Chapter 41 – Frozen Over

The northwestern corner of the world was covered in a perpetual, thick layer of ice. The white field was dotted with black rocks and sloping hills of snow and ice. The ground wasn't stable, and there were a few incidents early on where Valle had fallen into thinner portions of the ice and had to be hauled out before he sank to the bottom. With some levitation, they were able to manage their way through the worst of it—as Mystics, the cold didn't bother them too much at first. But the deeper they went into this icy territory, the more it seemed that their Mystic powers lost their effect. The cold's horrible fingers crept into Zena and Willow the most.

Willow trembled, the frost rapidly forming on her yellow fuzz. "I can't feel my… everything!"

Zena nodded. "It is… quite cold. I am glad that I can deal with such things normally… but it may be a bit much if I go any further… I feel like my Water form would solidify completely if I transformed…"

"I guess then you'd be a pretty Milotic ice sculpture, a-at l-least," Willow said.

"System processors are functional," ADAM said. "The current temperatures are allowing my CPU to overclock safely without additional cooling."

"The temperature has little effect on me," Valle said. "But I would want to avoid water. I do not want the ice to break through any cracks in my body. The expansion may destroy my limbs."

"You could always m-move, you know," Willow said. The tiny Joltik hopped from Zena's head onto ADAM's. The bitter cold licked at Willow's fur during the jump, and Zena, for that split-second, worried that the little Joltik would turn solid right then. Thankfully, she landed and dug a claw along the side of ADAM's smooth head—he buzzed in protest.

"Mmmm… that's so much better…"

"Adam's warmer?" asked Zena.

"Mhmmm…" Willow nuzzled up against one of ADAM's smooth eyes. His optical lens flickered nervously. "It's like Owen's head," she went on. "I wish he came with us. Owen feels nice…"

"He is nice…" Zena hummed.

"Huh?" Willow asked.

"Hm?" Zena blinked, looking back at her.

"Be careful," Valle interjected. "The ice ahead of us is thin."

Indeed, it seemed like the ice in front of them was clear, the water below a lot darker. Valle levitated off of the ground, gently floating above the frozen floor.

He rotated his body. "You should do the same."

"O-okay." Zena contorted and twisted her body, and then moved up, slithering through the air, reminiscent of a Rayquaza. "Well, this isn't so bad…" she said, wobbling unsteadily in the air. The bitter cold not only got through her Mystic aura, but it also seemed to interfere with their levitation. "We simply continue onward like this?"

"Yeah! Um… but what are we looking for?" Willow asked.

"Scanning…" ADAM said. "No Mystic Aura detected. The next scan will begin in 200 seconds."

"Oh, right, Mystic auras," Willow said. "I wonder what the Ice Guardian is like. I hope she's at least a little warmer…"

"I have my doubts," Zena said. "It has been getting… c-colder every step of the way."

Willow pressed her body as hard as she could against ADAM. "But you don't step."

"It's an ex-expression," Zena grunted. "Is it—getting even colder, by chance? I—I f-feel as if my v-very blood will be… solid soon…"

"M-maybe," Willow said. While her belly looked nice and warm thanks to ADAM's heat, ice crystals formed on the fur on her back. The wind howled around them; this frozen tundra wanted no life to advance any further. Perhaps even Ice types would struggle in such low temperatures. If it was this cold for Mystics, how cold was it for a normal Pokémon?

"I'm positive the Guardian is ahead," Zena said. "It—it just has to be. Even for here, this cold—just isn't n-natural. Any colder, and we may s-solidify…"

"Even our Mystic power has no effect against this cold," Valle observed. "It indeed must be from another Mystic, in that case. Perhaps we should make our presence known. The cold may subside if we express that we are—" Valle's arm abruptly fell off, landing on the frozen lake with a dull thud, leaving a crack in the thin ice. It slipped through and sank into the abyss, and the group all stared at it, mesmerized. "…I just replaced that arm."

"L-letting ourselves be kn-known. That m-might be a good idea," Zena said. "G-Guardian of Ice! We are—the Guardians of—Water… Fairy… oh… what are the other two?"

"Normal and Rock," said Valle. "We wish to speak with you in peace. You seem to be a very skilled Guardian—I'm sure you can, in some way, read our intentions."

"Life functions lowering," ADAM reported.

"The cold is so draining," Zena said. It was like they were walking straight into Yveltal's cocoon; did this Mystic Ice have more power than just the cold behind it? Perhaps this was Icy Wind and they didn't even realize it… "Hello? Are you there?!"

They received no reply but the wind. Willow winced when a particle of snow got in her eyes; she rubbed one of her legs on the lens to clear it up, and then attempted to burrow against ADAM's smooth body. It didn't work, but she tried anyway, just to keep moving. "I can't… f-feel… my…"

"Willow?" Zena asked.

Willow stopped moving, frozen precisely on top of ADAM's head, expression caught in frigid desperation. She carefully brought her ribbons over her body, delicately picking her up even as icicles formed on her pink brows, pulling her up. The Joltik was completely stiff.

"That isn't good." Zena checked her aura; it was still there, thankfully.

Even without Mysticism, she supposed mortal Pokémon were durable enough to withstand a little freezing. More worrying was the fact that if they didn't hurry, the same thing was going to happen to them.

"I think I'll just…" Zena carefully wedged the frozen, yellow fuzz between ADAM's head and shoulders.

"W-we need to hurry," Zena said. "S-Star said it was j-just ahead."

"Valle and I can advance," ADAM proposed. "You shall stay back so your organic body does not freeze completely."

"N-no, it's fine," Zena said. "We just need to…"

But then, before they decided to fall back, the cold let up. It was still freezing to a mortal, but to a Mystic, they could finally resist the bitter frost. Zena first tried to discern any sort of difference between the snow that had fallen before compared to now, but between the total whiteout conditions and the howling wind, nothing had changed. Just the Mystic disruption that nearly froze them over.

"Thank Arceus." Zena sighed. "Let's keep going." If anything, perhaps that meant the Ice Guardian accepted them.

Willow slowly thawed, twitching back to life. "What happened? Did I sleep?"

"You froze. Are you okay?"

"Mmm…" Willow shook off some water from her body before it re-froze again and hopped off of ADAM's head, landing on Valle next. He protested halfheartedly, but at this point gave up on the tiny Joltik hitching a ride on the others. She offered to chip away at the layer of ice that had formed on his stone body, using her little legs as ice picks. He accepted this as payment.

During the walk, as Valle floated forward in an otherwise motionless stance, he asked, "Have you ever considered taking on your evolved form?"

"No, because they aren't cute," Willow said. "As the Fairy Guardian, I have to keep up an image of being cute and deadly. You wouldn't understand." She stuck her tiny body in the air. "Now hold still, I need to pick at the ice on your joints. Oh, right, you don't move!"

"Somehow, I think Valle, of all of us, would understand keeping up appearances," Zena thought aloud. "But really, cute and deadly? Why can't a Fairy be… well… just cute?"

"Some are." Willow hummed, thinking. "But that's less fun. I wanna be both! That way, I can scare people or make them coo at me, and I get to choose what and when!"

"Hm." Zena wanted to remark that Willow was one of the least deadly of the group—but recalled her little talent of shrinking her opponents. Perhaps she could be trouble if they upset her.

"I like how quiet it is," Willow said. "It reminds me of home, except it's ice instead of grass, and rocks instead of mushrooms. Do you think there are little ice demons here?"

"Oh, home?" Zena said. "My home was quiet, too. But I didn't enjoy it as much. I used to speak with my spirits a lot more often, but… in hindsight, perhaps I depressed them with my loneliness." Zena blinked, glancing at Willow. "Frost demons?"

"Yeah! I turn my spirits into screaming mushrooms to scare others away. It's really funny! We all get a good laugh out of it."

"Oh, I see." She did not. "Unfortunately, my spirits were never quite as adventurous. They must take after me. Bit of a… cycle of inaction… We felt lonely, together. Even now they aren't very enthused about, er, doing much."

"You were lonely?" Willow asked.

ADAM buzzed. "My input sensors, too, were lacking stimuli for very long ranges of time. The log files of my arrival to that strange temple have corrupted long ago. In fact, such a large amount of time passed in my lifetime that I had to add a byte to my time counter in order to accommodate for my logging. My species was not built for such large timeframes."

"I dunno what any of that is, ADAM," Willow said. "What do you mean, built? I thought your kind came from Ditto getting creative."

"…I believe that humans made my kind originally," said ADAM. "But I do not know how that is possible, if humans are from another world."

"That is curious," Zena said. "Perhaps they used to exist… but died off?"

"Maybe we ate them," Willow said. "Humans don't sound very strong. I bet they were secretly at the bottom of the food chain, and eventually we just realized that and ate them!"

"I'm not so sure," Zena said. "Remember what we heard about from the others about Brandon. They have other advantages…. Apparently, they're smarter than Pokémon, or perhaps have something else to give them an advantage over us… The way he was described, Brandon seemed very skilled, even if he isn't human anymore."

"He sounds weird," Willow said. "I dunno how I feel about humans. I don't think I like them if they're all like Brandon."

ADAM buzzed uneasily.

"There appears to be an obstacle ahead," Valle reported.

Everyone stopped their advance.

Zena squinted at the obstruction. It appeared to be transparent, but something was inside, too. A silhouette darkened the core of the large lump of clear ice. At least, she imagined it was clear; there was a layer of frosty snow that made it impossible to see through it clearly. "What is…" she said. Was it some sort of rock with a thick layer of frost? Or…

"O-oh no!" Willow said. "Someone got frozen over in the ice! I can see their aura still trapped in there!"

"Aura? How could someone survive such a freeze?" Valle said. "Most bodies would perish under such cold for so long. That's why I suggested going back for you organics, like Willow."

"It's alive, so we should try to help," Zena said, accelerating her slithering pace. "What is it?" She closed her eyes to focus her senses entirely on the aura. It was weak, but it still had a shape. How horrible—it must have been awful to freeze over in such a way. Would they even be able to speak? A brain on ice didn't sound like a good thing… "It appears to be a… Torkoal, is it not? Though he's quite large…"

Indeed, it was a large, orange Pokémon with a brown shell, frozen in ice. Based on the aura strength, he wasn't conscious, and based on its compact shape, he was hiding in his shell.

"A Fire Type on Ice," Willow said. "That must be a really strong Guardian to do something like this."

Valle floated a bit closer, tilting his entire body to get his face closer. "Hmm… How can we free him?"

"There is no need."

A deep, metallic voice filled the air this time. They turned and saw a remarkable sight—something entirely see-through, made of the very same sort of ice that surrounded the Torkoal, like glass. Zena realized that Valle might have, in some ways, made a new friend—though, unlike Valle, this Pokémon moved. An Aggron made entirely of clear, see-through ice, covered in a thin layer of blizzard snow.

"Welcome to my home," she said. "Do not stay long."

"Uh—" Willow bristled and sparked with pink dust. "Are you the Ice Guardian? We're Guardians, too! Don't we kinda have that in common to be friendly?"

"Hunters have Orbs, too. Hunters are Guardians. I wouldn't consider myself to be… that, you see." She nodded and motioned to the clump of ice that contained the Torkoal. "He doesn't have an Orb—but he is still a Hunter, the one called Elder."

She had an odd accent. While not broken, there was a sort of tough disconnectedness about the way she spoke, as if the nouns and adjectives and verbs were being placed next to one another forcibly, rather than in a flowing rhythm.

"Elder," Zena said. "That sounds… familiar. Isn't that the one that Rhys…"

"Rhys?" repeated the Aggron, the wind picking up. "I do not know of any Rhys, but if he is also a Hunter, and you are with him—"

"No, Rhys is no longer a Hunter," Zena said.

"You sound certain."

"He made a Promise to me that he would not kill another Guardian," Zena said. "A Divine Promise."

The Aggron flicked her tail, bumping against the ice that encased Elder. Her arms crossed pensively. "I see…. And how do I know you are not lying to me?"

"I could Promise to you that I did not just lie," Zena offered.

"…No. Not necessary," she said. "You have truth in your eyes."

Willow's sparks died down. "Oh. That was easy."

"The Joltik will speak with grace." The Aggron glared, her intense, icy eyes threatening to freeze Willow over for a second time.

"Eep—!" She hopped onto ADAM again and hid in the gap between his head and torso.

Step released her glare, but remained guarded. "Hm. Which Guardian is she?"

"Fairy. I suppose her personality fits," said Zena, sighing. "She means well, I assure you. My name is Milotic Zena." She moved one of her brows forward like a hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"I am Aggron Step," said the Ice Guardian, bringing her right hand forward for a shake. Contact made Zena's brow freeze, but it didn't look like Step realized it, or didn't care. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I apologize if your trip here was daunting, but I stopped my Mystic blizzard so you could approach."

Zena glanced at the frozen Hunter. She also used her other brow to rub off the ice from where Step had made contact. "Could you release him?"

"The Hunter? Why?"

"I believe he is harmless."

"Of course he is harmless. He is frozen."

"Wow, ADAM," Willow said. "She's even more literal than you are."

Step growled, resuming her glare. "I shall make a frozen Joltik next if she does not watch herself."

"Nnn—" Once again, Willow hid away, though this time it was behind Zena's head, shrinking until she could fit between her scales. Her tiny voice said, "Call me when she's not scary!"

"Hmm…" Step relaxed her glare again, though not without an unamused snort. "Well. I suppose I will let him out. I intended to use him as a bargaining chip when the other Hunters came, but if you are sure it is safe…"

"Ah—about that," Zena said. "That is somewhat the reason why we came. You see, we were trying to gather the Guardians together as a sort of… strength in numbers against the Hunters, to defeat them should they try to attack us all at once."

"Oh? The opposite approach, then, to the original plan?" Step asked. "I was quite happy with my quiet solitude."

"Y-you… liked that?" Zena winced. It felt like a lie. She didn't look happy at all. What sort of Pokémon could enjoy that horrible loneliness, and crave more of it? Zena recalled many long nights cursing her existence within those damp caverns, thrashing about in frustration, yet also her fear of dying. She had stagnated in there, until Owen put his feet into her lake. That was when it all changed… Zena shook her head. The cold must have been getting to her.

"I did, yes," Step answered. "I could spend an eternity here with only myself and my spirits. There is no need for others. My mate is with me; my children visit. I even met a few of my grandchildren. I need little else."

"Wow," Willow said. "I mean… I guess so…"

Only Zena could hear Willow, given her size. "I suppose we all react differently to the plan, but for now, we do need to change. Step, would you come with us? We can bring Elder, too."

"Hmm… You understand why I am hesitant."

"Y-yes, well, what if we… bring him frozen, first? And then we will… thaw him at home, where we can be in a more controlled environment."

"Hmm…" Step crossed her arms, considering. "That will have to wait."

Valle slowly rotated until his back faced Step. "Yes, it will."

"What?" Zena asked.

ADAM buzzed with three rapid beeps. "My aura sensors indicate a team of synthetic auras as well as one Hunter is approaching."

"W-wait—ADAM, can you tell what it is?" Zena asked.

"…An Espurr… is the Hunter," ADAM said.

"Rim," Zena growled.

"Mutant auras are more difficult to identify."

"It matters not," said Step, slamming her tail against a nearby rock, which shattered. Zena flinched at the noise. "They shall all perish by my frost."

"We will help," Zena said.

It didn't take very long for Rim to arrive; behind her was a set of three mutant Pokémon. One was a Tauros with tails that were literally on fire; the next was an icy Ninetales with luminous, white fur; the final one was a Roserade with frost that fell from its petals, rather than poison. Rim herself was bundled up in thick layers of cloth such that only her big eyes were visible, floating above the three mutants like a haunted Tangela.

"For them to get this far, they may be strong," Step observed.

"Very," Zena said.

"They must have been waiting for me to halt my Mystic blizzard. How clever of them…"

Willow, returning to her normal size, said, "I can take 'em! Just let me get close and I'll shrink them down to little pebble-sized versions of themselves—and then—squish!"

"You don't actually squish your victims, do you?" Zena said.

"Well—how else am I supposed to beat them? They're tiny!"

Valle shouted to Rim, "What are you doing here? Have you come to kill the Ice Guardian?"

Rim looked down but shook her head.

"…Well. That's good, at least," said Zena.

The wind howled; the Espurr shivered and desperately rubbed her paws together, breathing into them. Frost dotted the outside of her layers of scarves.

The gray feline puffed again. Zena felt a pang of empathy for her. Neither of them were in a good condition to fight.

"Have you… d…d-decided?" Rim asked, her faint voice even more muffled beneath her cloth. It was a miracle that Step had heard her at all.

"Decided?" Zena asked.

"I have," Step said, nodding. She looked back at Elder, frozen in ice. "Elder has been speaking to me in the spirit world for quite some time. And while I agree with much of what he says…. I must point out,"—she stared at Rim—"that you brought those three Pokémon with you. Is that a threat?"

Rim flinched. "N-no, I… like… company."

"What's wrong with company?" asked Roserade, flicking a bit of ice off of her petals. "Hmph."

"I'm sure you knew what you were doing," Step said lowly. "…And I have to say, I don't agree with any of your practices. I believe Eon has lost his way. I don't intend to follow him down his confused path."

"So… you are an enemy…"

"I suppose I am," Step said, "though I do not agree with the agenda of Mew or Arceus, either. So that puts me nowhere, doesn't it?"

"No, that puts you, uh…" Willow paused. "I guess that puts you with Owen."

"Owen?" Step repeated.

"Wait," Zena said, noticing that the three mutants were getting antsy. "Do we really have to fight?"

"I mean, I was hoping we could," Roserade said. "We walked all this way and sat around for all this time, and we don't even get a fight out of it? C'mon!"

"We don't need to, though," Zena said. "What… is this all for? Why do you need all of the Orbs? Is it really to usurp Arceus?"

Rim nodded slowly.

"I mean, what else would it be for? Getting taller?" Ninetales asked. "C'mon, you're thinking too small!"

"Talking's boring," Tauros complained. "Can we fight yet?"

Zena wasn't sure if their badge was ready to warp them out. They'd have to escape quickly, but the moment they made any move for it, they'd be attacked. She had to stall until she could think of a better move, or some kind of distraction.

Still, it was a good opportunity to know what this was all about. "And why do you want to usurp Arceus?" Zena said. "What's the point?"

"You know, you're kinda asking the Hunter who isn't good at talking," Ninetales pointed out. "You know Auntie Rim has a bad stutter, right? Dunno why she can't just fix it with her Mystic power, but—"

Roserade smacked Ninetales over the head with an icy rose, then said, "Ignore him, he's an idiot. To be honest, we don't really know what Father wants from all this, but, we do know that Arceus isn't all that friendly."

"Well—" Zena couldn't dispute that. "I doubt Eon would be much better."

"Oh yeah?" Ninetales said. "Well I bet our Father is better than your Father."

"I don't revere him in that way," Zena said. "In fact, after everything we've been through, I don't think I'd revere any of them, even if we defeat you."

"Well, hey! We've got something in common!" Ninetales grinned. "Now, c'mon! How about you give up those Orbs, eh?"

"That would kill us."

Ninetales winced, but that didn't seem to deter him. "Um, we'll be gentle?"

Zena glanced at Roserade, who gave her a knowing nod. He really was an idiot.

"I don't like gentle," Tauros said, stamping his hooves.

Rim was, at this point, covered in a thick layer of frost. She used a small wave of Psychic energy to brush most of it away.

"Look," Roserade said, "the point is we have a mission to do, and the reasons behind it is locked behind one of those Decree things. My guess? Something to do with this world not being right. Father aaaalways talks about it like that."

"Yeah! I mean, what's with Dungeons in general, right?" Ninetales said. "And that Void Basin place that keeps getting bigger every year, and that's the weirdest Dungeon of them all!"

"Void what?" Zena said.

"That weird place southwest! Well, south of here, I guess, since this is northwest, and—"

"I hate directions!" Tauros said, crouching for a dash. He made several strides forward, but the slick, icy ground gave him no forward momentum. Eventually, he fell over, and Roserade, Rim, and Ninetales all looked at Tauros disappointedly.

Zena's heart skipped a beat. In that one instant, while they helped Tauros stand, she also glanced at Step, who had grown more and more impatient with every exchange. Her claws dug little rivets into her own icy arm. ADAM was constantly bussing. Willow had frozen over once more, and Valle was again behaving as some kind of centerpiece to the icy field.

But she had the badge.

Deftly, she slipped a ribbon into her bag, pulled it out, flipped it so it was hidden from view, and looked back at Tauros and the others.

Just in time. They were looking back again. A second too slow and they would have seen it.

"Team… up?" Rim asked.

Zena was so concentrated on the badge that she didn't respond. Step, then, took over for her hesitance.

"You cannot possibly think we would team up with you!" Step said. "Decree? How can we trust something you cannot prove? Dungeons? A natural part of the world! Void Basin? Pah! As if I had ever heard of such a place!"

"Well, that's probably because nobody's allowed there, and it's just a boring empty crater anyway," Ninetales said. "But that other stuff! C'mon, don't you want to deck God in the—"

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" Step slammed her tail on the ground, shattering yet another boulder. A pillar of icy spikes erupted from beneath Ninetales, and he narrowly jumped out of the way to avoid it. Some of his luminous, white fur was cut from the grazing strike.

"My 'do!" Ninetales shouted, then snarled. "Okay, that's it."

Hurry, hurry! Zena begged the Badge, which felt sluggish to activate. How did Owen do it? Was a gesture required? A gesture—right! She had to raise it in the air.

Why?!

Rim raised her paw in the air, shining a strange light. The three mutants looked at it, and then understood. All three dashed toward one another, slipping clumsily, and Zena realized that it was now or never. She thrust the badge in the air—and a Psychic blast knocked it out of her ribbon. "No!"

Step caught it as it flew past her, encasing it in ice that was attached to her hands. "Is this important?" she asked.

"Yes, it's—"

The three synthetic Pokémon slammed into one another and meshed into a single being—one with the base of a Tauros with a bright glow, the color and frosty tails of a Ninetales, and thorns and petals adorning its body like scales. The fusion was in total control—not berserk, not even shaking. Rim held her paw forward; the fusion nodded and rushed them.

Valle, ending his stillness, fired another volley of rocks; Zena stopped her explanation to follow up with a chilly beam of water. ADAM didn't have time to fire another Hyper Beam. Willow was still frozen. Both attacks hit it at the same time—it roared in pain and stumbled in its dash, but still rumbled forward, even after taking two direct, Mystic hits. They didn't have time to evade the strike. There was no telling how powerful their attacks would actually be, considering how much damage it could take and still keep coming.

Step used her uncovered hand to blast a beam of freezing energy, but the energy fizzled out before it even touched the fusion.

ADAM announced, "Switching to evasive procedure."

"I am still fully capable of fighting!" Step said.

"Your Ice techniques are useless," ADAM reported. "In fact, it seems to be making the fusion stronger."

Step slammed her tail on the ground, creating a glacier just in front of the Tauros-amalgam. He spat a plume of fire on the ground, banking off of the indent it left, and ran around the rising glacier instead. Step hissed, slamming her tail down again to create another, but Zena could only hope for it to be slowed down.

"Raise the Badge!" Zena shouted to Step.

"What?!"

"Please!"

Step scowled, but she complied—however, in that instant, her guard lowered.

Between glacial uprisings, Tauros launched a giant cloud of fire toward Step. She staggered back, holding her arms up as a pathetic shield, even though those would surely melt against the incoming fire. Yet, the blast never connected. Instead, through the steam, there were three new figures blocking the strike.

"Ow," said one of them, bursting into an ember that returned to Step.

The largest of the three looked back at the Aggron. "Are you okay?"

Step grunted, shaking it off. "I got careless."

"We noticed." The Kommo-o gave Step a little smirk. "You! Porygon! Will we be evacuating?"

"Species: Porygon-Z!"

"Ra, ahead!" Step shouted.

Ra and the other remaining Kommo-o looked forward too late; a second Fire Blast incinerated them, their embers returning to Step. She slammed her fist into the ground, creating another wall of ice, but flames from the Ice-Fire Tauros melted through the layers rapidly.

"Evasive action! Evasive action!"

"Step!" Zena blasted the ice with water, hoping to slow down the fire's advance.

Step grunted and raised her icy hand in the air, and finally, it worked. In an instant, the group, and everyone within that range, vanished in a flash of light.

"Toss him in the lava. He will be fine." Step shrugged.

"But he'll melt!" Willow squeaked.

"The ice will melt. The shelled Fire will be just fine."

"But he'll… drown?" Willow protested, less enthusiastic.

Step, and the frozen Hunter, and the four other Guardians all stood in the middle of Hot Spot square, the first to return from their missions. They were all gathered around the Hunter, still in a block of ice, withdrawn in his shell. Far away, beyond the glow of the mushrooms, was the orange glow of a lava river.

"Rocks in liquid motion disturb me," Valle stated.

"Well, I obviously cannot get close to the lava," Step said, motioning to her icy body. "Valle, if you refuse to move, and Willow, if you're too small, we just have to rely on… what are you, exactly, again? Ra mentioned your species, yet it's too foreign."

"I am a Porygon-Z," ADAM stated. "I refuse to further overheat my processors."

"Overheat?" Step parsed. "Then perhaps you can use the ice to stay cool while you move it forward. Will you do that?"

"You do not have the necessary user permissions."

Step blinked, but suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Are you refusing me?" she said in a growl. "You are the most capable. Do you wish for me to melt? Perhaps I should freeze you next."

"Fear levels increasing."

"How come you want to unfreeze him?" Willow asked. "The Torkoal could try to kill us! Hunters are all super powerful!"

"This Hunter was… underwhelming," Step stated flatly. "I have little to say about his strength, as his aura exhumed no power, and he did not fight back."

"Oh." Willow moved closer to the ice, shivering when a bit of frost collected on her fur. There was a pool of water near the base of the melting ice. "I guess Hot Spot is already warm enough to thaw him out."

"This is taking far too long," Step said impatiently. "I've isolated myself for decades, and yet this feels like an eternity longer. I shall shatter his prison myself."

She stepped back—Willow and ADAM cleared the way. Valle remained where he stood, though he was already out of the way and in his usual spot in Hot Spot's central square. Step sent from her chest a single aura ember. It grew and solidified into an icy Kommo-o, taking on a battle stance toward the ice.

"Prepare yourselves for a loud noise," Step warned the others. "Now, Ra!"

Zena tensed, quickly bringing up her ribbons. "Are you sure this is a—"

The Kommo-o slammed his chest, clanging his scales. Dragon-enhanced ripples of sound reverberated across the ice, leaving countless small cracks and fissures behind.

"Hmph." Ra crossed his arms. "It was sloppy, but that will do." He looked back to Step, nodding. She nodded back, withdrawing the spirit back into her realm.

She held her chest briefly, knocking her claws against her icy armor. "It was just fine," she mumbled to herself.

Willow tilted her head at the gesture. "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yes, I'm just fine. Go on and help the Hunter out of his prison. If I get too close, I might accidentally freeze him all over again."

"Oh! I have an idea!" Willow jumped toward the frozen Torkoal, spurting her pink wings to complete the gap. "Maybe this'll help!"

Pink mist formed around her body. After a few seconds, the hunk of ice—and the Torkoal inside—shrank down until it was no larger than Willow herself. She crawled toward the block of ice and prodded at the many cracks that Ra left behind, pulling the walls apart. With him in his shell, it was very easy to free him safely.

"Oh, oh!" Willow said. "His little legs are moving! Aww, isn't he cute? I wanna just—"

"You will not harm the Hunter," ADAM said. "I am detecting malevolence from the Fairy Guardian."

"Am not! I was just gonna poke him a little!"

"That is enough, Guardian," Step growled. "Return him to his normal size."

"W-well, maybe I don't wanna!"

"You shall return him to normal size," Step said, "or you will be frozen for a century."

"Mnnn! I can take you on… but I'm gonna do this because I'm being nice." Willow stared at the ice block a bit longer, waving her tiny legs at it, and then jumped away, landing skillfully on top of ADAM's head.

The ice returned to its normal size, as did the Torkoal within. Now that he was bigger, they could hear weak, tired groans from within his shell. "Hello? Ah… it's quite cold…"

"Torkoal Elder," Step said with a cold gaze. "I hope my spirits treated you kindly."

"Your mate is quite frightening," Elder said. "Such intense eyes."

Step smirked. "It is why he is my mate."

"Elder," Zena said, watching him carefully. "You spoke to me before. And Owen met me not long after—you told me… that if I gave up my power, I could finally leave this cave."

"Ahh… Milotic Zena, correct?" Elder asked. "Yes. I told you as much. You would be free."

"And then I refused. In fact, I believe I killed you."

"Ahh… not quite," Elder said. He brought his foot toward his neck, but then frowned. "Oh, where is my bag…?"

"The bag? I froze it and discarded it into the ice," Step said.

Elder frowned. "That had my lunch… I haven't had a lunch in such a long time. I was looking forward to it." When he was met with nothing but a cold stare, he relented. "Well… it had my Badge, and a Reviver Seed, Zena. I always use that combination to escape if I ever run into trouble. I may have looked injured when you fought me—you have a very powerful Hydro Pump, I might add—but… yes. I escaped. I typically do."

"Well, you failed this time," Step growled. "And we will be keeping you here as well."

Elder bowed his head. "Very well. I cannot fight back. And… I understand that Rhys is here, too. I cannot complain."

"You know Rhys, then."

"Yes. We…" Elder hesitated. "We are very familiar with one another. We speak often through the spirit world. And, when fate allows us, we exchange letters and gifts. Why, I know just the perfect Pecha patch… ahh, he certainly loves his Pecha Berries, but only certain kinds, you know…"

Zena felt herself getting older merely listening to him. "You do understand that Rhys is no longer a Hunter. He abandoned his role."

"He has for a while." Elder, unfazed, nodded at what Zena thought would be a shocking remark. "I do not blame him."

"And yet, you remain one."

"I did," Elder replied. "I did because I wanted to try to end this nonviolently. Without fighting."

Willow sparked with pink electricity. "So much for that!"

"Yes…" Elder sighed. "But now that most of the Guardians are with the Trinity, or with Owen, or… dead, I suppose my purpose has ended." He trotted in place, his huge body—much larger than any normal Torkoal—swaying with the shifting weight. "Eon will be very upset at my departure."

Step stared Elder down, but then looked back at the others. "I know little of this. Does he seem trustworthy to you?"

"No deception readings detected," ADAM said.

"He moves very little," Valle remarked.

"I dunno, but Owen will!" Willow said.

"Yes, if anything, Owen would be able to tell if he's lying or not. He must have some memory of you, so perhaps he's familiar with your body language."

"Owen. Who is this Owen?" Step said.

Willow giggled, hopping onto Zena's head next. "He's a super-cool mutant Charizard that gives rides on his head! Right, Zena? And you have a crush on him!"

Zena inhaled sharply, but said nothing.

"Ahh, Owen," Elder said. "Yes. He has the ability to expand his aura into the surrounding area, becoming aware of everything it touches. This includes body language. For someone he is familiar with, he can tell if someone is lying, or how they are feeling. He will certainly know if I am lying, Step."

"He is familiar with you?" Step said. "And he is a mutant? Then how can I trust him?"

"Because Owen's nice!" Willow said. "He's friends with all of us! I'd rather listen to him than to Star!"

"Really? Then he doesn't care for Star, either?" The Aggron's face, unable to show proper expression, seemed at least slightly contemplative. "Owen…"

"He's the Grass Guardian," Zena said, nodding. "I trust Rhys because he made a Divine Promise to me, but I trust Owen because…"

Step eyed Zena curiously. "Because of your crush?"

Zena looked down, finding the words and ignoring the hotness of her face. "Because he is genuine. You will see it in his eyes."

Seeing as Step did not have Owen to reference, she instead looked at Zena's eyes. Her gaze did not break. "Hm," the Aggron said. "Very well. I will see what this Owen says." She turned to Elder. "Until then, we shall wait."