A monster dwells in what the clan refers to as the Gorged Gorge. Its name is Frozy. She has returned after a short time away.

"You are both monsters!" that annoying snorunt had said.

Frozy does not object. A little slow on the uptake, she notes, given how suspicious the snorunt has been of her. But is it not cruel to call sweet Arctina that?

As the two stare her down, Frozy only sticks the exposed bone of the aggron arm into her mouth and licks it clean. She shrugs as the tiresome snorunt continues to dislocate her jaw gawking. Shivian, was it? Quite the royal pain.

"Hey, let's calm down…" Arctina says, voice shaky. "But, Frozy…"

Frozy sighs. Shivian has tainted Arctina? That would be unforgivable.

The one thing in this dismal world Frozy truly likes is Arctina. This glalie makes Frozy's heart swell. Arctina so happily volunteers to protect her with a smile on her face. She is the first pokémon to ever show her concern. She does not expect anything of her except company. Frozy so adores her.

Pacifying the suffocatingly awkward moment, Frozy flexes her arms like she has seen many a musclehead do before she cut them down. Yes, this is her truth. Whether they believe her or not, whether they care or not does not matter.

The soft crunching of dirt, the subtle displacement of gravel, the rustling of leaves on a branch jutting out of the gorge's wall… Frozy casually flings an ice shard at the source and yawns. With a soft landing that passes by untrained ears, Arctina included, life exits the pokémon creeping a ways away.

Frozy approaches the body and carelessly drags it back. She tosses a wobbuffet with a clean hole bored through its head from her attack beside the half-eaten aggron and fresh kecleon. It was clearly sneaking away from them. Wobbuffet are not particularly dangerous fighters. It could still have posed a threat, so she ended its life like she is meant to.

How Shivian's face pales and how the snorunt holds her mouth shut to prevent vomit from spewing is quite entertaining as the goop that used to be the brain unceremoniously splats on the ground and Frozy eats a handful. When Shivian manages to open her mouth, she utters, "You're that beast the outsider bragged about."

Mommy really should not have told that story. Such praise is unnecessary. Frozy kills to live, nothing more. At least she does not have to hide it anymore.

"You left us to die!" Shivian suddenly wails, body quaking. "If you could strike that beast down so easily, why did you leave us to be trampled?"

That is what she is angry about? Not that Frozy could kill her right here and now, but that she did not outright save her? Shivian is rather nasty.

Frozy only shrugs. It was not feasible to grab the two others and flee the ditch together unharmed. So she left first. As confident as she was in striking the aggron down, she is not foolish enough to underestimate someone like that. And as much as she likes Arctina, the glalie is unnecessary baggage.

Above all else, Frozy alone needs to survive. Self-preservation is the most basic of instincts. Nothing will matter if Frozy dies, so she must be the one to live on.

It is kill or be killed in this world. Frozy makes sure she does the former. She is much better at this than being some prima donna, though Mommy told her to leave it to Arctina.

Frozy puts the arm in her mouth and crunches, breaking off a chunk of bone and chewing. A delightful little music resounds.

"Hey, let's just let it go." Arctina nudges Shivian. "Doesn't this just mean Frozy is an awesome guardian? I think she's even stronger than me."

Frozy puffs out her chest. Shivian audibly grinds her teeth, but ultimately spits, "Fine. I don't care, as long as you know your place beneath me."

Silently huffing, Frozy rips off the aggron's other arm and bites into it. A spray of blood splashes on the snorunt's face, and the self-important smile of hers morphs into a scowl.

"I see right through you, you mute brute." Shivian steps up to her, breath tickling her sash. Bursting into a loud guffaw, she changes her entire demeanor. "You're going to have to wait to kill me. Just until I perform my Frozen Opera. Then you can do as you please. In fact, I invite you to. Please do kill me then."

"You don't mean that. Are you crazy?" Arctina forces distance between them with her own body.

"I mean what I say." In a move so unexpected, Shivian humbly bows to Frozy. "Oh, outsider, I beseech you, please kill me when my song ends."

"You can't!" Arctina begs.

For the first time Frozy has seen, Shivian's bravado melts away with a wistful smile. "I have one purpose in this life as prima donna. Once I serve it, I will become obsolete.

"If it makes you feel better about yourself, see it this way: I have already turned my back on the clan." She rubs her hand over the melting ice encasing her skinned back. "If I manage to appease Them, then everyone is saved, but I cannot return with you. If I fail, then all is doomed; this outsider will not even be among the clan to pretend to be theirs and sink everyone further into delusion. And in the case of missing Them, whether by dying prematurely or being ever too late, then there was no point in any of this."

How well-spoken of her. Frozy did not think her capable of anything except pathetic squealing. Frozy simply taps her fingertips together in delight. That makes her original mission much easier.

After all, she only agreed to follow Shivian for one reason: to kill her.

Shivian bore an impressive false ferocity that fooled Frozy their first interaction. A bloodlust that resonated with her, directed at her. But at the last second, she wore the face of pathetic prey in their last moments without anything to show. Such false swagger is boring. Not a single bone in her body poses a threat to her. Shivian is simply a coward.

The nasty little thorn in Frozy's side throws her the most tainted looks with nothing to back it up. Frozy wants to kill her simply because she wants to see Shivian gone from this world. An utter pest, Shivian provides nothing of value. She might as well die. Mommy will not object to it as long as it does not compromise their newfound place in the clan. And it will not. No one will miss Shivian.

Alas, Arctina seems to appreciate the snorunt's company, so Frozy supposes she can put up with the insignificant brat for a bit longer. She needed to wait for the right moment and make Shivian's death look like an accident, but now she only has to wait. Frozy could not stand it if Arctina hated her over this trivial matter. But if Shivian invites death unto herself, then all the better!

A long, solemn silence overtakes them as Shivian's words sink in. Frozy continues to devour the aggron until she is full. Patting her belly, she turns to the wobbuffet and skins its bulbous head. The rubbery skin comes off easily, and after wringing it of blood, Frozy fills the new blue sack with the edible remains of the aggron.

The soul is left over, which Frozy carelessly tosses at Shivian's head. Mommy likes eating the soul. Frozy has never been allowed to have it. Even when the clan offered her an ample supply, Frozy had to save them all to give to Mommy. Oh, well. Blood and flesh is plenty yummy, so she does not complain.

Frozy turns to Arctina and motions to the fresher, springier corpses of the kecleon and wobbuffet. She butchers off the most succulent cuts and offers them to her.

"You're so eloquent, Shivian. Like Elder Glaciari!" Arctina meekly offers after clearly thinking about it for too long, unwilling to address the previous matter. It has been quite a while since someone spoke that it sounds like a non sequitur. It fails to liven the mood.

Pausing for a long moment, Shivian only says, "Do not compare me to her."

Glalie and snorunt eat in silence. Frozy keeps an ear to the ground as she waits. When nothing is left but bones and rubbery tails, they prepare to set off again.

As Shivian mounts Arctina, she lets out a yawn. The guardian says, "You should rest for now, Shivian."

Frozy prods Arctina's back, eyes reflecting her own concern. The glalie runs ragged. She has not paid any mind to how much of her ice armor she lost when they faced off against the aggron. Her eyes are so very far away. She yawns herself and moves at a crawl.

"No, I'm alright!" Arctina forces a smile.

Shivian smacks her. "Quiet."

How very flippant of her. Frozy was able to bide it until this point, but every time Shivian assaults Arctina enrages her to no end. Such a brazen attitude to believe violence against Frozy's only friend is just…

Unable to resist, Frozy hovers above Shivian and delivers a single slap to the snorunt's cheek without holding back. It is only fair. Shivian flies off of Arctina's head and tumbles across the ground. When she lands, she gazes up at Frozy with eyes full of tears and… not fury, but hurt.

"Why did you do that?" she asks so genuinely, Frozy almost feels bad. "Why would you hit me? Only Elder Glaciari…"

Arctina frets and helps Shivian to her feet. The snorunt sniffles and clings to the glalie. Frozy shakes her numb hand in the air; that felt good. Maybe now Shivian will think twice about being so quick to hurt Arctina.

"You can't do that!" Arctina cries.

Frozy holds herself back knowing that if the roles were reversed, Arctina would tell Shivian off with no hesitation. Even still, she ought to strike her once more, but for some odd reason, Frozy figures it must actually be what Shivian wants right now. So, she awkwardly floats to the side.

"Um… I don't really like it when you hit me either, Shivian…" Arctina mumbles as she allows the snorunt to cling to her body and sob. The words only make her cry harder.

Frozy unceremoniously tosses Shivian back onto Arctina's head. She has no patience for this. She glances around the area as she creeps ahead along the walls of the gorge, wobbuffet sack slung over her shoulder. A familiar feeling wells up within as she recognizes their surroundings. She floats farther on and gestures for Arctina to follow.

Yes, if they just pass through a mess of fallen trees, onto an offshoot path, and finally through a miniature cavern hidden by overgrowth, they should arrive somewhere safe to regroup and rest.

Luckily, the cavern is just big enough for Arctina to pass through. Frozy arranges the hanging vines to cover the opening as she ushers Arctina forth. Shivian grumbles, seemingly back to her senses as an off aroma fills the air.

"Where are you taking us?" Shivian snaps, no longer crying or self-pitying.

Pushing them forth, Frozy slaps her hand over the snorunt's mouth until they arrive in the clearing. Mold and rotting flesh assaults their senses.

Whoops. After such a long jaunt away, the flayed masses of flesh once pokémon encased in ice thawed and splayed on the earth. Under the unforgiving sun, they decayed something nasty. Perhaps she should have eaten them if this is what they would become.

The sight of shiftry, nuzleaf, and seedot melting into the earth is somewhat nostalgic. Just before Arctina discovered her and Mommy here in the gorge, they lived here among these now-deceased pokémon. Drifting along after they fled their last residence due to similar circumstances, they crossed some shiftry and Mommy feigned helplessness like she does. Ignorant and arrogant, they took them in and offered shelter.

Frozy observes the land ravaged of resources. This space used to have an abundance of vegetation and sparkling ore deposits. After some time, it was not nearly enough to sate Mommy. And when the leafy tribe finally realized the parasites they were, they turned on them. Frozy, still a snorunt, dealt with them easily. That is what she was raised to do, after all. To Mommy's tastes, they arranged the ice statues displaying whimsical poses with smiles about the area. After that, they used this location as a base as they trawled the gorge for a new home.

Frozy is impressed that they did not have to try as hard to be accepted by the clan of froslass and snorunt. All the same, when their Frozen Opera fails, Mommy and her will likely have to find yet another new life and pray it lasts even longer. She only wishes Arctina can come with them.

Fungi and mold coat the decaying, dissected corpses strewn about the area. Frozy picks each and every one up and tosses them in a pile off to the side, various limbs ripping off in the process. She freezes it to contain the odor. Finally, she motions at the formation of trees in the center of the clearing. Floating up to the lush, dense canopy, she beckons Arctina to follow.

"Whoa, this is pretty!" Arctina notes, glazing over what just happened.

Shivian lingers on the frozen mountain of smiling bodies, then Frozy before sliding off Arctina to the canopy. She stomps on the sturdy leaves before collapsing and staring off at nothing. In monotone, she says, "Keep watch. Just because this is secluded does not mean we are safe."

Scoffing, Frozy rolls her eyes. As if this spoiled child needs to tell her the basics of survival. But did Mommy not do the exact same thing when they first claimed this land? Frozy drops her sack of rations and floats to one edge of the canopy and simply does as she is told. Arctina takes the side opposite.

Shivian sits up. And instead of wagging that tongue of hers, she sings a scale. Her voice is terribly off and scratchy. Frozy does her best to not make it known how this irks her. Does this snorunt not need rest? If she dares raise her volume any more, Frozy will ensure she falls to slumber.

Such an absurd tradition, this Frozen Opera. What kind of almighty being deserves such devotion and rewards such apathetic endeavors such as Frozy's, the apparent one of prophecy? Shivian was correct: her clan is utterly hopeless and doomed. Frozy has never seen such pathetically blind apostles. They very much deserve whatever "judgment" smites them if they truly believe dancing and singing will summon an eternal blizzard to save their home.

As the lyrics fill her ears, Frozy cannot help but wonder how such intimate and tender words will mean anything to the apparently almighty Frozen Gigant. But for all she cares, they can delude themselves to kingdom come.

A glint in the remains of an exposed ore vein catches Frozy's eye. Not truly caring of acting the guard, she descends from the canopy to pick at the shining object: a shining gemstone the color of dusk. Ah, yes, did Shivian not request a "transcendent jewel" or whatever she called it? Perhaps this is one.

Transcendent jewels trigger evolution in snorunt. If that is the case, then Frozy has seen them before. When she was still a snorunt, mere days before Arctina discovered them, she and Mommy were pulled outside the gorge by a resonating sensation. Mommy had her dig a hole, and they discovered seven of them. Upon touching it, Frozy herself evolved. The rest were added to Mommy's lustrous cape, though one cracked and broke in the process, so only five remained. It was a stroke of luck to find something so pretty for Mommy to add to her favorite collection, then use to curry favor with their current compatriots.

Strength came with evolving. The only complaint Frozy has about it is that no one taught her how to float properly. Mommy certainly dropped her in the deep end there. Frozy mastered her new attacks first. Then Arctina found them.

Unable to remember the transcendent jewels' appearance, she supposes feeling alone tells her that the gem in her hand is not one. Still, she brings it back to the canopy to show Shivian. Perhaps her reaction will be funny.

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Shivian is still singing when she returns. Sneaking behind her, Frozy violently shakes her, resulting in a yelp. Keeping a straight face, Frozy presents the dark stone.

"What do you expect me to do with that?" Shivian knocks the offered gem away, aiming especially high as if to avoid striking her hand, spit flying out of her mouth as she snaps. "You can't possibly believe that is a transcendent jewel. Are you also blin-" She bites her tongue before finishing her insult.

Frozy retrieves it and shrugs. As her back is turned, she silently laughs, a hand over her mouth. Another stone lodged in the canopy, just a regular one with a slick smoothness reflecting the moonlight, catches her eye. Shivian returns to practicing, and Frozy does not hesitate in interrupting her just the same once more.

"You dare offer me garbage?" She slaps the rock out of Frozy's hands again with a bewildered face.

The way the snorunt's face contorts is too funny. Her voice breaks so perfectly. The initial, genuine confusion is delicious.

Staring at the two stones in her hands, Frozy freezes them together and tosses them into her sack alongside the aggron scraps. Mommy will like them. She treats Frozy extra nice when she gives them to her.

Now she needs to find more rocks to show Shivian.

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When Shivian is satisfied with her practice and Frozy has presented her with a total of twenty worthless stones, the snorunt finally goes to sleep. Frozy lies down herself and rests her eyes. At an approaching presence, she jolts up and raises her hands.

Arctina bashfully looks down and opens her mouth, but refuses to speak. Frozy floats up to her and warmly takes the glalie's large face in her hands. This look does not suit her.

"I… I challenge you to a battle!" she finally proclaims.

Frozy simply blinks. This request does not suit her. Not that Frozy minds, but a battle is not to be taken lightly. She tilts her head to ask, What? Why?

"I'm the guardian" There is no gusto in her voice. "I have to be stronger. Please, have a practice match with me. I need to train harder."

Oh no, she speaks like Shivian. But a request from Arctina? It is hard to deny it. Though weak, it is quite earnest. Deciding to entertain it, Frozy nods.

They take to a section of the vast canopy away from Shivian. Taunting Arctina with her arms wide open, Frozy offers her the first attack, only because it is her friend.

Arctina charges straight for her in a clumsy, yet effective display of raw strength. At the last moment, Frozy dodges and slams a shadow ball into her side. Inertia allows the glalie to stay in place, but Frozy follows up with an onslaught more.

Tanking every hit, Arctina eventually carves an opening by chomping down on whatever shadow ball she can. When the volley stops, she releases a frost breath infused with the ghastly energy coating her teeth. In the flurry, she charges ahead, primed for a crunch.

Frozy dodges it easily, but cannot get much distance. Arctina switches to swinging her head wildly, horn almost stabbing Frozy in the eye. "You're so strong!"

Summoning an ominous wind, Frozy forces Arctina back. The sharp gale slices off slivers of her ice armor. If Arctina only charges through the attack, she could find purchase with a solid strike as Frozy is occupied casting the ominous wind. Yet she only withstands the move until it peters out, then swoops in with her jaws parted.

Frozy freezes Arctina's mouth over. She decides to watch what the glalie does next instead of following up with another attack.

And as she thought, instead of trying to smash into her to break the muzzle while dealing massive blunt damage, or even breaking it with her own strength by slackening her jaw, Arctina drives herself into a sturdy exposed branch to shatter the ice as soon as she can. So much unnecessary movement. Such clumsy execution. What half-hearted intent.

Frozy is right. She has thought this before, ever since she first saw the guardian in action: Battling does not suit Arctina.

Roaring, Arctina hardens her cranium like an aggron's and hurtles forth with iron head. Frozy douses her with a water pulse and follows up with a thunderbolt. Arctina spasms before falling to the canopy, immobile.

Before Frozy can even call off the match, Arctina forces herself to rise. Chunks of her armor fall off. She charges at Frozy. Dodge after dodge, Arctina hopelessly continues her uncoordinated attack.

Arctina battles because she must. Not because she needs to. As if someone is forcing her to. Not because her very life depends on victory. She wields the title of guardian with such a flawed pride that perhaps that is the sole reason she even fights.

She relies on instinct and brute strength alone. There is no room for such immaturity on the battlefield. This is why she gets hurt so much. This is why she cares so little of herself. Or maybe she simply does not care.

"I'm only getting started!" she proclaims, vomiting frost breath with each syllable.

Frozy swiftly sneaks behind her back with ease. A single shadow ball fells the supposed guardian, the shortened horn of hers attached by ice to its stump flying off. It stabs itself into a mass of tangled branches.

Arctina's eyes settle on her detached horn as she rises, a trembling mess. "More. Let us battle more. I need to get stronger."

Where has Arctina gone?

"Don't I look like a real guardian? A proud, honorable guardian…" With an utterly miserable smile, she says, "A glalie can't be a frost maiden, after all."

Frozy does not say anything. Not just because she is incapable, or because she does not truly understand, but because nothing she could convey would make Arctina truly happy.

Not sparing a moment, Frozy finishes her off with a shadow ball to the face. The glalie falls still and silent. Sighing, Frozy drags her over to Shivian. Before she drops her, the glalie stirs and says, "Thanks for the battle."

Frozy only resumes her solitary post watching over the edge of the canopy. Arctina rises and does the same.

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Frenetic thumps. Something dragging through the dirt. Crunching grass. The clashing of claws and fangs. All growing ever closer. A hoard of pokémon bursts through the rock wall. Tangled in duos, dark scales and clumps of white and red fur fly in the air with hisses and snarls.

Seviper and zangoose. Frozy thought they had already exterminated each other in the gorge a long time ago. The seemingly born-rivals clash in the echoing scramble engaged in one-on-ones, taking over the land below the canopy whilst completely blind to everything except their opponents.

They carve the earth and stain it red. Frozy does not want to intervene since they will take care of each other in time, but Arctina unnecessarily descends with intent.

The zangoose and seviper completely ignore and avoid her as they lunge at each other. Fire extinguishes from the eyes of five zangoose, and in turn, five seviper are felled.

Medallions of dismembered seviper fly into the air along with carelessly flung bodies of toxic zangoose. Arctina freezes the grotesque rain with frost breath into one gigantic mass of ice. It crashes down and pins three zangoose underneath it before shattering into a meaty hail that rains on them all.

The three seviper left without foes set their sights on a new one: Arctina. Overlapping hisses just barely make it known that they retaliate because only they are allowed to purge zangoose from this world. Two of them coil their tails around Arctina and constrict her still. The third winds up with a tail oozing poison.

Sighing, Frozy joins the fray that does not concern her to help Arctina. An ice beam freezes the attacking seviper's tail and anchors them to the ground just out of reach. One of the comrades restraining Arctina springs at her with dripping fangs. Summoning an ominous wind, Frozy diverts their course and avoids the attack. As the pokémon flies by, she grabs it by the tail and whips them at the one around her Arctina until they both fall unconscious with dented heads. She sends the one in her hands flying at the one stuck in place, where they tangle up without a struggle.

Frozy dusts her hands. Arctina slowly rises and offers her thanks with a nod. Before they can try to coordinate some sort of plan, a pair of archenemies comes between them and amplifies the entropy of the little war raging on. The face-offs dance across the land at breakneck pace, tumbling to and fro as clouds of murder.

Retreating is the only viable option. The battle is such a chaotic mess that there is no definable safe zone except high above in the canopy. Frozy floats up and hovers beneath the leaves, observing the battlefield only to be left with a headache. The only way of dealing with this safely, as the pokémon shoot and scatter all about at breakneck pace, is sniping from afar. However, she doubts Arctina will be of any use in this plan.

Instead of playing it smart, Arctina dives head-first into each fray and tries to take charge by overpowering both pokémon. Cringing to herself, Frozy sends out a chain of precise and accurate ice shards. Does being a guardian mean using her head in the most literal sense?

Frozy makes sure to line up the heads of one zangoose and one seviper each shot to avoid any sudden detection. She downs three pairs with this method until Arctina slams a zangoose out of the way and only the seviper perishes. The lone zangoose is sent flying in the air from Arctina's headbutt and soars close to Frozy.

His target switches from his seviper to Frozy. He hits a tree on all fours and uses it as a platform to pounce at her. Faster than even her, she falls back to the ground with him and loses her advantage of distance and tactics. So blinded by his own rage, the zangoose drives his claws through her. Quite literally, his plain claws phase through her and stab deep into the dirt. As he struggles to free himself from his self-imposed trap, Frozy casts a thunderbolt at him, then drives an ice shard through his heart.

Frozy tosses the now-limp body aside and attempts to take to up high once more. The moonlight filtering through the leaves blacks out, and when she looks up, a brilliant idea brews inside her.

She floats under the canopy to the tree trunk, where she can just make out Shivian's frozen back. With a single punch, she sends the snorunt high into the air with a sharp yelp.

A deafening roar overtakes everything. What eclipsed the moon swoops down with a gaping maw, aiming for Shivian. Giddiness dances in her heart as the massive pokémon comes ever closer to the wailing snorunt. A salamence, the very same one notorious in the gorge by all inhabitants, Frozy included. Even she steers clear of this one.

Biting her fingers in anticipation, Frozy cannot believe she managed to expedite her mission. She did not even mind waiting for the silly opera to kill Shivian since the snorunt is so laughable, but the chance presented itself so perfectly that she could not resist.

Alas, it seems Shivian is simply too insignificant. The salamence completely ignores the shrieking snorunt and dives through the canopy aiming for the scuffle below. Caught off guard, Frozy is nicked by the wing before she can fully dodge and she plunges down with it. As she falls, she notices that its tail has a chunk bitten out of it, the area around it a severe black and blue as if frostbitten.

From just the light graze of its wing, Frozy slams into the earth. An utterly powerful menace. Something else falls with her and lands in an overgrown mass of weeds. Muffled cries resound and make it known that Shivian fell through the canopy and is now on the battlefield.

Frozy quickly rises and dusts the dirt off herself. The salamence stomps with steps even heavier than the aggon's toward the fray. The zangoose and seviper do not even bother acknowledging the newcomer beast as it stalks closer.

One mighty roar blasts all the zangoose to the ground. The seviper take this opportunity to pile on their nemeses, only to be flung away by a swipe of the dragon's tail.

Arctina starts after them, but turns back when Shivian's screams peak. The glalie shrinks at the sight of the salamence. With a forced gulp, she charges past it for Shivian, pathetically rocking on the frozen dome on her back.

The salamence locks its eyes on Arctina and chases her with its tail. With great luck, the blown-away seviper slither back and shoot ahead in time to take the hit for her. The zangoose rise to leap at their rivals, all latching onto what separates them: the bitten tail.

Arctina arrives and shields Shivian from the sight. And instead of dealing with the pokémon swarming on it, the salamence ignores their scratching and strikes to march at her.

Frozy raises a brow. Arctina is not the strongest one here, yet the invader seems set on battling her. Perhaps she is simply unlucky. The salamence swats its tail on the ground and completely crushes the zangoose refusing to let go into bloody, mushy puddles. Each whip forces everyone and everything on the ground to jump a good distance in the air.

An ice shard from Frozy is not enough to pierce the weak spot between its eyes. She casts an ice beam that it simply shakes off. She throws everything in her repertoire at it from a safe distance to no avail, and it still refuses to acknowledge her.

It nears. It opens its maw to roar, which seems to force Arctina to cease functioning. Frozy does not let its cry shake her and shoots a large, honed ice shard into its open mouth. The attack cuts the roar short and finally makes it look at Frozy.

She jets past it and smiles at the nasty bite on its tail. She lobs a shadow ball at the injury which does not explode on impact, instead adhering itself to the spot and forcing it to fester. It reacts with another deafening roar that Frozy uses as an opening to flash-freeze its throat. Finally, she drives another icicle into the shadow ball in its tail, which bursts and elicits a delicious rotting scent.

Blood spurts out and splashes on her head, which she smears on her face with delight. Yes, this is what she was made for. Its ice-filled mouth stifles its cries of pain as Frozy sucks her bloody fingers clean. She has nothing to fear if this is the extent of its power.

Shivian finally falls mute, watching the scene as she hides behind Arctina, who is now fallen to the ground nestled in the dirt as she cries without blinking, maw wide open as if to scream with no volume. The glalie is truly not a good fit for the title of guardian.

Frozy does not like playing with her prey, so she circles to the front of the salamence intending to end things here. She stares at its long neck, now engorged with ice. Tossing an onslaught of shadow balls at it, she does not relent until she hears the crushing of ice and sees its throat deflate. It vomits out chunks of ice, blood, and a roar.

It falls on bent legs. Frozy freezes them to the ground, then its wings to each other, and finally she takes aim at its head. With two sharpened ice shards in hand, she intends to flay its thick hide, smash its tiny skull, and remove the brain.

Several somethings slither around the salamence and constrict it tightly. One traverses across its massive body and throws itself at her. The seviper entourage, recovered after all that, continue to impede her efforts. She glances around and notices that the land is lacking in zangoose. The last of them must be the ones flattened under the salamence's feet and frozen solid.

Frozy is incapable of floating fast enough to dodge, so she grabs the leaping seviper by the fangs and tussles with it that way. Truly a massive pain in her side, even more so than Shivian.

The seviper crew coiled around the salamence do so hard enough to crack the thick ice binding it. When it weakens enough, the salamence breaks out of its restraints and roars once more, something flickering in its mouth. In an instant, a pillar of fire erupts from its mouth and shoots straight at her. It shakes off the seviper, and they fall into the flamethrower, incinerated to ash.

Eyes bulging out, Frozy's immediate instinct is to dodge. It is the only correct maneuver. But Arctina is right behind her. Wrestling with that seviper, Frozy displaced herself here, her back against the glalie's massive, trembling head.

Oh, well. Frozy must live. She will live. She will miss her adorable, lovely Arctina, her first and only friend, though. She will honor her by… by…

What is it that Arctina likes? The glalie never openly talks about herself. She has a simple silliness and sweetness that beguiles. She is not good at battling at all. All Frozy knows about her is that Frozy just likes her.

Not hesitating one bit, Frozy jumps out of the way. As she thought, Arctina is not prepared to move with her, physically and mentally. She supposes Arctina will simply have to live on in her memories.

Just in time, the flamethrower misses her as it blasts ahead and plumes a cloud of steam once it finds purchase with a large, unmoving target. Maybe the attack will continue and end up engulfing Shivian once Arctina has turned to ash.

Frozy floats above and hides in the canopy until the salamence is satisfied and leaves. It jets off into the sky and flies far, far away. She bids it good riddance. She grits her teeth and curses the deceased seviper and zangoose for ruining her chance at slaying it, likely the only opportunity she will ever have at besting it.

The salamence's take-off sets off a burst of pressure that blows a large black rock across the area. In its place is a cowering Shivian. The big rock slowly gains two blue spots that point to the sky. It seems Arctina still draws breath as well.

Sighing, Frozy descends yet again and approaches the two. Their eyes set on her, and all she does is shrug.

"Frozy, you're okay," Arctina struggles to say. She is completely stripped of her ice armor. Even past her naturally dark exterior, it is easy to tell that she is scorched beyond repair. Who knows what of her innards. It is a miracle she is alive. "That's good… But why didn't you help me?"

Why? Oh. Frozy supposes she could have pushed Arctina out of the way before she herself fled. It honestly did not even cross her mind in the moment. Well, Frozy is alive, so all is well.

"Help you?" Shivian drags her feet over to them. She punches at Arctina's exposed rock core, but whiffs. "Save you? How absurd. You can't even help anyone. Not even yourself! What sort of guardian is a coward? You're such a miserable excuse of one! You're supposed to save me!"

Arctina attempts to rise. Frozy helps her. Her solid rock core is unsettlingly tender.

Unable to maintain her levitation, Arctina plants herself back into the dirt. Her face remains her usual amicable expression. She says, "Then you should try being the guardian."

"What?" Shivian spits, saliva drenching Arctina's chin.

"You try being the guardian. And, heck, I'll be a frost maiden."

"Dont make me laugh." Shivian dons a crooked smile. "You're still just a tone-deaf brat, arent you?"

Arctina's eyes glaze over. "I'm sure you still can't remember the lyrics right. Or sing like Elder Glaciari."

What children these children are. Frozy only watches on with tepid intrigue.

"You can keep dreaming." With a wry laugh, Shivian says, "A glalie can't be a frost maiden."

"Says who?" Arctina uncharacteristically snaps. Frozy supposes she almost died, but such a radical switch in demeanor is the last thing she expected of her.

"Elder Glaciari."

"Well, she's not always right, now is she?" Arctina mirrors the loathsome smirk on Shivian's face. "I mean, she said you would be the prima donna, didn't she?"

Frozy thinks to herself that she ought to abandon the two of them here and now. They will kill each other, and she can wash her hands clean of it all. Putting Arctina and Shivian out of their misery will certainly end hers as she listens to their inane bickering. But she likes Arctina too much to end the glalie with her own hands, so she supposes her only option is to bide it out for the moment.

"Why don't you just die right now?" Shivian shoves Arctina.

Since Arctina is still unable to float, she falls on her side and pathetically rocks back and forth to try to stand upright. She fails miserably. "Shut up!"

Arctina is so immature. Is this who she is beyond the title of guardian? Frozy helps her with a brow raised. Though, this side of her is equally charming. How fanciful and free she can be. And she is now standing up against Shivian.

"You need me, don't you?" Arctina gloats. "To complete the opera. The one that you can't sing right!"

"Enough!" Shivian knocks her back down. "The tradition has already been shattered. What's one more amendment? My opera will be so awesome that it alone will appease the Frozen Gigant, sacrificed guardian soul or not!"

"You're the worst. You always have been!"

"No, you are. You should simply perish!"

"I'm gonna be a frost maiden." Her voice, scarcely a whisper, lacks emotion.

"Your tone-deaf voice will ruin everything."

"I'll be both, a guardian and a frost maiden. I'll show you. I'll show everyone."

"Dont flatter yourself."

"I'll be the prima donna." Arctina, still in monotone, looks like she is on the verge of tears. "You're gonna get yourself killed, the way you are."

"And what kind of guardian will allow that?" Shivian mirrors her misery perfectly. "What kind of guardian would allow this?"

Perhaps Arctina wanted to be the prima donna, once upon a time. Frozy hides an amused smile as she watches Shivian grinding a hole into the dirt with her foot.

"You said you were my guardian, too." Shivian goes limp as she bows over. "So why are you denying me like the others?"

Arctina forces a gulp. "But I don't wanna be the guardian…"

"You have to be. You must." Shivian stumbles a step away. "Because it is tradition."

"Why are you always so mean? I'm sick of being nice to you."

The two simmer in place. Frozy sighs at the pathetic children and grabs them each with a hand. She pulls them along with her, wobbuffet sack of aggron scraps and shiny rocks slung over her shoulder. What used to be a narrow opening in the cavern leading to the base of the canopy is now a gaping hole inviting invaders thanks to the zangoose and seviper, so they must move, even if it seems none of them truly wish to progress.