Chapter 58 – Arc 4 (Poni Island) Ashes to Ashes, Stardust to Stardust

Without his innate ability for conducting electricity, Hau felt so unbelievably out of place. It felt like there was something intrinsically wrong, and he floundered underneath the stress of feeling so vulnerable without it. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that for too long, though—as quickly as the fighting against the beasts that had leaked in from otherworldly realms had started, it was over, as many of them dispersed across Alola. The wormholes in the sky above closed and within minutes, it was all just… over. A discomforting quiet befell the Altar as, for the first time in hours, nothing moved, and they all were given the opportunity to rest and breathe.

Nanu, who had taken the form of a Dragonite (and, admittedly, had been doing most of the fighting), lowered to the ground on shaky wings. Heaving for breath as he returned to his usual form, he swept a look over the gathered people around him. Hau searched for Gladion in the crowd but realized quickly that he wasn't there. Frantically whirling around, he saw him darting off, likely to check on Lusamine and Null. Poised to run after him, he was stopped when he heard Olivia ask, "Where's Mallow?"

"Huh?" Hau blinked, taking another survey of the crowd. Alarmed, he noted that she was right—Mallow wasn't there.

"No problem, Olivia," a woman with a Toucannon hovering around her shoulders brightly called. "I'll go find her!" With that, she started to saunter away.

"Thanks, Kahili," Olivia rasped, rubbing her forehead. She had her teeth gritted and Hau winced as he noticed how beaten she looked. Scuffed, scraped, and bleeding from various cuts, she looked completely unlike her usual, proud self. Privately, he surmised she must have had a rough time getting used to the fact she was no longer physically invincible without her Rock-type Z-Crystal granting her the 'skin of stone' gift.

"Don't mention it!" Kahili beamed. Yet, when she went to walk off, it was Plumeria that stumbled into her way. She had a Salazzle at her side—Hau had noticed her helping fight a few of the beasts with it moments ago—and she looked nothing short of furious. Blinking in confusion, Kahili then seemed to switch on a dime, curling a lip in practiced disdain. "Oh. It's one of you."

"Nice seein' you, princess," Plumeria growled, chest heaving for breath. Her hair was in disarray and her clothes tattered more than they had been before everything at the Altar had happened. "Where you think you're goin', miss Island Challenge Champ?"

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Kahili dryly asked. Rolling her eyes, she didn't wait for a response, merely muttering, "You get a free pass today, because we have more important things to deal with, but get out of my way. A Captain may need help. Not that you would understand anything about that, but I'm going to need you to move. Unless you'd like me to make you move?"

The Salazzle at Plumeria's side hissed, lashing her tail angrily. Plumeria's eyes narrowed, and she spat through a strained tone, "I don't have shit left to lose, bitch, you might wanna watch it."

"Hey!" Hau jumped in, waving his hands to catch their attention. Swallowing his nerves, he gave that anxious grin and shook his head. In Alolan, he sputtered, "Come on, let's not fight right now! Kahili, we can go find Mallow, yeah… let's go. I need"—Hau was cut off by an overpowering yawn, which made him realize just how exhausted he really was—"to go find Gladion and make sure he's okay, too…"

Raising her chin defiantly at Plumeria and marching past her, beckoning for Hau to follow, Kahili mused, "Sounds good to me, Hau."

"No worries, Hau. I'll go find Glad," Plumeria muttered, never taking her glare off Kahili. "You go find Mallow."

With that, Hau shot Plumeria a confused, apologetic glance, but nodded. He then chased after Kahili, and when he caught up to her, his Umbreon and Raichu tailing him, he shook his head. "Ae, what was all of that about?" he asked her, bewildered. "I know Skull isn't the biggest fan o' the Island Challenge and all… but she's been pretty calm so far, with us…"

Clenching her jaw, Kahili rubbed her right forearm, clearly hesitating. Replying in quiet Alolan, she asked, "That was Plumeria, was it not? One of the leaders of Skull."

"Ae, yeah."

Her confident, bratty façade from seconds ago vanished in an instant as she gave an almost hysterical laugh and covered her face with her hands. Her Toucannon clicked his beak at her uncertainly. "No wonder she was so angry," Kahili whimpered.

Heart starting to sink, as if sensing that this conversation was about to take a very dark turn, Hau dared to press, "Why…?"

"I'm an Island Challenge Champion, from Akala… When I was like, eighteen, fresh out of the Island Challenge, there was this group of Skull kids that showed up at Konikoni causing a huge scene. I was with some of the older Island Challenge Champions there, we'd been called to send them on their way, it… it got out of hand with one of the older guys," she said, muffled by her own hands. "Really out of hand… There were four of them, and four of us, and…"

Suddenly not sure if he wanted to know the details, Hau winced, grateful when she trailed off. "But… then why were you so mouthy at her? I mean… no offense, but you were—"

"Because that's what people expect when you're an Island Challenge Champion," Kahili replied before he even finished, dropping her arms to her sides. Craning her neck and squinting to look through the darkness, she cupped her mouth and shouted for Mallow. When she heard no response, she shook her head, and talked a little more. "If you act too friendly with Skull, people get really mad… I guess it's just kind of ingrained at this point…" Uncomfortably moving on from the topic, she grimaced. "Anyway, where could Mallow be? She was with us the whole time, I thoug—eep!"

Just as she said that they nearly stumbled into one of the two craters from earlier that night. Hau caught Kahili just in time to keep her from tumbling down the steep embankment, but his Umbreon appeared alarmed, skidding down it without hesitation. That was when Hau noticed the figure at the bottom of it. Unconscious, Mallow was collapsed in a heap at its deepest point.

Without saying a word to Kahili, he started sliding down the slope. Once he reached her side, he found his chest felt tight and uncomfortable, and while he hesitated at first to touch her, he was reminded that his hands couldn't electrify anything anymore. With that in mind, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. "Mallow?" he called in a shaky voice wrought with anxiety. His Umbreon pawed at her, nudged her, and then his yellow rings went aglow with a silvery moonlit color, as if concentrating a Moonlight on her. Hau let out a breath of relief he hadn't realized he was holding when he saw her chest shallowly move and her eyelids flutter.

"What's going on?" Kahili called, more carefully following him down the embankment. "Is—oh!" she squeaked, covering her mouth. "Oh, what happened to her? Oh, wait, I'll go get Nanu, he can help!"

"How can he—?" Hau's question was cut short, as Kahili was already gone. Dismissing the thought, he just hugged Mallow close and tried to sit her up, shaking her a bit more to try to stir her. Her breath grew a little labored as her eyes finally opened slightly, and she groggily blinked at him, as if she didn't recognize him.

"Hau…?"

Just as he smiled in so much relief, it immediately was swept off his face as she fell unconscious again. He noticed that it was in tandem with his Umbreon's rings dulling as he ended the Moonlight, panting for breath from the exertion. Hau knew he wasn't the only one exhausted after the seemingly endless night of fighting. But at least she's okay, he told himself as he cradled her, she just needs some help…

Within moments, Kahili was back, alongside a haggard Nanu. He stumbled into the crater and sighed as he looked over Mallow. "She looks like hell," he mused dryly. "Guessin' her crystal got nicked too, an' she probably did some healin' before that." With that, he shrank in a flourish of white.

"Wait, how can you still…? Didn't your Z-Crystal get taken?" Hau asked, bewildered as he watched Nanu, in the form of a Chansey, press little hands over Mallow's weakened body. He realized then that Nanu shouldn't have been able to be in the form of a Dragonite earlier, either, as he helped fight off the beasts that had flooded in from those wormholes Necrozma had opened.

In a hilariously squeaky voice that might have made Hau laugh under less tense circumstances, Nanu replied, "Well, not sure, to be honest. It's a lot harder and takes more thought, but I still can, though I don't think it'll last forever…" A pale glow started at his nubby hands and spread over Mallow's body. "Damn gift from Bulu's always been a mystery to me, anyway, so who knows. I think long and hard about a pokémon, I can transform into 'em, but only some o' them, and sometimes, I can't stay in 'em for long periods of time. Some of 'em I can talk while I'm in 'em, others I can't. Sometimes I can't use all their attacks, sometimes I can." Closing his eyes and grunting with concentration, he gritted his teeth. "Talk later, holding this is hard…"

Mallow's breathing returned to a more normal rate and she blinked open her eyes again, this time, looking much more aware of her surroundings. Slowly glancing between them all, she confusedly asked, "What's—what's going on…?" Groaning and pressing a palm to her forehead, she whined, "Ow… I feel awful, last I remembered was Selene—wait, where's Selene?"

In a rather sudden burst of light, Nanu returned to his usual body, and then collapsed to his rear. Rubbing his head, he grimaced. "Yep, don't think I can do that anymore…"

"You were hurt," Hau explained to Mallow. Grateful she was okay, he couldn't wipe a goofy grin off his face. "Ae, the beast we were fighting earlier, it stole your Z-Crystal. Your healing powers went away, I think… But it's okay. Nanu helped."

Sitting up a little more, she no longer needed to lean against Hau to support herself. She frowned. "But where did Selene, and that beast, and… where did they all go?"

"That's a bit of a story," Hau laughed.

Rolling her eyes, Mallow huffed at him, "I think I have time. My legs still feel like jelly."

"Well…"

When Gladion returned to where he had left Lusamine, his breath caught in his throat and he was momentarily elated when he found his mother sitting upright. Despite the dried blood crusting her back and arms, the dead-eyed expression on her face, she was conscious, she was moving. It filled him with a surge of hope—so much so that he failed to notice Null stalking in circles around her at a distance, growling, eyes glowing. "Mom!" he practically yelped, staggering closer to her.

All of that was dashed when Lusamine slowly turned her head to regard him with the most vacant look he had ever witnessed. It felt withering and suffocating, the lack of intelligence in that chartreuse gaze. Frozen in place, Gladion swallowed against a sandpaper tongue as he was frighteningly made aware of just how little he recognized her. Remembering to breathe, Gladion sucked in a fast breath and whispered, "Mom… A-aren't you hurt?" Wincing as he looked over her tattered sides, he shook his head. "Come on, w-we… we need to get you some help…"

Still, she just looked at him.

Heartrate increasing as he grew more and more confused by her failure to respond, Gladion abruptly stomped a foot into the shattered glass beneath him, and demanded, "Can't you just answer me?!"

Lusamine only flinched, the movement sluggish and seemingly involuntary. Null snarled and darted to Gladion's side, flexing claws against the earth as if it was taking everything in his power not to rush at Lusamine.

"Stay," Lusamine managed to croak, her voice frayed and unrecognizable. "Stay. Stay back…"

That time, Gladion yelped as he was spurred to grab Null by his shoulders, holding him back from lunging at Lusamine. The anger on his face, the uncharacteristic focus—it was all too familiar. Feeling his eyes start to sting, Gladion quickly retrieved Null's Ultra Ball, and recalled him by touching it to his back. Once the flash of red light signified his return, Gladion just clutched the ball close to his chest and gritted his teeth. "The glass around us," he muttered brokenly, "that's all just the Nihilego's body, isn't it? It messed you up. It's part of you now."

More silence. Gladion felt a prickle of frustrated anger rise in his chest, born from how unfair this all felt.

"You kept pushing us away! You kept pushing us away and wanted to be hurt on your own! You got closer to Faba and pushed those of us who mattered away!" he yelled at her, finally losing his patience, finally bearing his pain for her to see… even if he knew she likely couldn't understand it anymore. "You were hurt, but so were we! Why did you go through it this way? What was the point?!"

She shakily picked up a shattered fragment of the Nihilego's body, examining it, as if aloof to him entirely. Quivering in shock at how little she cared, he felt a few tears streak down his face. "Maybe you didn't mean for it to go this way…" he mumbled, "but you still let it get this far. You let it go this way. M-maybe the Nihilego made you act a certain way…" He paused, wiping his face, and then looked at his reflection in a piece of glass underfoot. "But who let it in in the first place, Mom?" Feeling another surge of anger, Gladion stomped that piece of glass, then shut his eyes. "Fine. If you wanted to break, then you did it. Break alone."

I can't keep trying for you if you never wanted to try for yourself in the first place, Mom…

"Glad?"

Whipping around so fast he nearly lost his balance, having believed he and Lusamine were the only people down there, Gladion sniffled and hastily wiped his face. "Huh?"

Plumeria heaved a sigh from where she stood, having apparently approached him while he was distracted, then recalled her Salazzle into its Poké Ball. Cracking a tired smile, she wordlessly gestured for Gladion to follow her.

A few days later…

The brightness of Alola's sun should have been enough to lighten her spirits, but as Zossie was unceremoniously spilled onto an unknown islet far from the main chain of Alola's archipelago, landing in its wild, unkempt grass, she felt anything but sunny. Her and Dulse's Solgaleo, one they had borrowed from the Ultra Recon Squad's stock of the common beasts, had apparently been used to fight some wild UBs prior to The Blinding One's disappearance, and as such, it was tired and difficult to control while headed back to Alola. That explained why they were at this unknown little island, full of tall berry trees.

But the reason they had come back to Alola so abruptly after three days was not so simply explained.

Shakily standing up and brushing herself off, Zossie winced against the assaulting brightness of Alola's skies, immediately hitting a button on her helmet to drop the protective visor over her eyes. Sweeping a glance through her new, darkened vision, she could tell everyone else was just as disoriented. After all, Elio had followed them on his own Lunala with some passengers and had been forced to keep up with a cranky Solgaleo. Selene was wildly looking around, apparently thrilled to be back in Alola, but her excitement wilted as she apparently realized she didn't recognize where they were, and it appeared uninhabited. Lillie, more cautiously, joined them; her Solgaleo, Nebby, remained tucked away in what they called a Nest Ball, as interdimensional travel was still too exhausting for him after the ordeal he had suffered with The Blinding One.

The only reason Zossie knew where they were was because of a device built into the wrist of her suit, which provided a map of the geography of Alola when she was there. It was one of the last few instruments she was left with. She also knew that Selene was so excited because they had wanted to leave immediately following The Blinding One's disappearance… Remembering the vision Selene had shared with them, of The Blinding One's story, Zossie felt that deep-seated pang of guilt, so strong it felt like a shove, and she took a seat against the ground. Perhaps it was just the exhaustion, though, as she hadn't slept much in the last few days.

Selene and her friends hadn't been allowed to leave following the confrontation with The Blinding One, and that was because Phyco and Soliera had followed them up Megalo Tower, after some delay. Missing Selene's projected memories, and uninterested in watching themselves despite Zossie and Dulse's pleas for them to listen, they had demanded to know how they could have allowed The Blinding One to escape. Idly tearing at some of the grass below herself, Zossie just felt so beaten. She had tried so hard to convince them to listen (she thought of them as her friends, after all; practically family), but she had seen the fear in Phyco's eyes when he was told that The Blinding One had fled and claimed it wouldn't harm anyone anymore. While The Blinding One had conveyed to Selene he would end himself so there would be no more suffering over his crystals anymore, Phyco had been horrified, and Soliera even shrilly called them all gullible if it were true, or treasonous if it were a lie. "How can you trust that beast?" Soliera had practically shrieked, trembling in pure shock.

Zossie had realized that the joint Captains of the Ultra Recon Squad truly believed that The Blinding One would simply take a while to rest and then return to Ultra Megalopolis in full force at a later date, to finish what he had started. Their fear gave way to feelings of betrayal, that betrayal to anger, and that anger devolved into them demanding they all remain in Ultra Megalopolis for a few days while their people came to a decision as to what to do with these 'two traitors' (referring to herself and Dulse, of course) as well as 'the Alolans' (Selene, Elio, and Lillie). For so long in Ultra Megalopolis, the URS had controlled the country, and Zossie's heart had sank as she realized they were completely and totally at the mercy of their leaders' fear. There was nothing she could say or do to try to convince them otherwise. Others would listen to them, too—because it was the URS and its captains that had kept them safe for so long.

Truthfully, Zossie couldn't blame them. She thought they were wrong, of course, but how could she hold their fear over their heads? They had learned all the stories regarding The Blinding One from the past, they oversaw every field agent's missions, heard about every encounter with UBs in Ultra Space; from the triumphant and successful hunts to the occasional, gory disaster involving a beast overpowering their field agents, they knew about it all. They lived in a world of constant struggle for survival. That was why Zossie had enjoyed Alola and been so relaxed there… She hadn't felt that intrinsic survivalist instinct there. She was free to be silly, to have fun, to joke, to play, or at least, she had before.

For good measure, in Phyco and Soliera's paranoia, even Dr. Colress, Rosa, and Guzma were more closely scrutinized. That did not sit well with Rosa and Guzma, and their indignant reactions caused all three of them to be lumped in with the 'Alolans,' which Rosa was quick to sassily point out that she and Dr. Colress were anything but.

"Way to go," Rosa had snarked at Phyco with a curled lip, her hair frayed and unkempt as she glared at him, panting, "you idiot. We're Unovan. We come from Earth. Add that to your vocabulary, would you? The fucking universe doesn't revolve around Alola, even if it sometimes feels like it to you guys." If the situation had been less stressful, Zossie might have even laughed at the look on Phyco's face after Rosa had snapped at him.

All of that in mind, it was not unexpected for Selene, Elio, and even Lillie to be ecstatic, celebrating their return despite how clumsy it had been. Guzma, rubbing a hand against the back of his head, looked as if he wanted to be just as exuberant but something was holding him back. Beyond him, Dr. Colress and Rosa had already stalked a distance away, with Rosa shooting furtive, distrusting glares at the rest of them. They were all home, or at least could go back to it. But as Zossie glanced at Dulse, she felt the very real, overwhelming thought come crashing down on her: she and Dulse were not and had been given clear instruction to never come back.

She felt pressure on her shoulder as Dulse sat down beside her. Flinching at first, she relaxed upon realizing it was him, and felt like she couldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry. I never should—"

"Do not."

"Huh?" Zossie sharply inhaled. Was he upset? She supposed it would have been easier to determine if she could bring herself to look at him…

"Do not apologize."

"But… you would have agreed with them before we became partners. The captains, I mean… You were right, that time back on Aether Paradise. I shouldn't have lied to get into the Ultra Recon Squad. If it weren't for me, you'd still—"

"I was also alone before I had you as my partner. And so were you."

That finally gave her some courage to look up at him. "What do you mean?" Well, she knew what he meant by the last part. It was also why she should never have been allowed in the Ultra Recon Squad to begin with. Zossie had been seemingly plagued with a mystery ailment from the time she was a small child to only last year; if the captains had known, they never would have allowed her to join, citing that the unknown factor about her illness posed threats for field missions. But she, along with her adoptive family, had hidden that fact well, and they had never given up on her, and she remembered how amazing it had felt when she realized her illness was fading away. Zossie had given everything she had in the pursuit of becoming one of the URS's field agents, with the support of so many, because she knew the stories of The Blinding One's past from her parents—both of whom had been field agents for the URS, and had not survived an encounter with the deadly Guzzlord. Their crew's fateful encounter with the beast would be the one that finally caused the URS to issue new protocol for Guzzlord: avoid them at all costs and never engage.

Grimacing, Dulse sighed. "I am sorry I ever told you that you should not have become part of the URS. I admit, when I said that to you, I was frightened. I could not guarantee our safety anymore. I had nobody left prior to joining the URS. I joined because I was looking for a purpose. Life there is bleak and feels impossible if you are alone. This gave me something to do. I did not have an opinion on The Blinding One one way or the other at the time, so of course I would have believed whatever they told me at the start. I have never been one to question authority before. Yet, then I met a small girl that looked like the wind could blow her over if it gusted too hard and was told I had to work with her." He cracked a forced, slight grin as he regarded her. "I was in disbelief, but I would not question their orders. Even so, I wondered how in this realm and the next could you possibly fight alongside me, with weaponry I was sure you could not even lift, against beasts like the ones I knew we faced? But then I realized there was a little more to being in the URS than handling a weapon well. You showed me that there was more to the story to consider than thinking in terms of just brute survival…" He stiffly squeezed her shoulder, as if it were an attempt to comfort her, and he had never done anything like it before. "I felt as if I did nothing but play the role of a lifeless machine prior to becoming your partner. I woke up, I took care of my body, I performed the tasks assigned to me, then I went back to sleep, all to start it again the next day. It was a sense of nothingness, monotony… You changed that. Every day, I had something new to think about, and eventually… even something to look forward to."

Almost shyly, Zossie giggled, feeling emotions start to overtake her. She swallowed hard and blinked against her welling eyes. "A good thing, I hope," she weakly laughed.

"I do not regret taking this path with you, Zossie," he told her, a quiet fierceness there behind those words. "You and I are brothers in arms until the end. Nothing will change that for me."

All she could do at that point was simply hug him. He stiffened at first, then hesitantly wrapped an arm back around her. That tender moment, however, was interrupted by a shriek from what Zossie believed to be Lillie. She and Dulse scrambled to their feet, just to see her stagger until she was leaning on Elio for support. He and Selene tried to ask her what was wrong, but they were distracted by a man that had approached them, seemingly out of nowhere. Dulse and Zossie were startled, too, having not even noticed him; Zossie's bonding moment with Dulse was over, replaced with anxiety as to what was about to happen now. Guzma, Rosa, and Dr. Colress all observed from a safe distance.

The man, jumping at the sound of all the sudden commotion, clutched nervously at a straw hat and pushed it up on his blond hair. "Um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to st-startle anyone, just… who are you all…? I mean, you're welcome to visit!" he laughed, a goofy, albeit nervous, laugh. "But me and the pokémon don't exactly get a lot of visitors out here, especially not"—he looked pointedly at the suits they all were wearing—"ones like that…" Elio's Lunala then flew overhead, coming out from behind some particularly tall trees and gaining altitude, and the man flinched as the shadow passed over his head. Looking up, he froze and gaped in awe.

"Dad?" Lillie finally managed to squeal, digging her fingernails into Elio like she might collapse otherwise. He winced. "I-is—is that—"

"'Dad?' Excuse me? You're not talking to me, are you?" the man echoed, his green eyes round in disbelief. In a much more stressed tone, he pointed up at the Lunala hovering overhead. "Also, I'm s-sorry, but what—what pokémon is that?"

"What on Earth is going on right now?" Elio whimpered, sharing a bewildered look with Selene, and trying to grab Lillie by the shoulders to get her to stand up straighter and stop scratching him. "Lillie, what's—?"

"That's my dad!" she yelped. "That's him!"

"That's a Lunala," Guzma offhandedly answered the man (Zossie hadn't even noticed him get closer, and she was surprised to see him behaving so calmly; Guzma had always been so loud, boisterous, and hammy back in Ultra Megalopolis), gesturing to the beast in the sky. "It, uh, it's not a pok—…" Cutting himself off, he gave a loud, short laugh and rubbed the back of his head, giving that lazy grin of his. For someone that could be so crude, Zossie always found Guzma to be so silly. Even when he was trying to be threatening, it came off as more amusing than anything. It was so odd to think so many Alolans feared him. "Y'know what, another time, sounds like ya got bigger problems." With that, he jabbed a thumb in Lillie's direction.

Shaking her head in disbelief, tears welling in her eyes, Lillie quavered, "What's your name?"

The man, quivering in anxiety due to the unfamiliar beast over his head and these strange people, fidgeted as he swallowed hard. "M-Mohn, but I'm not… I'm not your or anyone else's dad, look, I—I don't mind visitors, but this is a little m-much, I'm…"

Lillie's reaction became much more horrified after that. She sputtered for words and exchanged a pleading expression with everyone else there. "He doesn't remember," she whispered. Locking onto Selene, she finally seemed to stabilize a bit. "S-Selene?"

Looking almost as out of place and confused as Mohn, Selene tensed. "Yeah…?"

She desperately whimpered, "Please… please…"

Opening her mouth like she wanted to say something, Selene paused as the realization of what Lillie was asking her dawned on her. Zossie understood it too now that she knew of Selene's abilities. Although none of them really had a stake in this aside from apparently Lillie, eyes all fell to Selene as they waited for a response from her.

"Please what?" Mohn defensively asked, starting to backpedal from them. He abruptly shook his head. "No. Whatever it is, no."

And with that, he darted off, disappearing into the brush to somewhere unknown on the islet.

Hi! So you might notice that chapters slowed down considerably towards the end here. That's for a few reasons, from computer troubles (different keys on my keyboard keep breaking...) to computer chair troubles (first one fell apart, the one I bought to replace it was an absolute bitch to put together) to me straight up forgetting my own plot and having to go reread a significant amount of the story myself :D

But also, I play this infamous little game called ARK: Survival Evolved, on an official PVP ORP (offline raid protection) cluster of servers. Lately, some people have been going around abusing game mechanics and cheating to destroy many of my friends on there, as well as my clan that I play with, all while the supposed 'enforcement team' of this game does nothing about it. It's taking a lot of time and mental energy to try to fight it, and while it would probably be easier to quit, I have put 3 years or so of my life into this server and I really love the community there. It's super difficult to just let go...

I also have the time management skills of a wet paper bag, I am trying to fix that! :D

ANYWAYY onto the actual topic of the story here. There's some stuff I still need to address I know, such as Elio and his voicebox and all that, and I will, it's just taking some time. Also, I feel like Zossie's expository opening here was kinda boring, like it would have been more fun to actually see everything she talked about written out, but I'm gonna be real... there's so much going on in the story already I just didn't want to take that detour. So I hope you forgive me and that the exposition there was good enough lol. I'm sorry!