The early afternoon sky was bright and clear, but still Daichi's breath came out in clouds. It was the first time that season, and he felt it deserved a bit of celebration. He took a quick look around to make sure he was alone before he took a deep breath and blew the largest cloud that he could. By the time his older companion pushed his way out of the pokemart, Daichi was back to being a regularly pleasant adult instead of childish.

The man who'd introduced himself as Cyrus placed the pair of noodle cups on the table in front of the store, and pinned the lids down with disposable chopsticks.

"Sorry... I know this isn't what you thought when I offered to cover lunch," Cyrus said as he took his seat. "Money is still-" He made a small 'hm' rather than have to finish that statement.

"I'd be having the same thing if I were on my own," Daichi assured him. He removed the paper sleeve from one set of chopsticks and began to fold it into a resting pad. "So tell me more."

"Right, yes."

Despite being only midday, the sky had begun to grow dimmer as clouds started to roll in. Neither paid it any mind as Cryus began to speak and Daichi watched on with his chin in his hand.

It had been immediately, almost embarrassingly, obvious to Daichi that his companion was brand new to street preaching. His cadence was choppy and his ideas weren't properly organized. It made a hard sell of a concept into an impossible one.

But he had presence, energy, and an incredible voice. His eyes were stunning and his posture was effortlessly commanding. It was obvious that, when he matured enough to wield it all properly, he would be able to do incredible things. And, before the noodles had time to cook through and long before Cyrus was done laying out his world view, Daichi had decided he wanted to stick around to see what it would lead to.

It seemed like dusk as they both pulled off their noodle cup lids to mix and start eating. Daichi looked up when something caught his eye. Cyrus, still occupied by his food and diatribe, didn't notice.

There was… something above them. It was a figure that seemed like a pokemon made up of smoke and shadow. And it had enraged red eyes, and a horrible roar…

Daichi tried to warn Cyrus but he couldn't seem to form any words. He couldn't run, couldn't move, couldn't do anything at all but watch as the creature opened an abyss of a mouth.

He screamed, silently, as the pokemon dove and swallowed Cyrus whole.

Saturn woke up sweating despite the frigidness of the room. It wasn't the first time he'd had that dream, and unfortunately he knew that it wouldn't be the last.

This time it'd woken him up a half hour before his ridiculously early wake up call. Saturn shut off the alarm and began to dress for the day. He had no interest in risking another trip to the pokemart.

Maxie stepped before the line of grunts and gave a "good morning" that was far too pleasant considering the sun had only just begun to rise. He spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, but didn't pause long enough for anyone to respond.

"I hope everyone slept well because we have our tasks cut out for us today. Assuming everyone paid attention to the presentation yesterday, we should have a nice dig with no injuries." He emphasized the last part as if it were an order. "Let's begin."

He made an ushering motion with his hands. The supervisors marched their respective grunts to their stations which put Saturn into the analysis tent. And then, upon receiving different orders, he was turned around and led over to where Maxie had various graphs and checklists laid out on a makeshift desk.

"You're the designer?" Maxie asked. His eyes darted back to the other scientists who'd been assigned to this trip.

"Yes, sir," Saturn said as he professionally squared his posture.

"I'd half expected…" Maxie weighed his words for a moment before he settled on "I had pictured someone older."

"I have a knack for this sort of thing," Saturn told him. He could have also added that Galactic tended to skew very young, so they had learned not to be terribly discerning about age. But he didn't.

"Well, as long as it works." He ushered Saturn over to the papers that were pinned onto the desk. "Now, there are a few irregularities in these orders I was hoping could be ironed out before we got too far in…"

He wasn't wrong in his assessment. There decimals misplaced here and there, words that had been transcribed incorrectly or were simply incorrect. Saturn pointed them out systematically while Maxie nodded along and added notes when necessary.

"So," he said as he added a period with more than a bit of flourish. "How has that new world been treating you?"

Saturn gripped his pencil a bit tighter. He took a look over at security, in particular the leader who glared about at all of them for any step out of line. He forced himself to relax. "Sir, I really shouldn't-"

"Why not? Galactic succeeded, didn't it?" He asked, as if it were obvious. "I would think you'd be thrilled to talk about the rewards you've been-."

"It didn't," Saturn said, quickly but in his best effort not to snap. When Maxie looked at him, brow pulled down slightly, Saturn added a "Sir."

"Didn't what?"

"It didn't succeed," Saturn explained with professional curtness. His voice dropped down more, lest he be heart discussing a forbidden topic. "The world is the same, much of the staff has been imprisoned for over a year. And Cyrus…"

"Yes?"

"He…" he swallowed, centered himself, and said "He was consumed by a pokemon that had only been theorized to exist. He was never seen again."

Saturn could have added how Cyrus had tried to create a new world with no provisions or survival skills. How he'd been so inadequately functional by the end that he'd needed to be forced to eat and sleep. So, even if there was someplace for him to make it to...

But he didn't.

Maxie nodded for a moment, and then returned to his writing. "Well," he said, lightly. "He certainly recovered."

Saturn muttered an "oh" because he didn't know what else to say. His hand once again gripped onto his pencil until his knuckles turned white.

"He rooms across from me. Without a scratch, as far as I can tell." Maxie didn't give him time to process that before he went on. "It's a shame it turned out like that for the team, but I suppose success looks different for all of us."

Saturn's teeth gritted ever so slightly, and despite his best efforts he asked "Magma?"

"Yes," he agreed brightly, and proudly adjusted his glasses. "Once we captured Groudon, we created-"

"Did you?"

Maxie raised an annoyedly suspicious eyebrow. "Who have you spoken to, exactly? Because there are certain people here who have never been able to be trusted, and-"

"Tabitha, Sir. I spoke to Tabitha."

Maxie went quiet as the context started to sink in. "What did he say?"

"It's more what he won't say, sir. He doesn't usually like speaking about the organization while he deals with the burns over most of his body."

Maxie muttered an "I see" as weighed this. His expression steadily grew darker. "You're able to speak to him privately?" He finally asked. "Without…" He motioned with his eyes to the guards around the periphery.

"We room together, yes."

It was Maxie's turn to grip his pencil harder, and to look over at the head of security who'd found something else to analyze. He sunk down closer to the table and muttered, "I'm going to make you a note for tomorrow. If you could-"

"That's a very dangerous proposition," Saturn said. He surprised himself by not saying no outright.

"Believe me, I understand the risks," Maxie said, plainly. "The consequences for me would be similarly dire. But still… if you're willing… I could certainly reciprocate."

"So you said yes, right?" Mars asked, more loudly than anyone else would have liked.

Saturn picked at his food. "I did. I just have no idea what I'd even say."

Jupiter, who'd been quietly smug about winning their non-existent bet, said "Too much happened to wrap up in one letter."

"And he was never one for sentimentality…" his voice trailed off.

Maxie had walked in with the same confident air that he always moved with. And behind him…

Cyrus dragged himself along. His eyes were sunken and unfocused. Even from a distance they could tell he wasn't sleeping, and his clothes now hung as if they'd never been fitted at all.

Unlike Maxie, he didn't bother to look at the crowded tables. It didn't seem like he was avoiding it, either, just that he didn't seem to see a need.

Saturn steeled up a bit more. "Actually, I know exactly what to write."