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All was quiet within the Hall of Origin.
Arceus--the main resident of the aforementioned Hall--lay prone on one of the numerous pillars supporting the space, his eyes closed and head bowed. To mortals, it appeared as though he was simply resting--or doing nothing, but that was far from the truth. He lay there deep in thought; his thoughts drifting over all his creations--his children, spread far and wide on this humble little planet called Earth. He heeded their cries, their joys, and all of their hopes and dreams--and as they flowed through his mind, he spent small motes of his power to protect them and enrich their lives.
This was the job of the Creation Pokemon, and Arceus could not think of leaving his post for anything else. It was what he was deigned to do--others simply could not comprehend the magnitude of his task, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
That didn't mean he was shackled to his job, no. It was simply something that he had done for millennia, and would continue to do so for all of eternity, so as long as life existed.
A mental ping arose in the back of his mind, rousing him from his task. One of his children had arrived in the Hall of Origin, and was making their way to him.
A god he was, he was still bound by the laws of time and space--thus there were many tasks he delegated to the rest of his more powerful creations. The humans called his pantheon members "Legendary Pokemon", and Arceus supposed the term fit rather nicely. Time, Space, Truth, Ideals, even Life and Death; there were a great deal of concepts he had passed down to numerous Pokemon, who did a far better job regulating them than he could himself.
"A-Arceus!" A childlike voice echoed from down the hall. It sounded like one of the Mythical Pokemon, which was only slightly unusual. They rarely visited him in the Hall, preferring to take orders from the numerous other senior members of the pantheon. Arceus knew he was somewhat unapproachable to his weaker children--spoken objectively, as Arceus liked to believe he offered all Pokemon the same chances.
A small mass of green sped into the room, stopping only upon a few metres away from Arceus himself. Arceus recognized the Pokemon as Celebi; the guardian of Itex Forest, who possessed the ability to travel through time. Already predicting the topic of what was to come, Arceus allowed himself to hop down from his pillar to greet the fairy eye-to-eye. His suspicions were confirmed when another mass--this one predominately blue and silver and massively dwarfing the green fairy--lumbered into his field of vision.
"Father." Dialga spoke reverently, as the entity of time itself made his way towards the creation deity. Arceus allowed himself a quick familial gesture with one of his eldest sons, before getting down to the root of the conversation.
"Rise, my child." Arceus calmly addressed Celebi, who was already prostrating before him. If this situation seemed as dire to require the attention of two time deities, then there was no time to be wasted. "What seems to be the problem?"
The fairy slowly, sluggishly rose, before uttering in a tone that sent chills down Arceus' spine. "G-gone. So many gone..." Now that Arceus was closer, he could see that Celebi was not her usual self. Every time his Mythical children visited him, they were playful and filled to the brim with cheer, a stark contrast from his much older, gruffer children. Celebi appeared... catatonic. Her pupils were shrunk, her breathing was erratic, and her gaze stared off into the distance. What did the Forest Guardian see that left her in such a state?
Dialga cleared his throat, directing Arceus' attention away from Celebi. "What she means... is that something incredibly dire will occur a few weeks from now." Dialga's red eyes narrowed. "And there appears to be no way of stopping it."
Arceus' eyes widened imperceptibly. To anyone inexperienced in studying facial expressions, especially that of godly qilins--they wouldn't have noticed a thing. But to his oldest children, that expression meant worry. "Are you sure?"
"Out of several million possibilities, I'm sure." Dialga looked away, focusing on a non-descript patch of the darkened Hall. "But that is everything I see in my immediate vision. It seems I will have to use more power to run through other timelines, and see if there is a way out of this predicament."
Arceus paused, absorbing the information. He trusted his eldest children the most, and if Dialga believed it so then it was almost certainly true.
"Then you shall go do that. I will inform Palkia, and let him know not to disturb you unless absolutely necessary." His other elder son, Palkia--the ruler of Space, had a rivalry with Dialga--and that wasn't counting Giratina, his other elder son who controlled the Antimatter domain. The three quarrelled often, and Arceus tolerated it as long as their fights didn't endanger other lifeforms. In this kind of situation however, Arceus had to put his hoof down, and let Dialga use his powers in peace.
"In the meantime, I will call up all my available children. They will also want to know of this."
-----
A few moments--or hours later--it was difficult to tell how time flowed in the Hall of Origin--a minute could last an eon and years could flow by like seconds--the Hall was filled with the cries of Legendary and Mythical Pokemon alike. They had all arrived after hearing Arceus' divine summon, and were eagerly waiting to hear what the Pokemon of Creation was about to announce that required all to be present.
"A pity. I was just in the middle of testing some interesting humans." Virizion spoke with a small semblance of annoyance. A member of the Musketeer trio (technically a quartet, but Keldeo was still young and independent), Virizion enjoyed duelling with humans and their Pokemon teams--both to shape herself up, and simply for company with the few humans she deemed worthy. She had still answered the call, knowing that the Creation god's summon was far more important than her own affairs.
Mewtwo scoffed. "All you do is romp around with humans." The Genetic Pokemon had less than stellar experiences with humans. His very existence was proof of humanity's unbound desire for power, and a brief while acting as a tool for a band of evil humans had ended with all of them dead, with Mewtwo himself desiring revenge against humanity. A miraculous human changed his heart, however, and Mewtwo's bloodlust faded. Nowadays he kept himself secluded to mountains and caves, not wanting to associate with anybody.
"Humans or not, this must be an important announcement if our God has summoned for all of us." Xerneas-- the embodiment of Life, spoke with a neutral tone. He too had memorable experiences with humans. His eyes were opened to man's dual nature, and of how a species could be equally capable of both compassion and destruction.
A few quiet murmurs--about as quiet as can be when so many powerful entities were crammed in the same space--hushed when Arceus teleported into the middle of the Hall. The Hall's space-defying structure had grown to accommodate them all. Arceus' pointed glare quieted any further noise, then he began.
"Children. You are all wondering why I summoned you here." Arceus touched down on the ground, looking up at some of his taller creations. Even with the difference in height, the tallest of them knew what it meant to be standing in Arceus' presence. "Many of you were possibly in the middle of something--resting, saving lives, or ensuring your domains remained 'pure'." He kept quiet on the last statement, looking at some of the deities whose 'keeping pure' meant killing any living being who trespassed on their domain.
"Something big will happen soon, and I'm afraid it's not for the better." Arceus punctuated his speech with a tap of his hoof, gauging the expressions on the various Pokemon. "One of our Mythical Pokemon, Celebi--with the aid of my son, Dialga," Arceus paused, studying the collection of Legendary Pokemon. Both of the aforementioned Pokemon were not present; Dialga was secluded in a chamber, peering into various timelines to find a possible solution. The guardian of Time did not usually do this, as his algorithmic mind often found all possible solutions within moments. This time, he was attempting to bruteforce the very fabric of time itself, trying to find a solution that was as elusive as Quick Powder.
As for Celebi... Arceus had excused the fairy from attendance. She was a complete wreck, barely responding to any input, weakly fluttering about beside Dialga as her only lifeline.
Arceus cleared his throat again, and dropped the bomb. "They have reported--in about two week's time, over half of all Pokemon lifeforms will cease to exist."
The outcry was immediate. "What!?" Cried Xerneas. The life-aligned deity was enraged, a rare expression from the usually calm Pokemon.
"Over half... of all life?" His counterpart, Yveltal, silently mused. The destruction deity did not sound pleased. Although his domain was death and destruction, even he was surprised at the level of callous extinction.
The other deities were also troubled. "This cannot be." Reshiram spoke, his blue eyes burning bright with emotion. "This must be a mistake, surely there must be an error in your... son's vision?" He didn't dare imply the creator himself erred.
"This is a load of trash!" Lugia spat. "Over half of all life!? What can be powerful enough to do that in a single day?"
Half the deities in the room had the decency to look sheepish. Many of the deities-- empowered with the right tools, could potentially destroy the planet with their power.
"And that's why we're here, right?" Zekrom spoke up, his red eyes shifting around. "We're here to find out who would do such a thing, and stop them before they rise."
At Zekrom's statement, the roomful of deities began eyeing each other distrustfully, trying to judge who had the thought of going ahead with such a plan. A great deal of eyes were on Yveltal and Necrozma, who both vehemently denied such accusations.
"Enough of this, QUIET!" Arceus spoke up. The room immediately hushed, the tense silence giving way to unease. Arceus cleared his throat, indicating he was about to launch into a tirade again. "I brought you all here with the express purpose of working together." At everyone's evident confusion, Arceus continued. "From what my son has told me, the so-called 'extinction' will happen at once. Furthermore, none of you are the perpetrators."
Everyone relaxed slightly at Arceus' words, but the tension was still there. "How do you know it won't be one of us?" Groudon rumbled, testing the waters. Powered up with the Red Orb, Groudon knew he could cause massive devastation if he so desired.
Arceus hummed. "Dialga's visions are absolute. Even in all his visions, none of you have the power and time to eradicate half the Pokemon in existence almost instantly. Even you, Yveltal." The Destruction Pokemon bore mixed feelings; relief that he wouldn't ever cause such an extinction-level event, and irritation that he wasn't strong enough to cause such an extinction-level event.
"I brought you all here so you may combine your esoteric powers and domains, to try and identify a solution to our problem." Arceus continued. "It is for the sake of all Pokemon, that we gods discover a solution for all of us." A glower graced the creation deity, though not directed at any Pokemon. "Because if we fail, we will perish as well."
The temperature seemingly plummeted several degrees; none of which was caused by the several ice-type deities in the room. "Us, die?" Ho-oh asked. It was not a cry of indignation, but simple curiosity. Only a few deities in the room had actually died, but were resurrected--yet none of them ever entertained the idea that they could permanently disappear.
"Yes. Even though we may appear to be eternal, one day we may still be struck down." Arceus let out a humourless laugh. "It seems--that after all this time, there was in fact a power even we cannot reach."
Scared expressions flittered around the room, and half the Pokemon seemed ready to lash out in fear. Arceus realized if he didn't do something, chaos would break out.
"Now everyone, let it be said that we cannot surrender. Hope remains, and we must use all the time we have at our disposal to attain a solution." He was never one for giving motivational speeches; that was more the Mythicals' jobs--but he had to try anyway. "We are Legendaries. We are eternal in the eyes of both humans and fellow Pokemon, and we cannot lose this battle to despair."
Out of the corner of his eye, a pink shape floated up beside Arceus. "He's right!" Mesprit chirped. The Emotion Pokemon waved its stubby hands around, attracting the attention of all the deities in the room. "Who are we if we simply give up and let this claim us? We're better than that!"
Arceus could see a few heads (and bodies, for those lacking), bobbing up and down in agreement. One by one the deities began to settle down, a grim but surefire determination brewing in each Pokemon's soul.
"Thank you, Mesprit." Arceus spoke. The Emotion Pokemon appeared pleased, and flew back down to join its sisters. "That goes for all of you. Now go to your chambers--or each others, if you're ready to collaborate--and see what you can come up with."
With a stamp of his hooves, Arceus dismissed the meeting. The roomful of apprehensive Legendaries slowly broke up, walking/flying/stomping off to their designated chambers. The chambers were specifically created by Arceus and tailor-made to suit their vast powers, and only existed when the aforementioned Legendary was present.
"Mew. Jirachi. Shaymin. Victini." Arceus addressed the Mythicals who were hovering around, not yet ready to leave. They appeared to have something to say.
"Umm, how is *yawn* Celebi?" Jirachi yawned as she spoke. She had been roused from a thousand-year sleep, hence the tired look in her eyes. The Mythicals all knew each other, and often played together whenever they were awake, free or simply around at the time.
A soft look graced Arceus' features (which was hard to tell when your face consisted of only eyes and a hidden mouth). "She is currently resting in Dialga's chambers." The Mythicals perked up upon hearing that, and Arceus knew they wanted to see their friend. "Go, console her. She's had a difficult experience." He indulged.
The Mythicals flew off after a quick thank-you, and Arceus was once again left alone.
Without any other creature to see him, Arceus allowed himself to pace around the Hall restlessly. He hadn't withheld much from his Legendaries--he believed the combinatorial explosion of powers his children held could eventually resolve their issue, given time. The problem was that they did not have much time on their hands. Despite his elder son's time powers, one could not simply make more time without seriously affecting the stability of the time stream. Dialga was also busy focusing his power on his search, and he literally had no time to do anything else.
Arceus thought of the other reason he summoned so many Legendary Pokemon to his Hall. If worst came to worst and they truly ran out of time, then all their powers were in easy reach, enough for him to quickly apply Dialga's knowledge--if he found one--without wasting any time. It was a dire situation, but the ends truly justified the means in this case.
Arceus let out a huff of air, then returned to his position on the pillar. It was time to begin experimenting himself...
-----
"Shaaaaymin! Where are you?" Mew flew around the room lazily, attempting to locate the grassy hedgehog.
Two weeks passed by in a blink, and Arceus was desperate for answers. He had summoned everyone from their chambers, awaiting what they had cooked up to stave off their fates.
Ho-oh and Xerneas had created the most promising plan; they had supercharged Ho-oh's legendary Sacred Ash into a substance that could revive even the dead--but only as long as they had a thread of life still clinging to them. The problem of supply remained; Ho-oh could not create enough for half the lifeforms on the planet, so they had tried to seek other legendaries in an attempt to duplicate the substance.
The others had much lesser successes. Yveltal could undo destruction to an extent, but the scale was too much for one Pokemon to handle, and even an infusion of knowledge from Uxie couldn't help the others with their issues. Things were looking grim, but Arceus dared not say that lest he demotivate them.
Arceus massaged his temples with his hooves. "Thank you for the demonstration, Suicune." The Aurora Pokemon bowed, then hopped away. Another failure, and they seemed to have hit a brick wall in regards to progress.
"Um, have any you seen Mew?" Meloetta hopped around, asking various Pokemon on the whereabouts of her friend. No one gave any meaningful answers, leaving the diminutive singer to continue the search on her own.
"It has been almost two weeks, Father." Palkia rumbled, standing by Arceus' side. He, like all the others, had spent the time experimenting with his power. Putting aside his rivalry with Giratina, the two tried various different combinations with their respective powers of Space and Antimatter. Dialga was still in his chambers, nothing to report as he stewed away in silence attempting to find a solution that would work, to the last second if possible.
"I know." Arceus replied tiredly. He technically didn't need to sleep, but two weeks of fussing over his children and calming bruised egos from them all being in such close proximity had extracted much out of him. He himself had experimented; simulating entire universes whose populations would suddenly halve, and applied numerous divine interventions to determine their success rates. He had found that while he could recreate the lives lost, they simply weren't the same beings. They had no soul, and memories were a poor substitute--as he and the Lake Trio had found out.
"Hey, where'd Meloetta go?" Magearna chirped robotically, waddling around the roomful of legendaries and similarly not receiving any answers.
Arceus was vaguely aware of how much time they still had, but he would still rather a solution be found soon. He was reserving Dialga's power in case they failed; Dialga would go back in time with all the knowledge accrued, and they would try again.
Palkia looked back down, his gaze unreadable. "Do you truly think Dialga will find a solution, with the deadline fast approaching?" Whether he was jealous or commending his brother was a mystery to all.
Arceus blinked. He truly believed that with enough time, anything could be solved. But as Palkia stated; the writing was already on the wall, and there was a good chance they would fail.
Arceus could not give up. This world was his domain, and he'd be damned if he let anything happen to his precious children. At the same time, however, the Alpha Pokemon felt so tired...
"Magearna! There you are!" Keldeo trotted over to the metallic Pokemon. "I can't find any of our fri-"
Gasps filled the air as the Colt Pokemon stopped talking, only to start again with a voice filled with terror. "WHA-WHAT'S HAPPENING!?"
The Pokemon closest to Keldeo stepped back in surprise. Arceus couldn't see from his spot, and quickly sped off towards the altercation. When he arrived, however, all that remained was a pile of ash, itself quickly disappearing.
Keldeo. Arceus realized the ash was Keldeo, and knew the extinction-level event was beginning. But how!? I thought we had more time than that!
Arceus summoned his otherworldly powers of creation in an attempt to bring the equine Pokemon back--but was left flummoxed as his own powers failed.
"This-this is impossible." Arceus muttered to himself, even as Ho-oh flew down and spread the empowered Sacred Ash over where Keldeo had been. It, too, proved to be ineffective as the Ash remained inert.
"Keldeo!" Cobalion, as well as the rest of the Musketeers galloped over to where Keldeo disappeared. He ineffectively pawed the ground, a look of despair upon his face as Terrakion and Virizion adopted similar expressions.
"Do something!" Terrakion yelled at Arceus, temporarily forgetting who he was yelling at. Arceus would have commended Terrakion another time for his ability to stand up to him, but Arceus could only stare, too embroiled with the failure of his own powers to care about the lack of decorum.
"It's happening again!" A voice yelled, this time belonging to Volcanion. He pointed above, where the remaining Legendaries could only watch in horror as Moltre's left wing began to disintegrate into ash--sending the phoenix into a downward spiral. He had turned into dust before his body hit the ground.
Panic and fear were clearly on the faces of the gathered Legendaries. They had just witnessed one of their own--an eternal, undying presence--fade away into embers, possibly never to return.
"Everyone! Please calm down!" Reshiram unsuccessfully tried to bring order as the legendary deities were brought down upon their metaphorical knees in despair.
"How much time has passed!?" Thundurus bellowed. "HOW MUCH TIME HAS PASSED!?" He bellowed again, his personality becoming his namesake. The genie looked ready to explode, before a portal began to form above the mob of unruly Pokemon.
Dialga, along with Celebi clinging to his neck, burst from the portal, slamming down into the middle of the hall. The panic subsided temporarily as they all took a look at the temporal Pokemon, and expectantly demanded answers. Dialga was looking much worse for wear, panting heavily with a murderous expression levelled at anyone who dared look at him. He stomped the ground, looking at Arceus, then spoke.
"I have spent the last two weeks--exactly 341 hours and 17 minutes, going forward in time to view possible alternate realities. To see the outcomes of our problem." Dialga slowly raised a leg, showing everyone his slowly fading limb.
Before the concern could be vocalized, the world suddenly inverted in colour, before plunging into greys. Everyone but Dialga and Arceus were still moving. Dialga had stopped time for everyone but themselves, in an effort to stave off his ashen infection.
"How many did you see?" Arceus asked with a voice that poorly masked his worry.
"14,000,000,605." Dialga replied hurriedly. The time stop was having a visible effect on him, and he would not be able to maintain it much longer.
"And how many do we all survive?"
A long silence was all that filled the stopped time. Dialga craned his head, looking at the green fairy frozen in time clutching the air where Dialga had been a few seconds ago.
"One."
Arceus recognized that look. Dialga was planning to send Celebi back in time, to warn himself and Arceus of the impending threat. And as Dialga himself was currently fading, it was the only viable option left.
A pit formed at the bottom of his stomach as Arceus realized the implications. The Celebi he knew was not the one from two weeks ago--how many loops had Celebi gone through in order to warn them? And how many more would she continue to go through? For the first time in his life, Arceus felt the years bear down upon on him, sapping away his very soul. He would send a child--by his definition, as he was older than all of his children combined--into the past, where she would witness her fellow Legendaries die over and over again, only to be forced to see it again at the end of the loop. That explained why she appeared so heavily traumatized when Arceus first saw her.
A shuffling noise was heard, and in the silence of the stopped time Arceus turned to see Celebi, who had unfrozen herself from the frozen time. From her expression, Arceus realized she had heard everything as well.
"Please... I don't want to go, Dialga!" The time traveller pleaded with the master of time. "I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go..."
Dialga refused to look Celebi in the eye, as a portal suddenly appeared underneath the tearful fairy. With a simple motion, Celebi was swallowed up by the portal. Arceus refused to avert his eyes as he studied the expression of anguish right as Celebi disappeared from the timestream. This was far from the first morally grey thing he had witnessed, but this time it hit uncomfortably close to home.
Dialga shuddered as time resumed, and so did the infection. He was at his limit, and sadly turned his head to look at his fellow Legendaries one last time, who watched as the embodiment of time turned to dust.
"I'm sorry." Dialga's last words echoed. Arceus wasn't sure if it was directed at Celebi; for throwing her back into a cruel situation, or at Arceus himself; for failing him.
Arceus silently forgave his son--the odds were simply too against them.
Arceus surveyed the Hall with a sense of detachment, where several Legendaries were trying--and failing--to heal away the damage being done to their bodies.
The Musketeers were sitting down where Keldeo disappeared, expressions of anger and helplessness etched onto their faces as they themselves disappeared into dust. The Eon duo wailed, clutching each other tightly as they faded away together, not even leaving tears behind. The Aura trio watched their bodies fade into dust with a sense of detachment--they had witnessed and performed these acts upon others countless times, and now it was their turn to go. Ho-oh protectively clutched his legendary Beasts, as did Lugia with the two remaining Birds as they, too, faded into ash.
Even now, Arceus could feel the pleas for help coming from outside the Hall. An electric sheep cradled its head in fear of the unknown, as its life slipped away. A firey dragon mourned over the loss of its two brethren, wondering why he was spared. Even artificial Pokemon--straddling the line between living and non-living, emitted squeaks of terrified confusion as a trio of magnets lost cohesion and disappeared into the unknown.
And he couldn't do a thing to stop it.
So, is this the end for us? Arceus thought, hearing the despairing roars of the Weather trio as their bodies eroded away. This was not at all how he envisioned the pantheon would go down. We don't go out with a bang, but a with a whimper.
And for a moment, Arceus was ready to admit defeat.
No! There must be something that he could do!
With conviction born of desperation, Arceus pushed his Extremespeed to the limit as he sped his way towards another section of the hall, uncaring of the numerous bodies he had breezed through, scattering the dust everywhere.
There was only a snowball's chance in hell his plan would work--but Arceus was desperate, and his mind worked into overdrive as he pondered the next set of steps.
As Arceus accelerated faster, he remembered Dialga's words. Dialga had told him the extinction would target even the Legendaries--sparing none. The prediction was proving damningly accurate--the cries of the pantheon became quieter and quieter behind him. No Legendary Pokemon was safe, and it was only a matter of time before even he--the Creation Pokemon--would succumb to the same fates as his children.
Could he trust his mortal children? Arceus doubted it--for all their determination, they simply lacked the raw power to able to bring back their allies. And for all their technology, it was useless if humans could not even understand the cause of this cataclysm.
But... was there a common Pokemon, who didn't realize they were a Legendary?
Thinking back to a few years past, Arceus remembered one such Pokemon. The sad reality of his Legendaries was that they were old; hence their ideals tended to border on the ancient. Man-made Pokemon were frowned upon; man-made Legendary Pokemon even more so, as they were seemingly children of Man, not of Arceus. Arceus himself had been apprehensive until Mewtwo demonstrated his power, and grudgingly accepted him into his pantheon. Magearna followed soon after--several Legendaries found out the hard way not to underestimate its cute exterior.
The name of the being escaped Arceus, but he remembered his pantheon debating whether or not to let him in. They had put his invitation on the back burner; making up some excuse that they would take their time and observe him and his worthiness.
Right now, it was more crucial that Arceus found a way to contact him.
This was a forgotten section of the Hall--it was a stash of random objects, artifacts collected through the ages. When the world was still young, his children had conquered many human castles, fortifications and various other pieces of territory humans had claimed as their own. Now it was simply a junk pile; forgotten by the oldest Pokemon of his pantheon, and ignored by the newer members for being too uninteresting to play with.
Arceus crashed through the pile--what use were most of them when lives were on the line? He desperately searched for an artifact Hoopa, the Djinn Pokemon had presented to him once. Hoopa likely stole it from somewhere, but now was not the time to be pondering such thoughts. It was a piece of electronic machinery, relating to that man-made Pokemon whose sheer rarity had designated him as a Legendary Pokemon, even though he didn't know it yet.
"Where is it, where is it?" Even now, his plan was a gamble. The Pokemon could have been turned to dust already; a victim of an uncaring systematic extinction program. But he had to try--for the sake of everyone.
If anyone could carry on the Memories of Legendary Pokemon, it would be him.
After what must have felt like hours when it was clearly only seconds, Arceus finally dug the electronic piece out of the rubble, and activated it.
Oh.
Arceus stared at his hoof impassively. It was beginning to turn into dust, and so would the rest of him soon.
As the god of all creation stared death in the face, the only thing he could think of was whether the new generation of Pokemon--with no knowledge of the gods--would remember him. It was a selfish thought, and the only selfish thought he had experienced in a long time. He supposed that death often brought out the worst of living creatures, and he was no exception. Emotions of all kinds ran through his mind as death inched closer and closer, and a small, devil-may-care part of him finally made his mouth move in a curse.
"Masud-"
And the god was no more.
-----
All was quiet in the Hall of Origin, save for a beeping noise. The tablet that lay activated on the floor began to pulse, never to be picked up again. The glowing screen shut off after a while to conserve power, but not before a number flashed across:
#772-#773