Samus could hardly tell where the vessel ended and Aquatica began. The darkness never lifted. And when the feeling returned to her body, it barely mattered – there was nothing to feel. No ground, no ceiling, no walls – no anything. Just water. She was in free fall – and she had been for a short while already when she realized it. Thanks to her Gravity Suit, she fell and fell as if the water were air, although she could neither feel the fall nor see anything but darkness. She was falling away from the vessel. Away from Tom.

Samus briefly considered taking her suit off and swimming back up to the vessel. But that, she sadly concluded, would be pointless. Even if she somehow survived the water pressure and managed to hold her breath that long, what could she do? She would only end up back in the whirlpool, which would in turn carry her back to the vessel. And Tom had fallen down a waterfall. At this point, he was either alive or he wasn't.

She couldn't help; she couldn't even swim. This dark, floorless ocean had turned her into gravity's puppet. She was useless. The one thing she dreaded more than anything else. Most of Samus's nightmares were about being useless. She would see a stranger in these nightmares, or perhaps a small animal, and a hideous Space Pirate would approach – yet Samus would find that her body was incapable of movement. The Pirate would kill the stranger under Samus's nose, and then it would run away without even noticing her – and there would be nothing Samus could do about it. Samus could never fall back asleep when she woke up from one of these nightmares. Yet here she was now, falling into the abyss, unable to move. Unable to save even the single fourteen-year-old boy she'd been trying to protect. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Samus flung her fist downward. She wished she had something to bang it on. Furiously, she shot her Power Beam every which way. She wished she had something to shoot at; something real and tangible to be angry at. Instead, her anger went everywhere. It expanded beyond anger at herself and became anger at everything. And then, after a few moments of aimless rage, the anger homed in on a single target. She suddenly felt furious at whoever had created the Metroid series of video games.

A bitter resentment had been brewing, beyond Samus's notice, for weeks. But only now did Samus become aware of how angry she was at these game developers. Frankly, the very concept of a video game troubled her. Why did people keep putting these electronic avatars in such horrible situations to begin with? Samus had spent her whole life trying to keep others safe and out of danger. Yet it seemed that video games almost always involved putting the protagonist in an excessively hostile environment where almost every other creature wants him or her to die. And if the electronic character was supposed to merely be an avatar for the player, well, that was even worse. It meant people wanted to see themselves under attack, to see themselves die over and over – and to continue playing, knowing they will probably die again. What's the point? There's never an award at the end, just a conclusion to a danger-filled quest that never had to happen. How was that entertainment? It was masochistic, perhaps even sadistic.

And yet that was why she existed. It had shaped her life. Some creative genius had come up with a character who had to blast her way through nerve-wracking missions within an inch of her life over and over and over. Because it was fun. And some bright young mind must have decided that this character needed a backstory. The man cheerfully told Nintendo that she had to watch her parents and her entire colony get slaughtered before her eyes. And had to watch her second home planet taken away from her all over again years later. And had to spend her life all alone, an outsider to the universe itself, because becoming too attached to any one thing, any one person, would prevent her from being the perfect warrior she needed to be.

All done in the name of entertainment.

Samus took a deep breath. It was dangerous to let her emotions get out of control like this. Samus had stopped being a slave to her emotions long ago – or so she thought. Yet, every once in a while, the pesky things would take hold of her while she had her back turned on them.

Finally, the sight of a real, physical object allowed her to climb out of the labyrinth of her own thoughts. Nearby, there swam… a swordfish of some kind. It was a long, blue fish with large fins and a long, pointy nose. Samus scanned it and was surprised to find that it existed in her database. It was a species of swordfish found on the Mushroom World, particularly the parts near Donkey Kong Island and the Northern Kremisphere. The swordfish had noticed her – and now it was swimming towards her. Samus aimed her Arm Cannon. But if it planned on attacking, it would have come at her much more quickly. It calmly swam until it was directly below her. Without even truly knowing if it was a friend or a foe, Samus fell onto its back and grabbed on.

Apparently, it was a friend. The swordfish showed no objection to Samus being on its back. And, crucially, Samus had stopped falling now. The swordfish did not move. Samus realized – or, rather, hoped – that it was waiting for her to direct it. "We need to go up," she said firmly, pointing upward to make herself clear (even though it couldn't see her). She patted its back. "Let's go."

For a moment, Samus was sure that the creature couldn't understand her. But then, miraculously, it began swimming. The fish swam gently upward at a forty-five degree angle.

There was still a chance. Tom might still be alive. And if so, Samus now had a perfect opportunity to reunite with him. She would ride this thing back to the vessel, and then, possibly, take it to Voltus to get her past the whirlpool. There, she would search for the boy. Who knows – he could even be on his way to her right now. These were some of Samus's thoughts as the swordfish swam her upward in a spiral, taking her closer to her place of entry with each turn.

It was, Samus suddenly realized, no longer dark. A light shone from above. No, not a single light – many different lights. Many bright, yellow orbs. And they were moving; the orbs were converging to a point almost directly above her. Samus then saw that these orbs belonged to a group of creatures. They were Lanturn – the same blue fish that had helped her get to Marine Cave an eternity ago (at least, that's how long it felt to her). But Samus had known that those Lanturn were on her side. What about these?

The swordfish swam cautiously now. The caution, it turned out, was warranted. When they approached the group of Lanturn, the nearest one lit up even brighter. A moment later, bzzt – it zapped Samus and the swordfish. The shock hurt Samus, but she knew that the swordfish would be hurt even more; it hastily sped away from the scene, carrying Samus with it. This would be difficult.

"Goddammit," Samus whispered, "there's always something."

Humans are idiots.

Tom was probably about to die, and probably about to take me with him. The suit he wore – me, effectively – could take a long fall. What it couldn't take was the sustained electrical barrage that would follow. At the foot of the narrow mountain, both waterfalls crashed down upon different parts of a mighty, electrified river. This wasn't just the victim of the occasional lightning strike; it was constantly lit up. It must have been conducting electricity for some vast, planetary circuit. And we were falling right into it. Now, it's true that the suit survived the attack from that one-eyed cloud monster, but just barely – and only because I had time to do some quick repairs. In the river, there would be no time for repairs. The voltage would end us.

So, basically, we were falling to our deaths. I still don't see why Tom had to incessantly scream about it. He was in a state of absolute hysteria, which did us no good at all. Unlike me, he was doing nothing to come up with a solution to our current predicament. Which goes back to my point: humans are idiots. Even if an obvious solution popped up beside us, Tom's human reaction time was so pathetic, and we were falling so fast, that he simply wouldn't have time to act. That meant he'd need to use logic to plan out something ahead of time – yet the human ability to use logic is not only laughably slow, it is also appallingly incomplete. Worse yet, it sometimes shuts down altogether when its service is needed the most – for example, when they're falling down a cliff toward a certain electrical death.

Well, it was my death too, and damned if I was just going to sit there (metaphorically speaking) and let it happen. Tom's brain may have been too unresponsive, illogical, and – above all – scared silly to be of any help, but mine wasn't. The situation was complex, so it took almost a full nanosecond to put together a plan. But I saw that there was hope – given that an advanced mind was put in charge. So I took over the suit. Nobody ever told me I could do this; I suppose it was a power nobody wanted me to abuse. But I could tell it was possible from the moment they put me in there – the limbs all had mechanical parts that I could easily control.

Now, two things to note about the metal mountain beside us. One: it was far from smooth – there were jagged protrusions, big and small, all over the place. Two: the wall-like side of the mountain was at an 87, maybe 88-degree angle with the ground (a number that got lower toward the mountain's base). It wasn't perfectly perpendicular, and the difference could save our lives.

Tom was falling face-down; his head pointed at the mountain, while his feet faced the waterfall behind us. My first task was to change this position. The air resistance made it difficult, but after a few seconds, I managed to swing Tom's legs under his body. I then straightened out his body. I positioned Tom diagonally so that his feet were tilted toward the mountain, and his head tilted away from it. This insured that the air pushing up on us would also push us toward the mountain.

When our free-fall took us to the mountainside, it was time for the next step. Tom had stopped screaming now, thank God, but only because his horror was now mixed with a deep and unsettling confusion. Anyway, I made both of the suit's arms reach for the mountain; upon contact, I clenched the fingers on the corroded surface as well as I could. There was nothing to stop us yet, but that's a good thing – a sudden stop would have broken Tom's arms at best and killed him at worst. There was, however, friction, thanks to both the texture of the mountainside and the many rusty stubs just a little too small to grasp; the slight incline of the mountain was crucial here. Eventually I got both the hands and the feet scraping against the metal wall and slowing us down dramatically. Some sparks would have been a nice effect here, but alas, the metal didn't respond to the intense heat our friction produced.

We slowed and slowed and slowed… and, finally, stopped completely. I was grabbing on to a thin, twig-like protrusion of metal, although it wouldn't hold us for long. Tom was utterly catatonic at this point – and utterly useless, as usual. Not that I needed him. A few hundred picoseconds were all I needed to calculate what path to take. There were other little protrusions along the blackened, silvery metal mountain wall, too – most of them thin as a straw. But one of them, some hundred feet away from us, was much larger, and that was my destination.

The next part was tricky, and I had to perform millions of calculations per second the entire way. Carefully, I swung from protrusion to protrusion, hanging one-handed on each one for no longer than two seconds before moving on. Sometimes I had to let go of the mountain altogether as I swung to the next grip – but I knew what I was doing, and never did I miss my target. This process continued until, finally, we reached our destination. If the other protrusions were like twigs, this spike-shaped one was like a branch; it extended a good ten feet from the mountain and was plenty thick enough to support Tom's body. After climbing onto it, I straddled Tom's legs over it and, feeling safe at last, released my control of the suit.

Understandably, Tom was still in a wide-eyed, unresponsive state of total shock. He was back in control now, yet he wasn't moving. So I said something to wake him up: "You're welcome."

Tom looked all around, then down at the dark silvery spike he was currently straddling, then down at his own hands and body. I got the impression he was now processing the events of the past minute, having failed to process them as they were happening. Then he said, "Dexter, you… you were just controlling my suit, weren't you?"

"Ah, top-notch detective work as always from our resident child genius."

"Dexter… you saved my life. Thank you so much."

I had said "you're welcome" once and wasn't going to repeat myself. But Tom was, apparently. "Dexter, thank you."

"Yes, you already said that. And I already said 'You're welcome'."

Tom was breathing deeply; he still hadn't quite come to his senses. "Right. Well, um, thanks." Why the sudden obsession with thanking me? I was only saving my own circuits.

Gradually, Tom's jitteriness lessened. Soon, his mind was clear enough to remember exactly what needed to be done. "Samus is waiting for me," he said. "She probably thinks I'm dead." He pulled out Charlie's Pokéball – but instead of opening it, he looked it over. "Poor Charlie. I've put you through so much today." He looked up and down the long, relatively thin spike he was sitting on. "And if I released you here, you'd probably just fall off." Then Tom turned his head to look at the mountain behind him. The mountain wall between here and the peak was somewhat different from the section directly behind the waterfall, where we had fallen. There were metal spikes all over the place – many of them as large as the one Tom now rested on. I felt Tom calm down somewhat; an idea had come to him. Tom put away Charlie's Pokéball. He slid up closer to the tip of the spike. Then, slowly and carefully, he slid his knees across the structure and turned around. Now that he faced the mountain, he took out another Pokéball: Manny's. "Be careful, now," Tom said as he pressed the button in the Pokéball's center.

After the familiar burst of light, Manny appeared, standing on the fattest end of the dark silver spike and touching the mountain wall. He clung onto the jagged mountain face with all four hands. "You need a lift, I take it?"

Tom breathed deeply, becoming more relaxed, though he was still a little jittery. "Yeah. Um, sorry for the trouble, but…."

"No time to waste with your apologizing – Samus is waiting for us! C'mon, get on my back."

Tom slid closer to Manny and the mountain. Once he was behind Manny, he grabbed onto his Machamp's lower arms and carefully lifted himself up into a standing position. Just as carefully, he lifted his legs, one by one, over Manny's lower arms. With Tom now on his back, Manny began climbing.

Manny climbed the mountain with great speed – far faster than any mere human would have been able to. And Tom rested comfortably with his legs around Manny's chest, and his arms around Manny's neck. Strangely, he was now almost completely calm.

"I almost died back there," he said. "And back on the fire planet, too. That was the closest I've come to death since… I guess, since that time Latios and Latias just barely saved us from Mewtwo." Wordlessly, Manny continued his fast-pace climb. Tom continued speaking. "I guess I was expecting something like that to happen eventually. I mean, they did tell me I had, like, a three in five chance of dying out here." Still Manny climbed on. "You know what's weird, though? I mean, I guess I'm still scared of death, but… I almost feel sort of ready for it. In just a month I've pretty much already gotten everything I ever wanted. I have best friends now, and my own Pokémon team, and even a girl… and I'm Champion of the Pokémon League now. If I have to die now… I guess it's as good a moment as I could have wanted."

Manny didn't stop climbing – but his expression had changed. And, finally he spoke. "Stop worrying, Tom – you're not gonna die. No way in hell am I ever gonna let that happen. I don't care what those psychic-types say; I don't give a crap what percentage chance of dying they think you have. I'll fight against the numbers themselves if I have to. They're gonna put that decimal place where I tell them to. I don't care 'bout some made-up numbers, Tom – I'm there for you, and that's what matters."

Manny's ascent never slowed down as he spoke. "…Thanks, Manny," said Tom. For the rest of the climb, the only noise was that of the raging waterfalls nearby.

Finally, after many minutes of climbing, Manny reached the peak. There was only a narrow strip of land between the edge of the cliff and the lake. Manny lifted himself up to this land, allowing Tom to drop off of his back. "Thanks a bunch," said Tom.

"No problem. Any time."

Manny wouldn't be much help from this point on, so Tom had to withdraw him. Then he sent out Kim. First, he had to make sure that she was strong enough to swim against the strong current produced by the whirlpool. Her attempts revealed that, yes, she could. Satisfied, Tom got on her back and clung to her as hard as he had clung to Manny. She swam him across the lake, fighting the current to bring him to the vessel.

Like Samus, it took Tom a moment to realize that he was no longer in the vessel. The first clue was the bright light beneath him. Actually, there were many lights. And they were getting closer….

And then every Lanturn that could reach us zapped Tom and Kim with all the electrical power they could muster. The suit could only handle so much electrical damage; I was afraid it might malfunction. "SWIM AWAY!" a scared Tom shouted to Kim. Kim wanted to show these ungrateful Lanturn who's boss, and was angry to have to leave them. Fortunately, there was a productive way for her to utilize this anger: in a burst of speed that got us the hell away from those Lanturn.

Eventually, Kim had gotten us far away enough that the Lanturn were mere specks of light in the distance. Tom sighed, relieved. And his relief reached new heights when my radio receiver picked up Samus's voice: "Tom? Is that you?"

"Samus?" Tom looked around excitedly. To show herself, Samus charged up a Plasma Beam attack. In its light, Tom found her in the distance. She seemed to be riding atop some kind of swordfish. "Samus! Yeah, it's me!"

"You're okay. Thank God." It had been years since Samus had an urge this strong to hug someone. But this was not the time; they were deep underwater, and now the army of Lanturn was approaching. Samus had spent her time there sniping at them while avoiding their attacks altogether. Down here, there was no way she and Tom could take on the whole group at once. Yet the lights were getting brighter, and it looked as though they might have no choice….

Then something strange happened. Suddenly, the Lanturn were facing a new foe – a whole group of them. An army of Milotic had unexpectedly swum up from the depths and was now battling the army of Lanturn. The sea once again lit up with electricity as the battle commenced. But though the Lanturn had thunder on their side, they fought cautiously, for Samus had weakened many of them. And the Milotic fought aggressively. Slowly, but surely, the Lanturn were backing off.

Tom averted his eyes from this fight when he noticed something to his left. Another long, serpentine Milotic floated there, separated from the rest of the group. It was staring at him. Suddenly, Tom recognized it. "Wait a moment – that's April's Milotic!" Samus wasn't sure how he could tell them apart, but she trusted his judgment. In fact, this specific Milotic did seem familiar to her, somehow.

Milotic curled her tail in a motion like a finger beckoning someone to come closer. Then she swam away. "She wants us to follow her," said Tom. "Let's go!" Kim swam in pursuit of Milotic. Samus told the swordfish to follow them, and then they were off too.

Thus began a lengthy trip into deeper and deeper depths. Tom and Samus, riding on Kim and that surprisingly helpful (and surprisingly resilient) swordfish, followed Milotic through the dark and featureless sea. Miles went past where our group was the only thing in sight. After this long and lonely journey, Tom and Samus finally laid eyes on another creature: a lone Mantine swam above us. From below, Tom and Samus could see the two Remorade clinging to its underside, scavenging for food.

Gradually, more Pokémon appeared before us. A trio of Poliwag swam away to our right. We nearly collided with an entire school of Magikarp swimming in the opposite direction. Two long, eel-like Pokémon crossed paths beneath us: a Gorebyss and a Huntail. The rate of these appearances increased as we swam on. The seas had gone from empty to teeming.

And, inexplicably, as we got deeper, the waters were getting lighter. Samus had noticed this trend for a while but had attributed it to some visor malfunction. After all, how could it get less dark as she got further from the surface? Yet she could no longer deny it. The light had no obvious source – it was sort of everywhere. This was not a typical sea.

Now the Pokémon were actually taking notice of us. A small group of Buizel playfully formed a circle for us to pass through. A Marill swam in rings around us before eventually losing interest. Several Pokémon followed beside us for varying stretches of time – including, somewhat worryingly, a Wailord. Fortunately, the colossal blue creature went its own way after a minute or so.

Samus realized that a patch of water directly below them was brighter than all of its surroundings. And now there were water-type Pokémon everywhere – so much so that it was hard to keep track of Milotic. But Samus did keep track of Milotic, and was surprised when the Pokémon came to a stop. She was even more surprised to hear an unfamiliar, vaguely feminine voice.

"Hmm. This Milotic tells me that you are traveling to the surface of Oscelon. Is that so? Because if it is, you're almost there! The ball of light you see beneath you is a portal. Go into it, and it will take you directly to the surface."

Samus looked around, searching for the source of this voice. There was only one Pokémon closer to them than Milotic. It was a tiny, blue thing with a large head, small body, and very expressive eyes. It also had two long fins and two longer antennae. Samus scanned it.

MANAPHY

It is born with a wondrous power that lets it bond with any kind of Pokémon.

Samus wondered whether this "wondrous power" had something to do with the circle of light below her.

Samus and Tom looked at each other. Samus knew that Tom must be thinking the same thing as her: can they trust it? She answered the question before anyone asked it. "I don't think we have much choice."

"You're right," Tom agreed. "We need to move on. Ready, Kim?" Kim was more than ready; she was raring to go. Tom had barely finished speaking when she shot downward, toward the light. Before disappearing, Tom was sure to shout "Thanks, Milotic!"

Samus patted the swordfish. "You've been a big help, buddy. Time to part ways." She pushed herself off of the fish and fell, following Tom and Kim to Manaphy's portal.

Samus crawled out of the lake.

She wasn't entirely sure when she entered this lake, but apparently she'd been thrown across it, landing just short of the shore. She walked out of the water and looked back. Tom and Kim had, fortunately, been thrown by the same force. Kim swam Tom forth until the water was too shallow, at which point he got off and walked onto dry land while she slithered beside him. "Good job, Kim," he told her. Kim held her head up high, and although this Kingdra never acted particularly kingly, for a moment there she really did look almost like royalty.

The reddish ground was soft and squishy, like marshland, except that it was quite dry – which was odd, considering our proximity to the lake. Tom and Samus now stood on Oscelon's skin. The vast lake in front of us was completely flat – there was no wind. The perfectly level water shone a brilliant pattern of lights that caught Tom's attention. It took him a moment to realize that this image was a reflection. He looked up and saw what was being. "Holy…!"

One could find individual stars within the great spiral splotch of light, but one would have to look pretty hard. It looked more like a cosmic smear than a collection of stars. Yet that's what it was. I'm sure that Tom had seen this galaxy on many occasions, especially on nights of the new moon. But this spiral light bore no resemblance to the streak in the Pocketian sky. "Is… is that…."

"The Milky Way galaxy. Yes."

"I've… never seen it from this angle before."

"I have. But only a couple of times."

Tom, Kim, and Samus stood there for a few moments, absorbing the image. "We're a long way from home," said Samus.

"Yeah. No kidding."

"From here, you can see how the Milky Way got its name. For most of human history we didn't even know it was a collection of stars. All we could do was compare it to something we were already familiar with, like milk. That's how the Standard word 'galaxy' gets its name – from the ancient Greek word for 'milk'. The universe was staring us in the face, yet we had no idea what we were looking at. That's how it still is, really. That's probably how it'll always be." Samus wasn't sure what compelled her to say all of this. But she could not deny that somehow, she felt more surrounded by unknowns at that moment than she ever had, even on her previous missions.

Another pause followed. Then Tom asked, "This is all just business to you, isn't it?"

Samus wasn't sure what to make of this question. "…What do you mean?"

"It's just, I mean, I bet there are millions of people out there who would cut off their own limb for a job as cool as yours. But you don't seem to really enjoy it. Like, when I see a river of lava, I think of how cool it is that I'm something a million light years away from home, and I'm getting to see this thing that doesn't even exist on my planet and most people will never get to see – and you're just thinking about how to get past it. Which I guess is better, if we want to live. Still, though… it wasn't always this way, right? Weren't you ever exited by all the exploration you get to do? Didn't you ever feel satisfied about how skilled you were when you blasted through planets full of Space Pirates and stuff, like how I felt when we beat Bouldergeist and Thardus and Volvagia?"

Samus had to consider this. She hadn't become a bounty hunter to have fun; she'd done it to make the galaxy a safer place. And she had always considered it a miserable job overall – a sacrifice she made for the greater good. She wouldn't wish the job on anyone. And yet… if she thought hard enough, she could see his point. People explore new lands just for the hell of it all the time. And all sports are played for the thrill of testing one's skills against another in the hopes of victory – although unlike her job, most sports are non-lethal. Still, might not the same logic apply? Samus had never really enjoyed any of her missions. Yet now, with Tom's spin on them in mind, she could almost retrace them in her mind and retroactively pin some enjoyment onto them.

Samus smiled; this boy had an interesting perspective. "Trust me, it's not an enviable job," she told him. "But when you put it that way… yeah, I guess it does have its moments."

Yet Tom was right about another thing, too – staying focused on the job could save lives. "I hate to say this, Tom, but… I have no idea where the Leviathan Seed is. I have no idea how we'll reach it."

"I believe I can help with that," said someone who was definitely not Tom.

Tom, Samus, and Kim turned around. What they saw left Samus in a state of shock. It was a humanoid creature, about as tall as Samus. Grey feathers covered its body, and it had a beak and talons. After the lore she had read, and after what Arceus had said, Samus should have anticipated this. But she had forgotten, so the appearance of a Chozo caught her completely by surprise. The Chozo must have noticed Samus's shock. "Are you surprised to see me, oh great Protector? I was sure that by now you would have heard of the Chozo who chose to live here long ago."

Samus now remembered what Arceus had told her about a Chozo tribe who moved to Oscelon about a thousand years ago. The ones who later moved to Pocket and invented the Pokéball. But… "How did you find us?" she asked. "Why are you here?" Oscelon was immense – this Chozo could not have just been strolling by coincidentally. And Samus still had difficulty accepting that that this truly was a Chozo. It had been years since she'd seen any member of the race that had raised her. She was in disbelief. Kim was in a battle-ready stance, but Samus didn't tell Tom not to worry. Not yet.

The Chozo smiled, which surprised Tom, who had never seen anything with a beak smile. "We have agents awaiting you in many locations," the Chozo said. "No matter which path to the surface you had taken, you would have found one of us. As for why, I have already answered that. I can help you get to where you want to go. It is very far away; without me, you will never find it. Please don't be frightened by me. We help you because we must; we will be the first to fall if you fail, Samus."

Hearing this stranger say her name made Samus's skin crawl. Part of her still didn't want to trust this thing who claimed to be a Chozo; her head was still spinning from the revelation. Yet she had no choice but to trust him. On their own, they had virtually no chance of finding the Leviathan. Besides, Samus knew Chozo, and if this was an impostor, it was an extremely convincing one. And yet… "I lived with Chozo for a long time and never heard of any settlement on… here. Are you really that secretive, even from other Chozo?"

"Yes. That was one of the conditions Oscelon made us agree to in order to live here. We detached ourselves from the entire outside universe, even our own race." Samus was surprised to find how disappointed this made her. Not only would there be nobody she knew here, but also nobody who knew any of the Chozo she knew. She had been hoping that wouldn't be the case – although she hadn't been aware of this hope until now.

"Um, excuse me," said Tom, "…does that mean you're one of the people who invented the Pokéball and left all those ruins on Pocket?"

The Chozo nodded at him. "Yes, that was my ancestors' doing. They went to Pocket a long, long time ago, and even settled there for a time. But then there was a… a disagreement, I suppose. The disagreement led to a schism. The schism led to a disaster. And the disaster helped us realize that it was time to leave. So we came back here, to Oscelon, and here we stayed."

"The disagreement was about your role in Oscelon's plan," said Samus, remembering the pieces of lore she had read. "Some of you took different approaches toward bringing the Pokémon series of video games to life. Is that right?"

The Chozo nodded and smiled. His eyes always had a sad look to them, giving all of his smiles a somewhat melancholy feel. "I see you have read the messages we left behind for you. Yes. Many Chozo underestimated Oscelon's power. They refused to believe that the games would be brought to life naturally, so they set out to do it themselves. You've read the lore; you know how that ended.

"Oh, but there is a great irony to this. All of the changes these Chozo made were part of the Pokémon games. Those games were kept secret from us Chozo, and we were given only scarce hints of what they contained. And yet this group of Chozo put Braille engravings on Pocket and created the legendary Pokémon Regigigas. They carried out Oscelon's will without realizing it – so, in the end, they were disproven by their own actions."

"That's really weird," Tom said plainly. "I still don't think I get it. How does Oscelon do that?"

"If you are asking about the specific mechanisms involved, then I do not know. Nobody knows. The only ones who knew were the Ancient Ones, and they are locked away in Oscelon's brain now, and their secrets locked away with them. But I think of it as being like a natural, non-conscious impulse. Just as you blink and breathe without conscious action, Oscelon somehow made the universe naturally want to shape itself to conform to the video games it has extracted the Life Energy from. But of course, Oscelon does not have anything close to full control over the universe. If it did, we would not be in the mess we are currently in. Mewtwo would not have been able to do all of the terrible things he did."

"I have to agree with Tom, here," said Samus. "The whole thing just strikes me as nonsensical. How could video games be made real? They were never intended to be realistic. They were pure fantasy – an escape from reality. I don't see how you could bring something like that into real life."

"Ah, but Samus, how could video games not be real? They were created by humans, after all. And what did humans have to work with? Like all artistic mediums, they were merely finding a way to express the things they experienced in reality. Think about it: what, exactly, is a game? I say that it is a goal. Even in games without an explicit goal, those who play will still try to accomplish something – to score a high number of points, or to discover new areas, or learn new abilities. And what is life, really, but a never-ending series of goals? Humans are always trying to earn a living, or find a mate, or win an argument, or even just do simple chores. Perhaps that all becomes less mundane, more glamorous, when they express it as becoming the Pokémon League Champion, or defeating a Space Pirate leader. Perhaps it gives them inspiration. A player may die over and over again in their quest to save the princess – in fact, since harder games are often considered superior, the player may actually wish to die many times. And all so that they can win just once, for with that win, they have affirmed their ability to succeed even when failure seems certain. Basically, Samus, people want to be you, even if just for a short amount of time – because when they're being you, their mental state is no different from that when they're applying for a job, or asking a girl to dance. So I say that video games, far from being unrealistic, are simply a different take on reality – the same scene viewed from a different angle.

"And besides, if you believe that it seems impossible, well, that's more absurd than to believe it possible. We live in an open-ended universe, and an extremely vast one as well; the possibilities are infinite. Even we Chozo do not know one millionth of what is out there."

There was a pause, during which Samus had to suppress the urge to get lost in thought again. She wanted time to process all of this. But right now, she did not have it, and she had to stay focused. "You say you can help us get to the Seed. How?"

The Chozo slowly nodded his head. "Well… there might be a fast way. Young trainer…."

"It's Tom."

"Oh, right. Ha. I suppose we never did formally introduce each other. You can call me Silver Talon, for what it's worth – which isn't much at this point, since we'll be separating shortly. But Tom… do you, by chance, happen to have a Pokémon who can teleport?"

"I do." Quickly, anxiously, Tom took out Albert's Pokéball and released him. Albert, who now stood between Tom and Silver Talon, inspected the Chozo with a suspicious eye; Tom may have already come to trust this stranger, but Albert was more cautious. He took tiny steps toward Silver Talon, glaring deep into his eyes. Silver Talon stared back without moving. Finally, Albert turned to face Tom, pointed at Silver Talon with one outstretched arm, and made a thumbs-up with his other hand. Tom relaxed a little. I don't think he had distrusted the Chozo to begin with, but in cases like these, Albert's opinion meant a lot to him. Whatever his other flaws, he was easily the most perceptive and intelligent Pokémon on Tom's team; he was, after all, an Alakazam.

Albert walked up to Silver Talon. The Chozo put out his claw-like hand, and Albert took it in his. Albert shook hands in a wildly exaggerated manner that seemed to amuse Silver Talon. When they let go, Albert put his hand to his side, but Silver Talon raised his until it was touching Albert's head. Tom's anxiety increased a little, but if Albert wasn't worried, he had no reason to be. The Chozo and the Alakazam stood like that for about fifteen seconds until, finally, Silver Talon's hand fell back to his side.

"Now your Alakazam knows where to take you," said Silver Talon. "I just gave him all the information he needs to Teleport you there."

"Really?" Tom said. "Will it… will it really be that easy?"

"It's too far a distance to cover in a single move, so your Alakazam will have to make several stops on the way. But it shouldn't take very long, so yes, it is that easy. Do you want to go now?"

"Of course we do," Samus said without hesitation. She felt that a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her fear had been that simply finding the Seed would make getting to the surface of Oscelon look like a cakewalk by comparison, but if this Chozo was correct, then this fear was entirely unwarranted.

Tom withdrew Kim. Then Tom, Samus, and Silver Talon stood in a circle around Albert. Following Silver Talon's lead, they each put one hand on him. "Ready, Albert?" asked Tom. Albert, his eyes closed in concentration, nodded. "Okay, then – let's go."

"We're there," said Silver Talon.

Samus looked around. At first, nothing seemed different. Indeed, the same vast, featureless, red plain had presented itself several times in the past two minutes – each time in a supposedly different location, but they were all indistinguishable. But now Samus noticed that the land in front of her was sloped downward. This realization allowed Samus to perceive more and more of her surroundings until the full picture became clear. The crater's slope was so gradual that the whole thing blended in with the flat land surrounding it. But now that Samus saw it, it was all that she could see. Samus could not tell how many miles wide the crater was, but it was enormous. And at its very center was a little thing jutting out, like a stick in a stadium of mud. But Samus knew that this was a trick of perspective; this "stick" was actually a Leviathan Seed, and nearly as big as a small mountain.

"Wait, is that it?" asked Tom. "That thing over there?"

"That's right," said Samus.

Tom stared intently at the Seed. Until now, getting here was merely an idea; now it was staring him in the face. And he couldn't look away. Samus and Albert stared with equal intensity.

"I've done all that I can, I think," said Silver Talon. "Unless there's something else you'd like to ask me?"

"There is one thing," said Samus. "This has been bothering me for a while now. How did this Leviathan Seed survive? They were all supposed to be gone. I got rid of Phazon years ago."

"You mean you haven't figured it out?"

"You mean you know?"

"Know? Not exactly. I don't have any information that you don't have. But my tribe decided that there can only be one logical explanation. Think about it, Samus. The Seed might have survived if large parts of it were mimicked and continuously rebuilt. Search your memory; do you know of any creature that can mimic and replicate its target?"

For a moment, Samus had no idea what he was talking about. But then… "Wait – impossible! You can't be talking about… the X Parasite?"

"I can. And I am."

"The what now?" asked Tom.

"The X-Parasites are the reason Metroids exist," Samus explained. "The Chozo created them – Metroids, I mean – to keep the X population in check. Think about that: these things were so dangerous that the Chozo decided to bring Metroids into this universe if that's what it took to stop them. The X find a host to infect and quickly kill it – but that's not the dangerous part. They can perfectly mimic any host that they infect; they can even copy its memories. And they can infect anything with any organic components. Even… maybe even a Leviathan Seed. Anyway, I killed all of them, I thought, when I put the B.S.L. research station on a collision course with their home planet, SR-388. If Silver Talon is right, though, then I suppose I missed one. But… I don't understand. How?"

"A very good question," said Silver Talon, "and one which we will probably never know the answer to. But we can still speculate.

"Here is what I believe happened. Once, long ago, a Leviathan Seed from Phaaze must have gotten too close to SR-388. It did not collide with the planet – perhaps the X Parasite had enough control over the Seed to make it change course. Whatever the case, upon infection, the X would have tried to kill and mimic the Seed. But a Leviathan Seed is not like any other host any X has ever infected. It is a huge, complex, and deadly organism. It would have internally fought back; the Seed and the X would be locked in a perpetual duel. And then you destroyed Phaaze, rendering Phazon inert, killing all of the Leviathan Seeds… except one.

"Now, did the X ever succeed in taking over and, essentially, becoming the Seed? Personally, I think not; mimicking an entire Leviathan Seed would be an incredible feat. I find it more likely that the X reproduced continually to mimic, and thus replace, certain parts of the rotting Seed. When all other Seeds from Phaaze died, this one alone could stay alive… although just barely. It would be dormant, I think, floating aimlessly through space. That is, until Mewtwo found it."

Samus couldn't believe the irony. In all her time as a bounty hunter, only two threats had made Space Pirates and Metroids seem like small potatoes by comparison. One was Phazon, which threatened to continue spreading until it consumed the whole universe. The other was the X-Parasites, which threatened to do exactly the same thing. Samus had obliterated both threats, save for a single case. These sole survivors had united to keep each other alive. And now not only were the two most dangerous threats to the galaxy united, but the result of this union was under Mewtwo's full control. What were the odds?

"Wait a moment," said Tom. "Oscelon was created to prevent some terrible thing from happening, right? It couldn't have been… all of this, could it?"

Silver Talon chuckled. "Now that would be ironic! Oscelon, created to defeat something that would not even exist had Oscelon not been created – imagine! But no. This, sad to say, is a wholly unrelated catastrophe."

The four of them stood there for a moment, in a deep state of contemplation – although for Albert, this contemplation pertained to how long he could balance his spoons upon his nose. A very long time, I would imagine, but he stopped trying once he saw Tom pull out a bunch of Pokéballs. Soon there were nine Pokémon among us – Tom's team, plus the three he was temporarily holding onto. Charlie was unconscious, so Tom tended to him immediately. Several minutes later, after one Revive and many Potions, Ethers, and Elixirs, all nine Pokémon were as strong and healthy as ever. One by one, he withdrew every Pokémon except Charlie. "Sorry, Charlie," said Tom, "I think we're going to need your help just this one last time." Charlie roared in approval.

Tom, Samus, Charlie, and Silver Talon all stared at the distant Seed. Samus waited to see if Tom or Silver Talon had anything to say. Apparently, they didn't, so she spoke instead. "Tom. Listen. Mewtwo's waiting for us in there, and he'll do anything it takes to kill us. Even if we somehow manage to destroy the Leviathan Seed, even if he loses, he'll try to take us down with him. Once we go in, there is a very good chance that we will never come out. Are you ready to take that chance?"

"Of course I am," Tom said without hesitation. "We've made it this far, haven't we? And if Mewtwo gets what he wants…." He paused for a moment. "I want to do everything I can to keep Peter, and April, and Opal, and my mom, and everyone else safe. I'm okay with dying for them if I have to. I already knew I might. Heh, maybe that's why I've been so excited about everything today. It's so much easier to see the good side of everything if it's about to disappear on you. Like a last meal." Samus's hand, to the mild surprise of its owner, patted Tom on the back.

"And Silver Talon, you don't have anything left to tell us?"

"All I can do now is wish you well with all of my heart."

"Okay. And Thanks." Samus looked at Charlie. "Leviathan Seeds are usually full of holes you can enter from. We can fly into one of them, but it means that Charlie will have to carry both of us again."

"Don't worry, he can handle it."

"I never said he couldn't. Now let's go. The final boss is in there; all we have to do is beat him and then this whole silly game can end."