Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Emma wakes up after a restful dreamless sleep to the smell of bacon wafting down the basement.

She stretches, and looks at her surroundings.

The tubs of digital waste have been put away, and in front of her on the table are 2 Pokegears, a second P*DA, a Pokenav Plus, and even a Holo Caster.

She sees a cup of tea on the table for her, which seems fresh compared to the previous one. She drinks from it and gets up out of her chair.

Emma finishes the cup quickly, then picks up the devices to take up with her out of the basement.

She sees Athena's resting body still asleep on the sofa, though in a different position.

Emma walks over to the corridor, and through it to the kitchen.

Sakuya, still wearing a maid dress, is cooking bacon and eggs in a frying pan.

"Hey. Sleep well?" Sakuya asks.

"I did, actually." Emma responds. "Did you get the fuel?"

"Zara said she'd handle it, so that's one less thing to worry about." Sakuya answers.

Sakuya flips the strips of bacon onto their other side, and sighs.

Emma hands Sakuya one of the Pokegears.

Sakuya turns it on, and initializes it.

"Elias confirmed that we need the Magma Stone to defrost Kakori." Emma explains.

"Yeah. We're still going to make a quick stopoff at the Teila Resort first, to give Maria a hug and show her that we're alright." Sakuya states.

Sakuya extinguishes the stove with a snap of her fingers, and portions the bacon and eggs onto a few plates. "Eat up."

Emma takes her plate out of the kitchen and over to the living room, where she sits down on a seat before eating it.

Athena slowly stretches, and wakes up. She sees the food that Emma's holding, then looks over at the corridor to the kitchen.

Sakuya walks over after a few minutes holding her and Athena's plates, having taken a small amount of time to change her attire back to a pair of ripped jeans and a band tee for their own band.

Athena takes the Serpent Statue out of her bag, and holds it close to her chest. She mouths a prayer, and sighs.

She puts the statue back in her bag, and takes one plate from Sakuya.

"So I guess I'll be driving again?" Athena asks.

"If you wouldn't mind. I can probably-" Sakuya starts responding, but stops when she hears Athena's Pokegear start ringing.

Athena stares at it, and sees that it's from an unknown number.

She shrugs, and picks up.

"Hello?" Athena asks.

"Hey! You're Athena, right?" the girl on the other side of the call asks.

"You'd better have a good reason to call me." Athena firmly states.

"Ok, so like, I saw that old guy leaving Kristiline yesterday. With the snow receding and me not being trapped in the museum, I thought now's as good a time as any to do some exploring, and Angie wasn't anywhere to be seen in that church of hers." the girl explains. "And there was this portal, but I sent Honchkrow through it and it gestured that going through was a bad idea."

"Well, we're in the Reborn Region right now. We're heading back soon, and we're going to deal with Kakori when we do." Athena responds.

"You're going to need a Magma-" the girl says, but gets cut off.

"I know. The Pope's son in law told me that."

"B-But do you know where the Magma Stone is?" the girl asks.

Athena finishes eating her egg, and sighs. "Nope."

"It's under Carotos Mountain!" the girl exclaims.

"I'm listening."

"There's rumors of an ancient civilization down there, though the Sensei and Eldest have always stopped me from being able to go down there each time I've tried before." the girl explains. "Now would be the perfect time to go down there, and..."

"Ты Сталкер?" Athena asks.

"да!" the girl responds. "I'm Reina. Nice to meet you."

Emma eats her bacon while listening to the conversation.

"Wait, you're in Reborn???" Reina asks.

"We're originally from the region, raised here but aren't ancestrally linked." Athena explains.

Athena puts her Pokegear far away from her ears to not go deaf from Reina's excited squealing.

"What's it like there? I've always wanted to see the sights there even more than the Sinjoh Ruins!"

"Where are you right now?" Athena asks.

"Flying east back to Teila on Honch, why?" Reina answers.

"We'll pick you up there, so get comfy." Athena responds.

Sakuya finishes her meal, and takes Athena's plate from her. Emma quickly finishes hers, and allows Sakuya to take all three into the kitchen.

"Of course! I can't imagine all of the finds you must have found in the Alcantara Ruins north of Tourmaline-"

"That is probably the only place that I haven't been to." Athena comments.

"Why not?" Reina asks.

"That place is sacred ground from back in the Age of Witches, and it's been stuck behind an impenetrable sandstorm for the past 200 years. It's also rumored to be the site of Reborn's Manaphy, and none of us wanted to deal with the one Legendary Pokemon that's known to be a bodysnatcher in its legends."

There is an audible moment of silence.

"...Also we happen to know the 5 remaining members of its people."

Reina loudly yells, and seconds later a loud splashing is audible over the call. It automatically hangs up a moment later.

Athena puts her Pokegear away, and facepalms.

"I think she dropped her CyberNav. Ready to go?"

Emma nods.

Sakuya walks back over, and instead of answering just leaves the building. Emma shrugs, and follows Sakuya out.

Athena follows both of them out of their house.

All three of them get on their respective Fly Pokemon, and glide down towards the Coral Ward.

They land in the Coral Ward, beside where their boat is currently moored.

Sakuya recalls her Noivern, and unties the rope to unmoor it.

Athena recalls Braviary and jumps onto the boat, then walks into the cabin to start up the engine.

Emma lands directly on the boat, and recalls her Drifblim. She walks into the cabin, and sits down on the bed.

Sakuya walks back onto the boat.

Athena turns the key to start up the yacht, and starts bringing it out of the harbor.

Emma dumps the other devices on the bed, and yawns.

Sakuya takes the other Pokegear and the Pokenav, and initialises them to be able to be used as communication devices. She puts the two Pokegears back on the bed, and takes the Pokenav as her own.

She notices Maiel's hair shift to blonde, and sighs.

Maiel stretches, and looks at the P*DA.

"Morning." Maiel comments, then looks at her surroundings. "Heading back?"

"Yeah. Some chick called Reina wants to come with us to Carotos."

Maiel takes one of the Pokegears, and calls a random number on it.

It takes exactly 13 and a half seconds for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Sup Eizen? I'm your wet dream. Before you think about sending me a Tier 3, I gotta know if the Sheridan Wetlands' Laboratory still exists."

Insane laughter comes through the other end, and Eizen hangs up.

Athena laughs.

"That's going to be a no. He's probably gone off to masturbate over the fact that I know a different name for the region that Aevium used to be, he's even weirder than Jenkel."

Sakuya facepalms.

"What was the point in you asking that?" Sakuya asks.

"If the Wetlands still existed, we could make our stopoff there. But they don't, so we're either going to have to go through Route 2, or Route 3 to head over." Maiel explains.

"If Jenner's still around-" Athena starts to say.

"He probably isn't." Sakuya retorts. "Venam, on the other hand..."

"That would be fun, but it brings too much attention. Defrost first." Maiel says to shut down Sakuya's idea.

Maiel sighs, and looks through the apps on the P*DA again.

She absentmindedly selects the nameless app.

Sakuya takes out her copy of Zara's novel, and starts to read through it.

Maiel's character wakes up in a dark enclosure. She's able to examine the area, and ascertains that she's in a cabin, underground, in an indeterminate location.

The candles at the table she's sat at slowly light up, and a woman only visible through the glowing eyes of a rabbit skull appears on the other side of the table. Mystical wisps move a chess board onto the table.

Maiel rolls her eyes, and types in a response.

"Am I supposed to be dead? Why am I here?"

The chess board is moved back onto a shelf far back enough in the darkness that she can't see it.

[I was informed of an unauthorized login.] appears as a system message below the skull.

"The device I'm playing on belongs to me. Are you telling me I need to make my own account?" Maiel retorts.

[Interesting.] appears as another system message, erasing the first. Below it, [Then again, as is Delta. You may make one request as compensation.] appears.

Maiel immediately looks through her character's inventory for context clues.

"This question is not the request, but just clarification on what the request can be. If I pick an item, it can be anything within this world?" Maiel types in.

[Correct, with the exception of untradeable Quest Items and Paradoxes.] appears as a system message to clarify. The previous message stays on a layer below it.

"In which case, I request an item that allows for unlimited teleportation between every location that this character has been to before and will go to in the future, with the obvious restriction of having to go there first if that restriction exists upon the item." Maiel types in.

Maiel's character immediately teleports back over to the Five Crystals Academy. She checks her inventory and notices that it is one Ele lighter, and has an Auric Cluster added into the Special Items section.

She examines the item in her inventory, but doesn't get anything beyond a base description of its shape - a large rock that seems to be made of polished gold on its upper half.

She notices two characters walking over towards the Academy, an elven squire and a seemingly humanoid figure in hunter's attire.

Both of them notice her, and continue walking over to the entrance. They stop just outside of it, and the squire makes a greeting gesture towards her.

A chat bubble appears above Patch. "Hi! Are you another new adventurer?"

A question mark bubble appears above the hunter, who at this distance Maiel can see the balljoints and long dark purple hair of. The question mark is immediately replaced with an actual chat bubble, "Patch. That's the girl who we met back in the tower."

A chat bubble appears above Patch. "But I haven't shown you the Steel Tower yet..."

The golem facepalms, and another chat bubble appears above her. "Patch. The other tower. The one in the Labryinth."

Patch's eyes light up. "Oh, that one! I- I don't remember your name..."

"It's Maiel." Maiel types in. "And you're?"

"Just call me Char. I decided that I'll be going by that in this world." the now-named Golem introduces herself.

"So, tutorial?" Maiel types in.

"Essentially." appears as a chat bubble above Char.

"Poggers. Shoot me an invite?"

Char visibly cringes, but makes a gesture towards Maiel's character.

An interface window asking if she would like to join the party appears, which she accepts.

She sees Patch and Char's healthbars and names in the top left of her screen, with a symbol beside Patch's signifying that it's synced down.

"So, I talk to the NPC, and then we head to the next area?" Maiel asks.

"Lander. Yes. The people in this world are as real as both of us." Char responds through a chat bubble with a cyan hue to it.

Patch and Char walk over to the academy's entrance.

The boat shakes as it slowly lowers down the water elevator at the Azurine Dam.

Sakuya makes another cup of tea to drink while reading Zara's novel.

Athena hears her Pokegear start ringing again, and looks down to see that it's Reina's number again. She picks up the call.

Blistering winds are audible and obscure most of what Reina attempts to say.

"Your device is damaged. Try calling again when you're at the resort." Athena states into her Pokegear, and hangs up.

Sakuya opens the first page of the book, and reads the foreword.

"This book is dedicated to my past self, and inspired by the work of two girls I met several years ago. Life gets better, you just have to listen to where the voices lead."

Maiel's character walks over to the academy lobby, and drops the rabbit foot off on the table. Char does the same.

"Two adventurers at once?" the man behind the counter exclaims through a chat bubble.
Another one appears above him. "That hasn't happened for over a decade!"

Maiel looks through the emotes menu and has her character shrug.

"Are we done here?" she types in.

Patch facepalms.

"And both of you finished the final test- Just stay there for a bit longer, I'll go get your proofs of power." appears above the man in a chat bubble, and he walks off.

"Steel Tower?" Char asks through a chat bubble.

"That's the next area we're headed to. If we're lucky, we'll meet one of this world's legendary heroes there!" Patch explains.

"How legendary are we talking here?" Maiel types in and asks.

"Umbra's one of the hundred Adventurers who were there to help fight during the Battle of the Second Impact!" Patch exclaims.

"So... Kirito?" Maiel types in.

"Who?" Patch asks.

Char sighs. "More like Sinon, but that's not out yet."

The academician walks back over, holding two small bags with a rune stitched into them. He hands one to Maiel, and one to Char.

"Here you go! If you ever need advice, feel free to come back and take a remedial class." the man explains through a chat bubble.

Maiel accepts the bag into her inventory, and is able to identify it as a Lesser Bag of Holding.

Char walks out of the academy, and Patch follows her out immediately.

Maiel looks through the items in the bag, and finds a large box that she can't open just yet, a blueprint, and a sheet of paper verifying that she's an Adventurer.

She has her character walk out of the academy.

"Where next?" Char asks through a chat bubble.

"Hmm... We can always go back to Onyx Island and train up some more. The rest of the island should be level-appropriate to get both of you up to my level!" Patch answers through a chat bubble.

"What's stopping us from fighting all night in that dungeon up there?" Maiel asks.

"Integrity Damage." Patch states, and explains through a second chat bubble.
"The more you fight without rest, the more strain that it puts on your body. If you take around 5 times your max health in damage, or use 5 times your max mana in spellcraft without resting at an Inn or campfire then it'll start physically straining your body, and that takes a lot more time to recover from."

"...And the diminishing returns." Char reminds Patch.

"That too!" Patch exclaims.

Patch takes an ear-shaped rock out from her satchel, and speaks into it. The faint outline of a chat bubble appears above her head, but nothing is visible in it.

Athena's Pokegear rings again. She sighs, and picks up.

"What-" Athena starts to ask, but gets cut off by Alain uncharacteristically yelling.

"FUCKING DEATHWINGS" Alain yells.

Athena facepalms.

"Look. Bit preoccupied with something right now. We'll come help after we're done with Terajuma."

"Fuck you." Alain yells.

"Fuck you too! You didn't listen to Nim." Athena yells back.

"Like I'd take her seriously after that bullshit in Amethyst- How long is this going to take?" Alain asks.

"You'll be fine, it wasn't that bad." Maiel yells loudly enough for it to be picked up over the call.

Alain notices the slight difference in her voice. 

"Oh Goddamnit-" Alain states, and a loud bang is audible over the call. The sound of two Pokeballs being sent out is audible after that.
"Is that level eighty-"

A high-pitched noise comes through Alain's side of the call, causing it to hang up. Athena winces from the interference, and puts her Pokegear down on the floor.

"Godsdamnit." Sakuya sighs.

Alain wakes up in a cold sweat, sat down at a table.

She quickly stands up, and looks at her surroundings. An astral expanse covers all sides of the horizon, and the skies above. The table is one one side of a raised boardwalk platform, seemingly to the west but it's hard to tell without a compass. Either way, there's an exotically-hued grassy island with a neon green waterfall coming from a cloud up above into the middle of it past the walls of the platform she's on. Directly in front of them lies a small building that appears to be an old-fashioned lighthouse, or maybe a belltower. 

A lilac leaf blows through the wind down onto the table, making Alain notice the 5 pieces of octahedra-shaped Experience Candy on a plate directly in front of the seat she was sat down on.

Alain walks over to the south side of the boardwalk, and looks down. There's sand below, and a darker hue beyond a point, but no tide to flow up to it. They also note two much smaller grass and rock islands, each with similarly exotically-designed trees.

They walk back to the table, and sit down.

"Tazer isn't level 40 just yet, so... Alright." Alain says to herself, and pockets the Experience Candy Ms for later use.

The faint body of a blonde woman wearing a white labcoat appears on the other side of the table, sat down in one of the three chairs on its side.

"Those weary souls that make their way to my humble abode..." the woman muses, shocking Alain. "Find solace in peace, and yet, try again."
"We all fall and make mistakes. It's the power within our hearts that allows us to get up again." she adds.

Alain almost falls out of their chair in shock at the woman's speech.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?" Alain yells.

"Greetings, once more." the woman calmly responds. "This area is a respite for those who fall and cannot return."

"Am I dead?" Alain yells.

"No. You simply fell in a battle that you had no chance of winning." the woman calmly answers. "Soon, your mind shall return to your body, and it will be as if none of this had ever happened."

"The candies are just for decoration?"

The woman sighs. "That gift is as material as you are."

Alain notices the firearm on the woman's belt, but decides to not bring it up.

"What are you, some guardian angel? I don't know how else this could have happened."

"If you wish to think of me as such." the woman answers. "I am merely an observer, curious about you and your companions."

"Aelita should be fine. Fine compared to the situation that I'm in, at least." Alain says to herself, then stares at the woman's face more closely. It seems to get more blurry as they try to, almost intentionally so.

Companion...s? No-one other than Amanda was there to see Athena and Sakuya, so how does this woman know about the two, or even three considering Emma, of them?

Alain decides against mentioning either of the three, and lets the statement from the woman dwell in her mind. They walk over to the south side of the boardwalk, and gaze out into the astral abyss.

A wave starts flowing back towards the shore, with a few more coming up behind it. The first wave peters out, but the liquid is carried by the momentum of the next few waves' force to arrive at the low tide of the beach.

They look back at the table, and the woman is gone. They look down, and see that they're standing on some form of teleportation pad. They-

Alain wakes back up, faceplanted onto a red bed in an unfamiliar castle. Most curiously, a dark-toned PC is set up in the furnished jail cell beside their bed, with a bookshelf on the other side, and a torch above the bars lighting up the cell.

"I have got to stop drinking." Alain thinks, and starts analysing the PC to see if it's bugged in any form.

...Wait. Why is there a PC here in the first place? Isn't the first thing to do to a Pokemon Trainer after somehow successfully kidnapping them to steal all of the Pokemon they have on-hand?

Alain quickly looks in their bag to see if the egg they picked up in Carotos is still there. Even more curiously, the egg, a red one with six blue spots, as well as six lines and a yellow spot splitting its design into seven segments, is in fact still in their bag, completely undamaged.

Chapter Text

Alain lets out an exasperated groan into the pillow of the bed that they were given, loud enough for the person in the next cell over to hear, if there was another cell nearby.

"Hm...? Who's that in there? You new here?" a girl asks from the next cell over.

Alain stands back up, and walks over to the wall to get a better listen.

"Hey?"

"Looks like I have a new neighbor! Sick." the girl adds.

Alain knocks into the wall.

"Hey! Too close, silly." the girl responds. "How'd you get stuck here in this dump?"

"How did you?" Alain asks before answering.

"Oh, you know... Just chillin' with some friends and then randomly abducted. The usual story."

"Basically got lynched in Akuwa." Alain answers.

"Hey, you sound cool! I like you! Let me introduce myself!" the girl enthusiastically responds. "My name is Saki! Saki Blakeory!"

"I feel like I've heard your name before." Alain states. "Aren't you the girl who ran me over on a luggage trolley?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, good times! I guess since we've met before, that means we're already friends!" Saki responds.

Alain audibly facepalms.

"Aren't you one of the top 4 Gym Leaders in the region? How did you get kidnapped???" Alain yells.

"I thought it would be fun." Saki answers.

"...are you fucking kidding me." Alain sighs under her breath.

A loud claxon booms through the castle, and the cell doors recede back into the ceiling.

"Morning has come. Everyone up and at it." comes through an automated message in each room.

"Hot. Let's get the frick outta here." Saki says in response to the cells receding, and audibly walks out of her room.

Alain walks out, and is able to get a good look at Saki face-to-face. She's still wearing a red scarf and a grey sweater over what they presume is a sailor uniform by the skirt that she's also wearing.

"Another thing. Do you have any idea where my... friend is? She was with me when we got jumped by the Deathwings." Alain asks.

"Sorry, no clue. I woke up pretty early today, but you got dumped here before that." Saki answers. "Pffaaaa, fuggedaboutit. We'll find out later."

Alain facepalms again.

"I'm sure you're confused, ye? Why don't I give you the tour around here? It'll help clear things up." Saki adds, and runs off along the hallway away from Alain. "Don't lag behind!"

Alain runs to catch up with Saki, and passes by a fancily furnished table as they do so. Saki is waiting for them above a small flight of stairs in a much larger corridor.

"Okay, so, this is the main floor of Blacksteeple Castle." Saki explains. "In the north, you can find the Throne Room. If you take a left, you'll reach the Garden, and if you take a right, you can find the dining hall, and eventually the Warden's room."

Alain immediately walks north and rightward towards the dining hall, but Saki stops them by pulling on their dress.

"Let me pass." Alain aggressively states.

"That's a bad idea." Saki responds.

"I don't care about you wanting to LARP as a prisoner, but I need answers." Alain yells.

"I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation! You won't be able to fight him, even if you want to." Saki yells back. "Follow me down."

"Let go of me first." Alain states.

Saki lets go of Alain's dress, and walks south through the corridor. Alain rolls their eyes, and follows Saki down.

"...Further south, and you can see the exit. That'll bring you to the front courtyard. To the right, all the way down the hall, you'll find the Battleground."

"What was that about not being able to fight?" Alain retorts.

"The Battleground is the one area that Pokemon still listen to their owners around here. All he has to do is leave the room and you're outnumbered."

"I am going to burn this castle to the ground when I'm done with this." Alain coldly responds.

Alain takes a better look at their surroundings. There's a set of stairs far on their current right that heads down to a small area on a lower floor, presumably with a door that leads to a smaller area. There's a set of stairs right in front of them and Saki that leads out towards a door outside, and to their current left is a door into another part of the castle's insides.

"...It's a little too early for the battles there anyway. Valarie likes to hang around there."

"Valarie? How many Gym Leaders did they manage to kidnap???" Alain exclaims.

"Three? They got Adam too, but that was a skill issue on his part. They raided a Little Cup tournament he was at."

Alain laughs. "...Fair."

"Adam's in the Quarry with my other friends, that's just to the east of the main courtyard." Saki explains, and walks on ahead.

Alain proceeds to completely ignore Saki's warning and heads back north through the corridor up to the + junction, and heads east up to a set of stairs.

Alain takes a look to their left before heading up the next flight of stairs, and sees two banquet tables furnished but with no food on either of them.

If this is a prison, then there must be a set time for everyone to head back and eat. That begs the question of why it's currently furnished, but maybe they just leave it on at all times.

Alain shakes their head to clear their mind, and heads up the next flight of stairs into a small L-shaped corridor. They walk over to the end of it, and attempt to open the door.

Predictably, the door to the Warden's Room is locked. Alain repeatedly bangs on the door to no result.

Alain look through their bag, and take out a Cherish Ball.

"Obedience my ass, Tazer's ride or die with me. And they'll help me break down this door." Alain tells themself.

Alain throws the ball at the door, and Tazer doesn't come out.

"...What-"

The door to the Warden's Room opens, and a stern-looking black man with shaved grey hair covering his head is stood in the doorway. His outfit seems vaguely similar to that of other Team Xen members, being a long overcoat comprised of blueish and purplish grey hues.

"Ah." Neved comments.

"You know, we've met each other once before. Do you remember?" Neved asks.

"The Oceana, right?" Alain asks.

"So you do remember. For you to appear here at my castle is... well, it's almost like it was fate, don't you agree?" Neved responds.

"Who are the Deathwings?" Alain asks.

"They are amongst the highest ranking members of Team Xen. I'm sure you're wondering why we've been abducting people left and right, aren't you?" Neved answers, and asks.

"Obviously. I'm wondering more why you don't have Three. Specific. People." Alain vitriolically spits.

"The reason is because of You." Neved answers. "Your meddling at the Wispy Tower has caused our leader, Madame X, to become extremely on-edge. She planned on hunting you down personally, but decided against it."

"Not enough of a threat?" Alain snarks.

"If she got rid of you, she knew another hero would pop up immediately." Neved knowingly retorts. "So as for right now, containment is the answer."

"You know the reason why I came up to talk to you, don't you." Alain plainly states.

"I have one more point to make first." Neved states. "If you hadn't been so annoying, our plans would have already been completed. That whole debacle with that girl, Melia--"

Alain rolls their eyes.

"Being a member of Team Xen was terrifying when Madame X found out that Melia had died. I rarely, truly feel fear, but that day..." Neved adds.

Alain laughs.

"Is this a joke to you?" Neved yells.

"Yes. Yes it is." Alain snarks. "It is a joke that a girl who I haven't even met that you need for a reason that I'm not aware of is dead. Now tell me where Aelita is."

"Your concern is touching, despite your disregard for human life." Neved responds. "She's... safe. She's just experiencing some... exotic punishment."

Alain narrow their eyes.

"For what?" Alain asks.

"Just a little act of revenge against an old 'friend' of mine." Neved clarifies. "When he hears what's happening to his daughter..."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Alain yells.

"We're done here. If I see you again for any kind of offense, your Pokémon privileges will be taken away. And then you'll truly be powerless." Neved states, ignoring Alain's protest. He slams the door in their face.

Maiel sighs, and closes the Symphonia app to check Clover. Instead of looking on /pa/, she looks through /plae/ to see if anything else has gone on recently.

The thread that sticks the most out to her is an image of Adam Might's Trainer Card that has his face shrunk by a significant amount, with the caption/thread title saying [KIDNAPPED AT A FUCKING LITTLE CUP TOURNAMENT LMAO].

"Hmm. I wonder if that's hair dye." Maiel audibly comments.

"Yeah?" Athena asks.

"Checking the real news." Maiel clarifies. "People are STILL seething over my death."

"Show." Athena asks.

"Like, here. There's an entire thread dedicated to shitposting about how I didn't kill myself."

Maiel opens the thread to laugh at the idiots, but stops when she sees an image of herself in a dark dress with one of the green gemstones that Team Xen grunts all have in their outfit in the place of the shield on her belt. The caption for the image states [What if she joined Team Xen, lol.], with [USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST] in red below.

The first comment responding to it asks why she would fake her death just to join them anyway.

Maiel gets up off the bed and walks over to the sink, and makes herself a cup of coffee to drink.

Sakuya takes the P*DA from Maiel to look through a few things, and sees a thread complaining about Akuwa Town being raided again.

"How much longer?" Sakuya asks Athena.

"We're almost at Teila, so-"

There is a loud thud as a large bird and its rider slam into the side of the cabin.

"Nevermind, let's just head over to Floria." Athena states.

Sakuya walks out of the cabin to see where the sound comes from.

A Honchkrow, and its rider, a girl with short dark grey hair who's wearing a pink long-sleeved tshirt and grey shorts, are slammed into the outer wall of the cabin.

The girl groans, and recalls her Honchkrow.

"Ughhhhh... I didn't think It'd be going this quickly." Reina sighs.

Reina slowly climbs back onto her feet, and looks up at Sakuya.

"Hi! I'm Reina. Nice to meet you."

Sakuya shrugs. "Sakuya. Come in. Are your bones alright?"

"They should be! I've dealt with harsher impacts before."

Sakuya and Reina both walk in to the cabin.

Reina notices Maiel, and looks like she's seen a ghost.

"Huh? Ren doesn't talk much to me anymore, but he definitely told me that-" Reina reacts.

"Don't." Maiel immediately states. "I'm not the girl you're thinking about."

"Then how?" Reina asks.

"Ruins are a lot more dangerous if they're occupied." Maiel answers.

"Angie tried casting a ritual on her, now she's sharing a body with herself." Athena comments.

Reina walks over to a table, and sits down at the chair by it, aiming her body towards everyone else instead of the table.

"That's cool." Reina responds.

"You are even weirder than I remember you being."

"Are you like, from another timeline?" Reina asks.

"...What?" Maiel asks back.

"You aren't a demon, so you've got to be yourself but from another timeline or dimension." Reina explains.

Maiel blinks.

"Hey, wanna see a magic trick?"

"Sure." Sakuya states.

"I learnt some basic Ruby a few years ago, so I should be able to..." Maiel responds, and jumps off the bed.

A triangular light pulses out of her body, and she focuses both Corners at a point in front of her.

"You know about those mass gifts that they give out to Trainers in other regions, right?" Maiel asks.

"I heard that it turned back into a raffle recently... but yeah." Reina answers.

"Aevium's had one for the past decade, but no way to access it. But if I just find the right signature-" Maiel explains.

A pulse of black triangular light comes out of the point that the two Corners are focusing on, and a Strange Ball manifests at its location.

"Behold! One Victini, right there for my taking~!" Maiel boasts.

The Strange Ball shakes one, then again, then breaks open.

"Shit." Maiel yells.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Reina asks.

"Need help?" Athena asks.

"I can handle this, just give me a team of Psychic-Types." Maiel responds.

Sakuya rummages around through a field projected by the Holo Caster, and throws 6 Pokeballs at Maiel.

ANOMALY VICTINI has initiated an encounter!

Maiel looks down at the balls she was given.

"No Gallade?" she asks.

"We'll give you a Ralts egg later." Athena comments. 

Maiel sends out her Veluza.

Victini eyes Maiel, but waits for her to make the first move.

"Hey, Sakuya." Maiel states.

"What?" Sakuya asks.

"Make the floor glass again. I feel like fighting on a field here." Maiel requests.

Sakuya shrugs, and takes her staff out. She aims it at the floor, and causes the arena to shift to the water's surface... of sorts.

"Check this out. Veluza, Aqua Cutter!" Maiel instructs.

Veluza slashes through the arena with its spiked fins, and fires an arc of water at Victini, knocking it down.

A green pulse of energy comes out from Victini, and lets it stand back up. 

Victini forms an impossibly large ball of lightning, and throws it down at Veluza, knocking it down and out. Sakuya quickly reverts the glass spell on the bottom of the boat to prevent it from cracking under the impact.

Maiel recalls Veluza, and sends out her Gothitelle.

"Alright, use Shadow Ball-" Maiel attempts to instruct.

Victini's ears ignite into flames and a red aura forms around it, forming a V-shaped yellow flame on its head. It rushes into Gothitelle and headbutts it back into the wall, knocking it out.

Victini repositions itself, and sighs as a faint purple aura manifests around it.

Maiel recalls Gothitelle and sends out her Claydol.

"Rock Tomb." Maiel instructs.

Victini forms a teardrop-shaped red flame around itself, and fires the immense fireball at Claydol, burning it.

Claydol summons a few rocks down onto Victini, trapping it under them.

Victini slaps the rocks away, but the purple aura around it seems stronger.

"Heh. Earth Power." Maiel instructs.

Claydol summons a pressurised geyser of sand from under Victini, disorientating it.

Victini forms the teardrop-shaped red flame around itself again, and fires another immense fireball at Claydol, knocking it out.

Maiel recalls Claydol, and sends out her Solrock.

"Are you used to fighting Legendaries?" Reina asks Athena.

"Yeah, Reborn tends to be like that. The real parts of it, at least. Limina starts looking like an AI hallucination the further you go into it."

"Woah..." Reina responds.

"Trying to fight here!" Maiel yells. "Rock Slide."

Solrock summons a deluge of rocks down onto Victini, heavily disorienting it and knocking it out.

A green flash of energy floods through Victini and dispels the debilitating aura around it, then shifts the surrounding arena to an astral expanse. The V and its fingers also shift to a yellow colour instead of orange.

A flower blooms out of a seed that Victini was holding, giving it a faint rainbow aura but temporarily exhausting it.

"...I'm not dealing with this shit. Does anything you gave me have a Focus Sash?" Maiel asks.

"Yeah, the Elgyem." Sakuya answers. "It isn't level 42 yet, so may as well use it for Destiny Bond instead."

Maiel recalls her Solrock for said Elgyem.

"You heard what we just said, use Destiny Bond." Maiel instructs.

Elgyem rolls its eyes, and braces for impact.

Victini's body starts to glow bright blue with electricity, and it charges up more and more to prepare for a strike. An electric aura starts crackling around Victini, and it cries out in power to make a second one appear around the first. Victini then clenches both of its fists, and runs at Elgyem with an unknowably strong amount of energy.

Elgyem is launched into the cabin wall, and a loud ripping sound emanates when it hits the wall.

Elgyem slowly flies back over to Victini, blood dripping from its body. It lets out an alien laugh, and its shadow grows to cloak the entire cabin.

Victini nervously steps back, and stares at Maiel.

"Go on, you're faster. Make your move." Maiel taunts Victini.

Victini nervously steps over to Elgyem, and slaps it.

Elgyem falls down to the ground and faints. Victini is brought down by the shadows in the cabin, knocking it down and out.

The astral landscape disappears, making the cabin shift to its normal surroundings.

Maiel throws the same Strange Ball at Victini, and successfully catches it.

"T-There we go. Behold, my power!" Maiel boasts.

"Chuuni." Sakuya taunts.

"Shut up." Maiel protests. "So chat, how much longer till we're there?"

Athena stands up to get a better look at the window in front of her.

"Looks like we just went past Helojak Island, so we should be in Floria's waters now. It shouldn't take that much longer to head to Gearen, but..." Athena responds, and gestures at Maiel.

Maiel sighs, and leans on the side of the bed.

"Fine, but I'm not coming with you to Blacksteeple after this." Maiel sighs.

Reina stops being stunlocked into silence, and looks over at Sakuya.

"You know the Alcantaras?"

"Kinda. The only one we know personally is Luna, and I feel like you've heard about her on the news at some point." Sakuya explains.

"I thought she was just another Stalker, I didn't think she was descended from them given her surname." Reina responds.

"Nahhhhhh. She just has a complicated relationship with her biological father." Athena explains.

"Speaking of family, have you met Ren? He's my brother." Reina mentions.

"We saw him once in Venam's Gym, but that's it." Sakuya explains.

"He's a cun-" Maiel states, before passing out.

Emma's auburn hair fades back in, and she looks at her surroundings.

Reina drops her cup in shock, causing it to shatter into pieces on the cabin floor. Sakuya takes out a dustpan and brush to gather all of the shards.

"You're Emma!" Reina exclaims.

"Hi?" Emma responds, confused.

"I'm from Goldenleaf originally, my mom told me about the play that happened a few weeks ago." Reina explains.

"That play was fun to be in. I've got 3 Badges, I should try challenging her for her badge now."

Athena slows the yacht down slightly, and walks out of the cabin to get a better look at the area up ahead. Sakuya walks over to the captain's seat to steer instead.

Athena climbs up onto the upper side of the cabin, and looks ahead of her position.

Oceana Pier is just a few more miles ahead of the four of them.

"Time for round 2." Athena tells herself, and sits down on the roof to take in the ocean air for a few minutes.

Chapter Text

Athena climbs back down the ladder, and walks into the yacht's cabin.

She takes over and slows the boat down, bringing it into the port.

"I'll handle this with the authorities, you three go on ahead." Athena states. "Route 1 or Route 2?"

"I think Route 2." Emma answers.

"But that doesn't go through Goldenleaf..." Reina sighs.

"We can make a pit stop there after we get the Magma Stone." Sakuya states. "We're saving Kakori here."

Emma, Reina, and Sakuya all walk off the yacht and into the pier. Athena takes the key out of the engine, and uses a rope to moor the boat to the pier's stone boardwalk.

Athena walks through the Oceana Pier over to the gate into East Gearen.

She stops before heading fully into East Gearen to talk to one of the two receptionists in the gate.

"Hey. One of you deals with boats, right?" Athena asks.

"Huh? Yeah. Anything to declare?" the woman on the left asks.

"Just a few books. We're back from a trip to Reborn City using a friend's yacht, it's moored in the port right now. Might wanna tell the Head Ranger in Terajuma that we're here and resolving the situation." Athena answers.

Athena leaves before the woman can ask her any more questions.

Athena catches up with her friends when she reaches the Gearen-Route 2 Train Station.

The four of them get on the train and wait for it to take them away.

"You were at Prehnite Mountain???" Reina asks.

"Yeah. I thought that after it got purified, it wouldn't be as much of a deathtrap any more. And yet..." Sakuya sighs.

Athena shrugs. "We got out alive at least. Could be worse."

Emma sighs.

"I want to talk to Eizen before going down to Carotos. That alright?" Emma asks.

"I doubt we'll need all four of us to go through the majority of the mountain, so that sounds alright." Athena responds, then glares at Emma. "No murder. Murder is bad."

Emma's eyes roll involuntarily.

"I wasn't thinking of doing that- but, alright. Thanks." Emma responds.

Emma looks down at the Pokeballs she has in her bag, and has a double take when she sees a Strange Ball.

"What?" Emma exclaims.

"You- She caught a Victini." Reina explains for Emma.

"And uses Psychic-Types." Sakuya exposits.

"Are you a type specialist?" Athena asks Reina.

"Nope. I'm not doing the League either, I just like exploring ruins." Reina responds. "Why, are you?"

"Grass. 5 Badges." Sakuya answers.

"Fairy, also 5. We'd be at 6, but Kreiss didn't give us a Badge after saving him from the Tower of Theolia... despite us beating up a different Ice-Type Specialist." Athena answers.

"3 and a fake one, and Ghost-Type." Emma answers.

"Ooh, now I really want to watch you fight Narcissa." Reina responds.

The train slows down, and the tannoy announces "Now Arriving at: Route 2.".

The four of them all walk off of the train.

Emma walks on ahead and takes the path north towards River's End.

Athena and Sakuya both walk south around the lake, and Reina follows them over.

Emma stops at a small tree, and sends her Drifblim out in front of it.

"You can cut this down, right?" Emma asks it.

Drifblim nods its entire body, and slashes through the shrub with a razor-sharp tassel.

Emma continues up the path, up another slope, and stops at the lower side of a cliff on the other side of the River's Edge.

Emma jumps onto Drifblim, and points up the cliff. "Fly us up."

Drifblim slowly raises its body and drops Emma off on the other side of the cliff. She walks over to the small river clearing, and jumps over it.

Emma walks north up to River's Edge through the grass and pink shrub covered path.

Emma walks under a naturally raised part of the terrain, and over to the lab that Eizen studies at. She knocks on the door.

The door opens of its own accord, beckoning her to go in.

She does so, and is somewhat confused at seeing Eizen be the only other person in the room, his companion nowhere to be seen.

"You are certainly an inconsistency." Eizen comments.

Emma rolls her eyes.

"Do you have anything else you want to say?"

Eizen slowly walks over to Emma and grasps her face with one of his gloved hands.

"I want to rip you open and watch the knowledge spill out." Eizen coldly answers, then immediately steps back to his seat beside the PC. "But we both know how bad of an idea that would be, so-"

Emma takes a step back out of instinct.

"Wh-"

"There is an inconsistency deep within the bowels of Wispy Tower. I believe your eclectic companion picked up a key for its door when they were traversing it, and never thought about opening it up." Eizen answers in a less creepy way.

Emma sighs, and walks back out.

Emma walks over to the river up to Route 3, and looks down at Veluza's Pokeball. She sends it out into the river.

"I know that I'm not technically your owner, but you won't be able to see her again if you try to drown me here." Emma threatens.

Veluza nods its head approvingly, and allows Emma to hold onto its segmented flesh.

As soon as Emma holds on, Veluza starts swimming upstream back to Route 3.

Athena and Sakuya walk through the Amethyst Cave with Reina.

Reina points at a line of Rock Climb rocks down to the lower part of the river flowing through Amethyst Cave.

"There's a door at the other end of that pond, but I haven't been able to open it. I think there's a dial that acts as its key somewhere else in the caves?" Reina exposits.

"Not interested." Athena states, and keeps walking through the caves.

"Why not?" Reina asks, and catches back up with Athena.

"Mostly because that's behind a Rock Climb wall. We still don't have Crawli's badge so we can't really go down there yet." Athena exposits.

Sakuya continues pace with the other two, and they walk into the last chamber of the Amethyst Cave.

Alain eventually catches up with Saki and heads to the Blacksteeple Quarry, where she sees Saki talking to a blue-haired muscular man holding a pickaxe over his head.

The man slams the pickaxe into a glowing rock, breaking it down into dust.

"What a waste of time... There wasn't even any ore inside." the man states.

"Hi." Alain states.

"Can I help you?" the man asks.

"Oh, you're back! Adam, I made a new friend! This one's for real this time!"

"A new friend?" Adam asks. "I'm sure thjis one will last. Just like Susie."

"We aren't friends." Alain responds. "And who's Susie?"

"Saki tested out one of her inventions on her and it went badly. Now Susie avoids her." Adam exposits.

"But we're neighbors!" Saki protests. "We're BFFs!"

"No, my first impression of you is you almost running me over with a luggage trolley and then acting like there was absolutely nothing wrong with you joyriding one in a hotel." Alain retorts.

"Adam, this is Alain. I think they hate people." Saki introduces.

"That makes two of us. Hi." Adam responds.

"Don't mind Adam, he's what the cool kids call an introvert." Saki explains. "A man of few words, but those words... So special!"

"Valarie's off at the Battlegrounds again." Adam states. "Trying to win a night in that Prestige Room again."

"Prestige-?" Alain thinks.

"I'm doing her work just in case she loses and hasn't filled her quota." Adam adds. "Leave it to Val to do something so unreasonable and irresponsible."

"What's the quota for?" Alain asks.

"Lose in the battleground and don't fill your quota, you don't get any dinner. No thank you." Adam explains.

"True dat." Saki responds.

Alain facepalms.

"What else that's important aren't you telling me?" Alain asks.

"Ohhh, I guess I haven't really explained much. I was gonna leave that to Val, but fiiiine." Saki sighs, and starts expositing. "So, every day we're assigned tasks to do, and we HAVE to meet their quota, otherwise they don't feed us."
"But there's a way out of this. If you compete at the Battleground competition and win, you don't have to do jack shit for the day!"

"Neat. I'm outta here." Alain states and tries to walk off. Saki stops Alain from leaving by holding onto their dress.

"Let me finish! I was gonna say, that also includes sleeping in a super luxurious place called the Prestige Room!" Saki adds.

"And why we have to do this?" Adam asks.

"No idea, oops. But it's not that bad! It's like a forced summer camp. Except it's winter." Saki explains.

Adam facepalms. "Alright, that's enough explanation. I'm going to go find Valarie."

"Aw hell yeah. Let's all head to the Battleground, ye?"

"Can you get your grimy hands off of me?" Alain yells.

"Fiiine. Let's skedaddle!" Saki responds, and lets go of Alain.

The three of them walk towards the exit of the Blacksteeple Quarry and head towards the castle.

Athena walks through Sheridan Village and heads to the Sheridan Arena.

Keta and the Eldest are having a friendly battle and don't notice her as she walks over to the waterfall.

Sakuya notices both of them and puts one of her hands over Reina's mouth to stop her from exclaiming as they walk behind the waterfall to Carotos.

"Jeez, that's hot." Reina sighs. "It feels less warm than last time though?"

"I erased the Rift." Sakuya explains.

"Like, shut down?" Reina asks.

"No, the machine said 'Erased'. I'm not sure ither." Sakuya further explains.

Athena walks on ahead, taking a slightly meandering path northward before taking a hard east turn to a raised bridge over the lava. She punches two rocks to go further ahead, and stops when she sees a hole in the path ahead.

She notices the stone column a few dozen feet ahead.

"...This works." Athena states, and rummages through her bag for a Pokemon that can learn Rock Smash.

Sakuya and Reina both catch up with her.

"Hapi... no, I gave Maiel him back, Mawile, no, too hot, uh..."

Sakuya throws her Ludicolo out onto the segment of rock after the gap.

"Oi, Gringo. Smash the wall." Sakuya instructs.

Ludicolo punches the stone column, causing a large stalactite to slam down from the ceiling to fill the gap in the path.

"Where to next?" Reina asks.

"There's an opening in the cave all over there." Athena states, and points at the north wall of the cave east of them, where the rocks' colouration has noticably shifted to a green hue.

Sakuya walks over to Gringo and recalls it, then walks over to the cave opening.

Athena and Reina follow her in.

"Bruh, it smells like shit in here." Reina states.

"Seems like this is where Team Xen dumped all of the waste that the Volcanion made." Athena explains to herself.

"Couldn't erase that???" Sakuya asks, and glares at a waste barrel.

The three of them travel further through the cave, meandering clockwise into the next chamber.

The chamber opens up into a long south-facing cave corridor, with a lava river to its west.

The group continues travelling south, but Sakuya stays behind.

"I'll stay behind, just to tell Emma where we're headed." Sakuya explains.

Athena nods. "Alright, talk to you in a few minutes."

Athena and Reina both walk further clockwise at the southmost point of the corridor, and head into another cave chamber when they start walking north.

Reina runs ahead through the passage, and looks at the symbol on the ground. She takes out a notebook and compares the one on the ground to the image she has sketched in it.

"That's an ancient Garufan symbol!" Reina exclaims. "We're definitely headed in the right direction."

Athena and Reina walk over to a doorframe, and enter it.

Athena walks into a stone room that has clearly been carved out rather than naturally created by erosion.

"Even deep- Oh. I don't like this." Athena states.

Reina walks in and notices a large rectangular hole in the room, with a ladder down on the north side of it.

"Still going down?" Reina asks.

"Yeah, obviously. I can tell that this is Garufan already." Athena answers.

Athena walks over to the ladder, and walks down it. Reina waits for Athena to give the go-ahead to climb down herself.

Sakuya and Emma both walk in moments later, and climb down the ladder after Reina.

Athena walks across a stone bridge over a dark abyss, and over to a stone sanctuary's entrance.

She notices several Regirock statues in the path ahead.

"That's a Garufan Ruin." Athena states.

Reina runs over to her.

"Oh my gosh, this is an ancient Garufan ruin!" Reina yells. "The symbols, the everything! The main entrance is obviously behind a magic seal, so we'll need to take one of the side paths."

"Left?" Athena asks.

"That's what I was thinking!" Reina exclaims, and walks over to the left.

They both walk up a small set of stairs, and are face-to-face with another Regirock statue. Reina walks over to it, and slides her hand across slight imperfections in the craftwork.

"...It's braille, isn't it?" Athena asks.

"Obviously. Hoenn mythology 101, now stand back." Reina responds.

Athena steps out of the way.

Reina runs around the left side of the area, then pulls out a tazer and points it at the door. She flashes the tazer, and the door opens.

Athena slides her hand across the statue.

"Run.. anticlockwise... once... bright... flash..." Athena reads. "Seems legit."

Athena and Reina both walk through the door, which closes behind them.

Emma and Sakuya finish walking down the stairs, and walk towards the main entrance of the sanctuary.

Sakuya is deflected by the barrier as she walks into it.

"Goddamnit. That's a barrier and not a Morality Lock, at least. We'll need to get through this another way."

Emma points at the rightward entrance.

"Maybe we can get through there?" Emma asks.

"Seems legit. Let's do this." Sakuya responds.

Both of them walk up two stairs, and Sakuya stands face-to-face with a Regirock statue. She slides her hand over imperfections in it to read the challenge.

"Exhibit... your... strength..." Sakuya reads, then takes a step back.

"Yeah, alright. Check this out."

Sakuya pulls her staff out, and forms a halo of power behind herself. 

Emma runs to the east side of the room to avoid the incoming blast of power.

Sakuya collapses the halo into a single point of energy, and launches it at the statue, which explodes violently. The door on the right opens immediately afterwards.

"How's that for strength?" Sakuya boasts.

Emma walks through the door to the right. Sakuya follows her in.

Athena and Reina walk through and as well as two Regirock statues, they see a moveable statue with a Togekiss ontop it, a statue with a Seviper ontop it, and a statue with a Greninja ontop it.

Athena narrows her eyes at the Greninja.

"Hey, does Ren have a Greninja?" Athena asks.

"He does, why?" Reina asks.

Athena lets out an exasperated groan.

"Stay here, there's gotta be a solution to the puzzle in the one door that isn't locked." Athena states.

The doors in the top left and top right are blocked by hardlight projections, the one on the left purple and on the right blue. The door in the bottom left is not blocked. Athena walks over to the bottom left doorway.

Athena takes one look at the room, and sees that the Togekiss is supposed to be in the top left, the Seviper top right, and Greninja bottom.

She walks back into the main room.

"Which way?" Reina asks.

Athena pushes the Greninja statue into place.

"Put the Seviper statue in the top right, I'll deal with the Togekiss." Athena explains.

Reina does as asked, and Athena places the Togekiss statue into place. When she does so, the door on the top left audibly shatters open.

Athena shrugs. "Alright, further down the hole we go."

Reina follows Athena through the doorway.

Emma and Sakuya walk into the next room of the sanctuary, and see six statues of Pokemon on the field, and a statue of an Escavalier on the other side of the arena.

Sakuya shrugs, and steps ahead.

"GREETINGS, ENVOY." the statue audibly yells.

"E-Envoy???" Emma exclaims.

"IF YOU WISH TO PROCEED, THEN YOU MUST FINISH THIS TRIAL. BATTLE ENGAGING AT ONCE." the statue audibly announces.

Sakuya pulls out a Pokeball, and aims it at the statue. "FINE BY ME, LET'S DO THIS!"

██E T██A█I T███N█N█ S█ST█M initiates a battle!

A Gigalith and Sigilyph manifest out of the dirt below.

Sakuya takes a second Pokeball out, and throws both of them down into the arena.

Her Sceptile and Abomasnow both come out. Snow starts to fall down onto the arena.

"Sceptile, Grass Knot on Gigalith!" Sakuya instructs. "Abomasnow, uh... Avalanche?"

Sceptile stomps one foot into the ground, and ensnares Gigalith's feet with knotted vines. It falls to the ground and returns to the earth.

Sigilyph forms an immense ball of psychic energy and launches it at Sceptile, knocking it into the arena walls. A purple orb glows as it attacks, but Sigilyph doesn't appear to take any negative effect from it.

Abomasnow retaliates by calling an avalanche down onto Sigilyph, almost knocking it out.

Sigilyph and Abomasnow both take no negative effect from the snow falling down.

"Life Orb and Magic Guard, interesting." Sakuya comments.

"Where did you get that Sceptile?" Emma asks.

"Evolved it from a Treecko I found roaming Sheridan." Sakuya explains. "Perfect timing to use it, don't you think?"

Sakuya recalls Sceptile and sends out her Sawsbuck.

"True." Emma responds.

A Clefable burrows up from the earth below.

"Sawsbuck, Body Slam on the Sigilyph." Sakuya instructs. "Abomasnow, Rock Tomb on Clefable."

Sawsbuck steps over to the Sigilyph, then runs full force at it and sandwiches its body between it and the wall. Sigilyph returns into the ground.

Clefable meditates.

Abomasnow summons rocks down onto Clefable, temporarily trapping it between 5 rocks. The rocks quickly fade into nothingness.

The snow buffers Sawsbuck and Clefable. A faint green light pulses through Clefable, nullifying the damage that the hail dealt.

A Dusclops burrows up from the earth below in the Sigilyph's place.

"Ems, what level are these?" Sakuya asks. "I left the other P*DA in the boat, Athena's got it."

Emma rolls her eyes and aims the P*DA's camera at the arena.

"53 and 54, and that's an Eviolite. The field isn't showing up for some reason." Emma exposits.

"Whatever. That Dusclops is way too slow to do anything." Sakuya comments.

"Abomasnow, Iron Tail. Sawsbuck, Body Slam on Clefable." Sakuya then instructs.

Sawsbuck slams its body into Clefable, sandwiching it into the arena wall. Abomasnow walks over to Clefable and heavily swings its tail at it, knocking it down.

Clefable returns into the ground.

Dusclops lets out a distorted aura, heavily intensifying gravity momentarily. Abomasnow and Sawsbuck both seem to have taken heavy damage.

"Avalanche and Seed Bomb." Sakuya instructs.

Sawsbuck throws a large seed with the force of a shot put at Dusclops, pushing it back.

Dusclops lets the distorted aura out again, heavily intensifying gravity for a moment. Abomasnow and Sawsbuck both take more damage.

Abomasnow retaliates by throwing a large mass of snow down onto Dusclops.

"Wood Hammer and Seed Bomb." Sakuya instructs again.

Sawsbuck throws another large seed at Dusclops, further pushing it back.

Abomasnow steps over to Dusclops and positions both of its arms in a hammering motion, then slams Dusclops down into the earth before it can retreat back into it.

Sakuya recalls her Abomasnow and Sawsbuck.

"CONGRATULATIONS, ENVOY." the Escavalier statue announces. "YOU MAY CONTINUE FORTH."

A hardlight bridge appears in the middle of the arena, allowing for passage to the other side of the room.

Emma slowly walks across the bridge. Sakuya looks down at the six statues in the arena.

"Salamence, Bewear, Lati...as?, Hawlucha, Alolan Ninetales, Solrock." Sakuya lists. "Probably nothing meaningful."

Sakuya follows Emma across the bridge, and over to the doorway into the next chamber.

Chapter Text

Athena and Reina head into the next room, and see a set of statues in front of them, with several unmovable stones blocking them from being able to freely move them into positions.

Reina notices a small corridor to the right, and walks through it.

"Hey, the solution's over here!" Reina explains.

"I'm pretty sure we can't move the statues out of these bounds. Which one do I move first?" Athena asks back.

"Uh, Latias in the top right." Reina answers.

Athena does as instructed, and moves the statue over.

"Next?" Athena asks.

"That was the only easy one, you're going to need to maneuver the others a bit to put them into position." Reina responds.

"I didn't ask for an explanation, just orders." Athena retorts.

"Move the Lunatone up and out of the way, then the Ninetales into the top left." Reina instructs.

Athena does as instructed, and parks the Lunatone to the left of the rock in the middle of the area. She pushes the Ninetales statue into the top left.

"Next?" Athena asks.

"Sableye into the bottom right." Reina instructs.

Athena does as instructed, and slides the Sableye past the Hawlucha statue and between the two large unmovable rocks into its position in the bottom right.

"Lastly?" Athena asks.

"Hawlucha in the bottom left." Reina instructs. "Then obviously-"

"Got it." Athena responds, and pushes the Hawlucha down between the two unmovable rocks and left to its position, then up by one tile. She pushes the Lunatone down one tile, moves it to the right, and pushes it down another tile.

The hardlight door blocking their progress disappears as she moves the Lunatone into position.

"I wonder why the others aren't here yet." Athena comments.

"Maybe Emma wasn't able to sneak past the Sensei?" Reina answers.

Sakuya and Emma walk through into the next room. Another stone Escavalier stands at the back of another arena at a lower elevation compared to the rest of the room.

Emma walks over to the arena instead this time.

"GREETINGS, ENVOY." the Escavalier announces again. "ROUND 2 IS NOW AVAILABLE. NEW CIRCUMSTANCE HAS BEEN MET. DOWNLOADING..."

"...Downloading?" Sakuya asks.

A bright light is absorbed from Emma.

Emma falls to the ground, prompting Sakuya to pull her staff back out and threaten the Escavalier with it.

The Escavalier doesn't send out any Pokemon yet.

Maiel's hair turns back to its golden hue, and she stands back up.

"This place looks a lot more furnished than I remember." Maiel comments.

"Shut up, it's battle time." Sakuya hisses.

"Finally, time to have a real battle." Maiel responds.

CHAINED ANGEL MAIEL challenges the █EV█R█ █RAI█I█G █Y██E█!

A Hisuian Typhlosion and a Drifblim both climb up out of the ground.

Maiel narrows her eyes at them, and throws the P*DA at Sakuya.

Sakuya catches it, and scans the Typhlosion with it.

"Level?" Maiel asks.

Maiel sends out her Indeedee-F and her Veluza.

"...40. Both of them, exactly 40." Sakuya answers.

"Maid, Follow Me. Sashimi, Fillet Away." Maiel instructs.

Indeedee spins around and waggles her arms around to distract Typhlosion and Drifblim away from Veluza.

Typhlosion throws a ball of umbral energy at Indeedee, but it passes directly through it.

Maiel laughs. "TYPE IMMUNITY SHIT, EAT IT!"

Drifblim shrinks its body down slightly.

Sakuya facepalms.

Veluza shakes its body around viciously, discarding its excess flesh and sharpening its fins at the same time.

"Are you going to do something about that?" Sakuya asks.

"Yep." Maiel responds, and recalls her Indeedee for her Alolan Raichu.

"Sashimi, kill the Typhlosion. Pancakes, Nasty Plot." Maiel instructs.

Veluza slashes through the arena with its spiked fins, and fires an arc of water at Typhlosion, knocking it down. Typhlosion returns to the earth.

Raichu starts strategizing as it flies on its own tail.

Drifblim shrinks its body further.

A Gourgeist burrows up from the ground.

"Pancakes, Psychic on Gourgeist. Sashimi, Psycho Cut."

Veluza slashes through the arena with its spiked fins, and fires an arc of psychic energy at Drifblim. Drifblim narrowly dodges the attack.

Raichu picks up one of the statues on the arena grounds with a telekinetic force, and throws it at Gourgeist.

Gourgiest returns to the earth.

Drifblim shrinks its body even further.

A Froslass burrows up from the ground.

"Pancakes, Shock Wave on the Drifblim. That should kill. Sashimi, Recover."

Froslass covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

A green pulse of energy floods through Veluza, and its excess flesh regenerates itself.

Raichu absorbs some latent electricity, then fires a wave out from its body towards Drifblim.

Drifblim drops out fragments of a berry from the bottom of its balloon, and weathers the hit. It throws up a baton, and flies up into the air, away from the combatants.

Another Froslass burrows up from the ground and picks up the baton, shrinking as a result.

"Sashimi, Aqua Cutter on that obvious Zoroark. Pancakes, the actual Froslass."

Veluza slashes through the arena with its spiked fins, and fires an arc of water at the first Froslass. It knocks back into the arena wall and reveals itself to be a Hisuian Zoroark, but it manages to barely hold on.

Zoroark retaliates by throwing a ball of dark energy into the ground around Veluza, which swirls into a dark cyclone and spins it out into the wall.

Raichu absorbs some latent electricty, then fires a wave out from its body towards the actual Froslass.

Froslass retaliates by forming a deluge of snow above Raichu, crushing it under its weight.

Maiel recalls her Veluza and Raichu, and glares at the Zoroark.

"Did you know about that sash?" Maiel asks Sakuya.

"Nope. I think the sets are whatever the system wants." Sakuya responds.

Maiel groans, and sends out her Swoobat and Farigiraf.

"Bat, Charge Beam on Zoroark. Palindrome, use Foresight on Froslass."

Zoroark runs over to Swoobat and launches its shadow at it, but the intense weight in the arena slows the trajectory of the attack.

Swoobat fires a beam of electricty through Zoroark, the power of the beam increasing as the first spark hits Zoroark.

Zoroark returns to the earth.

Farigiraf's eyes glow red, and it releases a flashlight of force at the Froslass, solidifying its shadow and pinning it to one location.

Froslass flies over to Swoobat and forms a spectral set of jaws in front of it, which clamp down and crunch into its body. Swoobat falls to the ground.

Maiel recalls Swoobat, and sends out her Indeedee again.

The original Drifblim returns down to the arena in Zoroark's place.

"Maid, Dazzling Gleam. Palindrome, Baton Pass." Maiel instructs.

Froslass frantically flies over to Indeedee and forms a spectral set of jaws in front of it, which clamp down and crunch into its body. Indeedee weathers the pain.

Indeedee lets out an incredibly bright flash of pink light, knocking both Froslass and Drifblim out.

When the light clears, both of them have already returned to the earth.

Farigiraf throws up a baton and ejects itself back into its Pokeball.

"What was that for?" Sakuya asks.

"Farigiraf was too slow to do anything, and I want a better mon. But Foresight would end if I hardswitched." Maiel explains. "Good thing that it stays through Baton Pass~"

Maiel sends her Claydol out in place of Farigiraf. It picks up the baton that Farigiraf threw, but nothing happens.

An Aevian Chandelure rises up from the earth.

"It should have Levitate." Sakuya warns.

"Doesn't matter. Gravity's always active in this field." Maiel responds. "Maid, Protect. Doll, Earth Power."

Indeedee covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

A faint dark glow emanates from within Chandelure, and it throws a ball of pure umbral energy at Claydol, which knocks it out.

"I CALL HACKS!" Maiel yells.

"That was a Ghost Gem." Sakuya observes.

"Goddamnit." Maiel sighs.

Maiel recalls Claydol for her Farigiraf.

"Maid, Shadow Ball. Palindrome, Twin Beam."

Indeedee forms a ball of pure umbral energy, and fires it at Chandelure.

Chandelure responds by discharging a thick electric field throughout the entire arena.

Indeedee falls on one knee, paralysed, however Farigiraf remains unscathed.

Farigiraf spins a beam of energy around its body, then fires it at Chandelure, knocking it out. Farigiraf quickly fires a second beam of energy, but the Chandelure returns to the earth before it can connect.

Maiel recalls her Farigiraf and Indeedee.

"CONGRATULATIONS, ENVOY." the Escavalier statue announces once more. "YOU MAY CONTINUE FORTH."

"That was Emma's team, wasn't it?" Maiel asks.

"It was." Sakuya responds. "I hope Athena's alright."

A hardlight bridge appears in the middle of the arena, allowing for passage to the other side of the room. The door on the left opens up, but the one on the right stays closed.

Maiel and Sakuya both walk across the bridge, and through the doorway to the next chamber.

Athena and Reina both walk into the left side of a horizontal corridor with two doors on the far side, as well as a downward ladder on the far left side.

Sakuya and Maiel walk out into the right side of the same corridor.

"Did you have to fight too?" Sakuya asks.

"You got to fight? We had to do puzzles." Athena responds.

Maiel laughs. "Well, I got to fight Emma at least. Technically."

Reina walks through the corridor and notices an inactive teleporter.

"This must lead to the Magma Stone!" Reina exclaims. "There must be something in those two doors that opens the big gate back at the entrance."

Maiel sits down on the ground beside the teleporter.

Sakuya hands the P*DA back to Maiel, then leans on a rock while typing notes down into her Pokenav.

"Ath, walk in there and tell me what you see." Sakuya instructs.

Athena nods and walks through one of the doorways.

"2 doors, 4 bodies, 1 goal, worst case scenario-" Sakuya notes to herself as she writes down calculations.

Athena walks back over.

"There's a ritual circle in there." Athena answers.

Reina immediately runs in to analyze it.

"As well as 2 Regirock statues, and columns holding it up." Athena adds. "Didn't feel like reading the statues."

Emma stands up and looks around at the corridor.

"What happened in the second room?" Emma asks.

"Maiel fought your team. Good to see that you're ok." Sakuya answers.

Emma sighs, and walks over into the right room.

Reina runs out just as Emma does this.

"We need to get out of here. Right now." Reina yells.

"What did you read?" Sakuya asks, slight concern in her voice.

"It said 'To those who wish to call the legendary beast... The ones who hold open the path shell be punished for their treason. No mercy shall be had upon their soul. Forever lost.'." Reina elaborates.
"We should come back with some Xen Runts and use them for it."

Athena takes the Serpent Statue out of her bag, and holds it close to her chest. She mouths a prayer, and feels incredibly uncomfortable when nothing happens.

"...And we're in an entropy trap. Again."

Sakuya sighs, and takes out a pair of aviation goggles with runes inlaid into them.

"Reina. Get the eldest." Sakuya firmly states.

"Are you sure?" Reina asks. "We sneaked past both of them..."

"Do it." Athena yells. "And tell her EVERYTHING. The paths back should both be open."

Reina quickly runs back through the area.

Sakuya sighs, and walks over into the room that Emma walked into, staff in hand. A few moments later, Emma's body is thrown back by a magical force.

Emma lands on both feet, and staggers to the ground.

"You didn't have to throw me like that!" Emma yells.

"She did. I know my Lady, and she wouldn't do anything like that to someone she likes unless it was important.

Emma sighs, and sits down. She starts writing notes down into her P*DA.

Alain walks into the Blacksteeple Battlegrounds with Saki and Adam.

They arrive just in time to see Valarie knock out the last Pokemon of the challenger.

"M-My Prestige Room... The luxury... The food... the luxury, again..." the challenger despairs. "All gone within seconds..."

"Wooo, and that's all she wrote, folks! Thank you all for coming!" Valarie boasts.

Adam facepalms. "Guess I did her work for nothing."

"Nah, that's not true." Alain responds. "I don't have a Mining Kit yet, so I'll pocket your work for the day."

"Hey, that's cheating!" Saki yells at Alain.

"We both know that you would have asked for it if they hadn't first." Adam retorts.

Saki points up at the north side of the battlegrounds.

"Hold on a sec, take a look up there. It's the Warden!"

Alain shrugs. "I've already said what I want to with him."

"See to it that Valarie gains access to the Prestige Room for the night." Neved declares.

The guard beside him agrees, but is too far away to be audible.

The crowd disperses and goes back to their work elsewhere.

"Huh... Still no sight of your friend. That's so... odd." Saki observes.

Valarie walks over to the three of them. "Hey guys. I see you made it just in time to see my victory!"

Saki runs over to Valarie and gives her a hug. "Vallll!"

"Good day to you, Saki. Who's the new kid?" Valarie responds, and asks.

"I'm Alain. I hate it here." Alain introduces themself.

"Nice to meet you, Alain. My name is Valarie Kersey." Valarie introduces herself back. "Gym Leader of Akuwa Town, owner of the Akuwa Town Aquarium, and Water-Show Performer."

"How did Team Xen manage to capture three Gym Leaders?" Alain yells. "Other than Saki. I know what you did."

Adam facepalms. "Well, I was at a Little Cup tournament in Oblitus Town. Safe to say that most of the stronger trainers that they managed to kidnap got honeypotted there."

Alain laughs.

"All of my strong Pokemon are held in the Aquarium. They caught me offguard with a team of only level 45s." Valarie answers.

Valarie sighs, and looks at Alain. "You must've arrived overnight. I didn't see you yesterday."

"Yeah. Aelita also got captured." Alain responds. 

"Aelita? I haven't heard anything about her." Valarie states. "Or seen her. Usually everyone has free reign to roam the castle at their leisure outside of the curfew."

"I'd go to the Garden, but Alain isn't allowed there yet. Maybe we should head back to the Mines for info?" Saki asks.

"There's no point. I already know where she is." Alain answers.

"What???" Valarie and Saki both exclaim.

"She's being held in some form of special cell that the Warden has exclusive access to." Alain exposits. "Now, are battles over for the day?"

"Yeah, why?" Valarie responds with a question.

"In which case, I'm going back to sleep. I have no intention of socializing with you if you're going to hide information." Alain responds, and starts to walk off.

"You know, you're an asshole." Saki yells.

"AND YOU LITERALLY LET YOURSELF GET CAPTURED FOR FUN." Alain yells back, and instinctively takes out their Cherish Ball.

Adam facepalms repeatedly. "Girls. Stop. Is this about the Sigils?"

"Sigils?" Alain asks, in a much calmer tone.

"Yeah. They make your Pokemon mindless. Try to attack anything with the same mark as the Sigil, they completely freeze up." Adam explains. "The Guards, the Warden, hell, even the Castle itself."

"You can't escape upstream in the Garden or by flying out, either." Valarie sighs. "At a certain point, your Pokemon just stop moving and refuse to leave."

"Some kid with a Jolteon tried attacking a guard, and... well, he's still in the infirmary after that attempt."

Alain shrugs. "Alright, you three work on trying to deactivate a sigil. And Valarie? Savor the rest that you get today. It'll be the last time you get to slack off around here."

"Are you really just going to sleep?" Valarie asks, her voice straining to not yell at them.

"Well, do I get access to anywhere other than the mines today?" Alain asks back.

They take Valarie and Saki's silence as a no, and walk away.

Alain walks back through the castle to her jail cell, and sits down on its bed.

"Idiots. Idiots, all of them. I bet that bitch, Saki, would have tried to pin the obvious fallout from messing with one of those things on me."

Alain closes her eyes, and crosses her legs to meditate.

"Now what did that boardwalk look like again..."

Alain spiritually rises back up, sat down at the same table that they saw last night.

They let out a sigh of relief, and look up at the cosmic skyscape.

"I should have gone with those three. Now I'm stuck in a place where I'm one mistake away from losing Taser."

The woman in a labcoat reappears, this time standing on the side of the boardwalk on the other side of the building.

Alain walks over to her.

The woman leans over, putting her hands on a post to balance herself.

"You called this your abode. What is it?" Alain asks.

"A nameless sanctuary... a small house that I was able to preserve at the Edge of My World." the woman answers. "You seem lost. Is something the matter?"

"I don't trust you. Or anyone." Alain answers.

The door on the building opens of its own accord, revealing a replica of an inn room from Sheridan Village's Cherry Blossom Inn inside.

"Is that a better place to sleep for you?" the woman asks. "This sanctuary is as much yours as it is mine now, my In-"

"Don't try and act as a maternal figure either. Tesla's already doing that for me." Alain interjects.

The woman lets out a slight laugh. "I see. But no. Entwining myself with you in that way would only drag both of us down."

"Perhaps when the skies finally clear..." she sighs at a much quieter volume.

Alain walks into the inn room, and is unable to find anything out of the ordinary, besides a foil-covered plate hiding under the pillow. They slide the foil off, and find a fried egg that has kept its warmth.

They sit down on a table in the room, and use the cutlery lying on the table to enjoy the meal rather than one in the castle walls.

Alain looks at the books lining the bookshelf in the room, and notices that all of their titles are written in Garufan rather than the mixture of Galarian and a few Kalosian or Kantonian that they remember being in the real inn room.

Chapter Text

Around an hour later, Reina, Keta, and the Eldest run through the Garufa Sanctuary to see Athena and Emma sat down around a campfire, cooking meat kebabs with its flame.

"What the fuck are you doing here still?" Keta asks, concern in his voice.

"Nothing bad's happened yet." Athena responds. "Besides, we need the Magma Stone to save Kakori."

Sakuya walks back out of the room on the right, her aviator goggles now showing signs of severe burning and rot at the same time.

Sakuya throws her goggles at the campfire, shocking the Eldest.

"How are you-?" the Eldest starts to ask.

"What the FUCK were the Garufans doing with Astral Driftstone? And why is-"

"Rift Matter?" Reina asks, alerting the Eldest again. "You know what that is?"

"The more I know, the less I want to still be in this forsaken region." Sakuya yells.

"It said that two of us have to stand on the platforms, otherwise we won't be able to summon Groudon and the Magma Stone." Reina explains.

Keta hands Athena the Soul Stone, and walks over to the left door.

"This is for the good of the people." Keta tells the Eldest, and walks into the chamber.

The Eldest sighs, and looks at Athena, Sakuya, and Emma.

"Spirit of the Forest, give me strength..." the Eldest prays.

"Choose between yourself who will offer themselves to open the path. There is a way to mitigate the effects, but..."

Athena walks over to the right chamber, but Sakuya stops her.

"And leave me to fight a Primal Groudon with Grass-types?" Sakuya exclaims. "I'm not going to let you do that-"

Sakuya stops when she sees Emma walk into the right chamber. The teleport tile manifests moments later.

Athena facepalms and walks onto the tile.

The Eldest walks back the way that she came, and Reina quickly runs after her.

Athena appears on another warp tile, a few steps away from the entrance into an incredibly hot room. She walks through it regardless.

The area in front is so hot that the stones seem moments away from melting, and in the center of the room, instead of a Regirock statue, lies a Groudon.

"This is all you can throw against me?" Athena boasts. "Alright. Let's play this game."

Athena takes out a Premier Ball, and aims it at Groudon.

VANGUARD ATHENA challenges BEHEMOTH GROUDON!

Athena sends out her Galarian Weezing.

Weezing emits a strange gas that prevents Groudon from further accentuating the heat within the chamber.

"Toxic!" Athena yells.

Groudon slams into the ground, trapping Weezing within a fissure.

Weezing barely holds on, and vomits up a noxious ball of poison onto the Groudon.

Groudon ignores the poison.

"Protect." Athena instructs.

Weezing covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

Groudon angrily slams into the ground again, which does nothing. Groudon continues to ignore its poisoning.

"Explosion." Athena instructs.

Groudon slams into the ground once more, launching a fault line directly at Weezing, which knocks it out.

Groudon continues to ignore its poisoning, but it starts to have a visible effect on it.

The gas that Weezing emits stops taking effect, and Groudon summons a miniature sun within the chamber.

Athena recalls Weezing for her Shiinotic.

"Protect." Athena instructs.

Shiinotic covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

Groudon runs up to Shiinotic and attempts to crush it in firey annihilation, but gets deflected by the shield.

Groudon coughs up parts of a berry, and attempts to ignore its poisoning.

Athena recalls her Shiinotic for her Dachsbun.

Groudon runs up to Dachsbun and attempts to crush it in firey annihilation, which does absolutely nothing as Dachsbun's doughy body absorbs the flames.

Groudon coughs up again, starting to fall to poison.

"Trailblaze." Athena instructs.

Groudon slams into the ground again, launching a faultline at Dachsbun.

Dachsbun jumps out of the faultline and runs rapidly at Groudon, forming grassy motionlines behind itself as it slams into it.

Groudon falls to the ground from the poison, but stands back up.

With a resounding roar, the area around changes to the noxious heat of a volcanic crater.

Dachsbun's doughy body absorbs the heat, happily.

"Endeavor." Athena instructs.

Dachsbun flattens its body on the ground, then knocks Groudon back with a single strike.

Groudon reels from the attack, but yells out and the spectral image of a sword appears above itself, and a red aura forms around it.

Groudon falls to the ground from the poison again, but stands back up.

The lines in Groudon's body flare, and it summons an even stronger miniature sun within the volcanic chamber.

Dachsbun's doughy body absorbs even more heat, fully baking its bread and giving it a redolent blue aura.

"Endeavor again." Athena instructs, then smirks at the Groudon.

Dachsbun flattens its body into the ground again, and knocks Groudon back with a single strike.

Groudon slams its body into the ground and messes up the entire arena, knocking Dachsbun out.

Groudon then falls to the ground from the poison once more, but stands back up for a final stand.

Athena rolls her eyes and recalls Dachsbun, then sends out Shiinotic again.

"Protect." Athena instructs.

Shiinotic covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

Groudon fires a wave of superheated air towards Shiinotic, but the hexagonal energy shield protects it. Groudon coughs up blood from the poison's effects.

Shiinotic's body starts to wilt from the heat.

"And... gamble on a protect again?" Athena instructs.

Shiinotic covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield, but the shield shatters before Groudon fires another wave of superheated air at Shiinotic, scorching it and knocking it out.

Groudon's body slams onto the ground, down and out.

The volcanic nature of the area starts to shift back to the ruin that it was a few minutes ago.

Athena spits on the Groudon for disrespect, and walks around to get to the stairs up.

She walks back to the left, and sees the Magma Stone in the middle of another ritual circle.

Athena quickly grabs the Magma Stone, and runs back.

Sakuya notices the chamber's door opening back up, and quickly runs in to check on Emma.

Her body has completely passed out, and her auburn hair has shifted to a blood-red hue.

"You idiot..." Sakuya sighs.

Sakuya picks up Emma's body, and takes it with her out of the chamber.

An incredibly disorientated though still lucid Keta walks out of the other chamber.

He looks down at Emma with concern.

A few seconds later, Athena reappears through the warp tile.

"Is she alri-" Athena starts to ask, but stops when she sees Emma's body.

Silently, Athena walks over to the ladder down to an unknown floor.

"...We should leave." Keta comments.

"Yes." Sakuya immediately responds, unable to control the emotion in her voice.

Keta and Sakuya both walk out of the Garufa Sanctuary.

Athena jumps down the ladder and pulls her greatsword out.

She sees a Latias statue beside her, and immediately cleaves its wings off with one strike of her greatsword.

She turns through the rest of the room, cleaving through a Seviper statue, an Absol statue, which she repeatedly stabs until nothing remains but dust, a Togekiss statue, a Latios statue, a Greninja statue, a Sableye statue, a Togekiss statue with a corrupted face, a Bewear statue, and an Alolan Ninetales statue.

When the door out doesn't budge, she slowly walks over to it and starts striking at the door with her blade.

Athena stabs her blade into the ground after realising that her attempts won't work.

She instinctively ducks, and feels the weight of an immense rock golem's fist flying over her head.

Athena spins around and finds herself face-to-face with a bastardisation of a Regirock's form, held together by ectoplasm.

"Go no further." a voice from the Regirock states.

Athena immediately pulls her blade back out of the ground and swings it at the Regirock.

Regirock reconstitutes its body.

"I will not allow you to desecrate this sanctuary." the Regirock states. "I had not wished to intervene, but my hand has been forced."

"I don't give a shit!" Athena yells, and swings it at Regirock, breaking it into pieces.

Regirock reconstitutes its body.

"I am something that cannot be destroyed by such mortal means." Regirock states.

Regirock launches an arm at Athena, who dodges it and slashes through Regirock's body again.

Regirock reconstitutes its body.

"What the hell is an Envoy?" Athena yells.

"Envoys are beings sent to us through the earth. Souls brought to life through the King's Blessings have a particular connection to the Earth."

Regirock reforms a statue from the damage that Athena dealt to it, and throws it at her.

Athena backsteps and recenters herself on the ground with one hand and both of her feet, then jumps at Regirock and dismantles it with a spinning strike.

Regirock reconstitutes its body.

"Not the answer you were looking for?" Regirock asks.

Athena shrugs. "Enlightening, but besides the point."

Rage flows through Athena and she throws her sword at Regirock, dismantling its body again.

Regirock reconstitutes its body.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ASTRAL DRIFTSTONE?" Athena yells.

Athena resummons her sword, and physically splits it into two jaggedly serrated halves.

Regirock shoots a rock into the air, and a deluge of rocks with random intervals starts falling down through the area.

Athena runs at Regirock and slashes with both blades to dismantle it.

Regirock reconstitutes its body, and doesn't answer.

Athena slashes with both blades in a diagonal slashing pattern, dismantling Regirock.

Regirock reconstitutes its body, and still doesn't answer.

Athena slashes with both blades in a cardinal slashing pattern, dismantling Regirock.

Regirock reconstitutes its body, and stays silent.

Regirock's body starts to glow faintly.

Athena yells with pure rancor, and continuously slashes through Regirock, dismantling its body again each time that it reconstitutes it.

Several minutes later, a strong pulse of wind pins Athena to the wall and dispells her blade.

"You are wasting your time, Interceptor." the Regirock states. "Everything is the way that is it because it is the way that it had to be."

Athena struggles under the wind, but manages to pull her crossbow out of its holster, and points it at the Regirock.

The immense wind causes the bolt to redirect itself into the same wall that she's pinned to as she fires it.

Athena's crossbow disperses into sand.

All of the statues reform themselves, and move into their original places.

Athena's body is teleported back to the ladder where she climbed down into the sanctuary.

Athena passes out.

Keta and Sakuya rush Emma out to the Spring of Purification.

"Is Celebi able to-?" Sakuya asks, but gets interrupted by the Eldest.

"Unfortunately, no. The amount of Rift Matter that she absorbed... her state has gone past that of what a Shadow Pokemon would be."

"The curse... This is like Taelia's, isn't it?" Keta asks. "Then, can't you-"

"That decision is not yours to make." the Eldest warns Keta.

Sakuya sighs. "We'll find a way to deal with it, somehow. Is there anything you can do for now?"

Keta runs out of the Spring's boundary to look for something.

"The only place that could help with this is... the Rose Theatre on Terrial's Route 9." the Eldest answers.

Sakuya sighs, and asks a question. "What would they do there?"

"Souta is a spiritual healer. He is the only person in the region that I trust to be able to handle Garufan curses." the Eldest answers.

Sakuya kneels down to check Emma's body for a pulse, and notes that she's still breathing.

"Where's Reina?" Sakuya asks.

"That other girl you were with? She said she was heading back to Goldenleaf to talk to her mother." the Eldest answers. "By the time she gets there, night will fall. You should get some rest too."

Sakuya stands back up, but looks down at Emma's body.

"Two rooms. Is that alright on such a short notice?" Sakuya asks.

The Eldest nods.

Sakuya picks up Emma's body, and takes it with her as she walks out of the Shrine of Purification.

Athena slowly wakes back up, and checks her surroundings.

"FUCK." Athena yells.

She takes her Pokegear out and checks if it has signal. It does. Athena proceeds to call Zara while she walks back through the cave to its entrance.

Zara doesn't pick up, but a few minutes later she calls back. Athena immediately picks up the call.

"Everything alright over there?" Zara asks.

"I need a copy of the blueprints to the Seijaya machine, preferably with the specifications of a single Silvally as the exaggerata." Athena states.

"...Say that again." Zara responds.

"Other than Sakuya, the reason why I'm still alive is to spite people who should have died centuries ago. Get me a blueprint."

"Try talking to Flora?" Zara suggests. "Flora Grevillea. She's the only person in Aevium who knows about the project because she hacked into the Meteor database 5 years ago."

"Do you have a number for her?" Athena asks.

"Nope. What happened?" Zara asks back.

"Emma got corrupted to a point beyond what Celebi is capable of restoring." Athena responds. "Rest well tonight. There's a chance that this isn't as important as it seems."

Athena walks out of the corrupted part of Carotos Mountain, and through the pseudo-volcanic landscape back out into Sheridan.

Sakuya places Emma's body on a bed in one room, then walks out to head back to her room.

Athena catches up with her and walks in.

"Hey." Athena states.

"Spiritual healer stuff." Sakuya explains.

"Yeah. I called Zara, she should get us a blueprint for a PULSE+ machine in a few days. Too bad Emma's the mechanic..." Athena exposits back.

"Not that I doubt that it'll work, but it's just too far away right now." Sakuya sighs. "I should have learned restoration spells decades ago..."

Athena walks over to the sofa, and lies down on it.

"That's hindsight for you. See you in the morning."

Athena closes her eyes and tries to sleep.

Alain finishes eating the egg that they were given, and takes one of the books off of the bookshelf.

She can't read the title, but notices two crystalline swords on the front of it. She opens it to the first page, and leaves the book on the table.

Alain takes the egg and cutlery into a corner of the room, then walks back over to the book.

The script used in the book seems to have changed, but the font is the same.

"Hm. I guess that's more accommodation." Alain muses to herself, then sits down at the table to read the book.

"The whereabouts of the Queen of Miera after the war ended is unknown." Alain reads. "...Miera? What. Yeah, I'm not reading this."

An alert goes off on Alain's CyberNav, which they quickly silence.

Alain takes off their satchel, and pulls a small vial of a transparent liquid and a needle out of it. She slides her jeans down to expose her thigh, and wipes a spot on it with an alcohol wipe.

She takes some of the liquid out of the vial into the needle, then slowly stabs her thigh and injects it into there.

Alain waits a moment, then pulls the needle out and places it back on the table.

The woman in a lab coat walks into the inn room to look at what Alain is doing, and notices the needle.

Alain puts the book with two swords on its cover back into the bookshelf, and takes out one that labels itself an encyclopedia.

"Good choice." the woman comments.

"I know what Garufan letters look like." Alain responds. "I'll ask you again- who are you?"

The woman walks over to the table, and manifests a small bin to place the needle in. The object quickly forms, but slow enough for Alain to notice that it forms itself from white cubes before they change to the substance of the bin.

"Someone who is very invested in your success." the woman answers. "Unfortunately, the less that I mention, the more likely you are to progress. Rules of the game."

Alain narrows her eyes. "...are you fucking- alright. What was that you said about Sakuya and Athena earlier?"

The woman manifests a black mug onto the table, with the insignia of an orange triangle surrounded on each side by a large symmetrical trapezium with a smaller one a short distance away in the same direction emblazoned onto it.

"Would you mind?" the woman asks, her eyes staring at the kettle in the room.

Alain rolls their eyes and walks over to the kettle to turn it on.

"Coffee?" Alain frustratedly asks.

"Black, and yes." the woman responds.

"I know that League Administration thinks they're incredibly suspicious, but they can't do anything about them because there aren't any records of the boat's passengers given that... all of them got kidnaped to Blacksteeple Castle." Alain summarizes. "You're probably the only person other than Crescent who knows how they got there."

"The only reason why I decided to reveal myself is because of their entry into the region, but I'm unsure on how they arrived." the woman responds.

The kettle finishes boiling with an audible ping, and Alain takes it and a jar of coffee grounds over to the table. They take a teaspoon of coffee out of the jar and dump it into the mug, then pour the water into it. Alain takes the kettle back.

The orange on the mug shifts to a cyan hue in response to the hot coffee in the mug.

"I've gathered that they're from another timeline." Alain comments.

"This is the case." the woman responds. "You should ask them about it when you wake up."

The woman drinks from her coffee.

Alain sighs, and puts the vial back in their satchel. They then stare at the satchel.

How did she have that? If this is some kind of dream, how did that happen... The momentary feeling of metal in her leg felt as real as ever.

"What were you going to call me back then?" Alain asks.

The woman puts her coffee back down on the table, the insignia on it only cyan in the lower half now.

"Interceptor." the woman answers. "Do you know what that word means?"

"Might have seen it once or twice on Clover, but no." Alain answers.

"I'll leave it to you to find out." the woman responds. She picks her mug back up and continues drinking from it.

Alain sighs, and walks over to the bed.

"Alright. Please leave after you've finished your drink." Alain responds, and lies down on the bed, her head looking up at the ceiling.

Chapter Text

Athena wakes up to see that Sakuya's already left the inn room. There is a package waiting for her on the table.

Athena walks over to the table, and opens the package to see a white kimono fitted for a woman a few sizes smaller than her, and a letter.

"Hm. Probably for Emma." Athena notes to herself, then reads the letter.

"This is one of Taelia's old kimonos. It has the effect of heavily dampening, though not removing, the curses of the wearer. Consider this repayment for helping me recover what I had lost." Athena reads, then sighs.

"...Thanks, Keta." Athena states.

Athena picks it up, and walks out of the room to Emma's.

Emma's body slowly breathes ontop the bed, though with no signs of her being able to wake up.

Athena stops at the bed, and sighs.

"...Forgive me for this." Athena requests, then slowly slides Emma's top and skirt off of her body.

She maneouvers her almost-naked body into a sitting position, then helps her put on the susoyoke and hadajuban, then the nagajuban.

She ties the nagajuban to Emma's body with a cloth belt, then puts the actual kimono onto her body, remembering to wrap the left side over the right side.

"Cursed as you are, you still aren't a walking corpse." Athena comments.

She ties the first sash of the kimono around Emma's waist, and quickly arranges the excess material before putting an obi sash around ontop of the first one.

Athena takes a jar of incense out of her satchel, and ignites it to help her wake up, then puts the lid over the jar to ensure that it doesn't cause the room to set on fire.

Sakuya walks back into Carotos, and heads over to the laboratory within the mountain.

All of the machinery inside the mountain has been wrecked to prevent others from being able to use it, but that doesn't stop her from walking over to them and slowly shoving them into her pocket of hyperspace.

Sakuya gets a call on her Pokegear, and diverts it to her Holo Caster.

Terra's visage appears as a hardlight appearance above the caster.

"nani the fuck-" Terra exclaims, then looks at her surroundings. "Didn't expect that. Hai. I heard you needed help crafting."

Sakuya places the Holo Caster on a table, and waves at Terra.

"Hey. Zara already told you?" Sakuya asks.

"Yeye. Silvally and shit." Terra confirms. "Is this the main room?"

"Nah, that's a room ahead and one to the right."

"Head over there." Terra instructs.

Sakuya walks through the main corridor of the laboratory, then walks right at the double statues in the next room over. She walks through the door to the main room.

All of the shadowfication machines have been destroyed beyond repair.

Terra sighs when she sees them.

"Check the wrecks for any emitter or absorber components." Terra suggests. "It doesn't matter if they're broken, it should be easy to fix them."

Sakuya puts on a new pair of aviator goggles, and rips the door off of a shadowfication chamber to check the internals. She rips a dented emitter panel out of the wall, and kicks the internals to hear if there's anything else interesting in there.

"How's that thing with the HUSK going?" Sakuya asks.

"ok so i figured out how this thing is supposed to be used." Terra explains, and manifests a copy of the Black Box in the hologram.
"As far as I can tell this thing was designed to download a FLC, but later in development it had a secondary method added for fragmented souls to be consolidated and repaired through them."

"ETA on replication?" Sakuya asks, and walks over to another chamber that's already ripped open.

Terra's hologram shrugs.

"A few weeks? I still have no idea what this thing is made of."

Alain wakes up, and finds themself in their cell.

She looks down at her leg, but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary with it.

She walks out of her cell, and sees Saki walking out of her own and through the corridor to the main floor.

Alain walks over to the stairs, then up another set of stairs to head to the Battlegrounds.

They walk over to a signup sheet, and see seven other names on it, one of which being Valarie Kersey.

"Do I have to write a surname?" Alain asks the prison guard by the sheet.

"No. Additionally, you are only allowed 3 Pokemon and cannot change them in the middle of the tournament." the prison guard responds.

Alain writes down their name on the sheet.

The guard takes the sheet and looks through it, then yells to the crowd.

"ROUND 1 OF FIGHTS, SMITH VERSUS ALAIN."

He gestures for Alain to move into the arena, as well as a red-haired man who walks over to the other side of it.

"You all know the rules. I don't have to explain them." the guard states. "Begin."

The man smirks. "I want the Prestige Room so I can throw stuff at people from above. Isn't that what's best for all of us?"

"You're more of an asshole than me." Alain replies.

RENEGADE ALAIN challenges TECHNICIAN SMITH!

Smith sends out his Klang.

Alain sends out her Scrafty.

"Gear Grind." Smith instructs.

"High Jump Kick." Alain instructs.

Scrafty takes a few steps over to Klang, then jumps into the air and kicks it out of the arena's bounds with its knee.

Smith recalls Klang for his Forretress.

"Fire Punch." Alain instructs.

Smith sighs.

Scrafty steps over to Forretress and covers its right fist in a blazing aura, then punches it out of the arena's bounds.

Smith recalls Forretress for this Metang.

"Bullet Punch." Smith instructs.

"Striker, end it with Crunch." Alain instructs.

Metang flies through the air and punches Scrafty.

Scrafty summons a set of spectral jaws in front of Metang and crushes them both into it, knocking it out.

"My dream! It's all ruined! I cannot live anymore!" Smith melodramatically exclaims.

"Yeah, whatever." Alain responds.

"Both of you off the field." the Guard orders.

Alain walks away from the arena, and watches as two other trainers fight each other.

She checks for signal on her CyberNav, and finds that it has none.

Alain rolls her eyes and scrolls through her memes folder while waiting for the next round of combat.

Several minutes later, they get called up again, alongside a man wearing a large backpack.

"ROUND 2 OF FIGHTS, ALAIN VERSUS MANNIE." the Guard shouts.

"Man... I was just visiting Akuwa Town for the Aquarium. I'm just tryna make it back to Kalos, y'feel?" Mannie states.

"I feel that. I just wanted my badge." Alain responds.

"Begin." the Guard orders.

RENEGADE ALAIN challenges TOURIST MANNIE!

Mannie sends out his Quilladin.

Alain sends Striker out again.

"Leech Seed." Mannie instructs.

"Dragon Dance." Alain instructs.

Scrafty dances around on the spot for a few seconds, and its body becomes covered in a faint red and green aura.

Quilladin shoots a few seeds at Scrafty, which bloom into corrupted flowers.

"Seed Bomb." Mannie instructs.

"Nah. Fire Punch." Alain instructs.

Scrafty steps over to Quilladin and covers its right fist in a blazing aura, then punches Quilladin out of the arena.

Mannie recalls Quilladin and sends out his Braixen.

"Flamethrower." Mannie instructs.

"Nope. Crunch." Alain instructs.

Scrafty forms a set of spectral jaws in front of Braixen, and crushes it between them. Braixen falls to the ground, knocked out.

Mannie recalls Braixen for his Frogadier.

"Water Pulse." Mannie instructs.

Alain laughs. "Is this the best that you've got? Two sweeps in a row? God, you all deserve to have been captured."

The entire crowd starts booing her.

"Yeah, fuck you too. You're only booing me because I'm right." Alain yells back.

"Make your move." the Guard warns. "You have 10 seconds."

"Oh, sorry. Striker, Crunch again." Alain instructs.

Scrafty forms a set of spectral jaws in front of Frogadier, and crushes it between them. Frogadier falls to the ground, knocked out.

Mannie recalls his Frogadier.

"Can I leave yet?" Mannie asks.

"You may leave the Battlegrounds, yes." the Guard responds.

Mannie walks off.

"You stay." the guard tells Alain.

"Finals already?" Alain asks.

The guard nods.

"FINALS ROUND - VALARIE VERSUS ALAIN."

Valarie walks up onto the other side of the arena.

"I'm here to knock you off your high horse." Valarie boasts.

"Yeah, no. Can I get my badge when I beat you up?" Alain asks.

Valarie laughs. "Even if you DID win, for a League Battle to count, the Leader needs at least 6 Pokemon."

"At least?" Alain asks, confused.

The guard taps his foot, but lets Valarie explain.

"In the unlikely scenario where two trainers are fighting the Leader at the same time, they can choose to extend it to a 12v12." Valarie answers, then pulls out a Dive Ball and aims it at Alain.

Alain aims their Pokeball at Valarie in response.

"The final battle for the Prestige Room shall now commence." the Guard orders. "Begin."

RENEGADE ALAIN challenges WATER SHOW PERFORMER VALARIE!

Valarie sends out her Primarina.

Alain sends out Striker.

"Dazzling Gleam." Valarie instructs.

"Switching wouldn't be worth it, so Poison Jab." Alain instructs.

Scrafty walks up to Primarina and coats its right arm in poison before jabbing it into Primarina's body.

Primarina retaliates by emitting an incredibly bright pink flash of energy, knocking Scrafty out.

Alain recalls Striker for Tazer.

"Trailbla-" Alain starts to instruct, but sees Valarie recall her Primarina for her Lanturn.

"Trailblaze works." Alain confirms.

Pikachu runs over to Lanturn at enough of a speed for grassy motion lines to form around it, and hits it head-on.

"Dig." Alain instructs.

"Scald." Valarie instructs.

Pikachu digs into the ground, and avoids the toxic bile that Lanturn vomits up.

"Protect." Valarie instructs, and laughs.

Lanturn covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield, blocking Pikachu's attempts at attacking it.

"Fine, use Trailblaze another two times." Alain instructs.

"Scald." Valarie instructs.

Pikachu runs over to Lanturn at enough of a speed for grassy motion lines to form around it, and knocks it back from a head-on hit.

Lanturn responds by firing superheated water at Pikachu, managing to burn it.

"That doesn't change anything." Alain boasts. "Tazer, end it!"

Pikachu runs over to Lanturn and knocks it out from a third grassy hit.

Valarie recalls Lanturn and sends out her Primarina.

"Surf." Valarie instructs.

"Volt Tackle!" Alain yells.

Pikachu runs over to Primarina and covers its body in an incredible amount of electricity as it does so, then jumps headfirst at Primarina, knocking its body down into the ground.

Pikachu faints from the combination of recoil damage and the burn harming it.

Alain recalls Tazer for Slasher, who has since evolved into a Fraxure.

Valarie recalls her Primarina for a Sharpedo.

"I do have something against people like you, you know." Valarie states, and puts one hand to a band around her wrist. "Sharpedo, Ice Fang!"

"Dragon Claw." Alain instructs.

Absolutely nothing happens when Valarie puts her hand to her wrist.

Sharpedo swims through the air over to Fraxure, and bites it with its ice-cold fangs.

A faint glow emanates from a gem on Fraxure, and it slashes through Sharpedo with its draconic claws, knocking it out.

"Huh?" Valarie openly exclaims.

Neved stands up out of his throne overlooking the Battleground, and mutters something to the guard watching with him.

Neved then takes a step over and glares at Valarie.

"Valarie Kersey. You knew the rules when you signed up for the tournament - Mega Evolution is banned. You are no longer allowed to participate." Neved declares.

Valarie storms off.

"Alain, you now have permission to roam the entire castle. This does not extend to the Guards' areas. If you wish to enter the Prestige Room before curfew, you may speak to a Guard in the Banquet Hall to do so." Neved adds.

The crowd who were watching the battles all disperse.

Alain shrugs, and walks off towards the Garden.

She walks through the garden, a mostly-fenced area that seems more like a Menagerie that is presumably full of the Pokemon that have been taken from repeat rulebreakers.

She notices a lone tree with a few branches cut off of its lower half to allow for a passage through the walls on the north side.

"Well, guards aren't watching. May as well." Alain tells themself, and sneaks through the tree.

The area around is a lot snowier and goes across a small bridge over a river to head to a secluded house.

Alain walks into the house, and sees Saki, Adam, and Valarie all talking to a Braixen.

"...Why are you here?" Valarie asks. "Just going to rub my failure in?"

"Curiosity." Alain admits. "I wanted to know what was going on with this house in the woods."

"We aren't sure." the Braixen explains through perfect Galarian speech. "It's a place that the guards definitely don't know about at least."

Alain points at Braixen. "Did that just speak?"

"Yes." Adam answers.

"It's all because of a machine I made!" Saki explains. "When we all got here, I found this place while scouting."

"And I'm forever thankful, because the Sigils placed around the castle were starting to affect my thoughts. I don't have a trainer, and I don't want one." Braixen adds. "Being able to hang back here is wonderful."

"See? Being nosey can be useful." Saki states.

"Did you manage to do anything yesterday?" Alain asks.

"Not exactly." Adam answers. "Saki messed with the Sigil in the mines. A panel asking for a password showed up, but the one that she typed in was the wrong one and we all had to hide."

"Yeahhh, finding out that passcode is gonna be near impossible." Saki sighs. "I found some numbers in bookshelves in the library, but I don't think any of them have any use here."

"Why?" Alain asks.

"They had more characters. The passcode only accepts 5 numbers." Saki answers.

"Isn't there a Sigil at the Garden that's malfunctioning?" Braixen asks. "Maybe you can find something from that?"

"Possible, but there's always a guard stationed by it." Adam reponds.

"If you guys need a distraction-" Saki starts to say, but gets interrupted by Alain.

"I'll handle it. I'll just tell the guy that there isn't anyone in the Banquet Hall and ask him to get the key for the Prestige Room." Alain responds.

"I thought you hated people." Saki responds back.

"I do, but it was rude to interrupt you four. Do you want this help or not?" Alain asks.

Adam and Braixen both nod. Saki sighs.

"Fiiine, go do that." Saki requests.

Alain walks out of the house, and heads back into the Garden.

Alain walks up a set of stairs to get up onto the wall, and walks over to the malfunctioning Sigil and the guard stood by it.

"What do you want, inmate?" the guard asks in an irritated tone.

"There aren't any guards in the Banquet Hall right now, and I want to head to my Prestige Room. I won the tournament, and Neved told me what to do if I wanted to go there early."

"Already?" the guard asks. "Can't you just head to the library for an hour?"

"Narcolepsy. It's best for me to be in a place with a bed otherwise I'll pass out on the cold hard floor." Alain responds.

The guard sighs. "I'll be sure to tell the infirmary about that as well. Follow me."

The guard walks away from the Sigil and over to the door back into the castle's building. Alain follows him over.

She can see Saki, Adam, and Valarie walking back through the tree into the garden as she walks back in, and shoots Adam a wink.

The guard brings Alain over to the Warden's room, and points at a blue door to the wall on the left of it.

"Wait here. That is your room, I'll go get the key."

The guard knocks on the door in a specific pattern, then opens up the door to the Warden's room. He returns a minute later with a key in his left hand, and unlocks the door for her.

Alain walks into the Prestige Room, but before she walks over to the table she asks a few questions.

"Anything I should know?" Alain asks.

"We'll be waking you up at 7. You'll need to win again if you want to come back tomorrow. If you're found out of your quarters, you will still be punished." the guard answers.

Alain nods. "Got it. Have a good afternoon."

Alain walks over to the table, and hears the door slam shut behind her.

She notices a PC built into the wall, and walks over to that instead.

"I wonder if I can use this to send mail." Alain comments. "If I can..."

Alain boots up the PC. The screen displays differently.

[Admin credentials detected. Welcome, ███iy█.]

Alain ignores this and opens up the mailing feature, and finds Athena's account.

They start typing up a message for her.

[Stuck at Blacksteeple, but I've got this comfy room. Aelita's also here, being tortured because Neved's a cunt. I've got everything from the Tower but can't decrypt it right now. That said, head over to Wispy Tower, there's a room on the other side of a large pool of water that I wasn't able to cross. Also, pretty sure the woman in my dreams is an ancient Garufan.] Alain types down.

"What else..." Alain says to themself.

[There are three Gym Leaders and a talking Braixen here, and Adam's the only one who has an actual excuse. Could do with some rescuing, but I'm fine for now.] Alain types to finish the message, and hits Send.

Chapter Text

Athena slows down her walk through Route 3 when she hears her Pokegear beep with a message notification.

"Head over to Wispy Tower..." Athena reads. "Yeah, I can do that."

Athena forwards the message to Sakuya, and picks up her pace through Route 3 to arrive at Goldenleaf Town.

Athena walks through Goldenleaf Town and sees Reina walk out of one of the houses. Reina notices Athena and runs over to her.

"Everything alright?" Reina asks.

"It should be, if what's at the Tower is worth the mention." Athena responds.

"Something at the tower?" Reina asks.

"Yep. Alain said there's something past a pool there, which should be worth the diversion." Athena answers.

Athena calls up the number labelled "Weed Dealer" and waits for Suna to pick up.

Reina walks on ahead to the Wispy Path, and Athena follows her.

Suna picks up the call.

"So how are you doing, considering that Rorim's, well..."

"Could be better." Suna responds over the call.

"We just got back to Aevium. I'd be heading back to Kakori with the Magma Stone, but there's something at the Wispy Tower that Alain told me to check. Has Tesla talked to you?" Athena asks.

"No. I geuss I wasn't really important enough to be considered or something. Then again, Crawli's still around, so they might be in cahoots." Suna responds.

"Understandable. You would have no idea how much shit I've been through the past few days... this should be the end of it though." Athena states.

"It's that bad in the ol' stomping grounds? I'm guessing people who aren't Platers are doing just fine there though. Glad you're coming back, I'm sure we can find yous some way to unwind once all this shit blows over." Suna responds.

"Still living under a rock, I see. Everyone in the digsite got killed years ago. We got trapped in Prehnite for a few hours, but escaped and had some fun in Reborn for a day." Athena states. "Has Zara shown you her book?"

"GOOD FUCKING LORD." Suna yells over the call, then calms down. "...I'm gonna gloss over that like you did and just say 'good riddance to those chumps' and 'no' respectively. S'good?"

"All good." Athena responds. "Emma got cursed... twice. She has DID now. The second curse is... something that Sakuya's going to deal with. With a PULSE."

"Oh boy, more PULSE shenanigans! Without the torture this time, I take it." Suna responds over the call.

"No promises, but yeah. Sakuya found fucking DRIFTSTONE in that curse and she's planning on using the thing to remove it from Emma's body." Athena clarifies.

"Welp. Have fun with that. Best of luck to the kid." Suna responds.

Athena walks through the Wispy Path and sees the burnt remnants of the Wispy Tower a few dozen feet away from her.

"Any Team Xen activity? Or anyone you can tell isn't exactly who they're claiming to be?" Athena asks.

"Yeah, there's this shifty chick traipsin' around all unfrozen n' shit. Red hair, dressed too light for the weather, and a thousand yard stare that could put a dragon's Espurr to shame." Suna answers.

Athena pinches her nose, and groans. "Godsdamnit. When we bump into her we're going to start doing The Thing again, aren't we?"

Suna chuckles over the call.

"Most likely. It does keep seeming like the situations you get into are designed for people a lot less... how do you say... well, less intelligent and much less ruthless than you." Suna exposits.

"Well, benefits of having a Flameforged Soul, I guess. Talk to you later." Athena finishes the conversation.

She ends the call on her Pokegear, and walks down into the Wispy Tower.

Emma slowly wakes up to the smell of charred berries.

She moves off of the bed and notices that her limbs are stiffer than usual, then notices the kimono she's wearing. And that her hair is blood-red.

"That wasn't a dream." Emma tells herself.

She takes out her Pokegear and calls Sakuya on it.

Sakuya's Pokenav starts ringing.

"Hang on, I gotta take this." Sakuya tells Terra, and turns off the Holo Caster.

Sakuya picks up the call.

"Hey?"

"Why am I wearing a kimono?" Emma asks over the call.

"I don't know, but you shouldn't take it off. Yet. It might be the only thing keeping you out of a coma." Sakuya answers.

There's a long pause on Emma's side of the call, then a sigh.

"Alright. Where are you?" Emma asks.

"I'm in Carotos." Sakuya responds. "Head down to River's End. I might need your help with making this thing there."

Sakuya walks out of the Xen Laboratory, and heads back through the volcanic mountain to Sheridan.

"Making... what?" Emma asks.

"Something currently illegal under an extension to the Pokemon Welfare Act, but I know what I'm doing so it won't be as bad as that sounds. Worst case scenario, Maiel ends up in her own body after this." Sakuya states.

Sakuya walks out of the cave, and past the waterfall to head back to the Sheridan Arena.

Athena walks down a set of stairs into the Wispy Tower's basement, and sees Reina waiting for her by an elevator.

Reina presses the button to call the elevator, though as it's already at the top it just causes the doors to open.

"Just had to call a friend. Let's head down." Athena explains.

Reina and Athena both walk down into the elevator.

"There's only two buttons..." Reina exposits.

Athena shrugs, and presses the B2F button.

The elevator quickly descends, and drops them off on the bottom level of the Wispy Laboratory.

Reina takes a look around, and sees that all of the books have been stolen from the bookshelves and the hard drives, RAM, and GPUs of the PCs have been removed.

"Team Xen must have taken all of it when they abandoned-" Reina starts to surmise, but gets interrupted.

"Nah, that was Alain. She stole everything because we asked her to."

Athena walks west through the building and up a small set of stairs, then walks past one doorway to see a stream of water flooding out of another doorway.

She heads over to the second door, and walks through it.

Athena sees a large pool of water that waterfalls flow into in front of her, and a small platform with a door in the far wall on the other side of it.

Reina follows her in, just to see Athena make a running jump across the entire pool to get over to it.

Reina sends out her Jellicent into the water, and jumps onto it to cross the small watery path.

Athena kicks the door once to get a feel for how strong it's built.

"Hm. Decently built, but I can beat a Medicham in an arm wrestle. Watch this." Athena states, then shoves all ten of her fingers into the seam of the two sides of the door.

Athena rips the door open, bending both sides of it towards her rather than pushing them both outwards back into the walls. 

"How?" Reina exclaims.

"Have you heard of the Platers?" Athena asks.

Reina slowly blinks as Athena walks through the doorhole. She jumps off of her Jellicent and recalls it, then follows Athena into the next room over.

"You're one of them???" Reina exclaims. "I thought they all died."

Athena laughs. "Nah. Robin and Temperance are still alive and kicking too. My wife's obviously travelling with me, and Anabel got exiled from the Reborn Region for committing sacrilege."

Reina notices a puzzle on the table in the middle of the room, and steps over to it. She quickly starts solving it, and reads a note by it. "Uh... 'Shadow red among the old. A light so bright, will make it gold. Align the pieces to undo its fold. A reward very great, you will be sold.'. It should be referring to what's behind the door?"

"A reward you will be sold... meaning that we need to give up something of our own in turn." Athena surmises. "Do you have any Magnet Powder?"

Reina stops solving the puzzle a few permutations away from her goal to look through her bag, then sighs and solves the puzzle.

"Nope. I have a few Magnets though." Reina answers.

Athena beckons for Reina to hand her a Magnet, which she does.

Athena pulls a mortar and pestle out of her bag, and starts grinding the magnet into dust.

Reina looks back at the puzzle and switches the location of two tiles, which audibly solves the puzzle with the click of a door's lock retracting.

"Go on ahead and tell me what's behind the door." Athena requests.

Reina takes a few steps in, then immediately walks back out.

"There's a man. I saw him a few times while exploring Evergreen-... I'm outta here. He creeps me out." Reina explains.

Athena sighs. "That's alright. Meet me at Gearen?"

"Fine by me!" Reina responds, and walks off.

Athena stops grinding the magnet when it becomes nothing but a fine powder, and takes out a small cloth to bag it with.

She then walks out into the room that Reina unlocked.

The small room in front of her has nothing but a table with a single damaged Pokeball on it. As well as Eizen standing by the Pokeball.

"Congratulations. You have found the inconsistency." Eizen states.

Athena facepalms, and walks over to the Pokeball.

"The Pokeball itself isn't the inconsistency, but I am."

"Just give me the ball." Athena calmly states.

"No." Eizen responds.

"Why are you acting like 'inconsistencies' are this much of a big deal? They're a part of the way of life, they're the flaps of the cosmic butterfly's wings." Athena retorts.

"Isn't it interesting when even mortals know that something's... off, though?" Eizen asks.

Athena facepalms again, and takes out a Pokeball and aims it at Eizen. "Just fucking fight me already. I don't want to know how you avoided your kind's genocide."

VANGUARD ATHENA challenges INCONSISTENCY EIZEN!

Eizen shrugs, and takes out a Cherish Ball. He sends out his Eevee, which is inexplicably wearing a hat.

Athena sends out her Mawile.

Eizen presses his right hand to his left wrist, and power floods into Eevee.

"Eevee, Extreme Eevoboost!" Eizen yells.

Athena rolls her eyes. "Predictable. Mawile, Psych Up."

Eevee lets out a cry, and a rainbow aura manifests around it.

Mawile stares at Eevee, and stretches. The same rainbow aura manifests around it.

"Baton Pass." Eizen instructs.

"Rock Tomb." Athena instructs.

Eevee throws up a baton covered in the rainbow aura, and ejects itself back into its Pokeball. Eizen sends out his Aegislash. Aegislash catches the baton, and the rainbow aura flares around it.

Mawile puts a fist to the ground, and summons a few rocks from the sky to entomb Aegislash, slowing it down.

"Sacred Sword." Eizen instructs.

"Crunch." Athena instructs.

Aegislash throws aside its shield, and launches itself directly at Mawile, cutting through its defensive aura and knocking it towards the edge of the arena.

Mawile retaliates by stepping over to Aegislash and pierces into its body with its mouthlike metallic hair, knocking it back.

Aegislash spits out parts of a Sitrus Berry.

"King's Shield." Eizen instructs.

Athena shrugs. "Baton Pass."

Aegislash picks its shield back up and hides behind it, forming a blue hexagonal wall in front of itself.

Mawile throws up a baton cloaked in a rainbow aura, and ejects itself back into its Pokeball.

Athena sends out her Dedenne, which picks up the baton and cloaks itself in the rainbow aura.

"Charge Beam." Athena instructs.

"Iron Head." Eizen instructs.

Dedenne fires a beam of electrical energy at Aegislash, which becomes stronger as the first part of it hits.

The lighting of the laboratory in the arena lights back up.

Aegislash throws away its shield and flies over to Dedenne to butt it with its pommel, knocking it back.

Dedenne bites down on something and spits out parts of a Petaya Berry.

"Shadow Sneak." Eizen instructs.

"Charge Beam." Athena instructs.

Aegislash launches its shadow at Dedenne, knocking it back.

Dedenne fires another beam of electrical energy at Aegislash, knocking it out long before the blast ends.

Eizen recalls his Aegislash and sends out his Rotom, which is currently inhabiting a lawnmower.

"Sucker Punch." Eizen instructs.

Athena pauses to think. "Hm. That Tutor did stop teaching a few timelines ago."

Athena throws a Hyper Potion at Dedenne instead of ordering it to attack.

Rotom flies over to Dedenne in an attempt to outmaneuver an attack that never comes.

"Shadow Ball." Eizen instructs.

"Signal Beam." Athena instructs.

Dedenne fires a beam of silvery rainbow energy at Rotom, knocking it out.

Eizen recalls his Rotom, and takes out a Strange Ball.

"As for this inconsistency... have you seen one before?" Eizen asks.

"I literally own a Paradox Pokemon that doesn't exist within the Pokedex." Athena snarks. "But go on, send it out."

Eizen sends out a mechanical Tyranitar. The drive within it activates and glows red.

"Dazzling Gleam." Athena instructs.

"Earthquake." Eizen instructs.

Dedenne emits an incredibly bright pink light, pushing Iron Thorns back.

Iron Thorns slams into the ground, breaking up the machinery and knocking Dedenne out from the impact.

"Assault Vest?" Athena asks.

Eizen nods.

"Good play, but that's one win against two that I've taken down."

Athena recalls Dedenne and sends her Galarian Rapidash out.

"Drill Run." Athena instructs.

Eizen recalls his Iron Thorns to send out an Archeops from a Mineral Ball.

Rapidash slams into the ground to launch a faultline at Archeops, but nothing happens because it's flying in the air.

"Acrobatics." Eizen instructs.

"Wild Charge." Athena instructs.

A small gem glows around Archeops's neck, and it flies through the air gracefully to strike at Rapidash.

Rapidash retaliates by covering itself in a dangerous amount of electricity and slamming its body into Archeops. The electricity flares in the darkness, causing the attack to knock both Archeops and Rapidash out, and re-activates the machinery.

Eizen recalls Archeops, and takes out a Safari Ball. He sends out a Gyarados.

Athena recalls Rapidash and sends out her Clefable.

"Iron Head." Eizen instructs.

"Thunderbolt." Athena instructs.

Gyarados flies over to Clefable and rams its head into it.

Clefable responds by throwing a bolt of electricity at Gyarados, frying it and making it fall to the ground.

Eizen recalls Gyarados, and sends the Iron Thorns back out.

"Stone Edge." Eizen instructs.

"Protect." Athena instructs.

Clefable covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield, blocking the sharp rocks from being able to attack it.

"Stone Edge again." Eizen instructs.

Athena recalls Clefable and sends out Dachsbun.

Iron Thorns launches several spiked stones up from the ground to attack Dachsbun.

"Stomping Tantrum." Athena instructs.

"Stone Edge one more time." Eizen instructs.

Dachsbun angrily slams into the ground, knocking Iron Thorns out from the impact.

Eizen recalls Iron Thorns, and sends his Partner Eevee back out.

"Sappy Seed." Eizen instructs.

"Body Press." Athena instructs.

Eevee presses one of its forelegs to the ground, and a giant tree grows underneath Dachsbun, pushing it away to stop it from being telefragged.

Dachsbun responds by jumping at Eevee and slamming its entire body down onto it, dealing heavy damage.

Dachsbun seems drained from the stress of the tree.

"Veevee Volley." Eizen instructs.

"Body Pr- Oh, fuck you." Athena responds.

Eevee jumps at Dachsbun and slams into it with enough force to cause a small explosion upon impact.

Athena recalls Dachsbun and sends Clefable back out.

"Moonblast." Athena instructs.

"Veevee Volley." Eizen instructs.

Eevee jumps at Clefable and slams into it with enough force to cause a small explosion upon impact.

Clefable responds by forming an effigy of the moon behind itself, and firing an immense beam of lunar energy down from it at Eevee, knocking it out.

Athena recalls Clefable.

Eizen recalls Eevee.

Athena pushes Eizen out of the way and picks up the Pokeball.

She looks down at it and sees that it's a Cherish Ball, but heavily damaged.

"Fine by me. I've repaired Pokeballs before." Athena comments.

"But will it go as planned?" Eizen asks.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Athena responds.

Athena takes her crossbow out of her belt and aims it at Eizen to threaten him. "Now leave us alone."

Athena walks out with the Cherish Ball in hand.

Emma slowly climbs off of Veluza and onto the grassy path at the River's End and sees a large pile of scrap metal in front of her. She walks over to it, and obscured by the pile she sees Sakuya slowly making a device at the instructions of Terra through the Holo Caster on the ground.

The holographic Terra narrows her eyes when she sees Emma.

"Ohhhhhhhh, that explains a lot." Terra comments.

"You aren't making me feel any better." Emma sighs.

"Which one are you using for this?" Terra asks Sakuya.

"We didn't bring our Silvally with us when we came back from Reborn, but Athena should come over with one in a bit." Sakuya answers.

"You'll probably need the right OS then. The trio that got here ended up using, uh... the sheer power of astral intimidation." Terra explains.

Sakuya pulls out a floppy disk with the Arch emblazoned onto it.

"...excuse me what the fuck" Terra slowly responds. "Is that... Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah. Several loops back while we were in Alola, we broke into the Aether Foundation and found this inside a Keter Cube." Sakuya explains.

"Keter- That stuff is real?" Emma asks in response.

"Jailors are, but we're on a different LAYER." Terra explains. "It's best not to think about the logistics of how we know everything and are known."

"Turtles." comes through the call in a young girl's voice. "It's the turtles right, mom?"

Terra sighs. "Gotta go, sounds like the HUSK booted up. Good luck."

The Holo Caster stops projecting Terra's image, and instead merely displays the blueprints of the PULSE.

Emma looks at the blueprints, then at the pile of scrap. She takes a few panels and hands them to Sakuya.
Sakuya takes out a blowtorch and fuses them in the way that the blueprint shows how to.

Emma notices a secondary pad attached to the machine on the blueprint. "What's that for?"

"You stand there. The one inside the machine is for the Silvally." Sakuya elaborates. "This is absolutely safe."

Emma throws an emitter pad like a frisbee at Sakuya, who catches it and attaches it through a series of wires to the machine.

Several minutes later, Athena arrives at River's End with a now-fixed Cherish Ball in hand.

Emma is sat down on the second pad, bored. Sakuya is leaning on the machine, waiting for Athena to get here.

"Hey. Eizen stopped me to fight, but I beat his Iron Thorns."

Athena throws out the Type:Null, which has completely inert eyes.

"No AI?" Sakuya asks.

"Looks like it." Athena responds, and starts pushing the Type:Null over to the PULSE.

"What now?" Emma asks.

Athena finishes pushing the Type:Null into the PULSE, and opens up its Memory slot.

Sakuya pushes several buttons on the PULSE's console, and sends out her Hisuian Electrode. Electrode sends an immense low-voltage charge of electricity into the machine, then rolls several feet away.

Athena takes the Genesis Memory from Sakuya.

Chapter Text

"Hold onto something, because the last time someone used an actual Genesis Memory, they had to call the army." Athena explains.

"Wh-" Emma starts to protest.

Athena inserts the Genesis Memory into Type:Null's helmet.

A loading bar appears in Type:Null's faceplate, displaying how far through the data that it has loaded.

Red ERROR letters start to appear at the 15% mark, and Type:Null starts to thrash against its constraints.

"NOW!" Athena yells, and sends out a Pawmot.

Pawmot immediately steps over to the PULSE Machine, and releases an incredibly large amount of blue lightning into the machine, fully powering it on.

Type:Null's body starts to mutate as the PULSE Machine's lights all flare up. Emma's body starts to become coated in a dark aura.

"HEED ME, ANCIENT ONE. THIS VESSEL FOR YOU WAS LIBERATED FROM THE MORTALS THAT KILLED YOU BY THE BEARERS OF YOUR SACRED ARTIFACTS. RETURN ONTO US AND PURIFY THIS WORLD OF AN ABYSSAL TAINT!" Sakuya yells.

Type:Null's body finishes mutating and reforms into a shrouded spectral beige quadraped with a formless head.
Sakuya slams down a lever, and Emma's dark aura flares.

Emma lets out a primal scream, and causes the kimono to burn up into ash as the area around the PULSE is ripped into an altered plane of existence.

The darkness slowly lights up to show Athena and Sakuya that they are within a distorted copy of The Silent Grove.

Maiel phases into existence with uncharacteristically black hair. She coughs up blood.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucking hell." Maiel yells. "Where-"

Maiel looks at her surroundings and notices the bridge in front of all three of them.

"Silent Grove. Of course it'd be here." Maiel comments.

"Of course?" Athena asks. "You're saying that like you've been in multiple Dimensional Rifts before."

Maiel bursts out laughing, and points at Athena. "And that's an alien concept to someone who owns a Zygarde and a Paradox?"

Sakuya facepalms. "Just explain for us."

"Unless shaped by someone else with authority over the Rift, like with Angie's demiplane, it becomes an idealised gilded cage for its sole inhabitant. The structure of it is just enough to prevent them from turning into a feral beast. When it comes to humans... it's still the same." Maiel exposits.

"...also how did we get here?" Maiel asks.

"Type:Null." Athena and Sakuya both explain.

"That thing's mine after we get out of here... if it isn't a pile of rotten slag." Maiel proclaims.

Athena shrugs. "Fine by me."

"Yeah, that works." Sakuya adds.

Athena looks back at the cave entrance, which is blocked off.

Maiel leads the way across the bridge to see a black-haired Melia, Venam, and Ren eating at a picnic ontop of the same spot that Emma laid out the blanket. She stops at the edge of the bridge and doesn't cross it.

"What to do... Murder... or... not." Maiel says to herself.

"...Why would you kill them?" Athena asks. "If it isn't real, why does it matter?"

"Aevia." Maiel spits. "She said that when she started disproving the reality of that rift, it started to become more hostile towards her. And eventually, its prisoner revealed its innermost apocalypse."

"Your hair looks nice." Sakuya comments.

Maiel pulls a tuft of her hair down to get a better look at it. She sighs when she realises it's black. "Flattery doesn't help us avoid the reality of the reason why it's different."

"...Sooooooo..." Athena says slowly.

"Challenge Venam to a Gym Battle?" Maiel suggests. "Just say that they aren't friends and watch what happens."

Sakuya shrugs, and walks over to the picnic.

"Enjoy this while it lasts. She's going to be leaving for the real world soon." Sakuya tells the replica Venam.

"And how the hell do you know that?" Venam yells back. "She told us that her application got rejected."

"Oh, you thought I was talking about the league?" Sakuya asks, and laughs. "Then fight me. Let's see how weak this fantasy is."

Ren stands up and pushes Sakuya back.

Athena steps over and punches Ren in the face in response, immediately giving him a black eye.

"She meant with Pokemon, retard." Athena yells. "One more hand on my Lady and I'll strangle you with your own intestines."

"Stop! We're just trying to enjoy a picnic..." Melia yells.

"Yeah, enjoy a lie. You know JUST AS WELL AS I DO that your hair's never been that colour." Maiel yells back.

Venam pulls out her guitar, and holds onto its neck to use it as a weapon against Sakuya.

"You can't live like this. You know what comes next if you do." Sakuya yells. "That's why you're pretending your hair's black, isn't it?"

Venam swings at Sakuya with the guitar, shattering it upon impact and sending her down across the bridge into a tree.

"...Murder is alright." Maiel tells Athena.

Athena's eyes both gleam with a golden light, and she pulls out a shortsword to cleave through Ren's torso, then rips the intestines out and wraps them around his neck to strangle him.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" Melia yells.

"THIS ISN'T REAL." Athena yells. "The sooner you understand that, the less we need to argue."

Melia's hair immediately flashes to a golden hue, and she summons a soulless duplicate of Alain.

"You can't keep hiding behind others. They don't protect you." Maiel yells. "THEY DIDN'T PROTECT ME."

Athena stabs Venam in her torso, and kicks her to the ground.

Melia lets out a distorted scream, and an umbral aura starts manifesting around her.

"I would LOVE to live in a fantasy world where none of this happened. I would LOVE to have not had to deal with Team Xen." Maiel yells, then walks over to Melia and cups her face with her right hand. "But come on... breaking the rules is so much more fun."

Maiel is blasted back by another distorted scream from Melia. Melia disappears, as do the replicas of Venam, Ren, and Alain.

Sakuya runs back over the bridge.

"Where did she go?" Sakuya asks.

"She's going to be inside the castle." Maiel responds.

"Behind the bars?" Athena asks.

"Yeah. Good luck." Maiel answers.

Athena and Sakuya both walk over to the iron bars. Athena rips them off their hinges.

Emma is sat down on the ground in the middle of the small room, ontop of an altar. She immediately stands up when she sees Athena.

"Why are you doing this???" Emma asks.

"Because we care about you." Athena responds.

"Just like Jenner? He was only raising me so that I wouldn't run when Team Xen needed me." Emma yells back. "In the real world, I'm nothing but a pawn. Here, at least I can relax."

Athena facepalms, and pulls her sword back out. "You're nothing like that. You're a friend. Now wake up, Maria's waiting for us."

The distorted aura flares when Emma hears that name, and her body shifts to a distorted Zoroark with four corrupted Corners surrounding it.

"Don't cry when you die." Emma states in a distorted voice.

DIMENSIONAL RIFT ??? has initiated an encounter!

Athena forms a small logogram in front of herself, and casts a spell from it. Her outfit changes to a fantasy hunter's attire, complete with a superfluous number of belts.

Athena jumps back, and pulls out a larger version of her crossbow. She aims at one of the Corners and fires a bolt of energy at them.

Emma steps out of the way, and responds by firing a blast of energy from all four at the same time at Athena.

Athena dodges by running at Emma and switches weapons to her greatsword. She slashes into Emma's body, knocking her back.

Emma merges all four Corners into a miniature Arch, and fires a thick blast of energy at Athena, knocking her back.

"Oh, you want to fight like that?" Athena asks. "Alright. Bladesblood!"

Athena switches her weapon to a longsword, and the tip of it glows with a spectral aura. She runs at Emma and slashes at her, the trajectory of the weapon being recorded by a sharp white afterimage.

The four Corners return to behind Emma's back, and they all rapidly fire slow-moving bullets towards Athena, the bottom two firing at more random trajectories.

Athena jumps back and switches her longsword for her crossbow.

"Bullet Hail!" Athena yells. She rapidly fires the crossbow at Emma, each bolt moving just as slowly as the energy bullets that Emma's Corners are firing.

Athena maneuvers herself through the storm, and puts her crossbow away when the barrage of bolts stops, to pull her longsword back out. One of the bolts hits Emma, and she screams out in pain, erasing all of her and Athena's bullets.

Emma throws a large fireball at Athena, who quickly dodges it.

Athena runs at Emma and makes a downward then horizontal slash with her sword, pushing Emma back.

Emma retaliates by firing another beam of energy directly at Athena, knocking her back.

Athena jumps at Emma and stabs her longsword into her chest.

The Corners retract into Emma and turn themselves into wings for her. She forms a spear, and dislodges Athena's sword.

Emma jumps back, and stabs the spear at Athena's right arm.

Athena rips the spear out by jumping back, and slashes at the spear to try and make Emma drop it.

Emma holds onto the spear and stabs at Athena again, hitting her chest.

Athena coughs up blood, and jumps back again. She pulls out her crossbow, and fires a fast-moving bolt at the spear, making Emma drop it.

"I don't want to have to KILL you." Athena yells.

"THEN LET ME ROT." Emma yells back in a distorted voice.

"Fuck that. Unleash!" Athena yells back.

Athena fires a bolt at Emma. Emma dodges, but the bolt explodes upon impact and knocks her back.

Emma launches several golden daggers towards Athena, who only barely dodges between two of them.

Athena puts her crossbow back away, and pulls out a wooden kanabo with silverine metals ingrained in each spike.

Emma picks her spear back up and rushes at Athena, stabbing her in the torso again.

Athena slams the Kanabo at Emma's Corners, causing her to let out a distorted scream.

Emma lets out an immense pulse of energy, causing her to loosen her grip on her spear and it to launch through Athena's torso.

Athena drops her Kanabo, but picks it back up and runs back to Emma.

Emma forms a barrier to block Athena with her two remaining Corners, stopping her in her path.

Athena puts her Kanabo away and switches it for a mace and crystal-tipped chisel, then slams the chisel into the barrier with her mace, shattering it. Athena then throws the chisel up and launches it into Emma with the mace.

Emma gets knocked back by the chisel, being caught offguard by the maneouver. She retaliates by covering the entire arena in darkness.

Athena sighs, and pulls out a flask of a noxious purple liquid. She downs half of it, and throws the other half on the ground. The hole made by the spear starts to stitch itself back together.

Emma lights the arena back up by calling thunder down from the sky onto Athena. The first hit gets her head-on, and the next several randomly hit the rest of the cave.

Athena notices that the two remaining Corners are both on Emma's right side. She picks her mace back up and switches back to her crossbow.

"Breach Blast!" Athena yells.

A bolt larger than the entire crossbow fires out from it, and hits the lower right Corner, shattering it.

Emma falls to the ground, and forms two blades from the metal of the last Corner. She rushes at Athena.

Athena returns her crossbow to her inventory, and pulls her greatsword back out.

Emma repeatedly slashes at Athena with the blades in a completely unrelenting combo.

Athena stabs her blade into the ground to attempt to stop Emma in her tracks, and jumps back to find the chisel on the ground.

She picks up the chisel and puts it back in her back, switching it out for a shield.

Athena runs at Emma and slams the shield at her blades, knocking her back and disorientating her for long enough for Athena to pick her greatsword back up, then switches it for a longsword.

Emma switches out her shortswords for a meteor hammer, and jumps back. She swings it around her head, and throws it at Athena's shield, shattering it upon impact.

Athena drops the shattered shield and runs at Emma.

"You bitch!" Athena yells. "Vorpal Blade!"

Athena slashes towards Emma with her shortsword, attacking the fabric of reality instead of directly at her.

Emma screams in pain nonetheless, and a large rock falls out of her body.

Emma slowly walks over to Athena and manifests an axe. She slams it down towards Athena's head, but manages to cut off her right hand instead from the direction that Athena dodged.

Athena grasps her right arm's stump, then notices the meteor hammer beside her. She walks over to it, and jumps onto it with enough force to shatter it.

Emma falls to the ground, completely enervated. Her appearance slowly shifts back to her human form, though still with a clearly red hair colour. Athena picks her right hand back up, and averts her gaze when she realises that Emma is naked. She walks back out of the cave.

Sakuya immediately notices Athena's dismembered hand, and gestures for Athena to place it back on the stump.

When Athena does so, Sakuya pulls her staff out and places it to the wound, slowly stitching the two back together with magic.

Maiel notices her hair turn back to gold.

"Did you do it?" Maiel asks.

"The driftstone fell out of her." Athena answers.

"Fell out- I don't even want to know. Good to hear." Maiel responds.

The dimension starts to shake. Sakuya takes her staff back from Athena's wound when it heals.

The dimension collapses in on itself, and the three of them return to their original position at River's End. Maiel immediately manifests a set of clothes onto herself with a triangular flash of light, then looks down at the PULSE.

An Egg is in the middle of it, with the coloration of a Type:Null's control helmet. Athena places a Fairy Memory against it out of curiosity, and it shifts to a pinker hue temporarily.

"Yeah, that's for you. Sucks that it has to hatch first."

Maiel shrugs. "Better than slag. Can I go fight Narcy?"

"It's getting late. It'd be best for your body to relax on the boat after the sheer amount of stress that it's just gone through." Sakuya responds.

Maiel sighs. "True. Trust Fall!"

Maiel closes her eyes and goes to sleep standing up. Athena walks over to her and stops her before she hits the ground. Emma doesn't wake up.

"I'm not swimming upstream. Let's take the south exit." Athena suggests.

Sakuya nods. Both of them abandon the PULSE, and head to the south exit of the River's End, going towards Route 2.

Athena stops at the small waterfall when Sakuya jumps over it, then jumps over while trying not to drop their companion's body. They both walk over to the small Rock Climb spot. Sakuya sends out her Ludicolo, and points at Maiel's sleeping body.

"Hold onto her and go down." Sakuya instructs. Ludicolo nods, and does as instructed.

Sakuya sends out her Abomasnow, and uses that to climb down safely herself. Athena just jumps down the cliff.

Sakuya recalls both Ludicolo and Abomasnow, and helps Athena pick Maiel back up. The two of them walk over to the train back to Gearen, noting the darkness in the sky.

"Probably the last train of the day." Athena comments.

Sakuya shrugs. "Probably. Good thing we made it, or we'd have to go all the way around Amethyst."

They walk onto the train, to a very confused look from the ticketer.

"Three adults, and... what happened to her?" the ticketer asks.

"She's really drunk. We're being responsible and bringing her home with us so that she doesn't drown in her own vomit or get attacked." Sakuya lies.

"Seems legit. That'll be 900 Poke." the ticketer replies.

Athena hands him a 1000 Poke note, and is handed 3 tickets.

Athena and Sakuya walk over to a booth, and place Maiel's body up against the sofa.

"Jeeeeeeez. I gotta go call Reina." Athena sighs.

Sakuya types Zara's number into her Pokenav, and waits for her to pick up.

"Did it work?" Zara immediately asks after picking up. "God, I sound like Eve right now."

Sakuya lets out a small chuckle. "I have the power of god and science on my side. 'Course it worked out."

"No ill effects?" Zara asks.

"The Genesis Memory that I used seems to have gone missing, and the Type:Null devolved into an egg." Sakuya answers.

"YOU USED A FUCKING WHAT?" Zara yells over the call.

"Yes, we did." Athena states into Sakuya's Pokenav. "Do you know of other times one was used?"

"That- The last time one of those was actually absorbed, █████ became an Archetype." Zara exposits.

Athena slowly turns her gaze down to Maiel's body, then remembers the primal Arch-less Arceus form that manifested from the Type:Null's mutation.

"...tell robin that they can live in my house." Athena slowly sighs.

"What?" Zara asks.

"I lost a bet." Athena clarifies.

The train starts to move.

"I-" Athena starts to say, but looks down at the table with a defeated look on her face. "Αν συναντούσαμε κάποιον στην ίδια ακριβώς κατάσταση με την Άιβι στα ταξίδια μας, τότε το σπίτι θα ήταν δικό του."

Sakuya pets Athena on the back, and hangs up on the call.

"You alright?" Sakuya asks.

"Πραγματικά δεν πρόκειται να τον βρούμε σε αυτόν τον κόσμο, έτσι δεν είναι;" Athena asks.

"...Yeah. But what we have now is just as good." Sakuya answers.

Athena groans, and lies her head down on the table in the train compartment.

Sakuya slowly pets Athena's head to try and calm her down.

Chapter Text

Alain is broken out of her trance by a prison guard opening the door to the Prestige Room.

The guard ignores the unnatural position that she's resting against the bookshelf in, and places a tray with a meal and glass of water on it onto the table.

"Your meal is here. If you don't eat it before waking up, it will be discarded." the Guard notes, then walks out and locks the door behind himself.

Alain stands up and walks over to the table. A Galarian Roast Dinner has been placed on it for her.

They take out a fork and slowly cut a part of the meat out to eat with a roast potato.
Alain silently eats the meal without disturbance, taking a small pause to sip from the glass of water every so often. They finish it, and place both the knife and fork on the plate, and then walk back over to the bookshelf.

They take out a book, and feel a cosmic disturbance in the room, prompting them to drop the book and turn back around.

A gleaming black scythe cuts through reality within the room, and a black-haired girl in a gothic outfit jumps through it. The girl looks down at the plate, and almost seems disappointed for a moment.

"...Hi?" Alain asks. "Why are you here?"

"That's your response?" Crescent asks.

Alain softly taps their head. "Can't remember much that happened before the Oceana. I feel like I used to know you."

"You forgot your g-" Crescent yells out, but stops when she remembers where she is. "dammit."

"Really though. Did you just want to talk?" Alain asks.

Crescent facepalms. "There's something that you need to do here."

Alain groans, and turns back around to the bookshelves. "Whaaat."

Crescent walks over to Alain and lowers her voice. "I didn't want to talk to you again under these circumstances, but this is as much as I remember. Fourth book from the left on the second lowest row."

Alain slides the aformentioned book out by a few inches, and sees the bookshelf rotate slightly.

"...Huh. Straight and to the point, I can see us being friends." Alain comments. "I'll head in later. How important is this?"

Crescent walks over to the table, and pulls a foldable chair out of her bag. She places it on the other side to Alain, and sits down.

"It can wait. I know you're just too antisocial to find this out yourself." Crescent responds.

Alain puts the book back in, and the bookshelf rotates to an angle that doesn't make it seem conspicuous.

"Do you want to talk about the past?" Alain asks.

Crescent takes out an ornate teacup and a flask, and pours tea from the flask into the cup. Alain notices this, and walks back over to the table and sits down.

Crescent takes a sip from her tea, and stays silent. She notices Alain, then rolls her eyes and takes out a much less ornate mug for Alain. She pours tea into it, and hands it to them.

"Thanks." Alain says in response.

"I thought you were stronger than this." Crescent comments.

"So did I." Alain sighs, then takes a sip from the mug.
"But that's what Level 80 Pokemon are like. I only have 4 Badges right now, that's literally double my level."

"...That explains everything." Crescent comments. "How bothersome."

"Did we go to school together?" Alain asks. "I think I remember a chuunibyou with the same hairstyle as you in middle school."

Crescent blushes slightly. "I... would remember that if that were the case."

Alain shrugs, and takes another sip of tea.

"What school did you go to?" Crescent asks. "In what region, and when?"

Alain blankly stares at Crescent. "Not sure, it wasn't Aevium, and... Hm. I know it wasn't 2020." Alain answers.

"Why's that?" Crescent asks.

Alain ignores the question and drinks their tea.

Crescent doesn't stress the question, and drinks her own tea.

"You don't have to answer." Crescent adds.

"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it." Alain responds.

Crescent drinks more of her tea.

"Hm. Did you find anything interesting?" Crescent asks.

"Volcarona Egg." Alain responds.

"...And now I regret shattering my Time Gear." Crescent sighs. 

"Thinking about getting Cresselia?" Alain asks.

Crescent shoots a death glare at Alain, and waits several seconds before agreeing. "Yes."

"Is that a no on getting me out of here?" Alain asks.

"Enjoy your holiday. I'll get you out if those two take too long." Crescent responds.

"That's a no then." Alain sighs.

"You know how much I hate saving you. And it'd put a target on my back, so you'd still be in danger." Crescent clarifies.

Alain facepalms, and drinks the rest of her tea in silence.

Crescent takes the mug away when Alain finishes drinking, then puts a hand over Alain's.

"We'll meet again. Don't give up hope."

Alain sighs. "I don't doubt that. What do you think about those three girls?"

Crescent moves her hand back and sips from her ornate cup. Instead of answering Alain's question, she says what they've caused.

"They're scrambling to try and control this chaos. If they find out that you're working with them, I dread what'll come next. They-"

"Slow down. Who?" Alain asks.

"The people I used to work for. They're beyond mad that your acquaintances actually saved that girl." Crescent clarifies.

"Nnnooooted." Alain slowly responds. "I'll try talking to the woman in my dreams about that."

Crescent narrows her eyes at Alain.

"What woman?" Crescent asks.

"Blonde, scientist, probably a Garufan?" Alain responds.

Crescent blankly stares at Alain and spills her tea onto the floor.

"Yes. That sounds like a good idea." Crescent states, then stands up and folds her chair back up.

Alain walks over to their bed, and lies down on it.

Crescent puts her cup and chair away, then disappears through the temporary rift that she made. It closes up behind her after she walks through it, leaving no trace that implies that she was ever here.

Alain lets sleep's embrace take them under to the world that they now know.

Alain wakes back up in the inn room, which in her absence has had one of the bookshelves renovated into a trophy shelf. Judging by the fact that there are four trophies on it, and one of them clearly has the skull-like sigil of the Poison Type embossed onto it, they signify the Badges that she's obtained so far.

She gets off the bed and stands up, then walks out of the inn room to the boardwalk outside to see the astral skyscape. She sits down on it, and sends out Tazer.

Tazer seems confused at its new surroundings, but notices Alain and steps over to her and hugs her leg.

"Hey buddy. Sorry that I can't get us out of jail right now." Alain tells her Pikachu, then pets it on the head.

"Pika..." Tazer vocalises.

"You're probably hungry. Here." Alain responds.

Alain sends her other 5 Pokemon out, and pulls a large bag of Pokesnax out of her bag as well as a feeding trough. She dumps the bag's contents into the trough. "Eat up."

The faint reverberations in the boardwalk tell Alain that someone's walking over to her. She turns around and notices the blonde scientist stepping over to her Pokemon.

"They're wonderful creatures, aren't they?" the woman rhetorically asks.

"You didn't have to put those trophies up." Alain comments.

"The books are all still there, the bookshelf is just deeper now." the woman clarifies.

"That's... not what I meant." Alain sighs. "What's with that gun on your belt?"

The woman beckons for Alain to stand up and come with her to the east side of the boardwalk. Alain follows her over, and sees the woman pull the pistol out of her belt.
The woman loads one bullet into its chamber, and aims the pistol at a tree on a raised patch of ground in the beach's high tide. She pulls the trigger, and the bullet fires directly through one of the fruits growing from the tree's leaves, causing it to start leaking a milky-blue blood.

"Self-defense." the woman immediately states, then loads another bullet into the pistol's chamber and hands it to Alain.
"Have you fired one before?"

"Not in the real w-... Not with my own hands." Alain answers. "I looked up what it takes to get a permit accepted here in Aevium, and there were so many hoops that I gave up and went back on with the League Challenge."

Alain raises up the pistol, and looks down its ironsights at the same fruit that the woman shot at. She moves the pistol a few inches ahead while keeping its sight trained on the fruit, then pulls down on the trigger and fires.

The bullet causes the fruit to messily explode upon impact.

"Nice shot." the woman comments.

"Yours was better." Alain sighs.

"I need some answers." Alain states.

"Ask away." the woman responds, and takes the gun back from Alain, wipes it down with a cloth, and puts it back in her belt.

"I'm not the only 'Interceptor' here, am I?" Alain asks.

The woman pauses for several seconds before answering. "What makes you think that?"

"The fact that a girl who might have been my girlfriend sounded like she knew you when I mentioned your general appearance." Alain explains.

The woman stares at Alain, and her face stops being blurry. Alain recognizes the face from somewhere, but can't link it to a name.

"There are currently 5 Interceptors. I called you 'my' Interceptor, as you were my nomination."

"me, disaster lesbians, scythe- Who's the other one?" Alain asks.

"You know I can't tell you that." the woman admits.

"...Fair point." Alain responds. "How much do you know about my world?"

"Never enough. Tell me about your journey." the woman requests.

Alain walks back over to the outdoor table, and looks down to see that their Pokemon have finished eating their food. They stop and sit down by their team.

"The journey can wait." Alain states.

Alain points at their Pikachu. "This is Tazer. It's been with me for as long as I can remember. I'm still looking for a Light Ball to make it even stronger."

Alain next points at their Fraxure. "Slasher. Evolved it recently, but I'll have to wait for another 2 Badges to be able to get it to Haxorus..."

Alain points at their Lairon. "Rocker. Same deal with needing another Badge to fully evolve it, but both of them still do their jobs well."

"I'm well acquainted with Lairon." the woman comments. "Sturdy?"

"And Weakness Policy, yeah. Catches people trying to oneshot with a Fighting-type move well off guard." Alain answers.

Alain points at their Kangaskhan. "Crusher. I don't have a Mega-Z Ring, so I wouldn't be able to Mega Evolve her even if I did have its Mega Stone."

Alain points at their Araquanid. "Drowner, great for setup with Sticky Web and a Sash. Though I should probably teach it Mirror Coat in a bit."

Alain lastly points at their Scrafty. "And Striker. Also don't have this thing's Mega Stone."

"Where did you catch them?" the woman asks.

"I... don't remember. I think I caught Crusher in a Safari Zone, had Slasher traded to me, and hatched Striker from an egg." Alain responds.

The train stops at the East Gearen Station. 

Athena picks up Maiel's body, and princess carries her out of the train.

Sakuya follows her out, and both of them walk through Gearen City's moonlit streets. They slowly head to the gate to the pier, then go through it and head to the boat.

Athena takes one step onto the boat, then steps with her other foot. She walks over to the cabin to place Maiel's body down, and notices Reina asleep on the bed.

"Not the worst thing I could have walked in on." Athena comments. 

Sakuya jumps onto the boat and unmoors it, then walks into the cabin.

Athena steps over to the boat's controls, and puts the key back in the engine.

Sakuya takes her book out and starts reading as the two of them wait for the boat to arrive at Terajuma.

"Safari?" the woman asks.

"It's like... a recreation of the days of old. You aren't allowed to send out your own Pokémon in there, and you're given 30 Safari Balls to try and catch as many of the mons there." Alain explains.

The woman pauses, and looks up at the sky.

"Do you hear that?" the woman asks.

Alain also looks up at the sky, and sees a figure falling from the horizon at terminal velocity.

"What in the goddamn?" Alain yells, then recalls all of their Pokémon other than Slasher.

The woman manifests a pen and quickly calculates the figure's trajectory, then manifests a mattress to place over the table on the west side of the boardwalk.

The figure lands onto the mattress, and bounces as high as the pinnacle of the house before falling back down, each subsequent bounce being much smaller. The outfit that the figure was wearing finishes burning up, revealing it to be a blonde-haired young woman wearing a white robe.

The woman seems incredibly shocked by this. "I-"

"Make that six?" Alain jokes.

Alain walks over to the girl's body, and pokes it.

The girl immediately jumps up, and manifests two Corners behind herself in self-defense.

"Where the hell-" Maiel yells, then notices Alain and the woman.

"...Variya." Maiel spits.

The woman, Variya, stares at Maiel.

"Maiel." Variya responds.

Maiel demanifests the corners. Variya demanifests the mattress, and points at one of the seats for Maiel to sit in. She does so.

"I'll leave my issues with you for now." Maiel declares. "Is this Limina?"

"That rotten husk is a different plane." Variya answers. "I suppose you have even more questions than Alain here."

Maiel glares at Alain, and aims a Cherish Ball at them.

"Name your field." Maiel declares.

Alain takes out their CyberNav, and quickly scrolls through the list of fields.

"Inverse?" Alain asks.

Maiel facepalms with her left hand. "Fuck you, and fine."

Variya whispers something. Alain and Maiel still hear it. "domain shift - inverse field."

The area around Alain and Maiel's colours invert.

CHAINED ANGEL MAIEL challenges RENEGADE ALAIN!

"Doubles?" Alain asks.

"Nah." Maiel responds, and sends out her Victini.

"Brick Break." Alain instructs.

"Alright you little shit, use Fusion Flare." Maiel instructs.

Victini decides to take a nap instead.

Alain blinks, then laughs. "Not enough badges?"

"...Can we re-do this?" Maiel asks.

Alain puts a hand up at Slasher, who decides to not attack.

"Fine by me." Alain answers.

Maiel recalls Victini, and places its Cherish Ball on the table.

Maiel sends out her Indeedee, which emits a puzzling energy that coats the field.

"Expanding Force." Maiel instructs.

Alain recalls Slasher and sends Striker out.

Indeedee throws a ball of expanding psychic force at Striker, but the explosion does nothing to it.

"Dazzling Gleam." Maiel instructs.

"Crunch." Alain instructs.

Indeedee emits an incredibly bright pink light, knocking Scrafty back. It barely holds on, then runs at Indeedee and manifests a set of spectral jaws in front of it, which bite down into it and knock it out.

Maiel facepalms. "Nice Sash."

Maiel recalls her Indeedee, and sends out her Veluza.

"Aqua Cutter." Maiel instructs.

"Crunch." Alain instructs.

Veluza forms a blade of water and launches it at Scrafty, knocking it out.

Alain recalls Striker, and sends out Tazer.

"Volt Tackle!" Alain instructs.

Maiel recalls Veluza for her Claydol.

Tazer covers itself in electricity and slams into Claydol, doing absolutely nothing.

"Amplifield Rock?" Alain asks Maiel.

"We live in a region where terrains actually change the tide of battle. Why WOULDN'T I be using that?" Maiel asks.

"Seed?" Alain asks.

"...Which immediately activates???" Maiel retorts.

"Whatever. Icicle Crash." Alain instructs.

"Earth Power!" Maiel instructs.

Tazer takes a step back, and summons a large icicle to slam down onto Claydol.

Claydol responds by summoning a geyser of force underneath Tazer, dealing heavy damage.

Tazer spits out parts of a Shuca Berry.

"Icicle Crash again." Alain instructs.

"Explosion." Maiel instructs.

Tazer summons the large icicle down onto Claydol again, knocking it out.

Maiel recalls Claydol and sends out her Gothitelle.

"Foul Play." Maiel instructs.

"Volt Tackle!" Alain instructs.

Tazer covers itself in a vast amount of electricity, then jumps at Gothitelle and lets all of it out upon impact.

Gothitelle doesn't take much damage, and throws Tazer into the wall of the lighthouse in response.

Alain recalls Tazer, and sends Drowner out.

"Psychic." Maiel instructs.

"Leech Life." Alain instructs.

Gothitelle manifests a large orb of psychic power, and throws it at Araquanid.

Araquanid runs over to Gothitelle and bites into it with its fangs, absorbing its energy and recovering the damage it took.

The terrain returns to its inverted state.

Maiel recalls Gothitelle, and sends out her Solrock.

"Earthquake." Maiel instructs.

"Poison Jab." Alain instructs.

Solrock slams into the ground and sends a faultline towards Drowner.

Drowner steps over to Solrock and coats one of its legs in poison, then stabs it into it.

"Earthquake again." Maiel instructs.

"Leech Life." Alain instructs.

Solrock slams into the ground again, launching another faultline towards Drowner, knocking it out.

Alain recalls Drowner and sends Slasher back out.

"Outrage." Alain instructs.

"Stone Edge." Maiel instructs.

Slasher lets out a battle cry and runs up to Solrock, then kicks it out of the arena.

Maiel quickly recalls Solrock, and sends out her Veluza.

"Aqua Cutter." Maiel instructs.

Alain nods at Slasher. Slasher lets out another battle cry and runs up to Veluza, kicking it with extreme force.

Veluza responds by slashing through the air and launching a blade of water at Slasher, knocking it out.

Alain recalls Slasher, and sends out Crusher.

"Aqua Jet." Maiel instructs.

"Fake Out." Alain instructs.

Crusher runs up to Veluza, and claps in front of its head. Veluza faints from the shock.

Maiel recalls Veluza, and sends out a female Meowstic.

"Nasty Plot." Maiel instructs.

"Power-Up Punch." Alain instructs.

Meowstic repositions itself and stares at Crusher.

Crusher spins its forearm around in a crank motion twice and punches Meowstic back.

"Shadow Ball!" Maiel instructs.

"Drain Punch." Alain instructs.

Meowstic forms a ball of dark energy and throws it at Crusher, knocking it out.

Alain recalls Crusher and sends Rocker out.

"Body Press." Alain instructs.

"Alpha Metronome!" Maiel yells.

"You know that you aren't going to win from that, right?" Alain asks.

"Oh come on, what's the worst that could happen?" Maiel asks.

Meowstic's body glows impossibly bright and lets out a blast of blinding light. When the light clears, Meowstic has fainted and Rocker is barely standing.

Chapter Text

"That." Alain notes.

Maiel rolls her eyes and recalls her Meowstic.

"What." Maiel states.

"What were you even gambling on?" Alain asks.

"Twin Beam, what else?" Maiel asks back.

"Checks out." Alain responds.

Variya walks back to the inn room. Alain notices this.

"Mind making us a cuppa too?" Alain asks.

"That was my intention." Variya clarifies, and walks through the door.

Maiel sighs, and with a flash of black triangular light, changes her attire to an anime t-shirt and ripped jeans, plus fingerless black gauntlets.

"Name yourself." Maiel requests.

"Alain Von Brandt." Alain responds. "And you're Maiel?"

"Von- Hm. What do you think about Tesla?" Maiel asks.

"She seems traumatized by the loss of someone important to her, and that's why she adopted me. To actually answer your question, I don't mind the spontaneous adoption. I feel like she's a much better parental substitute than Nancy." Alain answers.

"...Why was Nancy still on the Oceana?" Maiel thinks out loud. "She isn't your mother, do you know whos child is hers?"

"A-" Alain starts to answer, but can't spit the name out. "A... classmate?"

"Have you met those two interlopers yet?" Maiel asks.

"The Disaster Lesbians?" Alain asks. "Yeah, we saved Maria together."

"Not those two, but I'll take that as a no." Maiel clarifies.

"I have 4 Badges right now, and my actual body is in Blacksteeple Castle." Alain exposits.

"Talked to Mr. Luck?" Maiel asks.

"Nah. Kill any more rifts without me?" Alain asks back.

"Emma turned into a rift, but Athena beat her up and made the Rift Matter drop out of her." Maiel answers.

"What." Alain plainly states.

"We got cursed while in the Tevari Sanctuary, which made our body fall into a coma. They proceeded to forcibly activate the Rift Matter with a Type:Null, Genesis Memory, and a PULSE." Maiel responds.

Variya walks back over with a tray that has 3 mugs on it. One with the triangle symbol, one with the Arch, and one with the molecular representation of caffeine on it. She places the tray on the outdoor table, and sits at one of the seats.

Maiel and Alain both walk over to the table and sit on opposite sides.

"Genesis Memory?" Variya asks. "I thought that all copies of it had been erased."

Maiel picks up the mug with the Arch emblazoned into it and slides it towards her, then manifests her crowbar and points it at Variya.

"Explain the garufan fuckshit." Maiel threatens.

"Put the crowbar down." Variya requests.

Maiel relents, and places it on the table.

"Before the current system was put in place, we believed that using a simple imitation of Arceus's body would be enough to stave off the fallout. We.... were wrong." Variya answers as requested. "All records of the project were erased. Your acquaintance should not have been able to obtain the drive."

"Weird. Are you sure that none of them went missing?" Alain asks.

"That's a possibility, but I doubt that." Variya answers. "The Genesis Memory is to Memories what the Legend Plate is to Arceus' Plates. It contains data on every single type. All tests on it resulted in it being too accurate to the Might of Sinnoh, which..."

"Yeah, you don't need to explain that part." Maiel states.

Alain looks at Maiel. "So... What do you think about me?"

Maiel shrugs. "That depends. What would it take for you to betray everyone?"

"Aren't I doing that already?" Alain asks.

Maiel and Alain both laugh.

"You know about the Hags already?" Maiel asks.

"You're talking about the people that the goth that teleported into my room used to work for, right?" Alain asks.

Maiel blinks. "...What."

"Yes." Alain responds.

"That certainly sounds like Crescent..." Maiel sighs. "Yes. That's another person off my Shit List."

"What do you hope to achieve by killing people who only negatively affected you in the timeline that you came from?" Variya asks.

"Closure? Ensuring that they can't hurt anyone else? I didn't think this far when I wrote it. I didn't think that those two would be as nice." Maiel answers. "Or that Alain wouldn't be a sociopath."

"Oh, I'm still a sociopath." Alain clarifies.

"Yeah, but you're a functional one. Not the kind that gets called that as an insult, and certainly not a fucking Descender." Maiel states.

Variya narrows her eyes at Maiel, and asks "How did you discover that?".

"Her absolute personality shift after we got stuck in the ruins of the Old World, and the fact that Crescent basically broke up with her?" Maiel rhetorically asks. "Gods, weren't you the people who coined 'Marionette Syndrome' as a medical disorder?"

Variya sighs, and takes a large sip from her mug.

"I'm pretty sure my amnesia isn't being caused by that." Alain states.

"Not counting potential thaumatological explanations, it's likely PTSD-induced repression or brain damage from the SS Oceana." Variya explains.

Maiel lets out a slight laugh. "Thaumatology. What a word."

"To us, magic was as normal as electricity to you. How would you explain that to a medieval serf without being called a witch?" Variya responds.

"Is it true that Porygon was a lot different back then?" Maiel asks, then hands Variya an empty Pokeball.

Variya forms an interface in front of the ball and starts inscribing runes onto it.

"Yes. In the weeks following the collapse, most of the higher echelon of society believed that our creation of it was what led to the hubris that was ending us." Variya answers.

Variya finishes inscribing runes onto the ball, closes the interface, and hands it to Maiel.

Maiel ejects the contents of the ball, and a being best describable as a partially-translucent Porygon2 is sent out of it.

"Despite its appearance, this is the first stage." Variya explains. "The second stage needs a specific item that you can probably find misappropriated in a museum somewhere."

"And Z?" Alain asks.

"A location that I can't exactly tell you." Variya sighs. "Do with that what you will."

"The underground one or the other one." Maiel asks.

"Both?" Variya responds. 

"Seems legit." Alain states.

Maiel drinks from her mug of coffee. Alain decides to drink theirs.

"What do you think about this world?" Variya asks both of them.

"Don't really care. More focused on the league." Alain answers.

"Don't get philosophical on me. I'm not interested in either side of the fucking holy war that's happening right now." Maiel answers.

Maiel turns to Alain. "Any idea where the Xen Admins are right now?"

"Crescent threw Zetta into some kind of alternate dimension, and G R E G O R Y got thrown into some demiplane. Neved's the warden of Blacksteeple and raping Aelita or something. The other one's... Madelis, right?"

"So we still aren't that far off course yet. Alright." Maiel states. "There's also Nastasia, but she doesn't tend to get involved personally."

Alain quickly finishes the rest of their coffee, and places the mug back down.

"Yknow, for an 'evil Melia', I'd expect you to have black hair." Alain comments.

Maiel laughs, then throws the crowbar at Alain's head. Alain catches it.

"The funny part about that is that our hair is actually naturally black, but it isn't because of... reasons. Not dye. Reasons."

"Do I want to know?" Alain asks.

"No." Variya answers for her.

"Seems legit." Alain responds, then swivels the crowbar slightly. They walk away from the table.

Maiel downs the rest of her coffee, and manifests a second crowbar. She then recalls the Aevian Porygon.

"Swordfight, Ms. Freeman?" Alain asks.

Maiel stands up from the table, and walks over to Alain, keeping 10 paces away.

"Fuck yeah!" Maiel yells.

"Only till first blood." Alain clarifies.

"Have you eaten today?" Variya asks Maiel.

"Given that my body's been in a coma for 2 days, no." Maiel responds. "I'm not vegan or anything like that, if you're asking."

Variya nods, and walks past the small fence to enter the main part of the island.

Alain throws up the crowbar, and catches it.

Maiel takes this as an invitation to start, and paces over to Alain, swinging the tool down at Alain.

Alain blocks and parries Maiel away, then repositions themself.

Maiel rushes at Alain again, and swings sideways this time. Alain jumps back and retaliates with a downward slash, but Maiel catches the strike and launches Alain back.

Alain rushes at Maiel and slashes at an angle, which Maiel sidesteps and responds to by slamming into Alain's torso.

"Eh... still more fun than Aevia." Maiel comments.

Alain slowly stands back up, and hands the crowbar to Maiel.

"I get that. It isn't fun when they don't fight back. Unless you've got an anti-materiel rifle." Alain responds.

Maiel laughs. "You bitch. Which faction?"

"The house always wins, what can I say?" Alain answers. "I'm gonna say... Legion?"

Variya walks back over, holding the carcass of a large crab that neither of them can define as a Pokemon. She pulls a large boiling pot out of nowhere, and places it on the table, then throws the crab in.

"The hell is that?" Maiel asks.

"It's edible, though you might find the pincers spicy." Variya answers. 

Variya forms a magical circle in the air in front of herself, and the pot fills with boiling water. She sprinkles spices and some of the abnormal-looking fruits from the island into the pot alongside the crab. The smell quickly floods the area, oddly appetizing despite the ingredients used.

"What isn't edible here?" Alain asks.

"Anything with a patchwork pattern on it is highly toxic. Everything else you can eat, but the amount you need to prepare to make it safe or discard outright depends." Variya answers. "Thankfully, the only dangerous thing about the meal-sized fish here is that their eyes are poisonous."

"Noted." Alain comments.

"I'll be sure to bring a fishing rod next time I'm here." Maiel snarks. 

Maiel walks over to the south edge of the boardwalk, and stares at the astral skyscape while the pot boils away.

"This is a lot better than Limina..." Maiel states.

"What was it like?" Variya asks.

"Endless walking through the ruins of the old world, with several black cubes that erase everything that they touch. I don't know how long I was stuck in there for, time didn't seem to pass at all. I didn't get hungry or tired either, I had to force my body to sleep to try and keep my sanity." Maiel answers. "But these nebulae... they're another reminder that there's no point in giving up."

Variya manifests two plates and places them on the table, then pulls the crab out of the pot and effortlessly cleanly halves it, portioning it onto each plate. She takes the vegetables out of the pot as well, portioning them onto each plate.

Alain walks back over to the table and sits down in front of one of the plates.

Maiel puts her left hand outward to metaphorically touch the sky. and breathes out when it doesn't collide with anything.
"I wonder if anyone read the notes I left behind." Maiel muses.

"You left behind notes?" Variya asks.

"Nothing of real substance. Just venting and a few mentions of locations that weren't as badly hit." Maiel answers. She turns back around to see the halved crab ready for her to eat.

Maiel walks over to the table and sees Alain prying off the hard shell with their fork.

"Will I remember any of this when I wake back up?" Maiel asks.

"Probably." Alain responds, then messily rips the chestplate of the crab off. "Are you going to help me out soon?"

"I think we're heading back to Terajuma now. You're admittedly low on the list of priorities." Maiel responds. She rips one of the three claws off of the crab and starts to eat it.

"Fuck you, but I get it. Also you can't take my bed when I'm not here." Alain states.

Emma slowly stretches, and discovers that she's back on the yacht, wearing her punk outfit.

Emma stares at her hands, then looks around and sees Reina lying on the bed, Athena in the drivers' seat, and Sakuya sat down at the table.

"Was that real?" Emma asks.

"Fuck, you remembered that?" Athena responds.

"I think we fought, but I don't remember much..." Emma clarifies.

"Well, you're better now. That's what matters most." Sakuya states. "We can rest for as long as you need after we defrost Kakori."

Emma lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks..."

"I don't think there's any food left in the fridge." Sakuya sighs. "Though Dartreaux should offer us a free meal in an hour or so."

Emma walks over to the table that Sakuya is sat at, and notices her hair as it flows onto the table when she sits down.

"It's still redder." Emma exposits.

"That's probably dye. I'd look through your roots but it hasn't been long enough to be able to see anything there." Sakuya reasons.

"Go call Robin." Athena requests. "They should know about the fresh hell that we witnessed."

"Not Elias?" Sakuya asks.

"This is NOT something that I want Taube to know about." Athena clarifies. "At least, until we know what it caused. The last thing we need right now is more sides in a religious holy war."

Sakuya types a number into her Pokenav, and waits for the person on the other end to pick up.

Emma takes out her Pokegear and looks through the news. Two reporters are currently at River's End investigating the situation. Emma opens up the video feed.

"And eyewitness reports from Goldenleaf Town say that the blast came from here! We're at River's End right now, known to be the site of the researcher known as Eizen." the woman on-screen announces.

The cameraman walks with the camera towards Eizen's lab, then points it southward towards Route 2.

"Is that a-" the cameraman says, speechless.

"That was 5 years ago and they disbanded. What the hell? Jeff, are you getting this?" the woman yells, then clears her throat.

"There appears to be a device identical to the 'PULSE Machines' that Team Meteor used in the Reborn Region half a decade ago here. If none of you remember that, they cruelly hooked up Tangrowth, a Muk, a Swalot, a Clawitzer, and a Mr. Mime to devices like this to cause the disastrous conditions that the region fell into." the woman announces.

She walks over to the lab, and knocks on the door.

"What might this mean? Is Team Meteor having a resurgence in Aevium? Are they related to Team Xen or Bladestar in any form?" the woman asks the region.

Eizen groggily opens the door, holding a mug of coffee with a hypercube engraved into it in his left hand. Before he can even say anything, the woman starts asking him questions.

"Eizen! I'm Henrietta, here with Gearen News. As a researcher so decidated to your job that you live at the lab, you must have seen the people who set up the Pokémon Ultimation Link-System Exaggerata device. What did they look like?"

Eizen drinks from his coffee before answering.

"I was at Corta Forest. I can't answer you there." Eizen comments.

"Well... a scientist like you must be able to tell what was hooked up in it!" Henrietta asks instead.

Eizen slowly walks over to the PULSE, and Jeff turns the camera around to follow him.

Eizen presses a stick against the metal of the PULSE, then traces his fingers over the dust on the stick.

"Type:Null. Which means-" Eizen answers, then starts laughing like a madman. "Ah- Ahahahahaha.... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"A Type:Null? Is this in any way related to that Team Xen Admin with the shiny Type:Null?" Henrietta asks.

"Team Xen has no involvement in this. This is the work of an Inconsistency that I fought before I headed to Corta." Eizen clarifies.

"And that would be-?" Henrietta asks again.

Eizen smirks, and stares directly through the camera.

"A girl currently calling herself Emma." Eizen answers.

"Goddamnit." Emma sighs.

Sakuya facepalms, and her Pokenav starts ringing. She picks up.

"Hey Sak. Sup." Robin says over the call.

"Zara said stuff about a Genesis Memory being used in Reborn. It's really important that we know what happened." Sakuya states.

Some loud clicking echoes through the call while Robin mutters something inaudible.

"Right, so I was looking through /ogg/ for ideas on what to play, and saw a picture of █████ as the thread image for Astral Symphony's general. You know, the Ritsu who's one of the three Goddesses." Robin states.

"That is incredibly concerning." Sakuya responds.

"Terra's really good with tech, so I go to her and ask what she knows. She tells me basically everything about █████ after she got out of Glitch City, and... it seemed less mature than I remember?"

Sakuya pulls a bottle of wine out of her pocket of hyperspace, and stares down at her Pokenav.

"That sounds like non-euclidean time. Go on." Sakuya requests.

"Yeah. Back to what I know you called for. I'm not sure how much data is in the copy of the Memory that you found, but █████ absorbed all 18 Plates."

Emma speaks into the call. "What would it be like if it was just 18 normal Memories?"

"The cut-down ones that you can find onsale in Battle Facilities? Not much. Someone tried that and all that happened was that it gained Protean as an ability."

Sakuya walks over to the cupboard under the sink, and takes a wine glass out of it. She walks back over to the table, and pours herself a full glass of wine.

"Have you seen any depictions of Primal Arceus?" Sakuya asks Robin.

"The cloud. Yes." Robin answers. "Why?"
More clicking sounds come from Robin's side of the call.
"Said to be the size of a cloud, the shadow that it cast as it formed the stars created the Ransei Region. You- Oh, shit. OHHHH SHIT."

"What?" Sakuya frantically asks.

"It's that fucking threadbanned freak." Robin yells.

"...We saw that too." Emma sighs.

"Type:Null, Genesis, Primal- Num anima eius cum creatore huius mundi coaluit?" Robin asks.

Sakuya thinks back to when she first fell through the temple in the Verdelan Snowfields, unearthing the grounds that she took her Meadow Plate from.

"The three plates next to the god's statue are no toys. They possess power beyond anything mortals can dream of." Sakuya quotes.

"I don't speak Old Galarian." Emma states.

The sound of a Pokeball being sent out is audible on Robin's side of the call.
"I'll see what I can do to help deal with this shit. Stay off of Clover for now, the Aevian league board is being raided by a splinter site again." Robin says, and hangs up.

Sakuya drinks from her wine glass, and sighs. "What now..."

Athena steps up from the captain's seat to shake Reina awake, then immediately steps back to the steering wheel.

"Whuh?" Reina asks, then notices that everyone's back. "Hey Emma! Glad to see that you're back."

Emma uncomfortably looks at Reina, and asks a question. "How trusted is Eizen?"

"He creeps a lot of people out, so not very. Why?" Reina asks back.

"He called me a terrorist on live TV." Emma answers.

Reina narrows her eyes, and stretches. She stands up off the bed. "Over what?"

"The PULSE that I built using that Type:Null." Sakuya explains.

"What the fuck?" Reina yells. "Where's the Type:Null now?"

"Emma, it's in your bag." Athena exposits.

Emma rummages around in her bag, and pulls out an egg with the coloration of Type:Null's control helmet.
"Why's it in here?" Emma asks.

"Maiel wanted it. Reina, as you can see, the mon's perfectly fine and healthy." Athena clarifies.

"And an egg?" Reina asks, confused.

"I have no idea." Sakuya states. "But I know that this hasn't happened in any of the destructive PULSEs in Reborn."

"Destructive- There are a few that aren't as violent?" Reina asks.

"One of Aevium's Gym Leaders came over to Reborn a few years ago. As much of an asshole as she was, the advice that she gave Eve helped her with the original plans with which the PULSE was conceived, using them to heal all forms of malady." Sakuya explains.

"That seems really important. How come I've never heard of it?" Reina asks again.

"One of the chronically ill people that they tested on was from Aevium. It didn't go well, he ended up absorbing the soul of the Audino that ended up being used." Athena explains.

Reina stares at Emma with a look of concern.

"I still feel like myself." Emma clarifies. "You don't need to worry about anything."

"...Alright, I guess. Quick 2v2?" Reina asks.

"Sounds good." Emma responds.

Chapter Text

Reina sends out her Swoobat and Honchkrow.

TRENDY GIRL REINA challenges ADVENTURER EMMA!

Emma sends out her Banette, and her Froslass.

"Honchkrow, Sucker Punch! Swoobat, Shadow Ball!" Reina instructs.

"Banette, Helping Hand. Froslass, Blizzard." Emma instructs.

Banette claps both of its hands loudly, and transfers a quickly fading golden aura to Froslass.

Honchkrow flies at Froslass in anticipation of its attack, and knocks it back to the wall. Froslass barely holds on thanks to its Focus Sash.

Froslass retaliates by forming an immense snowcloud inside the yacht, which its golden aura further boosts. The cloud lets forth a blizzard onto Reina's side of the arena, and freezes both Honchkrow and Swoobat in place.

"Good fight." Emma states.

"Wait a sec, you've only got 4 Badges, right?" Reina asks. "Mine are level 50."

"Yeah. Venam, Keta, Narcissa, and Maria." Emma answers.

"Woah. Nice. I probably shouldn't have sent out two flying-types." Reina responds.

"Where are you headed next?" Athena asks Reina.

"Valor Mountain." Reina answers. "Are you headed there too?"

"Nah. Planning on getting Crawli's Badge first, then we gotta head to Artrica and help out Alain." Sakuya answers.

"Ooh, I haven't been to Artrica before. Where, and do you think the boat'll be able to handle the cold?"

"It's more than able to. It managed to get to Kristiline while it was encased in that snowglobe." Sakuya states.

"Blacksteeple Island." Athena answers.

"The castle there's too staffed to be interesting." Reina jokes. Athena laughs in response.

"So true bestie."
Athena notices the light from the Terajuma Shipyard's lighthouse start to come into view.
"Shouldn't be too much longer now. Reina, do you have a contact for the Terajuma Rangers?"

"On it!" Reina enthusiastically responds, and calls them on her CyberNav. They almost immediately pick up.

"Hey Reina. Did you find something cool again?" a female Ranger asks through the call.

"Yeah, but it isn't from Terajuma. We're almost back from Carotos with the Magma Stone!" Reina explains.

"Can you put Athena on the line? I'll quickly get Crawli." the Ranger states.

Reina walks over to Athena, and hands her CyberNav to her. Crawli's voice comes out through it a few seconds later.

"You're all alright?" Crawli asks

"Yeah. Hopefully Kakori isn't too badly affected. We didn't intend to take a week's break, but that was mostly because Amanda kidnapped us." Athena states.

"I've been talking with Tesla and Odessa, most residents have taken refuge at the Teila Resort, Kristiline, or Jynnobi. A few of them are with the Rangers up on Mount Terajuma." Crawli exposits. "Wait, Amanda kidnapped you?"

"Don't worry about it, it turns out that she was a robot and she's dead now. When we were in Reborn, Elias Hazel told us how we'd be able to defrost Kakori so it wasn't all bad."

"That only explains the first few days." Crawli states.

"We were planning on making a stop at Teila to pick up Reina, but she just flew straight onto the boat so we skipped that. Headed back to Floria to head to Carotos. That took another day because Emma got cursed and it was too late for us to purify that." Athena exposits.

Emma walks over to the bed, and lies down on it. Reina decides to walk over to Athena instead.

"How's Keta?" Crawli asks.

"He's fine. You should probably call Tesla and Odessa in the morning to tell them that Kakori's safe again." Athena requests. "Actually, call Tesla now and ask how Maria's doing. We should be over in a few minutes."

Athena hands Reina back her CyberNav.

"The ice hasn't gone any further!" Crawli exposits, then hangs up.

Maiel finishes eating her half of the crab, and moves her plate over to the boiling pot. Alain has already finished their half.

"What's in the lighthouse?" Maiel asks.

"One of Sheridan's inn rooms." Alain explains.

"Would you prefer it to be something else?" Variya asks.

Alain stares at the wall in contemplation. The inn room is certainly comfortable, but if it can be anything...

"Is there a constraint on how large it can be?" Maiel asks.

Variya lets out a small laugh in response. "No. Feel free to check the current dimensions."
Variya manifests a long measuring tape and hands it to Maiel.

Maiel takes the tape and shrugs, then walks over to the outside to check.
"20 feet... by 22' 6"." Maiel notes, then goes inside. She notices the trophies on the wall, and tries not to make them fall down as she measures the sides.
"20 feet-" Maiel states, then runs out before stating the final dimensions.

"20'/22'6" on the outside, 20'0.2"/22'6.2" on the inside." Maiel notes.

Variya smirks.

"That's never going to get out of my head now..." Alain sighs.

"Kristolica Palace." Maiel declares.

Variya looks at Maiel with a mildly confused look on her face. "Why?"

"Giving me the house is the least that my 'father' could do for me after the shit that he put me through."

Variya stares at Maiel with a contemplative look, which turns into a surprised expression. She doesn't dwell on the thought.
"Could you close the door?" Variya asks.

Alain walks over to the door, and closes it. They immediately re-open the door, and it opens into the great hall of a house identical to the Chrysalis Manor.

"Is everything where I left it?" Alain asks.

"In one of the bedrooms, yes." Variya responds. "Is this acceptable?"

Maiel stares at the hall. "That's... not the place. Kristolica isn't furnished that way."

"That's the Chrysalis Manor. Probably this world's equivalent of that place." Alain clarifies.

Maiel shrugs and walks in, and heads up two different flights of stairs to reach the bedrooms. She opens the one on the left, and notices that it's furnished in the same way as the inn room was. She notes that and decides not to go in, then opens the door on the right.

The room inside is almost entirely unfurnished, only having a PC ontop a desk, a wardrobe, and a bed. There is a large unopened box with a letter on it.
She walks over to the box and picks up the letter, noticing that it's written in Garufan.

"Only open this box if you want to. It holds everything from your room in Amberette." Maiel reads.
She looks back down at the box, and opens it to check. It's full of old books and clothes, with a retro console and diary both staring at her ontop. She slowly takes the console out and moves it over to her PC, then walks back over to the box and stares at it in contemplation.

A few minutes later, Alain walks over to Maiel's room and knocks on the open door.

"Hey. I looked for the outer doors, but they don't exist. Need help-" Alain states, stopping momentarily when they see the box. "unpacking?"

"I'm good. Do you have a lighter?" Maiel requests.

Alain rummages around in her bag, and pulls out a Pokeball. She sends its contents out, revealing a Fennekin.

"Jenner wouldn't let me out without picking a starter, so I picked this thing. It's been rotting in my bag."

"I'll trade you a Wobuffet for it." Maiel states.

Alain shrugs. "Sure."

Maiel takes a Quick Ball out of her bag, and hands it to Alain. Alain gives Maiel the Fennekin's Pokeball.
Maiel takes the diary out of the box, and places it in front of Fennekin.

"Ember." Maiel instructs.
Fennekin launches a small foxfire at the diary, and sets it aflame.

"Do I want to know?" Alain asks. "Also, calling this thing Reaper."

Maiel laughs. "Nice name. I'm just letting go of my past."

Alain walks over to Maiel's PC, and checks to see if anything's installed on it. All of the apps currently installed on it were on her P*DA. They notice an IRC notification, but decide to ignore it and walk back out of her room.

"Thanks. I'll go check the rest of the place for anything I missed when I was here 40 years in the past." Alain comments, and then walks out.

The diary finishes burning to ash. Maiel takes out a pet snack, and gives it to Fennekin. It happily devours it.

"Good fox. I'll evolve you when I wake up." Maiel tells her new Pokemon, and walks over to the bed. She lies down on it, and lets her body rest.

Athena brings the boat into Terajuma's Pier, and stops the engine.

Sakuya walks over to Emma and shakes her slightly to wake her up.

"Alright, we're here. Have fun." Athena tells Reina.

"Seeya later!" Reina tells the gang, and walks out of the yacht's cabin.

Emma gets up, and stretches. She walks out of the yacht with Sakuya.

Athena takes the key out of the engine, then moors the boat before following her companions out.

Athena puts a pair of heat-absorbant gloves on, and pulls the Magma Stone out of her bag. 
"Time to see just how powerful this thing is." Athena comments.

"If it's as powerful as a Red Chain, it's no wonder why they had it locked up like that." Sakuya states.

Emma sighs, and walks on ahead. Athena picks up her pace and runs through the treeline.

The group makes it to Kakori, where a few Rangers are out patrolling. They notice Athena and the Magma Stone, and immediately walk out of the way while pointing at an immense icicle that a Ranger is imprisoned in.

"Hey, pass it to me." Sakuya requests.

Athena throws the Magma Stone at Sakuya, who telekinetically catches it with her Black Shard-tipped staff. She forms several magical logograms around the chunk of primal magma, and then points her staff at the ice.

"Defrost VII!" Sakuya yells.

The icicle in front of her glows faintly, as does all of the other ice around the village. All of the ice in the village fades away into nothing at the same time, harmlessly releasing its prisoners. The Magma Stone stops glowing as brightly, and the logograms disappear. Athena catches it as it falls to the ground.

"With that in order... let's go back home." Athena states. Emma nods, and follows her into the house that Crawli let them live in. Sakuya stays outdoors.

Crawli runs out of the Ranger HQ and notices Rorim B. He immediately runs up to his father and gives them a hug.

Sakuya puts her staff away into her hyperspace pocket, and walks over to Crawli.

"Told ya I'd be back." Sakuya states.

"Someone from Artrica showed up a few hours after Odessa called me about you solving the issue at Kristiline. Kreiss, I think?"

"Yeah, that's him. Did he say anything about the Gym Badge that he owes us?"

"He didn't. Did you fight him?"

"No, but given that Angie's an ice-type specialist, and that we helped rescue him, it's the least he could do."

Crawli sighs. "Angie was a Gym Leader up until recently, too. She was kicked off the register for starting that cult."

"Oh, this will not do..." Rorim. B enunciates. "Darling, I'm sure that Crawli would love to fight you instead."

Crawli looks back at Rorim for a moment, then turns back to face Sakuya. "I- Yeah, I would. You've more than displayed the qualities that any good Pokemon Ranger has."

A Dartrix and two Rowlet walk over to Crawli, and notice Sakuya. The Dartrix bows. Sakuya bows back, and the three Pokemon walk into the Ranger Headquarters.

"Thanks. Oh, Suna mentioned a woman with red hair who was traipsin' around the village. Do you know her?" Sakuya asks

"That sounds like Rune. She's been at Dartreaux's a few times." Crawli answers. "I'll be in my Gym tommorow afternoon."

Sakuya bows to Crawli, and walks back to her house.

Athena looks through the fridge, and sees that the only thing still in date is several racks of ribs.

"That'll do, I guess." Athena notes. "I'll prepare these. You've been through a lot, go shower or something."

Emma yawns, and walks towards the stairs to the upper floor. "Okay."

Emma walks up the stairs. Athena takes the three racks of ribs out of the fridge, and opens the oven to place them all on different trays in it. She closes the oven's door, then turns the oven on at the wall and sets the heat to 200C to start cooking them. She fills the kettle up with enough water for 4 cups, turns it on, and takes three mugs out of the cupboard.

Athena lets out a sigh of relief, and scrolls through her Pokegear while waiting for the kettle to boil. She opens up Clover's app and looks through /spag/ to see how everyone's doing. Several posts seem to have been removed given the number of crossed out tags. Other than that, the thread is as casual as usual.

Cygnus mentions seeing Anabel at Mount Battle, attempting to do it legit and failing.

Akinosuke is answering several questions that anons and regulars have in the thread, it seems to Athena that most of the removed posts are from her.

Historia tagged Dahlia's last post in the thread with a link to a /plae/ thread, which itself is tagged by Nia asking [who the fuck is this dipshit].

Historia explains that Eizen constantly gets banned from /pa/ for derailing the thread, and is generally a creep.

Several minutes later, Akinosuke makes a post tagging Nia telling her to not post Basilisks on this site again.

The kettle finishes boiling with an audible ping, and Athena takes it off its heater to make the cups of tea.

Athena hears a loud shriek from upstairs and ends up spilling the remainder of the kettle when she pours the third cup out.

"If this is an intruder, I'm just fucking killing them." Athena tells herself, and walks upstairs.

She turns the handle of the bathroom door to check if it's locked, then slowly pushes it open. It gets pushed back.

"Do I even want to know why I'm fronting right now?" Maiel asks.

Athena moves her right hand off of the door's handle, and facepalms with that hand. "Is there anything in the room that you think would cause Emma to have a panic attack?"

Maiel responds a few seconds later. "Nope. Now let me shower."

Athena doesn't respond, and walks back downstairs.

Sakuya walks into the house and notices the cups on the table.

"Crawli's letting us fight him tommorow." Sakuya exposits.

"Great. M's in the shower, give them a few minutes." Athena states.

Sakuya takes one of the cups, and slowly drinks it while reading her novel.

Athena re-fills the kettle with enough water for one cup, and starts wiping the spill off of the kitchenside. She gets a notification on her Pokegear, and looks at it.

It's another digital postcard from Luna, showing her in Orre's Agate Village with Cheshire.

[I spoke with the elders here about the similarities between their village and our Agate, and laughed it off when I mentioned our Relic Stone.] captions the image.

"I should send her one back." Athena comments.

"It's probably worth waiting till Maria's back with us. More fun, too." Sakuya responds.

Athena sits down at the table and drinks from her cup of coffee.

"I wonder what the Hyperborean League is doing now." Athena muses.

"I don't care. Pretty sure the original developer joined a terrorist organisation a year before the reset point?" Sakuya answers.

Athena coughs on her coffee. "Oh. That. Why did that anti-national dex group even form in East Kalos?"

"Bunch of sore losers. I think the founding members lost in a tournament to people who used mons from Minor League regions? Whole thing was dumb as hell." Sakuya clarifies.

Athena sighs, and drinks the rest of her coffee.

Several minutes later, Maiel walks downstairs in a nightdress, her hair still covered in a towel.

"Hey. Shower's free now." Maiel states.

Athena stands up from the table, and walks over to the stairs. "Thanks. Tell me when the food's done."

Maiel walks over to the table and sits down. "Wanna see some garufan shit?"

Sakuya puts her book down and stares at Maiel. "What."

Maiel forms a spectral, miniature Arch in her left hand. "Alain's chill. Variya too."
She takes out a Pokeball, and sends out the Garufan Porygon inside it.
"Pretty cool, right? No idea what makes it evolve."

"I have several questions." Sakuya states, dumbfounded. "Same Variya as the one that Angie mentioned?"

"Probably." Maiel answers. "Because my Archetype's been activated, I'm able to access this demiplane that Variya's soul resides in. Alain's there too, not sure how."

Sakuya stares at the Porygon, its partially corporeal body slowly swirling like a newborn nebula beneath the surface. "I'd have thought that this kind of thing would be from Hisui."

"Nah. It's just as much of an affront to god as I am. They didn't use magic back there." Maiel explains. "Alain's doing fine at Blacksteeple, especially considering the fact that Variya just gave us a copy of the Chrysalis Manor to live in back there."
Maiel demanifests the Arch in her hand, and looks over to the oven.

"Without the dark rituals?"

"Without the dark rituals, or the courtyard." Maiel adds.
Maiel sighs, and takes one of the cups to drink from.
"I hope the swimming pool is in one of the lower floors now."

Sakuya laughs. "Sucks that we wouldn't be able to come with you."

"Not that I care about that. I haven't wanted to go swimming since the hags groomed me." Maiel redirects, then her expression changes as if she were thinking about something.
"wait."

Maiel manifests the Arch in her left hand again, and turns it into a yellow floppy disk. The image in the disk rapidly changes, until it stops on a pebble-sized chunk of an umbral stone that Sakuya notices as Driftstone. The image rapidly changes again, stopping on a candle with the same tint to it as the pebble.

"What in the six realms is that?" Sakuya asks, emotion in her voice.

"The reason why Emma had that panic attack, seemingly." Maiel states. "This is going to be hard to explain to her."

"That doesn't answer my question." Sakuya adds.

"Getting rid of that stone lifted all non-contract magic from our body. Use context clues." Maiel answers, then walks upstairs.

Sakuya facepalms and checks on the oven. Several minutes later, she turns it off and pulls out the racks of ribs inside, and places each of them on a plate.

Athena walks downstairs and notices the ribs.

"What's she doing?" Sakuya asks.

"Having some alone time. Don't worry about it." Athena states, and walks over to the table.

Both of them start eating their meals in silence, resting from the chaos that they've been through the past few days.

"Do you want to head back to that tower for the relic?" Sakuya asks.

Athena laughs. "Fuck no. That's the last thing we're doing before heading to Valor Mountain. That's like asking if we want to go back to Prehnite."

Sakuya finishes her ribs, and drinks from her mug.

"When we wake up again, we're heading to Teila and getting Maria, then we're heading to Dartreaux's and treating her to a meal." Athena declares.
She puts her right hand to her chest, and breathes out slowly.
"O serpent, give us this day of rest amidst our darkened skies." Athena prays.

Athena's chest glows faintly, then returns to normal.

Chapter Text

Morning comes, and with it, a new day.

Athena gets up, and walks downstairs to head to the Ranger Headquarters for a food shop.

While walking out, she notices a red-haired woman wearing a brown shirt over a white top walking around the village.

"Hey." Athena says to greet the woman, and holds up a hand.

The woman turns around to face Athena.

"Hey. You're... Athena, right?" the woman asks.

"Yeah. My girlfriend's the one that defrosted Kakori if that's what you're wondering." Athena comments.

"I heard that someone you're travelling with might have built a PULSE." the woman states.

Athena sighs, takes a look back at the Ranger Headquarters, then at the treeline towards the Mynori Sea.
"Can we talk about this somewhere more private?"

The woman notices Athena's gaze, and looks at the treeline towards Mynori as well.
"I suppose so."

Both of them walk towards Mynori, and through the trees.

They both walk down a set of stairs to the beach at Mynori, and after the woman looking around and noticing no Rangers, she asks Athena a question.
"Is that true?"

"That depends. Are you going to report us to Interpol?" Athena asks.
Athena pulls out a Strange Ball, making sure to make the woman notice its colouration as she does so.

"You don't need to threaten me into silence." the woman sighs.
"I'm Freya. If you promise to help me with my investigation, I won't tell anyone."

Athena puts her Strange Ball back away.
"Yes, although it was my girlfriend who built it, not Emma." Athena answers. "Additionally, the Type:Null is alive and well, and the device was used for restorative rather than destructive reasons."

"I see." Freya states. "I attempted to research you, but all I found was defunct information from the Hyperborea League. Could you tell me about yourself?"

Athena chuckles. "Only if you tell me who you are. Name's Athena Chase. Small game hunter, ruin enthusiast, and Fairy-type Plater. At least I used to be. I don't have it in this timeline."

"My name is Rune Hagan. I work at Axis High University, but..." Rune's voice trails off.

"Made a bunch of enemies, and you're going to use me as muscle?" Athena asks.

Rune rolls her eyes. "You should know how dangerous it is to be a whistleblower..."

"Don't worry, I get it." Athena states. "One sec."
Athena pulls the Serpent Statue out of her bag, and places it to her chest. She mouths a prayer, and puts it back.
"Alright, who's on your ass?"

"What did you just do then?" Rune asks.

"You REALLY don't want to know." Athena responds. "Just answer the question."

Rune sighs. "Flora Grevillea, and Thomas Blakeory Senior. Both of them have blackmail on me-"

Athena makes the motion of rewinding a key, causing time to rewind back to when Athena took out the statue.

"-and... What?" Rune says, cutting herself off.

"Oh fuck." Athena states. "Have you been to anywhere that warps spacetime?"

Rune decides not to answer the question.

"...Whatever. If I were you, I wouldn't head back to Terrial under any circumstances. There are two people there that *I* am not looking forward to bumping into."

"Who?" Rune asks.

"An auburn-haired white girl, and a short-haired black guy who seems to be a very close friend to her." Athena answers.

"Xara and Jean???" Rune asks. "What did they do to you?"

"Spiders. Two people from a past timeline are currently skinwalking as them." Athena exposits. "At least, the originals are probably dead by now."

"How are you saying this so casually?" Rune asks. "You sound like Flora with how little you care about people."

"Because they're already dead, and there's nothing that I could have done to save them. Even with Hel, I can't do much on home turf against someone who can summon Ultra Beasts on-command." Athena answers. "Feel free to go to the house that Crawli's lent us before it starts to rain again. I'll be back over with the groceries I was planning to buy in a few minutes."

"I guess so. Thanks for the talk." Rune states, and walks back towards the treeline. Athena follows her back to Kakori Village.

Athena walks back over to the Ranger Headquarters, and walks in. Inside, she walks over to a small market area with a plainsclothes Ranger sat down behind the counter.

"Hey there. What can I get you?" the merchant asks.

"A gallon of milk, and a few boxes of cereal. Turns out there wasn't any at the place Crawli's lent us." Athena requests.

The merchant walks over to the large fridge behind the counter and takes out a gallon of milk, then hands Athena a box of wheat cereal as well.

Athena slides a few coins onto the counter to pay.

"Hope you have a good day." the merchant states.

"You too." Athena responds, and walks out with her groceries.

Sakuya walks downstairs and sees a few cups already laid out on the kitchenside. Athena isn't back yet, but that's probably fine. She fills the kettle up and waits for it to boil, then upon hearing a knock on the door, she walks over to it and opens it up.

Rune is waiting for her outside.

"Can I help you?" Sakuya asks.

"I'm Rune. Can I talk to you about something?" Rune asks.

"...Sure. Tea?" Sakuya asks.

"Coffee, black." Rune requests.

"Fine by me." Sakuya states, and walks over to the kitchenside to get coffee out for Rune.

Rune walks inside, and closes the door behind herself.

"I'm not going to report you for this, I just want to know more about the PULSE that you made." Rune states.

Sakuya stares at Rune till the kettle pings, then she pours the water into a cup of coffee, two cups of tea, and a cup of hot chocolate.

"Blueprints from Zara Seijaya herself, and the materials all salvaged from the Carotos Mountain Xen Laboratory. Type:Null was taken from under the Wispy Laboratory, Athena had to beat up Eizen to get it." Sakuya informs Rune.

"And you're sure that nothing got hurt as a result?" Rune asks.

"Emma had a panic attack, but that's a lot better than her body was going through before that." Sakuya responds.
Sakuya hands the cup of coffee to Rune, who accepts it.

"I see. Your girlfriend said she was a Plater?"

"Lots of shit went down in Reborn in the past decade. God found refuge in the grasp of a teenage iconoclast and then turned back into an egg after stopping the world from being reset. Arceus has entrusted fragments of its soul to 18 wardens again, called Platers. All of the others except Luna are in the Reborn Region right now." Sakuya explains, fudging the details slightly. "How's the rain?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by that." Rune says in response to the rain comment.

"Nevermind." Sakuya sighs.

Maiel walks downstairs, wearing a black t-shirt with an anime-styled maid on it and a thigh-length skirt alongside thigh-high socks. She notices Rune.
"Who the hell is that?"

"I can ask you the same question, you don't seem like you're Emma." Rune responds.

"You weren't here last time I went through this world. You first."

"How about you battle?" Sakuya suggests.

Maiel rolls her eyes, and takes out a Pokeball. "Fine. When am I getting my Ralts?"

"Athena should have an egg for you when she's back." Sakuya responds.

Rune takes out a Heavy Ball. "3v3?"

"Sounds good."

CHAINED ANGEL MAIEL challenges DETECTIVE RUNE!

Rune sends out a Hisuian Goodra from her Heavy Ball.

Maiel sends out her Claydol.

"Earthquake." Maiel instructs.

"Heavy Slam." Rune instructs.

Claydol slams into the ground, disorienting Goodra.

Goodra jumps and slams its snail-like shell onto Claydol, dealing heavy damage.

"Earthquake again." Maiel instructs.

"Surf." Rune instructs.

Claydol slams into the ground, disorienting Goodra and knocking it out.

Rune recalls Goodra, and pulls out a Friend Ball. She sends out a Roserade that seems more based on a dried-out rose than its Hoennian form.

"Ground and?" Maiel asks.

Sakuya aims her P*DA at the Roserade, which declares it to be an Aevian Roserade, with a Ground/Fighting typing.

"Fighting." Sakuya informs Maiel.

Maiel chuckles.
"Alright, Earthquake again."

"Shadow Ball." Rune instructs.

Roserade forms a ball of dark energy with its roselike harms, and throws it at Claydol, knocking it out.

Maiel recalls Claydol and sends out her Indeedee.

Indeedee emits a puzzling aura that coats the lower floor of the house. A flower blooms from a seed below its feet, giving it a red aura and slightly dazing it.

"Aura Sphere." Rune instructs.

"Expanding Force." Maiel instructs.

Roserade forms a large ball of blue energy, then throws it at Indeedee with both of its hands in a forwards motion.

Indeedee takes heavy knockback from the attack, and retaliates by throwing a ball of psychic energy at Roserade. The ball rapidly grows as a result of the terrain, and explodes on impact with enough force to bruise Roserade.

Rune recalls her Roserade, and stares at Maiel. She takes out a Moon Ball, and sends her Delcatty out of it.

"Zen Headbutt." Rune instructs.

Maiel shrugs.

Delcatty's head glows blue and surrounds itself in a faint shield. It runs at Indeedee and knocks it out upon impact.

Maiel recalls Indeedee, and sends out her Garufan Porygon. Sakuya immediately aims her P*DA at it to see what type it is, and sees nothing but data corruption.

"Giga Impact?" Rune instructs.

"Psybeam." Maiel instructs.

Delcatty forms an aura of golden energy around itself, and then rushes at Porygon to attack. Its body completely phases through Porygon, dealing zero damage.

Rune blankly stares at the battle and blinks. "What?"

"Psychic/Ghost. Unless you have Judgement and a Plate in your pocket, you've automatically lost." Maiel explains.

Rune sighs, and recalls her Delcatty. "I concede."

Maiel recalls her Porygon.

"You can call me Maiel.  If we're talking about the rain, well... It's weighing me down more than anyone else." Maiel introduces herself.

Athena walks back into the house, carrying a large carton of milk and two boxes of cereal.

"Oh, hey." Athena says in response to seeing Rune.

Rune sighs. "Hey. I thought you were only travelling with Emma?"

Maiel facepalms. "Nope, I'm not dealing with this."
She walks over to the table and sits down on a chair. She leans her head down on the table.
Maiel's hair colour fades to a deep red.

Emma wakes up and looks at her surroundings.

Rune drinks from her coffee, unsure what to say.

"That answers your question." Athena comments.

"What the hellllllll..." Emma groans.

"Garufan bullshit." Sakuya answers.

"You can't answer every question with that." Emma responds.

"It's always the answer though." Sakuya states.

"So now that you know she's safe and nothing bad happened, do you want to tell us about Thomas Blakeory?" Athena asks.

Rune puts down her cup of coffee. Sakuya hands Emma the cup of hot chocolate.

"He's blackmailing me into voting for Saki's project instead of Xara and Jean's Ligosomnia Engine."

"the what" Athena blankly asks.

"That translates to dreambinding. Are they making an artificial Dreamscape???" Sakuya asks.

"I've been looking for where their central server is, but after I was sent a letter threatening me to stop, I came to Terajuma with Huey to try and relax. When I heard that two trainers from another region were in Kakori, I had to talk to you." Rune explains.

Athena looks up a map of the Terrial subregion on her Pokegear.

"Have you tried the Dreamyard?" Emma asks.

"I thought that would have been too obvious." Rune admits.

"Don't go there then. It's a trap." Athena states. "The real server's obviously somewhere else."

"It's probably under the school." Emma guesses.

"You know what, stay at Teila till we're ready to go back to Terrial. If that means you need to book another week or so, I'll compensate you." Sakuya suggests.

"I can't take money from someone who I'm hiring..." Rune states.

"I have enough rare metal in storage to devalue them if I were to sell too much at once. I gave up on being worldly decades ago." Sakuya states.

Alain wakes up to see that her body has been dragged back to her normal cell and sloppily dumped onto the bed.

"Pieces of shit." Alain sighs. "Well, time to get my key back."

They walk out of their cell, and through the corridor to the main floor of the castle. They walk up the small set of stairs and into the battlegrounds to see that the signup sheet has been changed. Rather than it appearing to be a single elimination tournament, it is set up as a king of the hill tournament.

"...are you fucking kidding me." Alain states.

The prison guard glares at Alain. "The Warden decided to change the format of the tournament. The battles are still 3v3."

Alain rolls their eyes, and looks at the people currently on the list. They notice that Saki has put her name down on the list.
They ignore it and write their own name down on the list, then walk over to another spot to wait for the battles to start.

A few minutes later, Saki, Adam, and Valarie walk in to watch the battles. The guard looks at the sheet, and notes that Alain was the last of the 10 players to write their name down. He yells to the crowd.

"ROUND 1 OF FIGHTS, ALAIN VERSUS BILLY!" the guard loudly declares to the crowd.

Alain sighs, and walks back over to the guard.
"When do I fight Saki?"

"Should you manage to beat everyone else, you will fight her." the guard tells Alain.

Alain facepalms and walks over to one side of the arena. A young schoolboy walks over to the other side of the arena.

"You all know the rules. I don't have to explain them. Begin." the guard yells.

"My mining kit broke, so I have to do this so that I don't starve!" Billy states

"Then perish." Alain snarks.

Sakuya finishes her bowl of cereal and walks over to the sink to clean up the trio's meals.
"You can go on ahead. I'll deal with this first."

Emma gets up from the table and follows Athena out. Both of them walk through Kakori Village to the north treeline, and exit out to Mynori Beach.

"How did you sleep?" Athena asks.

"I didn't feel like I did." Emma admits. "I spaced out after seeing... that... as I was about to shower."

Both of them walk towards the shore, and Athena sends out her Slurpuff. She climbs onto it.
"Seeing what?" Athena asks. 

Emma looks around the beach, and notices Mr. Luck's tent up on a raised boardwalk. Athena notices Emma's gaze towards it, and jumps back off her Slurpuff.
Athena rolls her eyes.
"Fine, but only as a place that no-one else can hear us in."

Emma walks back over the beach to the stairs up to the boardwalk. Athena follows her over, and they both walk into Luck's Tent.

True as it seems, Mr. Luck is sat down beside the table in the exact same inner building as his tent in Gearen Park.

Athena takes a Black Prism out of her bag, and throws it at Mr. Luck. He catches it without turning around to face her.

"Curious as to how I'm here as well~?" Mr. Luck asks.

"Not really. One location with several entrances and exits in the same place is common to me." Athena states.

Mr. Luck lets out an obviously exaggerated sigh, and turns around in his seat to face Athena and Emma.
"Well, what brings you here today? Answers on the true identity of that woman you just met?"

"Nah. I feel like she's going to spill that herself when we're dealing with Flora." Athena states.

Mr. Luck rolls his eyes, and pulls out his cane to stand up. He points the butt of it at Emma.
"Then you must be here for answers, girl. 'Why did this happen to me?', right?"

Emma nervously laughs. "As if I'd listen to what you have to say about it."

Athena takes out a small bag with a dozen Black Prisms in it.
"I'll pay you this to fuck off over to Doxie for an hour." she tells Mr. Luck.

Luck uses his cane to launch the bag out of Athena's hands and catches it effortlessly.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Mr. Luck snarks, and walks off.

Athena sighs, and walks over to the table that Mr. Luck was sitting at. Emma walks over to it and sits on the sofa on the other side.
Emma shuffles uncomfortably and looks at Athena.

"What did you dream about?" Athena asks.

"I dreamt that I was in a dark castle, but it felt too real to be a dream. There was a Fennekin walking around the rooms, and when I went up to the highest floor there were three bedrooms. Alain was in one of them, fast asleep. Maiel was in the other one, all of the furniture other than the bed and a desk was in a large box. I looked at the third one but it was completely empty." Emma answers.

Athena narrows her eyes.
"Can you describe the aesthetics of the castle interior?"

"White walls with black lines that have a red orb in them. The floor is black tiles, and the rugs are black with a red dotted line around it just before the border. There are some potted plants with exotic-coloured leaves as well." Emma describes.

"Sakuya told me this, that's the Chrysalis Manor. Maiel asked Variya to make that place for her to live in while she isn't fronting or something." Athena states.

A few of the Marshadow in the tent all turn towards Athena and stare at her when she says Variya's name.

"So I ended up there because I wasn't fronting? That makes sense, I guess." Emma states.

Athena notices the Marshadow and points her crossbow at them to make them back off of her. One of them shrugs and goes back to looking through bookshelves, and the others go back to what they were doing.

"Maiel explained that all non-contract magic that was applied to you was dispelled after the post-battle purification removed the stone from your body." Athena explains. "Would you mind pulling a hair out?"

Emma winces as she pulls one strand of hair out, and places it on the table. The furthest point of it is her normal auburn colour instead of deep red.
"So that isn't magic." Emma comments.

"I don't know how to comment on what's happened." Athena sighs. "But I completely empathize, and it isn't as much of a world-ending revelation as it was for me before I became a Plater."

Emma sighs, and walks over to Athena to give her a hug. Athena tightly hugs back.

"Think of it this way. I didn't notice when your body went back to a human one after you got purified, and nothing else about your body seems to have changed." Athena suggests. "I don't think differently of you at all, and neither does Sakuya. Maria is such a pure bean that she wouldn't even understand why anyone would think this is a problem in the first place, and Alain..."
Athena ends her statement with a slight chuckle.

Mr. Luck walks back over.
"Hour's up!" Mr. Luck boasts.

"That clearly wasn't 60 minutes." Emma protests.

"It's 11AM, so that's an hour." Mr. Luck snarks.

"Fuck you." Athena states. "Emma, we're done here."

Emma releases herself from Athena's arms and walks over to the exit.
"I was already about to leave."

"You fucking knew that we meant 60 minutes and not till the next hour mark." Athena retorts Mr. Luck.

"You should have specified." Mr. Luck taunts, lechery in his voice.

"How many Black Prisms for information on who Variya is?" Athena asks.

Mr. Luck forms a set of scales in his left hand and stares at it. The right hand side of the scales breaks its chains from an apparent weight, which makes Athena laugh.
Athena stands up and walks out of the tent with Emma.

Chapter Text

Both of them walk out of the tent to see Sakuya walking over to the shore of Mynori Beach.

Sakuya notices them, and facepalms.

"I know better than that." Emma tells Sakuya. Sakuya sighs in relief.

"Everything resolved?" Sakuya asks.

"Still uncomfortable, but yeah." Emma responds.

Sakuya sends out her Ludicolo and jumps into its lilypad to travel across the sea to Route 5.

Athena sends her Slurpuff back out and jumps onto it.

Emma sends out Maiel's Veluza, and hangs onto its spiked back.

The three of them travel across the sea to Route 5, and climb off outside the Aquamarine Cave.

"Ughhhh..." Emma groans, and recalls the Veluza.

"We have GOT to get you a Drakloak. Or find where those white-striped Basculin are." Sakuya comments, and recalls her Ludicolo.

"Pseudos are fun. Too bad most of them are Dragon-type." Athena sighs, and recalls her Slurpuff.

Emma rummages around in her bag, and hands Athena Hapi's Pokeball back.

"I don't want to go through the caves." Emma admits. "I'll stay by the signpost."

Athena sends out Hapi and climbs onto his back. She points at the small cliff over the pool to the west of the signpost.
"Hapi, Fly us to over there!" Athena instructs.
Hapi flies Athena over.
Athena recalls Hapi and immediately breaks into a full sprint west to the Teila Resort.

Sakuya shrugs, and leans on the signpost with Emma.

Athena stops running when she sees Maria walking out of a resort house towards her, and causes a wave of water to splash away from her as a result of her rapid deceleration.

Maria notices Athena, and runs over to her.
"Athena!"

Athena squats down slightly to pick up Maria into a hug when she runs into her.
"Heyyy! Feeling alright?" Athena asks.

"Tesla's really nice. She has an Arcanine like the ones I remember, and she's taught me a lot about battling." Maria responds.

"That's great. Sorry for taking so long. Emma got cursed, but we dealt with that." Athena explains.

"Oh... Sorry for not telling you that part about the Magma Stone..." Maria states despondently.

"Hey, cheer up. We dealt with that curse, and the other one isn't an issue. You have two sisters now, and the other one really wants to talk to you!" Athena explains.

"Huh?" Maria asks.

Athena walks east, and Maria follows her away from Teila.

"Alright, uh... you know that book we gave you?" Athena asks. "That."

Maria notices Sakuya and Emma leaning on a sign on the other side of a slight cliff.

Athena sends Hapi back out, and jumps onto his back.

Maria points at Emma.
"Is that the other one?"

Athena shakes her head, and points down below the cliff.
"Nope. Her hair just got dyed by the dimensional rift. Maiel's got blonde hair." Athena explains.
Hapi flies Athena down the cliff and over to Sakuya and Emma.

Maria sends out her Staraptor, and climbs onto its back.
"Stella, down there!" Maria instructs.
Staraptor jumps into the air, and flies down to Athena, Sakuya, and Emma.

Emma walks over to Maria and gives her a hug. Maria recalls her Staraptor and hugs back.

"New bird?" Sakuya asks.

"Tesla said I could have it, and she said I could call her auntie as well!" Maria explains.

"Nice. We're heading down to Crawli's Gym to get our badges." Sakuya explains. "Want to watch the battle?"

"That sounds great!" Maria exclaims.

"Alright, send our your Bibarel. We're heading back." Athena states.

Alain sighs in exhaustion, and recalls Tazer. Only one trainer remains in the gauntlet that Neved is forcing her to fight through for his own amusement.

"FINAL ROUND, ALAIN VERSUS SAKI!" the guard yells.

Saki walks up to the arena.

"You said you wanted to see how strong I am? Well, bite my boney sinnohian ass!" Saki boasts.

Alain looks at their nails and Pokeball, intentionally ignoring Saki.

The guard facepalms.
"The final battle for the Prestige Room shall now commence. Begin."

RENEGADE ALAIN challenges AXIS HIGH STUDENT SAKI!

Saki sends out her Shiny Duralodon.

Alain sends out Tazer.

"Tazer, Brick Break." Alain instructs.

"Darkstar! Use Super Ultra Mega Death-" Saki instructs, abruptly stopping when she gets hit by an actual taser by one of the guards.

"Saki Blakeory automatically forfeits as a result of using an illegal move." the guard states.

Neved stands up out of his throne, and mutters something to the guard overseeing the battles beside him.

He takes a step over to the edge of the balcony to glare at Alain, and sarcastically claps.
"Congratulations, Alain. Just as last time, if you wish to enter your room early, talk to a guard."

Alain recalls Tazer, and walks past Saki's still-spasming passed out body.

They put Tazer's Pokeball back in their bag, and walk out of the battlegrounds to head over to the library.

The group heads back to Kakori Village, and walk into the Ranger Headquarters.

Inside, Athena heads west to the gym. Sakuya hands Emma a small bag full of money first, then follows Athena down the corridor.
Emma pockets the bag, and starts to walk towards the corridor, but stops when she notices Suna half-asleep on one of the sofas, and decides to walk over to them.

Suna wakes up and notices the two of them.
"Mnuh... huh. The dykes' little tykes. How ya doing?"

"I'm alright! I finished reading that book they gave me." Maria answers.

"A schizophrenic scientist spread rumors about me being part of a terrorist organization." Emma answers.

"That's great, kid." Suna says to Maria, and ruffles her hair.
"Never a dull moment with you, is there?" Suna asks Emma.

"Awawa thanks" Maria responds.

"It's over at least. No more garufan bullshit." Emma sighs.

"Auntie Tesla gave me a Staraptor!" Maria explains.

"Really. We should battle sometime, once your Pokemon are big and strong. And honestly, same goes to you, Ems, now that all this is over with. Did you dye your hair or something, or is that just a side effect of what you had to go through to get here?" Suna asks.

"That sounds really fun. How strong?" Maria asks.

"Side effect of turning into a dimensional rift... and it's not the only side effect. Athena checked for me and it hasn't changed my natural hair colour though." Emma explains.

"Oh, about level sev--" Suna responds, then realises what Emma said. "Turning into a WHAT?"

"It meant that I didn't have to wear a curse dampening kimono till we got all the way to Route 9. Everything's fine now." Emma explains.
Emma takes out an egg that looks like Type:Null's control helmet.

"That's... a weird egg." Maria comments.

Suna stares at the egg.
"I am going to pretend I don't know exactly what you did to revert it. Any plans going forward?" Suna asks.

"We're going to the jungle after they get their badges!" Maria enthusiastically explains.

"Do the rest of the three trials and head to Valor Mountain." Emma explains. "At some point, we're heading to Blacksteeple to rescue Alain. Athena's made a deal with Rune to protect her from the Blakeory Corporation."

"Good, good. I've been meaning to explore the jungle, so mind if I come with?" Suna asks.

"That sounds great! I don't know what jungles are like." Maria responds.

"How was Kakori the past few days?" Emma asks Suna.

Emma walks over to the sofa beside the one that Suna's sat down on. Maria takes a few steps forward to be between Suna and Emma, but doesn't sit down.

"Cold. Colder than I'd like, but getting warmer again thanks to the efforts of you and your... I dunno, do you consider them parents, Ems?" Suna answers.

"I'm almost as old as them." Emma denies. "They're companions."

"I guess? Even though they've been away for most of the time I've known them, they're a lot better than Indriad was." Maria answers.

"Coolio. Well yeah, thanks to you and your companions I don't have to worry about leaving this place in a mess when I eventually start wanderin' again." Suna adds.

"Wandering? Where have you been before?" Maria asks.

Emma seems to pass our and her hair slowly turns to a golden hue.
Suna completely ignores this.

"Well, kiddo, I come from a place called the Reborn Region. Same place as your moms. I used to live in the desert out there, and I was stuck in a biiig time loop that meant I couldn't leave. In the coupla years since all that got fixed, I've been out seein' the world - I've been to Unova, and Oore, Galar and Kalos too. Now I'm over here in Aevium, and I'm not sure where I'll go next. But that's the fun of it, y'know?" Suna regales.

"Kalos? Have you met AZ?" Maria asks.

Maiel looks at her surroundings and notices Maria and Suna.
"So you're-" Maiel starts, but gets interrupted by Maria hugging her.

"Sis!!!" Maria yells.

"So. You're the alter. Who're you?" Suna asks.

"Maiel." Maiel introduces herself. "I got summoned here from Limina when we were in the Tower of Theolia. You're... Suna, right?"

"Tower of... huh?" Maria asks.

"Angie's demiplane thing." Maiel clarifies.

"Yeah, that's me. So you're... what, an alternate version that got fucking..." Suna mimes squishing things together.
"Timeline corrected?" Suna asks.

"I have a list of people I want to deal with because of what they did in my timeline." Maiel states while miming stabbing a box.
"Sakuya said that she's known someone who's basically in my situation before. It's like that, but with a different method of me getting here.

"...I'm sorry." Maria sighs.
Maiel hugs Maria back.

"Hooh boy. Yeah, I... can't say I don't have similar feelings. But, with that being said, you two - three - should have each other's backs. I know that my friends, the ones you're travelling with, will support you too, and if you need anything from your unc over here, just lemme know. I'll help, s'long as it ain't too much off my back, ahaha." Suna responds.

"Seems legit. I met Alain earlier, she's chill and traded me a Fennekin. Only beings you're at risk from are those two fucks that tried ambushing us at Prehnite." Maiel states.

"Can I see it?" Maria asks.

Maiel shakes out of the embrace and sends out her Fennekin for Maria to play with.
"Our headspace is chill, it's a demiplane owned by this old blonde woman who gave me a Porygon."

Suna blinks in confusion.
"I uh. Don't know if that counts as a headspace, if it's owmed by someone else."

"It's where we are when we aren't fronting though. Alain showed up there while she was sleeping, and I remember the woman mentioning something about 6 Interceptors." Maiel explains.

"Uhhhhh... yeah no I think that might be an actual place." Suna states.
"Also I think that might be a god." Suna adds.

"Considering that I can do this now..." Maiel states, and manifests an image of the Arch in her left hand. It turns into a crowbar, which she immediately dispels.
"Yeah. I know who 4 of the others are, and you don't sound like the 6th one."

Maria notices what Maiel did with the Archetype.
"You can do that too? What does yours do?"

Suna sighs. "I just keep getting into this, don't I."

"Yes, you do. You probably shouldn't have come to Aevium, consdering... everything." Maiel responds.
Maiel turns around to face Maria.
"It lets me summon stuff. Like my emotional support crowbar or actual weaponry."

"I'm not sure what mine does..." Maria sighs.

Maiel headpats Maria. "That's alright. Check this out too."

Maiel sends out her Garufan Porygon.

Suna stares at the Porygon.
"That's... a cool regional form. What type is it?" Suna numbly asks.

"Psychic/Ghost. I'm using Psychic-types." Maiel answers, and sighs.
"...Sorry if this is a bit much. I thought you'd be more like those two."

"It's... yeah. You get used to it. Everyone with a high enough Span just assumes it's a gift and thinks I want to be in on their grand multidimensional-scale bullshittings, but like... just because this ant knows what a circuit board is, it doesn't mean I want to get into electronics, y'know?" Suna responds.

"Yeah, I get it. I want to crash out of here for beiger pastures as much as you do, but... I feel like there's something that I need to stop from happening first." Maiel responds, and thinks for a moment.
"There was SOMETHING that happened in the past that Aevia had to stop, but I wasn't there to see what it was and the bitch never told me."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I believe you've got what it takes, and I'm definitely at least gonna explore the whole of this place before I leave." Suna states.

Athena walks over to the lift and opens the door up for Sakuya, then walks onto it with her and closes the door. The lift activates and slowly takes them both down into Crawli's Gym.

The lift lands at the bottom, showing a brick-walled underground room with small trees growing inside it, another lift right in front of them, and a door to the east and west. Presumably there's another door to the north.

Athena jumps over the lift's railings and looks north to see a lighter-skinned ranger in a grey-coloured version of the typical Ranger attire.
Sakuya opens the door up and walks over to Athena, then faces the Ranger.

"Nice place, all things considered." Athena comments.

"So you two Wurmples are the new recruits Crawli was talking about?" the Ranger asks.

"Got no intention of becoming a greenwashed cop, but I guess so." Sakuya answers.

"I'm going to ignore that comment. You WILL refer to me as Holly. Head Recruitment Captain of the Pokemon Rangers." Holly introduces herself.
"Rank 9. My job is to weed out the weak and refine the strong."

"Rank 9? Nice. What rank are Sam and Alex?" Athena asks.

"Rank 7. As I was saying, this is where Ranger recruits come to prove their worth. Those who are able to undergo my special training regimen become new Pokemon Rangers."

"And these three regimens are...?" Athena asks.

Holly clears her throat and starts shouting.
"LISTEN UP! YOUR TASK IS TO COMPLETE THREE OBSTACLE COURSES DESIGNED BY YOURS TRULY." Holly shouts.
"Once all three courses are completed, the lift to Crawli shall appear in the center of the room. It is only then when the final trial shall begin. Is that clear?" Holly asks.

"What if I were to jump down the elevator shaft?" Athena asks.

"You would break your legs from the sheer depth. Don't try it." Holly answers.

"All good. Which one do you recommend doing first?" Sakuya asks.

"The warp maze, if you dare." Holly answers. "Good luck. Terajuma is counting on you."

Athena walks over to the northeast door. Sakuya follows her over a few seconds later.

Athena takes one look at the maze and facepalms. She sends out Hapi, and jumps onto his back.
"Over to the red crystal at the northmost point." Athena instructs.
Hapi makes a noise of agreement and flies her over several obstructing rocks to the replica Fire Relic.

Athena picks up the relic, and jumps down onto a teleport pad. She gets teleported to a tile on the southwest side of the room, with no other options but to exit through the west door.

Sakuya facepalms and walks back through the door to catch up with Athena outside.

Athena walks southwest to the west door, and finds herself on a raised platform. In front of her is a large gap, then another raised platform, and behind it is a set of stairs down to a small artificial beach that must be surfed across to get to a Rowlet doll.

Holly walks into view at the instructor's balcony on the north side.

"Welcome you stupid Wurmples! This is a rescue mission."

"Rescue the Rowlet?" Athena asks.

"...Yes. Bring back Dartreaux's son ALIVE and acquire the Water Relic. This should be simple enough, yes?"

Athena walks over to the large gap, and starts mentally measuring how long it is.

"Good luck." Holly states, and walks away.

Sakuya walks in and notices the large gap. She sends out her Chesnaught.

"Use Reflect. Except as a platform across this gap." Sakuya instructs.

Chesnaught nods, and forms a yellow rectangular barrier as a bridge across the gap.

Athena walks over to the other side, and sees Holly walk over.

"Hey! What in the world is that?" Holly asks.

"A bridge." Sakuya and Athena both answer.

"You completed that part of the course in an.... interesting way. You were supposed to fill the pit with water and then cross over the logs." Holly explains.

"With WHAT water, huh?" Athena yells. "I don't see any water source here, so if you're asking for someone to get their Water-Type to produce an UNHEALTHILY LARGE amount of water, that's the same kind of thinking outside the box as we're doing here, except without BREAKING THE FUCKING TANOBY CONVENTIONS."

Holly slowly walks away without any way to retort Athena's statement.

Athena sighs and walks down to the beach. She sends out her Clefable, and points at the water.
"Blizzard." Athena instructs.

Clefable nods, and lets forth a blizzard down onto the pool, freezing it solid. Athena puts on her shoe spikes, and walks across it to pick up the Rowlet.
Athena immediately walks back, takes the shoe spikes back off, recalls her Clefable, and walks over to the large gap.

Sakuya nods at her Chesnaught, which reforms the barrier and allows Athena to walk back over. Sakuya recalls her Chesnaught and walks out. Athena follows her out, and places the Rowlet down.

Athena walks over to the east door, and notices that it's just an obstacle course. Sakuya follows her in.
Athena sits down.
"This is beneath me, but flying over it would actually be cheating. You want to do it?" Athena asks.

"Fine by me." Sakuya states.
Sakuya pulls out her staff and forms a green logogram in front of herself, augmenting her speed.

Sakuya proceeds to run through the first third of the course effortlessly, at enough of a speed for Holly to not be able to talk to her. She runs through the second and third part of the course, and stops in front of the replica Sky Relic.
Sakuya bends down to pick up the relic, then turns back around to go back through the course.

She feels the sensation of spacetime warping and turns back around to see Crescent with her Gothitelle.

"Hi?" Sakuya asks.

Crescent rolls her eyes. "You're late."

"We had to deal with a lot of other shit. Like the Garufa Sanctuary. Did you see that shit on the news?" Sakuya explains.

"True."

Sakuya taps her right foot on the ground and thinks for a few seconds.
"Trade offer: You get us the Water Relic, and we'll go save your girlfriend before going to Valor." Sakuya bargains.

"She's not- Deal." Crescent responds. "I'll drop it off when you get to the Sky Relic."

Sakuya puts out her right hand, and Crescent shakes it to seal the deal.
Sakuya turns back around and walks back through the obstacle course.

Athena notices her and walks out with her.

Both of them walk over to the second elevator. Sakuya places the replica Sky Relic down on the ground by it, and Athena places the replica Fire and Water Relics down. The elevator rises up into place for them to go down with.

Athena jumps down onto the elevator, Sakuya climbs over the balcony and waits for the elevator to take them both down.

Chapter Text

Athena walks through the doorway, into a large underground cavern with trees growing inside it.

She walks ahead, and gets stopped by Holly. Sakuya catches up with her.

"Well, well... Congratulations. You made it to the depths of Kakori Village. Maybe you are not a stupid Wurmple." Holly states.
"Perhaps more of a stupid Silcoon, or Cascoon?"

"Try Lucario." Athena states.

"Are you ready for your final trial?" Holly asks.

"What's that?" Sakuya asks.

"Before you get to Crawli, you must defeat... His father."

Rorim. B jumps out from behind a tree.
"Darlings! Good to see you!"

Athena rolls her eyes. "Hey. Ready to dance?" 

Rorim. B takes out a Pokeball.

Sakuya looks at Holly. "Do I have to fight Rorim too?"

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, only one trainer is able to get into this room at a time."

Sakuya rolls her eyes and leans against a tree.

VANGUARD ATHENA challenges DANCE PRODIGY RORIM. B!

Rorim sends out an Oricorio-PomPom and Bellossom into the swampy arena underfoot.

Athena sends out Hapi and her Carbink.

"Bellossom, Quiver Dance! Oricorio, Revelation Dance!" Rorim playfully instructs.

"Hapi, Heat Wave. Rock, Moonblast on Bellossom." Athena instructs.

Hapi flaps its wings and lets forth a superheated blast of air at Rorim's side of the arena.

Oricorio dances around and manifests static electricity within its pom-poms, then launches it in a beam at Hapi.

Carbink forms an effigy of the moon behind itself, and fires an immense beam of lunar energy out of it at Bellossom, knocking it out.

Rorim recalls his Bellossom and sends out his Oricorio-Baile.

"Both of you, Revelation Dance~!" Rorim instructs.

Athena rolls her eyes and looks at the Baile Oricorio.

"Hapi, Ancient Power it. Rock, Power Gem." Athena instructs.

Hapi manifests several magical rocks and throws them at the Oricorio-Baile, knocking it out.

Oricorio-PomPom dances around again and manifests static electricity within its pompoms, and launches the lightning at Hapi. Hapi falls to the ground.

Carbink manifests four gemstones above itself, and launches them at high velocity at the remaining Oricorio, dealing heavy damage.

Rorim recalls his Oricorio-Baile, and sends out a Ludicolo.

Athena recalls Hapi, and sends out her Ribombee.

"Ribombee, Dazzling Gleam. Rock, Protect." Athena instructs.

"Ludicolo, Rain Dance! Oricorio, Revelation Dance!" Rorim instructs.

Carbink covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield, which achieves absolutely nothing.

Ribombee lets forth a bright pink light into the arena, knocking out Oricorio and disorienting Ludicolo from the flash.

Ludicolo dances around and summons a rain cloud.

Rorim recalls his Oricorio and sends out a second Ludicolo. Athena facepalms.

"I have to ask- wait no, it doesn't work that way in the first place." Athena states. "Pollen Puff the new one."

Athena recalls her Carbink for her Dedenne.

"Both of you, Scald Ribombee!" Rorim instructs.

"Fuck!" Athena yells.
Sakuya looks over to see if she's alright.

Both Ludicolo fire scalding hot blasts of water at Ribombee, knocking it out.

Athena recalls Ribombee and sends out her Clefable.

"Clefable, Helping Hand. Bee, left Ludicolo. Thunder."

"Scald Dedenne!" Rorim instructs.

Clefable claps both of its hands loudly, and transfers a quickly fading golden aura to Bee.

The first Ludicolo fires scalding hot water at Bee. Bee spits out parts of a Petaya Berry.

The second Ludicolo fires scaling hot water at Bee, heavily damaging her.

Bee lets out a battle cry and summons a bolt of thunder down from the clouds above, instantly knocking out the left Ludicolo.

"Aiyyy, nice." Rorim comments.

Rorim recalls the Ludicolo and sends out his Altaria. 

"Clefable, Moonblast on Altaria. Bee, Ludicolo. Thunder."

"Scald Dedenne! Altaria, Steel Wing!"

Ludicolo fires a third blast of scalding hot water at Bee, knocking her out.

Clefable manifests an effigy of the moon behind itself, and fires an immense beam of lunar energy at Altaria, knocking it out.

Athena recalls Bee and sends Dachsbun out.

"Toast, Play Rough. Clefable, Metronome."

"Giga Drain." Rorim instructs.

Ludicolo absorbs green orbs of energy from Clefable to recover itself.

Toast pounces at Ludicolo and repeatedly hits it with its forelegs.

Clefable waggles a finger.

A meteor manifests in front of Ludicolo that vaguely glows pink with a symbol of the Arch emblazoned into it, knocking it out.

Athena blinks.

"Judgement?" Holly asks.

"I hate Metronome." Athena sighs. "It's always something too powerful when you're trying to catch a mon or quickly finishing a battle, or it blows up in your face when you're cornered."

"Darling, that was still a battle with purpose. I could feel your conviction." Rorim. B comments.

"Thanks. That double Scald play was actually great, I wasn't expecting that." Athena responds.

Holly sighs. "Well, you're certainly a strong trainer. Ready to face Crawli?"

"Always have been. Just give me a minute to heal up my team."

Alain walks through Blacksteeple Castle to its library. They take out a few books that seem interesting based on the writing on the spine for later reading, and stop when they see one that claims to be the blueprints of the castle.

"Architectural Secrets of Blacksteeple Castle - A Mystery, a Wonder". Alain narrates.
"This can't be real, right?"

Alain quickly looks around the ceiling for any hidden cameras or scrying orbs, and when they don't notice one they open up the book's cover to see where the book actually comes from.
The book has a library tag in it which was last stamped in 2004 in a Grand Dream City library, and seems to have been taken out on a regular basis before then.

"...hags. Well, this should be accurate." Alain comments.
They put it away in their satchel, and carry the other books with them as they walk out of the library and over to the Banquet Hall.

Adam stops her as she walks out of the library. Alain sighs.

"What do you want, Adam?"

"I just want to know what books you're taking with you. I have some recommendations." Adam answers.

"Some of The Arcane Chronicles, a non-fiction book, and Stalking in Divespace. Someone recommended that book to me on Clover."

"Clover, huh? You don't strike me as the person who's on there." Adam comments.

"The old days have been over for a decade at this point. It's chill if you avoid the higher traffic boards." Alain responds.

"...So, if that non-fiction book is what I think it is, hiding it in your bag isn't going to save you from the consequences of your actions. If you don't already have a Ditto or Zoroark, you should put it back." Adam informs Alain.

"How do you know this?" Alain asks Adam.

"Someone else took it out and no-one heard from him since. I doubt it's that easy to get out." Adam explains.

"Well, thanks for the warning. I'll go get that Zoroark."

Adam laughs. "They aren't in the Garden, and everyone who has one and has revealed it at any point has had it stolen."

Alain facepalms. "I've got a plan, and I know how to damage the Sigils."

Adam blinks. "Uh... good luck. I'll tell the girls."
Adam walks off.

Alain sighs, walks down a set of stairs outdoors, and back into the castle. Inside, they walk over to the Banquet Hall.

Maiel stretches in her seat, and looks at Suna again.

"What's your field?" Maiel asks. "Alain picked Inverse Field of all things to fight me on."

"I use Blessed Field!" Maria tells her. "I've fought on it so much that I don't know what normal conditions are. What's yours?"

"I'm not sure. I used to fight on the Fairy Tale field, but..." Maiel responds, and stares into the distance to think.

"Back home, when I used to be in the Elite Four, I ran Ashen Beach. Worked real well with my type specialties, Ground and Fighting." Suna answers. "'M thinking I might try to devise my own field effect sometime, but first I gotta find something that feels like home enough for me to call it mine."

"I think I know a place you might like." Maiel states.

"How different is Ashen Beach from the beaches around Terajuma?" Maria asks.

"They aren't, sweet. The one in Reborn just has... ash. Because it's next to a volcano!" Suna answers. "Did you know that nowadays they've fitted that volcano with a biiiig grill, and use it to cook pancakes?"

Maria's eyes glitter with amazement.

"Heard of Zone Zero?" Maiel asks.

"Ain't that the abandoned settlement in the Badlands, where no one dare tread?" Suna asks back.

"Yeah. It isn't cursed or anything, people just have qualms with going somewhere that's constantly dealing with a sandstorm. A few people think it got nuked, but no geigers have picked up rads." Maiel confirms. "Do you have a book of field effects? Cybernavs don't come pre-loaded with them here and league administration's refused to enable that feature."

"Yeag. I can't promise we got any on Aevium specifically, but standard environs should be here. It was compiled thanks to a particularly meticulous League member back in Reborn who shared my affinity for deserts." Suna responds.

Suna hands a book to Maria labelled [Terrain Effects: A Practical Guide.]

Maria opens up the book and starts reading through it. Her eyes glow gold as she does so, but faintly enough for only Suna and Maiel to notice it.

Suna stares at Maiel with slight concern. Maiel shrugs.

Athena walks further in and sees Crawli on the other side of his arena.

"I'm not surprised that you made it this far, Athena. Beating my parents? That's something most Rangers aren't able to do first-try." Crawli states.

"Holly's your mom?" Athena asks.

"She is. She's the whole reason why I decided to join the Rangers!" Crawli answers.
"It's good that we're battling in peaceful times, but show me that you're ready to protect us from another invasion!"

VANGUARD ATHENA is challenged by HEAD RANGER CRAWLI!

Crawli sends out his Ariados and Galvantula.

Athena sends out Hapi and Clefable.

A seed blossoms under Ariados and gives it a faint blue aura, but ingrains it to the arena.

"Clefable, Follow Me. Hapi, Heat Wave." Athena instructs.

"Then- Ariados, Poison Jab. Galvantula, Sticky Web."

Clefable puts a finger up into the air and summons a spotlight above itself.

Galvantula spits a sticky web out onto Athena's side of the arena.

Hapi flaps its wings and lets forth a superheated blast of air at Crawli's side of the arena, dealing heavy damage to Galvantula and setting it on fire.

Ariados jumps at Clefable and coats one of its legs in poison, then jabs its toxified leg into Clefable, knocking it to the edge of the arena.

The flames on Galvantula flare, knocking it out.

Crawli recalls his Galvantula, and sends out his Escavlier.

"Hapi, Heat Wave again. Clefable, Moonlight." Athena instructs.

"Escavlier, Iron Head!" Crawli instructs.
Crawli throws a Hyper Potion at Ariados, fully healing it.

Hapi flaps its wings and lets forth another superheated blast of air at Crawli's side of the arena, slightly knocking back Ariados and scorching Escavlier's armor.

Clefable meditates and heals with lunar energy.

Escavalier spits out parts of an Occa Berry and rushes at Hapi full-force. It slams its plumed helmet into Hapi, knocking him out.

Athena facepalms. She recalls Hapi and sends out her Mawile.

"Mawile, Iron Head on Ariados. Clefable, Flamethrower." Athena instructs.

"Ariados, Shadow Sneak. Escavalier, Drill Run." Crawli instructs.

Ariados jolts slightly towards Clefable and launches its shadow at it.

Mawile runs up to Ariados and slams its mouthlike hair into it, snapping the vines attaching Ariados to the arena and launching it into the outer walls.

Clefable breathes fire at Escavalier, knocking it out.

Crawli recalls Ariados and Escavalier, and sends out his Accelgor and Golisopod.

A small seed blooms under Accelgor, giving it a faint blue aura and tethering it to the arena.

"Golisopod, Liquidation. Accelgor, Mud Barrage on Mawile!" Crawli instructs.

"Mawile, Sucker Punch. Clefable, Moonlight again." Athena instructs.

Mawile runs up to Golisopod and makes it trip over itself while rushing at Clefable.

Accelgor throws several balls of mud at Mawile, knocking it out.

Golisopod gets back up and coats its arms in blades of water, and slashes through Clefable with them.

Athena recalls Mawile and sends out Bee.

"Bee, Thunderbolt. Clefable, Follow Me." Athena instructs.

"Accelgor, Mud Barrage. Golisopod, Aqua Jet." Crawli instructs.

Golisopod covers its body in water and rushes over at Clefable, then stops abruptly to launch the water at it.

Accelgor throws several balls of mud at Clefable, knocking it down and out.

Dedenne shoots a bolt of electricity at Golisopod, knocking it out.

Crawli recalls Crawli and sends out his Araquanid.

Athena recalls Clefable and sends out Coppelia.

"Coppelia, Destiny Bond. Bee, Thunderbolt again." Athena instructs.

Coppelia looks back at Athena and rolls her eyes.

"If it works, it works. Too bad the Accelgor is seeded." Athena tells her Pokemon.

"Araquanid, Poison Jab. Accelgor, Mud Barrage." Crawli instructs.

Coppelia's body glows with an ominous purple aura.

Araquanid walks over to Coppelia and coats one of its legs in poison. It jabs at her with its toxic tendril, knocking her down.
The purple aura envelops Araquanid, taking it down as well

Accelgor throws several balls of mud at Bee. After the second ball, Bee spits out parts of a Sitrus berry after eating one to recover. Accelgor throws another two balls of mud at Bee, leaving her at low health.

Bee fires a bolt of electricity at Accelgor, shocking it slightly.

Crawli recalls his Araquanid.

Athena recalls Coppelia and sends out her Carbink.

"Probably should have sent you out earlier, butttttt.... Stone Edge. End it." Athena instructs.

"Mud Barrage again." Crawli instructs.

Carbink launches several spikes stones up from the ground, which knock out Accelgor.

Athena recalls Carbink and Bee.

Crawli recalls Accelgor.

"Wow. I know you beat Angie, but... I don't get defeated that often." Crawli comments. "Yknow, you're eligible to become a Pokemon Ranger if you beat 2 of my Pokemon."

"Neat. Prize for all 6?" Athena asks.

"You become the next Head Ranger."

Athena laughs. "Hahahaha, no thanks. I've got the rest of the league to beat."

"Yeah, that was supposed to be a joke. Here." Crawli responds.

Crawli hands Athena the Infested Badge, and a TM.

"With the Infested Badge, Pokemon up to level 50 should listen to you. X-Scissor is just a good move."

Athena bows to Crawli in respect, then positions her torso back upright.
"Good luck against Sakuya. Don't get cocky with your type advantage."

Athena walks back over to Sakuya to watch her turn at the fight.

Alain is escorted back to the Prestige Room. 

She walks over to the bed and meditates while leaning up against it.

Alain wakes back up in her room in the dreamscape's Chrysalis Manor. Alain sends out Tazer to walk with her, and they both walk through the manor.

They both walk through a set of doubledoors that weren't opened in the time that Alain was first here, and see the immense grand room of the manor below the long set of stairs down.

Alain finishes walking down and sees a few doors into the kitchen on the right side of the room, as well as a corridor further back that she didn't notice from her original position.

She walks over to the kitchen doors and opens one of them up into a similarly immense and furnished kitchen, complete with a walk-in pantry on the north side of the room.
Alain notices a young woman with blood-red hair wearing a white vest, her bracers, and a tan skirt looking through the kitchen for cookbooks.

Alain puts up a hand in greeting.
"Hey."

Emma jumps in shock and turns around to face Alain.
"Oh, hey. Do you know where the cookbooks are?"

"I'd guess in the library, which is probably on the other side of that room?" Alain answers.
"Do you still have that Zoroark?"

Emma sighs. "Why do you need it?"

Alain pulls the book out of their satchel, and shows it to Emma.
"Decoy. I'm going to be wandering the backrooms of the castle. Everyone else at Blacksteeple with one has had them confiscated."

Alain starts to walk back through the doors to the direction where they think the library is.
"What do you want to make?"

Emma follows Alain out of the kitchen. "I caught something that looks like a corrupted Lechonk."

A minute of walking later, Alain opens the door on the other side of the room.
The door opens into a room almost as large as the Grand Room with bookshelves lining its walls as well as around the pillars holding the room up.

Emma notices Variya sat down at one of the small tables in the room, reading a novel while wearing slightly tinted reading glasses. She puts it down as she notices the two of them.

"Uh... Who are you?" Emma asks.

"That's irrelevant, but you can think of me as the owner of this location." Variya answers.

Emma looks around the library in place, then looks back at Variya.
"Is that what you actually look like?"

Alain sighs and looks around the library for cookbooks. 

Variya moves her book to the side, and looks at Emma. "Are you sure you want that question answered?"

Alain walks past a fourth bookshelf, and takes one of the books out. "Hm. Sorted by genre."
Alain puts the book back in, and picks up her pace walking around the room.

Variya looks up and down at Emma's body, then goes back to eye contact with her. "You can call it a form that I am more comfortable with. Neither of us would like to see what could be considered my 'true form'."

"...Sorry for asking."

Variya moves her bookmark's position, and closes the book. Emma is able to read its title, [Cenotaph of a Princess].

"Would you prefer it if I did this?" Variya asks, and in a flash of golden light her body shrinks several inches. 
Alain turns around to see where the flash of light came from, and sees a white-haired, grey-eyed girl wearing a black hoodie with the Arch stitched in gold onto it.

"I don't know why, but I feel like you're plagiarizing someone from another region." Emma comments.

"This is worse. Go back. 'Mentor figure' is a lot better for my mental state than that." Alain answers.

Variya quietly coughs and quickly shifts her body and outfit back to normal.

"If you're looking for anything specific, there's a map of where the genres are in the middle of the room." Variya comments.

Emma walks towards the middle of the room and looks through the sheet. It states that the cookbooks are directly clockwise from the door that she came in with Alain from, meaning that since Alain went anticlockwise they wouldn't see them for ages. She walks directly over to the cookbook section.

Alain takes a book off a shelf beside her, and walks back to the exit. "I'll go scald it so that it's sanitary to cook. Where did you put it?"

"It's in a box. I tried walking out into the woods, but that thing tried attacking. My Annihilape came out of its Pokeball and karate chopped its head hard enough that I think its brain exploded." Emma explains.

"I-What?" Alain exclaims.

Variya steps up from her seat and follows Alain over to the exit of the library. "This world runs on different rules."

Alain throws both of their hands up into the air, and walks through the Grand Room to the Kitchen.

Variya walks past the kitchen to a large cupboard and opens the door. Inside, Alain notices several iron bars up on the ceiling with hooks on them.

"Hang it by its feet. I'll get the scalding pot." Variya requests.

Alain notices the box that the pig is stored in, and drags it into the curing room. With difficulty, she pulls it up by its legs and pierces its feet on the hooks. She looks down at the book she picked out, and notes that she needs to cut its throat to collect the blood. 

Alain walks out of the curing room to get a sharp knife and bucket for the blood, then walks back and cleanly slits its throat.

Blood rapidly spills out of the pig's throat at a faster rate than Alain could have expected, causing a lot to get on her right arm.

"Shit."

Variya walks back with a large metal pot filled with hot water, and sighs when she sees Alain's arm covered in blood.

"You can wash it off with this water after the pig's been scalded." Variya comments.

"What did you mean by different rules?" Alain asks. "I'm aware that it was different back in Hisui, but not this different."

Variya laughs. "This might be difficult to explain."

"I don't want a history lesson. Just tell me what's going on." Alain requests.

"Considering where we are... Do you understand the concept of Spell Cards?" Variya asks.

"The Touhou kind? 1CC queen here."

"Think about why they exist. Or why Pokeballs do."

Blood stops dripping out of the pig. Variya moves the blood bucket aside while Alain thinks.

"Pokeballs exist because Arceus saw it fit for humans to have control over the beasts of its world. Without that, there were no rules for the combat between Humanity and Pokemon." Alain surmises.

Variya picks up the scalding pot and dunks the pig into it.
"In a world without Humans or Pokemon... how different would that be?" Variya rhetorically asks.

"I've played enough JRPGs and read enough to know the answer. People quickly adapt to the new system, and then life returns to a slightly altered baseline. But in the wilds, it's like this." Alain answers.

Emma walks into the kitchen and starts looking through the cookbook that she picked out.

Chapter Text

Sakuya walks over to the other side of Crawli's arena.

"Ready for round 2?" Sakuya asks.

Crawli takes out his Net Balls and holds one up at Sakuya.

"Course I am. You managed to beat Angie with type disadvantage."

WILDCARD SAKUYA challenges HEAD RANGER CRAWLI!

Crawli sends out his Ariados and Galvantula again. A seed blooms under Ariados, granting it a faint blue aura and tethering it to the arena.

Sakuya sends out her Breloom and Alolan Exeggutor.

"Let's try something different this time. Breloom, Spore. Exeggutor, Trick Room." Sakuya instructs.

"Ariados, Shadow Sneak. Galvantula, Bug Buzz." Crawli instructs.

Ariados lunges at Exeggutor in place and launches its shadow at it.

Galvantula calls out loudly, shooting lime-hued soundwaves at Exeggutor, almost making it fall over its own neck. Exeggutor spits out parts of an Aguav Berry.

Breloom emits spores from its mushroom-like head, and causes Ariados to fall asleep.

Exeggutor lets out an enigmatic light, covering the arena in a cube-shaped aura that inverts movement.

"Now that that's dealt with... Breloom, Rock Slide! Exeggutor, Flamethrower!" Sakuya instructs.

"I- Ok, fair." Crawli comments.

Exeggutor breathes fire down onto Galvantula, which barely holds on despite the extreme heat.

Breloom calls rocks down onto Crawli's side of the arena, knocking out Galvantula instantly and knocking back Ariados.

Crawli recalls his Galvantula for his Golisopod.

"Denied. Exeggutor, Protect. Breloom, Rock Tomb on Ariados." Sakuya instructs.

"Then- Golisopod, Aerial Ace!" Crawli instructs.

Exeggutor covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield.

Breloom stomps one foot into the marshy ground and traps Ariados under several falling rocks, knocking its sleeping body out cold.

Golisopod runs at Breloom and quickly slashes up then down in one motion, knocking it out.

Sakuya rolls her eyes and recalls Breloom for her Lurantis.

Crawli recalls Ariados for his Araquanid.

"Let's see... Exeggutor, Ancient Power. Lurantis, Leaf Storm." Sakuya instructs.

"Golisopod, Leech Life. Araquanid, Barbed Web."

Exeggutor summons magical rocks, and throws them at Araquanid.

Golisopod runs up to Exeggutor, bites down, and absorbs its lifeforce, leaving it completely exhausted.

Lurantis aims both of its arms up into the air, and forms a whirling mass of sharp leaves. It launches the storm of leaves at Araquanid and launches it out of the arena. A faint red aura forms around it, rather than it getting weaker.

Crawli recalls Araquanid for his Escavalier.

Sakuya recalls her Exeggutor for her Chesnaught.

"Lurantis, Protect. Chesnaught, Spiky Shield." Sakuya instructs.

Crawli rolls his eyes. "Alright?"
"Golisopod, Swords Dance." Crawli instructs, and throws an X Attack at his Escavalier.

Lurantis covers itself in a hexagonal energy shield. Chesnaught takes a step back and puts its arms up to form its spiked shield.

Golisopod lets out a battle cry and summons a spectral blade above itself.

The aura inverting movements shatters and fades away.

"And now for my next move-" Sakuya boasts.
"Lurantis, Leaf Storm! Chesnaught, Imposing Presence!"

"Golisopod, Sucker Punch. Escavalier, Aerial Ace."

Chesnaught slams its fists into the ground and lets out a taunting roar.

Golisopod attempts to run over to Lurantis to outmaneuver it, but Chesnaught's roar distracts it from its original target.

Lurantis aims both of its arms up into the air, and forms an even larger whirling mass of sharp leaves. It launches the storm of leaves at Golisopod, knocking it out of the arena.

Escavalier runs at Chesnaught and slashes up and down at it with its lance in a single motion, knocking it down.

Sakuya pets Chesnaught, and recalls it. She sends out her Shiftry.

Crawli recalls Golisopod and sends out his Accelgor.

"Accelgor, Struggle Bug. Escavalier, Aerial Ace." Crawli instructs.

"Shiftry, Heat Wave! Lurantis, another Leaf Storm." Sakuya instructs.

Accelgor lets out waves of light green energy at Sakuya's side of the arena, almost knocking out Shiftry and debilitating both Shiftry. The attack causes Lurantis's aura to grow even stronger.

Lurantis aims both of its arms up into the air, and forms an immense whirling mass of sharp leaves. It launches the storm of leaves at Accelgor, knocking it far out of the arena.

Shiftry flaps its wing-like arms at Escavalier and launches a superheated blast of air at it.

Escavalier runs at Lurantis and slashes up and down at it with its lance in a single motion, knocking it out.

Sakuya recalls her Lurantis, and sends out her Ludicolo.

Crawli recalls Accelgor.

"Ludicolo, Fake Out. Shiftry, Dark Pulse." Sakuya instructs.

"Aerial- Oh." Crawli states.

Ludicolo walks up to Escavalier and claps in its face, disorienting it.

Shiftry fires a beam of umbral energy at Escavalier, knocking it out.

Sakuya recalls Ludicolo and Shiftry.

Crawli recalls Escavalier.

"I wasn't expecting that." Crawli comments.

"Yeah, I thought since it's the swamp, I should use slow mons and Trick Room." Sakuya explains.

"Here's your badge. Good luck getting the Sky Relic!" Crawli responds, and hands Sakuya the Infested Badge.

Sakuya walks back over to Athena, and both of them walk back to the elevator.

Variya removes the pot, which now has a solid layer of fine hairs at the top.

Alain shrugs and uses a hunting knife to rip open the hog's torso, and starts carefully pulling out its organs.

Emma looks away, and walks over to the pantry to take out vegetables to cook with.

"You don't feel uncomfortable doing that?" Emma asks Alain.

"You clearly aren't a vegetarian if you brought it in here yourself. What part disgusts you?"

"The disembowling."

"The dis- Alright."

Alain lets the intestines fall out, then carefully cuts out the rest of the hog's organs.

Variya walks back over and hands Alain a cleaver, which they use to slice its head off.

Alain notices a table in the back of the room, and pulls it towards themself. They cut the hog's legs off to make it fall onto the table with the cleaver, and after a quick look back at the book for what part is under where, they start slicing it into its constituent cuts of meat.

Emma comes back with several exotically-hued vegetables and looks through a few cupboards for the right utensils to cook with.

"I can see why he needed so many Servants." Alain exposits.

Emma sighs and starts preparing the vegetables.

"Shouldn't you wash that blood off?"

Alain finishes portioning the upper body's part of meat, and carefully scores around the hog's genitals before cutting them off and throwing them into a plastic bag.

"Those aren't edible." Variya comments.

"I know. I'm going to throw them at Neved." Alain explains, then looks over at Emma. "What parts is it asking for?"

"The loin, whatever that is." Emma answers.

Alain looks back at the meat, and starts cutting up the different parts of meat into usable chunks, leaving the hocks and the back leg meat fully intact. She folds the skin into a pile and slices along the edges of the pile, then lines through it.

Alain sighs. "Alright, i'm starting to get unnerved by how little this is fazing me."

Alain notices a roll of butcher paper and wraps up most of the meat, leaving a few cuts of the loin on the table. She picks up said cuts, and brings them over to a cutting board that Emma placed for Alain to put them on. She immediately walks over to a sink to wash the blood off.

Emma rummages around in her pockets, and hands Alain a Hisuian Pokeball.
"Here. Do you think you'll be alright without eating?"

"I'll be back. You won't regret this, what else do you want when I'm back?" Alain asks back.

Emma sighs. "Try not to be this gross again."

Alain laughs, and walks over to the Grand Room to find a chair to fall asleep in.

Alain wakes up in the Prestige Room, and sends out the Hisuian Zoroark. It immediately takes a step back and rancorously glares at Alain.

"<Not Emma. Explain Self.>" the Zoroark psychically yells at Alain.

"Disguise yourself as me until I come back. Room's yours, including the meal that the guard comes with." Alain requests.

Zoroark loosens up slightly, but keeps glaring at Alain. "<Why.>"

"Because my girlfriend needs me to sneak around the castle." Alain explains.

Zoroark sighs, and its body becomes cloaked in fog. When the fog clears, a copy of Alain with animalistic yellow eyes is in its place.

Alain takes one of the books they picked out and puts it on the table.

"Read this or something. Even sleeping'll count, as long as you stay awake enough to not turn into a log."

The Zoroark rolls its eyes and sits down at the table.

"Fine." Zoroark responds in a hazy tone.

Alain walks over to the bookshelf, and takes the correct book out to rotate it. "Oh, and when I knock three times, open this up."

Zoroark lets out an exasperated sigh and turns around to look, but doesn't protest.

Alain walks out through the new passageway.

Athena and Sakuya both walk back out to the main room of the Ranger Headquarters to see Maria reading through a small book with Suna and Maiel on a sofa.

"How'd it go?" Maiel asks.

"4-6. Turns out that Lurantis is overpowered on Swamp." Sakuya answers.

"He's using that now? And yeah, that sounds right. Physical or special?" Maiel asks back.

"Leaf Storm. Superpower isn't that good with type disadvantage." Sakuya explains.

Maria puts her book away and walks over to Athena to give her a hug.

"Uncle Suna gave me a book on field effects." Maria explains.

"Nice. Suna, wanna come to Dartreaux's with us before the jungle trip?" Athena asks, then bends down and hugs Maria.

"Sure. I could go for a bite." Suna answers.

The group all heads over to Dartreaux's Izakaya and walks over to the largest table in the room. Dartreaux facepalms with his wing, but instructs one of his Rowlet to walk over.

"This place is new." Maiel comments.

"Food's good though. What do you think you'll get?" Sakuya asks.

"Karaage!" Maria answers.

"Yakisoba." Athena answers.

"For some reason, I feel like getting Tonkatsu." Maiel answers.

"Potato mochi, extra nori." Suna answers.

The Rowlet comes over with a notepad with what everyone said written down already.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to order the entire menu. I'll have some Kushikatsu." Sakuya requests.

Rowlet writes this down, and points at the drinks menu.

Alain walks out through a corridor, and notices that the ground ahead is rocky rather than the tiles of the rest of the castle.

She walks further ahead, then when she hears discussion she hides behind a wall.

A door audibly opens, allowing her to clearly hear the tailend of the conversation.

"No-one cares, Madelis." comes from a distinctly apathetic female voice.

The woman audibly types code into a terminal.

Alain walks across the wall and attempts to sneak a peek at what's happening.

She's able to see that a purple-haired woman is the one checking the values on a giant computer built into the wall.

The woman turns around and notices Alain. "Hm."

Alain pulls out the plastic bag with pig genitals in it.
"I'm going to throw this at you if you make a sound." Alain attempts to threaten.

The woman stares at Alain, her expression unreadable through the thick black sunglasses that she has on.
"Counter-offer, if you manage to defeat me in a 3v3, Neved and the other executives will be blind to the fact that you have a Hisuian Zoroark masquerading as you."

Alain narrows her eyes at Nastasia. "What makes you think it's Hisuian?"

"Further information is not-" Nastasia starts answering, but changes her tone when Alain slowly opens the plastic bag.

"We are aware of the type specialties of the group that you were with in Gearen. Statistically, the chances of you having caught a Unovan Zoroark are incredibly low, and the chances of you having caught a Ditto are even lower." Nastasia explains.

Alain takes out a Pokeball, and aims it at Nastasia. She sighs and does the same.

RENEGADE ALAIN challenges XEN ADMIN NASTASIA!

Nastasia sends out her Castform. Immediately, it brightens the overhead lights and shifts to its Sunny Form.

Alain sends out her Araquanid.

Nastasia recalls her Castform immediately to send out a Pokemon that vaguely resembles a Volcarona, but with vestigal wings instead of vestigal arms.

"Drowner, Liquidation." Alain instructs.

Drowner runs over to the Paradox Volcarona, and coats one of its arms in a layer of water. It stabs into it with the coated arm, and then jumps back to its original position.

"Slither, Acrobatics." Nastasia instructs.

"Giga Impact." Alain instructs.

A pale glow emanates from the Slither Wing, and it pounces at Drowner, knocking it out.

Alain recalls Drowner and sends out her Scrafty.

"Striker, Dragon Dance." Alain instructs.

"Again." Nastasia instructs.

Slither Wing jumps through the air and pounces at Scrafty.

Scrafty spits out parts of a Coba Berry, and dances around on the spot for a few seconds. Its body becomes covered in a faint red and green aura.

"Striker, Fire Punch." Alain instructs.

"U-turn." Nastasia instructs.

Striker runs up to Slither Wing at an accelerated rate, and coats its fist in flames to punch it into the wall.

Striker lets out a boastful yell.

Nastasia quickly recalls Slither Wing before it can hit the wall, and sends her Castform back out.

"Crunch." Alain instructs.

"Weather Ball." Nastasia instructs.

Striker steps over to Castform and forms a set of spectral jaws in front of it, and crunches them down, knocking it out.

Nastasia recalls Castform.

"Interesting." Nastasia comments.

Nastasia sends out a Deoxys in its Speed Form.

"Drain Punch." Nastasia instructs.

"Crunch." Alain instructs.

Deoxys runs at Striker and punches it with its noodle-like arm, knocking it down.

"Tch." Alain vocalises, and recalls Striker.

"Bet you didn't think I had this." Alain boasts, and sends out her Wobbuffet.

Nastasia blankly stares at the Wobbuffet.

"What would happen if we tied?" Alain asks.

"Dexoy, we're done here." Nastasia comments, and recalls her Deoxys.

Alain recalls Wobbuffet.

Nastasia performs an exaggerated shrug. "I concede. There aren't any cameras here."

"...That easy?" Alain asks.

"You should stop asking questions." Nastasia responds, and walks back to the door that she exited earlier.

Alain blinks. "OOokay."

Alain walks over to the terminal and looks at the code on it. The code is a language completely unfamiliar to her.

"Well that's annoying." Alain comments, then looks to her right to see a minecart track with a wall at the end of it.
"That, on the other hand..."

Alain walks across a small bridge to follow the minecart track to its end, stopping when she sees a door to the left that she hadn't been able to notice at this angle.
She tries kicking the wall to make it retract, to no avail.

Alain walks over to the door to see what's behind it.

On the other side of the door is a block of cells which Alain can immediately tell is holding all of the SS Oceana prisoners. She quickly looks left and right for guards, and doesn't see any.

Alain walks up to the cell door of one of them to see who's trapped inside, and sees a woman in a white dress with pink hair in a long ponytail. She immediately knows it's Nancy.

Nancy turns around and sees Alain through the cell door, and rushes over.

"It's... you! It really is you!" Nancy exclaims. "I longed for the day we reunited, Alain, but I wish it weren't in this circumstance."

Alain glares at Nancy. "You're acting too nice. Who am I to you?"

"You-"

"No, I'm serious. I know I'm suffering from amnesia, and you can just as likely be a Xen Grunt in disguise here to try and trap me." Alain states.

"W-What are you talking about? I'm your foster mother." Nancy answers.

"Tell me something that only the real Nancy would know." Alain states. "Something that no-one in Team Xen would."

Nancy sighs. "Alright. I adopted you after that disaster at Phoenix-"

Nancy gets interrupted by a loud shuttling sound from the door behind Alain.

"...Phoenix Academy? That- I think that sounds right." Alain confirms. "Alright."

"That annoying minecart..." Nancy sighs. "It comes every 10 minutes, even when we're trying to sleep."

"Well, I'll be here for another 10 minutes then." Alain responds. "How bad is it down here?"

"They don't let us out at all, and only bring down food once a day. Recently, they've refused to give me and Augustus food, as well..."

"What the hell?" Alain asks, attempting to keep her voice down.

"I don't know... this was after that purple-haired admin came here." Nancy elaborates.

"She let me past for some reason." Alain states.

"Weird... Wait, you're going to follow the minecart?" Nancy asks.

"They're filled with the crystals that people are gathering in the mines, right?" Alain asks back.

"People are gathering those upstairs???" Nancy yells, then in a normal and slowly fading voice adds "Do they know-: Of course they don't...".

"Knew it. Everyone's helping facilitate their own slavery because they don't know the truth." Alain quickly surmises. "Do you have any idea what language the terminals here are coded in?"

"Why would I know that?" Nancy asks.

"I don't know... maybe someone bragged about it?" Alain excuses.

Nancy whispers something that Alain is barely able to pick up on.
"If only Ana were here... she'd be able to crack it in an instant..."

"Ana?" Alain asks.

"Oh- nothing. Forget I said that, if you don't know that name." Nancy quickly backpedals.

"I'll take that to mean that it isn't intended to be read by humans in the first place." Alain comments.

"I- probably?"

Alain groans. "Fine. I'll break you out later."

Alain walks back through the door, and waits at the wall for it to open up.

A few minutes later, Alain is able to sneak through as the wall opens up momentarily. She sees that there's a door for her to go through on the left wall.

"Only way through. Welp." Alain tells herself.

She walks through the door and into another corridor with a 90 degree corner. She peeks around the side of the wall and sees a giant machine with several purple crystals inside it and a terminal similar to the previous one.

Alain stops for a minute to listen out for movement, then walks over to the machine. She can't read this one either, but is able to make out a few bars corresponding to the supply of the crystals from the mine inside it, and the amount that it's using over time.

Alain facepalms and decides to walk back to the wall. She leans against the actual wall perpendicular to it, and waits for time to pass.

Chapter Text

Alain hears the minecart start to slide over, and quickly sneaks through the wall as it opens up. 

They walk back through the backrooms of the castle to the passage outside the Prestige Room, and sit down against the wall to meditate.

Alain wakes back up in her dreamscape, and walks over to the library.

She walks past several pillar-shaped bookshelves and stops in front of the bookshelf filled with books on both coding and magic alike.

Alain tilts her head 45 degrees to get a better look at the books' spines, and settles on taking out a book labelled [How to understand Daemonia].
They take the book with them over to a desk to read it at.

"Hopefully this is the right one." Alain audibly coments, and opens the book to its first 2 pages.
"If this is your first time hearing about this language, give up and ask for a refund." Alain reads, then laughs.

"It is not understood why, but if advanced constructs are left without sufficient supervision when instructed to code, they will do so in a way that is completely unreadable to organic life. Researchers have taken to calling it 'Daemonia'." Alain reads.

Alain flips through several pages until she finds something that isn't meaningless exposition.

"give up, give up, more similar to magical incantation than code, example that looks like garbage noise-"

Alain sighs and closes the book. They leave it on the table and walk out of the library to head back to the Grand Room.

Alain considers her options while walking through the vast room. All she can remember about Ana is a plum-hued lock of hair, her Dragapult, and a gravestone.
...Athena's Gardevoir is called Coppelia. Maybe she knows something. No, contacting her from here probably isn't possible and she doesn't want to head back into the Prestige Room yet to use that PC that can somehow function.

Alain sits down on a small sofa and continues to think. Variya wouldn't tell her because it's to do with her own world. Maybe someone else from the Reborn region can help the situation they're in? That'd be crazy. There's no way that someone from that chaotic region would be able to code something that complex.
She sighs and looks at the doors to the kitchen, shrugs, and walks over.

She opens the door and sees Emma stirring a saucepan.

Emma notices Alain and looks over at her.
"Hey. Any luck?"

"Nope. Machine's made with code that isn't intended to be human-readable." Alain sighs. "I'm on the other side of the room right now, but it's a deadzone that the guards shouldn't know about."

Emma groans, and looks back down at the oven. 

"This is so disorienting..."

Alain walks back over to where they left the meat, and they see that all of it has been moved elsewhere and the room has since been cleaned.

"She put all of it in the icebox." Emma exposits.

Emma sends out her Froslass, and points at the stovetop.

"I'm heading back to my room for a bit." Alain announces, and walks back.

"Have fun. We should check the rest of the manor out when you're done with everything today." Emma responds.

Alain walks back through the Grand Room and heads back to the upper floors of the manor, then up to her bedroom.

Inside, she sees a laptop PC ontop the table in her room. She walks over to the table and examines it.
The laptop seems normal as far as any that Alain's seen before, the only thing differentiating it from the others being a currently-grey Arch symbol in the place of the manufacturer's insignia on the back casing. It similarly looks normal when she opens the lid, with the TKL keyboard layout that she fondly remembers typing on before coming to Aevium.

Alain turns the PC on, and walks over to the kettle to turn it on for a cup of tea.

She walks back over and brings the laptop to the side of the table to allow her to more clearly see it at her position. The background image of the PC is set to a photo of the astral beach beyond the boardwalk outside.
She notices an IRC notification, and stares at it in confusion.

Alain opens the notification up, seeing [rainbowCyberia has sent you a message.] persist in the notifications bar on her computer's notifications window.

[rainbowCyberia: Hey, join this server. It'll be easier to explain than through Clover.]

The kettle audibly pings. Alain walks over to it and pours herself a cup of tea, then stares at the link on her screen. How the hell is something even able to contact her here?

Alain moves the mouse cursor to the bottom right side of her screen to look for an internet or ethernet connection. Hovering over it, she sees that she's connected to the internet, but the name of the connection uses non-unicode characters that are blacked out.
She moves the cursor over to the link that the anon posted.

Alain takes a sip of her tea and lets the thought ruminate. She's stuck in a castle, dreaming of a demiplane, inside a lighthouse that is actually a mansion, and someone from /spag/ sent her a friend request.
"Seems legit."

Alain copies the link, and types in a few commands to join.

/connect aml.cyberia.cafe
/nick loneWolf
/list

The server gives her several channels, but she ignores most of them and just joins #general.

/join #general

* Now talking in #general
* Topic for #general is: Let's all Love Lain!
<tripleBaka> mom one of them joined
<rainbowCyberia> RAWR

Alain facepalms, and looks through the userlist as she drinks the rest of her tea.

In the list, she sees @rainbowCyberia, +tripleBaka, voidbornPrincess, Zara, dragonMage, and of course loneWolf.

<loneWolf> who are you and why am i here
<Zara> Akinosuke got the general banned again so Terra hacked into this abandoned server.
--> vriskaApologist has joined #general.
<vriskaApologist> sup
<@rainbowCyberia> jus finished looting the dam, found a brick with this held on it
<Turboblaze> That explains the domain. Who's the newbie?
<Zara> Snow?
<loneWolf> yeah, how the fuck am i connected to this
<vriskaApologist> post coords
<voidbornPrincess> higan she doesn't have a compass
* vriskaApologist facepalms.
<-- vriskaApologist has left #general (heading back to symphonia)
<@rainbowCyberia> so i turned the brick on and now all of this base is belong to me.

Alain facepalms, then looks back at the chat.

<-- +tripleBaka has left #general (HELLO WORLD)
<-- @rainbowCyberia has left #general (Lightcube)
* Zara stares at Terra's leave message.
<voidbornPrincess> Is that the Black Box she was talking about on /it/?
<Zara> probably, sakuya gave her one when she came to reborn because she has no idea what it is
<voidbornPrincess> I hate non-Euclidean time.
<Turboblaze> calling something a /Black Box/ unironically is dumb as hell
<voidbornPrincess> outlanders get uncreative more often that you'd think.
* Zara facepalms repeatedly.
<voidbornPrincess> brb cat on fire
* voidbornPrincess has gone AFK.
<Turboblaze> So, you're in Aevium? Born there?
<loneWolf> Immigrant.
<Turboblaze> why.
<loneWolf> I have amnesia so I can't really answer that. I think this was Nancy's idea.
--> neotericWitch has joined #general

...Why did she come to Aevium? Everything that happened on the Oceana is just a blur to her, starting when she woke up and went to get her Trainer Card printed.

<Zara> hey luna
<neotericWitch> I received Terra's message. This is a lot more convenient than having to fill out a CAPTCHA repeatedly.
<Turboblaze> Sup. Terra's doing shit with Theseus.
<loneWolf> this is really just a reborn leader groupchat now isn't it.
<Turboblaze> Those other 2 aren't from Reborn but yeah.
<Zara> uh
<loneWolf> what
<Zara> you need to see this: clover.net/ai/3234549

Alain attempts to copy the link, but it doesn't go anywhere for her.

<loneWolf> link doesn't work
<neotericWitch> ...
<neotericWitch> what the FUCK
<Turboblaze> >quints and i show you degens how i did it
* voidbornPrincess is no longer AFK.
<voidbornPrincess> back, yurippe needed me for something
* voidbornPrincess opens the thread.
<loneWolf> >quints while 8k away from them
<loneWolf> what happened.
<Turboblaze> [screenshot.jpeg]

Alain downloads the image, and opens it up.

The picture displays a Clover thread. The first image in it displays a rainbow-haired woman with her hair in low pigtails stood by an immense water-cooled PC. Amongst the other visible windows on her monitors, an anime girl on a black background is waving at the camera. There is a conspicuous treasure chest beside the PC. Terra's caption for the image states [guess what bitchtits].
The next image in the thread has a completely empty window where the anime girl was, the chest has been opened, and a young girl with light brown hair is stood beside Terra, wearing the same DOGARS top as the anime girl was. Besides the change in medium, the main difference between them is the girl having a black square directly below her sternum, with golden geometric lines snaking out from it across her upper torso. She captioned the image with [ya girl made her girl a real girl]

Below the second image is a comment saying vids or it's not real.
While she can't open it from a screenshot, the caption of the video that Terra posted states [quints and i show you degens how i did it]. It has several dozen comments tagging it.

<loneWolf> is that video her putting her shoe on her head
<Zara> yes
<Turboblaze> already at teh bump limit wtf
<-- voidbornPrincess has left #general (Disconnect: Broken pipe)
<Turboblaze> Think /ai/'s getting wiped again?
<Zara> depends, didn't the last janny who tried that get killed?
<-- neotericWitch has left #general (hold my tea.)
--> crescentMoon has joined #general
<loneWolf> hey crescent
<crescentMoon> hey
<Zara> come to Agate?
* Zara has gone AFK.
<Turboblaze> yeah sure
* Turboblaze has gone AFK.
<loneWolf> so
<crescentMoon> couldn't use the machine?
<loneWolf> yeah.
<crescentMoon> Shit, they must have upgraded the codebase after Nancy got there
* loneWolf facepalms.

Goddamnit.

<crescentMoon> What's going on in Agate? I didn't think this would be so empty.
<loneWolf> Terra's doing something with a Black Box that Sakuya gave her.
<crescentMoon> the what
<loneWolf> yes
* crescentMoon facepalms.
<crescentMoon> whatever. what are you reading?
<loneWolf> I'll take a picture and show you, ttyl
* loneWolf has gone AFK.

Alain puts the lid of her laptop down and walks out of her room to head back through the manor.

Sakuya takes a few 20k notes out of her bag, and hands them to Rowlet. Rowlet happily hoots and walks back behind the counter.

"That was a good meal." Athena comments.

"Jungle time!" Maria states.

"Yeah, jungle time. I wonder how similar it'll be to Sardus." Sakuya responds.

"Not that much. Sardus was a completely untamed jungle." Athena comments.

"I wonder if this one'll have a temple." Sakuya muses.

"Not that I remem-" Maiel comments, but gets interrupted by Maria.

"I saw on a map that there's one called the Tyluric Temple?" Maria mentions.

"Fine. I'm way too fucking curious about that ruin anyway. Who fucking CARES if it's paracausal?!" Suna exclaims.

Suna's XTransciever gets a message.

"This restaruant is 'paracausal', shut up." Maiel yells.

Athena slaps Suna in the face.
"We have a 10 year old. Who isn't jaded enough to swear like a sailor."

"Wow." Suna responds. "You're like. An actual parent now, huh."

Athena sighs. "Someone's got to be. I can't just sit around waiting for the chance that Ivy comes back to wait to be one."

"You should check what that message is." Sakuya adds.

Suna opens up their XTransciever and shows the group the video.

Terra and a girl who seems to be Marianette's age, wearing a DOGARS band t-shirt, are both in Terra's PC room. The girl noticeably has a black square inlaid into her skin.

"haiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Terra yells. "so i heard u grifters want a maid."
"so guess what. i maid myself a daughter instead lolololol" Terra adds.

The girl slowly looks around at her surroundings and moves her hands out to touch the sky and test her depth perception.

"HEY, SOUP. DO THE FUNNY." Terra requests.

The runes coming from the black square on the girl's skin turn red. She bends down to take her left shoe off, then balances it on her head.

Terra walks over to the camera and dramatically points at the girl. The video ends with the girl losing her balance and Terra hurridly running over to her to stop her from falling over.

Suna blinks.
"...Y'know if the tech my fellow typie is fucking with ever gets out we're all domed, right?"

Maiel laughs. "yeah no."

"What's with the black cube in her skin?" Maria asks.

"Half aesthetic choice, half her wanting it to be visible for debugging purposes." Athena guesses.

Sakuya stretches, and walks out of the Izakaya. Maria follows her out.

"I'll have to ask her about that later..." Maiel mentions.

"Don't even think about it. One psychopath with the ability to create technosentience is enough." Suna states.

"You do know what my wife did the past few loops, right?" Athena asks.

Maiel decides to walk out instead of listening to the rest of the conversation.

"Wait, what. As funny as this might sound, I'm a bit out of the loop." Suna responds.

Athena facepalms. "The whole Coppelia thing? Did you forget that?"

"Oh, that." Suna states. "Right. I guess I consider Dolls a different matter."

"Even though they're both artificial life?" Athena asks. "You'd be surprised at what happened to her after we left."

"...Probably not. Thinking on it, anything your wife touches would probably gain some kind of fate-defying primal sentience. Even things that already have sentience, they'll get a true picture of the world around them like clockwork." Suna states.

"Considering what happened with the PULSE, yeah." Athena admits. "Besides, I think Maiel wasn't referring to Terra."
Athena stands up and walks towards the exit.

Suna walks out with her. "What're you thinking, then?"

"Stuff about what Emma told me. She had a dream about the Chrysalis Manor, but it clearly wasn't the same one." Athena explains. "I explained the situation to her in a quick trip to Luck's Tent, and all of the Marshadow turned around to stare at us when I mentioned a name."

Both of them walk out of the Ranger Headquarters.

Suna pinches the bridge of their nose. "What name?"

"Variya. Should also mention that while Angie was having a crashout, she mentioned that name too." Athena exposits.

"Variya, huh?" Suna grumbles. "That name doesn't sound like one from any region I've been to."

"Same here." Athena confirms. "What's the jungle like?"

"It's very wild, to put it in a word. Undisturbed, untamed. I've been meaning to check it out more, so I enlisted the help of your kids, haha." Suna answers.

Alain walks across the corridor adjaicent to the kitchen and sees that the dining room is in the next room over.
She walks in to see that it's similarly furnished, with several chandeliers candlelighting the room.

Emma is sat down at one of the seats, enjoying her meal. Variya is sat several seats away from her, reading a different book. Alain notices that there's a covered plate waiting for her in front of a different seat, so she decides to walk over to it.

Alain pulls the cloche off of the plate to see a plate full of spaghetti alongside vegetables and one of the cuts of meat.
She takes out her Cybernav and turns around in her chair to take a picture of everything, snaps the image, and then puts it back in her pocket.

Emma looks up from her meal when she hears the camera snap.
"Send me the picture too!" Emma requests.

"I'll post it in the IRC channel. Joining that should be easier than trying to send it to you right now." Alain responds.
She looks down at her meal, and starts eating it.

Emma rolls her eyes and goes back to eating.
The meat has an incredibly gamey taste, matched by the earthy tastes of the vegetables. The pasta is sweeter than expected, balancing out the meal's flavor.

Sakuya walks past the south treeline in Kakori, then heads west to the deeper parts of the Terajuma Jungle.

Maria notices the signpost beside the treeline entrance in, and reads it out loud.
"Proceeding any further will result in you entering Terajuma Jungle! The jungle is a dangerous place. Please come prepared."

Sakuya laughs. "yeah no"

"Huh?" Maria asks.

"This part of the island has too many guard rails. I bet this sign is only here to warn ball-less idiots coming from Teila with more money than sense." Sakuya observes.

Maiel catches up with the two of them, and ignores the sign to walk straight into the deep jungle.

"There are people who don't own any Pokemon?" Maria asks, confused.

"Humans are weird sometimes." Sakuya sighs.

Athena and Suna both catch up with Sakuya and Maria. The four of them all head into the deep jungle.

Chapter Text

Emma finishes her meal, and takes the plate with her into the kitchen. She places the plate in the sink, and quickly cleans it up. 

After cleaning, she walks back through the manor to her bedroom.
Inside her room, she turns on the PC and sees that other than the background and an IRC client, nothing has been changed from its factory settings.

Emma opens up the client and sees that she's already been sent a message.

[rainbowCyberia: Hey, join this server. It'll be easier to explain than through Clover.]

"If it works, it's worth a try." Emma tells herself, and logs into the server.

* Now talking in #general.
* Topic for #general is: Let's All Love Lain!
<crescentMoon> Not what I was expecting.

Emma checks the userlist, and notices that everyone except her and Crescent are AFK.

<shinyCharm> Where's everyone else?
<crescentMoon> Apparently they're in Agate in the Reborn Region.
<shinyCharm> sec
* shinyCharm is now known as shadowHunter.
<crescentMoon> Emma?
<shadowHunter> Yeah. 
<crescentMoon> Right. Did Sakuya mention the deal she has with me?
<shadowHunter> I ended up in this demiplane before that.
* crescentMoon stares at her diary.

Emma hears someone walking outside, presumably Alain walking over to her room.

* loneWolf is no longer AFK.
--> +tripleBaka has joined #general.
<loneWolf> [DCIM_364730278.jpg]
<crescentMoon> ...

Emma opens up the image.
The image is a quick selfie that Alain took of her at the table. Emma sees herself caught in it eating a forkful of spaghetti, and on the furthest point of the table, a white-haired, grey-eyed girl wearing half-circle reading glasses is reading what looks like a graphic novel.

<shadowHunter> alain why does she look like that
<crescentMoon> why does who look like that
<+tripleBaka> hey newfriends
<loneWolf> ...why-
<crescentMoon> just tell me about the demiplane.
<shadowHunter> you first
<loneWolf> fine
<loneWolf> when i got beaten up by that deathwing i was physically knocked out and woke up on a boardwalk around a lighthouse.
* crescentMoon has gone AFK.
<+tripleBaka> oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
<shadowHunter> Who's this?
<+tripleBaka|Purple> the most based AI at these coords, check this
<+tripleBaka> ▲
<+tripleBaka> ▲▲

...that's probably intentional, but it isn't that funny.

<loneWolf> ...
<shadowHunter> ...
<+tripleBaka> fuck
<loneWolf> do you know how to code in Daemonia?
<+tripleBaka|Red> Yes. No, I won't make something for you.
<-- loneWolf has quit IRC. (Leaving to get pictures.)
* Zara is no longer AFK.
<Zara> that chess game was fun
<+tripleBaka|Blue> yee.
* shadowHunter sighs.

Emma closes the IRC window, and looks at her empty room. She should probably decorate it, but... that can wait.

The group all walks through the treeline to see a wooden bridge immediately to their west. Part of the grass underneath has been eroded into a dirt trail through overuse. Maiel is leaning on the bridge, looking further west at something that's obscured by a large tree.
Maria and Athena both stare in silence.

"Told you so." Sakuya comments.

"What, there something I need to see?" Suna asks.

Athena walks on ahead to get a look at what Maiel's staring at.
Tapu Bulu, absolutely enraged, is in the process of destroying a wood and concrete house built past the end of the long wooden bridge.

"Huh. I wonder where the other 3 went." Athena observes.

Maiel's left hand glows slightly and she manifests a bucket of popcorn.
Sakuya shrugs and walks over to Athena and Maiel.

Maria looks north, and sees a slight hill that leads up to the east side of the waterfall feeding into the lake the bridge is over.

Suna walks over to look at the destruction, and makes a slight glance at Maiel.
"Can you manifest another?"

Maiel manifests a smaller bucket of popcorn and hands it to Suna.
"Better question would be how long they were all frozen for." Maiel comments. "A house that size..."

The house spontaneously collapses, leaving the rotund man formerly inside without any covering from the elements.
Tapu Bulu changes its attention to the man and fires wisps of green aura towards him, intentionally just close enough to not deal any lasting damage and force him to run away.

"...Should never have existed this far in in the first place, right?" Suna adds.

"Yeah." Maiel confirms.

"It really asks how long Angie had the Tapus locked up for. Even if that house was shoddily built." Athena observes.

The man runs off deeper into the jungle. Tapu Bulub notices Athena, bows slightly, and flies away.
Athena shrugs.

"Hah. Popular with the local gods, Ath." Suna jokes.

Maria walks over the bridge to get a better look at the rubble. She sends out her Indeedee and points at a fragile chunk of concrete.
Indeedee attempts to pick it up, but the chunk disperses as it does so.

Maiel laughs, and walks over to Maria to look through the house for any loot.

"Yeah. We did help them escape an icy grave in Angie's Tower of Theolia though, so it's only expected." Athena exposits.

Sakuya walks on ahead and notices a Vileplume resting underground, blocking the path ahead. She sends out a Scovillain.
"Get this thing out of the way. Flamethrower." Sakuya instructs.

Scovillain breathes fire out of its red head, igniting the Vileplume's petals. It quickly jumps out of the ground and attempts to fight.
Scovillain breathes fire out of its green head, knocking the Vileplume out.

Sakuya catches the Vileplume in a Great Ball, and walks past to go past a small westward slope, then north further into the jungle.

"So that's where they were. Aite then." Suna responds.

Athena follows Sakuya through the jungle.

Maiel isn't able to find anything in the rubble, and gestures for Maria to follow her and Athena deeper in. Suna follows them all out.

The group walks past another treeline to a fork in the road.
To the west is a grass-covered path that leads to a slope up to a cave, and to the east of the cave a wooden bridge to another cave.
The north heads below said bridge and up to another treeline.
The east path goes across a bridge above a pool of water. The trees along that path seem different in hue after a certain point.

"Which way?" Maria asks.

"Judging by those cave entrances that are just the right size for a conveniently inconvenient blockage, west." Sakuya observes.

"I think the fatass ran north. I wanna see where he went." Maiel answers.

"It's not like we're in a rush." Athena states, and walks on ahead.

Maria follows Athena over. Maiel follows her as well. Sakuya stays behind and starts to walk west instead.

"Not going with them?" Suna asks.

"I'm quickly getting the Sky Relic. I made a deal with Crescent that I'd help her out if she got us the Water Relic. She's dropping it off at the Sky Relic when I get that." Sakuya explains.

"Ever the pragmatist - and that's why I'm coming with. Not that I don't think you can handle yourself, but there's a reason you travel with a sword." Suna states.
"The sword that is currently with your daughters." Suna adds.

The group, minus Sakuya and Suna, walk past the treeline and see a stone bridge to a vast stone temple floating above the canyon ahead, only held up by thin pillars.

A small abandoned tent lies just to their east, the last sense of normal civilization before the past becomes unnervingly visible.

"Lame." Maiel sighs, staring at the tent.

"That'll be the Tyluric Temple." Maria states, and points ahead.

"Raised above the ground... or foundations that haven't eroded over time?" Athena muses to herself.
"Lead the way!"

Maria walks on ahead, and Athena follows her in. Maiel thinks about looking inside the tent, but decides not to and follows the two of them into the temple.

The first thing they notice in the temple is a faint green mist.

Maria sends out her Chatot.
"Cuckoo, Defog!"

Chatot flaps its wings and disperses the mist, allowing them to all clearly see through the temple. The lighting is still subtly green in colour, and the grass and moss growing in the temple are mildly luminous.

Maria walks up a set of stairs to get a better view of the area, and sees statues of the 3 Forces of Nature up another set of stairs. To the left is a path between two pools to a closed door, and to the right is a flooded area that would otherwise be a set of stairs down and up again to get to a door outside.

"I found some statues!" Maria exposits.

Athena walks over to the statues and tries to read the inscriptions, but they're too worn to be legible.
"Can't read what's on them. Should we blow up the door?" Athena asks.

"Not yet. We don't want to set off an ancient security system." Maiel responds.

Maiel walks up the stairs and notices the path to the right. She walks over to the water and sends out her Veluza to surf across it on.

Maria shrugs and walks to the right. She sends out her Bibarel and surfs across on it.

Athena squats down to get a sense of the water's temperature. Room temperature.
She longjumps in and swims over to the other side.

"You can swim???" Maria asks, eyes beaming.

"I've picked up a lot of useful skills in my centuries as an Apocrypha." Athena explains.
"It's gonna be a bitch to wait for this to dry though." Athena adds, and sighs.

The three of them walk up a set of stairs onto the outside of the temple. 

Maiel walks over to the edge and peers down into the abyss.

Maria pushes past a large thicket to see a door back into the temple ahead of her.
"The path's over here." Maria exposits.

Athena shakes her body to get rid of excess water and follows Maria in.

Maiel sighs, and walks away before the abyss stares back at her.

The three of them walk into a large chamber which is almost entirely flooded. The path leads west through the water, then up a set of currently-obscured stairs to head back south.

Maiel sends out her Veluza and surfs on ahead.

Maria looks at the ceiling to get an idea of how high up it is, then sends out her Staraptor. She climbs onto her Staraptor's back, and points up at the second exit.
"Stella, over there!"

Staraptor flies her at a slower rate through the building. Athena facepalms and swims through the water, which she notices is slightly hotter than room temperature this time.

Sakuya walks past a sign labelled [Mimiura Cave] and walks in. 

The small cave inside is covered in moss underfoot, and has a working platform elevator just in front of her. The right side of the cave is too high up for her to get a good look, but she can see elevator beams heading upward as the method to get down.

As Suna walks in, Sakuya sends out her Chesnaught to observe the elevator up-close.

Chesnaught prods the support beams and platform with its large fists with enough force to test it, but not enough to do any damage. It turns back around and nods to Sakuya.

"Really?" Sakuya asks.

Chesnaught vocalises in confirmation.

"Wow. Alright." Sakuya responds. 

Sakuya walks onto the elevator. Suna follows her on.

The elevator takes them both up to a corrugated iron platform. Sakuya steps off, and sees the elevator back down just to her east. A door out of the cave is to her south, which she decides to walk through out of curiosity.

Athena walks back down a set of stairs in the temple to a considerably warmer and slightly foggy room. She looks down at the ground, and notices that the path south is a raised platform above a lava lake.

She takes the Serpent Statue out and place it to her chest, then mouths a silent prayer. She puts it back in her bag as Maria and Maiel walk down.

"Is that really lava?" Maria asks.

"Good question." Maiel comments. She takes a Pokeball out and ejects her Delphox from it.
"Hey, Pythia. Can you check if that's lava?"

Delphox walks over to the lava and dunks the tip of its wooden staff into the liquid. It immediately sets on fire from the heat.
Delphox rolls its eyes and walks back over to Maiel.

"East or West?" Athena asks, staring at the cross in the path ahead.

Maiel recalls her Delphox and walks across the path, heading west.

Almost immediately after she walks through the doorway, she walks back out.

"Deadend. There's a path back upstairs through the lava path there, but Delphox isn't a large enough Pokemon to safely Magma Drift on." Maiel exposits.

Athena sighs, and gestures for Maria to walk on ahead. She walks behind her to the next room over.

The next room over has 3 small sets of stairs after each other heading up towards a mural on the wall. The platforms that each of the stairs rise up to have balconies blocking better vision of what's in front of them, but Athena is able to see a stone circle with a fan blade underneath it.

Maria walks on ahead to read the mural.

"It's written in Garufan." Maria observes.

"Of course it is." Maiel snarks. "What does it say?"

"Oh master of winds. Forgive our trespasses." Maria quotes.
"With your almighty wind, bring upon fruit and prosperity to our lands once again."

Athena facepalms.

"I... don't think Tornadus listened to them." Maria sighs.

"Gods are shaped by their worshippers. I blame the priests." Athena states, and clears her throat.

"And that Serpent you're praying to?" Maiel asks.

Athena walks over to the mural, and stands on one of the stone circles.

"Just as we dream of another world, that world dreams of us as they sleep." Athena explains. "Our tale is an unending one, lit by the path of the scales the serpent leaves behind as it swims through the astral sea."

"We fall, and rest. Later, we rise again and fight on. Unto eternity..." Athena adds.

Athena's hands both glow with a red light, as does her bag. "As above, so below."

The turbines below the stone circles all start revolving.

A whirlwind quickly forms underneath Athena, launching her up into the air.

Maria facepalms.

Athena lands up on a raised platform. To her north, she can see a light reflection puzzle comprising of 5 mirrors and a laser projector.

She looks down and notices the whirlwind. She takes a Pokeball out and sends her Clefable down.

"HEY, IT'S SAFE UP HERE." Athena yells down.

Moments later, Maiel is launched up into the air, and she lands on the platform.

Clefable is launched into the ceiling. Athena recalls it just before it slams into the wall.

Maria is launched up onto the platform after the Clefable.

Athena walks over to the mirrors and tilts them to make the laser reflect into the temple's north wall.

Maiel walks onto a clearly marked tile on the ground, and presses her right foot down hard.

A bolt of energy fires from the laser, reflects against each of the 90 degree mirrors, and slams into the wall.

Instead of blowing a hole open, the wall's mural reveals itself.

Maria runs over to the mural and notes that it portrays Thundurus instead of Tornadus.

"Oh almighty-" Maria starts to read.

"Something wrong?" Maiel asks.

"It's just them asking Thundurus for the same forgiveness as they did Tornadus." Maria exposits.

Athena facepalms, and looks at the doorway. It slowly opens up into another indoor chamber. She walks through it out of curiosity.

Athena walks to the north wall in the chamber, noticing the small trees growing on the sides of the area. The mural depicts Landorus, and a longer inscription than on the others.

Maiel and Maria both follow Athena in. Maiel stops in her tracks when she doesn't see anything other than the mural in the room. Maria walks over to read it for her.

Maria clears her throat, and starts reading.

"Almighty Landorus... Forgive our trespasses. As a result of our hubris, the land turns its face on our lives. Without the divine power, the planet shall not recover."

Maiel stares at Maria, and interrupts. "Hold on. What's this about divine power?"

"I... Can we talk about that after I'm done reading?" Maria asks.

Maiel's silence prompts Maria to continue.
"This world you live in... It will crumble." Maria reads. "Yet... Despite this, you deny us?"
"Almighty Landorus. To see a world brittle and barren... Is this world better than seeing one where humanity prospers?" Maria continues reading.
"Have we committed a sin that cannot be forgiven?"

"Damned that we are, and we shall be. Almighty Landorus. Death is what you wish. And death be to all of us." Maria finishes reading.

"That's a pretty defeatist mindset." Maiel snarks.

"If all of them aren't listening, humanity must have done something truly forbidden." Athena responds. "Gods can forgive basically anything eventually..."

"Without the divine power..." Maiel quotes.

Athena facepalms. "DID YOUR PEOPLE ACTUALLY COMMIT FUCKING DEICIDE?"

"I don't know????" Maria yells back.

Athena walks back out through the chamber.

Maria stays in place for several seconds, then walks back down with Maiel.

Chapter Text

Sakuya walks out of the upper half of Mimiura Cave to the peak of Mount Terajuma. Suna follows her out, and they both walk over to the railing preventing anyone from falling to their death to look down at the region.

While they can't see anything north of Mynori, the foggy view of the southern half of the region shows its majesty.

"...D'you eve wonder what the point of all of this was?" Suna asks.
"Being a Plater, I mean." Suna clarifies. "Obviously we have our own will and choices and whatever the fuck, but like... I could have been doing exactly what I'm doing now without all this bullshit in my way."

"You've had a lot more time to think about this than I have... And I'm not sure which of us are better off for that. It's only been a month at most since I got here." Sakuya admits.
"I'd call it 'god's will', but we both know that if Auri was able to do anything about it, it wouldn't have had to take till those three heroes showed up for the digsite to get massacred." Sakuya adds.

"...Yeah. At least we can just... safely ignore it and live our lives the way we want, on whichever span we want." Suna responds.

"Looking at a view like this, I'm of the opinion that 'destiny' can suck my redacteds." Suna observes.

A Rufflet flies by.

"I still want to find Arcadia one day. Right now, I'm content with going through what this region's got in store." Sakuya mentions.
"...Even if that means dealing with everything that the bastards that ruined Prehnite made." Sakuya begrudgingly admits.

"Yeah." Suna states. "Definitely couldn't be me, but I'm glad to accompany you for as long as I want."

Sakuya breathes in the thin mountain air, and breathes out again. Her gaze turns eastward across the sea towards Floria Island.

"Have you found anything really out of the ordinary while travelling the region?" Sakuya asks, then immediately clarifies. "Other than Luck's Tents, or whatever in the six realms is going on in Goldenwood Cave or Amethyst Cave."

"I was gonna follow the river down to Route 2, but I saw some fucking dolls in the forest. So I dunno. You can do that. Or not." Suna answers.

Sakuya stares at Suna in abject confusion. "I. You what?"

"Yeah, and they seemed to like... not have eyes, either? As you might expect I noped the fuck out of there, but maybe you should check it out. Maybe there's info to be had from those bashed up hunks of ideo-scrap." Suna elaborates.

Sakuya takes in a deep breath, then starts yelling.

"CAD, CONAS, CÉN FÁTH, CÁ HÁIT, CAD É SA DIABHAL, CINEÁL COIRP, ÉADAÍ, MÉID, DIFRÍOCHTAÍ AMHAIRC, SUÍOMH, CONAS NÁR FHEAC AON DUINE IAD GO DTÍ TUSA???" Sakuya incoherently yells.

"Dunno, dunno, dunno, forest near rivers, dunno, female, modernish shirt-n-skirt, 5'6"-ish, two of them had purple hair and one had white hair, dunno, dunno." Suna calmly answers.

Sakuya sits down, and continues staring towards Floria. She slowly breathes in and out to try and calm herself.

In a tone of voice that Suna remembers, but hasn't heard Sakuya use in over 3 centuries, Sakuya lets out a few words.
"Dreamers are just that stupid, huh..."

Suna walks over to Sakuya and puts a hand on her left shoulder. "Yeah. This region is Fucked."

Sakuya sighs. "...Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything for my fag hag." Suna responds.

"It's obvious that the elevator on the right heads down to where the Sky Relic is." Sakuya observes.
Sakuya stands up. Her right hand vanishes and her arm gives the impression that she's rummaging around in her pocket of hyperspace.

Sakuya eventually pulls out a Strange Ball, and sends out a Roaring Moon from it.
"I need to check the woods."

"So what, you want me to wait here for you to get back? Or liaise with that lolita girl on your behalf?" Suna asks.

Sakuya climbs onto Roaring Moon's back. "Just tell her what's going on. Ath too if I take too long."

Sakuya points at the Roaring Moon, emphasising its wings' and head's difference from a Salamence, Mega or otherwise.
"I'd take a boat back, but this is important to me. The fact that they weren't even buried..." Sakuya stresses,

"Yeah. I might not be able to get the Relics for you, but I'll definitely head there. Ride well." Suna states.

Sakuya bows her head to Suna, then slaps the back of the Roaring Moon.
It immediately jumps forward and starts accelerating. Suna is only barely able to see it drifting slightly north before its speed causes a sonic boom to split the clouds.

"...Arright, hup-to. Hup-to and hope I don't get my shit kicked in by knockoff little miss black rose." Suna openly tells themself.

Suna walks back into the mountain cave, and heads over to the right elevator. They activate it, and take it down.

Sakuya rapidly pulls a bomber cap out of her pocket of hyperspace, and puts it on to protect against the galeforce speed.

After putting it on, she leans down to reduce the air pressure against her torso and reduce drag.

"Did no-one see them?" Sakuya asks herself. "Are humans that heartless?"

Sakuya taps the Roaring Moon's right wing to adjust due east instead of due east northeast.

Athena walks back through the temple and ends up back on the outside. She hears something above her, and notices a large whirlwind coming from a tower above her to her west.
She keeps this in mind as she walks back over to the "river" between her position and the way towards the entrance, and notices another large whirlwind ontop a wall to the west.

Athena sighs and swims through the water before taking the path over to the whirlwind, heading down then west then up again. A set of stairs up onto the wall greet her. She walks up them to walk into the whirlwind, and gets launched south onto the ceiling of the chamber she'd walked out from.

Athena walks east to be able to greet Maiel and Maria as they walk out.

"Hey, up here!" Athena shouts.

Maria takes a step back to be able to see Athena.
"Hey- Huh? How did you get up there?"

"Whirlwind again. West of the first chamber we walked out through. It's safe." Athena explains.

Maiel rolls her eyes and walks on ahead. Maria follows.

Athena walks back west to a set of stairs down to the floor of the temple grounds. She walks south and notices a Light Shard on the ground, in front of another doorway into the temple.

"...wait a second." Athena states.
"Didn't Lin make these in Reborn so her favorite adversary didn't have to go into fights unprepared? Why is one of them in Aevium?"

Suna walks out of Mimiura Cave to the Great Terajuma Falls.

Past several trees, and a dirt path on the ground that looks more like a demarcated battle arena, they see a raised wooden platform in front of the falls.
The Sky Relic is clearly visible on a pedestal in the center of the planform, between two tiki totems.
Tapu Bulu is resting just behind the Sky Relic.

Suna looks at the Sky Relic as they walk over, then stare at Tapu Bulu and stop moving.

"Grass... and Ground..." Suna states. "Fairy... and Fighting... nope."

Suna takes a few steps forward, and maintains eye contact with Tapu Bulu.

"So uh... prospetitas, pax pacis, obsequium and all that?"

Tapu Bulu stays silent.

"I'm not too familiar with the divine customs of this place but I've been chilling in the middle of Kakori for a while, and just generally minding my own business." Suna exposits.
"I was told to come here to wait for a girl with black hair, and to potentially procure the Sky Relic for my companion. She's had to... perform some obsequies back on Floria." Suna explains to the Tapu.

"<I see. Why is it that your group wishes to enter Valor Mountain?>" Tapu Bulu psychically asks Suna.

Suna pauses for a moment to think.
"I believe it is to pay homage to the region's traditions. If it matters, that would also be why I would be doing it, if it was me doing it."

Tapu Bulu waits in silence for almost a minute, then moves several feet back.

"<Then you may borrow it.>" Tapu Bulu states

Suna bows to Tapu Bulu. "Thank you."

Suna walks over to the Sky Relic and picks it up, then starts walking back towards the cave.

Crescent cleaves a tear through reality with her scythe and jumps out of it. Snow floods out onto the ground as she does so. Judging by that and the snow covering her hair, she's come from the Tower of Theolia.

"Alright, I got her stupid-" Crescent states, then stares at Suna.

Crescent turns around to look for Sakuya. When she sees Tapu Bulu in front of the falls instead, she turns back around to face Suna with a look of confusion on her face.

"She's late again." Crescent pessimistically observes.

"Well someone in this goddessforsaken region doesn't bury their fucking corpses, so she went to deal with that. I'm here instead." Suna explains.

Crescent silently walks over to Suna and hands them the Water Relic. She takes a few steps back to talk.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. Both Team Xen's grunts and the Stormchasers don't leave anything behind when they stop being useful to the organisation." Crescent states.

Suna carefully tosses the relic in hand a few times to verify it, then stows it in their coat.

"Well yeah, I wasn't saying you. Just..." Suna states, then sighs and explains. "Someone left a bunch of broken dolls in the woods near Route 3. That's where she is right now."

"River's Edge or in the Mirage Woods?" Crescent asks.

Crescent looks down at the ground and says a few things under her breath.
"...we buried her... should i even..."

"Mirage Woods." Suna answers. "Is that... One of yours? There seems to be a little... You're wondering if there's been a mistake made?"

"Ana was a friend... and I miss her." Crescent states.

Crescent closes the rift with the butt of her scythe, and rips a different one open. She jumps through the rift before Suna can say anything else, and it quickly closes behind her.

Suna stares at where the rift was for several seconds.
"...Well then. Fuck."

Suna shrugs. "Eh, at least I've got the relics."

Suna walks back to Mimiura Cave.

Sakuya taps her Roaring Moon's left wing six times in quick succession when she sees the edge of Route 2 pass out of view.

Roaring Moon slows down slightly and drifts around in the sky to start flying northeast towards the Floria Region.

Roaring Moon keeps slowing down to a more acceptable flying mount's speed as it starts flying over the cherry trees, and eventually comes to a stop on top of the Route Gate between Sheridan and Route 3.

Sakuya recalls her Roaring Moon and sends out her Leavanny. She points at the ground below.
"Sticky Web." Sakuya instructs.

Leavanny weaves a net made of its grassy silk and throws it down onto the ground. Sakuya jumps onto it, and recalls Leavanny as she falls down. She runs west to the Mirage Woods.

Sakuya runs through the Mirage Woods, heading east over the river to look for a place that could hide several bodies.

One of the trees ahead seems hazy, so she walks through it. The path opens up into a large grassy grotto.

She walks further in and notices a Sprigatito Egg lying in the middle of a flower patch. She sends her Leavanny back out, and points at the egg.

"Protect it. If a Pokemon other than its parents gets any ideas, kill it." Sakuya instructs.

Leavanny nods, and sits down by the egg.

Sakuya walks further into the grove, keeping an eye on the ground below and the edges of the trees.

Several minutes later, she comes across what Suna mentioned.

If it wasn't for the fact that she summoned Coppelia so many times, she'd think that the three unrotting corpses in front of her were humans that had recently succumbed to poisoned fruits or feral venomous Pokemon in the woods.

The two with plum-hued hair are wearing identical outfits, a short dark grey dress, black leggings, and shoes and wrist-length sleeves that match the same colour as their hair. The one with white hair is wearing a mothbitten long-sleeved white top, a long skirt with black tights underneath, and dirt-stained white shoes.

Sakuya stares at the three of them in silence while thinking about what to do. Would it be disrespectful to do an autopsy on a being from another region she'd never met? Yes, but the fact that all of them have no visible injuries asks what happened to them in the first place.

Sakuya sends out her Chesnaught and Tropius. Both of them stare at the bodies and are stunned into silence.

"Pick them up. I'll take the white one myself." Sakuya requests.

Chesnaught nods, and helps Tropius get the two dolls onto its back.

Chesnaught walks in front as they all walk back out, on lookout for anything.

Leavanny is still sat down by the egg when Sakuya walks back.

"Anything?" Sakuya asks.

Leavanny shakes its head.

Sakuya slowly hands the white-haired doll's corpse to Chesnaught and picks up the egg. She feels reverberations in the ground as she does so. 

Sakuya jumps back and carefully shoves the egg into her back. The flower circle underneath the egg snaps up, revealing it to be a disguised Galarian Stunfisk.

Sakuya recalls Leavanny and sends her Scovillain out.

"Flamethrower!" Sakuya yells.

Both of Scovillain's heads breath fire onto the Stunfisk, scorching it into immobility.

Sakuya throws a ball at the Stunfisk, but it bounces of as if it were already owned.

"Reveal yourself." Sakuya yells. Nothing answers her.

Sakuya beckons for her 3 Pokemon to follow her out of the grotto, but she stops them just before leaving.

Sakuya takes off her bomber helmet and puts it back in her pocket of hyperspace. She takes out a small drone and syncs it to her Pokenav, then flies it out.

Sakuya's drone flies high up into the air to get a bird's eye view of the area. The camera picks up Crescent looking through the west side of the woods in the distance.

Sakuya aims the drone to look directly downwards. She sees Eizen staring into the grotto holding a camera.

Sakuya pulls out her staff, and starts preparing a spell to instantcast it as she leaves the grotto. The Black Shard tipping her staff starts glowing with purple logograms. She puts up her left hand to tell her 3 Pokemon to stay inside.

Sakuya walks out and lets forth the spell.
"Antimagnetic Field!" Sakuya yells, and an invisible sphere of negative energy forms around herself. Eizen's camera's lights turn off.

Eizen tuts at Sakuya.
"Something you don't want me recording?"

"You known damn well what's behind there, don't you." Sakuya states.

Eizen stays silent.

"Say something!" Sakuya yells.

Eizen stays silent.

"You admitted on live TV that you were traipsin around here yesterday. And you were standing in front of here, waiting for me. What are they to you?" Sakuya yells, emotion clear in her voice.

Eizen smirks, and stays silent.

"You, who treats the anomalous as a sight to gawk at and record. You, who threatened my friend with vivisection." Sakuya yells. "You, who-"

Sakuya pulls out a Reborn Ball and points it at Eizen.
"SAY SOMETHING!!!"

"That's not going to work while you still have that spell active." Eizen snarks.

Sakuya points her staff at Eizen's camera, and shoots a small rock at it, wrecking the lens.

Sakuya dispells the aura, and points her staff westward. Yellow runes form around the top as she channels a spell.

"Thunderclap III!" Sakuya chants, causing a purely auditory explosion to sound out at the site of the bridge.

Sakuya sends out her Dhelmise.

Eizen takes out a pistol and aims it at Sakuya.

Sakuya stares at the pistol.

"We can do this the fun way, or the hard way." Eizen states.

INCONSISTENCY EIZEN has initiated an encounter!

Sakuya's staff glows with blue runes as she casts a spell.
"Stoneskin!" Sakuya yells.

Eizen fires a bullet at each of Sakuya's knees. The bullets bounce off into the ground.

"You obviously know something about the dolls back there." Sakuya states.

"ANA units." Eizen answers. "Toys that we sent to do our fighting for us."

Sakuya breathes in deeply, then back out. She stares directly at Eizen.

"And yet human enough that you were going to use them to accuse me of murder." Sakuya yells back.

Eizen fires more bullets at Sakuya, which only amounts to ripping holes in her clothes.

"What even are you?" Sakuya yells.

Eizen discards his pistol and runs at Sakuya with a shortsword, cutting through the fabric of her top.

"I am from a world below." Eizen answers.

Sakuya steps back but doesn't make any attempt to fight. Her voice shifts to the same hollow tone she used earlier.

"Are you afraid of death?" Sakuya asks.

Eizen starts incoherently laughing, and sends out an Iron Bundle.

Iron Bundle aims its cannon at Sakuya and fires a high-pressure beam of water out from it at her.

Sakuya rolls backward to avoid the attack.

"Afraid? Afraid?" Eizen asks, and laughs even harder. "Why should I be afraid of the being that hated my ancestors for ruling the planet that it gave them?"

Sakuya breathes in and readies a spell.

"Why would such a creature see fit to CREATE MY EXISTENCE when it didn't previously?" Eizen asks, barely comprehensible through his insane laughter.

"Nature's Embrace." Sakuya states, and fires a bolt of force at the Iron Bundle. It is launched into a tree and falls asleep.

"What made you turn on us?" Sakuya asks with the same hollow voice.

Eizen puts away the blade and takes out a railgun, which he aims at Sakuya's right arm.
"A certain girl. Told me. Many things." Eizen erratically answers.

"You're just a pawn to her." Sakuya coldly responds.

Eizen fires the railgun at Sakuya, scorching her right arm enough to force her to drop her staff.

Sakuya screams in pain as she drops the staff, and leans down to pick the staff up with her left hand.

Crescent runs over and fires a blade of energy at Eizen from her scythe.

"If you're hurt, get back." Crescent yells.

Sakuya picks up her staff and weakly walks behind cover.

Eizen looks at Crescent.

"Crescent Moon. Whatever happened to you." Eizen comments.

Crescent fires a blade of energy from her scythe at Eizen by swinging it towards him.

"I grew up." Crescent answers. "What happened to YOU?"

An invisible hardlight barrier comes into view as the second blade of energy hits Eizen, deflecting it.

"The interlopers. Came. We talked." Eizen answers.

Eizen recharges the railgun and fires a blast at Crescent.

Crescent quickly deflects it by rapidly spinning her scythe at a fast enough rate to form a deflection shield, bouncing the blast back at Eizen and shattering his shield.

"Many things. Amethyst Factory." Eizen continues. "The Pyramid of Truth. Jirukala."

Sakuya strains her body and uses her staff to slowly recover the burns on her arm.

Eizen recharges the railgun and fires another blast at Crescent. Crescent slides out of the way and responds by firing a blade of energy at Eizen, knocking him back slightly.

"What did they promise you?" Crescent asks.

Eizen pauses to activate several buttons on his gloves, then answers.

Several mechanical tentacles sprout out from under his labocat.

"As she put it herself... 'my wet dream'. The interloper named her outright." Eizen answers.

Crescent doesn't get a moment to pause to wonder who that is, as Eizen starts attacking her with all of his mechanical arms at once.

Crescent retracts the blade of her scythe to use it as a halberd and more practically attack the arms. She manages to cut the first two off, but gets knocked back by a deluge of the rest.

"Disgusting." Crescent responds.

Crescent readjusts her footing, and spins her halberd around to deflect another assault from the arms. Eizen uses his human arms to pick his railgun back up.

Crescent pushes her halberd forward, and then reforms it into her spear.

"If you're going to be this much of a pain..." Crescent growls.

A yellow triangular light comes out from Crescent, and she imbues the light into her scythe while reading a strike at Eizen.

"Chthonic Malady!" Crescent yells, and fires a dark blast straight from the scythe at Eizen.

Eizen's body starts to slowly petrify.

As Eizen's body locks up, Crescent places her scythe on her back and walks over to Sakuya.

Chapter Text

Crescent walks over to Sakuya to see how injured she is. Despite what Sakuya attempted, her right arm lies limp against her torso.

"Hey." Crescent states.

"Is he dead?" Sakuya asks, still shellshocked.

"Not yet. The petrification wears off in a few hours if you still need answers from him." Crescent answers.

Sakuya slowly tries to hold up her right hand, but fails to. She uses her left hand to pull a doming hammer out of her pocket of hyperspace.

"Hammer." Sakuya states.

Crescent lets out a slight laugh, and helps Sakuya stand back up.

Sakuya slowly walks over to Eizen's now-petrified body. She lets out a primal scream, and swings the hammer into the torso of the statue with as much force as she can muster.

Eizen's body shatters into rubble.

Without saying anything, Sakuya walks back over to the false tree that heads to the grotto's entrance.

Crescent doesn't interfere with Sakuya's walk, and instead quietly sweeps up the statue rubble into a trashbag.

Sakuya walks back over with her Tropius and Chesnaught carrying the 3 ANA units.

Sakuya lets out a deep sigh, and gyrates her shoulders. Well, left shoulder because her right one isn't working.

"Ugh... I hate this. It'll recover later, but..." Sakuya states.

Crescent sighs, and pushes the hair covering her left eye away, revealing the deep scar in place of where an eye would be. She pushes her hair back into place.

"Should I get a shovel?" Crescent asks.

"In a bit." Sakuya answers. "I want to do an autopsy first."

Crescent walks over to Sakuya, and uses her scythe to rip open a tear in reality.

"I know a secluded place you can use."

Sakuya points in with her left hand. Her 2 Pokemon go through it before her, then she walks through. Crescent walks through after everyone else.

Sakuya steps out of the rift and sees that she's in a desertified city.

Crescent steps out.

"Welcome to Zone Zero." Crescent explains.

"Hm. It doesn't have a sandstorm." Sakuya observes.

"Not always. You should go into one of the buildings." Crescent responds.

Sakuya walks over to an apartment block's entrance, and opens the door.

Inside, Sakuya walks over to an apartment door and kicks it open. She walks into said apartment and walks over to the bed inside.

Chesnaught squeezes through the apartment door, and taking the hint, places the white-haired doll on the bed.

Sakuya sends her Leavanny back out. Her Leavanny stares at her broken arm, and thinks about what to do to help.

"Yeah, it sucks."

Sakuya undresses the ANA to prepare it. She notices its vague anatomical accuracy, albeit without any nipples or lower genitals.

Leavanny takes the mothbitten t-shirt and forms a sling out of it, then offers that to Sakuya.

Sakuya pulls her right arm up and slides it into the sling, then uses the silk rope that Leavanny made to raise it using her left shoulder.

"Thanks." Sakuya tells her Leavanny.

Leavanny happily vocalises.

Sakuya takes out a metal scalpel and attempts to cut into the doll's skin. She's unable to push it through.

Sakuya throws away the metal scalpel and considers if it would be worth forming one out of interstice.

While thinking about it, Sakuya squeezes the legs and arms of the ANA at intermittent points to get an idea of what its body structure entails.

"Is that a metal endoskeleton?" Sakuya observes.

Sakuya recalls her Leavanny, and points at a sofa.
"Put the other 2 there." Sakuya instructs.

Tropius and Chesnaught do as requested of them.

Sakuya recalls both of her Pokemon, and sends out her Lucario.

"<Afternoon. Are you alright?">" Lucario psychically converses with Sakuya.

"Not really. Can you help me form an aura blade?" Sakuya asks.

Lucario sighs, and closes both of its eyes to start meditating. Sakuya does the same.

"<Once again. Picture your soul as an extension of your body.>" Lucario starts.

"<Picture the world around you, and your form within the world. What is it?>" Lucario asks.

"A sculptor's knife. I found a mage's abandoned Doll, and I wish to discover what happened to it." Sakuya answers.

Sakuya visualises a small blade in her left hand made of a crystalline material so transparent that if you looked through the handle at her hand, you'd see the wall instead.

She keeps her mind clear and walks back over to the ANA, then opens her eyes and uses the thin blade to cut into its leg. After making a clean cut through, she lifts up the dense skin to see a hollow hydraulic skeleton inside with eroded runes scoring the metallic bones.

Sakuya puts the skin back down and moves her left hand and blade up to the ANA's torso. She bifurcates the torso's skin then makes a secondary horizontal cut to be able to see the entirity of the unit's internals.

The designs are completely different, but Sakuya is able to tell that most of the components inside correspond to mechanical structures required for a computer to function. The remaining resemble rusted coolant pipes, hydraulics, a fuel tank, and some form of bladder towards the throat that feeds into the fuel tank.
Oh. That's a stomach.

Sakuya looks up at the ANA's head, but her will falters and the blade in her hand dissipates.

Lucario sighs, and walks over to Sakuya. It positions its chest-spike away and hugs her.

"<You should call Terra.>" Lucario informs Sakuya.

"...Yeah. Thanks, Owain." Sakuya says to her Lucario.

Sakuya takes her Holo Caster out, and calls Terra on it. She puts the Holo Caster on the ground.

A projection of Terra comes out through the Holo Caster. Terra notices the bodies, and her hair immediately shifts to lime green.

"Seems like I'm not the only person with that idea." Terra comments.

Sakuya steps out of the way to let Terra look at the autopsied ANA unit.
"I think I found something more optimised than you're able to make." Sakuya exposits.

Terra equips a set of jeweller's glasses, and tries to stare.

"The resolution on this thing is ass. Can you move me closer over?" Terra asks.

Sakuya does as asked, and puts the Holo Caster ontop the body of the white-haired ANA.

The hologram of Terra corrupts slightly and a green question mark appears above her head.

"I don't speak Garufan. Can you translate what this says?" Terra asks.
Terra audibly writes something that she was able to see with her glasses, and holds it up so that the Holo Caster is able to project it.

"That says Phlogiston." Sakuya reads. "What do you think happened?"

"It ran out of Phlogiston and went into hibernation mode."

"...They aren't dead?" Sakuya asks.

"Hold one of the data drives up to the camera for me?" Terra asks.

Sakuya does so. Terra's hologram is entirely replaced with four semicircular lines out of anger.

"Data corruption?" Sakuya asks.

"Intentionally so, and recent. Check her back and head for any ports." Terra responds, holding back her anger.

Instead of checking the white-haired ANA, Sakuya walks over to one of the two plum-haired ANA and slides her hair through it to look for a port. Instead, she feels something currently plugged into it. She pulls the USB inside out, and walks back over to Terra to show it to her.

"Malware?" Sakuya asks.

Terra's visage re-appears on the Holo Caster with a dark blue overlay over the top half of her face.
"USB Killer." Terra answers. "The data's fucked."

Sakuya sighs, and looks at Terra with a despondent look.

"Who did this?" Terra asks.

"He's already dead." Sakuya hollowly answers. "He did this to my arm."

"I won't ask for the materials or tell anyone about this if you don't want me to." Terra explains.

"Thanks." Sakuya sighs. "Just do some research."

Terra hangs up the call. 

Sakuya steels herself and starts meditating again. She walks back to the plum-haired ANA she pulled the murder weapon out of, and cuts open the proverbial skull of it.

Inside, she finds what are probably secondary processing units, a gyroscope, and a lot of ocular circuitry.
Sakuya immediately re-attaches the upper slide of skin she cut off, and is surprised by the wound slowly healing itself after she does so.

Sakuya walks back to the white-haired ANA and stares at her inner workings. After what feels like minutes, she sighs and slides the skin back down to allow it to reattach itself.

Sakuya slides the white-haired unit's tights back up and puts its skirt back around its navel, and pulls a similar white shirt of her own out of her pocket of hyperspace for its top.

Lucario walks over to help her place it on, then rips the USB Killer out of its hair. He then walks over to the second plum-haired ANA and pulls the USB out of its hair.

Crescent walks through the abandoned apartment block and sees the door that Sakuya kicked open.

Sakuya sighs when she sees Crescent.

"I found out what killed them." Sakuya hollowly tells Crescent.

"Eizen?" Crescent asks.

"Yeah." Sakuya responds. "Fried their circuits while they were hibernating."

Crescent sighs. "What about your arm?"

"I think it's nerve damage. It'll take me a month to fully heal it without heading back to Reborn." Sakuya explains. "Or cutting it off."

Crescent stares at the back of the room and sees the 3 ANA units, noticing the slightly different t-shirt the white-haired one has on now.

"Do you do any weird burial customs there?" Crescent asks.

"If you're asking about where the body goes, no. In the ground, and seeds are sprinkled over the soil after the grave is filled." Sakuya answers.

Crescent sends out her Metagross, and points at the 2 plum-haired ANA units.
"Carry them with us." Crescent instructs.

Sakuya looks at her Lucario. Lucario nods and walks over to the white-haired ANA unit to pick her up.

Crescent cleaves a tear through reality with her scythe, and points at it.

"I'd walk, but there's a building in the way and we can't fly." Crescent explains.

Lucario nods. "<Understood.>"

Lucario and Metagross both go through the rift. Sakuya walks through, then Crescent.

Crescent closes the rift after she jumps out.

While still in a desertified waste, Sakuya finds herself in what was once a wooded area between cities rather than the concrete jungle.

Sakuya looks to the west, and notes that the bridge heads to a dark island with a few Team Xen trucks in the distance.

Crescent beckons for Sakuya to follow her, and walks north.
"Over here."

Sakuya follows her to a fork in the path. To the left and up several stairs lies a house that outwardly looks broken down, to the right, between several scorched trees, lies a single gravestone.

Sakuya walks over to it and reads the headstone.

"To our dear friend, Ana. May you rest peacefully forever." Sakuya quotes.

Sakuya turns back to look at Crescent.

"How close were you?" Sakuya asks, her tone neutral rather than hollow.

"Back in Phoenix Academy, I was friends with a group of 6 people." Crescent explains. "Aevis, Aevia, Aero, Ariana, Axel, and of course, Alain."

"They had a summer house and we all went there with Aevis and Aevia's mother, since she technically owned it." Crescent continues.
"One day, we went north to the grounds of this pyramid. We saw Ana outside, faceplanted into the ground."

"We brought her in with us. She was suffering from worse amnesia than what Alain's dealing with right now, but she seemed to know enough. After some food, she regained all the energy she lost." Crescent further continues.
"That entire summer, she lived with us and enjoyed life."

"What happened to her?" Sakuya asks.

"She loved Pokemon more than all of us. When we were coming back from the Alamissa Urben, everyone's emotions went into a chaotic flux. None of us remember what happened, but at the end of it, Ana was gone."

Crescent sighs.

"A few days later, a detective from Hiyoshi came over to the house. He told us that they'd found her body, and said that since we were the only known relatives, it was up to us to settle her arrangements."

Crescent points at the gravestone. "We buried her right here."

Sakuya puts her left hand on Crescent's shoulder to empathise.

"That... that hurts. But I'm glad that you got to say a final goodbye."

Crescent moves slightly to get Sakuya off her shoulder.

"This is the whole reason why those Mysterious Figures piss me off. It was their third member, Eden, that did it." Crescent explains.
"The first thing that I did when the Space Hags gave me a proper modicum of control over my actions was going back to that time. I didn't care how dangerous it was with how close to where I was. I had to get justice for Ana."

"I tracked down Eden's location, and executed them. I lost my eye in that fight, but Ana's body was safe." Crescent exposits.
"I looked for anyone reputable enough for the group to believe this was real, but shady enough to be bribable. I gave that man from Hiyoshi enough money to pay off his mortgage, and Ana's body."

"When I got back, the Hags punished me for what I did by cursing my wound to never heal, regardless of what magic anyone tries. I didn't care. I did what I'd always wanted to." Crescent exposits.

Crescent sighs. "I'll get a shovel. Digging should take long enough for you to change into whatever outfit your religion wears for this."

Crescent walks over to the abandoned house.

A Team Xen grunt on patrol walks up and notices Sakuya and three corpses by a gravestone.

"Uh, I'll... say I saw nothing. And you don't kill me." the Team Xen Grunt bargains.

"Deal." Sakuya answers.

The Team Xen grunt walks back towards the bridge.

Sakuya sighs, and pulls a small sword out of her pocket of hyperspace. She hands it to her Lucario.

"<Are you sure about this?>" Owain psychically asks Sakuya.

"Yes." Sakuya confirms.

Owain picks up the sword, and positions himself. He makes a request. "<On your knees.>"

Sakuya kneels down. Her Lucario uses the sword to cut through Sakuya's arm, but she doesn't even feel it.

"<Perhaps it's for the best. You don't want to get gangrene.>" Owain remarks.

Sakuya pulls an artificial arm out of her pocket of hyperspace, and slowly attaches it. Using some of her mana, she manages to move it around as if it were her own. She then uses her artificial arm's hand to pull a black robe out of hyperspace.

"Look away." Sakuya requests.
Her Lucario nods, and lets her redress.

Crescent walks back over to see Sakuya now wearing an asymmetrical black robe, her right arm and collarbone visible outside of it. An abstract cyan serpent is  intermittently dyed into the robe, with its head and tail both roughly where her navel would be.

Crescent notices the externally jointed arm that Sakuya currently has, but doesn't comment on it. She walks over to the grave, and starts digging out 3 lots to the right of it.

"How did that work?" Sakuya asks. "I thought it was impossible to affect your own past without taking heavy Frag."

"The hags gave me this Time Gear Amulet that allowed me to go through time without suffering the negative effects of its passage." Crescent explains.

Crescent's shovel hits a large stone object.

"Being their 'cleaner', it even had a Timesplicer Stone inside it, allowing me to travel through time at-will without needing to find one of the ones around the region." Crescent further explains. "Though when I shattered it so that they wouldn't be able to track me, I can't do that anymore."

Crescent looks down to see what the object she hit was. Rather than the large stone she was expecting, she sees a grey egg with two white lines on it.

"How did that get here?" Crescent rhetorically asks.

"We don't know how it got there." Sakuya jokes.

Crescent turns her head around to glare at Sakuya. She sighs, and responds.
"Ana didn't have a Houndstone. If there were any egg I'd expect to find buried with her, it'd be a Dreepy egg."

"Do you want it?" Sakuya asks.

"It isn't hers, so... I don't want to." Crescent answers.

Crescent takes the egg out of the half-dug grave, and places it over beside Sakuya.

"Give it to Emma. Say you found it in Goldenleaf Town." Crescent states. "My domain is mine alone to speak of."

"Understandable." Sakuya responds.
Sakuya picks up the egg, and places it in her bag.

Crescent silently digs the rest of the first grave, and moves onto the second.

Halfway through digging the second grave, she asks Sakuya a question.
"Is this common in Reborn?"

"Not at all. I only know 3 other people back home who've been able to make Dolls as agentic as Ana was. One of which is Terra, and her daughter's definitionally a Synth instead."

"Other?" Crescent asks.

"Coppelia. The doll I summoned, not Athena's Gardevoir." Sakuya clarifies. "At times, she was the only being I had to accompany me. Even if death wasn't as permanent for her, she remembered everything."

Crescent throws another shovelful of dirt out of the hole. Before she can ask for elaboration, Sakuya explains.

"You're probably wondering how we really got here, aren't you."

"I already know you aren't from this timeline. While the three of you were gone, I tried looking you up and didn't find anything other than that article." Crescent states.

"Something, I don't know what, shifted the trajectory of the portal we were going to exit this dimension through." Sakuya explains. "I thought that we'd do some of the league till it got boring and then find another way out, but the Goldenwood Forest incident happened and we started travelling with Emma."

"As for Coppelia, the day that we were leaving, we found her in the Mirage Tower. The being that haunts it was having a conversation with her, and shattered the trance that she'd put herself in." Sakuya adds. "She pulled out this compass and checked something. Apparently they'd been talking about the Agarthan Empire."

Crescent stops digging, and turns around to ask Sakuya a question.
"Where's she now?"

"Living inside an MMO that runs on its official test server despite being completely abandoned by the developers." Sakuya deadpan answers.

"Do you think Ana's out there, somewhere?" Crescent asks.
Crescent finishes digging the second grave, and walks over to the plot for the third one. She doesn't start digging yet.

"Yes. The branched nature of the six realms means you probably wouldn't be able to recognise her without a long conversation, but she's definitely living a decent life in another world." Sakuya answers.

Crescent lets out a short sigh of relief, and starts digging the third grave.

Sakuya gets a message on her Pokenav. She opens it up to see that Terra messaged her.
The entire message has been blacked out, and in its place in white text is the ever-irritating quote [Further information is not available here.]

Terra sends a second message after that clarifiying the first one.
[Gally said that. I didn't find anything online.]

Sakuya sighs. That answer can only mean one of two things. Either a being of much higher span doesn't want her to know it yet, or her being told it now would cause a bootstrap paradox. Regardless, she isn't getting answers for a while yet.

Eventually, Crescent finishes digging the third grave.

"I'll get a headstone for them later." Crescent states. "Do you want to start?"

Sakuya lays the three ANA corpses out beside each grave, and takes a few steps back.

"I can't claim to have known any of you at all, but you deserve this much." Sakuya starts.

"On this day, your murderer had his final justice served to him. With that, may your spirits find light in your next life."

"May the serpent light your path out of the river." Sakuya says with her robed hand over her heart, eyes closed.

Sakuya takes three coins out of a pocket in her robe, and puts each of them in a pocket in each of the 3 ANAs' clothing.

Slowly, she takes each of their bodies and lowers them down. After all three of them are in the ground, Crescent looks at her.

Crescent thinks about asking Sakuya a question, but decides against it and starts filling the graves back in.

Chapter Text

Crescent tosses the shovel aside after throwing the last shunk of dirt back into the final grave.

"You realise that Team Xen's base is on that island, right?" Sakuya asks.

"I made an agreement with Nastasia that neither of us would attempt to attack the other's base." Crescent explains.

Crescent picks the shovel back up and walks over to the abandoned house. Sakuya follows her over. Sakuya's Lucario also does so.

"Where do you want dropping off?" Crescent asks. "Floria or Terajuma."

"Where are we right now, geographically?" Sakuya asks.

"North Terrial. Everyone calls it the Badlands." Crescent exposits.

Crescent puts the shovel down on the wall of the house, and turns around to face Sakuya.

"I think I'd like to talk to Narcissa for a bit." Sakuya answers.

Crescent shrugs, and picks her scythe up. She makes a quick slice through reality, and opens up a rift for Sakuya to walk through.

Lucario bows to Crescent, and gets recalled back into his pokeball.

Sakuya walks through the rift.

Maiel and Maria walk over to Athena, and see that she's still staring down at the Light Shard.

Maiel stares at it with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

"What's this?" Maria asks.

"Never seen one of these before." Maiel answers.

"In Reborn, we call these Light Shards." Athena answers. "Touch one, and your entire party gets healed like you went to the center. Lin isn't here to make them though, so I'm wondering why this is here."

"It's free heals. What's the issue?" Maiel asks.

"It's a glaring red flag that we're about to face a boss." Athena clarifies. "Ready?"

"Nope." Maiel immediately answers. "I'll watch you fight it though."

"I can help if you need?" Maria answers.

Athena pats Maria's head twice, and walks into the temple chamber. Maria and Maiel follow her in.

Adding to the atmosphere, the room that the three of them walk into is the largest of all of them in the temple. The walls are lined with trees, and the river that flows through the temple is visible on both the left and right sides of the room.

A natural bridge across the river lies several feet in front of them.

Athena notices a young woman she can't currently make out the features of staring at the mural of Landorus on the far wall.

"...I have a bad feeling about this." Athena states.

"Worse than knowing there'd be a strong Ruthless Pokemon?" Maria asks.

"They're a dime a dozen." Athena snarks, then goes back to being serious.
"This... isn't. Stay on guard." Athena instructs.

Maiel walks on ahead and tries to get the girl's attention.
"Hello? Why are you just standing there. Explain yourself."

The girl doesn't turn around, but responds regardless. Her tone seems completely unnatural and forced.
"Beings that enter the Tyluric Temple are to be punished."

"Serpent give me patience." Athena sighs.

"This girl was foolish enough to travel to the depths of this temple. She wanted to enter the temple, and now she will never leave." the girl states, clearly not by her own volition.

Maiel takes a few steps back and allows Athena to walk over towards the girl.

Athena gets a better look at the girl's attire and hairstyle. She has an absurdly long and wide blue ponytail that goes down to her ankles, as well as 2 cyan short front-facing pigtails and a cyan upshoot of hair on each side of her head.
The girl's outfit is a long-sleeve black dress with a grey scarf and split near the middle, though a grey skirt covers the area under the split. Additionally, she seems to be wearing dark tights and grey boots.

Athena pulls out her greatsword, and stabs it into the ground.
"State either your name or the girl's name, puppeteer." Athena yells.

"Ana. Her arrogance is the same as the ancients that created her." Ana states, puppeted by the temple.

Maiel glares at Ana.

"Let her go!" Maria shouts.

Ana stares at Maria.
"I sense no darkness within your heart. However, if you continue down this path, then you will meet the same fate as the girl." the temple warns through her.

Athena starts laughing.

Maiel walks several steps back and pushes Maria back with her. She sits down.

"Huh?" Maria asks.

"Stay put and watch your mom fight." Maiel requests. "It'll be fun."

Seeing that Athena refuses to leave, Ana continues to stare at Athena. "...Very well."

"Landorus, as your humble servant..."

Athena takes her top off to stop its waterlogged state from hindering her in battle.

"Μεγάλε Φίδι, δώσε μου τον περιορισμό να μην σκοτώσω αυτόν τον ψεύτικο φύλακα." Athena prays.

"I shall drive away any human!" Ana yells out.

A Carnivine appears from behind Ana and immediately mutates into a Dimensional Rift from the sheer force of negative energy in the room.

TEMPLE GUARDIAN ANA challenges VANGUARD ATHENA!

Athena sends out her Clefable.

"I think... Moonblast." Athena instructs.

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

The corrupted Carnivine's upper vines glow with umbral energy and repeatedly slap Clefable, knocking it several feet back.

Clefable forms an effigy of the moon behind itself, and fires a beam of lunar energy out from it at Carnivine, knocking it down.

A flood of green energy flows into Carnivine, fully healing it.

Carnivine's body shifts in colour slightly.

Athena recalls her Clefable, and sends out her Galarian Weezing.

Weezing emits a strange gas that floods the arena.

"Quiver Dance." Ana instructs monotonally.

Carnivine's corrupted body dances around like a puppet on strings, and gains a faint red and blue aura.

"Flamethrower." Ana instructs monotonally.

"Gunk Shot." Athena instructs.

Carnivine breathes fire at Weezing, partially scorching it.

Weezing aims its stovepipe hat at Carnivine like a cannon, and fires a deluge of toxic waste out at it, knocking Carnivine down.

A flood of green energy rejuvenates Carnivine again, and its body shifts in colour again.

Carnivine dances around on the spot, and slightly strengthens its aura.

"That looked like Victory Dance." Maria exposits.

"Godsdamnit." Athena sighs. "Too fast to Clear Smog, and it's powerful enough to force a clean switch."

"Flamethrower." Ana instructs again.

Carnivine breathes fire at Weezing, knocking it out. Weezing's strange gas fades from the arena, and the ground under it faintly burns for a few seconds.

Athena recalls Weezing and sends out her Slurpuff.

A seed blossoms around Slurpuff and tethers it to the ground. Despite this, Slurpuff seems even more agile.

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

"Psych Up." Athena instructs.

Carnivine's upper vines glow with umbral energy, and it slaps Slurpuff with its vines, knocking it down into the ground.

Slurpuff barely survives, protected by the seed's power.

Slurpuff stares at Carnivine, and stretches. Slurpuff copies the aura glowing around Carnivine.

Athena blinks.

"Actually, you know what? Secret Power."

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

Slurpuff puts one hand on the ground. A thorny arm comes up from the ground and slams into the Carnivine, temporarily incapacitating it.

"What?" Ana asks, her tone controlled by the spirits of the temple.

"Yeah! Beat her up!" Maria shouts from the sidelines.

Athena laughs. "Thanks."
Athena turns her attention back to her Slurpuff. "Alright, Fake Tears."

Slurpuff lets out crocodile tears to bait Carnivine's emotions. Despite being both a Dimensional Rift, and asleep, its guard lowers.

"Draining Kiss." Athena instructs.

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

Slurpuff walks over to Carnivine and kisses towards Carnivine, draining its lifeforce and recovering its own.

Carnivine wakes up and retaliates by slamming its umbral vines into Slurpuff, knocking it far back across the ground.

"Play Rough." Athena instructs.

"Snap Trap." Ana instructs monotonally.

"...Why?" Maiel asks.

Carnivine regurgitates parts of a Custap Berry and lunges at Slurpuff, biting into it with its corroded maw.

Athena recalls Slurpuff, and sends out her Comfey.

"Draining Kiss." Athena instructs.

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

Comfey rapidly flies over to Carnivine and kisses towards it, draining its lifeforce and knocking it down.

Carnivine raises again with another flood of green energy, and retaliates by slamming its vines down onto Comfey, knocking it out.

Carnivine summons a corrupted Tangela as support.

Athena recalls Comfey.

"Last chance. Release her, or you're going to regret it."

The room falls silent for several seconds.

Athena takes the silence as an admission of guilt, and sends out Hapi.

"Alright, you asked for it."
"HAPI, HEAT WAVE!" Athena yells.

"Power Whip." Ana instructs monotonally.

Carnivine slams its umbral vines down onto Hapi, dealing heavy damage.

Hapi lets forth a deluge of superheated air at the Carnivine, setting it on fire and knocking it down.

Moments later, the foliage in the room all ignites. Maria and Maiel quickly step out of the way onto an area that had no grass underfoot.

"...That's not supposed to happen." Maiel comments.

Maria nervously looks at Athena.

"IMPOSSIBLE." the temple yells through Ana.

Athena starts laughing.

A flood of green energy flows into Carnivine, and a rainbow aura manifests around it. Vines attached to its lower half wilt from the extreme heat and drop to the ground.

"There is no place in this world for a god without worshippers." Athena declares. "This temple is all that remains of your legacy, and look at it now."

Athena repositions herself so that Ana would see her with a blaze behind herself.

"Look upon your works, "ye mighty", and despair." Athena boasts.

The extreme heat scorches Carnivine.

"Iron Head." Ana instructs.

"Protect." Athena instructs.

Hapi covers himself in a hexagonal energy shield, preventing Carnivine's attack from doing anything against it.

The extreme heat scorches Carnivine and causes its corrupted body to wilt away into ash.

"What... What was that thing?" Maria asks.

"Dimensional Rift. Our Br--- Someone in Team Xen made a lot of them, but this one doesn't seem to be related in any way."

"...No." Ana states, her voice even more overtaken by the temple.

"No?" Athena asks.

"No. I will not let an intruder as strong as you to leave here alive." Ana declares.

A faint triangular aura manifests behind Ana, as blue as her hair.

Athena sighs.

"WELP."

Athena picks her greatsword back up, and recalls Hapi.

"GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT." Athena yells.

TEMPLE GUARDIAN ANA initates an encounter!

"Engaging battle mode." Ana robotically states.

Amidst the burning fields, Ana takes aim at Athena with her hand.

"What-" Athena tries to ask, and gets interrupted by an energy blast for daring to.

Athena blocks the next blast with her greatsword, and looks at Ana to see where the shots are coming from.

Ana has unhinged her right arm into a large energy cannon.
Unnatural vines coat its outer radius like ivy parasitising a tree. The tendrils seem to 

"Girls, one of you record this." Athena yells, and lets out a deep cough.

Maiel rolls her eyes and takes her P*DA out to record the fight.

Ana charges up a stronger shot and fires at Athena.

Athena cleaves through the blast, splitting it in two. The two halves keep on going and hit the wall.

Athena runs at Ana and slashes at her with her greatsword. Ana dodges and retaliates by rapidly firing small bolts of energy at Athena.

"Dammit, she's too fast." Athena mutters, and demanifests her greatsword.
She pulls out a crossbow instead.

Athena fires several bolts from her crossbow at Ana, though only the last one connects in her chest.

"Let. Her. Go." Athena yells.

"Query: Why?" Ana asks.

"Can you even prove that she knew what this temple was?" Athena asks.

Ana fires a missile out of her arm cannon at Athena.
Athena jumps out of the way, causing the missile to rocket past her and hit the wall.

"Accessing data banks..."

Ana fires another missile out of her arm cannon at Athena. Athena shoots the missile with a crossbow bolt, causing it to explode mid-air between her and Ana.

"Fire makes them go away... but the only place she has open to that is her cannon..." Athena tells herself. "Heh. Alright."

Ana switches strategy and charges up something in her cannon. Athena readies herself by pulling her greatsword back out to use as a shield. 

Ana fires a concentrated laser beam at Athena, but the crystalline surface of her greatsword redirects the beam into one of the statues of Landorus.

Maiel chuckles at the display.

"Data banks corrupted." Ana comments.

"Bullshit. That just as easily means that she has no idea." Athena responds.

Ana fires a missile out of her arm cannon at Athena. The missile explodes upon impact with her greatsword and knocks her down.

Athena jumps back and switches back to her crossbow. She aims for Ana's legs, but the hits don't seem to disrupt her.

Ana fires a slightly less concentrated laser beam at Athena, hitting her head-on regardless of where she attempts to dodge to.

Athena endures the pain and runs over to her greatsword. She picks it up and stabs it headfirst into the ground as a place to hide behind.

Seeing this, Ana readies a missile to fire at Athena.

Athena jumps away from her sword and fires a bolt directly at Ana's arm cannon, causing the missile to explode while still inside her arm.

Ana's entire right arm and part of her torso is blown away in the blast, and her body falls to the ground.

Athena runs over to Ana and notices a scorched parasitic plant that had ingrained itself in her mechanical spine. She rips it out, and throws it at Maiel.

"Catch."

Maria braces for impact, and the root stops mid-air in front of Maiel.

Maiel quickly stops the recording, and puts her P*DA away before readying to catch it, but notices that it stopped in place.

She looks at Maria. "Hey, it's fine."

Maiel manifests a cloth bag to hold the plant in, and waits for it to fall down. Maria stops bracing, and the root falls into the bag. 
Maiel makes the bag disappear, and sighs.

"Can you extinguish the fire?" Maiel asks.

"Oh, right. Sure." Athena responds.

Athena sends out her Wigglytuff.

"Rain Dance." Athena instructs.

Wigglytuff dances around and causes rain to fall down inside the area. The water extinguishes the blaze, but the formerly vibrant chamber is now an ashen mess.

"That's never happened before. The terrain, I mean." Maiel observes.

"You've never seen Burning Field?" Athena asks. "It didn't happen when my Weezing was out because Neutralising Gas prevents fields from changing."

"Grass doesn't-" Maiel starts to say, and glares at Maria.

Maria looks at Ana.

Athena looks back at Ana.

"At least it let her go." Athena sighs.

"I have an idea." Maiel states.

"I'm pretty sure you can't repair her." Athena responds. "Or anyone else in this region, on that note."

Maiel looks through Ana's spine for something, then detaches an object with the number 4535 on it. She puts it in her skirt's pocket, and walks back towards the exit.

"A girl can dream, at least." Maiel responds, then laughs. "Literally, in my case."

Athena sighs, and looks for her top. Unfortunately it seems that it was burned up by the fires. She picks Ana up without any effort, and walks back towards the exit.

The three of them exit the chamber.

"Should we tell anyone about the fields?" Maria asks.

"Realistically the only person that this affects is Crescent." Athena admits. "And Alain."

Maiel repeatedly points at herself. "My muscle memory?"

Maria takes the Field Notes Dictionary that Suna gave her out of her bag and hands it to Maiel.

Maiel facepalms, but takes it.

"Where to put her..." Athena muses.

Maiel leans against the wall.

"Depends. Do you want Crawli knowing about this?" Maiel asks.

Maiel's body leans at more of an angle against the wall, and her hair colour shifts to a blood-red hue.

"I think... We should talk to Bulu about this." Athena answers.

Emma blinks and checks her surroundings.

She takes her camera out and runs into the chamber to take a few pictures.

Athena sighs, and walks to the edge of the temple to look down.
"I wonder if that's strong enough to survive me falling onto it." Athena muses. "Probably not."

Athena sends out her Altaria. and lays Ana's body on it.

"Fly her down." Athena instructs.

Altaria lets out a cry in agreement, and flies down.

Athena sends Hapi out and jumps onto his back.

Emma walks back out.

"So much for a temple to the Forces of Nature..." Emma sighs. "It's like they burnt the whole place down after their gods abandoned them."

"Something like that." Athena responds. "Want to head down now, or stay for a bit?"

"Did Sakuya get the Relic on her own?" Emma asks back.

"She went with Suna, but yeah." Athena answers.

Emma sends out her Drifblim, and climbs onto its head. 

Maria sends out her Staraptor and jumps onto its back.

Emma and Maria fly back to the Terajuma Jungle. Athena flies down to the entrance to the temple, and recalls both of her Pokemon. She sends out her Iron Jugulis.

Iron Jugulis's eyes replace themselves with question mark signs.

"Yeah, I bet you weren't expecting me to send you out here. I've got a job for you." Athena responds.

"I need you to head to a place that probably isn't marked on the map. Emma called it the Silent Grove, it's north of Goldenwood Forest. After that, do whatever you want. Spook people out like the cryptid you are."

Iron Jugulis happily emotes and plays a JRPG laugh soundbite.

Athena dumps Ana's body onto Iron Jugulis, and it flies away.

Athena sighs, and walks back to the jungle.

Chapter Text

Sakuya jumps out of the rift to find herself a few feet away from the entrance to the Wispy Tower. She starts walking south back to Goldenleaf Town.

While walking through the Wispy Path, she takes her Pokenav out to check the news.

Amidst celebrity garbage and news that only relates to Terrial Island, she sees a report of a mechanical Hydreigon being spotted in the airspace above West Gearen City.
Intruiged, she opens up the story.

[It's one abnormality after another this week on Floria, Several eyewitnesses have claimed seeing a mechanical Hydreigon flying east from a path that seems like a straight line from Reborn City.]

Sakuya groans, and scrolls down to see some of the quotes.

["It looked like one of those things from that Paldean scifi mag. Iron Jugulis?"]
["I don't trust anyone from that damn region. They tried to clean up after Team Meteor 5 years ago, but they're all rotten to the core."]
["Woahhh... I didn't think anyone else around here could do that!" - Karen, Elite 8]

"I hate it here." Sakuya sighs.

Sakuya puts her Pokenav away and keeps walking.

Maiel finds herself back in her bedroom in the copy of the Chrysalis Manor.

She walks over to the PC to check it for any messages, and notices the IRC notification that she was sent yesterday is still there.
Maiel rolls her eyes and follows the instructions to log in.

* Now talking in #general.
* Topic for #general is: Let's all Love Lain!
<crescentMoon> Who now?
<displacedAngel> Is that really all you could come up with, Crescent?
<Turboblaze> Who are either of you?
* displacedAngel facepalms.
<displacedAngel> I am the will of the universe manifest, given another chance to stop ruination from enveloping this world.
<neotericWitch> Cute.
<displacedAngel> ...
<displacedAngel> You can call me Maiel. 
<crescentMoon> I don't have the energy for this right now. I'm sorry you had to go through all that, or something.
<neotericWitch> Hm. Are you busy?
<displacedAngel> Yeah. TTYL.
* displacedAngel has gone AFK.

Maiel leaves her room, and walks through the manor to the main hall. She notices that the doubledoors to the ritual area are open, and decides to walk over to them.

When she sees that the manor's grand room is there in place of it, she walks down the set of stairs.

Maiel notices Variya sat down on a sofa, reading a book. She walks over to her.

"Hey. I found something you probably recognise." Maiel states.

Variya puts her book down to look at Maiel.
"What did you find?" Variya asks.

Maiel pulls a chunk of metal with the number [4535] engraved into it, and hands it over to Variya.

"This. It was inside a robot girl called Ana, and she was at the Tyluric Temple. I'm guessing it's a serial number?" Maiel explains.

The chunk of metal disappears in Variya's hands.
"I see. Are you hungry?"

"I ate earlier, but I'd never say no to free food." Maiel replies.

"Alain and Emma butchered a hog earlier. Be careful if you want to explore." Variya explains.

Maiel walks towards the kitchen and sees a plate of food ready for her, with a cloche ontop to preserve its taste.

Athena runs ahead to catch back up with Emma and Maria, and stops when she sees both of them on top of the bridge.

"You alright?" Emma asks.

"Yeah, I just had to doublecheck something." Athena lies. "Wait up for me."

Athena quickly runs around the route to the bridge.

The three of them walk over to Mimiura Cave.

Maria runs over to the elevator, and jumps onto it. Emma follows her over.

Athena looks at the area to the right which presumably leads to the falls.

"Why didn't they just... make some stairs? That'd have a lot less ecological impact than making 2 elevators." Athena snarks.

Athena looks up at the roof of the cave, and notices telltale signs of mining. She sighs.
"In all my years, I've never met anyone who would actually need this type of accessibility. Mostly because it's a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a long-lasting saddle for a mon around 5-6 feet than it is to get a mechanical wheelchair."

Athena walks onto the elevator. Emma pushes the button on it to make it rise up.

The lift rises up several feet, and comes to a stop at a corrugated metal floor with a cave exit in front of them.

Athena walks over to the exit, and leaves through out of curiosity. Emma and Maria follow her out.

The trio walk out to see a railing preventing them from falling down the mountainside below.

"Oh, this is Mount Terajuma." Emma explains.

"Sakuya's probably at the peak, waiting for us. It's not like her to stick around holy sites for fun." Athena exposits.

Athena walks beside the railing back to the main path, then walks up a few sets of carved stairs.
She stops when she sees a three-eyed Snorunt with a cloak made of fallen evergreen leaves instead of orange fur.

Emma stops beside Athena when she sees it.

"Typing?" Athena asks.

"I know it's Grass-type." Emma states, explaining the obvious.
"I'm not sure about the secondary types for it or its evolutions though."

Athena shrugs, and throws a Quick Ball at the Snorunt. She spots a second Snorunt and throws a Quick Ball at that one too, then picks up both of the balls.

Maria walks on ahead through the path, and notices Suna leaning on the railing of a wooden balcony at the end of the path. She walks over to them.

"I'll give Sakuya both of these then. C'mon, let's go." Athena states.

Emma and Athena walk across the path to where Maria went, and notice Suna leaning on the railing, facing north.

Suna turns around.

"Ayo what's up. I got two of your relic thingies for your wife." Suna exposits.

"Where'd she run off to?" Athena asks. "Can't imagine it's worse than what I had to deal with."

"Two?" Maria asks.

"Yeah kiddo, I got the Water and Sky Relics right here. That lolita girl gave me one of them because of a deal Sak made, and I got one of the others just... from the pedestal." Suna answers.
"And as for your question, Ath, Route 3. I told her about some doll that was left unburied in some woods when I was explorin' round those parts."

"Thank god we don't have to go back to Kristiline..." Emma sighs in relief.

The conversation falls silent for several seconds.

"I had to fight off a Doll that a cursed plant Overrided." Athena states, deadpan.
"How many of the damn things are abandoned in this forsaken region???"

"So there IS more than one. Well shit." Suna responds. "I heard Crescent say that... she was a friend, and that she was buried. And now there are... doll copies of her?"

"Did she have literally ankle-length blue hair?" Athena asks.

Emma sighs and walks around the mountaintop to take some pictures.

"I think the one she was friends with was a Doll too." Maria states.

"Oh boy. There's fucking altered clones. Mine had neck-length purple hair." Suna responds to Athena.
"And maybe kiddo, maybe. I wouldn't be surprised." Suna responds to Maria.

Athena sighs. "Welp, only one thing left to try."

"Are there dolls like that back in Reborn?" Maria asks.

"Do you know of any conspiracy theory rags native to this region?" Athena asks.

"None that are Ivy level. I WISH Aevium had that level of... alternative reporting." Suna responds.

"Ugh..." Athena reacts.

Emma looks down at Athena from a higher elevation on the mountain.
"You might find something from a Grand Dream City magazine?" she helpfully suggests.

"Yeah, that works." Athena responds.

"As for Dolls, not... really, unless you count the ones your moms and the three heroes made." Suna answers Maria. "And Lin."

Athena chuckles.

"What did Lin do?" Maria asks, not understanding the sheer implications of what led to Reborn being the way it is today.

"WELL, kid, Lin was a girl not too much older than you." Suna states.
"One day, she fell through the cracks of the broken city and fell down into the depths of the earth."
"Even though she became God, she was trapped and had to make a Doll to write her way out."

Maria doesn't know how to respond.

"She did everything that was necessary. Too bad she didn't remember anything between timelines..." Athena answers. "What's she doing these days?"

Emma walks back over and stares at the cable car system.

"Off in another world, as far as I remember. Just kinda wandering the six realms, just like you two." Suna responds.

"Damn, she got out before we did? Shame, I'd want to say hi to her." Athena states.

"Let's just head home..." Emma sighs. "I hope Sakuya comes back soon."

"Woah..." Maria responds.

"Sure you don't wanna ride the cable car down, girl? I saw you lookin' at it." Suna asks.

"That's the idea." Emma states.

"Yeah, let's go." Athena confirms.

Emma walks into the building. Maria follows her in.

Athena waits for both of them to be out of earshot, then starts another conversation with Suna.
"...She's been through a lot recently."

"What, Sakuya?" Suna asks.

"Emma." Athena clarifies. "You know what it's like when someone gets Awakened, and it's been hell for the past few days ontop of that. Angie, and Carotos, and everything."
Athena sighs.
"And ontop of that, turns out she's intersex and never knew about it till now." Athena explains.

"Oh boy, at least I knew." Suna responds.

The area is silent besides the faint noises of wind flying for several seconds. Athena stretches, and starts walking over to the cable car building.

"Back to home life, I guess." Athena states.

Athena and Suna walk into the building.

Emma and Maria are sat down on a sofa waiting for the next car.

"Hey kids, ya like rice?" Suna asks.

"Yeah." Emma answers.

"I think I do?" Maria answers.

"Well ask your sis for a sip." Suna responds.

Suna hands Emma a bottle filled with a creamy white liquid.
"This is rice milk. It's like almond milk, but... made with rice. I always find it picks me up."

"Thanks? I'll try this when I'm back home." Emma responds.

The cable car arrives. Athena walks to the entrance, and pays the fare for the 4 of them. Everyone else gets on.

Sakuya walks into Goldenwood Town, and sits down on one of the benches outside the Pokemart.

Mosely walks out of the Pokemon Center and notices Sakuya. She deices to walk over to her.

"I thought you went to Terajuma? What's got you over here?" Mosely asks.

Sakuya rolls her eyes and gives Mosely a small bag full of money.
"Here, so you can buy something from the mart."

"Thanks, but I'm not hungry right now." Mosely responds, and pockets the coins. "Oh, are you here to check out what was on the news a few days ago?"

"I already did. He isn't going to be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"Huh?" Mosely asks. "Oh, you mean that creepy scientist guy. What did he do?"

Sakuya sighs.
"He killed 3 young women, then used a Sprigatito egg as bait to try and record evidence that I was the one that murdered them."

"What the hell?" Mosely asks. "Why would he do such a thing?"

"He's a Garufan, for one." Sakuya snarks. "No offense if you know any, of course."
"It's that strange obsession of his. An evil bitch played on it to give him a god complex, and he set a trap for me using them."

"Did you get the egg at least?" Mosely asks.

Sakuya laughs. "Yeah, of course I did."

"Can I see it?" Mosely further asks.

"Depends. Do you have a 'mon with Magma Armor?" Sakuya asks.

"Uh... I have this?" Mosely responds, and sends out her Carkol.

"Yeah, that works." Sakuya comments.

Sakuya takes out the Sprigatito egg, and places it near Carkol's heated body.

Moments later, Sprigatito hatches from the egg.

Sakuya rummages around in her pocket of hyperspace and pulls out a Nest Ball. She throws it down onto her Sprigatito, claiming it as her own.
"There we go."

"Niiice." Mosely reacts.

"Well, I should be heading back. Buy yourself something nice." Sakuya sighs, and stands back up.

Mosely walks over to the Pokemart, and Sakuya walks back west to the Wispy Path.

Sakuya heads further west from the Wispy Path, and heads through the Route Gate to Goldenwood Forest.

She heads into the cave, and walks through towards the broken-open entrance, but notices someone beside it, examining the damage.

Sakuya waves at the woman and tries to get her attention.
"Hey."

She turns around, allowing Sakuya to get a better look at her long white hair, white vest, black trousers, and white on red tied boots.

"Greetings, Trainer. I am Mars, 1st member of the Culvier Clan." Mars introduces herself.

"Cool, I'm just wondering why you're here." Sakuya comments.

"To train both body and mind against the Pokemon here. Would you challenge me?" Mars asks.

"I've got something more important to deal with right now, sorry."

Mars sighs and moves out of the way to let Sakuya through to the dark path through the cave.

Sakuya walks out into the Silent Grove.

She doesn't see anything at first, so walks down the slope and over the wooden bridge through the pond so that the castle is in full view for her.

Athena's Iron Jugulis flies at her and replaces its face with a happy emote when it bumps into her.

"Hey Cyn. What are you doing here of all things?"

Iron Jugulis points towards the top of the castle.

Sakuya decides to follow the path that Iron Jugulis is pointing at, and walks up one set of stairs on the castle's ramparts.

She's barely able to see a girl with absurdly long blue hair walking over to the statue before the area is covered in an extremely thick fog.

Sakuya looks at the Iron Jugulis, only barely able to despite the short distance between them.

"Defog?" Sakuya asks.

Iron Jugulis's faceplate displays [404 HM Unlearnable] in response.

A loud scraping sound emanates from the source of the fog.

"Nope. We need to get out of here, right now." Sakuya yells, and jumps onto Iron Jugulis.

Iron Jugulis's faceplate switches to an RPG-style fast travel screen temporarily, and selects a node correstponding to Kakori Village on the map it displays.
Its internal engine overclocks itself, and it starts flying up into the air as fast as it can.

Sakuya looks back down at the fog when Jugulis flies out of it, and she notices it start to recede, leaving no sign that it or the girl was there behind. A passage down into the ground has been revealed by the shifting of the statue.

Maiel finishes her spaghetti and takes the plate back into the kitchen. After that, she walks back into the Grand Room, and seems slightly surprised when she doesn't see Variya sat down.

She shrugs and decides to walk through the corridors of the manor to see what rooms it has to explore.

She walks back east through the corridor, and opens a door up into a room with several washing machines, tumbledryers, and an ironing rack.

Maiel closes the doro and walks further through the corridor, then opens a second door.

The next door opens into a room packed to the walls with wooden barrels, and bottles, most of which are full of deeply coloured liquids, beside them.

She thinks about grabbing a bottle of wine, but decides against it and closes the door.

"The east ward is probably full of functional rooms like this." Maiel surmises. "Now what about the west..."

She walks back through the long corridor to the Grand Room, and heads through the west corridor. 

She opens a south-facing door and sees a home theatre with a few dozen seats and a projector attached to a large hard drive.

"Nice." Maiel comments. "I'll come back to this later."

Maiel leaves the door open, and walks further through the corridor, noticing another door on each side.

The north-facing door opens into a room filled with paintings on its walls and superfluous number of larger than usual columns.
Most of the paintings are landscapes, though a few are artistic interpretations of the beasts that lurk outside, or Legendary Pokemon.

The south-facing door opens into an indoor garden, probably where Variya got all of the vegetables from as to not need to go out into the wilds each time one of them wants to eat an apple.

She walks further in, making a 90 degree turn to go north through the manor.

She stops at another door on her left, and notes that the corridor ahead turns into a downward flight of stairs.

Maiel opens the door, into a long room with several tabletop games peppering the floor and arcade games lining the walls.

"Not really interested, but she has good taste." Maiel comments.

Maiel walks downstairs, and the first thing she notices is that the aesthetics of the walls have changed from black and red to black and green. The stairs turn west again, and into a lower main hall.

Two suits of armor on the west wall indicate to her that the door beside them leads to an armory.

She walks to the south wall and sees a set of doubledoors. She opens them, and reveals a vast gym inside. An actual Gym filled with fitness equipment, not one that you fight against a strong Pokemon Trainer in.

Maiel shrugs, and quickly changes her clothes to a sports bra and leggings with a dark triangular flash of light as she walks through the area.
She doubles back around after reaching the south end of the room, and looks west.

A large window on the western wall shows a large swimming pool in the next room over, She looks away, and sighs.

"Maybe. Maybe..." Maiel says to herself, and walks over to a machine suited to a thigh workout.

She sits down and starts using it.

Sakuya adjusts her grip on the Iron Jugulis as it rapidly flies towards Terajuma, and takes her Pokenav out to call Athena.

Athena immediately picks up.

"Tell me you're alright." Athena immediately asks over the call.

"Fertilizer." Sakuya answers.

"What happened." Athena states in response.

"Murder. Fight. Railgun. Arm scorched. Petrification. Rubble." Sakuya answers, pausing for several seconds between each statement.

"Location." Athena asks over the call.

"Intranational waters." Sakuya responds.

"Want me to get you some pu'er?" Athena asks over the call. "I know that cheers you up."

The blistering winds caused by the speed that Iron Jugulis is flying at punctuate Sakuya's silence.

"Yes please." Sakuya sighs.

Athena immediately hangs up the call after being answered.

Sakuya looks down at Iron Jugulis's faceplate. It looks up at her and causes its LEDs to display [ETA 10M].

Chapter Text

Alain walks back through the backrooms of Blacksteeple Castle, and takes a few pictures of the terminal all of the crystals are feeding into.

She walks back to the wall and takes out a book while waiting for it to open up.

Alain takes out one of the books they took from the library, "Stalking in Divespace".

"Despite what this may seem, this is not a work of fiction. There are many worlds beyond our own, all you need to find is a weak spot and the determination to survive in the sea." Alain reads.

She rolls her eyes and looks past the rest of the foreword to see the author's name and accolades.

"Tanya Isnemheg, award-winning 'Speculative Fiction' writer and member of the Ransei Exploratory Team."

Ransei? Didn't that region disappear during the Darkest Day? Then again, she didn't read the news that often so maybe it came back recently.

Alain turns the page to the first chapter, and notes that it starts with a diary entry.

"Wednesday 12. My pet turtle turned 25 today. I've been stuck in this shithole of a region for almost as long, and it looks like I've found my ticket out!"

"A legendary trainer made a post online recruiting adventurers for an expedition to the ruins of Ransei. Can't believe it took this long for anyone to go there, even the Galarian Museum decided to sit this one out."

"Just gotta hope that this is a valid enough reason to get out of Torren... And that no-one else had the same idea. Skale's already got her recruits from Kanto and Sinnoh..."

"Thursday 13. I went to the bureau yesterday and gave my request. They said to come back in a few days after they look through my records again."

"Someone from the Crown Tundra volunteered too, according to her website. Everyone's identities are still private. Pretty sure that Cynthia's the one from Sinnoh."

"Saturday 15. Bureau sent me a letter with a passport in it and a letter explaining that since the only crime I committed has since been decriminalized, I'm free to travel."

"Now all I have to do is find a way to travel to Reborn, since that's where they're going to set off from."

"Sunday 16. Writing this on the plane to Unova - I'm finally free."

"I sent Skale a message online while waiting, but didn't get any response yet."

"Skale's clearly her self-insert." Alain snarks.

They put the book back in their bag after looking down at their Cybernav for the time, and jump through the wall as it opens up.

She walks back through the castle's backrooms and heads back to the backside of the Prestige Room, and knocks three times on the wall.

A few minutes later, Emma's Zoroark, still disguised as Alain, opens it by moving the book.

"Did any guards come?" Alain asks.

"One came. Ignored him and read book." Zoroark answers.

Zoroark's body becomes hazy and it shakes it from side to side, dispelling the illusion and regaining its original form as a Hisuian Zoroark.

"Send back." Zoroark instructs.

Alain takes out the Hisuian Pokeball that Zoroark is linked to, and recalls it.

She puts the ball back in her pocket, and lies down on her bed.

Alain wakes back up in her bed inside the Manor.

"I'm never going to get used to that..." Alain sighs.

She sends Emma's Zoroark out, and hands it its own Pokeball.

"I have no idea when she's getting back here, so have fun."

Zoroark nods and walks off.

Alain shrugs and walks out of her room, then down into the Grand Room and through the hallways to look for where either Emma or Maiel are.

Eventually they walk down the stairs to the gym, and walk in on Maiel working out her quads.

Maiel looks up at Alain, and slowly loosens her grip on the machine's weights.

"Sup." Maiel states.

"Just wondering where Emma is. I don't need her Zoroark anymore." Alain responds.

"No clue, and I don't feel like switching back over right now." Maiel answers.

Alain turns their head to look through the room.
"Is that a sauna in the corner?"

Maiel stands up and turns to look over at a wooden room built between the gym and pool in the north corner.
"Seems it."

Maiel stretches, and starts walking over to it.

Alain shrugs, and follows Maiel over to see if that's actually the case.

Maiel opens the door to see a sauna with two-tiered wooden seating and a box full of rocks in the middle. She walks over to one of the benches.

Alain closes the door and sighs. Relaxing in a sauna sounds nice, but with someone else in there...

They walk around to the other side of the room's outside and undress, then put on a swimskirt and walk back over to the door.

Alain opens the door to see Maiel heating the rocks up at an accelerated rate using the Archetype's power, and that she's completely naked. They close the door behind themself.

"Really?" Alain asks.

"Hey, I just got the thing back." Maiel protests. "You can take that thing off if you want, I don't care what you have down there."

"I'm not taking it off." Alain states.

"Our outfits here don't affect what we're wearing in the 'real world', yknow. No-one's going to see-" Maiel explains.

"I said no." Alain firmly states, interrupting Maiel.

Maiel sighs. "I get it, sorry."

Alain sits down on the bench. Maiel finishes heating up the rocks and uses a ladle to pour water onto them, causing steam to fill the sauna.

Sakuya arrives at the beach of the Mynori Sea, and throws a tarp over Athena's Iron Jugulis.

She walks over to the treeline and goes through it into Kakori Village.

Sakuya opens the door into her temporary house, and sees Athena and Maria sat down by the table.
Athena has placed a glass teapot down on the table, which Sakuya can clearly see has a small block of solid tea inside it, slowly dispersing into the water.

Athena notices the artificial arm that Sakuya currently has, and sighs.

Maria stands up and runs at Sakuya to give her a hug.

"Are you alright?" Maria asks.

Sakuya hugs Maria back.
"I'm surviving."

Sakuya waits for Maria to loosen her grip in the hug, and then walks over to the table. She sits down on the other side of the table than Athena.

Athena pours Sakuya a mugful of dark tea. Maria walks back to the table and sits in the chair beside Sakuya.

"Where's Emma?" Sakuya asks.

"She's upstairs, having a bath." Athena explains.
Athena then pours Maria a mugful of tea, and hands the cup to her.

"What's with that robe?" Maria asks.

Sakuya stares at Athena.
"Suna said everything, didn't they."

"Yeah, pretty much." Athena responds.

"Well... yeah." Sakuya sighs. "I buried them with Crescent, and got an egg for my troubles. It's a ghost-type, so it's for Emma."

Sakuya takes a sip from her tea, and visibly relaxes as she savors the taste.

"Did you see Cyn?" Athena asks.

"Yeah, she's being a cryptid in Mynori now. I saw some news about her travelling above West Gearen and traced her location to the Silent Grove." Sakuya answers.

Athena waits a few seconds before responding.
"...What happened?"

"Lots of fog. The statue's moved a few feet and there are stairs that head down into the castle now." Sakuya answers.

"Good thing that isn't our problem right now." Athena responds. "If that's a Garufan castle, it'll have more than enough Black Spikes to prevent anyone from managing to get what's in there."

Sakuya takes another long sip of her tea.

Athena drinks from her cup and puts it down when she thinks of something.
"Hey, Maria?"

"Yeah?" Maria asks.

"Do you remember ever reading something about an army of identical warriors?" Athena asks.

Maria stares at Athena, and stays silent.

Silence fills the room, only punctuated by Sakuya drinking her tea.

Eventually, Maria answers.

"Yes. I remember a story where as the empire was falling, one of the scientists was forced to turn her artificial child into an army because the actual army was attempting a coup. They didn't get used against the army because the princess came back to life and killed her father before that could happen, but..." Maria explains.

Athena blinks.
"Gods below." she exclaims.

Sakuya finishes drinking her mug of tea, and pours herself another one.

"Did you get the relics though?" Sakuya asks.

"Yeah, Suna gave both of them to me. We have all 3 now." Athena answers.

"I told Crescent that we'd head to Blacksteeple before heading to Valor in return for her getting me the Water Relic." Sakuya exposits. "Never said when that's happening."

"Downtime week?" Athena asks.

"Downtime week." Sakuya confirms.

"Downtime week!" Maria exclaims.

"Without burnout necessitating it this time..." Sakuya sighs.

"What happened to your arm?" Maria asks.

"Eizen shot it off." Sakuya answers. "It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's what you need to know."

Maria drinks some of her tea.

Alain lets out a sigh of relief as the hot steam floods the sauna.

"So... why Psychic?" Alain asks.

Maiel shrugs.
"Felt like it. Emma's already got Ghost-types and Athena's using Fairy-types, and Flying-types are boring." Maiel explains. "Thanks for the Delphox, by the way."

"Don't mention it. I'm looking forward to being able to use Reaper." Alain responds.

"What about you, why are you doing the League Challenge?" Maiel asks.

"I got here a few weeks ago, and I'm a competent trainer so why shouldn't I try?" Alain answers.

"It really makes you think." Maiel comments. "With how many trainers there are, how come only a few manage to beat the league?"

"Lack of education for the most part." Alain states. "Almost everyone outside of Kalos just thinks of the Evolution Pokemon when someone mentions 'EVs'."

Maiel laughs. "Yeah, true."

"And then you've got all of those mentally ill trainers who abandon their Pokemon if one of them faints and then act surprised when they can't beat the league." Alain snarks. "That doesn't fly at all in the harder leagues like Aevium."

"Most people just battle it out in facilities." Maiel comments.

"Fair. That way you don't have any reason to change from your favorites." Alain comments.

Maiel pours more water onto the rocks, causing more steam to flood into the sauna.

"How are you... alright with that out?" Alain asks.

Maiel takes a few moments to answer.
"I don't really feel any problem with it?" Maiel answers. "Everyone's different, and... I don't really even feel human at this point. Being stuck in Limina for several years did something to me."

"Can you talk more about Limina?" Alain asks. "You said something about it to Variya, but you've got me curious now."

Maiel sighs. "Sure."

"It was like..." Maiel states, thinking of an example. "Like... a recycle bin for the world? Everything was a mess. One time I went to a place that looked like Goldenleaf Cave, but it was completely different from both what it looked like for me and what it looks like now. I wouldn't wish that hell on anyone... other than Aevia, obviously. Even then, it wasn't HER that got thrown there with me."

Alain blinks. "What?"

"Aevia?" Maiel asks.

"Yeah, what did you mean by that."

"When the world ended and I was thrown in there, Aevia's personality completely shifted. She acted like most of what had happened never did, like she'd seen our journey through rose-tinted glasses. It wasn't even like she was trying to gaslight me like Aevia did several times, this Aevia genuinely believed that bullshit and was shocked when I brought up bad things." Maiel explains.

"You used the same name twice there. Don't you think it'd be easier to refer to the 2 differently?" Alain asks.

"Well, if it wasn't for the fact that this world's 'Melia' clearly isn't going by that right now so I shouldn't try to either, I'd probably call myself something stupid like 'M2'." Maiel comments. "Should I refer to the being that was possessing her as 'A2'?"

Alain nods. "Yeah."

"In which case, when the world ended, A2 abandoned its vessel and left Aevia with me just to taunt me in the abandoned world. Unable to age, starve, or die. Stuck with the same person that let all of this happen, but without any of the memories or personality of what made it happen. My personal hell." Maiel explains.

Maiel pours more water onto the stones with a ladle, flooding the sauna with steam. She sits back down on her seat, and slumps over.

"What was A2 like?" Alain asks.

"An asshole to everyone. It taunted Aelita over her dad dying. The worst thing is that everyone... put up with it for some reason? Even when I brought it up, no-one was hearing what I said." Maiel exposits. "Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate."

Alain moves a few seats over to Maiel. Maiel pushes Alain away.

"How do I know you aren't that thing???" Maiel yells.

"I remember some things that happened before the SS Oceana?" Alain answers. "And I bet Crescent wouldn't be talking to me if I wasn't myself."

Maiel sighs, and stays silent after that.

"And I like Aelita. I think I'll take her on a date after I break her out of Blacksteeple. Do you know of a good place I can take her?"

Maiel slowly groans.

"What?" Alain asks.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about all of what happened." Maiel states.

"Do you think Crescent would mind?" Alain asks.

"I think as long as you're happy and you don't forget about her, she'd be fine with it." Maiel answers. "Same with if you want to do anything with me."

"Hard no until I talk to her about it." Alain plainly states.

"Understandable." Maiel responds.

Alain sighs.

"Was it really just you in there?" Alain asks.

"Yes... and no. Looking back on it, the streets were too empty. There were bloodstains and footprints in some alleys. All the same print, a heeled boot. One time, we travelled all the way to Reborn City. There was a mess throughout all of the Lapis Ward, and a few strands of golden hair." Maiel exposits.

Alain walks over to the box of rocks and uses the ladle to pour water onto them, flooding the sauna with steam. She sits back down afterwards.

"...thanks." Maiel sighs.

"Do you think I should try looking for Aelita?" Alain asks.

"If you don't think she'll get punished as a result, yeah." Maiel responds. 

Alain stands up, and stretches. Maiel notices several self-harm scars on her forearms, but doesn't comment on them.

"Can you-?" Alain starts to ask.

Maiel manifests a white towel and throws it at Alain.

"Thanks." Alain states.

Alain ties the towel around their body and opens the door to walk out.

Maiel stretches, and walks over to the rocks. She dumps the entire water bucket onto the rocks to cool them down, causing an absurd amount of steam to flood the room.

She coughs a few times but waits for the temperature to cool down.

Alain walks back up to her room and walks over to her laptop. She attaches her CyberNav to it with a link cable to move the pictures onto it.

She opens the IRC chat.

* loneWolf is no longer AFK.
<loneWolf> ok what did I miss
<Zara> Assholes spreading rumors about our region. Again. 
<neotericWitch> I have merely been reading some of Zara's works.
* Zara blushes.
<Turboblaze> Beat another trainer.
<rainbowCyberia|Autoresponder> Da Queen o' Booty is currently busy.
<Zara> Oh shit.
<loneWolf> What?
<Zara> Terra's autoresponder. It's only active if she's actually in danger.
<voidbornPrincess> ?Situation
<rainbowCyberia|Autoresponder> Loading...
<rainbowCyberia|Autoresponder> Anemone detected. Type: Foxhorns.
<crescentMoon> Goddamnit.
<-- crescentMoon has left #general (FUCKING HELL)
<vriskaApologist> So it's fine when it happens in a fascist state, but not when someone just wants to have fun. Suuure.
<rainbowCyberia|Autoresponder> M3G4T3RR4 is at [[Rubellux Gorge]].
<-- voidbornPrincess has left #general (Hunger.)

That isn't a place on the map she looked up a few days ago.

<Turboblaze> That sounds fun. Want a recording?
<Zara> I'll give you 20 BP.
<Turboblaze> 50.
<Zara> 25 and a bottle of Fireball.
<Turboblaze> Deal.
* Turboblaze has gone AFK.
* vriskaApologist hits her compass with a tuning fork a few times.
<vriskaApologist> wait a second.
<rainbowCyberia|Autoresponder> Query. Perchance.
<vriskaApologist> THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!
<loneWolf> "Space Hags"?
<vriskaApologist> If that's what you call them, yes.

Alain sighs and walks onto her bed. She lies down and tries to get some sleep.

Chapter Text

Athena and Sakuya both walk upstairs.

Emma is lying down in her bed watching anime on her P*DA.

Maria walks over to her bed and sits down on it.

"Can I have another story?" Maria asks.

Athena shrugs. "Sure. How about I tell you about the story of this girl that saved us back in the Tower?"

Maria lies down on her bed, and answers. "Yes please."

Athena clears her throat, and starts orating.

In the world of Symphonia, back before the Second Impact, there was an elf who lived on a floating island.

When the meteor fell, her island was cloaked in the absence of light, but she went on her path as if nothing had happened. Waiting for the day that someone else would come to spend time with her.

Years later, sunlight graced the island again. She found a crystal in the depths of her fishing pond and travelled to the mountain beside the forest.

A wandering knight from a clan of raiders had gotten lost on the island, and agreed to travel with her until they both left.

The mountain held a vast library, one that the gods had left behind eons ago. There, she studied about the crystal she had found and how to cast greater magic through it.

They left for the forests and headed to the dark cube lingering in its heart. A Labyrinth.

The duo entered. Inside, they found the skeleton of a dragon and the dust of a crystalline egg's discarded shell.

Rather than a monstruous being to fight, they found hollow copies of an angel and a demon, who set aside their differences to be a nuisance to the heroes.

She reigned victorious alongside her knight, who learned a form of teleportation from the beings left behind.

They found their way down to the mainland, and travelled north to the Guild to find answers, only for one of the Knight's clan to stop them on the roadside for a picnic.

"Probably not as good as the one that Sakuya told you, but.... that basically happened." Athena explains.

Maria stretches and places her head against her pillow.
"That was great."

"Hehe, thanks." Athena responds.

Sakuya lies down on her bed and tries to get some rest after a stressful day.

Athena sits down by her and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

Eventually she gets into bed as well, and lets sleep slowly embrace her soul.

Maiel walks through the Dreamscape Manor to her room, and stares at it for several minutes while thinking about how to redesign it.

Eventually she decides to put up a few posters and leave it at that for the day. She sits down at her desk and checks the IRC log.

* Topic for #general is WARNING!WARNING!WARNING.
* #general is currently moderated (Voice or higher required to speak.)
* displacedAngel is no longer AFK.
* +tripleBaka gave Turboblaze +v
<+Turboblaze> Thanks Thes.
<+tripleBaka|Purple> Don't mention it.
<+Turboblaze> [Rubellux.avi]

Maiel starts downloading the file.

"What the hell happened here?" Maiel asks herself.

The file seems to be taking a long time to download, so she pulls out a bottle of purple alcohol and pours it into a shot glass.

She downs the shot of a nondescript bottle labelled 'Spicy Vodka' in quotation marks, and waits for the rest of the file to download.

In the meantime, she walks over to her wardrobe and fills it with outfits that she'd actually like to wear.

Several minutes later, the file finishes downloading. She opens it up in a media player.

The first minute of the video is just Charlotte putting the camcorder on her Talonflame and sending it down into the chasm to record a better resolution video.

Talonflame lands in the base of the Rubellux Gorge and stays still enough for the recording to stay stable.

Terra, her hair dark green enough for someone to think of it as black from a distance, sends out her Ting-Lu and a Kantonian Articuno.

"I don't know who you are, or why you want this, but I do know one thing." Terra yells, her voice full of protective rage.

"You picked the wrong house, fool."

TECHPRIEST TERRA is challenged by ??? SPACEA and ??? TIEMPA!

A Corviknight and Baxcalibur appear on the other side of the arena to Terra.

Terra holds her Earth Slate like a tablet computer and rapidly types inputs onto it.

"SYSTEM CALL, ARENA: DEADEYE!" Terra proclaims.

Corviknight and Baxcalibur's bodies become frozen in place.

Articuno releases a blizzard at Corviknight, freezing its body completely solid and causing it to shatter into several metallic pieces.

Ting-Lu slams a foot into the ground and causes a rift in the gorge to open up under Baxcalibur, sending it careening into the abyss below.

The Corviknight and Baxcalibur are replaced with a Mega Dragalge and Dondozo with no regard for how messily the previous Pokemon were dealt with.

"Pot, Imposing Presence. Icebird, Mind Reader on the Dondozo." Terra instructs.

Ting-Lu rattles its pot-shaped head and fills it with dark energy in a taunting gesture.

Articuno focuses its attention on Dragalge.

Dragalge fires a blast of ki at Ting-Lu, heavily damaging it. Dondozo puts the entire weight of its body into a slam onto Ting-Lu, almost knocking it out.

"Pot, Ruination. Icebird, Sheer Cold again."

Articuno releases a blizzard at Dragalge, freezing its body completely solid and similarly causing it to shatter into several pieces.

Ting-Lu fires the dark energy at Dondozo, heavily suppressing its body.

Dondozo vomits up a plate of sashimi onto Ting-Lu, knocking it out.

Terra recalls Ting-Lu and sends out her Gliscor, which is already visibly poisoned.

The Dragalge's place is replaced with an Alolan Sandslash.

Inexplicably, it starts to hail inside the gorge.

Terra notices this, and adjusts her strategy.

"Icebird, Freeze-Dry. Glide, Counter."

Sandslash summons several rocks down onto Terra's side of the arena, almost knocking out Articuno.

Articuno responds by freezing Dondozo's aqueous body solid, completely incapacitiating it.

Gliscor ignores its instruction and flies at Sandslash to slash down with one of its claws, dealing heavy damage.

Dondozo is cast aside and replaced with an Aegislash.

"Icebird, Permafrost. Glide, do whatever."

Sandslash slams a giant icicle down onto Gliscor's body, knocking it out.

Articuno flash freezes the air around Aegislash's body, incapacitating it by freezing it in a solid block of ice.

Terra recalls Gliscor, and sends out an Absol with golden instead of blue colouration, and a serrated horn and tail.

"Icebird, Aurora Veil. Amethyst, Perish Song."

Sandslash summons several rocks down onto Terra's side of the arena, knocking out Articuno and damaging Absol.

Absol immediately Mega Evolves, and lets out a deluge of crimson soundwaves, unnerving the entire arena.

Terra recalls Articuno and sends out her Hippowdon.

Hippowdon launches sand into the air through its back ports, neutralising the hail and replacing it with a sandstorm.

"Amethyst, Taunt. Sand, Dig." Terra instructs.

Absol makes a taunting gesture at the currently-frozen Aegislash.

Sandslash runs at Hippowdon and slams a giant icicle into it.

Hippowdon digs down into the ground.

"Amethyst, Protect."

Absol covers its body in a hexagonal energy shield.

Sandslash throws out rocks into the air around Terra's side of the arena.

Hippowdon digs back out of the ground, and knocks out Sandslash.

Sandslash is cast aside and replaced with an Orthworm.

"Sand, Body Press. Amethyst, Close Combat." Terra instructs.

Absol runs at Orthworm and savagely attacks it with every limb it has. Orthworm responds by redirecting all of the energy from the attack at it, knocking it out.

Hippowdon slams into Orthworm with its entire body, knocking it out.

Aegislash defrosts and covers its body in a vengeful aura.

Aegislash succumbs to the crimson soundwaves' malefic melody, but pulls Hippowdon down with it.

Terra recalls her Absol and Hippowdon, and reaches for another Pokeball when she hears something.

A rift in reality is cleaved open by a black scythe, and Crescent jumps out through it.

The being that Terra was fighting against reveals itself, turning out to be two. A pink-haired old woman in a white dress, and a silver-haired old woman in a blue dress.

Terra looks at Crescent.

"If you aren't Lin, get out of here while you still can." Terra states, warning her.

"Don't worry. I can handle myself." Crescent responds.

Crescent's rift starts to corrupt, with visible globules of ink distorting its outside and innards. She looks at in with concern.

The ink disappears, and the rift now displays glowing - and + signs amidst a voidal backdrop instead of the distorted view of Zone Zero.

A woman with stone-grey skin and ink-black hair jumps out through the portal. Her outfit - a jacket over a croptop, skirt, and tights - and aviation goggles are similarly monochrome.

She stretches, and looks around the gorge for how many hostiles there are.

"Ahhh, it's good to be back." Galatea sighs in relief. "Just those two?"

"My autoresponder told both of you where I am, didn't it." Terra asks.

"Yes." Crescent answers.

Galatea squints at the two figures on the other side of the scorched arena that Terra is standing in.

"Well, if it isn't Indu and Nitika." Galatea states.

"What?" the pink-haired woman exclaims.

"Wait, you know them?" Crescent asks. "Even I don't know those names."

"Kaur???" the silver-haired woman exclaims.

"In the fl... well, it's more like stone at this point." Galatea confirms.

Galatea ignores them and focuses on Terra.
"So, my good bitch, what's going on?"

"Not right now." Terra states.

Galatea sighs. "Alright. Terra, what are those two wastes of aether doing here?"

"Theseus wanted to see this region for herself, so I was taking her through the Rubellite Ridge but we got jumped by those two by what looked like a Spacial Rend." Terra exposits. "Thes is alright, but she's dealing with integrity damage right now."

"They said that I couldn't be allowed to keep her because of what her body was made from." Terra answers.

Galatea stares at the Space Hags.

"Seriously?" Galatea asks.

"We were given strict orders by Her Majesty centuries ago. That object was created by soulless demons from another timeline. It cannot be allowed to leave the bounds of Aevium." the pink-haired woman explains.

"...'Her Majesty'? I know you sided with my father in the war, but the empire's royal family dissolved after my father died and I absconded." Galatea exposits. "And I know well the being that was mimicking me. Who in the six realms are you talking about?!"

"This is for the sake of the timeline!" the silver-haired woman yells.

"That's why you got flagged as Foxhorns..." Galatea comments.

"Magically salting my eyehole's wounds is for the sake of the timeline?" Crescent yells.

Galatea turns to face Crescent, and notices that her hair completely covers where her right eye would be. She doesn't comment on it.

"Why did they do that?" Galatea asks.

"I made a deal with them during Storm-9. They 'saved' me in return for doing several jobs throughout time for them. When they loosened up on how much they were controlling me, I took the opportunity and went back in time to kill the person that kidnapped and murdered a friend, and send her body to its burial site." Crescent explains.

"Oh, you poor soul." Galatea sighs.

"That could have destabilized the universe!" the silver-haired woman yells.

"I didn't even get fragged by doing that." Crescent yells back. "I didn't cross my own timeline."

Galatea looks back at the Space Hags.

"Who. Is. Your. Queen?" Galatea asks.

"I can't tell you that." the pink-haired woman answers.

Galatea manifests a buckler on her right elbow and a serrated bone blade in her left hand.

Galatea pulls up her goggles, and pulls her arms back to get the cricks out before fighting. She leans over in front as if she were leaning on an invisible box.

"You sure you want to do this?" Galatea asks the hags, toying with her sword as she does so.

"Only Her Majesty's Interceptor is allowed to change fate. These actions are unacceptable." the pink-haired woman states.

"As the sole living heir of the Agarthan Empire, I order you both to stand down, or face the consequences." Galatea commands.

"What is a kingdom without a king? You said it yourself, the empire fell." the silver-haired woman boasts.

Galatea looks back at Crescent, and asks a question. "Hey, want to get some revenge?"

Crescent remanifests her scythe, and aims it at the Space Hags. "I've been waiting decades for this."

Galatea sighs, and lets out a white smoke as she breathes.

She breathes back in, and stands up.

The sandstorm subsides, and a droplet of water hits the ground in the middle of the arena.

Galatea switches her bone blade to a flamberge that crackles with lightning.

"LET'S GET FIRED UP, MORTAL!" Galatea yells, and rushes at the Space Hags.

VOIDBORN GALATEA has initiated an encounter!

The silver-haired woman summons her sword and shield to protect herself from Galatea, blocking the blade swing with her shield and attempting to strike with her own sword in turn.

Galatea manifests a submachine gun in her right hand and unloads it into the silver-haired woman, knocking her back.

Crescent forms a mass of psychic energy inside her scythe and launches it at the pink-haired woman, which gets absorbed by an energy barrier.

The silver-haired woman rushes at Galatea and strikes with her sword. Galatea parries and the two start redirecting blow after blow.

"The world cannot fall into darkness again. Who knows what those two could be planning?" The silver-haired woman yells while attempting to strike once more.

"Salvation of my new home lay in the fractured soul of three Descenders and an Outlander." Galatea retorts. "You're even more deluded than Father was."

"Unleash!" Galatea yells, and fully electrifies her blade.

The next strike that Galatea slashes causes the silver-haired woman's blade to electrify and throws her off balance, allowing Galatea to make a clean strike at her torso.
The slash barely makes a cut into her flesh.

Crescent runs at the pink-haired woman and throws more masses of psychic energy from her scythe at her as she does so.

Galatea jumps back and stares at her blade to get an idea of what just happened.

She instinctively puts her buckler up to protect from an opportunistic attack, and is pushed back from the sheer impact of an overwhelming beam of silver energy.
Galatea ignores that and further examines her blade, noticing scale fragments on the parts where it managed to connect.

"Dragon scales- Splicer tech?" Galatea observes. "Cress, did you know about that?"

"Never call me that again." Crescent yells.

The pink-haired woman takes advantage of Crescent being distracted to knock her back with an overwhelming deluge of pressurized water.

Terra takes advantage of the fact that she isn't being targeted to use her Earth Slate to summon a Light Shard and heal her party, then sends out her Gliscor and flies off.

Galatea throws aside her SMG and blade, causing them both to vanish. She pulls out a bow made of a silverine glowing metal, and fires a bolt of energy from it at the pink-haired woman.

Crescent stands back up, and fires a mass of energy at the pink-haired woman across the floor at her, which alongside the arrow shatters the barrier she had up.

The silver-haired woman responds by charging up an immense orb of energy in front of herself.

"Longstrider III!" Galatea casts, and causes a green aura to appear around Crescent's legs.

Crescent takes advantage of this to run at the pink-haired woman and make a strike with her scythe, then changes her scythe's appearance to a halberd to make repeated stabs into her torso.

Galatea pulls back the string of her bow and aims it at the silver-haired woman.

"Let's see if you're as strong as I remember. Breach Blast!" Galatea casts.

Galatea lets forth the string of her bow and fires a solid beam of force at the silver-haired woman, which collides with the beam of energy that she was charging up.

A giant explosion rings out as the beams collide, knocking everyone back and into the crater that the explosion formed.

The dust cloud clears and reveals the armor that the Space Hags were actually wearing, mostly white with pink accents and mostly blue with silver accents respectively.

Despite being armor, a faint amount of blood seems to be dripping from it rather than any of the unarmored skin they have.

"But to answer your question, they've merged with Legendary Pokemon." Crescent answers.

Crescent jumps back and cleaves another rift through reality. She shifts her scythe's appearance to a staff.

"Freeze-Dry!" Crescent casts, and sends a cold mist identical to the move through the rift.

The mist shoots up under the pink-haired woman, which appears to actually debilitate her.

Galatea chuckles. "Noted."

The silver-haired woman magically extends her blade and sends several crescent-shaped slashes of energy at Galatea.

Galatea holds up her buckler to defend from the swordbeams.

Crescent runs at the pink-haired woman with her scythe and throws it like a boomerang at her.

"When I made my agreement with Variya, she told me I couldn't run from my problems." Crescent shouts.

The scythe fades through the pink-haired woman's body as if it wasn't there, and returns to Crescent's hands.

"Don't think you can run from me." Crescent taunts.

"Var-" Galatea starts saying, and stops in place.

"Antilife Shell." Galatea casts. A hexagonal barrier covers her, giving her some respite in the battle.

Crescent shifts her scythe's appearance to a sniper rifle, and adjusts its sight. "Lock-On."

The barrier around Galatea disappears, and the silver-haired woman rushes down her and stabs into her with her sword.

Galatea resummons her SMG, and points it directly at the silver-haired woman's head.

"Dumbass." Galatea states. "Slug Shot."

Galatea fires the trigger, and a bullet the size of the gun's entire magazine comes out of its barrel, knocking the silver-haired woman back and down onto the ground.

"Moonblast." Crescent declares, and fires a beam of lunar energy through her weapon at the pink-haired woman, hitting her directly and knocking her back.

The silver-haired woman slowly staggers back, and pulls the bullet out of her head.

"You!" the pink-haired woman yells.

Galatea reloads her SMG, and stares at the pink-haired woman to wait for her to continue her meaningless monologue.

"I'LL RIP BOTH OF YOU TO FUCKING PIECES!" the pink-haired woman yells, and her body corrupts into that of Palkia.

Palkia lets out a resounding cry, and emits several slow-moving waves out from itself. Galatea notices that the waves are actually several minute projectiles close enough together to look like solid lines of energy.

Crescent stops in her tracks to think of a way to dodge.

Galatea rips the barrel off of her SMG and unloads the clip at Palkia. Instead of regular bullets coming out, several slow-moving projectiles scatter across the arena towards it, with the only apparent safespot being directly in front of the gun.

"What?" Crescent asks.

"Unlike SOME PEOPLE, I don't want to break the fabric of the universe while fighting." Galatea explains.

Crescent turns her scythe into a bow, and fires repeated beams of energy at Palkia, though it dodges out of the way of them. The beams themselves stick around for a few seconds before fading into stardust on both lateral sides.

"Is Variya really involved in this?" Galatea asks.

Crescent dodges through the waves that Palkia launched at her. Palkia cleaves through reality with its arms, and fires several thin beams of energy towards her. The beams seem to move in a jagged pattern.

"I'm not sure? I agreed to her offer to let me cut my own path in this world. I don't know much else." Crescent explains. "Alain knows more about her."

Galatea dispels her SMG and pulls her bow back out. She lets forth a stream of butterflies at the beams of energy to neutralise them. 

Crescent fires more beams of energy at Palkia, which this time let out beams at 90 degree angles every so often.

The silver-haired woman stands up and crushes the bullet in her hand. Immediately, Galatea notices myriad bullets all launching towards her at the same time.

Galatea switches to her dragonfang sword, and swings it around herself with wild abandon. Despite her attempts, several of the bullets hit her and knock her back.

Galatea responds by charging up two bolts of energy in her bow, and fires them directly at the silver-haired woman. The attacks fly just past her, but then extend to the entire width of the crater and hit Palkia head-on.

Crescent opens several minute rifts open with her scythe, and switches it to a bow to send a storm of arrows through them. Galatea follows up on the attack by stabbing her dragonfang sword into the ground and causing immense balls of fire to slowly move inwards from the sides of the crater.

Palkia sends a beam of overwhelming force through each of Crescent's rifts at the same time, causing them all to explode. The beams all redirect themselves to Crescent.

Galatea leaves her sword in the ground and runs at Crescent to push her out of the way, but takes the full brunt of all of them in return.

She slowly stands back up, and coughs out dust.

"How many times have you done this?" Galatea asks, to no answer.

Crescent switches her weapon's form back to a scythe, and uses it to fire several balls of psychic energy towards Palkia. They all sit around for a few seconds before they explode into sixteen-pointed stars.

Galatea rushes at the silver-haired woman and feels her perception of time slow down as she reaches her.

"Oh, fuck that. Vorpal Blade." Galatea yells, and pulls out her lightning-blessed blade to cut through reality.

Several lines appear around her and the woman like broken glass, then they all shatter at once, revealing the woman to be merged with Dialga.

"THAT NUMBER IS IRRELEVANT." Dialga yells. "HER MAJESTY'S ORDERS ARE OUR ONLY PURPOSE."

Palkia and Dialga's bodies start to faintly become spectral.

"What's going on?" Galatea yells at Crescent.

"There's an eclipse above Reborn right now. It's about to end." Crescent explains. "They can only appear outside of their domain when one's happening."

Galatea summons her bow again, and charges up a beam of energy.

"MARK MY WORDS. IF I FIND YOU IN MY PROFANED HOME AGAIN, I'LL FRAG YOU SO HARD THAT EVEN I'LL FORGET THAT YOU EXISTED." Galatea yells.

Galatea lets slip the beam of energy and fires it at Dialga.

When the beam's wake clears, both of them seem to have teleported away with no sign of whether the attack landed or not.

Galatea sighs. "Goddamn Foxhorns."

"Did you know Variya?" Crescent asks.

"Only vaguely. Scientist. Great with artificial life. Has an adopted son. She had an idea for what to do after the riots started, but her ego isn't enough to proclaim herself the queen of the new world." Galatea explains, and sighs again.

Crescent sighs as well. "I'll get them next time."

"Good luck with that. I don't think I can send myself back the way I came, so I guess I'll be traveling through Reborn till Terra can help me back."

Crescent shrugs, and uses her scythe to open a rift back to Aevium. She jumps through it, and the rift closes behind her.

Galatea notices the camera, and walks over to the Talonflame that's holding it.

"Hey. Get me up and I'll give you 200k Ele." Galatea tells the Talonflame.

Talonflame agrees without knowing what an Ele piece is, and from the distortion on the camera clearly flies up out of the gorge.