Helios wanted to be king.
How could he not? Kings have the ability to make anyone do what they say; who could resist the pull of something like that? Helios always looked at his uncle with a bit of jealousy. Uncle Theus could decide that he wanted a statue in his honor, and within the day plans would be made. Then, a year later when the statue was finished, he could have it ordered torn down, and nobody would stop him.
Honestly, though, it seemed like he wasn't having much fun with it. Nobody could tell Uncle Theus what he could and couldn't do, and yet there was a sense of Uncle Theus always doing things he didn't want to do.
And that was the main reason why Helios also didn't want to be king. What was the purpose of all that power if all he would do with it was join boring meetings and do stupid ceremonies? It was so dumb!
Right now, instead of having fun in a different country, like he was trying to do, Uncle Theus was in another boring diplomatic meeting with King Midos and King Leafia, and again they were talking about trade. Trade! Wasn't that just people buying and selling things? What did they have to do with it; they were kings!
Helios simmered in his seat. Right now, he was in the worst of both worlds. He had to sit in the boring meeting when he'd rather be literally anywhere else. He couldn't even get one of the snacks offered by a servant making the rounds before Uncle Theus shooed the servant away, saying they weren't hungry.
It was true, but eating would be better than just sitting here, unable to say a word. Every time he tried, one of Uncle Theus' guards, a Dottler, shut his mouth with psychic power. If he tried to get up or do something Uncle Theus wouldn't like, the guard would then freeze him in place or move the offending limb away from anyone that could see it.
In other words, he was stuck here, until the Dottler let him go; in other words, when Uncle Theus let him go.
Helios shot his uncle a stink-eye, which was ignored. He also shot Slate, who was standing with the rest of the Dragnian guards, a stink-eye, which was not ignored and instead was reciprocated with a giant grin. Helios imagined that Slate, to himself, was laughing in vengeance for the fall he had taken for Helios.
Helios sighed quietly, and once again looked around the table. Other than Uncle Theus and the rest of the kings, there were a bunch of generals and nobles in chairs around the table; a lot of nobles. Helios couldn't remember their names if he tried, and he didn't want to. Stifling a groan, Helios decided to look at the generals; they were way cooler (if the Dragnians had generals too, Helios imagined that Uncle Theus would make sure they were here too; he was a copycat like that).
From Eonia, there was General Zetta, a Jolteon, General Booster, a Flareon, and General Corde, a Vaporeon. They had stopped invasions from the Eilkan Armies; Helios had heard some of the Dragnian captains calling them the most fearsome generals of their generation.
But of all of the Eonian generals, Helios was mostly in awe of the black sheep - Lord Black, an Umbreon (the general was born of nobility, giving him a different rank than the other generals, so at least Helios knew one Eonian noble).
While the other generals were feared, Lord Black was dreaded. No one knew exactly how he did so, but Lord Black used 'subterfuge', whatever that meant. The battle was practically over when it started. Eonia's enemies always fell mysteriously ill, or traitors were found infesting the ranks like roaches. The battles were always massacres.
And Lord Black went on the offensive. From spying around in the barracks (something he did a lot back home), Helios found out that King Leafia didn't really go into other kingdoms' territories for some reason; the Elemental Generals fought defensively. But Lord Black took territory, so the enemy countries had to give up early for their land. Lord Black concluded the Eilkan War himself.
Lord Black, looking away from the other members of the meeting, met his eye. The Umbreon then narrowed his eyes, causing Helios to freeze.
On a trip to Eonia years ago, Helios, who was angry because his favorite dessert wasn't available, had thrown a custard pie into Lord Black's face - and Lord Black definitely remembered.
Helios shifted his eyes away, yet he could still feel Lord Black's cold gaze staring at him without an ounce of respect or pleasure. Uncle Theus and Aunt Hessie had forced him to apologize a lot and had to do some stuff to make Eonia happy, but it didn't look like Lord Black cared.
Helios shivered.
Along with the Eonian generals were the Regilian generals. There was General Pompous, a Sigilyph with an incredible shrewdness, a vigilant sense of caution, and a giant ego. There was also General Jhannibule, a Phanpy that had risen up the ranks at lightning speed. Even without evolving, Jhannibule had creative and clever strategies, which allowed him to stand with the other generals
Finally, there was General Caesian. A Nidoking with ruthless efficiency. Though he wasn't dreaded as Lord Black was, Caesian, too, had dominated every battle through brute force.. Caesian's armies fought harder, stronger, longer than any other army known worldwide. Somehow, the army was never kept losing for long, and would always manage to pull back victory against the odds.
(Privately, Helios wondered who would win between Caesian and Black. Both were near unstoppable for unknown reasons, so he couldn't even begin to come up with an actual answer, though.)
There were no other major military figures; the leader of Dragnis' armies was the king, meaning Uncle Theus, and eventually Helios.
'Ah, so you'll be the sole general as commander-in-chief someday. Truly fascinating, Prince Helios.'
Helios froze as he heard that smarmy voice - Yurime.
'Correct, though I must impress the importance of proper manners,' Yurime projected with that same awful smugness. 'As the leader of Dragnis, you should hope that the alliance will prosper, and manners are an integral step in the necessary diplomacy. Calling an esteemed member of royalty such as myself 'smarmy' will cause unnecessary conflicts, and could possibly lead to the dissolution of our alliance.'
'Get out of my head,' Helios shot back with revulsion.
'As you wish,' Yurime stated.
The pressure around Helios' neck lifted slightly, enough so that Helios could tilt his neck to see Yurime near the head of the table, sitting with a neutral look on his face. But in his eyes was a glint of his true colors.
Yurime smiled, sending a knowing look toward Helios. Helios was glad that Yurime wasn't going to become king, and that Princess Arya, Yurime's older sister and full-fledged Gardevoir, was going to become queen instead. She just held small tea parties for Aunt Hessie and things like that; they had never really spoken to each other. As far as he could tell, she was much kinder than Yurime was.
'My my, Arya will be so flattered when she hears that.'
Helios gritted his teeth, powerless to stop Yurime.
'Ah, so this is how you react when pushed. Fascinating.' There was a small pause. 'Out of curiosity, what do you think of Crown Princess Glacia?'
Helios, steadfast and resilient, tried not to think of Glacia, but as the seconds ticked by, his thoughts wandered more and more to it, the way they did when you're asked to stop thinking of lavender Copperajah.
Glacia - or Crown Princess Glacia, the way Yurime said - was King Leafia's heiress and next-in-line to the throne. Helios had never talked to the Eevee, so there wasn't much he really knew about her. Right now, though, she looked as bored as he was five minutes ago, as she didn't have an asshole sitting in her head mocking her.
'Do you suggest I visit her then?'
'Yes! Leave!'
'I suppose I should… father is most likely irritated by my lack of diplomacy. Enjoy vegetating in boredom, Prince Helios.'
Helios waited, then, when no other telepathic messages came and Yurime looked away, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Attention!" An arbitrator called the meeting to a halt. "If I may have your attention, I have an announcement. There will now be a small recess; thirty-minutes from now, we will reconvene." A large bell sounded. "Meeting adjourned."
Many of the diplomats and members of the meeting pulled back their chairs, subtly shaking themselves. Finally, he could actually move; though, with the Dottler's eyes still on him, he couldn't act out. The pressure could be reapplied any second, and he wouldn't deal with it again.
Helios immediately sought out Slate. "Urgh… this meeting sucks…" He quietly confided so that other diplomats wouldn't hear it.
"Oh, what a shame," Slate drawled in response. "My, sitting in a plush chair and not having to do anything is so awful. I must say, climbing seventy feet with arms only a few inches long pales in comparison."
"Oh, shut it." Helios did not enjoy the sarcasm. "How much longer do you think this meeting is going to take? I want to have at least a little fun before dinner."
"Helios, it's going to continue past dinner, and well into the night." Helios froze, not from psychic power but from sheer fright. "I don't think any of us will get to return until midnight, at the earliest."
"Midnight…" Helios whispered. He would go insane if he had to sit there for that long. "Get me out of here!"
Slate shrugged. "Sorry, Helios, nothing I can do. Don't worry, it's just one night." The joker-like grin on Slate's face made him feel less than pleased.
Helios then sighed. "Could you at least walk around with me so that we can stretch our legs?" Without waiting for Slate's answer, Helios got up and walked away. Slate soon walked in-step with him, the small smile fading somewhat.
As they walked, several of the diplomats came to talk to Helios. As they were all boring old Pokemon that probably held important positions, Aunt Hessie would scream at him if he wasn't polite. So he smiled as plastically as they did and bowed and nodded and did all those boring, awful things, and when he found the chance he escaped as fast as he could with Slate in tow.
"Slate," Helios asked, once they were out of earshot. "Can you think of any way to make this all easier?" He didn't want to have to spend his night here or entertain all of these stupid diplomats.
Slate shrugged. "In all honesty, now that you've shown your face… not really. King Prometheus and Queen Hesione will be incredibly angry if you run away with no explanation." Slate said with sympathy.
"So I really am stuck here?" Helios questioned.
"Yep."
Not if he could help it. Helios scanned the room; he had an idea. A few seconds later, he found the Eevee with silvery blue eyes - Princess Glacia. She didn't have any bodyguards with her, so approaching her wouldn't be an issue, and she still looked as bored as he was.
A perfect ally.
Helios walked up to her. Glacia's eyes snapped to him before she quickly fell into an Eonian bow. "Uh… hello there, Prince Helios."
Finally, someone who was as bad as these things as he was.
Helios bowed in the Eonian style as well, thankful for once that Aunt Hessie taught him it. "Hello there, Princess Glacia. My name…" Wait, she already knew it. "I'm flattered that you know my name."
"... yeah."
This wasn't going the way he wanted it to. "Er, Princess Glacia, have you been enjoying the assembly today?"
"... yes, I have." Helios could instantly tell she was lying through her teeth. She did not sound like she wanted to be here. Heck, she sounded like she wanted to be here less than he did.
But Helios couldn't call her out on that, not if he wanted her to be on his side. "I… okay." Helios had wanted her to admit that she didn't like the meeting first so that he could admit it second and move on from there. But she had the exact same idea. "Well… that's…"
Then Slate stepped in. "We're glad to hear that, Princess Glacia," he said much more smoothly than he ever could. "Unfortunately, we really can't say the same, right, Helios?"
Slate had saved him! "Yes, it's been really boring." Glacia nodded, then her eyes bugged out as she realized what she just did. "We're looking to leave, and if you'd like to join us…"
"I…" Glacia looked pained. Helios was now counting on her boredom overpowering her sense of responsibility. "I… suppose I would like that as well. B-But unfortunately, we can't!" She nearly shouted.
And they came to the crux of the issue. "Well, perhaps we could convince your father to let us go," Helios suggested. "I'm sure he would allow you to leave…" Helios trailed off, looking at the pained look in Glacia's eyes.
"I… don't think that's possible," she said at last, slowly. "He insisted I attend this meeting and…" Drats.
"I… uh…" All of Helios' smoothness flew out the door. "I… ok. I guess we… don't have a choice, then."
"Nonsense!" A refined and boisterous male voice said behind him. Helios turned to an Espeon he didn't recognize, who faintly looked like Glacia and King Leafia. On the Espeon's face was a broad smile, as he looked at Helios and Slate with warmth. "You three are wasting your youth laying about here while all of us adults talk. Go on, leave!"
"But… Uncle Mentali," Glacia began arguing. "Dad wants me to stay-"
"Oh, don't worry about him. I'll take care of my brother for you. Go with the young prince and have some fun, princess!" There was a small bitter edge to Mentali's boisterousness at the end.
"Well… if you say so!" Glacia then smiled, looking as relieved as Helios felt. "Come on, let's leave!" She looked around, making sure no one else was watching them, then quietly scampered to the exit.
Success!
Helios quickly followed after her, making sure not to make any eye-contact with the rest of the diplomats. Slate followed as well, and within a minute, they had escaped the meeting room.
Both he and Glacia sagged. "Oh, Lord Arceus Almighty," Glacia muttered. "I'm glad you were as tired of this as I am, or we'd never be able to get out. I was trying to find a way out of there myself, but it was too hard, so… "
Helios stretched out a few of the knots in his muscles. "Yeah, well, you made it harder. Why didn't you just take the opportunity we gave you?"
"As I said, my dad insisted that I attend, for some experience before I become Queen. Didn't you come here for the same reason?"
"Yeah, but I don't want to be here; if I can find a way out, I definitely will. Why didn't you admit it when we first asked you?"
"Why didn't you?" She challenged right back. She then smirked in satisfaction as Helios failed to come up with a counter. "Anyway, I'll be going to the library now. I haven't gotten to visit it yet, but I really want to see what tomes they have on the shelves; I can only imagine that…" Glacia's words started moving into meaninglessness for him. Were all Eevees in love with books and libraries?
Helios shifted around a little impatiently as Glacia continued talking. "... so I hope they have a copy of The Tales of Eonia, because I want to see if there are any regional differences in printing as well," she finished off. "So where are you going to go, Helios?"
"I'm just going to explore-"
The door of the meeting room opened again. "He'll be with you, princess." A harsh and curt voice cut through the conversation cleanly, as another Eevee with jet-black eyes looking at the three of them coldly.
"Hello, Light," Glacia replied to the strange Eevee, that fake politeness returning full-force. "Can you please elaborate?"
"Of course, princess," he said, before turning to Helios. His eyes turned frigid. "But before then, I must introduce myself. I am Light Black, scion of the Noble House of Black. A true pleasure to make your acquaintance, Prince Helios."
Oh... Lord Black's son. Crap.
Light turned back to Glacia. "I must say, my father immediately noticed your disappearance, my princess. Upon meeting with Prince Mentali, he insisted I accompany you two to keep you both safe." Bullshit. "Unless Prince Helios has any objections, you both will go to the library." His lip then curled. "So, Prince Helios? What will it be?"
Helios had never seen someone as in their element as Glacia was in a library. The millisecond they arrived, she began rifling through the shelves and inspecting the spines of the old books.
"Glacia, before you start looking for a book, maybe we should…" Helios trailed off. Glacia was paying him no attention, already absorbed in an 'anthology' she slipped off the shelves.
"Pick a book and read, Prince Helios," Light ordered, not even bothering to hide his disdain. "You and the princess are to stick together, so this is where you'll stay." Light then sat down, and sat there, looking at them with antipathy and boredom.
Helios looked at Slate, who shrugged. "Do you want to challenge him?" he whispered to Helios.
Helios's claws curled into fists. In all honesty, he did. Glacia had beelined for one of the more boring sections of the library, the kind with all of the ancient books that were written so weirdly. There were other places in the castle Helios wanted to visit, and the section of the library that hadn't been touched in what could be centuries wasn't one of them.
But when Helios looked at Light, he grew wary. Some instinct told him not to mess with Light, not if he valued his life. Light had no room for compromise, no desire to be told what to do. He wouldn't budge, no matter what Helios could say. And if push came to shove… there was a grudge the Black family held against him.
And Light was dangerous. There was a quiet maliciousness around him and a coldness in his eye that reminded him of Kite, one that made him hesitant to do anything that Light could consider hostile.
"No," he whispered back, at last, feeling some piece of him crack. "No, I don't." He didn't want to stay here, but he didn't want to cross Light either.
"If that's what you want," Slate said casually. "I'm going to see who else is in the library. Maybe Selene will be here too."
"... fine, go ahead." Helios nodded. Selene was way more pleasant and friendly than either of the Eonians. "Just hurry back."
"Of course." Slate nodded and left the aisle of the library they were in. Light made no attempt to stop him. Then, with nothing to do, Helios sat down and did his best to ignore Light's glare.
It was around ten minutes of more boredom before something changed. Glacia slid the book back in place and began rifling through the shelves again.
"You finished already?" How fast did she read?
"That anthology was subpar; it had plagiarized a book I read back home," she said without even looking at him. "I was wondering why it felt so familiar."
"Anyway," Helios went on. "Can we go to a different section of the library?"
Glacia turned to look at him in surprise. "... if you want to go look somewhere else, then feel free." Helios coughed and pointed to Light. "Oh, him." Glacia stretched while talking. "Well, I can return here tomorrow, anyway, since Dad's going to be resting from the meeting. What part of the library do you want to visit?"
Right now, they were in the archive section, and Helios wanted to be as far away from here as possible. "I want to visit the fiction section-"
"Right, I have to check if The Tales of Eonia is printed differently in Regilia," she interrupted. Without waiting for either Helios or Light, she headed toward the fiction section of the library.
Light got up. "Well? Follow her."
Helios, keeping an eye on Light, followed in Glacia's footsteps as she led them to the fiction section. Glacia began looking through the shelves again, except this time she was looking for a specific book instead of browsing as she had before.
Helios was about to start looking for something to read himself (the pickings here were much more interesting), but before he could he heard a welcome shout.
"Helios!" His lovely savior, Selene, had come for him. Behind her was Slate, who looked as pleased as a Purrloin. "Eve told me you were in the royal meeting! What are you doing here?"
Oh, right. "We decided to leave," he quickly said. "The meeting wasn't too interesting, so Princess Glacia and I decided it would be better if we left. And that's our chaperone, Light." Light grimaced but didn't contradict him.
"Princess Glacia?" Then she spotted Glacia looking through the shelves. "Oh, your Majesty!" Selene fell into a curtsy.
Glacia looked over. "Oh, hello… I didn't catch your name, who are you?"
"Selene, your Majesty."
"Hello, Selene," Glacia nodded. "If you would be so kind, could you tell me where the nearest copy of The Tales of Eonia is?"
"Oh, of course!" She then gestured behind her. "Come over here, it's over on these shelves." Selene then headed back the way she came, Glacia in eager pursuit. With Light's glare on the back of his head, Helios and Slate followed.
Selene led them to the corner of the library that they had met in a few days ago, and just like back then, Eve was sitting in the corner reading. Then, once Selene had pointed to a particular shelf, Glacia instantly picked out the book she wanted, The Tales of Eonia, and began reading through it with much more care than she did the anthology.
"Oh, Selene, you're back," Eve mumbled, looking up. The energy she held previously had evaporated and Helios had a strange feeling that Eve was much more hollow than she was before. "Hello, Helios, Slate." Her smile turned bitter as she looked at Glacia. A much darker look appeared in her eyes. "Hello, princess."
Glacia looked up. "... you look familiar." Glacia frowned. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
Light smiled. "She's your cousin, princess."
The silence stretched across the library. Glacia stared at Eve with curiosity, Eve at Glacia with… envy? "Cousin?" Glacia questioned at last.
"I heard my dad has come with you guys," Eve said bitterly. "He hasn't come to visit me, has he? Even with the bonding ritual happening…"
Glacia looked confused. "Are… you're Uncle Mentali's daughter?!" Glacia pieced together, realization dawning. Eve said nothing and returned to her book. Light, however, nodded.
"You are correct, princess. As of now, she is… on loan… to the Regilian royal family." 'On-loan'? What did he… the engagement with Yurime. Helios looked at Selene and Slate, who looked as helpless as he felt.
Well, wasn't this awkward?
Culus made sure no one was looking in his direction, then slipped out of one of the castle's secret passages. Since he had finished the labor he was assigned to for the day, he had managed to get in some extra reconnaissance.
Over the past few days, since discovering more about the slavery band and his strange new power, Culus had been hard at work discovering and using the new information. Chief among them was the existence of the master ring; finding its location and taking it took precedence over anything else.
There wasn't much to go off of, however. Returning to the chief of security's office and flipping through his files gave him no other information, and when he picked the lock on the safe, he found nothing but the chief's personal paraphernalia. Nothing useful.
As far as he could tell, none of the servants knew anything about the master ring or the slavery band, other than the fact that it was what stopped Culus from attacking them (that and the fact that he had basic moral decency, not that they would believe him if he said so).
Eventually, Culus came to the conclusion that perhaps Caesian still had the master ring; he had last seen the ring when Caesian used it on him in the throne room. Locating Caesian in the castle wasn't too difficult, and getting a good look at Caesian's hand confirmed the master ring's presence.
Culus had itched to take it right then and there but stopped himself. As of now, Caesian was much stronger than he was, since Culus couldn't raise a paw against him, so taking it off him that way would be next to impossible, or at least very, very slow. And with the guard raised by that attack, he would be stopped then and there.
He had no chance of saving himself by directly going after the master ring; he had to find a way to take it covertly, in Caesian's sleep, or when he was exposed and unwatched.
Sleep seemed like the easier answer, but in truth, it was hardly as simple as it seemed, for the simple fact that while Caesian spent his days in the castle, at night he would go outside the castle walls to the barracks to sleep. And since Culus was trapped in the castle walls as long as the slavery band was in effect, there wasn't any way he could get to him.
That left the other option, to take the master ring when Caesian was both exposed so that Culus could take the ring off him, and unwatched so that he could get away with it. While he couldn't leave the castle, and therefore couldn't take the ring in Caesian's sleep, it was theoretically possible for him to both incapacitate Caesian and take the ring off him; if only he could figure out how.
Luckily, he had a day or two to think about it and come up with some possible plans. Culus had to take care of Caesian remotely, since coming close would be pure idiocy. Preferably, it had to be an area-of-effect incapacitant, since Caesian's personal guards were rotated often, and Culus wouldn't be able to access them from within the castle walls.
Other than his new power, he had nothing special. In private, he had looked at an Encyclopedia of Pokemon and researched what moves Shinx could know. Then, with some experimentation, he found out what moves he did know: Tackle, Leer, Thunder Shock, Charge, and Quick Attack.
Of those five moves, he would only be able to use Leer, Charge, and Quick Attack in a tense situation, as Leer and Charge created no property damage (and therefore wouldn't trigger the band) and Quick Attack could be stopped before he hit anything. Of the three, he would probably use Quick Attack for some extra mobility in a pinch.
With some elation, he also found out that he could barely pull some Dark-type energy together in his maw, in what he theorized was the beginnings of the move Bite. Whether or not he could actually use Bite was unimportant (as it was locked with the band); the formation of the Dark-type energy allowed him freedom from any psychic influence and would make it difficult for anyone to freeze him in place.
Still, only the power of creation would actually help him take the slavery band. Culus grinned as he thought about the experiments he had pulled with it and the rules he had discovered. There were a few, and they made some ideas (such as making the master ring outright) impossible; but they didn't completely cripple the power.
There was only one true advantage he held over the Regilians and their allies - information. Right now, Culus knew more than they did and had some idea of how they would attempt to handle them. Using that knowledge, he could turn the tables.
Culus had then realized that there was only one opportunity where he could truly get the jump on Caesian.
The Twin Moon Ball.
They planned to put him unconscious for the ball so that he couldn't interfere or try to sabotage it for a last sense of revenge. His transport to Undeath would happen right after the ball. Maybe the day after, maybe a little later, it didn't matter, he would be knocked out on the night of the ball.
Once they did that, he wouldn't be able to do anything, or so they thought.
If he could trick them then, if he made them think he was unconscious when he truly wasn't, they would be unguarded. He would be taken care of in their heads, so they wouldn't fear as much. Their guards would be lowered… precisely what he wanted.
Culus had only come up with the plan that day and needed some materials to pull it off. Luckily, what he couldn't create, he could take now.
Culus made his way to Selene's room and opened her medicinal cupboards. It took some searching, but he found them, and then he found something else, something amazing.
He had found his incapacitant, and now had a solid plan for the Twin Moon Ball, and if the incapacitant would work, it would have to be on the Twin Moon Ball. He had no other plausible chances, no true way to escape.
Culus grinned despite the daunting task that awaited him.
Now it was all or nothing.
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