It was done.

The Frozen Spring lay far behind. In ruins.

Trampled by the Master's army.

The opposition had been crushed. Outsmarted.

There had been no choice for that Infernape and his team. Once they knew they had been outdone, they fled, taking minimal survivors with them.

The rest… they were gone. Dead. Declared unnecessary by a higher power.

And now, Frozen Spring was no longer frozen. It was ablaze. Burning to the ground.

And it was all because of her.

"Leave this place behind," the Skarmory said. "What do you have to lose? This place is a miserable pile of ice. The world wouldn't miss it if it were gone, and neither should you."

She walked along with her new friends, letting her mind catch up on what had brought her here. How it had come to this. How she was now on her way to joining the Master's forces.

She gave no second thought to her old friends. After all, they weren't even friends, were they? No, that wasn't the right thing to call them. They were all… stupid.

No… the world wouldn't miss them.

"Come with us," the Skarmory said. "Serve the Master, and you will never be hungry. You will never be left wanting, or without a purpose in life. And you will always have friends, and a place to stay."

Turq, that insipid thug with water for brains. He really thought he was something. Never could see past the end of his own nose.

No, the world could do without him.

Cyyn, the Golduck, who lived his life talking to fish. Yeah, fish. Like that was really meaningful.

He wouldn't be missed.

Or Lapras, their battle trainer, who didn't actually know anything. Just fight, he'd always say. Just fight, and I'll watch you, and tell you if you're doing anything wrong. Trying to convince himself that he meant something to the world. Trying to give his life purpose.

Well… he was gone, now…

A purpose. A place to go. She had one now, finally. After living most her life in that icy hell, now she'd get to travel the world. Meet lots of Pokémon. Use her strength to its potential.

Kill.

Well… she would get used to that, in time. These things would stop bothering her after a while. After all, she wasn't bothered by the fact that she'd just betrayed her own home town. That had to be a start.

"Good bird," the Skarmory said. "You are a wise one for your age. You made the right choice. I promise you won't regret it. Now… there's just one thing Magma wants you to do before he lets you join us."

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Easy," the Skarmory said. "We know that someone's protecting this place. We know that you've met them. What we need you to tell us is how strong they are, and how many there are…"

It was worth it, in the end. Now, as she found herself accepted among the Master's group, led by a hardy Arcanine, she knew it was worth it. She would have a new home now. A real home. Not some ice-ridden mockery of one.

Maybe she would be promoted to a general. That would be nice. She always loved telling little defenseless Pokémon what to do. Or… maybe she would become famous. Maybe history books would be written about her deeds. Maybe she would even see this Master everyone had been talking about. Maybe she could see him with her own eyes.

A whole new world of possibilities opens when you are not left wanting. When you are not left struggling for survival, forced to live a lifestyle you can't stand just to make end's meat. Possibilities arise, as if from nowhere. Dreams become real. Things that were superfluous and meaningless before start to become glittering gems of desire. Power, wealth, and security make all these things possible. Make all these things real, when they seemed so fake before. So unreachable. So laughable. She'd always felt the longing to go explore the world. It was like an instinct planted inside of her. Now… it would come true.

At the end of the day, the squadron had stopped to set up camp. Already, in just the thirty or so miles they had traveled, the atmosphere started to become warmer.

Warm air. It wasn't something she felt often in those northern recesses. She had hardened her inner fire, teaching it to adapt to the blizzards and snowstorms… But now, the temperature had risen just a few degrees, and it pleased her inner fire so deeply that she knew she never wanted to feel anything else.

"Who are you?" asked the Arcanine. "What may I call you?"

She found herself standing before Magma, the Arcanine, the leader of the assault on the Frozen Spring. On all sides were the Pokémon which had assisted in the endeavor. The Machoke who had torn down buildings. The Skarmory who had scouted ahead and attained the necessary intelligence… her intelligence… The Flareon squad who had used their fire against… against all of the Pokémon who… burned easily…

"My name is Caron," she answered.

"A fine name," the Arcanine said. "Well, Caron, thank you for lending your hand to our cause. From my heart, and from the hearts of everyone here, I welcome you to the team."

There was a cheer from the crowd. Applause.

It all felt so surreal.

"You are very strong," the Arcanine said. "I can't fathom how strong you will be when you evolve. I'm sure the Master will be very pleased with you."

"And I'll be pleased to serve him," Caron answered proudly.

There was a party. A celebration of a task well-done. And she was part of it.

For the first time in what seemed like her whole life, she ate well. She laughed with good company. Though, she didn't find much to speak about. The fellow warriors spoke about their adventures and experiences serving Magma. They all had their stories to tell, about the times they fought he Watchers with their bare hands, or the times they slew dragons, or the times they went up against the resistance and won. But Caron… she didn't have much to say. All she had were her life's experiences, her pathetic little memories of the Frozen Spring. Memories which she had little use for anymore. Instead, she laughed along with her new team, and hoped one day she would have stories to tell as well.

The evening fell. Tents were set up like odd teepees hung around the trunks of trees. Tiny pieces of cloth to shield them from the reign of the Watchers.

Caron sat in her tent, alone. She had a tent all to herself. For once, she wasn't sharing it with her aggravating classmates.

She sighed happily. Contently.

There are many foes in the world, Lapras had said. But the greatest, most devastating of them all… Complacency.

No. He had no place in her life anymore. He was gone. Gone. As if he never existed. He'd never tell her what to do, ever again.

Lapras never knew what he was talking about.

Caron opened her tent. She breathed the warm evening air, air that was like the hottest, sunniest days in the spring. She glanced around the camp. The bonfire still burned brilliantly. Birds circled the air, keeping an eye on the land. Sentries were set in position around the perimeter, standing their ground until the Watchers would be out to relieve them of their duties.

She was safe. Nothing was going to touch her while she slept. Lest of all, that resistance force. She saw with her eyes how weak and pathetic they were. How they thought seven Pokémon could protect dozens of civilians.

She decided to go for a walk, to go stand by the fire. She knew nobody would stop her.

"Yes," said a voice from a nearby tent as she made her way there. "I know the Master will be displeased."

"No survivors," said another voice. "Those were his direct orders."

"Yes, I know," the first one said, the voice which had to have been the Arcanine. The tent, positioned near the bonfire, was the command tent in which the Arcanine retired.

"This was not a recruitment mission," said a third voice. "The Master has no room for all those who wish to join him. If he was looking for new recruits, he would have ordered us to find them."

"I understand this," the Arcanine said. "Yes… the Master may kill her for irrelevance. But then again, he may not. Let him make that decision."

"Then again, he may kill you for disobedience," the other voice said. "You plan to go against his orders?"

"It's a problem," the Arcanine said. "I probably should kill her and be done with it, yes. But… I almost don't have the heart, not after the welcome we gave her. I suppose I should have Skarmory do it. He was the one who disillusioned her in the first place."

"Would probably cause an uproar among the troops, either way" said the other voice. "Wouldn't want them getting restless when we just come out and kill one of our own. Well… now that they consider her one of our own, that is."

There was a silence. Caron's heartbeat drowned out her hearing.

"I don't know," the Arcanine sighed. "I don't really know. I suppose I shouldn't disobey the Master, but… No. I won't kill her."

Caron released her held breath. She honestly didn't know what to make of the conversation.

"But…" the Arcanine suddenly continued, "Perhaps… if some sort of accident were to happen to her…"

"Ah, very well, sir," a voice said. "It shall be done. I will be… creative."

"It's a shame we just can't eat her," the other voice said. "Combusken meat is heavenly. And, best of all, when you cook it, you don't have to worry about burning it…"

Hearty laughter erupted from within the tent.

Caron ran.

She didn't care which direction. She ran. Her mind was blank.

"What was that?!" a voice yelped. "Do you think…"

"By Arceus, she heard the whole thing!" the Arcanine growled. "Get her!! GET HER!"

The voices disappeared as she ran. The camp site disappeared as she ran. Everything disappeared. Her mind was blanked. Nothing mattered now. Nothing mattered but survival.

She ran swiftly, her taloned feet carrying her across the land like a charging raptor. She knew how to run. To evade pursuers. It was one thing she was good at. One thing she understood.

"GET HER!!" the Infernape barked. "If she escapes, everything is lost!! DON'T LET HER GO!!"

The Infernape chased her. A Ninetales tracked her through the snow. A raging dragon soared up above in the sky, scanning the surface of the earth for her.

It was a surprise attack. A setup. They had captured the Skarmory, held it captive. They had learned what he had said. And what he had planned. They had learned of her planned betrayal.

It was up to her to deliver the message. To betray her hometown. It was all up to her.

They would have chased her to the ends of the earth, but she evaded them. They were just not fast enough. Her speed served her well.

North, she darted, until she disappeared into the landscape… Into the piled snow and the Earth's crevices… into the mountain crags, the places where no sane Pokémon would venture…

Into the place where the Master's forces waited for her…

The dream was shattered so quickly.

As she ran, the sound of her pumping heart filling her head, her mind torn down, she began to wonder if the dream was ever there in the first place.

And now… Now, she had lost everything. Now… she had nowhere to run. Nobody to run to.

But she kept running. Late into the night, she kept running, until her pursuers had to turn back in fear of the Watchers. She kept running until she found a place to stay for the night. A place to survive.

And as she caught her breath, stumbling in exhaustion onto the wet cave floor, it dawned on her exactly what had happened.

Of course they would betray her. Why did she think she could trust Pokémon who had betrayed hundreds of others? Who had killed…

…killed… burned… her entire hometown?

Why did she think those Pokémon were trustworthy? Why had she made a fool of herself?

Because she didn't know any better. She had never known anything else. She had known nothing but life in the Frozen Spring which now no longer existed.

Just as she trusted herself, her own heart… a heart which had also saw fit to betray all those she had ever known…

And as she lay there on the cave floor, alone in her privacy, she realized… she had to die that night. Along with Turq, Lapras, Albert, Cyyn… she had to die with them. Die with all the others she had betrayed, because she, too, had been a victim of her betrayal.

And a new Combusken would have to awaken the next morning and take her place.

She had no other choice. She had to put her past behind her. Erase it from her memory. Move on.

As her eyes fluttered closed, she forced all thoughts out of her head but one:

Something must lie beyond the horizon…

Author's Note:

Hey, I literally just had a random idea for this chapter and poured it down on paper in about an hour. Cheesy, maybe, but heck, now we know who the mole was… I know a lot of people wanted to know who it was, and truth is, I didn't have a single plan for it up until now. Well… there you go.

Now that I've actually used the character, I'll mention again that Caron the Combusken was created by Steben.

Anyway, Verse II is on its way! Watch out for black Flygons, overpowered Torterras, Shiny Golems, and much more!