Character: Glass Reshiram

Age: Unknown

Year of character creation: 2018

Story: A Reshiram who went insane for unknown reasons. It has attempted to attack heavily populated areas across the planet. After using Candor on it in Abuja, Reshiram's spirit passed into Light, leaving its body and powers solely under the control of an unknown force. It must be stopped, here and now.


Sand dunes rolled up and down like ocean waves in all directions. Light stared out of a carriage window. On occasion, he angled himself to look back and make sure the Wild Bunch still followed in their carriages. He rubbed his arms and legs where his braces had been and sighed.

If his heart beat any faster, he'd pop something.

Sylveon One leaned against the opposite wall. She didn't even hold her eyes open. He didn't get how anyone could be calm about this at all.

Sawsbuck Huruma confused him too.

Huruma sat along the back door of the carriage. He insisted he'd come along, no matter how many times literally everyone tried to talk him out of it. Sheng promised to keep tabs on him, but that didn't make Light feel any better.

The carriage must've rolled on for four or five hours. In that time, Light's kick of adrenaline wound down. In time, he closed his eyes like One did. Embers in his chest kept him awake.

His eyes snapped open. His heart drummed a little faster out of nowhere.

The carriage slowed down to a quick stop. Light rose to his feet, grabbed his lance, tied it to his back with a small holster of sorts One gave him, and scurried out the back door.

They stopped along the back edge of a sand dune. The sun bore down on them at an angle, just past midday. Light rounded the carriage to see past the dune.

A mess of craters in the sand sprawled for as far as Light could see, for miles. Small rivers of sand ran down at his feet. In the distance, against the horizon, a white ghost of a dragon walked. The edges of its wing wavered and rolled around like flames. A small avalanche of sand tumbled down with every step it took.

Sylveon One and Sawsbuck Huruma came behind him and saw for themselves.

"I don't want to offend you, but, uh, I'm mortally terrified. Can I go back now?"

Light blinked.

Overhead, their Karrablast driver broke out in a sweat. His tiny hands trembled as he vice gripped the wheel.

"This will do, thank you," One said. "Please, take your leave."

"R-right. Bless your hearts. Really…"

As the Karrablast and their carriage rushed back, the Wild Bunch's mob arrived. They formed a long row on either side of them. For whatever reason, all of them knew how to drive carriages themselves. They loaded them chock full of small and large laser cannons.

"You're the Guildmaster," One said. "Our strategy is your call."

"Did Three say what Reshiram's been up to out here?" Light asked quietly.

"Three has been monitoring its activity for quite some time. It stays still, or at least, in a certain area while it recovers from battle. Outside of that, it gorges itself on farmland. She thinks it's been gathering sugar."

"And there's plenty of sand missing here too," he said. "It must have a lot of stamina right now. All we can do is fight, really."

Light turned back. Priniplup Sheng walked to his side from behind.

"Sheng," he said, "cover us. We should keep its attention enough for it to not attack you. Make sure Jewel and Susan are safe."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Cool, cool. Want me to pick up your dry cleaning too, or should I kick some ass instead?"

Sheng raised his arms up. On either side of him, Kirlia Bao and Snivy Shu brought his metal coverings and tied them on his arms. He banged them together twice, and rolled his shoulders, and hopped up and down in place.

"Bao, take left," he said. "Shu, right. Steve."

Sheng pointed at a Chimchar who glared from the back corner of a carriage.

"Don't get us killed," Sheng said.

"What-ever." Chimchar turned up his nose and went back to the carriage work.

"Remember, we don't have a power source with us," Sheng said. "Time your shots carefully, cause you have to dump all that energy yourselves."

Sylveon One slunk away to one of the carriages. Metal clattered around inside.

"What's in there?" Light asked Sheng.

"Dunno," he said. "She loaded the carriage with her own stuff. We just hauled it with us."

After a few more seconds, One walked out. Her ribbons trailed behind her, wrapped up in a mass of metal everything.

A bow, a quiver filled to bursting with thick arrows, a halberd, multiple axes, a rapier, wands of all different kinds, hammers of different sizes, a giant sword, larger than her body, a sheathed katana, dozens of knives, a lance like Light's, a variety of spears and swords, and a whole red propane tank trailed behind her. She lifted them all up in a spherical horde of tangled ribbons and placed them on her back.

She didn't walk any slower.

Everyone gawked. Umbreon Amadeus pulled himself out of a carriage and stopped cold. One walked back up to her place next to Sheng.

Sheng looked her up and down. "Hot damn. Didn't know this was a competition."

"Not to be a braggart," One said, "but I live and breathe warfare. Do try to keep up."

"I will. But please keep that propane tank away from my face."

She side-eyed him. "Hold your face away from my propane tank."

Reshiram had stopped moving all of a sudden.

"It's time," Light said. "Let's go."

Prinplup Sheng straightened out and hopped on his belly. He slid down the side of the sand dune. Flareon Light and Sylveon One jogged after him.

Reshiram glared down at them. Its blue eyes appeared like empty voids. Its mouth hung open.

The ground hardened under Light's feet as they progressed. It'd been seared into a solid object. It helped his footing. He ran faster. Reshiram fully turned its body to face them. It took one slow, massive step forward, followed by another.

After Sheng lost momentum and had to run, One overtook both of them. Light veered to the right to have a different angle of attack. Sheng took left. Reshiram raised its wings. It jumped and slammed them down. It burst into the air in a fiery explosion. They all stopped in their tracks.

Reshiram flew around in the sky to pick up speed, before it'd slam into them. Light remembered this opening act from their first fight, and the bone-snapping pressure if he tried to stand up to it. To pick up speed, it could only move in a wide circle. By the time they fired an attack, it would already be on the other side of the sky…

"There!" Light pointed up and behind him.

One chucked her propane tank up in the air. Light cringed at how hard she threw it. He ducked and clenched his paws.

It barely reached Reshiram's height, but it connected. Flames stuttered and flung off in all directions. Another burst of flames propelled it forward again.

A bright blue laser nailed it. The flames vanished to nothing. Reshiram fell right out of the sky. It had enough sense left to right itself and land on its feet, but not enough strength to continue its first strike.

For the first time, they had grounded it.

Sylveon One rocketed up towards its face. She unwound her ribbons and swung a mass of metal over her shoulder. Several stabbed into its neck, but not deep. Reshiram chomped down on her ribbons.

Light closed the distance to Reshiram's legs. As it wrangled with One, it used them for course correction. He whipped the lance from his back and rushed in. He shot forward.

The tip of his lance barely pierced the skin, like it was some kind of cement wall. He pulled back and slashed at its leg again, holding the lance with both paws. It failed to draw any blood. Light knew he was weaker than One, but this seemed overkill. It didn't even notice him. He held the lance and dislodged it by pushing off with his left paw.

The surface of Reshiram's skin felt smooth, too smooth, like a sheet of metal. None of the weapons One stabbed in its neck drew blood either.

"It's covered in glass armor!" he screeched.

He didn't know how they'd adjust, but Light needed a new target, something uncovered. It couldn't armor its tail without losing the valuable thrust it gave when it flew, and it functioned as a power source for its fire. Maybe that?

Sheng tackled Light. His feet flew off the ground.

Reshiram's wing, from the other side of its body, wound around in an arc and crashed against the earth where he had been standing.

Armor generally didn't cover joints. Light thought about its body shape, the point where its wings touched its body, its ankles… It couldn't be that thick if he pierced it, but it could grow back if it had what it needed to create more.

Light landed on his back. One's ribbons slipped free of Reshiram's grip, right as the dragon whipped her up with its jaw into the air As she flew up, she threw down a hail of knives from her paws. Most of them bounced off. Sheng pushed himself off of Light's chest and faced it again.

One pulled out the hammer, her biggest hammer, the size of her body with a rounded, steel end the size of her head. Reshiram looked up and opened its jaw.

Light formed red cards of energy in his paws and whipped them at its exposed neck. It struck hard enough for its head to tilt down.

One's hammer smashed its forehead. Light's ears rang in the silence that followed. Reshiram stilled. Glass shards rain down like hail at its feet. Everyone watched to see what'd come next.

A blow like that to the head would kill a Rampardos.

"Tplyi dm Felt kpz Mstzyzvv, isfqpkzu dm kpz Stflksc Tfuvz, psly kpz Wzstzgzzwzu, Siulsc Wpsusdp!"

Reshiram shoved its head up. One fell off.

A pearly substance formed along Reshiram's wing. As it rose in the air, the substance traced along its wings edge and rose to its claw. The blade of a glass sword pointed up towards the desert sun, and fell down.

"One!" Light shouted.

A blue laser cut through the air. It slammed into Reshiram's wing, and changed the angle of its strike.

One's mass of weapons rained down around her. The glass sword, larger than her body ten times over, plunged into the ground nearby. Seconds later, Reshiram pulled back its wing again. One had landed on her feet, ready to dodge or counter, but its eyes stayed up.

Reshiram flung a glass tomahawk the size of a carriage. Screams erupted from the rest of the group. Light turned to rush back, but couldn't. A shadow rose over him. He jumped away to the side, just like he practiced.

Sand blasted up against his feet. He flipped around. Gravity revealed which way for him to align. His front paws slammed and stung on the dirt.

Reshiram let go of a massive glass sword; another one. It made them fast, too fast. If this kept up, the battle would fall apart in the blink of an eye. Prinplup Sheng drew its attention with a Bubblebeam from the other side. Again, a glass sword materialized from thin air, and caused a mini earthquake when Reshiram slammed it to the ground. He couldn't even see if Sheng managed to avoid it.

He guessed not.

"Fall!"

Sylveon One shouted an order.

Her ribbons swept the ground and picked up weapons. One by one, she threw a barrage of weapons not designed to be thrown at its chest. They stuck in, but made no impact. She had gotten impatient.

Reshiram waited and took it, though. Why? Light backed up a few steps to see its full body. Its tail had heated up, beyond usual. It held its wings in a stiff arc. It seemed just about ready to blast off.

Light glanced back to the hill.

The largest laser cannons they had were disabled. The glass tomahawk smashed nearly half of the carriages. They lost their means to keep it grounded, and if it left, they couldn't keep up to stop whatever might happen next.

He had to have faith that he and One really could pull it off together, on their own.

"One!" Light yelled. "Grab onto it!"

Light ran forward. He jumped up and plunged the tip of his lance into the glass barrier on its leg.

His paws slipped. Momentum pushed him down. He gripped with all his might, and body. He hugged the lance and hoped he stabbed it deep enough.

The ground distanced itself. Light clenched his teeth. He remembered what the ride down felt like.

"Gyragh!"

Light peered his eyes through the desert wind.

Behind him, Umbreon Amadeus had plunged one of One's axes right into its tail, the one about to burst into flames. He held on by only his right paw. Light had to get him. He wasn't even supposed to be fighting.

He tried to grip Reshiram's mane with his claw, but the clear glass stopped it. He pulled back.

"I got it," Reshiram said.

A tingle ran across Light's paw, which began to glint and shimmer in the sun. He reached his claw and bore down again. Glass-coated, they gripped better. Stretch by stretch, he abandoned his lance and made his way down to Amadeus. His feet waved around in the air. They ended up closest to him, so Amadeus grabbed his leg and held on for dear life.

Its tail caught fire.

Light glanced behind himself. A tiny ember danced on the tip of Amadeus' tail, and whisked itself away in the wind. He continued to climb up for Reshiram's back.

In whatever minute or two it took to get up there, they had soared over the desert to the ocean. Behind the path of smoke Reshiram left behind, the landmass already started to shrink into the horizon. In comparison to the first time he got stuck to Reshiram, the force on Light's body had doubled. It moved faster than ever.

A periodic clunk sound from the front of Reshiram's body drew Light's attention. He kept his chin low and eyes up.

Sylveon One climbed to Reshiram's back from around its chest. All across Reshiram's wings and legs and back, her weapons stuck out of its body. He even spotted a red shard from her propane tank.

"What is that!?" Amadeus cried.

Light turned back and saw him pointing. He looked up ahead.

All the puzzle pieces clicked. Reshiram had been gathering sugar for months, and an enormous amount of sand seemed to be missing from those crates in the desert. Obviously, it used them for glass, but it had been preparing something.

It had been making a roost.

A behemoth glass tower, double the height of any skyscraper back in Valor, nearly pierced the clouds on the horizon. The constant dazzle from sunlight hitting angles and bumps forced Light to look away. As they got closer and closer, its base stretched further out, daresay for miles, all surrounded by a glass wall like a vortex. It appeared just like the glass walls Light had seen the first time, on that island of glass.

Anything that couldn't fly wouldn't even be able to get near Reshiram's new fortress, and it would see anything that tried to fly in from miles away from atop its tower.

Light's face fell. This really was their last chance. It'd be untouchable from here on out.

They all zipped their mouths shut. Reshiram didn't seem aware they had grabbed on yet (and Light wondered how One managed to pull that off so discreetly). If they could make it over that wall…

A headache popped into his head. Light squeezed his eyes shut.

"It's trying to use Candor," Reshiram said. "Shielding ourselves from its sight will be difficult…"

"Can we make it over the wall?" Light asked.

"That depends on you."

A gasp cut through Light's lips. He sighed and let his head fall. At certain points, it felt like a mallet to the head. Reshiram needed physical or eye contact to hunt them out with Candor. The glass didn't seem thick enough to block it out from counting somehow. If he even considered loosening his paws, he'd fly right off.

The mallet hit again. Light groaned. The wall couldn't get closer fast enough.

"How long has it been?" Light asked.

"It's only been half a minute at most," Reshiram said.

It felt like a half hour. "I can't make it…"

"You can make it."

Light's head cracked. He bit down on his arm to try and distract himself.

The next strike pierced through. Light prepared for the worst. He bore his claws further down and held on.

Reshiram didn't make a move for a few seconds. Both of its wings curled towards its body.

All at once, its whole body spun. Light's claws flew right out. Amadeus' grip on his leg vanished.


"If you can hear my prayer, please, help me defeat the invaders."

Light's head throbbed. Water whirled in and around his ears. One paw after the other, he reached up and dragged himself up and out. He squeezed saltwater out of his mane and tail, and once he got it together, knocked the water out of his ears.

"What happened?" Light asked.

"You fainted. Its Candor was too strong to resist, but you made it over the wall."

"We did?"

"Not all together."

Light's vision finally extended past his own body. His paw rested on a rough surface. Though clear, the thick glass distorted anything underneath it beyond recognition.

Up ahead, rounded walls reached up and formed a roof for a tunnel. Strands of glass dripped down from the roof to the floor in random spots. Flareon Light's distorted reflection appeared a dozen times over.

"We need to find them," Light said.

"Be careful. This place is as large as a small city."

The tunnel led down, underwater. Darkness swirled around them. Ocean currents swished against the tunnel walls. The glass never cracked or whined, but Light kept an ear out. He had to be ready to bolt.

For five minutes, the tunnel sloped down. After that, Light's limbs groaned as he walked uphill. He heated himself up to dry off his fur, but the leftover salt made it feel gritty. Right after the jungle, he could really use a spa treatment…

After the tunnel turned steep all of a sudden, sunlight leaked down. The tunnel stopped right underneath a large room.

"I think I cut my foot on something. Shit."

Light's paws flinched back before he pulled himself up.

"Watch yourself. It may be psychotic, but Reshiram one-hundred percent plans to try and take over the world from here. There's probably real deathtraps all over the place."

"Then can't we just wait for the White Star to off himself instead?"

"Don't be an idiot."

Dragoons? Here?

Light peered out from the tunnel.

Across the whole room, holes in the floor led to different tunnels, just like his. A few scratchy glass archways led outside. A Staravia and Pyroar stalked around different tunnel entrances. Light took stock of the closest exit and waited. The fogged glass offered decent enough protection from eyesight.

A minute later, both of them happened to stick their noses down tunnels at the same time. Light vaulted up and ran in the opposite direction.

"Yo, what was that?"

He rounded the corner just in time.

"Focus. There's a lot of tunnels to keep in check."

This wouldn't work for long.

Outside of that room, glass pathways galore twisted and turned around each other in a mass of nonsense, like some kind of carnival funhouse. Dragoons walked around on them, and others floated above it all with pegasi wings. Underneath, glass spikes and a dark ocean threatened to swallow up anyone who fell off.

If he fought Dragoons here, some of them could get shredded to pieces.

"Up there."

Reshiram turned Light's head for him.

An empty hole occupied the wall over his head, above the room he left. He stretched out his claws and climbed. He aimed to be quiet, but, at this point, dumb luck chose whether or not anyone saw.

Light pulled himself up and got behind the wall before he celebrated. He ended up in a hallway of sorts, complete with glass frames for paintings. All of them were empty. Light stalked lower to the floor every time he walked past one.

"Well, this is disturbing," Reshiram said.

"What is your body doing?" Light asked.

"My memories are still present in that body. It may be going through them and producing random results."

"So things we're looking at may have existed at one point?"

"My memories stretch across millenia. When we gave up our bodies, I was allowed to store mine away. This place may be the last of ancient history. The answer of what happened to me could be here, somewhere."

Light rounded a corner.

A staircase led up to another hallway. Light's claws clanked against a few steps. He stayed cautious of a few more empty spaces in the wall, shaped like messy windows. He slunk under them.

The next hallway led to a dead end, just another pair of disfigured windows. He walked up to them and looked out of each. Every path to get up and out sat outside in plain view. He couldn't avoid being spotted from here, but he could run and make it out.

"Hey."

Light turned around.

A Luxio walked up the staircase, with pegasi wings on his back. Light crouched to jump out the window.

"Woa woa, easy. I'm Diondre. You know, Diondre? Didn't Jonathan tell you about me?"

His introduction and the mention of Jonathan's name made Light hesitate. Luxio stopped a short distance away. His fur glowed under the light, and his exposed fangs outshined the glass.

"Reshiram's on top of the tower," Luxio said. "It's swarmed with Dragoons, but you can make it up there. Take this."

Diondre pulled off a small black box from his pegasi wings and tossed it over. Light kept his eyes glued on him as he caught it.

"That's an EMP," Diondre said. "There's not enough Dragoons for this whole place, so they split us up. Turn it on, and anyone who sees you won't be able to call for backup. Just make sure you don't leave it on. If they realize, they'll start to play smarter. Three's blocking the connection between here and Olympus, so you still have a chance."

"Uh, uh thanks," Light said, as he realized he hadn't said anything. He set it in his mane for safekeeping.

"Give me a bit of fur for a distraction. No way you're getting out of here without one."

"Uh, sure."

Light brought out his claw and curled his tail in front of him. He sliced off a small piece and walked closer to Luxio. He reached out his paw as far as it would go and handed it to him.

"Wait till it happens," Luxio said. "Good luck."

Luxio left as suddenly as he came. Light turned his attention back to the window.

Maybe there were more spies around than he thought. He didn't know every single Dragoon; he had to judge accordingly. Although, Diondre sounded just a touch familiar enough to slow him down.

"Guys!" Diondre's voice rang out. "Down here! I think the White Star… I think he drowned!"

Seconds later, every Dragoon in the area revealed their positions as they ran and flew down. Light hopped out of the hallway onto the path up and bolted.

"Look, see! Gray fur, right down there! T-there's blood on it!"

He reached the top.

Open space sprawled out in front of him. Several glass buildings, shaped like weird globs, sat in a scattered mess. He ran inside of the closest one.

The strange shape of the dome-like ceiling cast different colored lights at random. Rainbows dusted the floor and walls, and reflected off the metal of black clad pegasi wings.

A Tsareena, Delcatty, Venomoth, and Cinderace turned to face him one by one; Tsareena first, Declatty second, and then the other two noticed. They all caught this glimmer in their eyes, like he could solve all of their problems or lay a golden egg. Light squinted his eyes and clicked the button for the EMP in his mane. Just like he practiced with One… Fundamentals.

A shadow passed over the building. It snuffed out the hopeful light in their eyes. The flap of a massive pair of wings cut their breaths short. Two enormous legs stomped on the roof. Light stood perfectly still. Without eye or physical contact, it couldn't use Candor to search him out. Reshiram had no reason to know their location.

That glimmer sparked to life again in Venomoth's gaze. He threw a gross, bulbous Sludge Bomb. Light waltzed around it. It splattered against the glass floor.

Resrhiam's feet screeched overhead.

"The hell!?" Tsareena yelled. "Run!"

Flareon Light picked out a high window and sprinted for it. He dug his claws into the wall and hoisted himself up. Reshiram shattered the ceiling. As its eye came into view, and glass littered Light's fur, he pulled himself out of the room. He ran along a cracked pathway outside.

Red lights swarmed in the sky. Light rushed forward to find cover. Nothing presented itself.

He got the air knocked out of his chest.

A Dedenne tackled him from the side. Their tail lasso'd around his neck. Light pulled at it and squeaked in a breath.

A fireball exploded at their side. Dedenne's pegasi wings spurt out electricity out of cuts and dents. Light wrestled free just as they spiraled out of control. His momentum forced him in an arc. He twisted and turned to get his feet under himself again and grit his teeth.

He smashed through an ultra-thin ceiling. His balance fell apart. He landed on his side, surrounded by glass shards, and Dragoons.

Light pushed off the floor and rolled to the side to dodge a Corphish's claw. He balanced on his front paws and kicked him with both legs. Corphish slid back, but not much. He'd get overrun.

"Cease and desist."

The room froze in place.

Sylveon One walked down a slim hallway with a low ceiling, the only way out. None of the Dragoons decided between ignoring her or listening. They were caught in the middle.

One tilted her head. "Say you never saw us here. Or, perhaps…" She traced her paw down her ribbon. "I will show you there's more to fear in life than my father. Perhaps, if you let me, starting here, I'll haunt your daydreams forever."

Even Light shivered. Combined with the way she nearly whispered every word, anyone would be creeped out.

"Come, Light," One said. She side-eyed the rest of the room. "The rest of you should return to your search. After all, he could be anywhere. So could I."

Light scampered off in One's direction. None of the Dragoons moved in. Once he got close, One wrapped a ribbon around his forearm and walked back out with him.

If the ceiling got any lower, they'd hit their heads. Light slouched down a touch to be sure. The Dragoons faded from view behind them moments later.

"Thanks," Light said. "How'd you know they would stop?"

"Not all Dragoons are hellbent on your capture, only most. You did well lasting this long."

"I got a little help." Light leaned closer to whisper. "A Luxio named Diondre."

"Ah, I see. His friend."

"Where's grandfather?"

"I haven't a clue. It matters not. He can handle himself. We must slay Reshiram before nightfall. Another round of Dragoons might come if this takes too long. Give me that device."

Light reached in his mane and fished out the black box Diondre gave him. He handed it to One. Her ribbon coiled around it.

"I'll manage it," she said. "Focus on fundamentals. Now take out that Dragoon."

A Bellsprout charged at them from down the hallway. He had a strange set of pegasi wings, with four legs instead of the usual size he saw. He sliced his arms to throw Razor Leaves. Light sidestepped them.

Bellsprout leapt for him. Light rolled back, caught him with his back legs, and pushed out to throw Bellsprout against the ceiling. He focused his energy and whipped his tail as he fell back down. Iron Tail nailed his core. Bellsprout crashed into the tunnel wall and stopped moving. Light looked around lamely.

"Uh, he didn't seem too strong…" Light said.

"Indeed," One said. "I… I am unsure how he passed to enter as a Dragoon soldier. Let's continue on, shall we?"

Light glided after her.

The tunnel opened up to the outside. They came to a field of glass pikes like icebergs. The sun hit most of their tips. Light shuddered at their jagged edges. He couldn't even count how many ways he could lose limbs in this place.

One slowed down. Light stayed close under her shadow.

"What is this place?" One asked.

"Reshiram says it could be modeling this roost after its memories, but everything's distorted."

"I see. So the answer is here somewhere."

"I don't think we can really search with all the Dragoons around."

"Speaking of."

A swarm of reflections shifted around the round surface of the spikes. Light looked around, but they threw off his vision. He couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Impressive," One said. "I am already annoyed by this."

The reflections didn't change the sound of their footsteps, or the spicy smell of their weird cologne… Light got the sense there were four enemies, all as disoriented and aimless as them.

One of the reflections leapt at him, a Shieldon. He bashed his head against the glass and plopped down on his rump. He only hit a reflection of Light. Light heard his head smash into the wall about three from his left. He breathed in and spat out a fireball over several glass pikes in a different direction. Shieldon's reflection looked up.

Flame Burst splashed down on his head. Red dashed a dozen reflections at once. The others shifted fast. Light walked in a wide circle around the blast zone. None of them rushed for Shieldon, or made any loud noises. They kept focused on the hunt.

A Gabite walked into view. His gaze shifted past Light, who kept his body language the same to keep hidden.. Once they passed each other, Light glanced at One. She nodded.

Sylveon One walked to where Gabite had gone and rounded the corner. Light shielded his eyes.

A flash of light spread and settled in a blaze. He suspected no one knew where it came from. That gave them a leg up. Based on the smell, the last two were close together, and further in. One returned to his side as he walked ahead.

Through however many reflections, Light locked eyes with a Magmortar. He smiled at him. Light frowned back. A Raticate followed after Magmortar. As he figured, they were side-by-side.

"I got this," Light whispered to One. She nodded.

Once they got close, Light mapped out a path to their backs. He waited a minute for it to align

Light leapt for a glass pike and twisted around. His feet smashed into it. They turned. He jumped at another one.

They stood right in front of a pike and flinched. He shot for their turned backs.

Magmortar reacted and staggered back away. Light drop-kicked Raticate in the back. His face smashed into the glass. He realigned and stood up to Magmortar.

Both of Magmaortar's arms slammed down. Light grunted. Cross Chop bore down on his arms. His legs creaked under the pressure. Magmortar's smile widened. Light bit his lower lip and shoved his arms off. He winded his arm back and belted him in the gut with Superpower.

Magmartor's back slammed into a wall. Light slid to a stop. He hopped in place. His arm stung and stiffened up in a bent position. He used his other paw to pull it back out, and wiggled it around. His energy hadn't moved quite right.

The results showed. Magmortar stood back up and sauntered closer.

"Alright, enough of that."

Sylveon One punched the back of Magmortar's head. She walked away as he fell over on his chest, limp.

"I would've let you finish," she said, "but I'm annoyed. Let's continue."

"O-kay?" he sighed.

Light followed One out of the maze, only to come to another uphill battle.

Glass platforms floated on air; small ones, large ones, half the size of an arena. The tower stood alone in the ocean, surrounded by spikes. The platforms provided the only way across, if Light could call it that.

"Wait a minute," Light said. "Reality looks like it's breaking apart. This is like with Hannah. A mystery dungeon."

"A mystery dungeon should not exist on this plane of reality," said Reshiram. "We must hurry."

"Yah, about that…"

About fifty Dragoons swarmed the place, some in the air, others on the platforms. They flew down from above and rose up from below.

A flash of red flew in front of Light. He stumbled back and shut his eyes. One didn't react.

"Well now, you're awfully daring today for a runt."

A Blaziken floated in front of them with a bulky set of pegasi wings on his back. Six flames settled into a constant whir. He folded his arms, cocked his head, and smiled.

"Uh, nice to meet you?" Light asked.

Blaziken shook his head. "The hell? It's me, Lucca?"

"Hello, Lucca."

"Seriously don't remember the birthday bash I tried to throw you?"

Light used Candor on himself to cheat. His last birthday…

Oh. One of the thieves that chased after him like leeches.

"Uh, didn't Jonathan torch you, guys?" Light asked. "Are you, like, okay?"

"What, that little mess? He just got the drop on us is all."

"No… You guys looked very, uh… dead-ish."

"Felt like it. In fact, your father cut me a deal so you can get your just desserts."

His ears popped up. "Desserts?" he asked hopefully.

"No, you donut."

Donuts?

"Your father and I both want to kill you, so he cut me a deal…" He curled his arm and looked at his muscles. "Gotta admit, that Dragoon serum is something else. Why, I feel like I could rip off my leg and beat your ass with it."

"Uh, ew?"

"Revolting," One said, nodding.

"Tell you what," Lucca said, "I'll cut you a deal. I know you royals love your Acuitan duels. How about you have a couple with some of my new squad? I'll let you get one stage closer every time you win."

"Are you insane?" Light demanded. "If someone falls off here, they die."

"Yeah, exactly. You didn't think Acuitan duels were bloodless, did you? Hell, you know what the streets are like. Survival of the fittest ain't new. Or… are you saying you don't wanna save him?"

Lucca shifted to the side and pointed Light's attention towards the base of the tower.

A Poliwrath held an annoyed Umbreon, Amadeus, by his neck, right over the edge. His grandfather looked mildly embarrassed and annoyed more than anything. Light hissed to himself.

"You'll probably die soon at this rate," Lucca said. "I dunno what it is, Light. I just… always wanted to see you, so high and holy, and watch you fall back down to earth, when you get that first kill and realize that you're an animal just like the rest of us. I want to see when it happens. Or, I want to see when it finally does you in for good."

Light turned. One's words echoed in her stare.

"But you," One said quietly, "like me, are capable of fighting, and killing, as many Dragoon soldiers as it takes."

"Alright then," Lucca said. "First volunteer."

A Sunflora touched down on a large platform dead ahead. Lucca flew behind him and lifted off his pegasi wings. A few pieces of floating glass, just enough for all of Light's feet, floated between him and the Sunflora. He'd already looked down, so he had to bulldoze through it.

One leaned to his ear and whispered, "If it comes to it, I will choose you over him."

"What?"

"It's what he would choose."

Light breathed in, and shuddered as he let go. The weight to save his grandfather landed on his back. Out of his entire Guild, he had to be about the worst option for this… But he wouldn't fail. He couldn't.

He jumped across. The surface of the glass felt gritty, even, but imperfect with small ripples and bumps. When he reached Sunflora, it didn't change.

They barely had any room. He estimated the platform had as much room as the top of a Snorlax's belly. This had to be the dumbest place to fight he could imagine.

"You don't want to do this right?" Light asked.

"Speak for yourself," Sunflora said.

Light lowered himself and took his stance. He'd stay defensive.

Sunflora took his time. He flinched multiple times to try and fake him out, but Light focused through them. He rounded around seeds and Razor Leaves. Based on the increasing pace, Light figured he wouldn't stay patient. It'd be easier to keep them both alive if Sunflora moved in first.

Sunflora's feet left the ground. He aimed for Light's core. Light dipped low and uppercut his gut. He grappled Sunflora's arm as they rose in the air, and threw his whole body down. Sunflora's back slammed into the glass. Light fell down and smashed his fist into his gut again.

Pain didn't show up on Sunflora's face, but he stopped moving. His body refused to work with him. Light spared a glance up at Blaziken Lucca for some sort of approval. He frowned back at him.

"Seriously?" Lucca huffed.

Lucca flew down and landed closeby. Light backed away from him and adopted his stance. He stood next to Sunflora for a moment, then turned.

He punted Sunflora right off the edge. Light's stomach dropped.

"No!" Light yelled. "What are you doing!?"

"You can play as nice as you want," Lucca said. "It won't change the ending." He titled his head and looked down. "Yup. Been the same for generations in your family. This whole thing ain't really different or new at all. That guy always was a weight on their backs."

He wouldn't let him just walk away from that.

Lucca blasted off back to the air. Another perilous path led to the next challenger, a Marowak, on a platform half the size. He hadn't even flinched. None of them did. He couldn't imagine what really went on in their heads.

Light jumped across toward Marowak. Even on the opposite side of the platform, he could see the white in his eyes, and a steely, silver substance that encased the bone he held upright in both hands. They flickered to the left.

"Why not try and use Candor?" Reshiram asked.

"That's insane,"he said in reaction. "It's a two way connection. It won't help in a fight."

"You can try to reason with him."

"Alright then…."

Light reached out through eye contact. It fell to one or the other to survive this, and Marowak was the one that couldn't be replaced if he fell here. This world already had thousands of Angels. Just one wouldn't matter.

Marowak jumped, spun, and came down with an overhead swing. Light guarded. Pain shot down his forearms. He didn't have room to dodge his big swings. Defense wouldn't work. He revved up his flames.

Light belched out a Flamethrower. With every passing second, his stomach twisted in knots. Marowak pushed his way through it, step by step. He swung for Light's face, but failed to reach him. The pressure pushed his arm back. Light cut off the attack and jumped.

Marowak stumbled forward. Light drop kicked him in the chin. He flew back. The back of his head scraped the glass. Light rushed forward.

Light snagged his foot before he slid off the edge. Marowak's momentum pulled them off. Light's claws screeched against the glass. He caught Marowak and himself right on the edge. With one arm, he hoisted Marowak up over his head, then crawled back up. His bone weapon clanked and splashed in the glass spikes and seawater below.

Marowak stood right back up. Minor burns littered his frontside. Light readied up for round two, but shock froze him stiff. Maybe reality had finally hit.

"You just keep playing saint. Well, I've just about had enough!"

Blaziken Lucca swooped down from above. Three sharp claws grabbed his mane and lifted him in the air. Light flailed around in the air. His grip tore through his mane inch by inch. Right when it hit the snapping point, Lucca readjusted, flipped, and threw him down. He smashed against glass.

Lucca landed and detached his pegasi wings while Flareon Light stood back up. As they made eye contact, Lucca shrugged his shoulders back. His set of pegasi wings fell down towards the sea.

Lucca glanced up. "You, get down here."

A Hattrem with wild eyes floated down with a small set of pegasi wings. She pinched her lips together.

"Only one of us leaves this thing alive," Lucca said. "If he wins, escort him to the base of the tower and take command."

"Y-yes, sir," Hattrem said. She flew up and away.

Lucca had always been obsessed with high stakes. Light heard stories that he had been a gambler who lost it all, and others that he'd been into extreme sports and left with a hospital bill that plunged him into debt. None of them ever figured out the real one.

"What did I ever do to you?" Light asked. "All I wanted to do was survive the best way I could. Why'd you follow me this far?"

"You playing nice guy didn't make it easy on the rest of us," he said. "You may have fooled yourself into thinking you did something, but I always had to do the dirty work. Fighting off Nightlights, adding the brutality we needed to get the money for our next meal. If it weren't for your talent or that pretty face being so useful, we would have thrown you back in that dump orphanage we found you in."

Lucca turned back and looked up.

"And then you stumble across a nice opportunity, a pretty big ass bounty, and you don't even think about sharing with us…"

"Something that dangerous that could hurt countless amounts of people isn't an 'opportunity'."

"Oh, it is." Lucca smiled. "Your father has a bounty even better than the money on your head, the next Captain of the Aerial Dragoon Unit."

Light's face fell. "Really? All this to be a budget Jonathan?"

Lucca leapt forward. He twisted horizontally and slammed his foot down. Light hopped to the side.

This platform offered the most room out of any of them, to the point where Light lost track of the edges. Lucca picked up his foot slowly. Light watched his arms; he'd seen him break bones with different kinds of locks.

Lucca hopped on his left leg and brought his knee up. Light flinched to the right. Lucca's right foot smashed across his face. He stumbled back. The glass under his feet spun around once or twice.

For whatever reason, Lucca gave Light time for the dizziness to settle. He shook out his arms.

"Refocus," Reshiram said. "You're letting your mind run wild. Focus it on him."

Light watched Lucca's eyes carefully. He oh so enjoyed his jumping attacks to close distance. Light jumped first. He raised his foot and arced it down in an ax kick at his face. Lucca blocked with his forearm.

He kneed him in the stomach.

Nausea erupted. Light crossed his arms in front of himself as he kicked again. He tumbled away. The uneven glass cut across his arms in several places. He breathed deep, in and out.

"Use your claws," Reshiram said. "Slash him up."

"I can't…"

"He's the one asking for brutality. I say we give him what he has coming."

"I won't…"

Lucca stepped forward. "You know, when this is all over, how do you want me to tell your Guildies about how you died? 'True to the end? He was such a nice guy?'" His voice lowered. "You know, maybe when your father comes down to Airship Six, I'll give him pointers on the experiments with your little girlfriend." He smirked and tilted his head. "I'm not a scientist, but your father and I have an understanding about you Angels. And when I win here, I'll know all your worst fears to make them a reality."

Light's eyes strained. He stood up and stared. His legs didn't have as much muscle as he thought before. He needed to build up a lot of momentum for his strikes; too slow.

Lucca winded back his leg and kicked down. Light jumped over. He dug his claws in Lucca's face and flipped forward. His claws ripped through. The Dragoon serum wouldn't block the discomfort of blood in his eyes, only the pain. He had to disable his body one step at a time.

Light landed behind his back. He pushed forward and mashed his fist against the back of his right knee twice over. He shoved up and pushed Lucca forward onto his chest. He jumped up again.

Lucca pushed off his arms and rolled away to a kneeling position. Light's fist came down over his head. It missed. A web of cracks appeared on the glass. Light stalked forward. Lucca wiped his eyes clean and looked up.

With a short jump, Light bashed his other knee from the front. His body collapsed to the floor, but kept his top half up with his hands. Light walked over to each of them and targeted the wrists. He struck like how he practiced with One. Another duo of webs showed up on the glass below his limp hands.

Light kept his paw raised over the back of Lucca's head. Lucca's face turned blank.

"Is that quite enough for you?"

Light paused.

Sylveon One aimed her question at the swarm of Dragoons watching from above. Light forgot they were there.

If it were anyone else, they'd be screaming their throats out. Blaziken Lucca stared up at the sky. He couldn't tell if his body could still go into shock, or if he mentally shut down. Light's paws trembled. Hetook it too far.

He thought so, at least. The Dragoons didn't react at all.

The same Hattrem from before floated down next to Flareon Light. She gingerly grabbed his paw and lifted them both up.

Up ahead, Poliwrath released Umbreon Amadeus and stepped away. His eyes betrayed obvious surprise. Light shared it. He couldn't believe they were following through on the deal. He grasped Hattrem's hand tight because he half-expected her to drop him right then and there. Instead, she flew him all the way across the field to a glass ledge and dropped him on solid ground.

Amadeus rushed him into a quick hug. A mere second later, he pulled back and cleared his throat.

"You alright?" Amadeus asked.

"U-uh, yah," Light said. "Are you?"

He smiled and sighed. "Never better."

Something landed right next to Light. He jumped up, saw One standing there, and sighed. He didn't bother to think about how she made it all the way there so fast.

"I find it strange," One said. "That Blaziken wasn't particularly strong in the grand scheme of things. The average Dragoon soldier would be stronger than him, including the ones under his command. I wonder why father bothered with him. They don't care about honor. What are they playing at with this useless display?"

"I think I know," Amadeus said. "The Acuitan military is split into surveillance, offense-related knights, and defenders. Some Dragoons I was passing by before I was captured had heavy equipment with them, with screens." He stared up as the last of them took to the sky as red dots. "Those were all scientists, no doubt."

"It doesn't matter. This makes no sense. They should have been more aggressive." She turned to Light and jabbed his chest with a ribbon. "And you should have killed that Blaziken when you had the chance. Don't make my mission to keep you alive any more difficult than it already is."

One stormed off, then stopped cold. She looked left and right.

"Angels," she uttered.

Light's heart thumped.

The usual distorted, random shape of the glass disappeared. In its place, a glass garden boasted even the smallest, cut details. Clear bushes and flowers glistened in evening sunlight. Several glass birds spread around the path, some of them floating in the air without anything to hold them up. Bulbs of hydrangeas littered the entire garden. A flat, perfect road wound through, past benches, all the way to the tower's base.

Light's eyes traced up the side of the tower. It looked as tall and wide as three skyscrapers stapled together. At stages on the outside, a spiral staircase rolled around and led to another entranceway back inside. The buzz of the Acuitan blessing lit a fire in his head.

Towards the top, the Acuitan blessing struck like the cold, violent beat of a drum.

"A Saint," One said. "One of the first one-hundred. They must be taking a defensive position."

"I noticed more arriving while all that fighting happened," Amadeus said. "They were biding for time."

"Can't we climb up on the outside?" Light asked.

"Look closely," One said. "The outside surface is covered with knives and sharp edges."

"So there's no other choice?"

"We can do this, but I'll need your assistance. Father would use the Glass Reshiram for his own gain. He would hold the entire world hostage with it as a raving beast. There is no other option. But remember, I will not allow either of you to kill an Angel, no more than I would let you kill me."

"Uh, yah…"

The silent walk through the gardens didn't help his nerves. Light stumbled three times on a dead flat surface. The tower's shadow enraptured them before long.

A long set of stairs led up to an archway; the front entrance, their only one. Sylveon One took the lead. Light raised his head and sniffed.

"There are none on the bottom floor," One said. "They would find those small entrances outside the tower easier to defend than such a large one."

She seemed pretty sure of that guess. Light went along with it.

The archway led to a room with a rounded ceiling double the height. Light kept his eyes aimed down before he got dizzy. Along the floor, glass obelisks of different sizes lay scattered. Some of them didn't stand upright, while some had been smashed into pieces on the floor. Through the walls of the tower, the blue of the sky leaked through. Rays of sunlight left rainbows in random nooks and crannies.

In the center of the room, a glass sculpture stood out from everything else. Despite being made out of a single solid object, just like the rest of the room, it held a violent, foul air. Three pokemon, each with two tails, surrounded by weapons and masses of bloodshed, fought together, back-to-back with each other. The details were cloudy, and at times, messy splotches, but he couldn't mistake the whole picture.

"Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit," Amadeus said. "What is this supposed to be?"

"Reshiram's memories," Light said.

"But, then, what is this nonsense?"

"These are the shapes of tombs," One said. She looked around at the fallen obelisks.

"All of them?" Amadeus asked. He glowered. "What is this room trying to say?"

"Well, it would appear Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit committed some great atrocity."

"But that's impossible. No records show anything like this."

"Old records say they were once Legendary species," One said, "and then were turned into mortals, along with all of them. Legendary species that have powers like gods exist. They could have lived for countless years before they founded the three nations."

"So that means Acuity, Verity, and Valor were founded around the time Legendary species stopped having bodies," Light said. "But, I'm confused. 'Legendary species' have been reclassified all the time. Like that one old story about an Entei in Pataliputra."

"Perhaps, at one time, Legendary species like Entei, too, were immortal. Then they were stripped of their immortality, and greater beings, like Reshiram, of their physical forms."

"So, there's a difference?"

"Most certainly. After all, Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit did not have Scions. Nor has any of the 'Legendary species' already known, like Articuno or Virizion. Only Legendary species banished from having bodies have Scions. The others are simply… Rare occurrences to be born. Much like mythical-class species."

Light put more pieces together. "That means that Acuity, Verity, and Valor were founded after they lost their immortality. So, here…"

"They would have been unstoppable."

Amadeus breathed out. "I don't believe that Uxie would do something like this. For now, I refuse."

"Reshiram at its core is a being of truth," One said. "Even under the control of a dark force, I doubt it can ever lie. What you see in this room happened in some form, and it may be one of Reshiram's oldest memories. We must continue. Reshiram must die before nightfall."

One led the way again. Amadeus and Light shared glances. No logical explanation made the statue look any better. They both walked around the side of it. It had been scaled up a lot; Uxie's body looked like five times the size of Light's. He observed his head to make sure it had the unmistakable shape of the Acuitan flag, and it did. His tail swished along the glass floor.

The stairs spiraled around the outside tower wall. Up close, Light could see what One noticed earlier. The walls were coated in small glass spikes, edges, and thorns, small enough to leave a hundred holes in his paws if he touched it.

"I'll enter first," One whispered.

An ocean breeze wafted through Light's legs. None of the stairs were connected to each other. If he had his phone and dropped it, it'd fall through the steps all the way to the bottom. He stared down at his paws.

After a certain point, One darted up the steps and whipped into the room. Light ran up after her. He rounded the corner.

An explosion went off. Light's paws left the floor. He went airborne. He reached for the tower as he flew away from it.

A ribbon snagged his leg and yanked him in. His neck jolted back. He rolled across the floor and slammed into something hard. One glanced down at him.

"Must I babysit?" she hissed.

One deflected more attacks, and Light saw them.

White Eevees set up a massive, black metal barrier that stretched across the entire floor. Their eyes held a different purpose than the Dragoons; no stakes for personal gain, but a dark duty. White flashes underneath them tipped him off to Helping Hand. In this position, they had the most raw power. Light stood up and centered himself.

Light used what One taught him and dodged incoming yellow stars. They homed in on him, which made it tricky, but her training for close dodges paid off. He barely had to think about it.

Umbreon Amadeus barreled through. He offset the pace of their attacks in an instant. All of the stars focused and pushed into his front. Black energy shrouded his body. He bashed against the wall. Light ducked.

A piece of broken, sharp metal hit the wall right over his head. Eevees smashed into the walls. One of them rolled on her side and ended up in front of Light. She blinked. He froze. It seemed like neither of them really knew how to react to this.

"If you see ninety-three, could you tell him ten-thousand three-hundred and twenty-one tried, like, really hard?" she asked.

Light bumbled out some sort of random gibberish.

One whipped around several white Eevee ensnared in her ribbons. They slammed against the ceiling, fell back down to the floor, and bashed against the walls head-first. The untrapped ones started crying on the floor.

"Uh, One?" Light called. "I think we're good."

Her vicious flurry stopped. The Angels landed on their sides.

None of the Angels in this group seemed much older than him. All of them had short, short fur, and almost no equipment besides the wall they had set up.

"How many are here?" One demanded. She stared at an upside-down Eevee, dangling by his leg in her ribbon. He folded his arms and frowned.

"I don't get enough candy for this," he said. "Leave me alone."

"I… I just want my plushie!"

Another one broke out into tears.

"Stop being annoying!" One screamed.

As One shook him like a cracked pinata, Light had to wonder… Were they all this unhinged?

"Why are there so few of you?" One demanded.

"No one expected you to come here," said the Eevee in her grip. "They're waiting for you at Airship Six. There are like, only five more of us here. Probably shouldn't have said that." He glanced to the side. "Dammit. Don't tell anyone I said that."

One rolled her eyes and tossed him away. He face-planted into the wall.

The ridged glass walls in the room resembled a cave. Glass stalactites and droplets floating in the air confirmed it. In the center, a small statue kneeled down. Light guessed it represented someone, but he couldn't tell their species. It looked like the statue was praying.

"Why is this important?" One asked.

"Everything here seems sharper than the first floor," Light said. "Why?"

"Duh," snorted a white Eevee, sprawled out in the corner. "Older memories are foggier. That's just how it is. Oh…" His eyes misted over. "We really should stop talking…"

"We weren't expected, and only pushovers remain here," said One. "Let's continue on our way."

"Pushovers?"

"Rude."

"Please don't fucking kill me."

"Put a sock in it. You're not our mom."

"Wait, does she count as our mom?"

"Silence!" One barked.

The Angels all cowered near the walls. Sylveon One stormed past them to the next set of stairs. Umbreon Amadeus caught his breath in the middle as she blew past him.

"You're…" Amadeus heaved, "welcome?"

Light followed One with Amadeus behind him. The breeze pulled at his fur, towards the edge. Staying close to the wall made of blades didn't feel too great, either.

"One!" Light called.

One stopped. She rolled her weight from side to side as Light closed the distance.

"Why'd you lose your temper with them? They were probably just scientists too, right?"

"We don't have time to talk about something useless."

"Listen, when we were fighting Reshiram, you got too careless with that barrage earlier. That glass armor is too much. We need to aim for fatal points precisely. I don't think any one person can make an onslaught enough to negate it. So, please, try and keep cool."

One glared down at him. "Are you lecturing me?"

"I'm trying to return the favor and keep you alive?"

"It is not a favor, it is a duty. Stay alert. There is still a Saint here."

The next floor, however, showed up empty.

One motioned from them to follow her in at the top of the stairs. Light stayed glued to Amadeus' side. The statue in the room grew more grand and detailed. A pokemon Light still failed to recognize, the same as the previous floor, stood over Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit, who lay beaten and bruised on the ground. Gnarly gashes spread across the surface of their sculptures.

Weeds on the floor and small hills indicated it took place on dirt. A few scattered blades stuck out.

"Is this some kind of battlefield?" Light asked.

"That's the same pokemon from the prayer on the last floor," Amadeus said. "But, how could they have defeated them?"

"Ah, I understand. That must be the first Scion."

"What?" Light asked.

"It all had to start somewhere. No other power would have allowed them to cull immortal beings. Commit what we've seen so far to memory."

Light didn't particularly have to worry about that. He'd just use Candor on himself. He made sure to get a good look around at every detail of the room for later. He noticed sharp yellow sunlight spreading across the sky.

Sunset would come soon. They hadn't even got halfway yet.

Light jogged up next to One. They rounded around the statue and continued to the next archway, and set of stairs.

Below each step, the distance between them and the ground grew. The clean-cut garden began to turn into a blurry mess. The buzz of the Acuitan blessing continued at all times, as well as the cold feeling from up above. They progressed to the next floor.

And all of a sudden, the scale completely changed.

The floor turned into a 3D map of a whole continent, complete with trees half the size of Light's smallest claw. It spanned mountains, hills, lakes only the size of his paw, buildings and skyscrapers, all in the greatest of detail like it were built by a machine. It offered no room to step around. Light stepped on its prickly surface slowly. None of it broke.

"What do you suppose these settlements are?" One asked.

"Impressive," Amadeus snorted. "Look, there, skyscrapers, lifts, carriages. Looks like they had pretty high level technology."

Light's eyes glued onto something.

A mountain, a little larger than his paw, stood in the central north of the land. One and Amadeus didn't seem to even notice it. He shook it off and continued to the other side. They couldn't afford to spend too much time on it anymore. Light walked around some to make sure he had a decent enough view of everything for later. Amadeus and One waited for him at the base of the next set of stairs. He joined them a minute later.

Halfway up on the next flight, One bolted up and swung into the next room. Light and Amadeus jogged up after her.

"Target spotted!"

Their voices sounded older. Light sprinted up after her.

Thick, square glass pillars cut the room into pieces. Blurs of white passed through some of them. Sylveon One slammed into the side of one.

Light swung to the right and ducked. A Shadow Ball flew over his head. A white Eevee leapt at him with his fist raised. Light spun around and kicked high.

Eevee grappled his leg, flipped over and threw him. Light landed upright, unscathed, except for his confidence. He'd been sure that would at least hit. Eevee tossed up a red Trump Card and jumped forward horizontal to the floor. Light focused on his fist again.

His leg popped up and snagged the card in mid-air. It slammed down on Light's head. He raised his arms. Pain sliced all the way down to his chest. Umbreon Amadeus raced in and shoulder tackled Eevee before his assault continued.

Light's limbs shook. Metallic bangs echoed all around him. A moment later, they formed up in one direction and stopped.

Four Eevees slammed against a glass pillar in a pile, ensnared by ribbons. Sylveon One and Umbreon Amadeus walked up to them side-by-side. One released them to fall to the floor. Unlike the others, this floor stayed perfectly flat, almost slippery. He wondered how long it would've taken Reshiram to build this place.

"Probably since it fled the arena in Abuja," Reshiram said. "Keep moving."

Light re-centered himself in the room. He looked left and right with each step for anything of interest. The pillars didn't seem to follow any kind of pattern, and didn't have much to symbolize.

"I don't see much of anything here," Amadeus said with a heavy breath.

"Nor I," One huffed.

Light's eyes latched onto something. He took slow, careful steps to a pillar in the corner. He turned his head as he rounded the corner, and came face-to-face with a life-size statue.

A Buneary, Pikachu, and Riolu sat in a circle. A Keldeo stood a short distance behind them. On the floor, in the middle of the trio, a small engraving stuck out. Light bent low and traced his paw around the grooves of three fireballs with trails behind them. They reminded him of comets.

"Light, come," One ordered. "We must continue. We're running out of time."

"Coming!" he called.

Light took a once-over of the scene for later and jogged to meet back up with Amadeus and One. They waited at the next exit, and round of stairs.

"It's not… personal."

Light glanced back. All of the Angels had passed out, some with large bruises on their faces. The sight forced his eyes to stay in front. One didn't show any sign that she heard them. She moved on.

"I only sense the Saint above us," said One. "I expect them to be near the top, waiting for us. They're not fond of conducting ambushes."

"Then let's keep focused," Amadeus said.

"Yes, indeed."

The next set of stairs went on for longer. An ache settled in Light's limbs. He hoped to himself that they were doing better. Through all of the fighting, their stamina must have dropped at least a little. They needed to save it. If only he could reason with the Angels, even a little.

A chill ran up his back. The next room put him off somehow, even before they rounded the stairs to look inside. He let One take the lead. She slowed as she approached.

"Stay close," One ordered.

Light and Amadeus took the last steps.

Around the corner, pitch-black darkness drowned the room. Chilly fog whirled around their legs. Sounds of the ocean waves stopped inside. In the center of the room, one statue stood. It depicted a Riolu, likely the same one, and the Keldeo.

Keldeo had fallen to the floor. His eyes were closed, and his horn had been cut off, close to the base.

Riolu had been suspended in the air, stabbed, by a long blade straight through his chest. A third statue, of a species he didn't recognize, similar to the ones he saw on previous floors, held it, floating in the air, perfectly still.

"Alright…" Amadeus muttered. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Agreed," One whispered.

All of their footsteps echoed each other's. Light focused on the sky, visible outside only by the archway at the end of the room. He almost worried something would happen, like it wouldn't get any closer the more they walked, but it did. The air warmed the instant they stepped out of the room to the next set of stairs.

No one said much after that floor. Light guessed they didn't want to overthink it when they had so much on their own plates. He stared down at the glassy stairs. A good amount of details turned into blurs below them. One and Amadeus moved a little slower. Light knew it wasn't for him, but his legs appreciated it. By the time they reached the next room, he had a renewed confidence in them to make it all the way up.

Craters and pebbles littered the floor. Glass flames shone in the yellowing light of sunset. Pikachu struck down the strange pokemon, with the Keldeo's horn in hand. The details sharpened again, almost to the point where he could see individual strands of fur. He flicked a pebble with his paw, but it didn't budge.

"Why with the horn?" Amadeus asked.

"There must be some reason," One said. "Stay behind me. I am more familiar with traps that could be here."

Light followed nearly in her exact footsteps through the room. His muscles stay tense. The wind outside grew stronger. He gripped each stair with his claws on the next set. It started to get colder.

At the top, One scoped out the next room and motioned them in. Again, the floor had been cut smooth. Unlike previous times, nothing stood inside except for one statue in the dead center.

On a pedestal, a Buneary and Pikachu fought. Each of them raised their fists to smash in the other's face. Their eyes locked so close together, it almost seemed like they'd headbutt before they could strike. A pair of sharp eyes hung over them, with no significant details.

"I can't really tell what the story is behind all of these," Amadeus said. "No writings or anything. How are we supposed to understand?"

"We are not meant to understand," One said. "These are memories made real. We must accept what we see for what it is and move on."

"I know. But it still bothers me."

Light trailed behind them. He stole glances at the statue from different angles. He waited at the archway for one more moment than One and Amadeus, then moved on.

A small buzz ignited in Light's head. He looked up.

Two red lights soared as a pair, not far over their heads. They disappeared into the floor above them. Light clenched his paws. Wind tugged his fur away from the tower, to the heart-stopping drop below them.

"This is bad," One said. "If reinforcements are starting to arrive, they'll only keep coming."

"Let's take them before they're ready," Amadeus said. "Come on!"

Light ran up after them. They rounded around out of sight. He slowed down a touch to keep his limbs from giving up on him. The sounds of battle started a long moment before he reached the final steps. He peered around the corner.

An explosion; then Sylveon One flew out. Light grabbed one of her ribbons. It stretched thin, pulled hard on his arm, then sprang back. One shot back inside. Light let go a little late. Her ribbon yanked him in behind her.

Umbreon Amadeus and One fought two Angels in different sections. Fallen, round pillars littered the floor, along with one or two still standing. Light ran to help Amadeus first, and jumped over two piles of glass rubble to get to him. Sweat ran down Amadeus' face. The white Eevee he fought with backed up to account for two opponents. Amadeus staggered back to a defensive position, next to Light.

Light would go for a more classic approach. Whenever the Angel struck one of them, the other would hit back. He'd have to manage that despite the small pair of pegasi wings on his back, but…

Eevee never approached. His pegasi wings ignited, and he took off. He flew away outside the tower. The Eevee One fought disappeared too. She stared outside.

"I think we scared them off?" Amadeus said through a heavy breath.

"They were ordered to pull back," One said. "They're planning something."

"Ah… But, no place to go but up at this point, right?"

It was true. If they went back down, they would all be found out by the Acuitan blessing, even if they did try to hide.

"Stay close," One repeated.

Light took a close look at the statue in the center of the room before they moved on. Pikachu had won, with a torn look on his face. He guessed Amadeus and One didn't pay it any closer attention.

"There is a problem," One said.

"I was confused why there were stairs in the first place," said Amadeus.

"Reshiram itself and the wall provide this tower's security. The question is who the stairs it created are meant for."

Light walked to the archway. Just as they said, the stairs stopped, and left them nothing but a wall of glass spikes. He drew near the edge and curled his head up. The bottom side of a small, circular cut platform loomed over them.

"It looks like it's right above us," he said.

Both of them looked up.

"Ah," One said. "Well, this is not a problem this time."

One latched her ribbon to the balcony above them and pulled. Once satisfied, she turned to Amadeus.

"Climb," she ordered.

Amadeus snorted. "I'm fine, thanks."

Amadeus jumped up and flipped backwards. Light staggered back. He grabbed on the railing and landed soft and silent.

"Suit yourself," One grumbled.

One performed the same motion and left Light starstruck. Seconds later, a ribbon dangled down for him.

"Hurry up," One said. Her voice sounded strong enough to feel like a hiss right in his ear.

"Uh, you won't drop me, right?"

Light glanced down by accident. He'd drop for a whole minute before he'd splat on the ground.

One sighed. "If there is one person you should trust, it's yourself."

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"It's an Angel saying. It means we know each other by nature to a degree, and can trust each other. Now come. I'll pull you up."

"Right…"

Light grabbed on firm with both paws. His feet picked up off the ground. A fierce wind rushed by, but the ribbon stayed still. He could count on his grip. When his head reached the height of the railing, two more ribbons hoisted him up and set him upright.

"This is somehow worse than all of the other floors," Amadeus said. "And that is rather impressive."

It definitely had flair.

A massive statue covered the entire room. The Pikachu from before, donning a new crown, cast out chains. They drew tight around the necks of Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. With every last detail fleshed out, Light could see their pained expressions, and the way they reached out to try and pull away. Chains locked down almost every move they could make.

"Now what does this mean?" Amadeus asked. "Did it happen literally, or is this a representation of something?"

"No time," One said.

She was right. The sky turned more yellow with every passing moment. They had to move as fast as they could. If only that didn't involve stairs…

"Where's the next set of stairs or way out?" Amadeus asked. "I don't see anything."

"There," One said. She pointed a ribbon.

Light squinted and focused. He found it hard to make out the indent in the wall, with all of it being glass. The sliver of a first in a set of stairs peeked out. They walked for it.

Light shrunk under the weight of the statues. He found himself staring at the floor to feel a bit more comfortable. The thick glass walls of the tight, spiral staircase ahead provided shade. With a last glance, he bid the awful scene goodbye.

The darkness thickened. Umbreon Amadeus' rings lit up to help them see. Light judged the height of each stair by their shadows. His tail scraped against both sides of the wall. If they were any larger, they'd get stuck.

Rainbow light flashed across Sylveon One's face. One round of stairs later, it coated Light's fur. It turned as bright as sunlight when they reached the top.

"I'm around the Acuitan blessing constantly." A voice fell from above. An older Angel. It had to be the Saint. "I am, in a way, used to the scent, if you will. Sometimes, it's hard to notice. But, dear sister, dear brother, grandfather, you all have unique scents."

Light felt like an icicle formed in his brain. The Acuitan blessing never impacted him quite like this before.

The staircase wound up to a stained glass room. A violent array of colors hurt Light's eyes to look at all at once. The room had been coated in pictures of pegasi wings, a Buneary, a Pikachu, a Riolu, Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit. On windows, he saw and recognized Lugia, Rayquaza, and failed to recognize other large species. It all added up to a congested, beautiful mess.

Something metal scraped against the stained glass floor. It drew their attention.

He had been hard to spot at first; a white Eevee stood in the middle of the room. He donned a white cape, faced away from them. It read the number "93" in gray. Silvery metal jut out even against the glass. On top of a prosthetic, sharp metal paw, a green butterfly, made out of light, rested. Its wings swayed up and down.

"Your true purpose is to be a scientifically engineered solution to seal the Curse of the Madness. Our father's games of conquest are of little consequence."

The butterfly flew off his paw. It ascended over a staircase built into the front wall of the room.

"Glass Reshiram, however, may soon run out of control. By Christmas Day, the world will begin to end, without the grace of Candor to protect it. Only six months are left."

"Candor isn't the only path forward," Amadeus said. "We'll slay Reshiram dead, and whatever comes next. You could help us."

"Perhaps. But none could stand against the second comet. The Madness will take him soon. Impervious to all attacks, Candor is the only weapon we have against the immortal."

"Just because your father calls you Angels doesn't mean you get to decide what my grandson's destiny is."

"Your words do not matter. You were a weak warrior, meandering King, and a shitty father."

"Do not pretend that you care," One said. "You exchanged a piece of your own body for a weapon. You don't even care about yourself."

"At least I don't pretend to. But this discussion can wait. Reshiram must fall."

Eevee turned and smiled. His metal prosthetic ran the whole length of his arm. Razors and strange formations hinted at its real purpose.

"Good luck," he said.

Eevee flourished his cape. Underneath, a miniature set of pegasi wings ignited with red flames. Eevee burst up into the air and rose to the top of the room. He and the butterfly flew away through a circular exit at the top of the stairs, surrounded by a stained glass panel of the Buneary, Pikachu, and Riolu. It framed as if they were all asleep, laying on their backs with their arms stretched out at their sides. The evening sky opened up past it.

"Make any final preparations," One said. "Once we slay it, an ambush is likely to come. We will take their pegasi wings by force and escape back to Abuja."

"Counting on you to show us how to operate those things," said Amadeus.

"You will be fine. But please, make this a clean kill."


They sat for five minutes. Flareon Light observed the room to try and make sense of it all. Despite the randomness, he found common themes.

The Buneary had to be Luke; he had the same hazel eyes. He stayed with the Pikachu and Riolu in almost every frame. They might have been related. Their faces had a similar glow to them.

"I will return to my body, and extract what memories I am able," Reshiram said.

Light's tail swept the floor. He blinked and realized what it said.

"What?" he asked. "But-"

"It may be painful, but I have faith my torment won't last long, in you. Glass sculptures are not enough. We must learn what we can. Good luck."

Light's head went empty.

On instinct, he looked left and right, suddenly much lonelier. He hadn't even realized how much weight Reshiram's presence had. Sylveon One and Umbreon Amadeus both noticed.

"Are you ready?" One asked.

"Yah," he said dismissively. "Uh, yah. Let's go."

Light stared at his feet as they ascended the final set of stairs.

Sunset had come. The sky turned orange, with wisps of pink and purple. The sun cast a long, reddish hue on the ocean. Clouds glowed under its splendor.

On the wide-spanning floor, a stained glass picture showed Light with his eyes closed, laying on his side with Reshiram's wings on his back. White Eevees ran along the edge in an infinite circle, head-to-tail. In smaller, circular frames, familiar faces stared back at him. Close to him, Sky Shaymin Ariel, Heliolisk Jonathan, Amadeus and One, Slowking Chad, faced forward with different expressions. Scattered across a background of a beach at sunset, the faces of the rest of his Guild showed up,

All of them looked back differently from each other. Ariel held a shimmer in her eyes and a sturdy smile. Jonathan frowned and stared wide-eyed. Amadeus' looked worried and didn't look directly back. Chad pressed his lips together and tilted his head.

Was this how they really felt?

Zangoose Fernand and Dewgong Nathan looked at him like a freak. Drizzle Kenta cast a bright smile. He wanted to look at each and every one, but didn't have time.

They were all counting on him.

Reshiram stood idle. Sunlight outlined its face. Its jaw hung open and appeared almost like a smile. One's weapons, now coated in glass, jut out across its body. The small claws on its wings gripped onto glass swords, ten times the size of Light's body. The size of the floor matched the previous ones. Against Reshiram, it didn't provide a lot of room. Without any walls, they had to keep control.

Reshiram stepped forward. A wave of color spread out from under its foot. Light watched it pass under them. Glass twisted around and sealed the path they took up to get here, which left no way back down.

One and Amadeus both stood in front of Light. One tilted her head back his way.

"Your plan?" she asked.

"Stand our ground, and maul it with everything we've got," he said.

Reshiram's tail ignited. It leapt up with a burst of flame and came down.

They burst forward to meet it.

One and Amadeus blitzed ahead, and Light sprang towards its legs. They needed their weapons back. His lance still stuck out of Reshiram's foot. He lunged for it. It kept still, thanks to whatever One and Amadeus were doing. His paws hit its sleek surface and hoisted it back. It ripped out of the glass coating.

Reshiram lowered its head and belched out purple flames. Light raised the lance and stood up to it. The edges of his fur burned. His feet slid back. One ducked in front of him and blocked with a shield of her ribbons tied together. Light moved away to take the center.

A long shadow stretched over them. Reshiram took flight and sprayed flames down at them. One's ribbon wrapped around Light's chest.

She lifted him up by his mane from behind and used him as a body shield. A wave of flames washed past him. It swirled around his fur and sent his blood into a frenzy. One matched up her back feet with his and pushed him up to the air.

His limbs quaked with firepower. He angled his lance and clicked the button. Pain shot through his arm.


"Okay guys, this is it. I call it my Triple Comet Attack Plan."

"Uh… why?"

"Because we'll all need to make use of comet mode on our pegasi wings to get to Mother. I'm up first, as a diversion. The next to go, will have to fight her himself. The last will go without pegasi wings. They'll assassinate her with the human. Which one of you wants to…?"

"I'll go last. I'm ready."

"Alright. Adrian?"

"Huh, yeah?"

"You're the second comet. You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. I'm the second comet."


Light fell to the ground clutching his arm. His side slammed against the floor. His lance clattered around him in burnt chunks. One and Amadeus ran in front of him. He pushed himself up to his feet and rolled his shoulders. Not a second later, One pushed her lance into his arms.

"Take mine," said One.

"What?" Light asked, foggy-headed. "But, I broke it."

"It matters not, if it fails to take another strike."

Reshiram bent forward. Glass shards fell down in a river from its face. Scorch marks from their last onslaught in the desert stayed. They didn't let it regain much of its stamina from before.

He could pull that attack out again if he had to. It would barely be able to use fire attacks without the same end result, and that assumed it could still strategize.

"Don't let up!" Light called.

Sylveon One and Umbreon Amadeus readied Shadow Ball and Moonblast. Reshiram shielded its front with its glass-coated wings. It grunted. The hum and snaps of their barrages combined into a white-black torrent. Reshiram shouted as it tried to keep its head above it. It stumbled further back towards the edge. New holes and gashes showed in its wings.

Its glass swords had broken and shattered, but it swung them anyway. A wide swing forced them to jump back. The other crashed down over Light's head. His lance would be crushed, and him with it. His feet didn't move.

A metal screech ran up behind him.

Umbreon Amadeus swung a metal sword larger than his body, upward in an arc. In a snap and a bang, Rehisram's sword fell apart around them. Amadeus' sword flew away in two halves.

A heat like a miniature sun rushed over Light's back. He glanced up.

Sylveon One held a small, focused twinkle in her paws. Light recognized it; the hyper-focused Dazzling Gleam bomb she hit them with when they first met in Lao Shen. He grabbed Amadeus' quaking, rough arm and pulled them back.

Violet light pierced his eyes.


"The curse of the Madness belongs to the Pharaohs alone."


When the fog lightened to white and cleared, Reshiram's shadow stayed in front of them. Its claws, coated in glass, dug deep into the floor. Its feet stilled at the very edge of the tower. It defied them with a guttural growl.

One more hit.

With its last resource left, it sprayed flames. One and Amadeus backed up, Light didn't. He resisted the pressure on his front and pushed forward, step by step. His body flooded with energy. His chest burned to release it, but he only had one swing. He had to bear it. His entire Guild was counting on him.

The pressure pushed him back like a tidal wave. He barely managed to stay still.

Reshiram aborted the attack and raised up a claw. A thinner, shorter glass sword manifested, and rushed to cut him in half. His lance couldn't take the blow.

Fundamentals. Light waited for it, and took a leap of faith.

He rolled over the sword's smooth side on his back, and landed back on four paws. The glass sword fell out of Reshiram's grip. Its claws rushed back to the floor to keep itself from falling. Another wave of hellfire formed a wall of pressure between them.

He had an idea.

"One!" Light roared over the flames. "Grab my leg!"

Two ribbons snapped around his legs. Light aimed the tip of his lance backwards and clicked the button.

Energy rushed. His head nearly slammed back from the momentum. Through it all, he stopped the flow of energy. He swore his heart stopped in his chest. Once he had enough speed behind him to push through the wall, he thrust the lance up towards sunset.

Light stabbed Reshiram right in the chest. Reshiram's claws came unhooked. They careened off the side of the tower. With the tip of his lance rooted in, he clicked the button again and burned the energy he saved.

His arms flew back, and his neck stretched forward. He burst up into the air.

One yanked her ribbons taut, and Light along with them. He flew back over the tower and fell. He slammed into something softer than he expected.

Amadeus and One caught him on their sides. He looked between their faces, but they stared ahead. Light pushed off and turned around.

Eerie silence hovered over them. Light didn't hear it fly back up. They must've been waiting to hear it hit the ground, or appear again.

A massive red light shot up. Wind buffeted against Light's fur. He clenched his eyes shut before they turned dry and opened them when it passed. Reshiram flew around in wide arcs in the sky, so far away that Light lost track of it. It had to go pretty far for it to leave earshot.

"Did it escape?" Amadeus asked. "How!?"

"It does not have the strength to ever recover." One said. "It's picking up speed. This is a suicide attack."

"Ah. Wait, what do we do about this?"

Even if they didn't get crushed and turned into splinters, they'd get blown off the tower. They couldn't even take shelter back inside since Reshiram blocked the exit.

It appeared again as a red comet. Light took steps back. They couldn't stand their ground against this. He ran through some way to get down the side of the wall. Maybe they could make a sword ladder… No, a million times no. How could he answer this attack?

A dizzy feeling ran through him. He held his head and swayed to the right.

The red comet disintegrated into fog. White pieces of it dropped, one of Reshiram's feet. The flames rose up as smoke against the reddening sun. Its wings fell like autumn feathers. Yellow bulbs of light dusted them as they disappeared into thin air, along with the rest of its body.

Was that blood?

Something slammed down against the floor in front of them; a Grumpig, outfitted with pegasi wings on his back. One and Amadeus covered Light with their sides.

Grumpig unraveled a brown paper scroll in his hands. He dusted off his hands, covered his mouth, cleared his throat, and looked down on the written text.

"In accordance with Olympian law, and the honor bestowed upon us, presenting His Majesty, Kaiser Dragoon."

The Acuitan blessing came in a heartbeat, the cold, heart-dropping kind, like he just saw his life flash in front of his eyes.

A shadow rose up against the sky. Wings stretched out, riddled with holes. Light's chest crumpled under the rays of sunlight that passed through them. White eyes broke him down to a scientific level, a pile of walking elements from the periodic table. In his right claw, the last of Reshiram's head disappeared in a flash of light.

Dragonite Lancelot landed in front of them. Light ripped his eyes away for a moment. Sylveon One hunched back. Umbreon Amadeus lost every ounce of emotion in his face.

"Both of you get behind me," Amadeus said.

Lancelot smiled at that. Amadeus took three steps forward to be closer to him. The same problem of no escape arrived into play. Somehow, it seemed more apocalyptic than ever.

Light touched his own face on some instinct and rubbed his digits together. Glass shards fell to the floor. He wiped his face and more fell off. It happened every time. It kept growing back.

"Did that other crown of yours fill the void?" Amadeus asked.

Lancelot walked forward.

Amadeus fired Shadow Ball from his mouth. Lancelot slapped it away. His next step moved faster. Amadeus jumped up for his face and feinted a punch; he spun around and kicked.

Lancelot grabbed his foot and swung his body down against the glass. He stomped his foot down on his chest. He frowned, stared him in the eye, reached out, and snapped his claws twice in Grumpig's direction.

Grumpig levitated One's large hammer and a fragmented shard of one of Reshiram's glass swords. Lancelot grabbed them both and sized up their weights in his hands with small bounces. He angled the edge of the shard over Amadeus' head.

"Wait!" Light called. "We can talk-"

He brought the hammer down. The Acuitan blessing vanished. Light flinched and stepped back. Adrenaline spiked his tired limbs back to life.

One pulled Light behind her. She hurriedly grabbed onto a shard of glass and raised it to his throat. Blood ran down her paw and dripped down to his fur. Lancelot picked his foot up and turned to them. He paused.

"No closer," One demanded in a shaky voice.

He smiled again.

A red light swooped down.

Lancelot whipped around. A dozen flames rained down on him. A jagged metal object ripped Light off his feet. A claw grabbed the back of his mane. The glass tower moved away from him in an instant, and Lancelot with it. Wind rushed over him.

"Help my grip here!"

One's ribbons entangled and tied him to a pair of jet-black pegasi wings, on the back of a Charmander. They ended up in odd spots with Light on his right side and One upside-down. Charmander glanced behind them every few seconds.

"Are you bleeding?" Charmander asked Light.

Light stuttered out rubbish. He looked at One.

Her lips trembled. A tiny stream of blood flew from her paw, and stopped seconds later when she tied a ribbon around it. Charmander turned his attention back forward.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

Light twisted to look back.

Why were they leaving their grandfather behind?

"Hey, we're leaving him!" Light said. "We have to go back!"

Charmander clenched his jaw and stared ahead. One stared off into space. Light stared back as the tower distanced itself, and the stars came out for the night. A wave of weakness passed through his chest.

Did he just fail?

Did his grandfather just…

Die?