Helios stared at his breakfast bowl of mashed berries. The bowl stared back at him.

Slate poked him in the side. "Prince Helios, is there anything wrong?"

Of course there was something wrong. How dare-

Slate tapped a black rectangle on the side of Helios's face, and the muzzle clamped down on him. "You know what to do."

-all of Key treat him like this! Substandard food, little chances to show his excellence! Helios was a prince, a scion to the Dragnian monarchy! These slights wouldn't go unpunished!

Helios tapped the black rectangle, and the muzzle relaxed. "Sorry," he muttered, a dark heat creeping up his neck.

The first few times it had happened, they sent him to Lady Pandora to get his head checked out, in case he was secretly implanted with hypnotic suggestions during the 'stay' in Fylak. What Lady Pandora found out was that he now had an 'alter ego' hidden somewhere in his mind.

The 'alter ego' would periodically invade and overwrite Helios's thoughts, making him speak like, to quote both Sable and Rowan, 'an arrogant dick'. He had no control over when it would appear, no control over when it would end, and only a slight amount of control over what he would do when he was under the ego's influence.

Of course, Helios was stronger than the ego - he was stronger than everyone in this organization! When he decided to, he would show them just how much he had been holding-

Slate pressed the rectangle.

-back! He would defeat the ego, he would defeat Rowan and Kapun and show his incredible capability! He would show them all!

Helios tapped the black rectangle and flushed, before continuing to shovel the tasteless mush into his mouth.

They had tried a lot of things to get the ego to stop messing with Helios's mind. A hypnotic switch to let Helios think normally didn't work, though, and neither did (temporarily, voluntarily) altering the commands on Helios's slavery band.

In the end, to stop the ego from ruining all of his chances at a good relationship with all of his new (servants) allies, they had to get a muzzle and lock his muzzle into it, activating it whenever the ego acted up. The one thing that they found out was that the only thing the ego changed normally was Helios's way of thinking - Helios would continue doing everything he did previously, cooking stew or making beds, but would only involuntarily complain at that point.

In the end, when Helios didn't activate the secondary effect of his 'ability', all the ego could do was just think and talk - which was still a really bad thing considering what the ego would say in the meantime.

Helios would be-

Slate tapped the rectangle.

-victorious over the ego - there was nothing that Helios wasn't capable of managing, of subjugating, of ruling! The ego would fall, and with it, anything holding Helios back from remaining victorious!

He tapped the rectangle. "I'm sorry," Helios muttered, terrible shame creeping up his neck. Despite what he apparently said under the ego's influence, he wasn't getting any closer to figuring out a way to suppress the ego.

'Victorious', indeed.

The only way to really stop the ego when it got going in his head was the usage of the calming pressure power - what Brylle had started calling, 'Stifling'. It didn't crush anything in the area, but it 'stifled' everything - machines and devices would stop working, powers would deactivate, and anyone who hadn't developed a specialized resistance was stuck in place, unable to do anything.

Before they started training three days ago, Helios was the only one able to Stifle, barring the still-unconscious Kite, and he definitely was the only one able to resist Stifling at all. He had taken it as a note of pride - after all, he had developed the skill in a time of need and was the only one who could do so. He was special, and not the pitying kind either - the good kind.

There was still a small bit of pride that he could attach to the skill, but it was only as the developer of the skill. The truth of the matter was that even though Slate couldn't progress in the use of the skill at all (three days straight of practice, mixed with ferreting out spies, had resulted in absolutely nothing gained), other people could improve.

Four other people were training in the art of whatever the power was called right now, other than Slate. Rowan and Kapun, after they learned that there was a skill that Helios had been able to learn, immediately started practicing the resistance 'method' that Helios had used to obtain the skill.

On the first day of practice, they hadn't made any progress, and Helios took a secret pleasure in seeing them crushed under his power, as they were supposed to be. The next day, though, after a few more hours of practice, both of them were able to move a couple of their limbs with semi-regularity.

And then, yesterday… they began to walk. Last night, Rowan figured out how to Stifle as well, leaving them relatively equal in terms of the pressure they could put out. Kapun still hadn't figured out how to Stifle, but Helios was a little scared that, sooner or later, he would figure it out.

The only other 'special power' he had going for him now was his 'ego state'. Deep in Helios's mind, he could feel the ego - he couldn't suppress it when it invaded his thoughts, but he could feel it to some extent. By inviting it to the forefront, he could have it overwrite his thoughts for a short while.

While it was scary to give the ego complete control, it did come with a perk or two. When in the 'ego state', Helios was damn near invincible - they had someone from another of Key's cells come to try and attack him with Hydro Pumps, and Helios stood there and took it like a champ.

The Blastoise wasn't strong enough to even challenge him, too. The only reason Helios didn't win was that he decided to go easy on the-

Slate pressed the rectangle.

-poor, idiotic fool. People like them needed the poorest consolation they could ever get, and Helios had been so kind and gracious to give it to them. They all should be thanking him now.

Helios unlocked the muzzle and groaned. "Why does it have such a stupid drawback?" he muttered to himself.

In the ego state, he had complete invulnerability, super strength, heightened speed, the ability to break anything he damn well desired… and the complete arrogance of someone who didn't realize how much harder he needed to work. The sad thing was that you could just outlast the form since he could only stay in the ego state for a minute at most before he ran out of the special energy the new powers used. Since Helios was so delusional during the state, there was no way he could plan around it - he'd just think it would be quaint and continue being an idiot.

It's not like Brylle disagreed, either - once Helios started training with the Larvitar who had apparently rescued him, he found himself on the other end of a lecture every half hour. She had the gallto criticize him at every opportunity.

The worst part? She had authority, so he was ignored every time he asked her to stop. When he tattled on her to Kair, the Dragonite just told him to 'have a stiff upper lip', whatever that meant. She could treat him like crap, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Thilia was much nicer, but then that was just how she was. You could punch her in the face, kick her across the room, and then apologize in the most sarcastic tone imaginable, and she'd instantly accept it.

Though, no one would do that, because once Sable found out, she would do everything in her power to mess with and hurt you. She said as much when the two of them had first met him - she then, to demonstrate, gave him a terrible nightmare when night fell.

She got in trouble, of course, but the message went through loud and clear.

Both Brylle and Thilia were now also practicing the method of obtaining 'the power' - Helios would use the energy on them and stop them from moving, and they'd try to move. Hopefully, they would take their sweet time learning how to use it.

The door to the cafeteria opened, and Helios took a look at who entered.

Kapun and Rowan - of course. Kapun was a little banged up, for some reason, and Rowan had three ugly scratches going down his side.

"What happened?" Helios couldn't help but ask. "You guys look like you were put through the wringer."

"Mica," was Kapun's response, and Helios winced.

Mica was one of Key's top operatives, and in her spare time, the main combat instructor. A Garchomp, she was relentless, and she had already given Helios a small collection of scars. Even when he went full 'ego' on her, he was barely able to touch her, though that was in part because, in ego mode, he didn't have the same drive as he did normally.

The only one she went 'easy' on was Slate, party because he was already relatively skilled in combat, and partly because he was so… important.

Slate wasn't important, not in any way that mattered. He was disposable, replaceable, and expendable. Pokemon like Mica-

Slate locked the muzzle.

-needed to learn who to treat like royalty, and who to ignore and forget about out. Helios deserved far more of a skilled combatant's attention than anyone else - if they paid attention to others, it was their mistake.

Helios unlocked the muzzle. Rowan looked at him with malicious amusement, while Kapun was just staring at the bowl of berries Brylle (who was on kitchen duty this morning) gave him.

"So, anyway," Helios coughed. "What did Mica do?"

"My offense is 'still poor'," Rowan griped, before digging into an Aspear. "Not my fault, anyway - sorry if my claws and muscles are tiny, but I don't have anything else to go on. Illusions can't hurt anyone."

Helios hummed, not sure what to say. "And Kapun?" Kapun glared at Helios. What did he do wrong?"

"Kapun got lousy marks around the board - poor defense, poor evasion, semi-decent accuracy and 'acceptable offense'." Kapun dug deeper into the bowl of berries so that none of them would be able to see his face. "That being said, we're still better than Thilia. She failed everything."

Helios winced. "Ah - is she okay?"

"Helios, it's fucking Thilia. She took it with a smile and a promise to work harder." Rowan rolled his eyes. "She even said that it was 'okay' that she wasn't good at battling yet, since she was so young and wouldn't be involved in any serious battles for a long long time."

"Oh - then where is she?"

"Hanging back - she wanted to get some more practice in," Rowan mentioned, rolling his eyes. "She thinks that with some more practice, she'll be able to scratch Mica."

Not likely.

"Where did Mica even come from?" Helios couldn't help but ask. "Is she a war veteran?"

"I asked her earlier today - and honestly, I'm surprised you didn't know before." Huh? "Mica used to be a colonel in Dragnis's army - she worked directly under King Hyperion."

The taste of the berries turned to ash in his mouth. "H...huh?"

"She said that a lot of what she teaches are Dragnian combat techniques, adapted to fit non-dragons. You and Slate are the only two she teaches the original versions to."

Helios tried remembering the techniques that Mica was teaching him yesterday, and started comparing them to what he saw new privates learn in the army. With a bit of shock, he realized that they almost matched, move for move.

"Then… why does she…"

"Once her husband was taken by Chain," Rowan continued. "She decided to dedicate the rest of her life to rescue him. She gave her kid to the King so that he would be taken care of and accepted Key's recruitment offer."

"She… abandoned her kid?" Slate gripped his bowl tighter, and Helios turned to see his eyes blazing, his body shaking. He made the connection. "O-oh…"

"It's… we've already talked about it," Slate said eventually when no more words were coming from anyone else. "She's… proud of me."

"I thought you said that you came from the circus," Helios said slowly.

"That's what I thought too - I had some memories from there, too. But those were Lady Pandora's fault - Mica didn't want me to miss her, so she altered my memories."

And that was it. No matter how Helios prodded Slate after that, he refused to answer. Even though Slate was his bodyguard, the whelp refused to obey. How dare-

This time, Rowan (with glee on his face) pressed the button.

-he deny Helios the information he desired?! Helios, and Helios alone, was capable of consoling the boy's lost soul.

Helios pressed the button. "..." He could say that he was sorry like he usually did, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. In the end, because he couldn't control it, it controlled him.

The only thing Helios could do was shovel down the rest of his disgusting mush and then lock down the muzzle so that when Helios lost control, it wouldn't be detectable by anyone other than the emotion-sensing Thilia.

Speaking of Thilia, she was walking into the cafeteria as they spoke. Of course, she wouldn't stick around for too long. She enjoyed eating breakfast with the surly Sable, and since Sable had to watch over Kite as he slept (Helios pitied her a little), Thilia would take Sable's breakfast, balance both bowls on her puff, and walk over to the infirmary to eat with her.

Except… why was she walking this way?

"Hey, guys!" Thilia plopped down on a nearby seat, dropping her bowl of mashed berries (with some jam on top, favoritism much?) on the table. "How are you all doooing today?!"

Helios never knew how to react to Thilia. She was always so… unbothered by everything. Yesterday, while he and Thilia were on janitorial duty (once Helios returned to his rightful place, he'd make sure the janitors all got a pay raise, as would be the normal course of action for someone all-kind and all-beneficient as he was), Helios accidentally spilled some of the filthy mop-water on her. Before Helios could even begin to apologize, Thilia had started wiping herself off while consoling him and then had returned to mopping with gusto.

At least someone knows their place.

"We're doing fine, Thilia. Thanks." Kapun offered Thilia a bright smile. "Why are you sitting with us today?"

Thilia didn't respond immediately, instead choosing to slurp at her mush. After a few seconds, she answered. "Well, Sable wanted me to save her a seat since she wants to eat here today."

Rowan narrowed his eyes. "But if she's going to come here, then who will watch over Culus?"

"Miss Pandora will," Thilia answered after another slurp. "She needs to run some more tests on him - 'blood sugar' or something like that - since he woke up earlier today."

There was a pause.

"Brylle, your mush is fantastic!" Thilia shouted at Brylle, who was listening in. "Thank you!" Brylle just stared at her, as did everyone else.

Then there was a flurry of movement. Rowan and Kapun sprang from their chairs and were running out of the cafeteria. A split second later, Brylle was running after them, looking far less happy and far more concerned than they were.

Helios got up, making sure the muzzle was in place.

"Prince Helios, you can't be considering…"

He then undid the muzzle. "I want to talk to him," Helios said with finality. "I need to know what he really is like." With that, he set the muzzle back on and walked out.

Slate got up and started following him. He probably thought that Helios was in danger, the fool, but Helios needed to find out anyway. From what Rowan and Kapun told him, Kite (Culus, they said, and Helios figured that was a nickname that Kite had come up for himself) was much kinder and nicer than he let on to be.

Usually, Helios would class them as deluded and move on. But then, Helios remembered that he didn't know that much about Kite - he had liked Kite, the first time they had met last month. Only when he learned that Kite was a murderer did his opinion change.

The collar threw a wrench into Helios's judgment of Kite. Suddenly, Kite's decisions could just be someone else's, and Kite could be a victim of circumstance. He had stolen from Flair's family, but that wasn't too bad, was it?

There was Kenki… but then, Kenki had almost tried to kill him. Would Helios want to keep someone who was actively after his life alive? No, not really - and for someone who was as evil as Kenki was, Helios didn't feel too bad for thinking like that.

In the end, Helios was more confused than anything. He hadn't formed his own opinion of the Shinx, so he wanted to see Kite act outside of a stressful combat scenario. Helios wanted to know what Kite was really like.

Helios needed his kingdom, and someone skilled like Kite would be an excellent subject - but then, Kite would need to prove himself to his future king if he wished to serve.

Kapun, Rowan, and Brylle all moved faster than he did, which was a little disappointing, but Helios pushed himself hard to keep up. The infirmary wasn't too far away, so with a little extra push, Helios and Slate made it to the infirmary at the same time as everyone else did.

There was a lot of pushing and shoving until Lady Pandora cleared the room of its equipment so that everyone could sit somewhat comfortably. Helios tilted his head in thanks, and the Hypno smiled, before retreating to the background so that everyone else could speak.

"Culus, you woke up!" Kapun rushed to Kite's side. "When did you get up?"

"Last night," Kite answered, a grimace on his face. "It was the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep. I was confused, and… well, I decided that if I couldn't move, I might as well fix my paws." Helios moved around so he could get a better view of Kite's body, and saw that instead of the metal prosthetics that used to be there, fully-biological paws and claws ended Kite's limbs.

Rowan frowned. "Didn't you say that complex stuff, like biological material, were difficult for you to make?"

"Yeah - I immediately fell unconscious again," Kite answered, face flushed. "I know, I was being idiotic."

"More than idiotic," Sable muttered off to the side. Rowan glared at her, and she shuffled off away into the hallway, giving everyone else some more breathing room to speak. Lady Pandora looked at her for a moment, before returning her attention to Kite.

"You shouldn't have done that, young man," Pandora admonished.

Kite rolled his eyes. "You've told me that three times already, I've got it. I won't repeat that act of stupidity." He looked around. "Say, when can I get out of here?"

"You're not leaving that bed anytime soon, Kite," she warned.

"Okay - can you take me out with the bed?" he then tried.

Pandora just glared at him.

"Please?"

"... I suppose," Pandora then sighed as Kite beamed. "However, you must not move an inch. Your muscles are in a terrible state, and you aren't fit for twitching."

"I promise," Kite nodded. Rowan glared at Lady Pandora, annoyed, but when Kite turned his gaze on him, much softer, Rowan conceded. "Who will be the one to push around my cot?"

"Prince Helios," Pandora said immediately.

The insolent Hypno needed to learn her place. Giving someone as gloriously competent as Helios work like that! To push around cots was a duty for nurses and minders, and Helios commanded those who commanded them!

Helios pressed the button, and his muzzle opened. "I… okay, Lady Pandora." As he said that, he felt Kite's confused and slightly concerned gaze on him, and he shivered. "I won't mess up."

The instant he said that statement, he pressed the button, and the muzzle shut itself over his maw. He quickly made his way around to the back of the cot, grabbed it, and pushed.

Pandora looked at Brylle. "They're your responsibility," she warned. "I have others to attend to - if there are any issues, make sure to bring him back, and Sable will be able to find me without issue."

The next second, Pandora was gone - she had teleported away, then.

Brylle stepped forward. "Kite," Brylle nodded. "A pleasure to properly meet you. As you may remember, my name is Brylle."

Kite nodded. "Yeah, I remember. You carried yourself well during the rescue."

Bryllle blushed for a split second, before shaking her head. "Hardly," she said loftily. "I handled myself with less grace and poise than you did. You were the reason we survived, after all."

Helios ground his teeth. He wouldn't have gotten that far if it wasn't for Helios. They would have all failed if it wasn't for him.

He felt a tapping on his shoulder, and he turned to see an uncomfortable and bored Slate. "I'm leaving to train with Mica," his friend whispered.

Helios nodded, trying to smile with his eyes. With that, Slate slipped away.

"Maybe, but we wouldn't have gotten that for if wasn't for you, Brylle." Oh, come on! "You too, Helios!" Helios blinked, and he saw Kite looking at him. "You broke me out of Undeath - that's a debt that can't be repaid."

Okay, so maybe Kite wasn't as bad as he thought he was.

It was gratifying to hear someone acknowledge Helios's participation and absolute necessity toward the rescue. Perhaps, by learning from Kite, Slate and the others can gain a true appreciation for him.

Rowan rolled his eyes. "Enough of the sucking up, can we just get on with this already?" Everyone stared at him. "What? I couldn't be the only one getting tired of the two praising each other, right?"

Kite coughed. "Right. Uh… Prince Helios?" Kite addressed.

Helios pushed the cot forward, and Brylle stepped out of its way. "Right," she addressed. "First stop, to the cafeteria. Before anything else, everyone needs to finish their breakfast." Rowan scowled, and Kapun frowned, but with Helios pushing Kite's cot, they didn't have any other option.

As they walked toward the cafeteria, Kite started asking about Key. He explained that Sable and Lady Pandora had explained a lot about Key to him, but they hadn't shown him around the facilities.

So, because of that, Rowan and Kapun took turns showing Kite everything that Key had to offer - which wasn't much, since Key was a pretty tiny organization. Kite asked questions - 'how often does the schedule rotate', 'where exactly is the base', and 'how many people live here', of which the answers were 'every week or so, we don't know yet, and roughly twenty'.

As Kapun, Rowan, and Kite talked gaily, something tight coiled its way around Helios's chest. It took him a few seconds to place exactly what that awful roiling sensation was. It didn't take him too long, though, since it was pretty obvious.

Jealousy.

Those idiot mongrels don't know who was important! Helios was far more interesting, far kinder, far more competent, far more exciting than someone like Kite!

It was a good thing that Helios was starting to discern between his thoughts and the thoughts of the 'alter ego', but Helios wished that, in the end, he could control it. Then he wouldn't need the muzzle and could show those four what's what.

In the end, though, Helios could say nothing, and Brylle brought them all to the cafeteria. Sable and Thilia were still eating, Sable lackadaisically and Thilia enthusiastically. The instant they crossed the door's threshold, Thilia turned to them. "Come on, come on!"

Brylle herded them over to the table.

Sable turned her spoon in her mush, looking at them with interest. "Didn't expect you to get out of the infirmary so soon, Kite." She ate a spoonful. "Why is Helios pushing your cot?"

Helios scowled.

"Ms. Pandora asked him to," Kite answered, looking faintly amused. "He hasn't said anything about it - though, what's up with that muzzle?"

Helios buried himself in his seat, face burning with shame as Rowan gleefully started explaining to Kite about the alter ego and everything Helios would say under its influence. "It's not my fault," Helios tried mumbling, though he was still muzzled completely.

Kite had an odd look on his face, and he looked sorry for Helios for a split second. It faded away before Helios could properly process it, though.

"Ah, okay." He looked around. "Can I get something to eat?"

Sable narrowed her eyes. "No solid foods," she reminded him.

"Can I get something to drink?"

Sable sighed. "Thilia, get him a bottle of Berry Juice."

"On it!"

The conversation continued. Brylle started explaining to Kite duties regarding kitchen cleaning and cooking, and Kite took everything in stride. He confirmed that he knew how to cook - because apparently everyone knew how to cook but Helios - and that, once he properly got on his feet again, he'd be more than willing to help out with cleaning.

"Okay, this is nice and all," Rowan interrupted halfway through the conversation. "But can we get to what we really need to see?"

"The bathrooms?" Thilia asked.

"Yeah, the- NO, not the bathrooms!" Rowan caught the slip of the tongue, blushing a little. "I'm talking about the training room. We have to show Culus what we can do now!"

An unpleasant knot tightened in Helios's stomach.

"Everyone should finish first," Brylle directed, making Rowan scowl. He looked at Kite, then sighed, before digging into his bowl of berries with impatient gusto.

A couple of minutes later, they had all finished, and Rowan was back to his needling. "Can we go now?"

Brylle tsked. "Fine. Let's go, then, Rowan." Immediately, a look of contrition appeared on her face magnified after Rowan scowled at her.

The air was a little awkward as the five - with Thilia and Sable, now seven - of them headed off toward the training room. Soon, they'd meet up with Slate again… while he was talking with Mica.

Helios gripped the handlebar of Kite's cot more tightly. The day's earlier revelation was… he'd try to push it out of mind when dealing with the Garchomp. Unless it was eating at Slate, it was none of his business to meddle with family affairs.

Kite continued his idle chatter with Rowan and Kapun, though Helios could hardly pay attention - or even care, for that matter. Thilia looked at him oddly, nudging him now and again questioningly, but didn't bother him beyond that. Sable trailed near the back of the group, bored but paying polite attention when it was required.

Within a few minutes they had arrived at the training room, and Brylle pushed the doors open, leading them all inside. Helios steeled his nerves, for all it was worth, and stepped inside.

Before promptly stepping back out, Kite forgotten, as flying sand dug itself into his eyes.

A sandstorm - just as bad as rain, in Helios's opinion, if not worse. At the very least, water evaporated - sand needed you to take a bath to get it out, which meant that with a sandstorm, you got both sand and water, instead of just water.

A couple of seconds later, the sandstorm abated, as the battle inside finished on their arrival. Helios stepped inside and was greeted by the sight of Mica towering over Kite. Kite, to his credit, was unfazed - there was no shivering or shaking, and Kite just stared back at Mica, not giving a mental inch.

"So, Kite," Mica began, before flaring her aura. Kite stiffened for a fraction of a second, before quickly returning to his defiant state. "I've heard that you're made of stronger stuff than others your age."

Kite smiled coldly. "It's less 'stronger stuff' and more desperation. Falling isn't an option for me." A second later, something strange came across Kite, as if he had realized something. It was gone in the next second, and Brylle had a more pronounced reaction similar to Kite's, one that blanketed his.

"You'll see if it's an option sooner or later," Mica promised. "Heal so that I can 'take care' of you, Kite."

"I can't wait," Kite said, this time even less enthusiastic.

Mica turned to Slate. "We continue after lunch," she promised, and Slate nodded. "Now, it's the prince's turn."

A shot of panic ran through him, and without thinking, he pressed the button that undid his muzzle. "My turn?!" he repeated, a strange terror tumbling down his spine.

"You still use that invincible state, Prince - and far too often at that," Mica explained. "Improvement requires you to abandon that kind of crutch, and instead make yourself stronger."

Crutch? Helios had no crutches - he was the Prince of Dragnis. He was stronger than everyone here, ego state or not! Mica should show her proper respect for her future king!

"... okay, ma'am." Mica, for her part, looked more or less unfazed at Helios's outburst. She was amused?

"You'll be fighting Sable since it's been a few days from when she's sparred." Sable? Helios could handle Sable.

For her part, the Drowzee looked bored and put-upon - she probably didn't like sparring. Helios didn't like it either - according to Mica, his and Slate's old 'spars', from back when Helios's biggest trouble was behaving for Aunt Hessie, were nothing more than play fights between siblings. Once Helios got a taste of a real spar - a lot more injuries, though they didn't end as messily as the one they 'had' in Ascendance Palace - Helios found himself dreading every time Mica called him to the battle arena.

Helios nodded, and Mica stepped aside to reveal the broken battle arena. The battles between her and Slate often had heavy property damage, since two earth-controllers in a room made of earth meant that they had a lot of ammunition to manipulate and throw at each other.

This was never really an issue, thankfully, because Mica could just stomp the ground and have all of the earth merge, leaving nothing of the previous battle remaining. Smooth and pristine as it was when Helios had last seen it, the arena was ready for the 'battle' between him and Sable.

Helios went over to one end of the arena and wound his arms around, in a manner he hoped was threatening. Sable just walked over to her end of the arena and smirked.

Yeah, Helios was going to wipe the floor with her.

"No leaving this room, friendly fire on the spectators is an automatic loss, the match ends on forfeit." The rules were always simple like that. "The match starts…"

Helios wreathed his fists with fire - a neat little trick Kair had taught him the day before yesterday. Sable's eyes glowed with psychic power.

"Now!"

Immediately, Sable shot off hypnotic rings at him, forcing Helios to dodge immediately. This was par for the course when fighting Sable - if she managed to get the initial Hypnosis off, then there was very little you could do since Sable was experienced with strengthening hypnotic trances. They traveled slowly, so Helios could manage it.

He felt his wrists constrict and his mind falter, as Sable tried to pull him toward the rings with Confusion. This was her second strategy, and the two moves had often finished the battle before it had even begun.

Helios dug his heels into the ground and pushed away from her as hard as he could. He couldn't fight on the defensive the entire time, he had to go for a counterattack!

Gathering some flames in his maw, Helios prepared to fire some embers at Sable. Then, ready to unleash hell on her, he fired:

And then Sable shut his mouth closed with psychic power, locking his jaw. That didn't immediately cut off the stream of fire, however - instead, the stream slammed against his maw, and his eyes bugged as his Embers burned the inside of his mouth.

The second Sable let up his mouth, he began hacking and coughing, trying to get the taste of soot out of his mouth. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice the hypnotic rings descending upon him until it was too late.

Immediately, a wave of exhaustion, galvanized by the dull ache of the flames in his maw, came over him. He recognized it immediately and tried to resist falling deeper into the trance, but it was too late - Sable was walking closer to him, arms waving and firing off hypnotic ring after ring.

'You feel exhausted, don't you, sweet prince,' Sable's voice, a false sweetness to it, rang from the inside of his mind. 'All this trying to show off how strong you are makes you feel so sleepy…'

Helios still tried to resist, but by now his mind was filled with cotton, and all he could think about was how… tired he was…

The match was a wash, anyway. The second Sable had locked his maw, it was over - she capitalized on her advantage, and Helios only suffered when he tried harder. Might as well submit and…

Power. Helios was power. Such a fundamental truth to the world could only be ignored by those truly lost in their delusions.

Helios's eyes snapped open, surveying the battle ahead. The Drowzee had started stepping back, a look of fear in her eyes. Such cowardice was to be expected - those that fight through trickery cannot succeed when their opponent is too wise to be tricked.

With but a few steps, Helios had crossed the distance between them. The Drowzee had tried her hypnosis once more, but they washed off of him, as they were nothing but mental playthings. An amusement at best.

His claw latched onto her shoulder, and in the blink of an eye, he slammed her into the ground. It would not do to lower himself with his full strength for such a measly opponent such as her - a simple beating until her feeble mind couldn't withstand the pressure would more than suffice.

He slammed her again, and again, and agai-

A weariness fell into his bones, and he dropped Sable like she was a sack of potatoes.

She had fallen unconscious on the second slam, her snout draped over the top of her head. Technically, that meant that Helios was supposed to have won, but…

"Draw!"

That's what he was afraid of. Mica often put conditions on her battles: 'no fire attacks', 'no melee attacks', and 'no Stifling' were some of the ones she had imposed on him, so everyone failed.

Helios helped Sable up. "Sorry," he whispered. "You know how 'he' is…"

"Shut up," she groused. "As far as I can tell, the difference between you and 'him' is that he's invincible and you aren't."

"Not an inaccurate assessment," Mica agreed, walking up to them. "You 'both' have terrible battle prowess, Helios."

"I did pretty well!" Helios tried to defend. "Sable's psychic powers just cover too many options, and there was nothing that I could do about it!"

Mica looked at the spectators. "Any comments from the gallery?"

There were a few seconds of silence, as they didn't say anything. Then Kite finally decided to pipe up. "Well, when the prince wasn't in that weird super-state, he was way too slow when committing and executing his decisions. He gave Sable a couple of seconds to prepare anything she wanted while he was charging his… what was it?"

"Ember," Helios mumbled.

"Yeah, that. He needed to be faster with that. Speed cost him the entire match."

"We've talked about your speed - or lack thereof - of flame-throwing, Prince," Mica added. Helios looked away - they had, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it, anyway. "Remember what I said about sticking to melee attacks until I judged your projectile speed up to par?"

"Yes…" Helios mumbled. "I just…"

"Was impatient," Kite continued. "You tried to counterattack from a position you weren't able to counterattack from - not safely, at least."

"What would be a good position, then?!" Helios challenged.

"Right in front of Sable, with a punch flying toward her face."

"I could still dodge that," Sable mumbled.

"And you, young lady," Mica shook her head. "Your techniques are well-practiced and well-executed-"

"Not like there's much else to do," Sable interrupted, grousing.

"- but your tactics are stale and repetitive. Helios knew what you were going to do centuries before you began to execute them and only failed in taking advantage of it because of his lack of experience. Facing an equally competent foe, the match would have swung far out of your favor."

Sable looked away, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Similarly, when Helios fell into his invincible state, you didn't try to stall it out by running away or distracting him, and instead resorted to hypnosis."

"It might have worked," Sable countered.

"It might have - but it might not have, and you made the unnecessary gamble. Pride comes and goes, but you only have one life. When you have to decide between the two, choose your life. Make no mistake, Sable - even with Helios's invincible state, you could have won."

Sable's flushed, ugly face bowed, and she walked back to the spectator stands.

"Finally, Helios." Oh good, it was back to him. "As I said, that invincibility state is a crutch. You pull it out every single spar - stifle your pride for a change, instead of Stifling others, and you might find yourself able to improve."

Helios scowled but walked back to the spectator stands without a word.

Mica stomped her foot on the ground, healing the small cracks that had formed when Helios had treated Sable like the bag of meat she was. A couple of seconds later (Sable muzzled him in the meantime) and the ground was pristine once more.

"That," Mica said to Kite, "is how we handle spars around here. Unless you are fighting against someone who similarly has all three aspects of the newly-discovered power, using those aspects will count as a losing condition. And if I ban those aspects for that specific spare, using them counts as a loss even when fighting someone with them."

Kite narrowed his eyes. "All three aspects?"

Mica held up a claw. "One - Stifling. According to Pandora, you'll recognize it as your 'calming power'. It applies downwards pressure and locks down movement, as well as esoteric energies - or at least, as far as we can tell." Kite slowly nodded. "Two - the ability to resist Stifling, learnable by most people who are exposed to Stifling for relatively long periods, there being multiple exceptions. With it, you can move around when under Stifling."

Really? Slate was the only one that he knew couldn't do it. Who else had been trying to learn it?

Rowan then grinned, jostling Kite a little on his cot. "Kapun and I learned how to do it a couple of days ago. You can use it around us, don't worry." Kite offered a small smile at that.

Then he turned to Mica. "And the third?"

"The third isn't necessarily confirmed - however, both you and Helios have demonstrated unique abilities that use that power. You have your ability to create things out of thin air, using the power as fuel, while Helios's invincibility state uses it as fuel as well."

Helios blinked. He hadn't made any sort of connection between Kite's apparent creation and his alter ego. Judging from Kite's face, he hadn't either.

"We don't know how the third aspect of the power operates - if it exists at all, not as something that you and Helios can use exclusively."

Kapun's eyes widened. "You're saying that we can use Kapun and Helios's unique powers?"

"It might be possible to develop your own," Mica cautioned. "We know mostly nothing about this new energy - whether what you're spending exhausts your life force, damns your soul, or any other consequence."

Rowan jumped off the stands. "If Helios can figure out a special ability, then I can, too!" He challenged.

Helios wanted to scoff, but the muzzle wouldn't let him. The idiot thought himself on Helios's magnificent level - how ridiculous. He wouldn't figure anything out.

Before Rowan could move, the ground under him turned into quicksand, making him sink in place. Mica walked up to Rowan, grabbed him by his ruff, and lifted him out so that they could see each other face-to-face.

"As I said," she repeated. "It might be possible to develop on your own. You all need to recover from your spars earlier today. Finish your tour, have Pandora take you through simulations, practice your moves on your own time, I don't care. I have to go to another cell and look over them for a bit, so no more sparring."

Rowan hissed and then yelped as Mica tossed him back into the stands.

"Brylle, take them to Ekib's workshop. Ekib needs a break, so let him know to relax."

Brylle nodded. "Of course, ma'am." She turned to the rest of them. "You heard her, so let's go."

Helios hung back a little, trailing until he was next to Slate.

"You'll do better next time," Slate whispered at him as he unlocked the muzzle, attempting to console. Helios might have believed him had Slate not said that the last three times Helios had lost.

"Thanks," he mumbled, if only because saying anything else would be really rude. "I need to practice, don't I?"

Slate nodded. "I keep on telling you to spend more time working on your Fire-type moves instead of that new power nonsense."

Helios scowled. "My new power is untested - of course I have to practice it!" he said. Slate just shook his head. "Anyway, what happened with Mica?"

Now it was Slate's turn to scowl. "We… shared things. Mostly blows."

Not as peachy as Slate had described it. "Will you get in trouble?"

Slate scoffed. "Of course not," he said with consummate ease. "I'm in a high enough position that something like that won't get me in trouble. Besides, Mica was the one who started it."

"... right."

The conversation fell, and Helios listened to Brylle blather on about the different facilities they had on base, as well as the duties that would be expected of Kite - sentry duty, kitchen duty, janitorial duty, required mission simulations in dreams, and spars on the regular. Everything Helios already knew and detested.

Eventually, they reached Ekib's room, and Helios's curiosity piqued. He had never actually been in Ekib's room, considering that the Electivire didn't particularly enjoy company while building and inspecting Key's various tools. Brylle, though, didn't seem to care and rapped on the door.

"Who is it?" A gruff voice came out.

"It's me, Ekib," Brylle called out. "Mica said you need to take a break - she also wanted you to show us around."

There was a second of silence. "Fine." The door opened. "But make sure you don't touch…" Ekib finally saw Kite, who waved with his now-whole paw jauntily. "... anything."

Kite smiled. "Sorry, but I decided to take care of prosthetics myself." He wiggled his paw. "See?"

Ekib stared at it for a while, then sighed. "One project down the drain, then." He stepped back into his workshop. "Come in, I'm not doing anything right now."

The eight of them squeezed inside, and Helios remembered to press his muzzle. Of course, the 'ego' part of him wouldn't seriously act up for a while, since he had used it recently, but it always returned, and he had to make sure that he wouldn't say something crass when it did.

The inside of Ekib's workshop was a little messy - plates of metal, wires, and sparkling crystal gems everywhere. In the middle of the room was a large table, filled with vials of blood and cases of blue dragon scales. Slate shifted uncomfortably next to Helios.

Ekib walked to a side station, which had models and metal molded replicas of Shinx legs on it. Ekib snapped his fingers, and his fists lit on fire.

Brylle stepped back. "Ekib, what are you doing?!"

"Cleaning up." He grabbed the metal prosthetics, and with immense physical force, started crumping all of them into a single black ingot. "They can be repurposed for other creations, so keeping them as something that'll never be used is a waste of metal."

After he finished crumpling the metal prosthetics, Ekib turned to them. "You can look at things, but you can only touch them with my explicit permission. If you aren't careful, some of the things here could hurt you."

Everyone nodded, and Ekib started showing them around. "In the middle here is what I'm currently working on - the SWD, or Shadow Worker Detector. Right now, I'm in the initial stages - namely, figuring out which gene in Slate's DNA allows him to recognize Shadow Workers."

Next to him, Slate smiled to himself. While Helios knew Slate didn't like being coddled, everyone was susceptible to honest flattery (at least, that's what Uncle Theus hammered into his head over and over again). To be uniquely helpful in stopping the Temptress and 'Phosophor', whoever that was, was reassuring to him, as far as Helios could tell.

"Once I figure out the specific gene," Ekib continued. "We'll be able to take larger and larger actions against Chain, to the point of waging open war - and possibly winning, if there's a weak point they universally share." Ekib's eyes then sharpened. "Under no circumstances are any of you to touch or appropriate that project. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," several voices said.

"Good." Ekib then sighed. "Right now, that's my current - and hopefully, most fruitful - project." Ekib led them to a table with metal bands and gemstones. "For the past decade or so, I've tried to reinvent the Collar-"

"You're what?!"

Ekib started slightly. "Good heavens! Kite?!"

Kite glared at Ekib. "You're trying to reinvent the collar?! Why the hell would you do something like that?!"

Ekib shook his head. "You misunderstand, Kite. I'm not doing this for personal gain, or pleasure, or for any reason other than necessity. We need to understand how the Collar works to undo it."

Kite narrowed his eyes. "Then why don't you just steal one from Chain?"

"We've been unable to find any lying around - Kair discovered that they're tailor-made to the individual, and applied as soon as they're constructed."

Rowan joined in. "Can't you take one off a dead Collared?"

Ekib shook his head. "If the Collared they're on dies, the Collar is primed to detonate and will do so even if the ability Damp is active. We lost Hortensia that way." Ekib looked down at the attempts at a collar. "Chain's smiths work far above my level, but I hope with time, I'll be able to construct a collar - and then, once I have, find a way to detach it."

Kite bowed his head. "Sorry, Ekib," he mumbled. "I acted rashly."

Ekib waved it off. "The collar is a truly horrid invention. I don't blame you in the least." He pushed it all to the side. "For now, that project is shelved. If we can detect Shadow Workers with perfect reliability, we can set up proper security measures against them and leave anonymously. Then, after gathering allies, we can storm their base and take the blueprints directly from Phosophor's skull."

There was a small silence.

"Enough of that - what else do you wish to see?"

With that, Ekib started showing them other things that he had invented. Using what Thilia and Kite had discovered in Fylak, Ekib built a master-ring broadcaster, which could locate and give commands to master rings in a wide radius. Once Chain was taken care of, it would be used to end trafficking - or at least, end its use with slavery bands.

There was a special gel that Ekib had invented, one that could be used to fill in open wounds and act as an emergency clotter. It was nontoxic to all known species and could fill in until proper healing from Berries or Heal Pulses.

Eventually, Ekib brought them to the back.

"At last, we have Project Epsilon," he declared. "One of the more important projects I've been working on - completing it could lead us to learn of Chain's future movements."

They all perked up at that, and Ekib took their eagerness as permission to continue.

"Project Epsilon wasn't started by us - rather, it was started by Chain. In fact, from what little our spies could figure out, it is the main project of Chain - nay, its goal."

Strangely, while Helios, Slate, Rowan, Kapun, and Kite all got even more excited, Brylle, Thilia, and Sable grew less so. It was almost as if they were disappointed.

"Mr. Ekib, is this about Epsilon Fusions?" Thilia asked, tilting her head.

"Precisely, Thilia." Ekib nodded. "The goal of Project Epsilon is to discover, and or create, an Epsilon Fusion."

He turned back to everyone new. "We only know two things about Epsilon Fusions, children, but both of them are vital." Ekib held up a finger. "Firstly, the main goal of Chain involves Epsilon Fusions. We have discovered several Chain laboratories, and they, without exception, have been dedicated to the creation of a single successful Epsilon Fusion."

"There was one under Fylak," Slate said, eyes distant. "They had mutilated bodies, and every one of those bodies was labeled with 'Epsilon' on the top of it. Brimu and some Bisharp were working there." The Bisharp that Helios had…

"Precisely, Slate. There are several more laboratories - the safehouse near Logain that you stayed in had those marked down."

Helios's mouth went dry. They had followed those markings when they escaped the house. No matter which location from that map they had chosen to run to, they would have been captured. It was pure luck that the facility they had chosen to run to was Fylak.

It was pure luck that he was here now - pure luck and stupidity.

"But what are Epsilon Fusions?" Kite pressed. "If they're Chain's main goal, then surely we should learn about them."

"We've been trying to learn," Ekib nodded. "But with the need for anonymity and the Shadow Workers' ability to relay information to Phosophor and the Temptress remotely, we have no capability of launching a proper reconnaissance offensive, which is, again, why it's so important to develop the detector.

"There is one fact we know about Epsilon Fusions, however. One incontrovertible fact." Ekib's eyes grew serious. "An Epsilon Fusion is composed of at least four Pokemon, stuck together. Chain had attempted to surgically create them at first, but ten or eleven years ago, they switched gears and started using genetic editing."

There was silence.

"We don't know if Epsilon Fusions are only a theory, if they've been proven to exist but have never been seen, or exist and have been seen. Chain is obsessed with them, however - if we can recreate or understand them first, we might be able to predict what Chain truly wants, and circumvent them before they can even get started."

Ekib opened the door and revealed several tissue samples. "I've attempted simple tissue fusion, at a very base level. Hopefully, what I learn here can be scaled up to create true fusions. Because of this importance, it is a project shared with many other members of Key's crafting and scientific group, and is second in importance, behind the detection project."

Helios stared at the samples. That monstrous… that victim, in the laboratory. That was one of Chain's attempts at making a Fusion. A failed attempt. How… how many others were like it?

How many more monsters would Chain try to create?


There wasn't much preparation needed for the meeting. Arya's understanding of decorum and pomp was near-instinctual at this point so she had the meeting room ready in less than ten minutes. Refreshments and proper seating were a given, and her various servants were told to be on their best behavior.

Parasel was a genius inventor on his own, but she always felt that his creations seemed extraordinary. The knowledge that there was a second clandestine inventor, working anonymously along with Parasel, was both slightly concerning and relieving. Concerning because of how well Parasel managed to hide Phosophor's existence, relieving because it meant that they had another ally she could use.

That's why she had to make a magnanimous first impression. Decoration, a soft smile, and a welcoming atmosphere - yet, also a heart of steel so Phosophor wouldn't sense weakness and attempt to exploit her.

Her dress was chosen like she would be greeting a dignitary of a neutral or enemy kingdom. Most of the novice and inexperienced maids were working in some distant part of the castle - Arya had no idea how long Phosophor would stick around for her to make the correct impression. Genevieve had come front and center, insisting to be a part of every effort and to be there when the guest of honor came. Arya, of course, obliged.

However, there was something… strange. While she and Genevieve were focused on the coming arrival of Phosophor and the implications it would bring, the emotions other maids were emitting were… distracted, to say the least. There was an air of concern and worry and… grief?

"Genevieve," Arya muttered under her breath, and her trusted maiden floated closer to listen. "Do you feel their remorse?"

Genevieve went still for a second, processing what she said. "I can sense it, yes," she agreed. "Something has upset them. Would you like me to ask?"

"I would be most grateful, Genevieve."

Genevieve popped away and began purposefully emanating concern and sympathy. Genevieve had reappeared at the range of Arya's empathy so she could still feel her, but softly. Soon enough, though, the false emotion that Genevieve was radiating was replaced with a more genuine and tangible one - fear. Fear and shame.

Soon enough, that fear and shame fell to rage, before simmering back to dark despair. Arya knew she should focus on the upcoming meeting, but this new matter… pricked at her in ways she couldn't help but dread.

The last time she ignored something like this, she ended up regretting it.

After another minute or two, Genevieve popped away to somewhere else in the castle for a few seconds. Roughly thirty seconds after that, Genevieve reappeared in front of her.

"Genevieve, speak," Arya quickly commanded. "What has concerned the maids?"

Genevieve's eyes fell to the floor. "My Queen… Brush fell ill again."

Not as concerning as she had thought. "Isn't she usually ill?"

"She had a stroke." There was a deep sense of shame within Genevieve. "The brain damage still hadn't fully healed

Oh… dear. "Is she recovering well in Madam Rahan's infirmary?"

"She's in the morgue."

The world stopped for a fraction of a second. "I… I beg your pardon?"

"She's dead, your Majesty."

The sense of dread sunk deeper into her. Brush wasn't particularly well-liked by the inhabitants of Ascendance Palace, but her relative resilience in face of what had happened to her left her mostly liked by the other maids. Even with her grudge against Arya, Arya couldn't help but feel pity and sympathy.

"Dead," Arya echoed. "I… I thought Madam Rahan would have been able to take care of the stroke with more care."

Genevieve shook her head. "The stroke wasn't what killed her, my Queen."

"Then what did?"

The rage from earlier was slowly creeping back into Genevieve. "At the time she was having her stroke, Yurime had ordered a cup of tea. Brush was in the middle of serving it to him when she had her stroke."

Arya was piecing it together. "Yurime didn't…" He had the occasional cruelty, but…

"I teleported to him a minute ago, ma'am, to view him telepathically - he blames Brush for much of the misfortune. That, and the fact that she spilled tea over his robes, and that Brush's parents are at large and not paying for their mistake while the King is dead…"

Arya gripped the armrest tighter. "The absolute fool," she intoned. "A summary execution…" A silence stretched between the two of them. "Genevieve, what shall I do with him?"

Genevieve didn't answer. She was still in the throes of grief (and an inexplicable shame) and couldn't answer her.

A summary execution. It had yet to be outlawed, but that was because no one had the wanton cruelty to do it anymore - not without incurring the rightful wrath of the populace. By day's end, Brush's death would spread to the papers. They could stop it, and yet Arya found herself not wanting to order it.

Her father would have stopped the spread, but she couldn't - wouldn't. Brush was an innocent soul, and while she cared for Yurime, this was a step too far. The young prince needed to grow beyond petty grudges.

Another aide came to Genevieve's side. Her handmaiden listen and nodded, and the other left. "Parasel has a message for you, my Queen. He can't attend the meeting."

More bad news. "Does he know when Phosophor will arrive?"

"Very shortly, ma'am."

So she had no time for action. "We'll deal with Yurime when this current matter has closed," Arya declared. "In the meantime, steel your heart."

They had to - not only against the sin that Yurime had just committed but also what Phosophor would be like. Parasel had explained that the principal reason that Phosophor kept his existence a secret was that he, like that blasted Selene, was also a strange mutant. Selene was pretty, no doubt, but also very off-putting to those not used to her. Intuition told her that Phosophor would be nowhere near as pretty as Selene would be.

It wouldn't do to alienate the brilliant Pokemon, not when she needed all the help that she could get.

Several minutes passed, and despite her resolve, Arya felt her apprehension slowly begin to grow. There was no reason why, but she was still feeling a sense of dread. She idly wondered if her father would approve of how she handled herself as queen - several hours before he died, he said that Arya wasn't ready, but Arya knew that she was able to step up to stand for what the kingdom needed.

The aid reappeared, bowing to Arya. "Mister Tamon will be teleporting him in," they squeaked before disappearing. Arya took one last deep breath, closed her eyes, then heard the signature *pop* of teleportation.

Whatever she saw, she wouldn't be surprised.

She opened her eyes - and nearly had a heart attack.

Tentacles - eight of them. Four in the back, four in the front, thick with muscle and glowing softly in the evening light. They were what Arya first saw when looking at Phosophor.

They weren't the only strange things about Phosophor, however. A set of Golbat-like wings rested on Phosophor's back, and oddly shaped metallic legs dented the floor. She locked eyes with Phosophor - his eyes held no pupil, yet a thick black line bisected his iris. Phosophor opened his beak, and Arya saw arcs of electricity crackle inside his body.

"I suggest you stop staring," Phosophor suggested, and Arya realized that her steeling-of-her-heart had done absolutely nothing. "I'm aware that the first sight of my visage is always a new experience, but we have business to attend to, correct?"

Arya closed her eyes and nodded, trying to burn Phosophor's image out of her mind. There was no preparing for the sight of him, but Arya could adapt, at the very least.

She opened her eyes again and tried to reach into Phosophor's mind. Darkness - Phosophor was a part-Dark type, meaning that she couldn't reach into his mind the way she wanted to.

"Correct," she said at last. "Before we begin, would you like some refreshments?"

"But of course," Genevieve floated a bowl of fruit over to Phosophor. Arya idly noted that Phosophor was terrifying Genevieve to an unprecedented extent. She was shaky and sweaty, and her psychic control was a little uneven at points.

Genevieve stayed professional, however, and with a soft thud, the bowl landed right in front of Phosophor, with only an Apple rolling slightly from its original place.

Phosophor reached out with one of his tentacles and curled it around the apple tenderly. With a quick arc of electricity, the apple was cooked, with an aromatic scent. A light toss later, and Arya found it in her hands.

"For you, your Majesty," Phosophor demurred, before grabbing another apple, electrically cooking it as well, and popping it into his mouth.

Despite Genevieve's increased note of fear, Arya bit into the apple. It was completely normal but tasted amazing nonetheless.

"If you weren't so brilliant," Arya said after a few seconds of looking at the apple. "I'd hire you to be one of my chefs."

Phosophor chuckled lightly - slightly grating, but at the very least, he was enjoying himself. "You flatter me, your Majesty. That's just a trick I learned in the laboratory."

Arya finished off the apple. "Interesting," she said, falling back into her normal rhythm. In the end, Phosophor was like everyone else - susceptible to flattery, willing to work if you had something to give him. Arya could handle him. "You're very experienced, I take it?"

"Decades, your Majesty. I'm well over half a century old."

Arya raised an eyebrow. "You don't look very old," she commented.

"My kind doesn't age as others do," he explained offhandedly. "We typically start sickly and weak, and it doesn't get better with age. We usually die before the age of twenty - but, with a pill I invented when I was but ten years old, I can undo the illness's effects. As a side effect, this prevents me from aging or getting ill, since my system metabolizes pathogens and fixes deficiencies before they become serious problems."

And now they came to the crux of the matter. "You mentioned 'your kind' - I assume you mean mutants, like you and Selene?"

Phosophor's mouth curled. "Mutants, you say?"

Arya got the impression that she just insulted him. "If there is a more polite term, please, inform me."

Phosophor picked up another apple and studied it for a few seconds. "... there aren't enough of us for there to be anything official, but I've labeled our kind 'Epsilon Fusions'."

There was a small spike of surprise from Genevieve. Arya only gave it the smallest of seconds of spare thought, however, she chewed on this new information. "'Epsilon Fusions', you say?"

"Correct," Phosophor affirmed. "There are mutants, certainly, but they are often recognizable as other Pokemon. Sometimes a Shiny mutation, or an unfortunate one that gives an extra brain or an unusable pair of legs. Epsilon Fusions are born entirely unlike other Pokemon are, and function with different rules."

Her curiosity had been ignited. "What sort of rules are you referring to?"

Phosophor rubbed his apple in thought. "We are born as a collection of four other Pokemon and have access to many of their abilities. Each of my component identities contributes to my Fusion identity, which you see in front of you."

Arya blinked. "There are… four other people in you?"

Phosophor chuckled. "Correct. If I will it, I can speak with them, even let them speak to you with their bodies."

"... their bodies?"

Phosophor nodded. "Each of my four Components is their separate Pokemon, with personalities and identities of their own. Right now, one of them wishes to speak with you."

Arya folded her hands over each other. A small part of her was getting an odd sense of unease with the whole matter, but she pushed it to the side. "Then please, bring them out."

Phosophor smiled and then began to glow rainbow. From somewhere, Arya heard the sea, along with the sound of a ticking clock. Phosophor's form began to turn and shift, and within a few seconds, a new form started emerging.

Slowly, the glow began to disappear, and in Phosophor's place was a Malamar. Immediately, Arya was on her guard - Malamar were notorious for their hypnotic capabilities.

"Hello, your Majesty," the Malamar mocked with an odd chittering sound. "Did you like my older brother? Was he polite?"

Arya narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked immediately.

"My name? Why, you can call me Calamanero - though, I prefer Nero." Immediately, Nero's slimy tentacles dug into the bowl of fruit, and Nero then proceeded to pop several into his mouth, leaving a trail of ooze where his tentacles trailed.

Arya couldn't help but grimace.

"Oh, don't worry," Nero cackled upon looking at her face. "I was just hungry! I'll be out of your hair, don't you worry!" Nero popped the last few fruits into his mouth before he began to glow rainbow. This time, there was a constant buzz in the air, the sound of a wind blowing through a canyon. Nero's form morphed and changed, before revealing Phosophor underneath.

"I… see what you mean," Arya said, at last, sweating a little bit.

Phosophor chuckled. "We aren't our Components, and our Components aren't us," Phosophor agreed. "We have different ways of looking at the world, different bodies, different nutritional needs, different everything… different everything except for the fact that we share the same physical space, and that only one of us can ever be active at any one time.

Arya hummed. These Epsilon Fusions… "So then Selene hid this truth of her existence to us as well?"

Phosophor nodded his head. "There is no telling how far back her deceptions could go. What's worse, since she is likely still alive, she may have reverse-engineered the pill that Parasel and I invented."

"She wouldn't need to," Arya commented. "She already had access to the formula, from her time as a medical apprentice." Was that the only reason Selene decided to apprentice under Madam Rahan?

"Then,with only a little practice, she'd be able to engineer the pill. The creation is limited to Epsilon Fusions, which is no burden to her."

Then the timer for Selene's life was completely nonexistent. "Do you have any ideas as to what her Component identities would be?" Arya pressed.

Phosophor's tentacles undulated in thought. "One has to be a Dark-type, I can tell that much. From the butterfly wings and scales, there's undoubtedly a Bug-type in her. From what I've gathered from her tissue samples, she may have some sort of Pokemon with hypnotic capabilities hidden away as well."

So Phosophor had no idea then. Arya took a sip of her tea that an aide brought her, thinking. "Phosophor, what do you want?"

Phosophor raised an eyebrow.

"No one comes into a partnership like this expecting nothing at the end of it. Surely you have some aims I can help you with." There was an odd spike of emotion from Genevieve, but she trampled on it like usual.

"My aims," Phosophor repeated. "Are not something that you can easily help with, beyond what I can get with simple resources."

"Try me," was her response.

"... my goal pertains to Epsilon Fusions," Phosophor said after a few more seconds. "The life of an Epsilon Fusion is not a pleasant one, in the least. You have five mouths to feed, five minds to please, and only a fifth of the average person's autonomy. My life is dedicated to making it easier for my kind - even if some of them are ungrateful and malicious."

Arya nodded.

"Though… no one is born evil," Phosophor continued. "There are several Epsilon Fusions whose confusing and troubled childhood lead them astray. Most are like you and me, but if Selene felt like she had no one to turn to, no one to help her with the struggle with or against her Components, and then Kite's organization came along, swearing aid…"

Arya began to see what Phosophor was driving at. "You say that she didn't start evil, but her status as a Fusion drove her to any help that she could get - and through that leverage, Kite's organization manipulated her into abandoning everything she cared for to get the slightest chance of aid?"

Phosophor slowly nodded. "You all called her a 'mutant'." The scorn in Phosophor's voice was palpable. "Parasel has informed me of what happened in the castle over the past few months - it isn't unlikely that she simply felt that throwing her lot in with Kite was a better option than with Regilia. After that, a simple slippery slope until she was fully one of them."

Arya stamped on whatever pity she felt for Selene. "She's made her choices," Arya declared at last. "If she wasn't a monster before, she is one now. She must atone for her many crimes, as do all those in Kite's organization."

Phosophor nodded. "Know that you have my aid. As per my isolation, Parasel is the one that must continue the field tests. I will attempt to see if I can develop any protections against Selene's ability, as well as if I can exploit any weaknesses she may have."

"If you need any help, I'm willing to offer it." There it was, that same spike of emotion from Genevieve. "My doors are open and I'm always willing to listen."

Phosophor stood up, and Genevieve had the impression that the conversation was over. "I'm glad we've reached this accord," Phosophor agreed. "I'll be sure to take you up on that."

Tamon walked over to Phosophor's side, and they teleported away.

"... my Queen?" Genevieve asked.

There was an odd sort of tension that she hadn't been aware of in the room - one that left with Phosophor. The mutant- no, Epsilon Fusion - wasn't intense, by any metric, and yet Arya found herself exhausted when dealing with him.

"... summon Yurime," Arya said, at last, a sort of lethargy coming over her. "We need to speak."

Genevieve teleported away in response, leaving her completely alone in the meeting hall.

A torrent of emotions ran through her. A sense of wonder at the newly-learned existence of Epsilon Fusions, another stream of grief, shame, anger…

… she pushed it all down. She could process it all later. The days wore on, and her duties as Queen never truly stopped.

Her father had believed her yet unfit for the job? She would prove to him that she was more than capable of handling matters as is.

After all, she had all the more help now.


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