizion returned with a limp and a bloodied side, but she returned triumphant. Everyone who was involved with fighting Brute had essentially just come to rest on the spot. One of Flygon's legs was pretty badly broken. Alexander didn't look much more crooked than usual, but it was clear that not everything was alright. Vallion felt like he'd himself sustained some fractures for certain, and the side of his head was starting to swell, but he was very much alive.

"They're running," Virizion huffed, supporting all too much weight on her arthritic front legs. "They would've never gotten into the capitol. There simply weren't enough of them." She glared at the dragon's body, then came to the Serperior that was left gasping over it. "So that's where that one went. I suppose that's why they started to flee. Are your injuries dire?"

"...Too early to tell," Vallion answered for him. "For him, anyway. I've lived worse."

"I'm- fine!" Alexander's voice came out more like a cough, which transitioned into a real one. "I'm fine. How many of ours are injured? Casualties? Do we know what's happening in Rusty Mountain District?"

"Alex. You know I don't know any of that yet." Virizion shook her head. "I'll send a scout to the fires. I'm sure Reinhardt's taken control of the situation by now. It was a wise choice to send him."

The sky had gone red. What few clouds there used to be were overridden by the deluge of smoke that poured upwards. The far horizon over the mountains remained black as night should be, but that was as dark as it got. The scent of burning was all too fresh in the air, mingling only with the taste of iron as Vallion regarded his own wounds. It had gone much too quiet much too quickly. This was only a lull. It couldn't be over already.

Even despite that, he at least took the chance to catch his breath.

Alexander hadn't moved far from the place he decapitated Brute. The Serperior stared off into space, the dark red of the sky dulling the normal intensity of his eyes. It appeared as if every inhalation was difficult to him, shudders running down his spine all the while. Eventually Vallion managed to see what he was looking at, up past the haze that covered the city. Faint strands of green and red and yellow barely managed to poke through in places. An aurora.

"It's the first one this year," Flygon said aloud, seemingly finding where everyone's eyes had ended up. "The very first night it's clear enough to see it, this happens. What a waste."

Taking in as deep a breath as it seemed he could manage, Alexander turned a tired eye towards the only other Serperior in Paradise. "I still regret what happened that day, Vallion."

It took him a second to even realize what Alexander was talking about. "Do you mean what happened at Poliwrath River? Really, you're thinking of that now of all times?"

"Now more than ever," the Master of Law mumbled. "Here I stare at the corpse of one of Paradise's most notorious criminals and murderers. He would have killed me and everyone in the palace if he could. I haven't been in good physical condition for years. Without your help-the person I have wronged most in the past-that Druddigon would've surely ended my life."

"What? Do you think it's strange that I would help defend your city? It's not over yet, Alex. The fires are still raging. Shardurr is not dead."

Alexander blinked up at the colors in the sky. "...I know."

Flygon coughed into their fist, still nursing their leg with a groan. "I can't help but feel like I'm missing something important here."

"The past is the past," Vallion said to the dragon. He rose from his coiled position, clenching his teeth as a wave of pain rolled down his body, then looked to Alexander expectantly. "We've already had more than a decade's worth of time to agonize over the history we let get away from us. Just concentrate on the history we're making right now."

A cruel voice cut in. "As nauseatingly poetic as I'd expect from a human!"

Chenza.

"Oh. What's with that look? You're really surprised to see me? Did you not expect me to show up? Not even after you broke out of your prison?" the Weavile chimed in a sickly sweet tone. As she kicked at Brute's head, her voice swung back into sheer malice at the drop of a hat. "Useless beast! I expect you to do the one thing you're good at and you still fail!"

"Shit." Flygon immediately took flight and started towards the front of the palace to warn the rest of the guard. Chenza just watched them go, bloodied hands on her hips and an unnatural smile glued to her face. The Harmony Scarf was still around her wrist, but only the one. Reinhardt followed through on his promise.

Any expression of pain that Alexander once wore was instantly buried. He rose at once, eyes wide and bladed vines drawn. "Your comrade died for your cause, Chenza. Just like you will die for it."

"Hah!" she shrieked. "My cause? He died for power, just like every other fool that gets too hungry for what's on his plate! What kind of comrade's only loyal to me because they couldn't best me in a fight? He was a bottom feeder! A tool to be unleashed at best!"

"And what about all the power you're hungry for, your majesty? Don't tell me you think you're too mighty to fall." Vallion growled back.

"Even you don't understand?" Chenza shook her head, clicking her tongue. "This isn't about being on top for the sake of it. It really never was. This is about my birthright! It's about taking my proper place in the world! And while this night has been a total failure, I only need one thing to solidify my victory." She pointed a claw to Alexander and gestured like she had just decapitated him. "Your head."

"You've gone insane, Chenza," Alex spat in return, shaking just slightly as he steadied his swords. "You're out of position. You're out of soldiers. You're outnumbered, and soon to be morbidly so. I should have killed you the first time I saw you. I'll have to settle for killing you now."

"Are you serious? Put those damn things away! Do you honestly believe I'd be stupid enough to fight you here? No, dumbass. This ends on my terms or it's not gonna end at all! Not until this whole city's nothing but ash and rubble!"

Chenza tossed the burnt cape around her neck to the wind and started to retreat up the side of a building. The two Serperior rushed forward and prepared to give chase, but she was already hanging from a balcony at the top floor and shouting down at them, well within the hearing range of Virizion as she charged in on only three good legs.

"How about I give you a choice?! Follow me with an army, or don't follow me at all, and I slip back underneath your noses and start this whole process all over again! Or, you could trail me all the way, and one of us gets our wish sooner rather than later! I'll let you decide how many more thousand pokemon need to die before we settle this like humans!"

It was too late for any airborne allies to catch her. She was like a ghost, disappearing over the lip of the rooftop and vanishing into thin air on the other side. Or so the Corvisquire that was sent after the Weavile reported, anyway. If she wanted them to follow, she certainly didn't leave any obvious clues for the rest of Virizion's forces.

Virizion stomped against the stone, nearly falling over in the process. "Dammit! She got so close! Why didn't you attack her?!"

"If she was always going to leave, she easily could have at any point," Vallion said. "Outright attacking her wouldn't have amounted to anything."

"Well obviously, if you didn't even try to detain her in the first place! What did Alexander even hire you for?!"

"...I have to go after her," Alexander muttered.

Virizion huffed. "Of course you do! We all do! But if you think you can get into a duel with that Weavile in the condition you're in now then you're..! You're just as stubborn as I expected you to be!"

"I told you. I'm fine." The Master of War stretched out his vines and made sure he still had full motion, as if not entirely sure he did beforehand. For all the blood caked over his scales, he most certainly didn't look fine. "This cannot wait a moment longer."

Vallion had already angled himself in the direction she took off in. "Whether Alexander goes after her or not, I am. Though I'm sure she still wouldn't pass up the opportunity to kill two humans at once."

"Virizion," Alexander started. "I have a favor to ask."

"Of course I'm going to protect the queen while you're gone," she finished before he could even get the words off of his tongue. "The fool thinks she's clever enough to arrange a duel without my intervention. I'll be sending my stealthier scouts to trail you at a reasonable distance. Once she finally comes to a stop, just hold out until I can arrange a proper ambush."

"If it even lasts that long," Vallion said.

"By all means, if you can manage to rip that bastard apart in the very fight she started, be my guest."

Attempting to suppress a shudder and clearly failing, Alexander turned to Vallion and gave him one final nod. In a brief flash of clarity, he saw something in the Serperior's darkened face that he vaguely recognized. After a moment longer, Vallion finally realized where he had seen Alexander look like this before.

It was in that cave at the top of the hill near Poliwrath River. Huddled in the low light, surrounded completely by foes, minutes away from an inevitable fight that he wasn't sure he was going to survive. Vallion didn't realize he had internalized that moment until now, but it was so surprisingly crisp in his mind's eye. A forlorn expression that somehow twisted the intensity of those crimson eyes into hopelessness.

Alexander was prepared to die.

...

Paradise had never looked so dark. Despite the red hues that menaced in most of the skyline, the ground was almost pitch dark without the street lamps to light it. Only the silhouettes of buildings stood out with very little detail in-between. Despite this, Vallion could still very much see the outline of the Serperior that trailed alongside him, and the distant form of the Weavile that egged them on, her cackling echoing off the abandoned neighborhood.

Chenza seemed to toy with them, zig-zagging around Post District with no particular destination immediately clear. Wearing them down even more, probably. Vallion didn't care so much about the extended sprint, but Alexander was clearly struggling. Still, the Master of Law trudged on in spite of his condition, just like she knew he would. Just like she had planned.

After several more blocks of wasted time and stalling, it seemed Chenza had finally decided on where to stop. They came to the edge of the frozen lake in the heart of Post District. The sun had partially melted the snow that had once covered the frozen surface of the water, leaving a plane of glossy ice once it cooled back down. The Weavile strolled down the middle of the ice, arms to her sides, dancing along the grim reflection of the sky. It was difficult to see, but she was definitely looking back at them.

"Ah. That figures. A terrain advantage. She wants to be the only one with any traction," Vallion gasped, catching his breath before wanting to commit.

And besides, Alexander appeared to desperately need a moment to recover, if his grunts of pain through clenched teeth were any indication. "It's- ngh. It's two against one. I would expect no less from her."

"Are you sure you're willing to go out there? You know what kind of fight she wants. You look like you can barely move as it is."

"Vallion." One of those red eyes turned to him. "I have lived a long life in this world. I have seen so many things, and been responsible for the lives of so many other pokemon. If I didn't do this one thing tonight of all nights, there would have been no point to any of it."

"Hmph." Vallion took a preparatory huff and stared off towards the center of the ice. "If that's the way you want to do it, then fine. So long as you're not gonna complain about having to fight alongside me."

Alexander closed his eyes for several long seconds. When he next opened them, he looked like a different person entirely. "It's difficult for me to express how much that means to me right now."

"What's the hold-up?!" Chenza's voice seemed to reverberate from every angle. "You're lucky I even let the both of you assholes follow me this far! What, are you scared of the ice or something? Afraid that your little scales might get cold? Do I really have to remind you not to waste my time?"

She held her right arm up in the air. Vallion's pupils widened to pick out the cloth around her wrist.

"That's right! You'd follow me to the ends of the earth as long as I had this, wouldn't you?! Don't you wonder what would happen to it if I were to disappear again? Don't you wonder where I would hide it just to keep it from you?! Oh, I know more than a few good places!"

Vallion sucked in through his nostrils and jumped out onto the ice. Alexander followed shortly after. The both of them couldn't ever hope to keep up with the Weavile on a landscape like this, but Chenza seemed more than content to bait them deeper onto the lake. Somewhere she could easily escape but they couldn't. In any other circumstance, Vallion wouldn't have dared pick a fight with such a horrible disadvantage. But then again, that was only what he told himself.

Out in the middle of the lake, the aurora that streaked above their heads became much more abundantly clear now that the ground mirrored it back up at them. It was the first time in a long time Vallion hadn't been surrounded by walls and buildings. The wide acoustics made everything sound off, like they were somehow cut off from the rest of the world out here.

Then, Chenza came to a stop, her relaxed skating abruptly ending as she fell on all fours and dug her claws into the ice. From that crouched position, she launched herself towards them at startling speeds. Alexander had only a moment to react, still slipping forward from forward momentum as he was raising his blades in front of him. In the split second she would've been impaled, Chenza somehow maneuvered off to his side, dragging a clean gash over his lower half and drifting off to a safe distance. She stopped and got into position once more.

Vallion went to the other Serperior's side before she could get the chance. While Alex recovered, Vallion moved in the way, his vines curled above his head and ready to take on her challenge. She seemed more than happy to oblige and charged at him just the same.

He expected her not to use the same trick twice. The Weavile made like she was going to drift left, only to catch herself and jump straight for his throat instead. He was ready, meeting the coming claws with a flash of his vines and the force of his coiled neck, but the blow barely felt like it had any weight to it. Chenza was knocked back, but she easily landed on her feet and went for Alexander instead in a burst of agility.

A verdant glaive carved through the ice where her path would've been half a second later. Alex went on the offensive, chasing Chenza's acrobatic retreat with a flurry of wide slashes. Sensing an opening, Vallion tried to flank the Weavile while she was forced to dodge, but it was impossible to position correctly with the ground as slippery as it was.

"Aren't you tired, Alex?!" Chenza shouted in the midst of his barrage. "Isn't it all so tiresome, getting up out of bed every day and working yourself to the brink of death?! Wouldn't you love to just take a nap and never WAKE UP!"

She jumped over a low slash, slipped past a vertical one, and closed in within the blink of an eye. The Serperior managed to pull a blade close enough to parry the first blow. Seemingly expecting to be blocked, a blast of ice shards shot around the point of impact, embedding themselves in Alexander's flesh before she was knocked away. Now, Vallion was in position.

Chenza tried to escape the Master of Law's range, only to take a glancing blow across her head across from Vallion's vine. She whipped around to face him and had her leg pulled out from under her. Hitting the ground hard, the Weavile scrambled out of the way as Vallion lunged just past her, jaw snapping the air where she once was. A pair of blades stabbed straight through the ice and clipped her on the way out.

"It's harder than you'll ever understand." Alexander growled, yanking his swords out from the lake. "But I won't rest. I won't falter! I won't stop until I erase every trace of you from Paradise!"

"For what?!" Shaking off the damage, she crouched on the ice and launched for another pass. The shrill sound of her claws bouncing off his blades echoed across the mirror plane until Vallion closed in and forced her to retreat. "What's the point?! Look at the pokemon you're fighting for! Most of 'em just ran the fuck away the moment their homes were threatened! Rusty Mountain District should've collapsed on Shardurr and killed them all, but they fled for the hills! What kind of pokemon can't fight?!"

Vallion slammed his tail down a moment too late, cracking the ice instead of her skull. "They're fortunate enough to have never had to fight! They've lived lives that pokemon have never been able to before! That luxury isn't a weakness!"

Chenza lunged for Vallion and got the upper hand in the exchange. The Serperior missed by too wide a margin, and felt a red-hot pain trail down his side as she slipped away. The numbness of the cold wasn't nearly enough to dull the screaming sensation.

"Being lorded over by the weak is weakness! I can't think of anything more weak, in fact! It's a sick joke that you had the gall to name a place like this Paradise! When I take that Chesnaught's crown off his severed head, I'll wake everyone up from this false dream they were born into!"

Another pass. Vallion prepared to make the guess of which direction the Weavile would take, only for Alexander to suddenly lunge and snatch Chenza out of the air with his jaws. Wildly thrashing about, he threw all his weight into slamming her against the ice, even as she raked across his face in an attempt to escape. He finally let go and threw her another five meters across the lake, where she tumbled into a dizzy kneel and snarled.

Bloodied and gruesome, Alexander's eyes shone through. "It's such a shame your father managed to make you before he woke up from this dream we shared."

As her scream sprawled out across the frozen landscape, Chenza mustered up all her strength into an overhead smash and came down on the ice with clasped hands. A gale of mist burst out from the point of impact as a cacophony of ghostly sounds echoed into the night. A web of fractures spidered out from the point of impact and instantly met up with the damage they already caused to the surface, compounding into eerie booms that seemed to span for miles around. Of course the ice was thinnest near the center.

They had mere moments to react. The combined weight of the two Serperior and the battle that had taken place around them caused the very ground they stood upon to start to shatter. Plates of ice broke away and started to keel into frigid waters. Vallion scrambled over the edge onto a different cracking piece, but Alexander wasn't nearly as quick as he was. The Master of Law nearly dipped below the surface. Their vines met in the middle, and just as his tail was submerged, Vallion started to hoist him back up.

Talons against ice. Chenza scaled up the side of a plate of ice that was nearly vertical, leaping over the edge towards them. She brandished her claws as she passed between the two Serperior, slicing through one of their vines. Alexander let out a groan and released his remaining vine from Vallion's grip, sharpening it in a flash to ward the Weavile off. Chenza easily jumped to the next suspended plate, but Alex himself slipped below the surface.

Vallion went over the side and plunged his head into the stunning cold, grabbing the back of Alexander's neck with his fangs and dragging him out that way. He looked away for too long. The Weavile was upon him, landing on his lower body and digging her claws deep into his flesh. Alexander burst out the surface and slashed at her with his remaining blade. Even as she fled back outside of range, the chunk of ice they now shared started to undergo the same fate, lurching into the waves.

They had to run across the ice to outpace its breaking. Vallion practically had to drag Alexander along, who barely seemed able to move at all. Chenza took every available opportunity to land slashes on them while the Master of Law weighed him down. After nearly having his throat ripped out, Vallion had to stop in place and defend himself.

"What are you doing, Bright-eyes?" Chenza gasped in a mocking tone, clutching at her shoulder. "What's wrong with you? Just let that bastard drop in! You're gonna get killed if you keep lugging him around! Come on, Alex's practically begging to die at this point! Just let it happen!"

Shivering, Vallion put his back against Alexander's, locking their vestigial hands together so that he could free his vines. The two Serperior covered the other's back while Chenza skulked around them, looking for an opening.

Alexander sucked in. "If it comes down to it, drop me. Take her life in exchange for mine. Don't waste this for my sake."

"Don't be stupid," he breathlessly shot back. "I'm not letting you die yet. Not tonight."

Chenza certainly found the room in her lungs to laugh. "What a load of shit! I can't believe that I actually bought that sob story of yours! Wanting to kill Alexander because he plucked some hairs off your little Fennekin whore? Ha!"

"You would've been able to see through any of my lies, Chenza. Every ounce of that story I told you was completely true."

Her jeering flipped to anger. "Then what the fuck?! If you want him dead, let him die! Why are you even protecting him?! Why waste the energy when I'm just gonna kill you both?! Why did you join Shardurr and waste opportunity after opportunity to get your revenge?!"

The ground started to crack beneath them. Vallion urged Alex to slowly move off to the side, but was still practically dragging him. "Chenza, you don't seem to understand. Alexander is not the Serperior he once was. I am not the same Snivy, nor is Panne the same Fennekin. You are not your father, and you never would have been him. Nobody can undo what's been done in the past. You were a human's second gasp at life, and you wasted it on vengeance."

"You know NOTHING ABOUT ME!"

She jumped. Vallion raised his upper half up and came crashing down on the ice below him. The sheet crunched and broke apart beneath them, threatening to slide Vallion into the black waters and hoisting Alexander up onto his back. The Master of Law followed the bend and swung his blade in an upwards arc. The Weavile caught the full strike head-on, and though he could only manage to partially sharpen the blade in the moment, a gash erupted across Chenza's chest and took part of her neck collar.

While she was reeling, Alexander released himself from Vallion's grasp and moved to stable footing. Another strike just missed, then another. She tried to get away, scrambling uselessly at sliding chunks of lake, until Vallion's vine wrapped around her throat and dragged her back into the fray.

The Master of Law struggled to slither forward. Another three blunt slashes, but two of them connected. Chenza tried to hack him apart in return, only for him to ignore the injuries entirely. It simply gave him enough time to steel himself for a clean hit. The Serperior's vine shimmered and glowed, flattening out the final millimeters, and swiped through the air while his blood stained the rushing waters.

Chenza's right arm went sailing.

Vallion launched forward and caught it before the lake could swallow it up.

"No!" The Weavile scrambled away as soon as she regained her footing, claws clutched tight over the stump that remained of her arm. "No! No, no! This isn't what my destiny looks like! This isn't what my future looks like! You bastards took it from me! You took everything!"

With her one set of talons, Chenza waded through the shattered ice towards Alexander, who had gone almost completely motionless, just staring. Vallion quickly tore the Harmony Scarf from her severed arm and took it into his hands. He rushed in between the two of them and knocked her away with a blow to the side of her head. Within a few moments, she was staggering back.

"Give it back to me! Give me back my life! You don't deserve to have it! You never earned it! You haven't lived through what I have! Everything I've done, every life I took, was for this!"

Vallion could feel the frostbite start to burn. Shaking out a violent shiver, he knocked her away once more. Alexander stayed motionless.

Her voice cracked. Her seeping blood hit the top of the lake and was washed away when she put her weight down on the pieces. "It's not fair! None of it's fair! I don't deserve this! I'm a human! This isn't what's supposed to happen to humans! This is all your fault, Alexander! I hate you! The Bittercold should have taken you instead of him! You should have-!"

The ice gave out from underneath Chenza. She hardly made a noise as the lake swallowed her in the span of a second. It happened so fast that it looked like she had gotten pulled under. Vallion stayed at the ready, waiting for her to burst through the surface at any moment and make a rush for his throat. The gushing sound of ice bobbing in a slurry was all that he heard. Seconds developed into a minute. That minute spanned on for two, and then three.

Was..?

Did she..?

The Serperior behind him collapsed, his loss of balance nearly sending him sliding down their precarious section of ice. Vallion managed to haul him back up at the last second and recovered what little footing they had. He was still alive. Not by much, and not for long, but Alexander was holding on by the thinnest of strings. He had gone unconscious with his eyes still wide open, his face frozen in a perpetual scowl.

The light of an Illumise soon came to remind him of the city they were still inside of.