Find the others. Become one.

Those five words endlessly repeated in Dimia's mind. Though she did her best to ignore it, it was a constant echo in the back of her mind. It compelled her, commanded her. It was becoming harder to have coherent thoughts when she kept hearing the same thought over and over again.

Find the others. Become one.

Maybe she should have been thankful she no longer had All-Seer sight. Maybe it was a good thing she could no longer view the infinite potential futures. With this unending mantra in her head and the constant rumbling presence of her assimilated other selves, she didn't need more on her mind. She'd probably snap and lose herself to the cacophony of noises and sounds, her own voice but a whisper in a screaming sea of souls.

Find the others. Become one.

The Braixen stood up from within her pocket dimension. She looked to the spot where Abel once lay to see the grass still trodden down. He had been a good boy and she still felt the deep regret of assimilating him. He had only been a child. He didn't deserve any of this.

But then again, none of the fragments did.

She plucked her wand from her bushy tail and opened a new portal, one that led to where Caran currently resided. That tracking spell she had placed on him indicated he had arrived at a small island. What Caran planned to do there, Dimia didn't know. However, it didn't matter. He was alone and afraid and vulnerable, and she needed to retrieve him now. She was lucky he had panicked and didn't stay in the safety of his village; she would have had to fight off all his elders. Dimia vaguely recalled many futures where she did exactly that and was tossed into a black hole conjured up by multiple Gardevoir.

She had been stretched into a thin wire, shrieking in silent agony, until every single one of her molecules had been torn apart and devoured by the starving remains of the dead star.

Find the others. Become one.

Yes yes, she knew. Find Caran, stop wasting time. She had spent enough time with Abel; she needed to resume her mission. No more mercy, no more sympathy. She needed to find Caran and assimilate him the second she spotted him. She recalled catching Caran off-guard had always been the most optimal way to assimilate him. Or had that been Peony?

Find the others. Become one.

There was no more time to think. She needed to act now. She had three fragments left, then all of this could finally end. Her kingdom could be safe.

She took a deep breath, then leapt into the portal leading directly to her next fragment. She clutched her wand so tightly that she was sure it'd snap.

Dimia's feet hit the grainy sand of the island as the portal closed behind her. She started feeling her other selves in her head again. Their silent voices were now turning into whispers. She couldn't make out what any of them were saying; it was all hushed gibberish at this point. However, the cacophony of noise still irritated her. She pressed her wand to her temple and muttered the silencing spell, quieting the others once again.

She hoped that would last. She had been doing this spell every hour, and that was before she had assimilated Abel. Some part of her dreaded that after she assimilated Caran, the spell wouldn't work anymore.

Find the others. Become one.

She needed to get moving. Caran was getting further and further away every second she wasted. With a deep breath, the Braixen took in her surroundings. Ahead of her was a dense forest, one that seemed to occupy the entirety of the small island. She peered between the trees in hopes of seeing a hint of civilization, an explanation for why the Kirlia had run to this island. However, there were only thick trees deeper within the woods.

She tried to use her All-Seer sight, just to see if it would work. Just to see if it could give a hint as to why Caran had come here. As expected, she only saw the void that was her god's "face". She grumbled as she came back to reality.

At least she had an elemental advantage here. If Caran was too much trouble, she could easily burn down the forest. For now, she would try to catch him off-guard.

She entered the woods. The tracking spell on Caran showed he was deeper within, but it wouldn't be difficult to catch him if she picked up her pace. She did exactly that, keeping her eyes peeled for her other self. Mercifully for her, these woods seemed empty and uninhabited. That meant no wild animals would be attacking her when she needed to concentrate most.

After a while, she finally found him. He had run all the way across the island and now stood by shoreline, watching the waves tickle his feet before receding back into the ocean. Dimia couldn't see his face from her position behind a thick tree that perfectly hid her.

Find the others. Become one.

She muttered another silencing spell, the fourth one she had uttered since she arrived on the island. She waited a moment, seeing if Caran would do anything. He continued to stand there silently, as though enjoying the feeling of the salty water brushing against his toes. He had probably never experienced that before.

At least he'd be assimilated while happy.

The Braixen stepped out of her hiding spot and approached the Kirilia, pointing her wand directly at him. She would make this fast, she would make this quick. She couldn't underestimate him, even if he was so young.

Find the others. Become one.

The Kirlia turned around, red eyes glowing bright with power. He shot her with a psychic blast, but she redirected it with a flick of her wand. The rebounded attack knocked him off his feet and sent him falling into the water.

He didn't even get to resurface before Dimia was on him and absorbing his essence into her being. She grit her teeth as she felt an unseen force attempt to pry her away from the Kirlia. She felt it digging deep into her chest and shoving her away, burrowing into her innards. But she fought back, pushing harder against the invisible power as she continued taking in Caran. She almost regretted that she couldn't hear his last words as he screamed something garbled beneath the waves.

Before long, Caran ceased to exist.

Dimia panted as she dragged herself out of the water. Her body felt faint and she couldn't seem to get enough oxygen. She just barely made it to the shore as she collapsed onto the sand, hyperventilating as a throbbing headache struck her. She could feel Caran merging with her, slipping into her head where all of her other selves waited for him. His memories started trickling in, forcing themselves on her mind. She saw them play out before her, threatening to replace her own memories as her breathing turned into a coughing fit, all while her heart thumped loudly in her ears.

Caran had been such a good boy. He had a loving community that took care of him. All of his elders cared so deeply about him, especially when he confessed reluctance about evolving.

Yes, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be an Octillery. He'd miss his old body and having all of those tentacles would be so strange. He couldn't imagine how he'd adapt to that. Especially when he wanted to become an explorer with Hawthorn. He couldn't be a very good explorer with all those tentacles.

Wait…

No, something wasn't right about that. There was something wrong with this. Wasn't Caran a Noibat and he was worried about how big he'd get as a Noivern? After all, a spy is much more efficient when they're small. It's difficult for such a large creature to be stealthy.

That's… that's not…

No no no no! He wasn't a Noibat! He was a Shinx! And he wasn't scared of evolving at all! He wanted to be a big, strong Luxray like his parents! The only thing he was scared of was the big monsters inside the dungeons he'd have to explore!

No! His name wasn't Caran! His name was Yore! He always wanted to explore, but he was too scared to leave his position! He was too compliant to do anything anymore!

I…

No, his name wasn't Yore either. No it was… it was Glace. Yes, that was right. His name was Glace.

Yes, that was right. That was who she had to assimilate. Poor Glace, but it had to be done. Dimia had no choice in the matter. Now it was time to move on to the final two fragments, the last two souls that would let Dimia save her home.

After all, she couldn't let her kingdom perish. She had worked too hard and killed too many of her other selves to fail now.

Peony would be the easiest soul Dimia ever had to assimilate.

In all her visions, he went down without a fight. He never saw her coming, never even suspected that he would be hunted down by other versions of himself. He was always minding his own business when someone came along and assimilated him with ease. He didn't even struggle; he was always in too much of a shock. In most of the visions it was Dimia that took him, but sometimes Glace got to him instead. Dimia even thought there was a future where Yore of all Pokémon assimilated him so easily.

… Yore was the Shinx, right? He was the innocent child in all of this, wasn't he? Dimia pushed the thought away. No, it wasn't important. It didn't matter who any of the other selves used to be. As long as she still had her own memories intact, there was no reason to worry about the others.

Find the others. Become one.

Thinking about this made her realize she hadn't said her mantra in some time. She had been too busy taking care of Yore and Glace… if those were the correct names.

'My name is Dimia.'

That sounds right.

'I am the All-Seer of Mgn'ghft Kingdom.'

That also sounds right.

'I do not know who my blood Mother and Father were. I was adopted into the royal family because of my gift.'

That sounds right. None of us fragments have blood parents. Even if we think we do.

'Mother is Queen Jera, Charizard of the Lilac Kingdom.'

That… I think that's right. That feels right.

'She was brought into the family to be wed to my Father, King Downfall, Aggron of the Black Division.'

Something about that feels off. I don't remember him being an Aggron… he always seemed much bigger in my memories and blue. I don't think there was a trace of black anywhere on him.

Dimia quickly stopped thinking about this. No, everything she had said was correct. She had repeated this mantra over and over again throughout her travels, word for word, countless times. Her memories were changing and she couldn't rely on them anymore. Only that mantra could be depended on. Only that mantra held any semblance of truth.

Find the others. Become one.

She rubbed her temples as she stepped out of her portal and entered Peony's world. She had opened a gateway directly into his large, sprawling garden that rivaled her castle's courtyard in size. It was probably Spring in his dimension, because everything seemed to be in bloom. Tulips and hyacinth of every color imaginable stood on either side of Dimia in large patches. Further in the distance, she saw many more strange, but beautiful flowers she didn't recognize, such as ones shaped like dark red hearts that hung beneath the branches or towering trees filled to the brim with soft purple flowers that almost seemed to glow.

A Yanma buzzed past her and settled onto a lotus floating along the surface of a nearby pond. It was the size of a small pond and had many more lotus and water lilies resting above the water. She even thought she saw a few Magikarp swimming beneath the water, idly waiting for delicious bugs to snag.

It was when she stared at this pond did she see a certain Bayleef strolling across the other side. He tossed a few pellets into the water with his vines that the fish eagerly gobbled up as he continued walking. Dimia only had to stare at him for a few seconds for the familiarity to hit. Not that she needed of course: she had seen him enough times in her visions to know this was Peony.

Though she knew it was useless, she tried using her All-Seer sight one more time, just to see how everything could play out. As expected, she saw nothing except the golden lights that were the Faceless God's eyes. She huffed as she made her way toward a bridge that led directly to the Bayleef.

She still didn't understand why her god had done this to her. She hadn't done anything to offend him. She was only saving her kingdom, which she was sure he'd want her to do. Why would a god want his Pokémon wiped off the face of existence?

Because he doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone.

Dimia knew that was one of her other selves speaking, but she couldn't tell which one it was. They were all starting to sound the same now. She imagined it was because they were all beginning to merge together. She couldn't even pick out their individual forms in her mind when she peered within herself.

My god cares deeply for me and my kingdom. That's why he allows his avatar to continue living inside chosen Pokémon and grant us his all-seeing sight.

Then why is he letting all of you die in this multiple universe collision?

Because he isn't strong enough to stop something like that. He's a god, but he's not all-powerful, like some interpretations of Arceus.

She could sense some disagreement, some seething, from her other selves. She momentarily saw one of them being betrayed by another god, one that she kept calling Giratina because she couldn't pronounce his other name. She said he pretended to help her, but then tossed her aside the second she stopped proving useful. She proclaimed she was a toy to him.

Your god is just like Giratina. He even feels the same.

Again, memories bombarded Dimia. She saw that self of hers conversing intimately with "Giratina" and growing to trust him despite how much he unsettled her. Dimia had to admit that while Giratina gave a decidedly sinister aura, his voice had the same compelling nature the Faceless God's did.

He took your power away because he doesn't care. You stopped being amusing to him.

Dimia didn't want to think that was true, but she admitted her other self's words had some merit to them. She shouldn't have lost her All-Seer sight; it wasn't something that simply went away. If what her selves were saying was true, then maybe that was why she couldn't see the future anymore. Maybe despite the divine grace that shrouded his image, her god had ulterior motives.

Find the others. Become one.

She muttered a silencing spell, instantly quieting the voices. She didn't care what any of them said, she decided. What did it matter if her god was more malevolent than she had considered? That didn't change her mission. She would save her kingdom, with or without her god's help. If he was truly malicious, then she was spitting in his face by gathering all of her selves without his aid.

She didn't need a spiritual crisis right now. She was so close to being whole again, she couldn't crack now. Besides, her other selves could be slandering her god because they were still spiteful about what she had done to them. They were her now; of course they would know her vulnerabilities.

Dimia crossed the bridge and soon found herself on the same side as Peony. He noticed her instantly, but only gave her an odd glance for a few seconds before turning away and continuing on his way. Dimia figured it was because she thought him to be a familiar visitor. After all, the garden was open to the public. A good number of Pokémon were out and about, mesmerized by the natural beauty and arrangements of the flowers. Dimia wouldn't have been surprised to hear that hundreds of Pokémon visited the garden every week.

She silently trailed the Bayleef, keeping her distance from him, as she followed him down the path. She could easily overpower him, but not around so many Pokémon. She needed him alone. That was always how she stalked Pokemon as a spy; she'd trail them. It helped that she wasn't worth paying attention to, having spent most of her life as a mail Pokémon and everyone associating her as such. Eventually her target would be alone, even if it took all day.

Thankfully, that was inevitable with how large the garden was. There had to be some quiet parts of the garden and Peony didn't seem to attract any crowds. Everyone seemed much more interested in his plants.

So she pretended to admire his work as he continued moving along, trying not to make eye contact with him. She had to admit he did have many beautiful flowers she wished she could take home, like the multi-colored roses. She was sure they'd look lovely in a vase in her home. Her house had always looked so drab when she hardly had any furniture. Then again, Weavile were never seen as florists or gardeners as far as she was concerned.

Eventually, Peony made his way into a shed. Dimia checked to make sure no one was watching her, then went inside after him. It was a small shed and was messily arranged with seeds, pots, bags of soil, and saplings in pots that weren't ready to be planted yet. Dimia, despite being skinny, felt rather cramped in the shed and didn't like how her tail had no room to move around. Even still, she ignored her discomfort and brought her gaze to Peony, who had his back to her and seemed to be gathering up some tools in his vines. How he didn't hear her come in, she didn't know. It would explain how he was always assimilated so easily though. He really was helpless.

The souls in Dimia's head were making strange rumbling noises. She muttered another silencing spell under her breath. When their chatter ceased, she took a moment to steel her nerves.

She pounced at the Bayleef. She knocked him down effortlessly and slammed his head into the wall. He didn't even see her coming as he hit it with a disgusting snap. Pots and tools fell onto him as he sank to the floor, his voice slurred and his vines weakly grasping ahead of him. Dimia grabbed them before they could do anything and tried to sever them with her sharp claws. However, she soon found she didn't have claws. She stared dumbfounded at her hands and dainty fingers, wondering what had happened to her claws. She had always had claws, hadn't she? That was how she carved markings into wood. Since when did she have these useless fingers?

She couldn't think about that too long, because Peony was starting to get back up. She flung the vines away and shoved her hand into his face, deciding to initiate the assimilation now. He was too weak to fight her anyway; she had a type advantage against him. After all, what could he possibly hope to do against a Weavile?

"Stop, stop it!" he screeched.

He tried to wrap his vines around her neck as his essence flooded into Dimia, but for some reason, he instantly withdrew the moment he touched her fur. His vines smelt burnt and she didn't understand why. She was an Octillery, not a Slugma.

No, no that wasn't right. She wasn't strangling him with tentacles; she had hands. Why did she think she was an Octillery? She was clearly a Kirlia and Peony couldn't hurt her because she had made a psychic forcefield around her body.

No, that wasn't right either. She wasn't a Kirlia. She was a Braixen. She was a Braixen and her name was Dimia and she was the adopted daughter of a Charizard and Aggron and she had a brother na-

The last of Peony's soul seeped into her.

Stabbing, aching pain struck her head and threatened to rip her in half. She screamed as she fell to the floor, too weak to stand. She clawed desperately at her scalp as Peony merged into her, became part of the amalgam of souls that was herself. Blood spilled out of her nose as another lifetime's worth of memories forced their way into her head and made them her own memories. She couldn't stop herself from crying as she dug harder into her skin, threatening to spill even more blood.

All of the memories of everyone she had ever assimilated began to merge into one singular entity. Everything that made all of them unique slowly went away. A deep, ravenous hole with numerous teeth opened up inside of Dimia and with long, winding tendrils, grabbed everything it could.

Glace, Sonata, Yore, Jera, Abel, Caran, Peony, and Cinder were yanked into the gaping mouth, screaming shrilly as it devoured every speck of their being and haphazardly combined their souls into one. Even Dimia herself could feel the hole pulling her toward it. It hungered for her and her individuality, to assimilate her into the collective.

Her name was Dimia. Her name was Dimia. Her name was Dimia. She was a Braixen. She was a Braixen. She was a Braixen named Dimia and she had a kingdom to protect. She had to remember that. She had to, she had to. She couldn't lose herself, she couldn't. She wanted to hold onto herself just a little while longer. She just wanted to be herself until she assimilated the last fragment. She wasn't ready to let that go yet.

My name is Dimia.

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MynameisDi-

Your name no longer matters.

A voice entered her head. A familiar voice, a soothing voice. One that she had heard long ago. One that instantly erased her worries. Silence and calm came over her. All of the pain melted away.

Who was she talking to?

It doesn't matter anymore.

It doesn't?

No. It doesn't, my little child. But we both know what does matter now.

She did. She heard a command in her head, an echoing thought that compelled her, that repeated the same phrase over and over again.

Find the others and become one, right?

That's right, yes. You have one left to find.

What does it mean though?

That doesn't matter either.

She wanted to say it did matter, but then the thought went away, like it was plucked from her mind. In fact, she couldn't think of anything anymore. Her mind felt awfully blank and she couldn't fill it with thoughts or words.

This will all be over soon. All of your suffering will end. You and the others have played your part. You all did it rather well, maybe even better than the others before your group have. I'll be sure to give all of you the happy lives you deserve when I'm done with Ker.

That made her feel better. She didn't know what the voice was talking about, but it made her feel at peace.

Good. Now then, you need to know where to go to finish your mission. Let me help you with that. After all, we don't want to keep Ker waiting.

Ker waited in Nexus's world, still underneath that bridge near where they had last fought. She had wanted to leave, but Gallows said to stay put, that very soon all of the "fragments" would be arriving in one body.

She still didn't understand why Gallows wanted to play out this overcomplicated plot of making all of these Pokémon believe they were another being. Then again, she didn't understand a lot about the Chandelure. Try as she might, he remained an eternal enigma. She couldn't say she hated that though, as that was part of the reason she liked him so much. Once you found all of someone's secrets, they became boring. There was no joy to be found in someone who became so predictable, all potential for something interesting stripped away.

Gallows had disappeared a long time ago with the excuse that she needed to face the end on her own. A test of character, he called it. Not that she minded, as he had done this exact same thing when she needed to face Nexus, whom she still couldn't feel anywhere inside her. He had seemingly been erased from existence, completely and utter annihilated once she had consumed him from the inside out. She kept waiting for remnants of him to show, hushed whispers in her mind or for her Zorua-like body to shift back into a Marshadow's, but it never happened.

Her more sensitive, pricked ears picked up on the sound of footsteps. Ker looked toward the source of the noise.

There, standing by the stream a few feet away, was a Braixen. At least, that's what it pretended to be. If one stared long enough, the illusion would falter and one would see something unnatural. Something as dark as shadows with eyes periodically opening and closing along the body. Something that resembled a phantasm more than a living creature. Something one could only process for a brief moment before the façade returned, and the entity was a Braixen once more.

It stared at her from the distance, eyes blank, body motionless. Ker didn't even think it was breathing.

She had to admit some part of her shuddered at the sight of this creature, but she couldn't be afraid now. This was it. She needed to finish off whoever this was, and then she could be with Gallows. She couldn't falter now.

"I know why you're here," Ker told it.

Ker thought she heard the entity make a strange noise, a sort of uncanny whisper, but it sounded like gibberish. It took a step forward and though it had a wand in in its tail, it didn't take it out. Its delicate hands instead morphed into claws resembling that of a Weavile's.

"There's no need for that," Ker scoffed. "Just finish your stupid mission and absorb me already or whatever it is you do."

Again, it sounded like the creature said something, but Ker didn't know what. She let the entity draw closer to her. Ker knew there was no point in fighting; she wouldn't win anyway, even in this new body. It was best she let the creature try to assimilate her, and then she'd take over from the inside like she did with Nexus.

She sensed hesitance from the creature as it stopped before her. Maybe it felt something wasn't right. Maybe it was remembering how Ker acted so hostile when they first met her seemingly an eternity ago and wondering why she now had a change of heart. Maybe it wondered why she wasn't a Sableye anymore.

But eventually, it seemed to push those thoughts aside and reached for Ker. The Zorua braced herself as the entity placed a cold hand on her forehead.

Ker immediately felt the pull. She felt the entity sapping away her essence and devouring her into itself. Ker resisted the urge to fight it as she let it do as it wanted. She watched the world around her turn blurry, the vibrant colors of the park fade to black as more and more of herself entered the amalgam's body. It was almost time. The moment she fell into the darkness, she would take over. And then she could finally leave this Gallowsverse.

Oh not quite.

Huh? Had she heard something just now?

You're not done.

Did you really think it's that easy to get out of here?

Ker suddenly found herself in the void that was the amalgam's core. However, unlike what happened with Nexus, she didn't become part of the darkness. Instead, the many souls Gallows had dragged into his fake existence slowly began to surround Ker. They had all lost all semblance of their old selves, now appearing as formless blobs with beady white eyes. She could feel all of them pushing against her stomach and sides, as if trying to merge into her soul. She scratched at them and shoved them away, but they were relentless. They all mewled, like hungry kits yearning for their mother's nourishment.

You're not quite done yet. Oh my little wraith, you have one last challenge to overcome if you ever want to see me…

All at once, the other souls broke through and merged into her being. Ker didn't even get to scream before the spirits overwhelmed her and pulled her under.

HAVE FUN.