A/N: Thanks again to Naguro for the French translations.
Chapter 50 – Chateau Pumbloom
On Eleventhmonth 17th, 1512, work on the secret weapon was proceeding along. And it was at a timely occasion, as Pocketurn began to feel the effects of the approaching Genesis Day.
"It's so weird skipping about two weeks…" Amongele said.
"Be that as it may, we still need this done by the beginning of Twelfthmonth," Keldeo reminded. "Whichever day the beginning of Twelfthmonth will be, that is. Genesis Day really does mess with one's time perception."
"Well, what else do we have to do? We already built its carrier, but it doesn't seem to be strong enough."
"Yeah, I saw it fall over just like you did." Keldeo glanced back at the robotic insectoid fossil Pokémon, which was struggling under the weapon's weight. "I suppose we could build another one. Or…"
"Hmm?"
"Why not make a new mechanical transporter/fighter altogether? He does need a mate, after all."
"Good idea, Judge. You know, I was looking for a reason to put that old robot maid idea of mine to use."
"You…had a desire to build a robot maid?"
"Well, not anymore. Now she'll be a robot weapon!"
It was the morning of Eleventhmonth 18th, and Mori and Pelame were up earlier than usual. Mori was in the bathroom seated on the men's room's toilet. It was there that he felt a strange chill run all over his body.
"You mortals are strange…" Mori heard something say. It wasn't the Dark Blessing, but its incorporeal nature still put Mori on edge. He scanned the toilet room, looking for a possible source. Under the toilet's canister, he saw a pair of red eyes and a smile. "What you do on these things is so disgusting."
Mori yelped in surprise. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" he demanded. The ghost-type Pokémon quickly materialized and clasped Mori's mouth shut with his hands.
"Quiet!" he whispered loudly. "I'm trying to keep a low profile, you know."
As the gengar let go of Mori's mouth, Mori recognized the intruder.
"Tastebud?! Weren't you with the Syndicate?"
"Was, but not anymore. I just wanted to see Pelame one more time before I turned myself in, but I guess I picked the wrong bathroom."
"Okay first: she's female, so she'd be using the women's bathroom. Second: she's quadrupedal, so she'd be using the quadrupedal women's bathroom. And third: NEVER DISTURB POKÉMON WHEN THEY'RE ON THE TOILET!"
"Hey! Didn't I tell you to be quieter? You're gonna blow my cover!"
"So what?! Leave Pelame alone already! And leave me alone, too!"
"Okay, okay, sheesh." With that, Tastebud left Mori to his natural needs. He sank back into the shadow cast by the toilet and came out of the shadow cast by Pelame. He felt some warm water spray him as he came up. At the same time, Pelame felt the water stop flowing onto her. She turned around to see what was going on, and was greeted by her devoted stalker.
"AAAAAGHH!" she screamed, nearly slipping. "GET OUT! I'M SHOWERING!"
"Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to see you one more time before I left."
"At least wait until I'm out of the shower! Geez! Now get out!"
"Okay, I'll wait outside." Tastebud left the shower area and patiently waited until she was done. He watched as she shook herself dry and then activated the blow-dryer mounted on the wall to dry off any dampness she couldn't shake off. "You know, what you mortals do in those rooms is a lot nicer than what I caught that friend of yours doing on that bowl-shaped chair."
"Okay, Tastebud, I know you're obsessed with me for some reason, but when you keep putting your foot in your mouth like that, you disgust me even more."
"Hey, I wasn't exactly watching him, you know! Why would I want to watch something so gross?"
"Well, watching me shower isn't too much better! Both are private moments that one should be alone for!" Pelame walked over to the sink and began washing her mouth with mouthwash.
"Well, except for when parents teach their kids how to, that is."
Pelame finished cleaning her mouth and teeth and spat the mouthwash out in time to respond. "Yeah, that's the only exception. Well, that and assistants helping physically handicapped Pokémon who can't independently function, anyway. But you, Tastebud, are neither category. You're just some perverted creep with an obsession with me. Get it through your head: YOU MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE." Pelame rinsed her mouth out with water as soon as she put her foot down to Tastebud.
"To be honest, Pelame, I've come to realize that. That's why I decided to turn myself into the police. Perhaps I can learn to better myself there. Or at least get the bad beaten out of me. Anyway, that's why I wanted to see you one more time. I'm saying goodbye for now."
"Well, here's hoping you learn your lesson, Tastebud."
"Me too. See you later, Pelame. I love you, dearie." He gave Pelame a hug and then sank into the shadow cast by the sink.
"As you can see, everyone," Trailblazer announced to everyone. "We are at last rejoined by Pelame and Morikain. Now, as we are close to Genesis Day, we've all undoubtedly noticed that the world's date is running fast due to the world's time zones converging so as to give the whole world Genesis Day. And as we all know, the Dark Blessing is planning something big for that day. Namely, our total annihilation. So, we're going to be switching gears for a while. From now until this is all solved, we're going to be conducting research exclusively on the following subjects: the Dark Blessing, Alpha Power, the Immortal Realm, and Nihilda."
"Nihilda? That weird Pokémon we saw that mural of?" Komed asked.
"Yes. Pelame will tell you more. Pelame?"
By this call, Pelame knew to join her boss at the front of the room.
"Well, as you all know, Nihilda is my ancestor. She was the last one not to be an Alpha. But worse than that, she and Unod were partners, going so far as to even share a body."
"Then, could it be possible that she got that strange ribbon-y form of hers from that weird union?" Jean asked.
"Maybe. But the only other thing about her I know is that since she and Unod were one and the same, they could both return on Genesis Day. And then…" Pelame hesitated.
"…everyone and everything will be destroyed…" Mori finished.
"Exactly. And that's all I know."
"Well, I for one have every intention of helping Pelame."
"Me, too!" Komed volunteered.
"Me as well!" all the other Researchers and staff said.
"Great, then we're all in agreement," Trailblazer said upon seeing the unanimous response. "I suggest we begin where that mural of Nihilda was found. Who wants to escort Pelame there?"
"I will!" Mori volunteered immediately.
"Me, too! I did take the picture of the mural, after all," Komed added.
"I'll go, too," said Marie, who just entered the HQ. "Well, if you'll have me and my brother, that is."
"That's very nice of you, but you two aren't members of this Guild. Or are you applying? Because you'll have to take that up with me," Winifred responded.
"Winifred, times are dire," Trailblazer said to his secretary. "Though I won't be hiring these two just yet, let's see how well they do. Who knows? Maybe I'll be convinced to hire them." He turned to the two entrants. "So, what are your names?"
"I'm Marie, and this is my brother Henri," Marie introduced.
"Oh, so you two are the local contractors, then. I'd seen your names before."
"Yes. But in light of recent events, Henri and I decided to help Pelame out. Plus, I've studied history myself and was going to apply here a while ago. I stayed behind for the sake of my brother, who traded his Modern Pocketurn fluency to Uxie in exchange for fluency in Old Blooman. I remained with him to be his translator."
"I see. Well, we do have a linguist as one of our staff members, and some of our Researchers studied other languages, too. As I'm sure you heard me say, you two aren't hired yet, but I will allow you to accompany Pelame and her group."
"Yes, sir. We'll be glad to help."
"Good luck then. Now everyone, let's Research! This time for Pocketurn's survival!"
"All righty!" responded everybody.
As Pelame embarked with her group, she approached Marie and asked, "So, while you're helping us, what about your building company?"
"I'm glad you asked. You see, Pelame, it's going to be under new management for a while."
"You want me to WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Blessing screamed in surprise and glee.
"Yep, Henri's made his mind up," Marie clarified. "We're going to apply to TIGHS. So Henri wanted to seek out someone he knows is a skilled builder."
"Then why not go to Professor Euclid?"
"Because Euclid just got hired as an Architecture teacher at Berragow Public School. Also, Henri recognizes your talent at building."
"But all I did was lay down carpeting."
"True, but considering how quickly you took to that, we think you'll manage that with other building tasks. Just give it a few days and see how you feel."
"Well, I suppose I can do that. But only if Treasure gets to work with me."
"Certainly."
"Thanks. Good luck in TIGHS, and tell Pelame I said hello!"
"We will!"
"Well, let's drop by to see how she's doing after we're done researching," Pelame suggested.
"D'ailleurs, est-ce-que l'amphinobi vient avec nous?" Henri asked.
"Pelame, my brother wants to know why that greninja's coming with us," Marie translated.
"That's easy," Sanjuro answered gruffly. "I have no choice but to, seeing as how I'm in her Custody."
"He had a task force of Alphas who were doing favors for Pokémon just to get rewards from them, and then stealing from them if they weren't rewarded," Pelame explained. "So, rightfully, he and the others got arrested for that. But then they got transferred to Hizeme Prison in Shizazoto, tortured, and escaped along with me and some of my friends."
"Well, except for Pend and Yoki. They couldn't live through even one torture session, which goes to show how weak they were."
"Wow, Sanjuro, way to totally insult their memory," Pelame responded irritably.
"Oh, give me a break, Pelame. You think I actually liked those guys in the task force?"
"No, but I would've expected you to have just a bit of respect for them. But you just like yourself too much to do that."
"Well, yeah! What's there not to like about me?"
"That's easy: your attitude, narcissism, smugness, hubris, stubbornness, rudeness, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, ego—"
"Yes, we get it; you're blind to my awesomeness."
"You know, if there was anything actually awesome about you, we'd have noticed," Komed added. She then said aside to Pelame, "How in the world have you not lost your sanity around this jerk?"
"Because, in the long run, he doesn't matter. I've got bigger thing to worry about," Pelame answered.
"Like Nihilda's possible connection to Unod?"
"Exactly. Speaking of which, where'd you find that mural with her picture on it?"
"Well, that's where we're going. I'll lead you there."
"Well, at least it's better than taking orders from 'Miss Hero' here," Sanjuro quipped. "But then, the common cold is better than diarrhea."
It took until 1:32pm to reach a forest located at some northwestern outskirts of Luttney.
"Well, history majors," Sanjuro started. "Educate me: what's this place, and why are we going here?"
Pelame, Mori, Komed and Marie looked at each other as if trying to decide who was to answer Sanjuro's question. Henri was unsure what was going on.
"You should answer him, Pelame," Mori whispered in the huddle they got into.
"Great idea, Mori!" Komed added. "That'll get under his skin!"
"Not this time," Pelame answered. "I don't want to annoy him on purpose. Besides, I've gotten so many chances to explain things already. So, I nominate Marie."
"Oh really?" Marie asked. "Why me?"
"You studied a lot, right? Here's your chance to prove it to us."
"Oh. I never thought of it like that. All right then. Break?"
"Break!" The group broke their huddle. Henri did so a second late due to the language barrier.
"Okay, Sanjuro. I'll explain for you. You see, this forest is known as Nagureaux Forest, or in Old Blooman, Forêt de Nagureaux. It was named after King Nagureaux, who had a secret castle built deep within this forest. The castle became the Blooman Royal Family's residence while the castle back in the city became the throne from which the country was lead and diplomatic business was conducted. He built this secret castle so as to protect himself and his family from would-be assassins because, well, let's face it, the castle in the city is pretty conspicuous."
"N'oublie pas de mentionner la Maison Pumbloom." Henri reminded.
"T'inquiète pas je vais le faire. Henri just reminded me of something. See, as you all know, Pumbloomberg used to be a monarchy. When it became a Constitutional Democracy, the castle became a landmark, and Maison Pumbloom became both the Presidential residence and the ruling center. As for the secret castle, it deteriorated to ruins."
"That's all right so far!" Pelame complimented. "Wow, Marie! Are you sure you're not a Summa Cum Laude?"
"Nope, just a Magna. Also, as I'm sure you know, Pumbloomberg became a Constitutional Democracy due to King Aureheim's assassination and having no heir. His Prime Minister saw to the formation of the new form of Government. I think that covers everything, right?"
"Yep. Well done, Miss Marie!"
"Thanks..." Marie blushed.
"Historylessonover let's get going already!" Sanjuro prodded.
"All right, we're coming! Komed, lead the way."
"Got it," Komed answered. She took the lead and led the group into the forest.
"We're finished, sire!" Keldeo joyfully said to his king. "The weapon's done, and so are its two mechanical transporters!"
"I see. Excellent work. Both you and Amongele outdid yourselves," the Twilight King congratulated. "You sure got it done faster than I thought you could."
"Well, who could wait until we attack Pumbloomberg?"
"I see your point. However, we do need to test it."
"Exactly. That's the other thing I wanted to mention. We need you for the tests. See, we built it so it could be used only by either you or me, but mainly you. Although I can also operate it, we designed it to take its orders from you, sire."
"You caught me at a good time, then. Of course I can test it."
"All right then. Wait until you see it, sire. It's my pride and joy!"
Keldeo led his king to a large garage located on the Twilight Castle's grounds. Inside it was an elevator to an underground factory, where the weapon was being built. Entering another door, the two were stopped by a security door.
"This is the first test, sire," Keldeo explained.
"HIS MAJESTY ENTERS?" asked the security system.
"This is Judge Keldeo," Keldeo answered.
"SUFFICIENT CREDENTIALS FOR ENTRY. WELCOME, KELDEO."
The door opened. The two waited until it shut itself after the 10-second grace period.
"Your turn now, sire."
"HIS MAJESTY ENTERS?"
"This is indeed the Twilight King," answered the king.
"WELCOME, SIRE. I HAVE AWAITED YOUR ARRIVAL. PLEASE ENTER."
The door opened again, admitting the king and judge inside.
"HIS ROYAL MAJESTY AND HIS HONOR ON DECK."
"Welcome, sire, to the weapon's control deck," Keldeo said.
"So we're inside it now?" the king asked.
"Yes, sire. This is your throne, which, as you can see, Amongele and I built to resemble your actual throne. From there, you can pilot the weapon. Want to test it?"
"Of course."
"We've made the ignition system so that only Demon-types can activate it. It works for me, so now we'll see if it works for you. Turn the throne into Mortite, and the system will start up."
The King did so. At once, the system activated.
"GREETINGS," the control deck said. "WELCOME TO THE GENESECT PROGRAM INTERFACE. WHO IS THE OPERATOR?"
"This is King Kangaskhan II. I'm testing you out before we launch our attack."
"DIAGNOSTIC MODE INITIATED. PLEASE SPECIFY TEST TO CONDUCT."
"Let's begin with mobility."
"AS YOU WISH, MY LIEGE."
Pelame's group had made it to a glade deep within the forest, wherein an old castle dwelt.
"Welcome to Chateau Pumbloom," Komed said to the group. "Old Chateau Pumbloom, that is."
The group followed Komed into the old ruins. Though there was time-inflicted dilapidation all over the place, it was safe to enter and explore. On the foyer's right wall was a portrait of a malamar dressed in a royal set of clothing. It was labeled, "Sa majesté royale, le Roi Nagureaux".
"The builder of this castle…" Mori said in awe. "Pity he couldn't replicate the clock tower. But he did want this place to be secret, after all."
"That reminds me," Pelame responded. "Let's see if we can take our families to the current tower for a tour."
"Sounds good to me, Pelame."
The group resumed their exploration of the castle, following Komed.
"I found the mural a few levels down," she notified. "We're not too far from it."
Following Komed down about four levels took them to a dark room with lots of old inscriptions. One of them read "Lumière et ténèbre. Opposés quand séparés, tout quand fusionnés".
"Tout le monde, regardez ça" Henri called out.
"'Light and dark. When separate, opposites. When joined, everything,'" Marie translated.
"Here it is!" Komed announced, pointing to the mural depicting Nihilda.
"Oh? On dirai que Pelame pourrai évoluer en cette chose." Henri noted. He wandered around the room while the rest more closely examined the mural.
"So, I guess this is Nihilda, huh?" Sanjuro asked. "Looks wimpy."
Sanjuro's comment was ignored. Pelame in particular was very attentive to the mural.
"Sylveon,"
"What?" Mori asked. "What's a sylveon? And who said that?"
"Hey there!" Tastebud greeted, jumping out of Pelame's shadow.
"You again?!" Pelame demanded. "You're supposed to be in jail!"
"I know, Pelame, I know! But before I left, I decided to eavesdrop, and I heard something about you studying Nihilda. So I decided to come along and help."
"You'd better behave yourself, then! No creepy passes at me, okay?!"
"I promise, Pelame. But you see, I want to help you with this because, well… uh… just… follow me and I'll tell you later. I can't remember any details right—"
Just then, a loud crumbling noise was heard, as was the sound of Henri and Marie screaming as they fell. The other researchers went to check on the two, stopping just short of the pit.
"You okay down there?" Mori asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Marie answered. "So's my brother, but I think you can see he got stuck in this entryway."
"Aïïïïïe... Marry tu pourai m'aider avec ce trou?" Henri asked.
"Here we come, Henri!" Pelame called down. She tied an Alpha Cord to a rafter and climbed down with her fellow Researchers following her. Sanjuro showed off by jumping down, making a three-point landing. He ran up to Henri and placed his right foot on his rear, pushing.
"Just leave it to me," Sanjuro boasted.
"Aïe! Arrêtez ça! Ça fait mal!" Henri complained.
"Sanjuro, quit it! You're hurting him!" Pelame scolded, pulling Sanjuro away with another Alpha Cord.
"Urgh... Mes fesses me font mal... Qui a fait ça?"
"C'est Sanjuro." Marie answered.
"Henri's plugging up the exact place we need to go," Tastebud said. "We're gonna need to push him inside."
"Uh, Tastebud, that isn't going to be possible," Pelame responded.
"Well, not the way Sanjuro was doing it. You'll all have to push together, but gently, while I go inside and pull."
"And how are you going to go to the other side?"
"Hold on." Tastebud walked over to Henri. "Henri, is it dark in there?"
"Oui, je ne peux rien voir, même pas la partie de mon corps qui est coincé de ce côté."
"Excellent, then I can come in after you."
"Wait—how do you know what Henri's saying?" Komed asked.
"Universal Language, of course. It's an ability we Immortals have. No matter what we say, we're understood by anyone. I'm not even speaking a Pocketurn language right now; you're all just hearing your native language coming out of my mouth. On the other hand, I can understand all languages."
"Wow. That's really handy, actually."
"I guess you were just letting us struggle with language barriers for the fun of it, then," Sanjuro interjected.
"No, it's just that my ability didn't matter until now."
"Why do you need it to be dark?" Pelame asked.
"Well…" Tastebud sank into a shadowy area of the room. He stuck his hands out of Sanjuro's shadow and grabbed his ankles. He pulled, tripping the Greninja. His hands moved along with the shadow. He then jumped out of it. "See? That's why."
"I see. You need shadows to phase through."
"Yep. I can't do that in the light. So I'll just go to the other side of that wall and pull Henri through."
"Actually, wait a second. You won't need to do that." Pelame attached an Alpha Cord to a rafter up above. "Mori, Komed, climb onto me."
"What?!" Mori and Komed cried.
"We're both bigger than you, Pelame!" Komed said. "What's on your mind?!"
"We're gonna cast a shadow on Henri's hindquarters so Tastebud can just make a shadow portal out of it. That way, Henri can slip out."
"I like the way you think, Pelame, but are you sure you can carry us?" Mori asked.
"It's worth a try."
"All right, then." Mori and Komed took hold of Pelame as she pulled herself up, taking her two friends up with her. She found it tough to support their combined weight.
"Tastebud, whenever you're ready…" Pelame said, straining.
"You're in the right spot, so here I go," Tastebud responded. He got to work creating his shadow portal. Henri easily slipped through to the other side of the wall, where a splash was heard. At that point, Pelame's strength gave out, and she let go of her Alpha Cord, sending herself and her two passengers falling to the ground.
"How are the rest of us getting to the other side?" Komed asked.
"Well, let's just break the wall down," Sanjuro suggested. "If someone as puny as Henri could smash himself into it and get stuck, imagine what full-power moves can do!"
"Wait! Let us do it!" Tastebud said. "There's water back here! You could pin us under the rocks and drown us! We'll break it from our side!"
Tastebud launched a Shadow Ball at the wall, shattering it with one shot. Water flooded into the room, coming up to Pelame's knees.
"There you go! Oh, sorry about the water."
"I never thought I'd say this, but, thanks, Tastebud!" Pelame congratulated. "And thank you too, Sanjuro, for the idea."
"See? It is good to listen to me!" Sanjuro gloated.
"From here on, just follow me," Tastebud said. "The rest of the path is underwater. Swim toward the waterfalls if you need air."
"No problem for me. As a Greninja, my lung capacity is so long, I might as well have gills!"
"What about Marie, though?" Mori asked. "Marie, will you be okay underwater?"
"Yep," Marie answered. "My tail doesn't extinguish unless I die. I'm a skilled swimmer as well."
"And Komed, how about you?"
"I'm good, too," Komed answered. "Ground-typing doesn't mean I can't swim. Water only hurts me when it's used as a weapon in battle against me. But, really, water being squirted at high speeds would hurt anyone."
"True."
"The real question is you, Mori," Sanjuro added. "You gonna be okay underwater, considering you were once almost drowned by an Elite Nine?"
"Of course I am! That experience doesn't scare me away from water!"
"You guys coming or not?" Tastebud called hurriedly.
"Yeah, we're coming," Pelame responded. She and her fellow Researchers followed Tastebud into the underwater cavern. Inside it was like nowhere they'd ever seen. Even though they were underwater, there were waterfalls flowing all around the gigantic sprawling cavern. The ceiling and floor were studded with small stones that were blue and stones that were pink, all arranged in straight lines of matching color. The group swam toward a waterfall to refill their air supply.
"Wow, this place looks beautiful!" Pelame said in awe. "Those lights remind me of Yule Day lights!"
"What are those, anyway?" Mori asked. "They're sure not like anything I've ever seen. In fact, this whole cavern seems unlike this world."
"Well, believe it or not, we've just entered the Immortal Realm," Tastebud answered. "That castle basement was the Blooman Realm Gate. The castle was built to protect it, too."
"That's amazing!" Pelame responded. "I had a feeling we were near something Immortal-related—oh, Tastebud, are you comfortable talking about what you mentioned about Nihilda now?"
"Well… the truth is… in the Mortal Realm, I actually forgot a lot about her. As we get close to where we're going, I'm remembering more and more. In fact, revisiting this cavern was how I remembered the name of the form she evolved into. How she achieved that form, I don't know. But when she was an eevee…"
Tastebud stammered.
"Let's keep going. I've hit another blank."
Tastebud went ahead as the others followed. His tagalongs were taking in the sight of the cavern as much as they could, admiring every detail of it. They had gone a few fathoms deep by now, but despite that, they weren't feeling any ill effects other than a need to breathe. Water pressure was completely non-existent, so all the waterfalls did was give air.
"Je suppose que si on avait enmené un équipement de plongée, on aurait pas à se soucier d'accident de décompression, hein?" Henri asked.
"Probablement pas." Marie answered.
"Remember anything else, Tastebud?" Mori asked.
"Yeah, but the blank I'm hitting now practically makes it pointless for me to start explaining now," Tastebud answered. "We're nearly there, though. Come on."
The cavern seemed to keep on continuing, almost making the Researchers forget that there was even light to be found, albeit from such small sources. The stones in the spires seemed like pool lights. By now, the lights seemed more like runway lights guiding them to a destination. Their air ran low by the time they reached an air pocket at the bottom of the submerged cave. It was a long swim, but they made it.
"Whoa…" Pelame said in wonderment. Somehow, the group ended up in outdoor ruins that almost exactly resembled Old Chateau Pumbloom. The field surrounding it was a grassy plain that, for Pelame, felt strangely nostalgic. "It's like…Promised Land."
"Why does it look so much like the Chateau?" Mori asked.
"Coincidence," Tastebud answered.
"What is this place, exactly?" Pelame asked. "And why do I feel like this place is familiar?"
"I don't know. Perhaps memories of your lineage are coming back to you."
"Oh, memories! Tastebud, what do you remember now?"
"Well, you see…" He approached Pelame with a very solemn expression on his face. He grabbed her paw. "Pelame, listen to me, and listen good. You look exactly like Nihilda, but make no mistake, YOU ACT NOTHING LIKE HER. That's why I love you so much! You're exactly like she was! I loved her! And then she… then she…"
"Tastebud, are you…" Pelame noticed the tears in the gengar's eyes.
"You can't let her return to this world, Pelame! She wants to kill everyone! Stop her before Genesis Day comes! I'm begging you!"
"Tastebud, I'm doing the best I can—"
"I know! And you're doing great! I just… I can't go through that again! She went insane and betrayed all of life!"
"Wait a minute, now," Mori interjected. "What's Nihilda got to do with world destruction? Isn't that Unod's goal? Didn't she goad Nihilda into that?"
"No, she didn't."
"Now, just a minute. What's going on here, Tastebud. You knew Nihilda, apparently. And she must have really terribly hurt you, and I'm sorry about that. But what's really going on here? What's Nihilda's involvement in all of this?"
"Pelame… you're such a sweet lady… it hurts me so much that you're part of her legacy."
"Her legacy? Well, I can't help but be related to her, but what are you talking about."
"Pelame… Unod… Nothing you thought was her doing was truly hers… Nihilda didn't join her side."
Tastebud wiped tears from his eyes and looked away from Pelame in shame.
"Unod… joined hers…"
