The team continued to travel after the sun rose. At midday, they decided to stop by a small village called Berkhiv. There, Akira and the rest of the team had lunch inside an inn. Meanwhile, a blizzard was raging outside, forcing the team to wait inside until the Blizzard is over. As the rest of the team were enjoying the lunch, Ryo decided to gather some information by asking the innkeeper, who was a snover.
"Excuse me sir. We are going to visit Zverev. Could you please tell us which route is the safest?" asked the Riolu.
"In this time of war, no route is safe kid, especially for travellers like you. The dusk tribe members are everywhere and their main target, apart form rich people, are travellers. To make matters worse, the dragons are now present in Avangard to hunt fairies and they are on Lord Alexandrovich's side." Said the Snover.
"What?! Are you telling me that the dragons are fighting the separatist movement? Why?! What for?!" asked the riolu.
"I don't know about that...The motive still remains a mystery" said the Snover.
"Fine. We'll take the shortest route from here to Zverev. I don't care about the dangers. We are trained knights so I'm sure we are capable of overcoming any obstacles. We are leaving as soon as the blizzard stops," said Akira to the Snover.
The team waited for the blizzard to subside, but the blizzard didn't stop. In fact, it got worse, which means the team had to spend the night in the inn. The team fell asleep quickly after dinner. However, Julius, the five-year-old eevee, was having a difficulty sleeping. Every time the eevee fell asleep, he had nightmare about dragons. Therefore, he kept waking up. Traumatized by the nightmare, the little eevee snuggled to Natalie, waking her up.
"What is wrong, Julius?" asked Natalie.
"I'm having nightmares...Usually my parents hug me when I have trouble sleeping..." said the eevee.
"Don't worry Julius...I'll hug you. You'll be safe from dragons as long as I'm around to protect you..." said Natalie kindly.
"Thank you...you are so kind...Will I see my parents again?" asked the poor Eevee.
"I'll rescue your parents...I promise..."said Natalie while embracing the little eevee.
At the next day, Renard was the first one to wake up, followed by Ryo. He saw the Natalie sleeping while hugging the little eevee.
"She is already emotionally attached to the eevee it seems..." said Renard.
"Poor eevee...We better rescue his parents after we get the icicle plate..." said Ryo.
Akira was the third member to wake up. As soon as Akira was awake, he ordered Ryo to wake the rest of the team members up. When they were about to leave, there was a commotion in the village square.
"What's all the fuss about?" asked Akira.
"The dragons are here, in this village! And they have captured the hiding fairies!" said the Snover.
"How many dragons are there?!" asked Akira.
"There are many of them! I'd say about 60 Fraxures, 30 druddigons, 10 Flygons and 5 Salamence." Said Snover.
"They have brought an entire legion?! Are they trying to capture the village?!" asked Ryo.
"Yes, Berkhiv has a strategic position. Whoever captures Berkhiv would most likely win this civil war!" said the Snover.
"We can't jus sit here and let the dragons execute the fairies! I'm saving the fairies!" said Natalie angrily as she left.
"Wait Natalie, NO! Don't act recklessly, we are vastly outnumbered!" said Ryo. But it was too late. Natalie already left.
Darn, she acts without thinking! Her emotion beats her intellect! Thought Ryo.
"Renard! Stop Natalie! We can't fight all the dragons no matter how good we are!" said Akira.
"I'm on it!" said Renard.
At the village square, an alolan Ninetales, a Wigglytuff, and an Azumarill were tied to a pole and about to get executed. Natalie was fast, but Renard was faster. By the time Natalie arrived at the village square and was about to unsheathe her sword, Renard grabbed her by the hand.
"Don't do this Natalie! There are too many of them!" said Renard.
"Let go of me, Renard! Unhand me!" said Natalie.
"I can't see you die in a place like this! I'm not letting you go!" said the Jolteon as he grabbed Natalie's upper body.
"I SAID LET GO OF ME!" said Natalie. She tried to break free from the jolteon but she ended up tripping instead. Both Natalie and Renard were rolling on the ground after she tripped. Eventually, the Jolteon was on top of the Glaceon in an awkward position. Both of them blushed.
"Renard...are you trying to..." said Natalie.
"NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" said Renard.
"What are those two doing?" said one of the dragons.
"What do you think they are doing?" asked the other dragon (that was a rhetorical question).
"OH, GET A ROOM YOU TWO!" shouted a salamence as the other dragons laughed.
"I hate you...Renard...I really do..."said the glaceon as she blushed intensely.
"It was an accident!" said Renard, also blushing as hard as the glaceon.
While the dragons were laughing, an arrow was shot, hitting one of the dragons on the head.
"NO! Lieutenant Schwender is hit! We are under attack! Repeat, we are under attack!" said a fraxure.
The dragons did not realize that Berkhiv was located right at the bottom of a hill. On top of the hill, the soldiers of the separatist movement had placed ballista and archers. Now that the dragons were at the village square, they were showered with arrows from the hilltop.
"TAKE COVER!" said the dragons.
"All flygons and salamence! Attack the hill!" said the dragon captain.
As the flygons and salamence flew to the hill, jarl Articuno appeared and massacred them with the move blizzard.
"Natalie! We should take cover or we'll get hit too!" said Renard.
"I agree!" said Natalie as they both ran away from the battle field.
"Their air power has been neutralized! ALL GROUND TROOPS, ATTAAACK!!" said the Articuno as a huge number of sneasels charged at the dragons. A heated battle then raged between the dragons and the sneasels with heavy casualties on both sides.
"We should return to the inn!" said Renard.
"What about the fairies?!" asked Natalie
"Forget about them! I just want you to be safe!" said Renard.
As the two were back at the inn, Akira and the rest of the team were ready to leave the village.
"We must leave, NOW! Pack your things quickly!" said Akira.
"The villagers are evacuating, just follow the crowd!" said Brendan.
"No! I know a secret passage that will lead you out of this village. It is much safer and quicker!" said the Snover.
"Lead us!" said Akira.
The Snover led the team to an abandoned house. The abandoned house had a basement that was connected to an underground tunnel. Since the tunnel was dark, Alicia set her stick alight so the rest of the team could see where they were going. As they were in the underground tunnel, the ground is shaking.
"What is happening up there?" asked William.
"This is getting scary...just keep moving!" said Brendan.
Meanwhile, the snow on the streets of Berkhiv turned red with blood. Many dragons died in the battle. They were not expecting a surprise attack at all. However, there were many dead sneasels too, since the dragons fought back ferociously. When it seemed that the dragons were losing the battle, suddenly Latios arrived. Knowing that there were many sneasels and other separatist movement soldiers in the village, Latios decided to sacrifice his own troops and used the move draco meteor to destroy the whole village from above, killing all the pokemon who were in the range of the meteor's impact, including the innocent civilians.
"Well, if you can't capture the village, destroy it..." said Latios.
"We meet again at last, Latios..." said jarl Articuno.
"Ah..yes...Jarl Articuno. How brave of you to come here and participate in the battle..." said Latios.
"True king fights with his people. I'm not a coward like Lord Alexandrovich. You should know that I'm one of the few non psychic type pokemon who can read minds. And I also can use the move sheer cold, which is a one hit ko attack. I can defeat you easily..."said jarl Articuno to Latios.
"We shall see about that!" said Latios.
Then, the two pokemon read each other's mind, but both of them were having the exact same thoughts, which were: What is my opponent thinking? They didn't move for about five minutes. Then, Lord Articuno realized that Latios was just buying time for the reinforcements to arrive. A few moments later, dozens of Skarmorys came flying to attack jarl Articuno. They were mercenaries from Norvegr and Volucris, the allies of Drachenberg.
"Damn! I can't fight all these Skarmorys! You have not seen the last of me, LATIOS!" said the Articuno as he used the move mist and retreated.
"Pursue the Articuno! Don't let him escape!" said Latios.
As the Skarmorys were trying to attack the fleeing Articuno, the separatist movement soldiers on the hilltop were firing their arrows on the Skarmorys, distracting them, allowing the Articuno to vanish between the clouds. The angered Latios then ordered the skarmory to slaughter the archers on the hilltop and they were successful. All of the archers died and all the ballista were destroyed. The battle of Berkhiv was finished. The dragons were victorious despite the heavy losses. After the battle had ended, a tall and muscular garchomp with a scar on his face arrived. It was general Giraldo Westerling, currently the strongest dragon general.
"You are late, general. The battle is already over..." said Latios.
"You didn't save some for me, minister Latios?" asked Giraldo.
"Unfortunately... no..." said Latios.
"How about the fairies? Where are they?" asked Giraldo.
"Dead...just search between the rubble. You'll find them in no time..." said Latios.
"Why did you have to destroy the entire village?!" asked Giraldo.
"I had no choice. We were losing the battle..." said Latios.
"By the way, I have heard that there are knights from Arcadius travelling to Avangard. Shall we find and execute them?" Said Giraldo.
"We'll execute them of course, but it is not our job to capture them..." said Latios.
"Allow me to capture them, minister!" said Giraldo.
"No...Don't do it or you'll mess up the grand plan that lord Zekrom has devised" said Latios.
"Alright, fine. Have it your way, minister..." said Giraldo.
When the draco meteor hit the ground, the impact of the meteor could be felt by the members of the knight's guild, who were in the underground tunnel. It was like a huge earthquake. Akira was glad that the team was protected from the draco meteor that minister Latios used to destroy the village.
"We can't thank you enough, Snover..." said Akira.
"Don't mention it. Now if you go straight, you will arrive at the city of Moberec. This city is only 5 miles away from Zverev. Just keep going straight!" said the Snover.
"How about you?" said Ryo.
"I'll return to Berkhiv to find survivors...Now go! Don't worry about me..." said the Snover.
The team eventually reached the city of Moberec. It was a huge and beautiful city. The city looked very safe; however, they did not know that it was secretly controlled by the dusk tribe. As they arrived at the city, they found an inn and Akira decided that the team should stay overnight before continuing their journey to Zverev. From the moment the team set foot in the city, the dusk tribe members were already spying on them.
"Welcome to Moberec, a city so beautiful, that it is called 'the jewel of Avangard!' Are you people tourists?" said the inn keeper, who was a Mr. Rime.
"No, we are not tourists. What kind of tourists travel to a kingdom that is at war?" said William.
"So why do you travel to Avangard then?" said the inn keeper.
"That is none of your business. We just want to spend the night in this inn." Said Akira to the innkeeper.
"Are you sure? Why don't you people also go sightseeing and marvel at the beautiful architectures and wonderful scenery? Oh, and Moberec is famous for its delicious snow cone." said the innkeeper.
"I wanna go sightseeing!" said Julius the eevee.
"Sure, we'll go sightseeing together..." said Natalie.
"Wait, don't go sightseeing. I have a bad feeling about this city..." said Akira.
"Don't worry sir, this city is completely safe! I can guarantee it!" said the inn keeper.
Akira and Natalie looked at each other before the Lucario spoke.
"Okay then...you two can go sightseeing. But be back before dusk..." said Akira.
"Yaay! Sightseeing!" said the five-year-old eevee.
And thus, Natalie and Julius went sightseeing (For those who struggle to imagine the beauty of Moberec; it is like Paris, but in Switzerland minus the Eiffel tower. Moberec is filled with palaces and castles with stunning architecture like Paris, and it is also surrounded by mountains and rivers like Switzerland, so the view is spectacular). Natalie and Julius spent hours walking around the city, not realizing that the dusk tribe got their eyes on them. Eventually, they stopped by a lake full of Swannas and found a snow cone shop near the lake. Julius then sat on a bench to enjoy the view of the lake.
"Natalie...can you please buy me some snow cones before we go back? ... I want some..." said the eevee.
"But the line is so long..." said the glaceon.
"It's okay...I can wait..." said the eevee.
"Fine. Wait here while I'm buying the snow cone" said the glaceon as she left the eevee on the bench. This was a fatal mistake.
After about twenty minutes of queuing, the glaceon finally bought the snow cone. But the eevee was no longer on the bench.
"Julius...Julius...Where are you?! JULIUS!" screamed Natalie, but Julius was nowhere to be found. He was gone.
Natalie went back to the inn.
"Guys! Julius has been kidnapped!" said Natalie.
"We know." Said Akira.
"How do you know?!" asked Natalie with a surprised look.
"This afternoon, while you two were gone, someone left a note on the inn door. Read it..." said Akira.
Dear travellers. We have been spying on you. As you may have guessed, we have kidnapped the eevee that is travelling along with you. He is now held hostage at the palace of Mezinec. If you want the eevee back, we are willing to trade the eevee with the jolteon. The jolteon must come alone to the palace of Mezinec, or else we will kill the eevee. Sincerely, Erik Douwes Dekker, the grandmaster of the dusk tribe.
"Why are they willing to trade Julius with Renard?" said Natalie.
"I don't know..." said Renard.
"Wait. I think I know...Do you still remember the Pangoro that you killed in the forest?" said Ryo.
"The one with the little zorua that disguised himself as a swampert? Yeah, I still remember." Said Renard.
"That Pangoro that you killed is a member of the dusk tribe, so they want you dead for killing him!" said the riolu.
"We all should try to rescue Julius!" said Natalie.
"I don't think so" said Brendan.
"That little eevee is a burden from the start. He makes things complicated. I think we should all forget about the eevee and focus on our real mission, which is to retrieve the icicle plate. The eevee's parents may already be dead by now. Who agrees with me?" said William.
"I agree..." said Brendan.
"Me too," said Akira. When hearing that, Natalie broke down in tears. Renard could not bear seeing Natalie crying.
"Hey...Don't cry Natalie..." said Renard.
"...I love Julius like my own child...Now he is gone..." said Natalie.
All the guild members didn't know how much Natalie was emotionally attached to the eevee.
"Okay then. I'll rescue Julius! This is my fault after all." said Renard.
"You will?" asked Natalie.
"Of course. I'll do anything for you because I love you!" said Renard.
"You guys wait here. If I'm not back by tomorrow morning, go on without me...Ryo, any advice?" said Renard.
"Ummm... Well... all I can say is...when you are cornered, pretend inferiority and encourage your opponents' arrogance. That is all from me..." said Ryo.
"Thank you, Ryo, now I will leave" said Renard as he left.