I deviated from my anti-burnout protocols just a little, since I was only a few hundred words from the end of the chapter at the end of my allotted 45 minutes. But make no mistake, I still intend to pace myself. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

I would also like to thank everyone who has followed this story so far. It means a lot to me - thank you to "Atlier", "Soulseer Xaleyz", "VarroWayland", and "matthewfw190" for doing so. Also, thank you to "dumbcake" for reviewing Chapter 2. Lastly, thank you to the people of PMD Writer's Union for giving me the inspiration for this tale. Here's the chapter.

Current music: Run For Cover - The Killers

The following morning found Lennox and I standing beside the front door once again. This time, we were both carrying the backpacks we'd been fitted for yesterday, now packed to the brim with everything we'd thought we might need.

"I think it's about time to head out" I said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "We want to make some progress before it gets dark."

Lennox didn't seem eager to disagree with me. He opened the door, and I followed him outside into the cold morning air.

The trail leading to Mount Coronet was in the opposite direction from town. As a result, I hadn't expected to run into anyone else. At a minimum, the path would be a lot less crowded than the part leading to Spruce Village.

But I was wrong. Badly wrong.

"You know, I didn't think you two actually meant it!"

I knew it was best not to feed the troll. Ultimately, what the bully wanted was attention; that's what they thrive on. But I couldn't stop myself from turning in Wendell Weavile's direction.

"We did, Wendell," I snapped. "You should know me by now; I don't give up on my dreams just because they're difficult to achieve."

"But it's not safe!" the Weavile cried, probably trying to imitate a small child throwing a tantrum in a store. In my view, this just made him sound more childish and whiny than ever.

"You don't know what's safe or not," Lennox said. "You're far more cowardly than either of us. Picking on another Pokémon is easy to do."

The Weavile narrowed his eyes, stomping one of his feet against the ice.

"Since when did you care about either of us, anyway?" I all but bellowed. "It's pretty rich of you to mention how dangerous the mountain is, as if we don't know that already!"

That's when Wendell crossed a line. Quite frankly, he already had one toe over it, but he lunged forward across that boundary with his next statement. And it was a doozy.

"If you're going to throw away your lives just like your parents did, be my guest!"

Lennox bared his fangs, evidently preparing to lunge forward and rip the Weavile's flesh into ribbons. I tried to hold him back, since risking injury right before our trek wasn't worth it. But since I was much smaller than my brother, him being a Zoroark and I a mere Zorua, there just wasn't much I could do.

Wendell laughed. "You're going to risk getting beat up before your important quest? My Arceus, I didn't think you were that stupid!"

That's when Lennox's rage exploded. And that's when something else happened, too.

In a puff of smoke, my brother vanished, to be replaced by a horde of Beedrill. The Beedrill horde charged at the Weavile, causing Wendell to turn tail and flee in the direction of town.

I couldn't help but chuckle, as shocking as the sight was. My brother had his hot streak too, it seemed.

Wendell started crying, sounding much like a child at this point. Perhaps I am biased since he loved to torment us, but it was quite a humiliating display, and the Weavile should have been ashamed of himself.

When Wendell was far away from us, the group of Beedrill flew back over to my side. Then, there was another puff of smoke, and Lennox appeared beside me, breathing heavily and holding his arms out like wings for support.

I gasped. "You didn't spend too much energy on that, did you?"

Lennox shook his head, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "Define too much. I think it was well worth it to get the guy running scared. A coward - that's what he is!"

"Still, I've heard that illusions of multiple creatures are the most difficult type to weave over oneself" I replied. "Not that I know anything, because…you know."

"I get it," Lennox said in between pants. "But Wendell's gotten what he deserves, and it's glorious. I'm not going to allow anyone to harm my brother - that's what family is for."

I blushed a bit at that, but I tried not to let it show. And then we started our hike. The path was very slippery; in fact, it was even more so than the route into town, since it wasn't cleared as often. There was no salt on it (though at least this meant that it didn't get in our paws - that could really burn!)

Before long, the trail was buried beneath a thin layer of snow. Our pace slowed to a trudge, since we had to lift our paws out of the white stuff with each step. I lagged a decent bit behind my brother, since I had much shorter legs.

Every so often, Lennox would turn around to make sure he hadn't lost me. I can't speak for him, but I can't help but wonder if losing our parents made him even more cautious, even obsessive, with keeping tabs on me.

"Bladen, can you keep up?" he asked me. "Without skating, that is; I don't want you to fall."

"I'm going…as fast…as I can" I panted, now feeling as breathless as my brother probably had after the illusion. "Please don't rush me."

Lennox frowned, but he did slow down considerably to accommodate me. And then the long hike continued.

"Here's the deal", Lennox said eventually. "We need to be there by sunset, which is supposed to be at about 6:30 this evening. We'll make it there comfortably on time, but…".

"But what?"

"If it is indeed a Mystery Dungeon, it's imperative that we get out by sunset unless we want to spend a long, cold night in there. You can't enter or exit a dungeon at night, so we'll need to be mindful of that."

"You think it's a dungeon for sure, then?" I enquired.

"We've been through this before, Bladen" Lennox responded curtly. "There's no reason not to believe that Shaman when she was right about so many other things. Besides, it's better to be safe than sorry."

I didn't see any reason to disagree with my brother there, at least not outwardly. Instead I just put my head down and kept moving.

I suppose the scenery was impressive enough. I was somewhat numb to it, since I'd spent my whole life in Central Sinnoh, but the spruce forests next to the frozen lakes and alpine meadows, all covered in snow, were more than enough to make a nature photographer drop to their knees and beg.

From the summit, we'd also get a nice view of Coronet City. The largest settlement in Central Sinnoh was long past its prime, since almost all of the humans were gone, but to see the whole thing from such a height would no doubt be unforgettable.

After a while, Lennox called for a short break. We sat down in the snow and opened his backpack, which contained several water bottles.

"Careful not to get too agitated" my brother told me. "Otherwise you know what's going to happen."

I didn't even have to picture it, because I knew exactly what Lennox was talking about. If the water in one of our bottles was frozen, it would become useless, depriving us of a critical resource. Moreover, since we'd have to throw the bottle away, we'd end up littering the gorgeous countryside, which would be less than ideal.

Naturally, there was the Donphan in the room. By trying not to feel agitated, I only found myself experiencing more anxiety. And it was having an effect - I could see a few tiny ice crystals already forming in my water.

Resist it. This isn't a gift - the price is far too steep for that!

I ended up digging my heels into the snow, focusing on one thing only: Don't. Let. It. Freeze.

"Is something wrong, Bladen?" Lennox asked me.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

Before I could screw up and freeze the water contained within, I picked up the bottle and chugged it. It felt uncomfortably cold in my esophagus, and I involuntarily pictured the liquid turning to ice in my body - that was going to hurt, so I braced myself for the pain.

But it didn't come. There was a bit of discomfort, but I could deal with that. Once I was done gulping the water down, I looked back up at my brother.

"I think I'm ready to keep going," I said. "We've got a lot of ground to cover. Like you said, we don't want to get trapped inside a dungeon."

"Or outside it" Lennox pointed out. "Remember, March isn't exactly spring up here."

I shivered at the thought of being stuck in the middle of a blizzard. Of course, if that happened, I'd be shivering even more.

Around midday, the weather took a turn for the worse. While no new snow was falling just yet, the wind picked up, leading to what some call "ground blizzards" that made it hard to see.

"Keep your head down" Lennox advised me. "Don't let all the snow blow right into your face."

"I'm doing my best, bro" I replied, feeling tiny crystals of ice nestle themselves into my fur. "It's just…it's really cold!"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to do this," my brother responded. "Don't forget that."

I couldn't think of a good comeback, because the fact was, Lennox was right. It had been my idea to climb Mount Coronet, so complaining was a very bad idea. It would also make it harder to achieve our goal, because every bit of energy I spent thinking about how cold it was would be energy I couldn't use for pressing forward.

About an hour later, the landscape became somewhat blurry. Perhaps my eyes were watering from the cold, but it did not feel that way.

"Is a blizzard coming?" I wondered aloud.

My brother whipped around and glared at me. "What did I say about complaining, Bladen?"

"I wasn't complaining," I responded. "I'm merely wondering if we're going to be caught in a storm."

"Well, we have tents to huddle up in. And we've got cold rations, as nice as it would be to build a fire and warm them up."

I snorted. A light snow was beginning to fall. It was almost imperceptible at first, but the tiny flakes could be noticed tumbling down, carried in various directions by the chilly wind. The point is, building a fire would be far easier said than done.

When I didn't say anything, Lennox seemed to think that was his cue to continue speaking.

"Based on how everything seems blurry now, I believe that we're passing through the portal into a Mystery Dungeon," he said.

"How can you tell? Have you ever been in one?"

"No. But I've had plenty of free time to read up on them, when I'm not focused on my studies. Or knitting."

"Fair enough," I replied. "So what can you tell me about these places?"

"For one", Lennox responded, "each one has a different number of floors, and the layout is randomized every time one enters. The fabric of reality is very tenuous while you're inside a dungeon, and what's more, they are essentially mazes."

I snorted. "Did you just become the walking, talking version of Poképedia?"

"Look, Bladen: It's my job to keep you alive. I'm your big brother; that's what I'm here for."

"Noted."

"What I'm trying to say is, don't question it. I have your best interests at heart. I hope you can trust me."

After some more silence, I felt something change. I can't exactly say what was different, but my stomach suddenly turned upside down, as though I'd just gotten off of an extreme roller coaster. I was forced to drop to the ground, which was swaying like the deck of a ship.

"Are you okay, Bladen?"

"I'm fine, Lennox."

"You look really dizzy; apparently that can happen the first time you enter a dungeon, though, so it's nothing to be too concerned about. You've just got to be careful when you're in that state."

"Noted."

"This isn't a video game, you know" Lennox all but snapped. "For one, you shouldn't just press X to skip the dialogue. It's best to pay close attention to everything you hear."

"Noted."

Lennox snorted. "What did I tell you? The fact that your reply sounded so automatic…it really made me worry that you're not being sincere."

"I am sincere, Lennox. Didn't I just acknowledge everything you said?"

"I'm just making sure," my brother replied sternly. "Also, another way in which this isn't a video game…there's no such thing as an extra life here. If you're dead, that's it, game over. And we don't want to die, do we?"

"No, sir."

"There's no need to call me sir, Bladen."

Once we'd passed through the portal, we found ourselves in between two very tall snowbanks. Even cranking my neck as far up as it would go, I couldn't see what was above them other than a blue sky.

"That's weird" Lennox said, gazing up at the heavens. "The snow stopped."

"Isn't it just like you said?" I replied. "Anything can happen in a Mystery Dungeon. That includes the end of a snowstorm."

"Fair enough. Anyway, the path will fork eventually, and we'll have to decide which way we'll go."

"Whichever one takes us up the mountain, I guess" I piped up.

Lennox shook his crimson ponytail. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as that, Bladen. Just going uphill isn't going to guarantee you reach the summit. This is truly a maze."

"Okay then. If you want to go back, I won't fault you for it."

My brother sighed. "It's too late for that, Bladen. If we turn around now, we might not be able to find our way back. In fact, we can't. Once you're in the dungeon, it's completely random. The only way out is right through."

"Okay then. In short, we've got to find the right route. Is there an algorithm or something?"

"Well, we could take every path in a given direction," Lennox suggested. "I think that's how you solve a maze, though it's not a perfect method. But it's the best we've got."

So that's what we ended up doing. Lennox allowed me to set the pace, which had its pros and cons. On the one hand, it meant that I would never lose sight of him, since a Zoroark could always move faster than its pre-evolved form. On the other hand, if we came across any enemies or traps, I'd be the first one to face them.

"We should probably avoid making too much noise," my brother said. "We don't want these walls to collapse on us."

The trek continued in relative silence. I kept my brother's advice in mind - we took every right fork for the next half hour or so. I'm not the best judge of time, but that's about what it felt like.

Sometimes we walked uphill, sometimes downhill. Sometimes the path was wider than the hallway at the Spruce Village School. Other times, it was so narrow Lennox and I could barely squeeze through. Nonetheless, I hoped we were at least making progress.

With every fork we took, my heart began beating faster. To be in the midst of a snowy maze with so little noise was more than a little unnerving. No traps had appeared, and neither had any feral Pokémon chomping at the bit to take a chunk out of us.

After a while, I stopped dead in my tracks, and Lennox, who had been moving ever-so-slightly faster, slammed right into me. We both fell to the ground in a heap.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I exclaimed.

"Shush. Next time you're going to become a statue, I would like a memo beforehand. Why did you stand in place like that?"

"I was just…thinking about things," I admitted.

"Like what? What could be more important than this dungeon? You wanted to go in here, remember?"

"It is this dungeon" I responded, managing to extricate myself from my brother's ponytail. "More specifically, it's that nothing has happened ever since we entered. No traps, no enemies, nothing."

Lennox frowned as he stood up. "So now you're complaining about it being easy?"

"It's almost too easy, though," I said. "Just think about it. A Mystery Dungeon is supposed to be extremely dangerous, right? Isn't it alarming that nothing has happened yet, when you'd at least expect a trip wire or two?"

My brother scratched his chin with a claw. "I mean, I guess so. But we'll cross those bridges when we get to them."

After our unannounced break, the hike continued. While I'd been shivering before, my core body temperature had caused the snow on my fur to melt. This caused my fur to become drenched, and I shivered even more.

To make matters worse, I felt the air growing thinner; gradually at first, but then far more suddenly. It wasn't long before I was nursing a stitch in my side and a pounding headache. (On the bright side, it also meant that we were making progress.)

Panting every few steps, I finally called for another break. This time, Lennox didn't object to it, probably because he at least had advance notice. Plus, when I told him I was struggling with the elevation, he knew that I truly needed a brief rest.

As we drank from our water bottles, I again focused on not letting my anxiety or excitement get too high. Despite this, I couldn't help but feel my teeth chattering, making a rather unpleasant sound.

Neither of us said a word during this break. In a way, I wished that something would have been uttered, even if it was only a joke. Truth be told, being in the midst of such silence is the greatest torture of all.

I don't know how many hours passed. According to Lennox, time was difficult to measure when inside a Mystery Dungeon. It could be moving faster or slower than usual, depending on the dungeon and time of year.

"But we don't know which one it is," my brother explained. "All we can really do is watch the sky."

While neither of us had access to a watch (which might not have been that helpful anyway), I could tell that the shadows on the ground were lengthening. While the weak winter sun had been directly overhead before, it was now invisible. In short, we were losing daylight.

"Once we get into a wider part of the maze, I think we should set up camp for the night," Lennox said. "We can always continue in the morning."

"But I don't like the idea of being trapped" I responded with a shiver.

"Well, there's no other choice here" my brother snapped. "It's just like I said. Once you're inside a Mystery Dungeon, you can't escape it without clearing it. That's just the way it works."

I grunted, trying not to be too loud.

Eventually, we arrived at a "room" of sorts, roughly twenty feet square, which contained three branching paths out from the central area. From this vantage point, I could see that the sky was rapidly getting darker. It was a deeper blue than it had been just a few minutes ago; the sun had more than likely gone down.

"Here we are," Lennox said curtly. "Bladen, will you help me set up the tents?"

I nodded, steeling myself for the pressure ahead. If I failed in this task, I'd be as useless as one of those lazy rich people who pay sherpas to guide them up a mountain. I was better than that; I had to be.

As it turned out, though, I was more of a hindrance than a help. I kept tripping over the tent's material, and fell flat on my face more than once. Try as I might, I just couldn't reach high enough to be of use.

Lennox seemed to recognize this eventually. "Okay, forget it. I'll do the work. You can help get the sleeping bags inside the tents."

My brother was a lot more effective when he didn't have me to worry about. Within minutes, he had placed both tents in opposite corners of the room, and they were perfectly sturdy too.

"You were probably a Boy Scout in a past life" I quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

Lennox shrugged. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. Anyway, make yourself comfortable in your tent. We can have dinner together if you want, or we can eat alone."

I was torn on that. While my brother and I had partaken in some arguments today, the fact remained that I wanted company more than anything else. My heart ached at the thought of having to face the night alone. And the latter force won out.

"Let's eat together" I said with a sniffle. "Isn't that what our parents would want?"

"Fair enough," Lennox replied. I thought I saw a tear in his dark cyan eyes, but I can't be sure; it was getting dark, and even the considerable night vision of a Pokémon has its limits.

We sat outside our tents, each looking at the other brother as we snacked on Oran berry leather. It was something I hadn't eaten since I was a kid, but came in handy right about now. We couldn't build a fire, but I'd like to think we imagined one in the middle of the room, which would make the maze quite a bit more welcoming.

It's a Mystery Dungeon, you idiot. Why would it be welcoming? It's designed to ensnare you for a lifetime.

While eating, I glanced up at the sky. By now the first stars were appearing, and since this part of the maze was a lot more open, I could identify several constellations. And I'm not even much of a stargazer.

"We covered a lot of ground today, bro" I told Lennox with a smile on my face.

My brother sighed. "I hope you're right. But I just don't know. You can't know when you're in a place like this."

I frowned, realizing he was right. We might be making progress, in which case we could reach the summit very soon. Or maybe we'd only dug ourselves into a deeper hole, which could end up being a grave.

Just like our parents.

I shook my head. I couldn't ponder their fate, not when we still had a chance to be successful.

"What's wrong, Bladen?" Lennox asked me. "You look like you're trying not to think about something."

I snorted dryly, without any humor. "You know me pretty well, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. I helped take care of you when you were -".

"That's enough" I muttered, rolling my eyes. "No need to humiliate me like that."

"So what are you thinking about?" Lennox enquired.

"Just…what if we can't make it to the summit? We'll have to find our way out eventually if we can't."

"That's impossible. We can't fail, and we won't fail. Being unsuccessful isn't an option."

What a role reversal.

Usually, my brother was the voice of reason. To put it another way, he was often the "gate-keeper" who kept my ambition in check. But now, he was the one who insisted that we'd reach our goal, come hell or high water.

"I hope you're right."

"I know I'm right. Listen, Bladen, we can't fail at anything we do. Because that's not who we are. We're going to live our lives in excellence - that's what Arceus put us on this planet to do."

After I didn't respond, Lennox sighed. "I think we should head to bed. We'll need lots of energy for tomorrow."

An idea popped into my mind at that very moment. It was an odd one, perhaps, but an idea nonetheless. "Can I ask you something?"

Lennox frowned. "Of course."

"Can I sleep in the tent with you tonight?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea" my brother responded, looking somewhat bewildered. "There's just not enough space for both of us."

"I won't take up much space. I usually sleep in the fetal position anyway - plus I'm a lot smaller than you are."

My brother chuckled. "If it's necessary to stay warm, I guess we'll huddle together. Come on - get in my tent."

Lennox's tent was far more furnished than my own; at least, it felt a lot more comfy. He simply knew how to arrange the items inside to make it look like home. And it certainly did.

I didn't bring my sleeping bag inside the tent, which would end up being the biggest mistake of my life thus far.

We both laid down, and I was instantly shivering. Warmth was hard to come by in the middle of a snowy maze, especially when you didn't have anything to use as a blanket.

I curled up into a ball, into the position I'd adopted in my mother's womb. Normally I did this because it made me feel more appreciated - even after my mother's demise, I'd sometimes picture her smiling down at me from above, holding me in her arms even from beyond her icy grave. (I didn't let the fantasy go beyond that. It would take over like a disease if I did.)

This position was necessary to stay warm, but it was far from sufficient. In spite of my best efforts, I still shivered with all the violence of a power drill. And let me tell you, it's quite tiring to shiver like that.

In the end, I nestled my face in my brother's abundant crimson ponytail. He didn't stir, but I couldn't help but feel like this was wrong somehow. I was a sovereign being - couldn't I find my own source of warmth?

In spite of this, using the ponytail as a blanket was soothing. Lennox couldn't replace our departed family, but he was a reminder that someone cared about me. (Then again, he never knew that I mooched on his fur to stay warm.)

As I slowly drifted off, I could feel my fur thawing, my heart strengthening. My core body temperature was rising, and it felt excellent. Using the Zoroark's ponytail as a blanket was working.

Unfortunately, as I would learn the following morning, warmth is a zero-sum game. The heat that pooled inside my veins had to come from somewhere.

If I'd been awake, I would have felt my brother's fur growing colder. But in the midst of a blissful, dreamless slumber, I was in no position to care. Caring would be deferred until morning came.