The unexpected chill of an autumn night's wind whispered gently through her whiskers. Perry stood with her paws propped up on the balcony, overlooking the glittering Magistrate City. Admiration tickled at her face, pulling the sides of her mouth up into a slight smile.

It had taken so much to get this point- to find a place on the edge of the continent, far, far away from meddling humans, to gather a community willing to build such a marvelous place from close to nothing, and, finally, be crowned Queen Perry in honor of her services. She'd been the diplomat of Unova's developing hidden Pokemon community for seventeen years now.

And yet there was no good without evil.

Clink. Something rattled across the rafters of the castle roof.

Perry didn't turn her head. No more sound came from behind her. After another heartbeat of silence, she drew one of her bladed shells, turning slightly.

"Don't come any closer. I know you're there. I would rather this end without incident."

Something scoffed from the blackness. "Oh, you think you're so smart, able to tell where I am without even batting an eye. You're all talk. Try this!" A blade lashed out of the shadows.

Perry caught it with ease, twisting it away. "Leave now," she growled. "I have no patience for petty creatures who seek thrill without consequence."

"Petty creatures." A low snarl drifted from the shadows. "I am no petty creature, Perry. You said so yourself, all those years ago."

From the darkness, the assassin moved forward, the moonlight glancing off their emerald scales.

The slight raise of her eyebrows was the only outward display of surprise from the queen. Internally, however, her emotions raged with the fury of the storming seas.

To see her childhood friend again, only this time with a knife in her grasp...

"Slytherin?" Perry asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

Slytherin's hooded eyes darkened. Her massive tail writhed and curled until she was coiled up, glaring down at the queen. "Why so surprised? Thought I'd run and hide after you left me to rot?"

Perry's face hardened. "Slytherin, you're talking nonsense. You said it yourself, that day we parted- 'You're chasing volatile dreams that will never come true. I'm not going to follow you on some wild goose chase only to starve in the snow.' You wanted nothing to do with Magistrate… or me."

The Serperior's lip curled. Her tail lashed back and forth, the blade dancing dangerously in the moonlight. Finally, she said, "And? I wasn't lying."

Before Perry could respond, she lunged, the knife slicing a neat arc through the air before it plunged towards the queen's heart.

Perry was ready. Her blade slammed against the attacker's tail and sent the knife clattering across the courtyard. With her other hand, she grabbed Slytherin and held her down.

The Serperior snarled and flailed, but Perry's crushing grasp had her trapped.

"Why are you really here, Slytherin?" She intoned in a low growl. "Did somebody send you to kill me? You're better than that."

Slytherin snorted with contempt. "Great to know you think of me so highly. No. You have something I want."

Perry grimaced. Slytherin had always been a bit on the greedy side- she wouldn't have been surprised if her once-friend was here to take the throne. "Power? You could've just asked. We have many high ranking spots in our government still open, and you would be my first choice for half of them-"

"No!" Slytherin spat, writhing furiously under the queen's claws. "You think you know me, but you're wrong!" Suddenly, she stopped squirming. A slow smirk spread across her face, as smooth as honey. "I won't need any of that soon."

"What are you-" But by the time Perry noticed Slytherin's vines extending far enough to reach the handle of the knife, it was too late. Her distraction had worked.

Before Perry could protect herself, the knife rushed forward and plunged into the gap between her armored skin. She gasped sharply, choking, her hold on Slytherin loosening.

Slytherin hissed and slithered out from under her to watch the queen collapse to the ground.

For a moment, her eyes clouded. She shook herself and stared down at the dying creature below her. "It didn't have to be like this, Perry," she said coldly.

The Samurott's eyes were still bright with pain and anger and something Slytherin had never seen from her before- hate.

"But I know you too well. Only one of us was leaving here alive. And I won't be the one to stay."

Clenching her teeth against the screaming pain in her ribcage, Perry forced herself up on her front paws. "How- c-"

The queen coughed again, red running down her chin. She could keep her eyes open no longer. Falling to the ground, she took her last shuddering breath and fell silent.

Slytherin closed her piercing eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When she opened them again, Perry hadn't moved. She let a scornful look wash back over her face and slithered forward.

Ever-so-carefully, Slytherin used her tail to gently grasp the object around Perry's neck, obscured to most by her flowing whiskers, and yanked it off the brittle chain. Holding it up to the moonlight, she observed it from one angle, then the other. An icy smile began to creep up her face.

"Perfect."