Part 7: The Grove

Chapter 50: Drives

Again, apologies for the email spam. If you wanna read ahead, you can find Wave: Epidemic on Deviant Art.

I don't own Pokémon.


Al

"'To a haven blessed, o'er Storm and War, an unparalleled freedom: Aera Firma'," I read aloud. "That's moody."

"This is HUGE!" exclaimed Caden over me. He was so taken by alarm to this place that he was completely perched on the flowers – not in flight at all like usual. It might've been the wind. Even though skywisps flew wingless, I would've been scared to fly around here, so I couldn't blame the kid for wanting to take it easy. Then again, maybe this was what wisps were used to. Still, it was really cold up here.

"Mmph," one of the Kats grunted. I saw our slug-and-parasites companion squirm out of the flowers, perk her main body up, and look to the sky alongside her worm 'selves'. "I can't see how this could get any stupider."

"Uh, sorry," I started. I watched her wriggle through the thin grass with some more trouble than on smooth concrete. "Your home's a Trip area now, so..."

"So I can't go back? Pain in the ass." the same worm mumbled, disgruntled.

"That's not even the thing," the opposing worm picked up. "This is all stupid. This is a train wreck."

I wasn't sure what she was getting at. I looked around and tried to see all the floating islands, shining architecture, and suspended chains through the most cynical view possible. I couldn't see anything wrong with it.

"It's not that bad," I responded. "This is off the friggin' wall! J-just... Look at this place!"

"Yeah, I see it." one of them replied.

"We see all of it, bub," the other said to me. "But why is it here? I want to know why Gamma didn't just stop at infecting everybody – not even that. I don't want to know. I just want to live in a hole. Well, I can't even do that. Nope."

"Instead," the other worm started. "We get sucked up and stuck here like we're just... fuckin'... toys, for the universe to play with. I don't know."

I took the silence that passed us by in as a sort of means to try and refresh my perspective, to re-perceive everything, but I couldn't arrive at anything new. Nothing new was there to arrive at. Kat was a different person, or different 'pair' of people, who had something similar to deal with.

"Welp," I said, grinning ironically. "'Least I'm not the only one who thinks that way."

"What?" one parasite inquired. She looked at me like I was calling her out on something, but I'd only wanted to sympathize. Not even just 'sympathize' – I had plenty to talk about with her, but I had to consider where we were. I began walking on, hoping the two (or three) would follow. A hunch told me they weren't, so I just turned back to 'em and sat back down with my back against the frigid wind.

"I told you Rayse and I are after some answers about the Crossblade," I reminded her. I sighed, smiled again, and looked at the ground between my front legs. All that unfamiliar soil. "Having the Crossblade already makes it feel like the world doesn't know what to do with you."

"Okay...?" she urged me on.

"I like how you said it. We're like 'toys'." I told her. I shrugged – not with my shoulders, but with a quick bobbing motion of my head.

"That's... yeah. On top of all that, we're Fluxes." the same Kat said. Good thing we were back on common ground. Cruce must've had his hands busy whenever Kat was in a bad mood. Getting her back on your side was, er... hard work.

"And you said it yourself: I'm weird." I reminded her.

"Yes I did. Sucks for you," the other worm grinned at me. Normally, if Bryan or Nick said that to me, I would've scoffed them off or told them to go fuck themselves, but it didn't get to me that way with Kat. She knew how bad it was. Plus, she was smiling. Smiling with me. "But you could be weirder. Could be me. Could be Zatch, and he's Rayse now, so..."

My smile disappeared.

"Say again?" I requested. She didn't answer me right away.

"Uhm," Caden interrupted the brief silence. "A Champion – uh, Zatch turned into a Champion, like how... Atti became Diancie."

"And you've got a special thing for the Champions, don't you, VC?" asked one of the worms. Caden didn't even look at her, let alone answer.

"Rayse came from Zatch?" I asked, and, for real, I didn't know why I was still surprised. This was the same thing as before – I found out that Flicker was Travis, and... i-it was just the same thing, but... Really? Rayse?

"Mm," Kat grunted. "I heard this from Secany. Take it how you will, but Rayse's got a personal stake in this herself. And, know what? I'm pretty sure that if my ugly ass is still around, then the 'actual' Zatch... that kid is, too. He's either Naphal or Daemon. I feel sorry for him."

"That... doesn't even... make sense!?" I stammered.

"Bub," the other Kat parasite called me. "Don't think about it. Your head'll fall off again and it'll blow away."

"Guh..." I gulped. I felt myself shrivel and shrink, like I was closing my legs together nervously in some vain attempt to keep myself stitched up.

"Weird how you didn't ever wonder about where Zatch went," the same parasite spoke. I couldn't tell if she was making fun of me now. "Didn't he like to follow you around?"

"I... guess?" I thought back. He was usually there with me, up until we lost him and his siblings. "I thought Zatch got kidnapped. I talked to my friend Cadi, 'cause she escaped Delta Meadow, and, uh, I thought maybe she saw him. She left with your mom, I think. Rayse left with them. So, all this time..."

"You've had Zatch right by you," Kat told me. "He's been changed, but just like me, at some point, he got split into three people. Rayse is one of the three. I don't know when it happened. You gotta consider shit like the Timescape, where you can go in there for years, come back out into the real world, and no time's passed here. I'm sure that's all old news to you."

"It's... hmm..." I breathed out. I had nothing to say to her, really. I shook my head.

It wasn't a big deal that Zatch had transformed like this, but he was still one of my pals, and all the stomach ulcers I'd worn into myself about him being used as an experiment or whatever... that all stuck with me. It wasn't so much the change in body as it was the change in mentality. Maybe that would've bothered me if transforming wasn't a thing nowadays – it was practically going outta style. If only I knew that Zatch'd gone and turned into a cute monster girl, then... God, I would'a felt like a lot less of an outcast then! Dammit! She could'a hung out with Cadi and I. That would've been lit! Instead, Rayse was a different person. She'd probably even forgotten about poor Zack and Zelda.

I couldn't blame her. She was just as complicated as I was, and if Kat's wisdom was anything to go off of, another Zatch with all the makings of his old self could have been around. Maybe still at Delta Meadow, or maybe Fluxed like me, wandering Autumnridge, mindless.

Jeez, becoming Rayse was a good deal, dude. Probably the best you could get.

I still like you, Rayse. It's not your fault, but it's frustrating.

Caden must... not know how to feel. It makes a lotta sense why he's so tilted over Azabell. That was his best friend, and now he's a stranger. That's all old news, too.

If Caden's keen on reading minds, I think he won't like my opinion.

We didn't stay in one spot too long for fear of freezing ourselves. I wondered how Kat was putting up with the cold, since I gathered her body had a layer of slime or something and that kept her wet. With the wind as strong as it was up here, I imagined she wasn't too comfy after having been nestled up to a warm fire underground. She and I both wanted to get back down to the surface, and that was something that Caden could've done a lot more easily than both of us. Matter of fact, the kid was perfect for this place. He could fly around and never have to worry about the cold.

We passed through the open sky meadow onto a wide marble bridge with beams and supports decorating the space around us, obligatory designs lining the length of the bridge. Segments of the floor were decorated with the clearest glass I'd ever seen. The design choice baffled me. In fact, the whole bridge baffled me.

"That statue back in the meadow," I said, skeptically watching the floor of the cold bridge as I walked over the glass, dark cloud cover hanging below. "It was a skywisp."

"Makes sense." one of the Kats spoke up.

"The first time I saw this place, I thought this was their home." the other Kat said.

"But, uh, we don't have legs. Er, I mean, skywisps don't have legs. Why do they need a bridge if they can fly – like... seems kind of pointless?"

"I don't have legs, and I'm using it." Kat remarked. Point taken.

"But you can't fly." I reminded her.

"How do you know?"

"Wouldn't you have... done it by now?" I tried to argue back. I wasn't expecting her to start floating around, but it might've looked kind of funny. And gross.

"Maybe," the same parasite picked up, the main body wandering over to the glass railing. The opposing parasite poked her head over the side of the bridge, looking down below. "Sure feels like I've done all this before...

I had a skywisp with VC and I once. You might know her. Mari. She's a strange one. She got possessed by some other skywisp chick though – one of the..."

"Symbis," I finished for her. "It's Symbis, right?"

"Yeah, that." said Kat.

I noticed that, in a gap of silence, Caden still had nothing to say.

"I know her as Charley. I didn't know she got 'possessed'..." I recalled. Charley had all the memory and personality of the human she used to be. If her deal with the Symbi was anything like Nick's, than she should've been wholly different.

We reached the end of the bridge, as it neatly joined up to the next sky island, flakes of dirt sparsely brushed onto the white surface. A visible line between marble and soil showed through this dirt. There was something unsettling about taking a step from the former to the latter and knowing this was all still miles in the sky, and that, at any time, my body could've been blown apart by a gust and thrown into the clouds. Regardless, this island had more buildings and substance than the previous, so there was some security in that.

Kat continued her recollection.

"Mars is that other skywisp's name. She's from this place, but she didn't tell me anything about it. All I know is that this is her home and she doesn't remember it being so... red. Or, you know. On Earth." the previous parasite explained.

"Above Earth." I told her. She didn't appear to care.

"I don't got shit on skywisps. Maybe they have a reason for building bridges." she said.

"Like another species lives with them?" I wondered.

"You were the skywisp. You tell me." the other parasite mocked.

"I ain't a wisp anymore! I wish I was again."

"Tch. You weren't a very manly skywisp, bub," she scoffed. "It doesn't suit you. I like that you're Fluxed up like me. Makes me not feel like an inadequate bitch."

"Bitches." the other parasite corrected, to which the first one rolled her eyes.

"Okay," I laughed. Cautiously, at that. "If I was a wisp again, we could both be inadequate bitches together?"

"Ahaha. Hahahaha! Fuck off." both of the parasites laughed and snapped in unison. It was actually pretty awesome. It got another laugh out of me. I felt bad that Caden had to listen to our bants though.

"What?!" I grinned, eying Kat's main body closely. By her, uh, limited expression, it looked like she was enjoying this, too. "You gotta have one of these things! Fluxed up or bitches. Pick 'n choose, yo!"

"Stop saying 'yo'; you're too white." one of the parasites commanded.

"Ain't white anymore, aren't I, gal pal?" I asked her, feeling a bit of a spring return to my step. I hadn't actually gotten to tease someone like this for a long time. 'Cept for Cadi, it'd all been so serious, so to have this back was refreshing. That, and I'd almost forgotten we were still walking into unknown territory.

"If you call me that again, I'll rip your legs off and make you slither around like I do." she threatened me. She wasn't being real. The parasite who wasn't speaking was smiling, almost holding back laughter at that.

"And so if I'm a skywisp, I wouldn't have to worry about that! Problem solved." I concluded, raising my head away from Kat and trotting along ahead of her.

"Stop fighting, guys..." Caden finally spoke up, to which my ears flicked. I stopped my light gallop, let the message play itself back in my head a few times, and then turned around.

"Wha?" I dumbly mumbled. It was like there was a language barrier between us – if that, a culture barrier. Was Caden triggered at something? Or was it just that he was a kid and didn't get the jokes? Hard to believe. He could read minds...

"'S fine, VC." one of the parasites reassured him. She didn't clarify that we weren't fighting. She just said that it was 'fine'. I couldn't tell whether or not she did that on purpose.

"Yeah, we're buds. Buds are jerks to each other." I told him. All three pairs of Kat's eyes were on me, scanning my own.

"Buds. Huh." one of the worms murmured. She looked both confused and smug. I said something weird, and in doing that, I'd forgotten what the hell this whole thing was brought up for.

"Why...?" Caden asked with such blaring curiosity that he may've taken no response as an insult.

"You'll get it figured out someday." Kat said, pretty dismissively, too, but Caden didn't bark back at her or make any edgy comment where it was due for a boy like him. He really did like Katalyn. I wonder what she brought to the table that he was missing.

We spent some more time walking and talking about possibilities of the Crossblade, Xima, Nephi, and, when all of those became too depressing, we went back to talking of how daily life used to be. Too bad it fell short, 'cause I was interested to learn about how Kat and Topher used to hang out. 'Guess it had to do with their martial arts classes. I wasn't ever sure why someone like Topher wanted to take that. I could see how he needed to, but he wasn't the sort of person to want to punch things. That was, until I realized I knew nothing about this... person. Still, I couldn't find it inside of me to hate Topher or Nephi for what he or she did, but I sure vented. Kat had to hear about it. Caden had to hear about it. I made sure everyone knew.

For now, there wasn't a lotta time for that. We traipsed into an open semi-dome structure with nothing of an entrance but a massive gold-lined arch and a few wide steps leading up to a raised platform that served as a floor. With the way the back of the structure raised over our heads, it reminded me vaguely of a stadium. The space inside of this half-open building was vast, so I could see it being used for some sporting event. Then again, if these sky islands belonged to skywisps, I couldn't understand why they wouldn't have just used open air as an arena. Shit, I would've loved to take part in skywisp sports.

There were other smaller buildings in the space, some taller than others, some serving no purpose other than decoration. One of the structures was simply a tripod of obelisks supporting a circular platform above, smaller circular prongs sticking out. Almost looked like some kind of table from below. But, honestly, looking at all of this, I had zero clue what the building was used for. This was all so alien to me, and the only things that was feasibly familiar were the rows of lower seats and tables parted by V-shaped aisles in the center. Maybe – and this was a wild guess – maybe this was a community mess hall or food court of some kind. I didn't smell any food and I didn't see... many people.

But there were people – a couple of them, and they were sitting in the center section of tables. A skywisp and a Pokémon.

"It wouldn't hurt, Joel," said the pink skywisp, sitting with her tail coiled slightly and her back as straight as she could get it. She looked like she was familiar with her form. "To get to know her, hey? You two share a beautiful power."

"Y'think I should? You trust her that much?" asked the Pokémon. Joel was here, sitting with both his tiny arms and legs crossed. Our helioptile friend, with no way of flying and no knowable access to a Trip area before us, made it to the sky islands.

"Astraea's a good girl," said Mari, putting one of her small blue hands on Joel's back consolingly. "Giving her grief isn't going to bring John back, nor does it give her a good first impression of this little world. Besides, you got yours for a reason. It trusts you. It knows that you can wield its power a lot better than most people. It should be bringing you two closer together, not pulling you apart."

Joel bent over, putting his stubby hands under his chin and propping his big head up.

"I just don't wanna change like that. Sorry. I'm repeating myself over and over." he sighed.

"You don't have to worry about changing anymore." she reassured him.

"Misses Mari-Charley?" Caden quipped, the attention of the two reptilian creatures shot towards us, high alert and all. Maybe he startled them, but damn if it wasn't the cutest sounding thing he'd said to date.

Mari blinked, her aquamarine eyes shining to the same hue as Caden's. She glanced at Joel, then took flight from her seat. She looked a lot different than I did as a skywisp. For one, her hair was as pink as most of her scales, styled much higher and spikier in the front than mine, and, in place of a ponytail of sorts, she had a lot more quills running down her back. Like mine, her hands were colored differently as well, but not too much different from the blue of her eyes.

"Hey now," she called out to us. "What're you kids doing here?!"

"Dunno." I mumbled, and she probably didn't even hear it.

"Look at that," one of the Kats spoke. "Of course YOU would be up here."

They must have been chummy. Caden went up to Mari and perched on the table, while Kat followed slowly. I did so even more slowly. Joel and Mari were watching me.

"Hold on," she warned me, holding a hand out – hard to mistake that classic 'stop' gesture. "Who are you?"

"Al. I'm okay." I told her.

"He's okay," Kat said again. "This is the skywisp one. 'Guess he turned into a Flux. Something about his Crossblade going haywire. Know anything about it?"

"Oh, so you're Al! Our fledgling wisp turned... Flux, of all things," the pink skywisp said with a certain haze of disgust on her tongue, which she flicked out, then quickly pulled back in like she didn't want to taste at the air. I wouldn't have either. Not around Kat and myself. "No, that doesn't sound right. The Cross would give you three separate bodies."

"Mm," the other Kat grunted. "Doesn't do that with Al, not from what he says."

"Hmm, that's a problem, hey," she shook her head. "Mars might know something, but I haven't heard her say a word in my head since that rainy day she fought your Daemon, Katalyn. That said," she paused, taking a moment to observe one of her open hands. A bright light flashed, warping itself into solid form. It took the shape of a curved, slightly translucent, crystalline bar, strands of blue floating around its edges. I'd seen this somewhere before. "Solacea's only let me use half of its power. It's connected, I'm sure, but I've not had the time to sit and think about it."

A Symbi...

Cadi's shown me hers, but other than that, I never get to see these things. They're weapons, but... I think some of them are people, too. I don't really understand.

"Anyway, what're you doing up here? While we're at it, HOW are you up here?" she inquired, holding the strange incandescent bar over one shoulder. Made me miss my lightning rod...

"There's a new Trip spot that leads here." I said.

"Yes, and it's my roommate. Now I can't go back home. You're stuck with us until we find a way to get down from here." Kat started.

"Without going 'splat'." The other Kat noted.

"Mmm, kids, my hands are full," Mari lamented. She looked off into the wide open exit (or entrance) casting its red light into the vast, spacious building. "I panicked when I saw you. The only other ones up here are Delta Meadow."

I cringed. That wasn't nice news. It implied that the Meadow had a way to get up here. I wasn't sure if air crafts could take them up this high, but I didn't know anything about aviation, and I was doing fine enough in the high altitude pressures, give or take some acclimation needed. So maybe they did get a chopper up here, or they could have Tripped, too. But from where?

And what about Joel?

"You've got an advantage, right?" Kat queried. "Just, what... push them off?"

"It's not that easy, mind you. They sent their... uhmm..." Mari hesitated. "Elites."

"...Just push them off." the other of Kat's heads said again, with no emotion. I liked that plan and I dug how she presented it. Kat was a lot funnier than I thought. Always thought she was too serious, but nah. She was cool.

"My God, Katalyn, you say that like it's no hassle." Mari smirked.

"It shouldn't be. Should be as easy as fixing my body with your magic surgery weapon." Kat suggested.

Hold up, she said what now? Mari's Symbi could do that?

"It is as easy as that. It's also just as impossible." the skywisp said.

"You can fix Fluxes?" I asked. I had to ask.

"In theory, Solacea should be able to heal up your body. Fluxes who have mental stability can, by definition, be healed. The case with Katalyn is that she has the Crossblade, like you, Al. I haven't been able to make it work, and especially not with the state of the world now.

After this long, no one really knows why the next day never comes – why time has stopped. Because of this phenomenon, Solacea, a Symbi that can normally erase all time from a wound, can't operate very well. It makes a nightmare out of testing all of my hypotheses. And that..."

She stopped. Mari didn't complete the thought. When she failed to do that, one crossed my head. With the way she averted her eyes from us, looking into the clean floor, I felt sorry for her. I'd always thought nothing good about Mari because of whose 'parent' she was. Back before she turned, she was Bryan's and Atti's father, so I never made it a point to try and get along with her. But now, everything was different. Now, her sons weren't even there anymore, and by whatever way of communication she shared with Young down below, she must've known this by now.

"Well, never mind. You kids are here, so I could use your help." she said. Wait, whoa, that was interesting. Us? Help her? On a list of things I expected her to say, that wasn't very high.

"We get to help?" I asked, guilty of excitement. I didn't wag my tail though. Couldn't have it fly off. "Holy crap. I never get to help out."

"You do now," she smiled. "Get yourselves familiar with the area."

"Beg your pardon?" Kat asked.

"Walk around! Take notes of the environment. Commit it to memory, hey," she instructed, flying by the three of us. "One of the only things Delta Meadow wants more than knowledge is to eliminate the people who have it, and I'm on that wanted list. When they see me up and about, they'll come running, and when they do, that's when we use the knowledge we have that they don't to fight back."

She stopped before the open exit, turned back to our group, and looked at each of us individually.

"We all clear?" she asked.

"How many people are you bringing back here...?" Kat pondered aloud. Even if she had the Crossblade, I could understand how someone like her would be uneasy. How the heck could she fight?

"If it all goes good, just one," answered Mari. "But you'd do well to treat this guy like an 'army' of one, someone who can be anywhere at anytime. He has plenty of military training, tends to keep his distance, aaaaand has a grudge on me. I won't bore you with it." she grinned wryly, as if not without a regret somewhere.

'Guess it was okay that Mari had been the one to try and settle a personal problem by going out and being the bait, but it still involved us at some point. Just one of the consequences of having Delta Meadow on your borders. They were our neighbors, but they weren't all that nice. I actually couldn't wait to meet this guy. Army of one? We could use that. Maybe if Mari was diplomatic enough, she could pull him onto our side. She didn't intend to kill him, for sure. Or so I'd hoped.

Mari was off. We watched her soar away. Without any kind of distant communication, we were in the black. All we had to do was trust her, and that must've been easier for Caden and Kat, since I hardly know, well, any of them. We didn't say much to each other after she left, since we decided to take different paths around this, uh, section of the sky island city. To be honest, there wasn't much to look at. A lot of the buildings, elegant though they were, weren't that easy to enter. The only way in to some of them was a ridiculous parkour obstacle course. Now I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but I wasn't dumb enough to think this was the norm. There was some other way for 'flightless' residents to get in, 'cause those entrances were too high up for my half-sewed-on legs to get anywhere near.

The scenery was spectacular. Despite what red color everything was bathed in thanks to the shattered sun and the maroon sky, there was no shortage of open spaces, parks, water features, arbitrary architecture high above, begging to be observed from some better angle than the ground, where it seemed like the only reason to be here was to feel how soft and cool the grass was underfoot. It was pretty, but, unlike human infrastructure, where the ground had literally everything, it felt emptier here. The place to be was the sky. Obvious reason was obvious. All the highways and commerce and whatnot – it was all up there. And Joel and I were just bumbling around in its shadows.

I went with Joel, 'cause we settled on teams of two, and since Caden and the 'Kats' were a thing already, that left me and this guy. He was lot quieter than I remembered. I mean, I didn't really know him. He had the same English class as me and I went to middle school with him, but we hardly talked. Was a friend of Nick's, and he knew Pat and Emi somehow. Popped up on Facebook through association.

There was something I needed to know, though, before bonding or trying to make better friends – whatever. Sagging my head, tired of the onslaught of cold air, I finally turned to him, slowing my pace down to a lazy crawl. Must've looked like a tired cat right now. Felt like one.

"So, yo, did you Trip to get up here, or what? Do you fly?" I asked. I managed to stop him, too. It was a little spooky, the way he walked on ahead, then just came to a halt on his fours and said nothing for a few moments.

"I-it's, uh..." he stuttered. I stood in my spot and waited for any kind of answer, confident or otherwise. "I'll just show you."

An audible sigh.

He took a moment to change his poise, going from four legs to two, his back legs further apart to give him more balance. It looked like he could hold himself up like that a lot easier than I could in this body. I wasn't sure what I was waiting for – what I was about to see, but Joel was doing a damn nice job at dramatizing it. Some medley of fear, excitement, and ridicule bounced around in my heart. My ears caught the howling of wind from above, the trace breezes tickling the fur around them, the whiskers at my nose, the starry tip of my tail.

Movement. Joel swung around, his tail twirling. He faced me with both small arms forward. Just like Mari before him, a faint light sparked. Unlike Mari, this one burst violently, crackling and arcing like electricity, flicking and sparking around him. I would've thought Joel was using one of his natural Pokémon moves if it weren't for the scenario. After a quick, wild dance of electric arcs, by some unseen means, Joel got it to come together at one point – his little hands, forging the energy into a shape, and bending that shape into three more: a bar connecting two circles. More shapes. Smaller circles within the larger, a half-mechanical, half-ethereal whirring kicking up, blades between the space separating the circles spinning around them, lights blinking, and finally, a burgundy glow emitting from the strange object. What even was I looking at?!

I took a few steps back, feeling threatened by the weight of power Joel displayed. My throat felt dry. My legs felt heavy. Something gave this 'aura' off – that object. Faint bolts of electricity still crackling around it, it fell before Joel's feet, hovering a few inches from the ground. He walked onto it, the object gently bobbing in midair, adjusting to his weight. Pivoting his legs as best as he can, he turned the 'surfboard' vertically, facing me. Beneath him, there was a soft radiance, growing brighter as the machine's hum shifted higher and higher in pitch.

"Du-...!" I coughed. Couldn't get the rest of my surprise out. I sure was glad he SHOWED me, though! Might not have believed him otherwise.

"Symbi Andromeda," he named it. "Chose me, for some reason, and uh... I don't feel good about it."

"Why?!" I asked. I almost laughed. "That thing is SWEET!"

"It's not! It's... not, man." he shook his head. "It's Astraea. It's like, I gotta be nice to her or else all the Symbis just come after me and change me. That's what they're trying to do. I didn't want this thing, but it needs a 'vessel'. And since I'm such a jackass to the Symbi that stole my best friend, it's... gotta be me."

"No way, yo. That's... Okay, now I know what's going on. That's Caden logic," I said. "You know Caden? That kid I was with? He lost a friend to a Champion. Same deal. He's pissed about it. But like, dude, I don't get it! I mean, wait, I DO get it – you lost your friend 'cause he got possessed, but... Wh—I don't know! I like Cadi! She used to be someone else who I knew, and I was a little peeved that it happened to one of my friends, but Cadi's awesome!"

"Arcadia, you mean...?" Joel sighed.

"Yeah. She's cool! And you know Zatch Hummings? Champion took him over, and now he's Rayse."

He said nothing.

"But Rayse is cool, too. All the Champions and Symbis – I've never had any problem with them. I've always stuck to myself since the Wave outbreak, but like... Gamma's not bad. If Gamma's turning people into different people, can't we all just be cool with those people? Cadi, Rayse, and... Astraea. I'm pretty sure they can't help it, so... you know, they help us! Your guy? Your Symbi, I mean; Andromeda, was it? It wants to help you! Why wouldn't it?"

"Okay, then what about the Crossblade?" he argued. "Gamma's not bad? What about Flux? Look at you! If you're not lucky, Gamma's disgusting. It turns you into... that."

"Psh, I'm not that bad." I smirked, then looked down at my stitched up legs, feeling my neck wobble weirdly. I remembered that pool of bloody sludge I fell into, my bodily fluids dripping into the open space that used to be a neck. That was gross, but at least I wasn't a dick-snail with worms coming out of me. The Crossblade, too. Did he know that I had it? It might have been the only thing we talked about.

"I think that there's good somewhere in the Crossblade and Flux." I stated. I didn't even know... why...

"You think... what? You think there's good in..." he stopped for a while, with nothing to go by but the words spoken by me and the wind over his head. "You know what? Forget it. We don't agree on Gamma. We can just leave it at that."

"Okay...?" I replied, still startled with myself. "Hey, don't do anything to 'em, Joel. Gamma beings prolly didn't want to come here. I know you're salty about it, but..."

"Don't worry. I've already made my decision," Joel nodded. It seemed like he signed me off – like suddenly my opinion became no problem. It should have never been one. "I don't think a Flux like you should be around to try and influence it."

He jumped, the hover board bolting out from underneath him. It went straight for me, lifting at an angle. Poised to take a few more steps away, I did so, escaping a nasty uppercut the board might have made. It might not've hit me; instead, what did hit me was that Joel wanted to fight. He wanted to fight me. He really thought I was Flux – full Flux. Holy shit, I couldn't fight somebody with a Symbi! Not like this?! C-could I?!

The board returned to him. He stood straight on his hind legs, the Symbi standing tall, as he held it at his side like more of a staff or a pole rather than a vehicular mechanism. He knew it enough. He knew how to battle with it.

"Yo, what?! Back off!" I exclaimed. Even with the urge to leave, my paws were still pointed forward. My back and tail were high, and my muzzle formed into a snarl before I even had the thought of making it. I'd been here before. This feeling with this body wasn't new. "You're messing with the wrong Flux! I'm fine in the head! Really, I am, dude! We're cool!"

"Nah," he disagreed, blank and solemn. "Mari can't fix anything. She says she can heal Fluxes that are... 'mentally okay'. No such thing. THIS is how we're supposed to do it at the Grove. They taught you the same thing, remember? Feel nothing for them. They're done, no matter how much they squirm. It's not real, so you shouldn't feel bad.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. You're already a casualty, so... checkmate, I guess."

I swallowed spit.

This wasn't where I thought I'd find myself. No choice now. Fight or flight. I could only do one of those, so...

"Welp, you're an idiot," I told him. It wasn't a taunt. It wasn't intended to aggravate him. Glad I never got to know the guy, too, 'cause now I didn't get to feel like garbage for what was about to happen. In fact, the only ones I felt bad for were Andromeda and Astraea. "Fine. Let's get this over with, Symbi boy."

...

Joel wasn't the sporty type. He wasn't a fighter or, from what I'd heard, very brave either, but it didn't matter now. He got spoon fed some crazy power, found a resolve, and thought it was fine to off me because I was Fluxed. The saddest part of it wasn't that we were fighting. It was that I actually thought, somewhere in that big head of his, he was making the best call a scared human could.

He was how I used to be. A lot got taken from him, and he wanted it all back.

Weird...

I used to be just like you, Joel. I was pissed over what I'd become. I wanted my old face back. I wanted to wear my letterman's jacket again. I didn't want to be a Pokémon, so, in that respect, I hated Gamma.

Now, I... 'm a hypocrite. You should be wanting to kick my ass for that. But no. You want me out of the picture because I'm Fluxed. That's your decision, and, well dude, it's not anything I wouldn't have done back then.

You're still an idiot.

The first blow was his, and ho-my Jesus, it was somethin'. He chucked the hover board thing at me, a burgundy glow following its flight. It soared like a spear, heading straight until I made an attempt to dodge it. I stepped off to the side, expecting nothing more than that attack in and of itself. Nope. The thing did miss me, but it'd preemptively swerved away. Something bashed me from behind, a wind stirring, blowing harder and heavier than the natural gales. I was being thrown towards Joel.

I couldn't stop. I couldn't claw any grip into the ground, and even if I did, my legs would've been torn off at this speed. Joel's quills fanned out, coming to life with golden sparks flaring about. I was drawn closer and closer until there was a blast, a whirring scream deafening me, yellow light blinding, dimming to orange once it met and settled with the red glow of the sky. I wasn't sure where I was. There wasn't a whole lot of pain anywhere, except maybe my back from when Flicker shot me with her... Symbi...

I was on the grass, writhing. My fur was alight with static, embers of gold hopping off of me like fleas, the grass charred and crusted by the force of whatever Joel had done. I couldn't stop squirming. My body wasn't under my control. The soil and the static tickled me as it ran across my skin and fur, limbs starting to ache as I bent and turned uncomfortably. I called out, my throat bumpy with vibrations marring my cries for help. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't...!

The sensation stopped. I froze, laying on my side. All my limbs were here. My head and my tail were here. I lost nothing but a bit of dignity and maybe piss. What the actual...? What'd he do?! I got up, my legs shaking, still discomforted by the foreign electricity weaved into me. I grabbed what bearings I could – I wasn't near Joel anymore. I got that much from looking at the ground around me. Where is he, I thought. I lifted my head. He was above, looping in the air, then coming around for a... dive bomb – he was plummeting right at me! My legs were too stiff! I couldn't deal! I couldn't shake it! I-I thought I was limber enough to get zapped and be okay! What, was it Andromeda then?! Or...!

I hopped pathetically, tossing myself ahead by, I don't know, two feet, but it was enough. With the movement, my legs started to follow instructions, like all I needed to do was walk it off. Good news – didn't take it for granted, but by the sound of the muddy slam behind me, I didn't know what to expect. I started to trot away from the point of supposed impact. I looked back. The hover board was sticking out of the soil, diagonal, and without a rider. That burgundy light pulsed, raced around the outline of the object, and then burst, a spherical wave of its magic or power or whatever shooting out. I had a second to see it, then I was in it, and there, I...

I felt pain. I felt it in my back again.

I tumbled somewhere. I was rolling. Something was wrong. I didn't have anything to stop me fast enough. There weren't any bumps like usual... I lost some limbs, then.

I lay in the grass, that strange, wet and painless sensation of my open wounds leaking out fluids I didn't even need. It was colder now, all the air blowing into my exposed insides, chilling my bones. All of them were gone – all my legs. My tail wasn't around.

My head was still on my neck. Barely. Even turning it, I felt some things snap violently, loud cracking and ripping sounds telling me that I was just a shake or twitch away from having it hang by a thread, if it wasn't already. Again, no pain, but the absence of it was all the more unsettling. I could feel all the stress, the pressure, and the wetness. None of it was pain, but I was still stunned as though my body couldn't bear the weight of something in its place. I breathed in, sucking all that frigid wind down. I felt concurrent flow of electricity in each of my wounds. It put my head and neck back together fine, but I didn't suck up any of my other body parts. Not yet. I had to keep 'breathing' – keep that electric string that bound me to my other bits. I could feel it dangling away, meters apart, unwound and... so free...!

Joel touched down in a puff of dirt and yellow sparks, landing first on his hind legs, then putting his front legs down, head low. I watched him as he raised it, nothing other than a twinkle of lifeless duty shading his eyes. Andromeda came beside him, and he stood back up, taking it in one hand, holding it steady, like he'd hardly toppled and obstacle.

"Yeah, good game, man. Real good," I struggled to say, fighting over the inhalation and the roar of wind to get any last message across. I didn't even know if I was about to die. I lost that ability. "Must feel good to kill off your neighbors."

"I feel the same way you should have back then. You fought them. You killed them, right? How many times has it crossed your mind?" he asked me. He started walking to me. He acknowledged nothing other than that – not even the fact that I was in pieces trembling on the ground. He felt nothing, he really didn't.

How many times does it come to mind?

They're... just zombies. I'm not some murderer.

"You didn't care about the people you hurt, because you didn't see them as people. Even if you knew them before they got Fluxed, you'd put them down, and you'd do it happily." he pressed on.

I snapped.

"This isn't some fucking Hollywood-ass cliché movie bullshit! What do you—You think I felt nothing?! I'm doing what THEY would WANT! Who wants to live that life?! Who wants to be a Flux?! NOBODY!" I argued. I wasn't breathing right. My neck was getting loose again. I didn't care.

Letting all this anger out – it... felt good. It was the only thing, through the wetness and the itching and the bubbling, that made it all feel worth it.

"You're making my point for me. Easy match, Al. Too easy." he said. He mocked me. I was seeing... red – wait, no!

Stop it, Alli! E-er, Al. NO! Alli! I AM Alli. I'm changed, now!

Al was the one who got mad and did the dumb shit. He left his friends – they died. He went out on his own and never came home – his dad died. He made some mistakes.

Alli's not that person.

"Wow..." I breathed again. I put myself just a little bit more back together. Some of my, uhm, 'lightning strings' binding my limbs shortened. My legs were getting closer. I just had to take it easy. "You sure are... heh, big on mocking me, even though I feel nothing."

"Your Flux is 'anger'. Get angry. It makes things easier, so... do that." he said.

"Gee, it's almost like you care." I laughed. A shape hurdled behind Joel, coming closer, until it whacked him in the back of the head. The thud it made was so satisfying, like a baseball knocking somebody out.

"Ow!" he cried out, lowering his head, the shape - my leg - spinning over him.

Hello there, leg, I thought to myself. I kept on taking in the air and, sure enough, one of my legs reattached. It was a front leg, too, so we were getting somewhere. I made a mess, though. There was a big stain of dark red around me, drops of it indicating the path of the leg's travel as it found its home.

"Look, homie," I turned, facing him, pretending like I was casually laying down. I even turned up the paw I'd just gotten back, rested it limp under my chin, and smiled at him. "I'm not your run-of-the-mill Flux. I have some standards, and – okay, true! I did... do some things to some other Fluxes. Maybe I was too brutal. Maybe I even enjoyed it, but... I KNEW who I was fighting. Usually.

I know when a Flux is okay and when one's not, okay – as far as I know, the bad ones try to kill you, and the good ones don't. Who would'a thought? You can be cautious around 'em – that's fine! Yo, I totally get that. But you gotta try not to be... you know...

...a racist prick?"

I made a weird face at him – puffed out my cheeks and scrunched my muzzle. No reason. Just a stupid face.

Joel rubbed the side of his head.

"This... isn't as easy as I thought it'd be," he grumbled, though, with a lot less enthusiasm than I would've liked. I thought I could've gotten him riled up, but nope. Just shook it off, bored. "I'm fighting you. I have to, because... You... I-I have to."

"Huh," I scoffed. I wasn't feeling bad for him yet. He beat my ass into the dust, so I guess he won the fight. There was no way I was going to take him on. What was wrong with him? "You really don't know what you're doing."

"I'll ask questions later." he exhaled, resolute. That look disappeared – he wasn't empty anymore. Now, he had what I'd managed to flush out of my system: a big old anger turd. Imagery aside, he wasn't doing well with it. His eyes glowed to the shine of his Symbi, traces of pink lost in his big blue, dorky eyes. Maybe this wasn't good.

Actually, yeah, this really wasn't good.

"I'll..." he growled. "I'll ask questions later!" he said again.

I propped my head up.

He took a step forward, held his hover board to the side, pointed at me, spun, and with a hearty flail of his arm, threw the thing again, its circular pads vertical, slicing through the air. I hadn't even thought about the possibility of another attack! I thought we were done! I didn't have time to roll. I didn't even have enough LIMBS to roll! I threw my chin to the dirt and hugged the ground to the best of my ability. I felt the object touch my mane, drilling through the space between my ears, the sound of humming growing lesser in pitch.

No sooner did I notice pain. I had... actual pain.

My back was torn, the boards round blades having cut deep into it.

Oh God...!

It was bad. There, on my back, it went... across Flicker's shot – where she shot me – I couldn't...

I cried out. I didn't draw it out though. I was scared. The pain singed me. I threw myself over to my back with the one leg that I had, pressing myself into the ground again, my back against the dirt in some futile effort to close this wound off. This hole mattered more than the others. I didn't know why, but I felt pain, so I had to protect it. It was burning. God, it was burning.

I cried again, this time louder, longer. I couldn't stamp it out. It felt like fire, but it wouldn't stop burning no matter how hard I pressed or how many times I ran dirt through the wound. The dirt didn't make it sting worse. I couldn't even tell. It was getting worse so quickly that I just... couldn't...!

What did he do?! Wh-why?! STOP!

"STOP! STOP IT, STOP IT!" I shouted.

But nothing happened.

I burnt.

A loud crack against the sky. It couldn't have been thunder. It came from above, cracked so loudly that I felt my skull shake. My bones rattled. Felt like I was falling apart because of it.

What was it...?

It wasn't Joel, and... and I wasn't burning anymore...?

Did that loud crack heal me? No, it couldn't have.

Where did it... come from?

I couldn't see. My nose was pressed into the grass. My eyes were shut. I felt...

...I felt a heartbeat within me echo.

It belonged to me, and...

It joined the heartbeat that was already there. Two lives. Symbiosis.

Another color... wants to come out.

This time, it's not red. It's... everything. All those emotions that mix together to form a murky black.

It's messy, but if it's every color – every pigment, then black and rainbow aren't too different. One just... looks dirty, empty, unattractive.

But it's not all bad.

I'd even call it beautiful. A coming together of all the colors, all the qualities... everything. That's life, and life should be pretty.

But these days, it's not.

I don't know... what's going on.

There's Gamma in me. It's the only thing I have left.

I'll take it all – everything I can. I'll take every color until it mixes into Black.

I opened my eyes. I was on my stomach again. My arm had been left out. It was the first thing I saw, but I didn't seem to recognize it as mine. It was... blue. I was a red luxio, right?

My shoulder... wasn't there before. It moved spots. It didn't feel like it used to...

I saw Joel. He was being dragged, then he was hoisted up and held underneath the arm of a tall, human figure. The man was wearing some long-sleeve apparel and slacks, both of which were padded in spots. He had a belt with a holster, handgun sheathed, and a shiny black, scoped rifle strapped to his back. His head was covered in dirty white bandages.

He was... humming to himself, walking away with an incapacitated Joel. I didn't see if Joel was injured, but he wasn't moving. He was just dangling.

This man reeked of gun smoke.

I couldn't move.

My eyelids fell, vision swallowed, as I reached as far as I could, hands pulling grass up by their roots.

"You need to make those memories again. When you do that, you'll find yourself again and again, a Siren and a Flux. The colors mixed together, and for once, the Crossblade wants you to be one before you can be three."

Right... that again...

Thanks, Xima.

"Wooow...! She's... so pretty."

Caden's voice...!

I opened my eyes. Again? What?! Where...?!

"Huh?!" I gasped. When I gasped, I didn't feel any of my body parts loosen up like before. I was actually put together – missing no limbs. I was still laying down, but I could move all four of my legs – wait, not four...

I'd been stretched out. My arm was lain out before me. I looked at it. I remembered seeing blue fur, yellow rings on my wrists, hands covered in blue fuzz. Emphasis on 'hand'. I stretched the other arm out. It was the same thing. Shouldn't have been surprised, but I had hands again.

I threw those hands onto the grass and pushed myself up, looking at the back of them. Long black hair fell either side of my head, going by my shoulders, touching and tickling along my arms. I bit my lip, feeling the back of my fangs. I was on my hands and knees. My legs were coated in black fur, wing-like tufts around my waist. Almost looked like pants, since my feet were still a separate blue. They also looked vaguely like paws, rather than human feet, but I was... humanoid!

"G'morning." Kat said, zero emotion as usual. She was right here with Caden, in her and her other worm's glory. They were all giving me different looks. Caden was wide-eyed and flabbergasted, one Kat was stone-faced, and the other Kat appeared confused and disgusted, biting her lip the same way I might've been doing.

"Hi?!" I exclaimed. My voice wasn't shy of feminine – it sounded like how it did when I was a skywisp, if not a teensy bit deeper. Knew it. I was a siren.

Kat and Caden?! Where's...!

I was panting now. I searched for anyone other than these two. The ground was fucked. 'Guess that was evidence of our throwdown? Where was Joel?!

"Joel! Where is he?! Where'd he go?!" I gasped hurriedly, slamming my palms into the grass.

"Could you not lose your goddamn mind, please? Relax. Mari's taking care of it." Kat said.

"What...?!" I exhaled, balling my hands into fists and sitting back, resting my legs against my rump and sitting on my knees.

"That guy," the other Kat started. "He's good. Too good for our doctor. But he's just a human, so... Mari's after him."

"Th-that HUMAN took Joel! I don't even think he tried!" I said

"Joel attacked you, didn't he?" Caden asked. I couldn't hide that from the kid.

"He... H-he did, yeah. He beat me. His Symbi did something to me, and... I became this. I'm still Alli, but a siren." I explained. I gulped, looked down at the new body, and... well, I was kind of hot. Maybe missing out on some cleavage, but not totally flat-chested. Should I have been embarrassed? I forced a blush, but for the sake of the mood, I didn't wear myself too thin with it. I was a lady before, so this wasn't a bother.

"That's some look for you, bub." Kat remarked. I didn't catch her meaning. Wasn't she, uh, notoriously bad with other girls?

"Mmh?" I mumbled. I was breathing, too. Like, normally. I wasn't a, uhm, Fluxio anymore. I was a normal 'thing'. Kind of. I gathered my body didn't fall apart on a whim. At least I didn't have to worry about that. Worst superpower 2024.

"I like it..." Caden cooed. Little creep. I forced a chuckle and a smile at him.

"So, Joel did some magic shit to you and turned you into a furry sex doll." Kat said.

"No?" I whined. "Is it... that bad?"

"It's the best..." Caden quipped.

"Doesn't matter," the other Kat shook her head – looked funny, since her whole body... was her head? "We weren't here for it, but you went from Flux to siren... Your Crossblade is fucked all kinds of sideways."

"See? I wouldn't lie about it." I shrugged.

"Mm," Kat grunted. "But you're a siren now. I hear they're tough."

"I guess so," I sighed. I didn't feel very powerful. Maybe I needed a night's rest. Certainly could use it. My limbs were aching like never before, and my head was about to explode. Were that to happen, I didn't think much of a shot at putting it back together this way. "I don't think I can summon the Crossblade though."

"You think it would help if you could?" she asked.

I looked at my hands, squeezing my fingers into fists and the opening them again.

"Y-... I do, yes," I stuttered. I did something, though, for Xima. I became all three. I was a wisp, a Flux, and a siren. All of those forms that met each other in the Timescape. Was she happy with me? Was she content? If she was, maybe... "I have to find her."

"Who?"

"Somebody. Xima, Nephi – one of them. I don't care if the Crossblade hurts. I think it can make a difference. Delta Meadow won't bother us, and... people like Joel – I can show them that Gamma's good. I think it's worth a shot."

"You think Nephi's going to help you with that?" Kat asked.

"I don't know... If I can just... go talk to her. I can talk to her – I won't blow up in her face. Maybe before, but not now. I'm a new person. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, it's a lot better than freezing to death up here." I reminded, well, myself. I held my arms out, showing off that I was pretty naked. Not totally naked, but mostly.

When I did this, Caden flew into my chest and squished his big head into my bosom. I whispered a curse and nearly jumped out of my skin and fur. He did it FAST, and he was a toasty little booger. God, the kid was steaming, but, uh, it didn't hurt. He was like a hot, squishy towel, burying himself into my boobs. Good shit.

"I'll keep you warm, Alli...!" he yearned, muffled by my fur. I groaned, and, for the sake of favors, wrapped my arms around him and pulled him so close. I actually worried that I might've been suffocating him, but he didn't seem to mind. I was hugging a heating pad. I really, REALLY needed this for the muscles in my arms.

"Fair, fair," I grinned. "I, uh, hope this isn't making Kat jealous."

"Hmmm..." both of the Kat worms thought aloud.

"It might be harder to murder you." one said.

"But I can still do it." the other continued.

"I don't think she's jealous." I told Caden between his giant ears. He didn't care. He wanted TLC. Maybe that was all he needed. Snuggles made kids happy, right? Kinda horny for a kid, though.

We went back over to the food court, empty and with more space than sense. We had no way of getting down from, uhm, Aera Firma. We were left to sit and wait for someone to pick us up, which, allegedly, Mari had already taken care of. I wasn't given any specifics, but this was what Kat and Caden seemed to agree on telling me. Cuddling up with this little fireball bunny kid, I didn't have any complaints. Sure, I was left to wonder why Joel attacked me over managing his self-control, and it didn't feel good knowing how much finesse he struck me down with. Was that power all inborn? Surely not. Joel was clumsy, much less as a human than a Pokémon. Andromeda chose him for a reason. Was it because he had the potential to be such a good fighter? Was it something else?

I was glad it was done with. I wanted to kick the guy's face in for what he did to me, but he was due something else, based on what I saw. That man with the bandages – who was he? Why'd he have Joel? The only conclusion I could make was that the man was with Delta Meadow. He had no wings, no, like, jetpack – nothin'. He came up here some other way.

It looked so easy for him, too. He came in and swept up after us. Maybe Joel was his objective, but, were I in his position, I would've been curious about the person who Joel was fighting. It led me to think that I may've needed to check over my shoulder every now and again. I couldn't ever be so sure before, but now, despite holding onto Caden, the thought of mad scientists stalking me gave me some real chills. If he'd left me alone, that would'a been nice, but... I-I couldn't know.

"Just a heads up," Kat had said. "This guy that Mari's looking for worked with my mom."

I committed it to memory.

"That's what I was told," the other of the Kats said. "She went away, and... that guy...

I'm coming back to the Grove. I need to know what his deal is. He's not like the other ones. Delta Meadow has its freaks and weirdos, but him... He's a different man."

I wanted to tell her everything that Cadi told me. Freaks and weirdos? That wasn't even half of it. Paired with the two crazy doctors that Cadi dealt with, there were rumors spread of a man so sick in the head that he had killed people just to prove that he could get away with it in broad daylight. This was the guy who, from the gossip and small talk I'd listened in on, fired into a group of scared Pokémon. Cadi and Rayse met him, and... I may have, too. Was it really him?

I had to ask them again. Rayse especially. I had to get with Rayse, sit down, and have a real talk. If this murderer scientist was in possession of Joel, then the dude wasn't coming back alive. Fuck him for trying to drop me, but still, he didn't deserve that. There was nothing I could do – I couldn't run in and save him. Not right now, and especially not if the man had taken Joel down easily enough to hoist him away, humming some tune to himself, all BY himself.

That should have been our real enemy. Gamma? Laza? None of that. The real big bad came from our own home turf, and we had to deal with it for ourselves. Symbis and Champions alike didn't need to come to Earth from some distant world and get laughed at and probed by a psychopath. More than ever, armed with weapons and companions, this was our chance to get rid of a human being that didn't deserve to breathe the same oxygen as us. More than ever, this was the right time to take Delta Meadow down.

Meanwhile, at the Grove's own meteorite

...

"When d'you think he'll be back?"

"Soon, I hope. He needs this, Rayse. I'm not sure how he'll react to it, but this is for him, not me. I'm not Nick anymore."

"You... oh, I gotcha. So, you took over Nick?"

"Correct."

"O-oh... W-well, that's okay. Y'had to do it, right? It's just like me! I... took over..."

"...Rayse?"

"Uhm, Arcadia, does that make us bad?"

"What's that, sweetheart?"

"Do you think we're no better than Delta Meadow? We've taken these poor kids' lives and changed them forever. People might even think we're killers. I can't live with that..."

"...Is that it, then?"

"Huh?"

"I'm sure you care about the state of the Grove, yes?"

"Oh, gosh, yes! I want everybody to be safe, always!"

"Are you worried that people may think a murderer is the only one who can really protect them?"

"I... I-if... They knew... that I took Zatch, and made him into... me... they wouldn't want me around. Diancie told me that Caden was angry with her for taking over Atti. It's the same thing with you and me. We're aliens to these people."

"Heheh, that's hitting you just now? Goodness, it's a little late for that! Now, look, I won't speak for everybody. I'm sure there are people who couldn't forgive us for the lives we've changed, but on the offhand, there are people like Young, who, on the outside, may not seem to care, but do cherish the friendship that we've made.

And there are people like Al."

"Uh-huh...?"

"Al accepts us. He's a sweet person, even if he's a tad quick to anger. And he's the most adorable fledgeling wisp! Only, not when he's Fluxed. Eghh... But, that's okay. Al and I are friends, and it looks like he's getting along with you and Diancie."

"I don't think he knows who I was before this, though."

"Even if he did find out, I'm positive he would still like you. People like him, who have every reason to hate and avoid us, but choose to take solace in the comfort we may provide, must be the good of what humanity has to offer.

And, speaking of that, what's all the fuss anyway? Didn't Zatch accept you, Rayse? Surely he made peace with you, just like Nick did with me."

"Mmhmm, I thought I felt him let me take over. Er, twice, actually! Once at Delta Meadow and another time in that Paradox place. I think he likes me, too, but if there's another Zatch out there, who has the same Crossblade as me... I want HIS opinion. He would be part of me. He should be the part that I took over."

"The Crossblade is a vexing subject. Many of my siblings know more than I. I wish I could help you learn more, but I am a peacekeeping Symbi. Rarely had I ever matched a wielder of the Cross. Nonetheless, were you to find the Zatch you're looking for, I would withhold any apprehension of his opinion you might have. It's doing your shine no good, sweetheart – it's not like you to be so serious!"

"I'm sorry! You're right, I oughta up my game! Still, it's so hard to be happy when there are all these things to worry about. Secany, the Crossblade, Azabell and the Paradox...

...and, now, this. How do you think Al will feel?"

"I doubt that he'll be angry with you. Talk to him! Tell him where you found these little things. If he gets snappy, I'll step it and I'll give him the stare."

"The stare?"

"The stare that he makes for do when his skywisp self doesn't let me brush her hair. He'll know the one."

"Can I see it?

"Perhaps soon, or, perhaps let's just hope that you won't have to."

Alli

I hopped off of the back of our dragon chauffeur, my feet hitting the soft, damp dirt. I bent my knees as I landed, a quiet crack sounding within, a sharp pain in my shins and thighs stabbing me good. I grunted with it, growing accustomed to the miracle of two legs. It'd been the first time that I had to manage them since I was human. Having no legs at all was the dankest of times. Seriously.

Turning back to my escort, I gave him a smile and a nod. It all came kind of sheepishly, just as awkward as the trip from the sky islands was, all that wind blowing my hair back to kingdom come, freeze-drying any tears that came out of my eyes from the sheer force of the gusts. I was fine, though! I got through it, and I had this, uh, flygon – big green, winged badass dragon thing – to thank!

Somebody approached us. It was Teach – Mr. Davidson, strutting up, as tall as my siren self, putting his clawed bird-hands on his hips. He must've come over to meet up with his bud. What luck. One of the physical education teachers turned into one of the more useful Pokémon. 'Guess Teach knew him. All the faculty at Metedia knew each other. Thank Christ Mari (Charley? Really, what'd she go by?) set us up with somebody like that.

I was thankfully quiet to Mr. Davidson's pal and, well, the ground beneath me. I kind of missed it. I didn't want to bend over and kiss it or anything, but it did me well knowing my margin of error went down by about a thousand notches. You know, from being assaulted by a magic hover board-wielding maniac kid on a sky continent miles in the air.

I looked around. Pokémon were coming out of the tree to see me. Right, I was a siren now. I caught a glimpse of that Doc Young emolga person before looking away, grimacing, crossing my arms over my chest. Kat came down after me, brought by a big black and purple bat with bright cyan wings. I couldn't remember the name of this Pokémon, but she was another of the teachers – actually, not even that. She might've been the school nurse, but now she was one of the sickest 'mons around. She was smaller than the P.E. guy, so she brought down Kat, and Caden just flew along.

Kat slapping down onto the grass sounded pretty gross. It was wet and weird, but hey, so was she. She said nothing to me or to Caden. All six of her eyes locked onto the Grove's tree. They met Young's, and, from there, they were cemented. I didn't need to be in the way of that, so I snuck off. It wasn't like I needed any parting words for Kat if she was just going to hang around – she said it herself. She was going to stay, which meant she needed to settle the hot blood between herself and Young. None of it involved me.

Check you later, Kat, if all goes well. I ain't going back to your sewer any time soon. No one is.

Feeling a bit unfulfilled that I'd set out to ask an unanswered question only to be caught up in a shitstorm, I sought out the single most reliable source of comfort here, where I could go without being judged so damn hard by all these eyes peeking out of their tents at me. I carried my arms as I walked, keeping my gaze fixed on the grass. Each step brought my closer to my dirty, messily pitched excuse of a tent, next to that beautifully clad, picture-perfect one. The further I got away, the more I liked to imagine behind me the fallout and drama. The more of that we had the Grove, the more attention got pulled off of me.

Then came Cadi, strolling back to our tiny settlement with Rayse, hood over her head. Rayse's ears were pointed forward, her muzzle down. I sniffed. Her floral, crispy Gamma quenched the thirst in my nostrils. Cadi's was as refreshing, too, albeit more syrupy, and with less of a punch. Diancie was there, too, dressy and glamorous like usual. She'd only just caught up to the two, and none of them had noticed me just yet, but the sight of my home girls added the most pep to my step all day. Heck, it got me running to 'em.

Clumsy footsteps alerted them. First, Rayse's ears stuck high, then Cadi's, and then they all turned to me right before they could dip and duck away into Cadi's tent. Confusion blanketed their faces. I slowed off a little, walking up to 'em with arms apart, waving around thumbs-ups like they were on sale.

"Ayyyy," I called out, my cheeks flushed red from grinning so wide. "Hey fam, I'm home."

"Oh my days..." Cadi gasped, a hand reached up to the smooth fluff about her neck. "Is this lovely lady our own Al?"

"My word, could it be?! This is an improvement worth one's weight in diamonds!" Diancie clamored, chiming with a mocking giggle.

I let my arms hit my sides with two soft thumps and stared at them.

"How did this happen?! This is monumental!" Cadi squeed with excitement, folding her hands together at her neck.

"Some stuff went down, some stuff went up, then down again, and," I stopped. Might've been better to tell them everything later. I shook my tail forward, grabbed it with one hand, and started twirling it. "I guess I'm a babe."

"That's wonderful," Diancie clapped her hands once. "But you did promise me that you'd be so kind as to allow me to behead you. Will that not be in order anymore?"

"Yeah, haha, don't," I told her. "I'll get all dead 'n shit."

"I see she still speaks with vulgarities. Shame," Diancie huffed, crossing her arms and closing her eyes all coy and pompous. She turned the other cheek and raised her chin. "Such savage language does not befit a lady."

"Go tell Kat that." I pointed over my shoulder.

"Kat's here, too? Good! We worried about you three. You were gone for a time. Care to share your findings with us over some tea?" Cadi offered, walking up to my side and placing a soft hand on my back, guiding me to a spot behind her tent.

I didn't answer, because, as we walked, I began to notice that Rayse was especially quiet. Rayse, by the way, didn't usually do that. She was a loud girl with a loud personality. Even louder was when she wasn't actually loud at all, since it stood out about as much as I did walking through this whole place.

Then, my ears fell flat. The two ribbons showing from underneath her hood were carrying something. Two things, even. Two very worn, insignificant objects. I would've dismissed them as trash if I didn't catch the bright red of the ribbon and the gleam of the silvery onyx, one draped over Rayse's own natural ribbon, the other worn by the opposite. She looked at me, her expression racked with anticipation, fear, solemnity. Cadi prompted me with a gentle push forward.

"Uh, Rayse, what are those?" I asked her. I knew exactly what they were already.

"They're... for you," she offered them to me, raising her feelers, gingerly holding onto the pendant so that she didn't lose it, while the ribbon's friction kept it put. "I found them in one of the rooms at the hospital. I thought that they looked familiar, so I picked them up."

My hands were shaking.

I cupped one hand around the pendant and pinched the red ribbon between two fingers. I brought them closer. The pendant was broken, forced open, wedged somehow. The ribbon was grimy and torn in spots, the clip in tact. In spite of that, these trinkets had personality written all over them. They had history.

In that respect, they were so much like their owners.

I let my arms fall and I closed both fists. I kept the objects secure so that they didn't fall. Not again.

"I told her who they belonged to." said Cadi. I could hear the hesitation under her tongue, like she wanted to take some kind of blame for Rayse, but there wasn't anyone here to blame but myself for ever thinking that going anywhere with Cruce was a good idea. I could've turned back with them, but I didn't.

And Rayse went in there just to come out with what that nightmare hole puked up.

"Thanks, Rayse. You did a good thing there," I said. I wasn't angry. "If only Emi and Pat had Alli with them, then things would've been better, but I missed my chance. They won't ever get the opportunity to, uh... to meet Alli. But, at least Alli gets to keep all that's left of them safe."

"You're not about to blow up on me?" Rayse asked. "'Cause if you did, Cadi said she had a magical stare for you."

"Oh." I blinked. My shoulders sank and I swallowed dry. I didn't think I had the stamina left in me to take that stare.

"She knows the one." Cadi quipped, smug.

"I'm not mad. Actually, I'm..." I left my mouth open. I had something to say, but it sounded too feelsy in my head. I was happy. I was grateful. I was so glad you did this for me, Rayse. What did I want to say? How did I want to say it? I closed my mouth and look at her – this dainty, cloaked Pokémon that used to be Zatch, and prolly had no speck left of the guy in there.

I looked away real quick, all that pressure from everybody getting under my fur. I shook my head and smiled again, squatting with my arms over my legs. I passed the pendant over to my left hand, holding both objects in the one, while holding a fist out in front of Rayse's face.

"Are you... punching me? I'm a really, really bad punching bag," she huffed, glowering up to me – she wasn't doing it to me, per se, rather the gesture. "I have better special defense, so... if you're gonna punch me, do a special punch. Punch me with your-"

"Yo, yo, yo..." I interrupted her. "Cadi. Help her out."

"Oh, yes! You see, darling," Cadi began, kneeling a ways between Rayse and I. She reached for one of Rayse's feelers, then my fist, and gently moving them together until they touched. "You go like this. When one holds their fist before you, they require whatever appendage you have available. When they unite, the gesture of friendship is complete! Simple, yes?"

Rayse looked at the red tip of her feeler like it was an entirely new concept of reality.

"So you... punch a punch?" she asked.

"Know what, let's just do this," I scoffed, Cadi letting go of my hand. I brought it up to Rayse's head and patted her. It was just on her hood, but she still looked to be enjoying it, if not the teensiest bit lost. "We don't have to 'punch a punch'. That's what Zatch and I used to do, but you're not Zatch. That's okay."

She perked up at the comment. One of her ears raised against my arm as I pet her. She was still as stone and too quiet for her own good. I didn't bring it home very well, but based on that look she was giving me – sort of bittersweet and suspicious, her mouth making a flat ellipse – Kat was right.

"Youuuuu knoooow...?" she whined.

"Kat didn't just tell me about the Crossblade. She told me about you," I said, hand still on her head. "And who you used to be. Uhh... I'm not great with emotional things. Y'girls might have noticed.

But, yeah, like it's cool. Really. You shouldn't be worrying about what we mopey humans think about you. I'm sure you're busy enough."

"Awwh, but...! But, but, but if we don't worry about how you feel, then we may never get to know you well enough. Mankind is what Brother wants to change, and to do that, we need to, uhmmm, hug and kiss and stuff? Th-that's why Zatch... he let me take over." she explained.

"Hug and kiss? Did you two make sweet Gamma love?" I snickered.

"Oh dear..." Diancie mumbled.

"Our minds made out," she giggled, her aqua tail starting to fan the air. I let my rump hit the dirt, crossed my legs, and let out a nice, refreshing breath – a normal one, without the fear of loosing my head or legs, etcetera, while she carried on. "But not all of us Champies are the same. Diancie had to take over for Atti."

"I do regret what I did, but had I not acted rashly, the situation may have grown far more dire," Diancie confessed. I glanced up at her. She didn't look happy about it – she'd already expressed this, but the direction she was looking in hinted towards something other. She was looking at the crowd surrounding the central tree. "Caden may be headstrong, but even he won't be able to stand up to Victini once the time presents itself. I think that the only thing keeping Caden afloat is the simple notion that he cannot accept Gamma.

Now hear, I wouldn't take over a child's mind for no reason. Atti either had to be forced to live under my control, or he could become Fluxed. As I am learning... we Champions are not as impervious to it as I had thought. Not here. Not anymore. At the time, it was instinct, but now such instinct is proven credible."

Instinct, I thought. Acting without thinking. Sounded like Joel. Even sounded like me to some degree. Diancie didn't know at the time – she'd only believed that she was doing the right thing when she began controlling Atti. She had no other way of justifying it save speaking on behalf of her hunch.

"In hindsight, I remembered less than I do now. The more Gamma spreads, the more I awaken, and remember what Gamma is," the diamond-clad princess sighed. "And that I embarrassingly do not understand it."

"Ooh, Didi, I second that," Rayse agreed, trotting to my side, turning about, and sitting down next to me, her tail lightly whipping against mine. I flicked it up playfully to try and catch hers, not for any reason other than to mess around. "Plus memory loss is convenient to the plot so there doesn't gotta be any crazy retcon hijinks, huh?"

"Yes, it is duly lame when you put it that way, Rayse..." Diancie grumbled.

"Rayse pro-tip: Flux gets everybody eventually. Even us!

Because, the one who started Flux is one of us...

And he's the only one who can really break us forever. The end."

I was sure she meant to make light of that subject, but it wasn't done well. I think she realized that, because halfway through her 'pro tip', she started to trail off and sound like she wanted to retire from speaking, with the way her voice dragged on like willpower through cobwebs.

"So nobody's safe." I summarized.

"Mmmmmmaybe. If we can use the OTHER Gamma, we could fight back more easily." Rayse suggested, a smile wandering up to me, glowing again. She knew what I had in mind – she was leading me to say it.

"The Crossblade?" I put.

"Mmh~! I'm sure we can! Because it SUCKS," she blared, throwing her head back just to express it, then looking at me shyly again. "But you were okay when you got Fluxed, and it might just be in part because of the Crossblade, yeah? Totally, yeah! Maybe totally. Unsure totally. No-tally?"

I grinned and brought my thumb and index finger up to Rayse's covered back, stroking from her neck to her flank in quick scratching motions. She raised her back in response. She was into it!

"Dunno, yo." I said.

"You two be careful. Take care not to dawdle too close to the greatest evils known." Cadi warned. I wanted to tell her it was all hunky-dunkin' donuts, but when I recalled the thoughts and feelings I had earlier on Delta Meadow, I just wanted to forget about it and sleep. They were the big bad, and Gamma was the big mess. I KNEW the Meadow was bad, and I DIDN'T know WHAT Gamma was, so I had to go with what I knew – Delta Meadow needed to be taken care of.

It was so much harder to bring this up through a yawn, heavy eyelids, slumped shoulders... I needed a nap. It wasn't too cold now that I had a bit more 'body' to manage – plus I was still mammalian, so big hoorah for the inner heater. Took that shit SO, SO for granted when I turned into a wisp.

"Welp," I said promptly, patting Rayse's back and then using her as a means of support to get up. "I'm gonna go throw myself into some blankets. Long day 'n all."

"Yes, go get some sleep, Alli. Or Al? What do we call you now? Alli puts the image of a skywisp to mind, and Al is, well, a boy's name." Cadi pondered, a finger on her lips.

"Surprise me in the morning?" I offered.

"But morning never comes." she argued.

"Then it'll be a big surprise!" I grinned.

"And by then I'll have the perfect name for you." she nodded.

"Do iiiit," Rayse said in two melodic notes. "Hey, would I be invading your space-place if I slept in your tent?"

"What, mine?" I asked. "Yeah you would."

Her ears went low.

Instantly, I reached down, pulled one of her feelers by its end, and started making way for the my sloppy tent, like, four feet away from where we already were.

"Nyaaaaa!" Rayse scrambled behind me, flopping her feet in accordance to my tugging.

"Ahh, that is precious. Our rowdy pair, huddled up for a chilly, endless eve," Diancie sang. "I must ask, Arcadia, may I take up temporary residence in your abode? You keep it so... mm, spiffy!"

"Why, thank you! I would be honored to have you stay – I must apologize in advance, however, as your crystals deserve much more care than sharing a small space with my fur." Cadi replied. I felt sick. I swam through sewage for frick's sake, and listening to these two hoity-toits made me want to punch a cat. Since I was a cat girl, I had to leave.

"Right. C'mon, Rayse." I told her. She caught up.

It was one of the better 'nights' I'd had recently. Someone was there to keep me both company and warm, and we had some time to talk about daily human life versus Pokémon life. After fawning over my hot bod, Rayse remembered a good helping of stuff from her home world. It was nice to see she was getting better. It must've meant that Secany and Diancie were doing better, too. She told me about her brother, Nirva, who went missing again. The word was that Cruce ran off with him and nobody had the gall to give chase. That said, we started talking about the two. I told her the kinda guy Cruce was and she told me some about Nirva, or 'Rinavay', as his family name went. Said he had a soft spot for small Pokémon with big egos – 'mons like himself.

I fixed up our blankets, which needed a little wash for next rise 'n shine. Would've had to make do with it for now. My body was yelping at me to shut up, get cozy, and lay down. The longer I kept going on about the good old daily life, the less I wanted to stop. Rayse was listening to me. She must have wanted to know. After all, Zatch was often a part of that daily life, so she seemed interested to hear where his place was. I told her a few things about how we got along. I told her about Emelina and Pat, setting the ribbon and the pendant safely by my own jacket and backpack. Made me wonder about if I was ever getting my phone, pouch, and lightning rod back. 'Guess I couldn't be too picky.

I heard some laughter coming from the other tent. Cadi and Diancie got along well. Same must've went for Rayse. It was nice, seeing Champions and Symbis share common ground – worlds apart, but given a platform thanks to Earth. Somethin' like that. If competing Gammas could come together and smile, why couldn't we? Why couldn't Joel? Delta Meadow? Even some of us Grove people were so cringey and bigoted. It brought me down. I felt ashamed for my own species. Emi and Pat – those girls would have accepted Gamma, too. I was sure of it. So sure, that I told Rayse, 'till my eyes got too heavy.

Somewhere along the line, I tucked myself underneath some entanglement of blankets, laying my head on my jacket, and rolled onto one side, vaguely familiar with the best way to sleep in this body. Never could sleep on my back in all three of my forms so far. Four, even, if my human body was anything to be considered. Yawns and awkward pauses between our conversation became more commonplace as time slipped by. The lifeless red glow of the outside haze cast through the tent. Every time I opened my eyes to make sure that I was really back home, sleeping safely, I saw it, and it reminded me that I had to wake up again to a world of Gamma. I had to wake up again to a frozen world in which my friends were dead or missing around me. I had to wake up to a morningless day where wondering what came next was more of a test of imagination and less of logic.

Al was never a quitter. Funny that I quit being Al, but the best thing about Al carried over... Heh, couldn't even think of what Cadi had planned to name my siren form. Had to be something creative, knowing her.

Rayse was so close to me. She'd manage to take her cloak off. I would've offered to help her, but she was already all curled up near my chest with her warm flowery breath puffing into my fur. She smelled so nice.

One arm swung over her head, I wrapped the other around her back and let my fingers lightly touch against her backside. I huffed out a brief, warm breath through my nose, before lowering it to the top of her fuzzy head, where I could breathe to the aroma of her gentle, perfumey Gamma. Before I shut my eyes, I felt a few stray soft objects poke at me, two from behind and another lazily going across the back of my neck. When I noticed a single flap of Rayse's tail thump against the blankets, I realized she was pulling me in tighter with her feelers.

My heart was airy, peaceful, and vulnerable. I loved it. More of this, and less anger. More of this, please.


(Al: female Luxio mutant)