This is the one hundred forty-first chapter in Pokemon Heroes. This will begin an arc that will have a gratifying end to it. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs.

(Opening song)

With the water purified and Suicune continuing on to purifying many others in Ransei, Ash and his friends settled down in the village, expecting to stay for one more day.

During this time, the village, using the pure water from the lake, had workers removing trash from the lake's waters. Even though Suicune cleaned it, the garbage that remained would once again pollute the water, so they had to clean it now. Their day of break pretty much had the kids helping with the cleaning.

The only person that wasn't helping though was Ash, and it wasn't because he was being lazy.

"You should be more concerned about the Bird of Ice."

Zexion's words replayed in his mind. Knowing that the Dark Signers were plotting stuff without him knowing made him angry sitting on top of that wooden building.

"Bird of Ice? What the hell is that?" he thought.

"Ash!"

He looked back and saw May at the bottom, holding onto a black bag with gloves on. She didn't look too happy while looking at him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Thinking," said Ash. "You should be proud. I don't really do that a lot."

"I know you don't. Now get down here and help out. I think this would get done faster if you were with us."

"Not feeling it," said Ash as he looked away from her.

"You better get down here before I make you feel it."

Ash just wanted to turn off his ears and ignore every word she says after, but he didn't want her to be yelling at him right now. With the things going on in his mind, he really didn't want to be getting into arguments.

"Fine."

Ash stood and jumped from the building, landing in front of May.

"Where's Brendan?" he asked.

"By the lake. Why?"

"I need to ask him something," said Ash as he started walking. He noticed May staying where she was and turned back.

"I agreed to help out, so you better hurry before I change my mind."

He walked off again. May sighed and, while groaning, slowly, slowly dragged that heavy garbage bag across that floor.

The Savage Nymph

The blonde, female Dark Signer who went by the name Larxene was walking on the grasslands. No one was around, but her hood was over her head. She looked straight ahead, heading to her destination.

"This should be pretty quick."

She walked on until she stopped. The winds made the grass sway back and forth. She stood there, taking in the wind, and then her Knives materialized in her hands.

"In-"

She then rammed the the weapons on her right hand into the ground, releasing a large surge of electricity that burst out. The grass around her were burning up due to the heat from the electric bolts. Larxene was smirking under her hood.

"-and out."

After feeling a click, she removed her Knives from the ground and got up. Just a few seconds later, the ground underneath her started shaking. She moved back until a small section of the ground started to rise up.

An entrance came up. From that entrance, she could feel the icy wind hitting her face. Her Knives de-materialized, and she moved her neck around to relax it.

"The faster I do this, the faster everything will fit into place."

She then calmly walked into the entrance, finding stairs that went down. These stairs, though, were made of ice.

"Just because he died doesn't mean everything is ruined. I'll just do this shit myself."

She then walked in.

Ash placed at least three garbage bags into a disposal area in the middle of the city. The lake was almost garbage-free. The work of Brendan and he, plus the Pokemon that were with them, made the task easier for the people. Somewhere along the way though, he lost May. She wasn't doing much work, even though she was forcing him to do the stuff that he was doing now. Dawn and she were taking breaks with girls from the village most of the time.

"Now who's lazy."

Ash took off his hat and put his hand through his hair. After placing his hat back on, he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. He turned and saw Brendan walking toward the disposal area with at least six garbage bags over his shoulder. His eyes were emerald green, so he was using the power of his Aggron and Shiftry to help.

"We should be making one more trip and we're done," said Brendan as he gave a large smile while placing the bags in the area. "Then I'm thinking of sleeping for the day. There's not much to do other than this before leaving tomorrow."

Brendan turned to walk away.

"Hey," Ash called out to him.

"What?"

"What's a Bird of Ice?"

Brendan stopped and turned back to Ash.

"Bird of Ice? Where'd you hear that from?"

"Just tell me."

Brendan placed his hand on his chin, searching through his thoughts.

"I could swear I heard of those words before."

"Is it a Pokemon?"

"I'm pretty sure," said Brendan. "What's wrong? May's been telling you bed-time stories lately."

"Not anymore."

"What?"

"Well, do you know what it is or not?"

"I can't remember," said Brendan as he turned to walk away. "I'll find out for you later. Just finish this thing and then we'll have all the time we want."

He walked off, and Ash stood where he was. The smell of the garbage was bothering him, but he didn't care. They'd all be taken toward a garbage dump nearby anyway.

He didn't have time to sit around and do nothing while The Dark Signers were planning to attack yet another innocent Pokemon. If he didn't even know what it was, how could be stop them?

"I guess I'll wait then."

He then headed for the lake once again.

Larxene made it to the bottom of the staircase. It was completely dark, yet she could feel the slippery ground underneath her feet. The atmosphere around her was cold. She just snapped her fingers, and little balls of electricity appeared around her. They flew up toward the sides of the walls, giving her a little bit more light.

"Assholes really should be hiding their things better."

She walked down the narrow, low roofed path that was illuminated for her. As she walked, more balls of electricity formed around her and stuck to the walls ahead of her while balls of electricity that were behind her disappeared.

Everything around her was made of ice. The ceiling, the walls, the floor. The electricity from her feet worked as spikes to keep her from slipping.

As she walked on, the air got colder, but it didn't affect her. Her only goal was to make it to the end of this tunnel.

But she started to notice that the further she walked, the wider the room got. She also felt a strange presence around her, but she wasn't scared. She didn't have the ability to be scared anymore, but that was an emotion she didn't want with a heart.

Finally, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The balls of electricity disappeared around her, and she walked on until she walked out.

What she saw impressed her.

She stood at the open exit from the tunnel, and there was no ground after. She was just on an icy ledge, and looking down made it seem like looking into a bottomless hole. Many other holes were on the circular side of the circular room, showing that there were many other entrances to get here.

In the middle of the large, seemingly bottomless room was an icy structure that was just floating in midair. It seemed to be built of two layers, with an empty middle, but Larxene already knew that what she needed was located in that middle.

"Jackpot."

She then felt that presence once again, and she jumped off the ledge as a powerful Ice Beam blew right out of the hold she came out of. While in midair, she only saw at least three Glalies coming out of it. She also saw many others coming from the holes on the walls, and an attack was forming in their mouths.

Larxene wasn't shocked or worried. She just smirked.

"Now this got interesting."

All of the Glalies shot out Ice Beams from their mouths, all heading for Larxene. Her Knives materialized in her hands, and she gave a horrible laugh as electricity struck back at the attacks that were coming for her.

She saw a Glalie coming down at her, but she stepped on it and jumped off. She then saw from the ceiling an Abomasnow coming down. She held up her arms up as Abomasnow crashed its feet against them, launching her toward the icy structure. With the icy structure's two layers, the bottom was larger than the top, so she landed on the surface on the bottom.

She was on one knee as she slowly rose up.

"Nice shot," she said as her Knives got covered in electricity. "Now that playtime's over, I might as well teach you Pokemon a thing or two about messing with me."

Two large balls of electricity appeared on opposite sides of the large room. Electricity shot out of them both, heading for each other, making the bolts collide, fusing together, and then making a surge of electricity connect them together.

While once again giving off her hag-like laugh, from the surge of electricity came others bursting out, hitting every single Pokemon there individually. It hit the Glalies, the Abomasnows coming down from the ceiling, and the Froslass and Beartic that were coming at her within the icy structure.

Pokemon screams were heard everywhere, and Larxene only smirked as Pokemon fell one by one to the seemingly bottomless hole.

After every single one of them were wiped out, the two large balls of electricity disappeared. Her Knives de-materialized.

She turned around, looking at the center of the icy structure.

There, on a small podium in the middle of the unconscious bodies of Frosslass and Beartic was a tiny, blue ball that was giving off light.

Not even caring, Larxene walked in a straight line to it, stepping over the bodies of the Pokemon. She got to the podium and immediately snatched the ball. She held it up.

"I would keep this for myself if only I didn't need it at the moment."

Then she heard a roar. Her Knives immediately materialized after she placed the ball in her pocket. She looked around, finding the source of the roar. She felt the ground shake, and then it broke apart as a large beast broke through it from the bottom.

This destruction sent Larxene upwards, giving her a chance to see her opponent.

It was like a dragon, but it was completely made out of snow. It must've came from the seemingly bottomless hole.

It roared as it charged at the woman. She only smirked.

"You better be better than all those other weaklings!"

Her body got covered in electricity, and she flew down at the dragon as it launched an attack that looked like a deadly wave of snow. She dodged it, and then struck the large beast on its head.

The difference in their sizes, with Larxene only being like a small animal to the beast, didn't matter at all. Her impact caused the dragon to get pushed back.

She immediately came back and struck the dragon rapidly on its body before it could even hit her. As she hit it, she was throwing one Knife toward the walls, where it just stuck to it as another Knife materialized in her hand.

The blows to the dragon kept going until she jumped up into the air. She saw the multiple knives stuck on the walls, about hundreds of them. The dragon saw her on the roof, let out a mighty roar, and flew up at her to attack her.

The knives all got covered in electricity.

"GO TO HELL!"

She crossed her arms as the Knives created electric currents that connected with each other. The constant connections from every Knife on every side of the walls made it so that the walls were completely covered by a wall of lightning. This wall then sent multiple lightning bolts at the dragon.

It roared in extreme pain as the whole room turned white at the flashing of the lighting bolts. The ice structure and the ice on the walls were breaking apart. Larxene was laughing maniacally as the dragon gave out its final roar before a large explosion covered the entire room.

Smoke was everywhere, covering the destruction that was given to it after a destructive fight. The room was collapsing into itself as rocks were flying down into the seemingly bottomless hole.

Larxene was in midair, with a single smirk on her face, looking up.

A large boulder was coming down at her, and there was no way to dodge it.

"Now that...was WILD!"

The boulder got to her, and she only placed her finger on it before an electric current destroyed the boulder completely. From the large rubble that were falling, she jumped on one and kept jumping until she went into the hole she came in from. She ran at an amazing speed until she jumped out of the entrance, right before a large burst of smoke was released, signifying that the ancient room was now completely destroyed, and it would never be visited again.

From her surroundings, she saw small Pokemon in the grass, looking horrified at what she did. She only smirked as electric bolts came out of her feet and struck them all before they could even go, instantly killing them.

When she was done, she removed the small ball from her pocket and saw its blue, illuminating qualities.

"That's that."

She then casually walked off after placing her hood over her head, stepping over the bodies of the dead, and ignoring the large clump of smoke rising into the air.

The kids finished with their work, and they were enjoying their time around a table outside, enjoying the food from the cookhouse within the village.

As usual, Ash and May were shoving a bunch of food into their mouths ignoring the bill while Dawn ate a salad quietly and embarrassed at the rude behaviors of her friends. Brendan wasn't there with them, and the Pokemon were eating inside the cookhouse, where there was a special section for Pokemon to eat alone.

Dawn then felt a hand on her shoulder as a seat was pulled out beside her.

"What did I miss?" asked Brendan.

"Food," she replied. "Where have you been?"

"I was in a long conversation with some trainers."

"And you battled them?"

"Dawn...pfft...yes. And I won all of them."

Brendan chuckled as he turned to Ash, who was then dumping ramen into his mouth.

"Hey, Ash, I found out some stuff about that Bird of Ice after talking to some trainers."

Ash immediately stopped, chewed, and swallowed a large lump of food.

"It turns out it's really Articuno."

"Articuno?" said Dawn. "I know that one! I find it the most beautiful of all the bird trio."

Ash was paying attention.

"Yeah, and it travels around Ransei a lot," continued Brendan. "You'd be lucky to see it flying in the air. Some adventurers follow it around to see where it goes. They've discovered that it has a nest on top of Snowtop Mountain."

"Snowtop Mountain?" said Ash. "Where's that?"

"It's at least a week's journey from here. It goes there on certain times of the year to rest up, and it turns out that it is around next week that it'll be resting there."

"Do a lot of people know this?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, but you can't just go and see it though," said Brendan. "It makes sure it gets well hidden, and in a large, cold mountain like that, some people don't have the dedication to try."

"You said it's going there sometime next week, right?" asked Ash. "That means it's not there yet."

"Exactly. Why?"

Ash sat here, relieved that he was able to get some information. He sat motionless, thinking about his next move.

"Carry on, young one, and keep getting stronger."

The words that his deceased mentor wrote to him went through his head, and the next step came easy to him.

"We're heading over there," said Ash. "We should go as soon as possible."

The others stared at him, blinking their eyes.

"Why?" asked Brendan.

"When I fought that Dark Signer yesterday, he told me I'd first have to be more worried about the Bird of Ice. Since I know what it is and where it's gonna be, I've got to get there before them."

The others were quiet. They continued to stare at Ash while just blinking their eyes a few times.

"Alright," answered Brendan.

"You're quick to answer."

"I honestly have no problem with it," said Brendan as a smirk formed on his face. "As long as I get to kick some Dark Signer ass too, then sign me up!"

"I missed out on Suicune, so this could be a chance to another beautiful Pokemon," said Dawn.

May said stuff, but the food in her mouth muffled what she was saying.

Ash smirked.

"Then I guess that's settled. We're heading to Snowtop Mountain first thing tomorrow."

Larxene walked within the long hallway with large glass windows on the side and echoed the sound of her footsteps.

She walked alone, but then she saw another Dark Signer walking toward her from the other side of the hallway. An annoyed expression appeared on her face after she saw that man's long, spiky blue hair.

"That took you a while, Larxene."

"Leave me alone, Saix."

"I'm just congratulating you on your successful mission to haul in Pokemon to be turned. You don't even take thanks, anymore?"

They then walked past each other. They walked on until Saix stopped and turned back.

"It really did take you a while, huh?"

Larxene stopped, but did not turn back.

"I found that you dumped the Pokemon here and then went back out," continued Saix. "Weird that you then returned with nothing on you."

"You're spying on me, now?"

"I was just checking on you. You have been distant for a while, and you've grown more vicious than you already were after he disappeared."

"Don't make assumptions, dumbass," said Larxene, and she walked on while raising a hand. "I will be taking care of some business for a while. Don't think about handing me missions for now."

Saix watched her go, and then, even from his calm expression, Larxene could feel negative energy being released from him.

"We know what Marluxia was trying to do," said Saix as Larxene walked on. "We planned to take care of him when we got the chance, but fortunately that old man's pawn killed him first. We know of at least others who may have been acquainted with him."

"Yeah. So?"

"Don't tell me you were also in league with his plans."

Larxene immediately gave a witchy laugh.

"Don't kid with me! Why would I go in league with that homo!? I don't like taking orders from people, remember? Especially not from him!"

She continued laughing, and Saix stayed where he was as the laughter got quieter the farther she walked.

When she was far enough, an evil smirk covered her face.

"Marluxia's plans were obviously gonna fail. Just a little editing, and I've already made it better! Of course I don't like taking orders. I will be the one dishing out orders to you motherfuckers soon enough!"

The next day, Ash and his friends stood at the exit of the village. The day before, they had all bought equipment for their journey toward the cold mountain. They had replenished their supplies. They knew that their trip to the mountain was going to throw them off course by a week or two, but in order to protect a Pokemon's life, they had no problem with it.

"You're ready to go, Pikachu?" asked Ash.

"Pika!"

"I'm ready, too," said May.

"You sure you're gonna keep your skirt on while we're going up that mountain?" asked Brendan.

"Yes. You've got a problem with that?" asked Dawn.

"We can't waste much time here," said Ash. "Let's go!"

Already, he was running. Everyone else were running after him.

From the entrance of the village, the old lady that seemed to be the leader smiled.

They were ready to head up that mountain to foul yet another plan from the Dark Signer.

(Ending song)

Next Time on Pokemon Heroes: Heading towards Snowtop Mountain, Ash and his friends meet with the Savage Nymph herself. Determined to let her plans start up, she doesn't want anybody getting in the way, no matter who they were. What is Larxene really planning, and how will The Dark Signers act on it? Next Time: Journey to Snowtop Mountain.

That was that chapter. This was a really late update, even though I said on my profile that these two chapters were supposed to be coming by Tuesday. I am very sorry about that, and the next two chapters was supposed to come yesterday but I screw that one up too. The next two chapters should be out by tomorrow (if I work hard) or Sunday. After, the two chapters after that should be put up by Monday or Tuesday, finally fixing up late updates. See you next chapter!

Read and Review please :-)

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