"Sharp eye!" Shalin cheered, letting Julia lead the way as she would proceed to open the door to an abandoned kitchen. In spaces so narrow, Shalin had little choice but to dismount and withdraw her Pyroar. There was plenty of visible evidence of large quantities of food having rotted away in cupboards and the like, though the lack of a pungent odor indicated it had completely dissolved away a long time ago. If Julia and Shalin were to search the cupboards further, they would find, among ordinary sets of flatware, two antique sets with what they could presume were names engraved on them, though they were in a script Shalin had never seen before. The wear on them didn't help identification matters, either. They did look extremely valuable, though, prompting Shalin to scoop up a set of them.

You obtained a set of ANTIQUE FLATWARE! These exquisite dining utensils were once used by the family of a monarch. They can be sold at a very high price to shops.

"What a pay day this is gonna wind up being," Shalin chirped with a wide grin. "We find more of this stuff, you'll be able to retire as a Ranger!" Taking special care to store them in a special place in her backpack, as condition mattered a lot for value with these types of finds, Shalin continued to explore the kitchen area. Why was it so hot in here? The stove clearly hadn't been used in ages!

She took a peek out the north windows, giving her a stunning view of a large courtyard in that direction. There were life-sized statues of large Pokémon, evidence of a hedge garden, athletic courts, and such. The courtyard walkways were also surrounded by bubbling, glowing, red-and-orange goop, the entire place wavering with the radiating heat that felt like standing next to a powerful space heater from their great distance away. While there was a staircase leading down to the courtyard, going down there would be a death wish. "Holy..." Shalin gasped. "Julia, you see this? How in the world are we gonna get through that?" If the Ranger was being observant, she would notice several dormant Polteageist on top of a counter in the corner of the room.

Seeing little choice, Shalin left the food preparation area, doubling back to the hallway and to the staircase overflowing with cold mist. "Get Momo ready..." she mumbled, sending Kiara back out, this time leaving the lion's reins hooked to the end of her saddle. Shalin climbed on and bravely led the way upstairs, glad she buried her hands in her ride's red, glowing mane. Its interior was almost uncomfortably hot, but it was what she had to do to keep warm up there!

At the top of the staircase, Shalin had to use the explorers' last key to proceed. What she saw beyond the locked door broke her poor mind: the two were standing on a massive pillar of ice, a bridge to nowhere built off its northeast corner. There was seemingly nothing supporting its opposite end; furthermore, a large block of NEVER MELT ICE, easily larger than either Shalin or Julia individually, was apparently floating in midair, as was a metal treasure box in the opposite corner. The void below was not solid white, but instead a wavering, Pidgeot's-eye view of the blazing courtyard they previously had a side view of from the kitchen.

Surrounding the pillar's south and west edges was a thin, translucent, cubic dome of ice. The interior was hollow, allowing Pokémon and their trainers to walk through it. It was difficult to tell what was on the other side of the wall, but anyone who looked through those ice walls would be able to confirm the presence of same ice block they had seen from the west wing, as well as the wavering image of the courtyard. It, too, seemed to be floating in midair. The Pokémon that fueled this trickery had to be incredibly powerful. "Julia, might need your help again. Take out your Lazuli Lens again and let me know what you see."

The whole landscape this far above Mount Chimney was surreal. How did a place like this even exist, to begin with? It was truly as the inscription in the Halls of Origin said: the medallion was locked away inside of a mystic palace erected in defiance of reality. This certainly fit. A palace that was blazing hot on one side and ice cold on the other... on top of the obvious environmental hazards, bringing a Pokémon team appropriate for the area would be an obstacle, too. "So a trick of light laid within a second trick of light..." Shalin trailed off. "I was never a believer in how advanced ancient civilization was until now. If you were to tell anyone academic that something like this existed, they'd call you crazy. Legendary Pokémon or no."

Julia was right, too: if she was the only one that could see, then the whole process got way more complicated. "Alright, but you make sure to be as clear as possible, okay?" Very few things made Shalin truly scared, but this was one of them. The surface would be icy and slick, so she couldn't cross too quickly. At the very least, she could see the ice blocks, and moving them along the frozen surface would be easy, even if she couldn't see it directly.

Following Julia's directions carefully, Shalin sunk the first ice block into its slot, watching it vanish beneath the illusion of the floor below. A full thirty seconds later, a gigantic explosion boomed from beneath Shalin, knocking her and possibly Julia off balance, but was otherwise okay. With Julia's continued guidance, Shalin bravely pressed on, passing in front of and cracking open a small, but ornate, blue-and-yellow chest containing something very important: a golden key with a male Pyroar's head engraved at its top.

You obtained the BOSS KEY! Now you can get into the chamber where the Boss lurks.

Moving ever forward, she continued to put her trust in the Ranger, who guided her across invisible walkways, around invisible ice walls, and through false walls. Each dropped ice block was followed by an equally loud explosion. It was painstaking work, but the two were able to combine brawn with brains and return to visible ground safely. Shalin was shaking and shivering, both from the cold and from fright. "Arceus, Julia... it's not you, just that may have been the scariest thing I've ever done. How about we get back to solid ground?" Provided Julia agreed to get out of this icebox, Shalin would lead the way back downstairs. "I saw one other ledge beyond where you could see everything, but it led to nothing. If we have to go there, we'll come back later. I would hope not, though."

The two retraced their steps to the kitchen, where the landscape had been completely transformed. Evidence of violent explosions from the ice blocks and magma mixing with one another could be seen all over the courtyard. The lids of three large treasure chests had been blown off their hinges. With the Never Melt Ice having having frozen each of the bubbling pools of molten rock, the courtyard was now safe to cross. Each of the ruined chests contained various relics of the civilization responsible for the palace's creation. While they wouldn't be helpful within the palace itself, the money they could fetch from the right people would be a payday well beyond what either had expected.

The real prize, of course, was beyond the courtyard, and beyond a large, ornate locked door that looked like the golden key Shalin had found would fit into perfectly. She heard, and Julia could have heard if she was listening, a pair of Ninetales cries: one Kantonian, and one Alolan. "I know it just sounds like Ninetales, but take it from my experience: what's guardian the Medallions is anything but ordinary. Make sure your Pokémon are battle ready. It's gonna get rough in there. Trust me."

Shalin had quite a bit of preparation to do before opening the ornate lock before them. She briefly sent out her Milotic and Pyroar to hand them the Ice Gem and Fire Gem they had found previously, followed by Queen Zing, who clasped the Occa Berry between her mandibles. "Alright, ready when you are." The girl withdrew the Beedrill and Milotic, then reached up to unlock the double-door. She creaked it open enough for Kiara to barge through it the rest of the way after she mounted up.

Once she confirmed Julia was ready, Shalin and her lioness mount sprung through the doors, her mount's footing put to the ultimate test when she unexpectedly went sliding on a pillar of Never Melt Ice. There were nine of them in total in the shape of a regular diamond, among them channels of bubbling magma they would have to jump over to traverse them! Though the elements had violently mixed in the courtyard, the fire-and-ice did not clash here!

From the mist on the opposite sounded two familiar Ninetales cries. It was obvious from the silhouettes' shapes that one was Kantonian and one was Alolan. There was something off about them, which became apparent when both leaped to the center ice platform. There were people riding these giant Ninetales, and they each wore a crown and wielded a scepter. The middle-aged male, astride the Kantonian Ninetales, waved his scepter toward Julia and her Pokémon, a burst of MYSTICAL FIRE headed toward them. Likewise, the middle-aged female, riding the Alolan Ninetales, waved hers at Shalin and Kiara, trying to freeze them both in a gale of FROST BREATH. Once the attacks were discharged, the female and her arctic fox pranced about the ice platforms, while the male's fiery fox ran across the magma's surface like it were solid ground.

FROST BREATH's odd property of piercing natural armor and inflicting most of its damage beneath the surface was an effective means of attack against the fire-type. Shalin was shivering; she felt like she was freezing from the inside out. Sitting astride Kiara was keeping her warm enough to keep fighting, but it felt like she was on the second floor of the palace as the freezing breath passed through her. "K-Kiara, FLAMETHROWER the other Ninetales!" The fire breath split the ice breath right in half, baking the Alolan fox and the legs of the rider astride it.

Both the Ninetales did indeed flinch, the attacks against them being as effective as one would expect. The people astride them, though, didn't react nearly as harshly as they should have. Just as Shalin was about to prepare a counterattack against her mounted foe, the nine pillars of ice rocketed toward the ceiling and the brilliant white skyline. The vision of every person and Pokémon faded to white as their heads touched the ceiling, the sense of high heat reversing to bitter cold as the white veil faded to freezing walls similar to the palace's second floor.

Where there were once magma channels, there were now narrow crosswalks of ice, and the ice pillars they once stood on were surrounded by bubbling magma. It was a mirror image of the room they had just been in. Furthermore, those pillars were sinking, and fast! Shalin aggressively flicked Kiara's reins to land on one of the ice catwalks, the lioness' sharp claws giving her surefootedness on the slick surface.

Within the cold, the true identities of the Ninetales' riders were revealed: a Unovan Zoroark on the fire-type, and a Hisuian Zoroark on the ice-type. The Mystical Fire and Frost Breath had actually come from the two foxes, ILLUSION masking their source. The foxes continued belching fire and ice all over Shalin, Julia, and their Pokémon, but they also now had to contend with NIGHT DAZE and BITTER MALICE from the riders.

The explorers' plight was becoming increasingly dire.

The FROST BREATH and NIGHT DAZE combination attack took Kiara down, leaving Shalin worse for wear, too. Unable to handle any more, the lioness collapsed, her sharp claws keeping the duo from sliding into a magma channel. She sent out the next warmest Pokémon she had, her Wyrdeer, but it just wasn't the same as having the blazing mane floating around her body. The psychic-type harnessed Shalin up with one PSYSHIELD and started performing ramming attacks toward the other, trying to wear the swift mounts down. Progress was slow, though, as the Ninetales had a marked speed advantage.

As a crossfire of attacks was headed Prance's way, the normal-type raised a second PSYSHIELD to defend against the elemental attacks. By a stroke of luck, she was not only able to keep her rider safe, but bounce the ice fox's FROST BREATH at the fire one! A whimper-like screech was a sign of a heavy blow! "I think it's working! Julia, see if you can reflect their attacks back at the opposite one!"

Meanwhile, the icy ground began to shake again, signaling that the battleground was about to shift again. The ground beneath them was sinking, other than the familiar ice pillars rising out of the magma again. Under normal circumstances, such elements could not coexist. Whatever paranormal or divine power that made this possible was serious business...

After the two explorers had baited the again-disguised foxes and their Ninetales mounts into attacking each other, they became a lot more coordinated. They spurred their vulpine mounts to higher speeds, leaping back and forth among the ice platforms much faster than before. A light mist filled the room from the collision of fire and ice attacks, reducing visibility but not cripplingly so. As Shalin was focusing on lining up her Wyrdeer for a PSYSHIELD BASH on the fairy fox, a ball of MYSTICAL FIRE struck Prance from behind, the rider able to immediately feel the mental hold on her being released. Seconds later, she made an emergency dismount and recalled her.

As the intense battle raged on, Shalin remembered her past battles. She recalled how she needed Z-Power to defeat Letheia, the giant Alolan Ninetales she cherished riding. She needed Mega Evolution to defeat the Alpha Tsaarena alongside Ashley Shepard . As much as she didn't want to bring out her Beedrill, she had little choice. The hot-and-cold environment would be hostile to her, but if the past held true, she needed the power of PRIMAL ENERGY to defeat the foxes.

The girl released Queen Zing from her Poké Ball, still somewhat hurt from their escape of the superheated room in the west wing. This time, though, she had a lot more space to work with, as long as she didn't descend too close to the lava. Mounting up, she snapped the cocoon of the Beedrill's saddle in place. She firmly held her insect's reins with her left hand and pinched the first two fingers of her right hand against the KEY STONE of the MEGA CIRCLET on her head, both of them engulfed in the light of MEGA EVOLUTION.



The Beedrill's gentle demeanor fell completely to the wayside as primal instinct took over. "WhOoOoOoOa thEeEeEeEre, girRrRrRl!" she cried, her voice badly distorted as the now-larger wasp's wings churned much faster and louder than they did before. Queen Zing zipped around the bubbling battleground, her rider looking visibly distraught trying to control her. Ramming into the wintry fox, she POISON JABbed with all four of her stings.

The pinned Pokémon struggled against the Mega Beedrill drunk with Primal Energy, but in futility. She rapidly plunged and retracted her deadly rear barb into the two foes over and over, then delivered a deep sting with it and vibrated as hard as she could. Shalin let out a loud cry of her own as she found herself rocked by the power-tripped Beedrill's shaking. Every hair on her body stood on end. If Julia caught a glimpse of the brutality, she would likely be able to notice her friend's Pokémon visibly shaking.