Flayer's house was one of the closest ones to HHQ, and was maybe twice as large as Trace's. The design was mostly the same—except for the wood, which was flameproofed. Tom was sitting inside, gazing at a map of what looked like the entire continent.

"Hey, Leslie!" Tom said, getting up and hugging her. "You got your necklace!"

"Yeah, we were so lucky," Leslie replied, letting the ball from yesterday fall from her mouth. It rolled towards Tom, who picked it up curiously.

"What's this, anyway?" he said.

"We found it when we were looking with her," Trace said.

"Don't push the button," Lysander said.

"Why? What's it supposed to do?" Tom asked.

"It, uh, captures people," Leslie whispered.

"How?" Tom whispered back, grinning.

"Nobody knows," Trace said.

"Nobody knows what?" went Flayer from behind.

"Oh, there you are, Dad," Tom said. "Leslie got her necklace back."

"Good," Flayer said. "What's that little ball? Is that what you were talking about?"

"Yeah," Trace confirmed. "We found it at the beach." Tom went over and handed the ball to his father.

"Hmm," Flayer mumbled, turning the ball around. When he pressed the button, the ball grew in size. "Wow. Hmm."

Lysander flinched. "If you push the button, it has this laser thing," he said from behind Trace. "It sucked me in or something."

"Well, I won't point it at anyone," Flayer said. He pushed the button again, like Lysander had in the cave. The humming laser shined brightly just like before, even in the well-lit room.

"Whoa," Tom gaped. "That's weird."

Flayer shut the ball. "I've never seen anything like this before," he said. "If you want, I'll keep it for a while and ask around."

"Sure," Trace said, looking at Lysander.

Lysander nodded. "Who do you think made it?"

"I don't... no idea," Flayer said, spacing out for a moment. "Seems like—"

"Flayer!" barged in Hal from outside. "Something's goin' on outside—you better come quick. Mornin', everybody." He turned and left.

Flayer put down the ball, for now. "Let's see what's up, then."

The Latios was lying on the ground, pinned there by Hal and a Lairon. Lysander recognized him from some legend he had been told when he was a kid. He was as surprised as everyone else to see one right in front of him, being subdued for practically attacking someone. The Latios matched everything in the legends. His body shape in general reminded Lysander of a jet plane, whatever that was. He tried to remember what he was thinking of, but he couldn't.

"Feelin' civil?" Hal asked the Latios.

"Huh—y-yes, I'm sorry," he murmured. "I lost control."

"You damn near destroyed someone's house," Hal said, getting off, "but I getcha." The Lairon got off, too.

The Latios paused, staring into space. He looked into the eyes of everyone in front of him—maybe a quarter of the town, which was only a handful of people. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm mistaken. None of you know anything about what I'm talking about. But... no..."

He hovered into the air, dirt drifting off his azure and gray body, and drifted off. Lysander saw a teardrop sparkle as it plummeted to the ground.

Once he was gone from sight, everyone erupted into chatter. Lysander heard people talking about legends associated with Latios and theories about why he turned up here. Nobody expected him to leave so quickly. They all talked and talked, and it bothered Lysander.

"Nobody's going to help him?" he called out. Everybody hushed.

"Well, he's already gone," pointed out Hal. "Didn't ask for help, didn't stick around, didn't nothin'."

"He did seem convinced somebody was here," Flayer said. "For those of you who didn't see it, he crashed into Piers's house, looking for something, then demanded where we were keeping 'her.' We managed to calm him down, but he got sad and left. Said he lost control."

"I feel sorry for him," Piers said. Several Poochyena played at his feet, oblivious of the situation. "I mean, he was just mistaken. There's nothing wrong with passion."

"We didn't lose anything, honey," Nebbie said, coming back from their house. "So that's good."

"I'm gonna go help him," Lysander said. Everyone fell silent again.

"Good luck," Hal said. Some people laughed, but a stern glance from Hal quickly silenced them.

"He can't be far, if he really thinks she's here," Lysander reasoned. "Whoever she is."

"Well, he went that way," Flayer said, pointing to the north. "You sure about this? That guy can fly fast, or so I've heard."

"And, you know, you'd be messing with legends and stuff," added the Lairon. "Might be better off not getting mixed up in all that."

That set the small crowd buzzing. As they dispersed, Trace whispered to Lysander, "You think you can find him?"

"Nobody wanted to help him," Lysander murmured. "Like I said, he can't be far. I've got nothing to do, anyways."

"I do!" Trace whined. "I need to fix Piers's house. Hal already told me to."

"Okay, then—"

"Don't you wanna come with me?" Trace asked.

"I really want to help that Latios," Lysander said. "I'll help you after—"

"But that's a waste of time! How do you even know—"

"It's not a waste of time! Did you see how messed up he was over this? He was crying. And nobody wants to help him! Just 'cause you don't believe in myths—"

"Well, fine!" Trace yelled. "N-not my fault when you're all... lost and alone!" He practically sobbed out the last three words.

"Wait, Trace," Lysander said, but he was already gone. He didn't know where Piers's house was—and Trace probably wouldn't talk to him anyway. He shuffled out of town, alone, in less than high spirits. He was already starting to doubt himself.

"No need to hide," the Latios said, not turning. He stared into the lake's surface, which mirrored the sky so well that Lysander didn't realize it was water until a breeze gently disrupted it. Lysander had been looking at the Latios from afar, but it apparently did no good.

"Hi," Lysander said, walking up to the Latios. They both were at the lake's edge, looking down at their reflections. "What—"

"You were back there, when I lost it, weren't you?" the Latios interrupted. "I appreciate you coming."

"What happened?" Lysander asked, sitting down.

The Latios sighed. He shimmered and then took the form of a Gabite, startling Lysander. The Latios sat next to him. "Sorry. It's more comfortable this way."

"You can transform?"

"Well, it took forever to learn," the Latios said defensively. "I didn't want to just float there while you sat." The two Gabites looked at their reflections in the water. Lysander would have laughed if the situation wasn't so somber.

"It's Latias," the Latios explained. "Something took her. She said she could feel something, like something was probing the fabric of the universe. It's hard to explain."

"Okay," Lysander said, just beginning to realize he was consoling somebody he only knew from legends.

"And she said she was going to see what it was, but then she just disappeared!" the Latios said, gesturing with his Gabite arms. "I tried to teleport to her location, but it only took me to your town. And I was so distressed that I ruined some poor person's house." He sighed again.

Images suddenly flashed through Lysander's mind—it was the Latios's point of view as he raged and tore at Piers's house. Lysander even felt some anger rising up from somewhere. It reminded him about the kind of powerful psychic abilities the Latios had, and it was a bit frightening, but he knew the Latios wouldn't hurt him. "You didn't ruin anything," Lysander assured him.

"Oh. That's good. I—AH!" The Latios suddenly writhed in pain, falling on his side. "They're doing something to her," he said after the pain subsided. "We have a close mental bond, and they just—they just tortured her or something!"

"She's not at the town, that's for sure," Lysander told him.

"Yeah, nobody knew what I was talking about. I could feel all their confusion."

"What if she's in a different world?"

The Latios paused to sit back up next to Lysander. He was still in Gabite form. "It would make sense," he said after a minute. "She'd be in this location, but in another world. Then that thing she felt—I could feel it, too—it was something that took her away from here. From me."

"Well, if I can help in any way," Lysander offered. "I don't have anything to do." He immediately felt guilty for saying that. He thought of Trace and the guilt redoubled.

"Oh, go ahead with whatever you have to do," the Latios said, picking up on Lysander's emotions. "I need to talk with some... people. About how to reach other worlds. I'll come back—I'll probably need help from someone like you."

"Okay," Lysander said, standing up. "Thanks."

"No, thank you, Lysander," the Latios sighed, shimmering again and turning back into his normal form. He hovered high into the air, and then flew off. Lysander watched him disappear into the distance, then left for town. After a few minutes of walking, he wondered how the Latios had known his name.

"Hey, Lysander," Piers said. "The house is already all fixed up, but thanks for coming anyway. How was the thing with the... Latios?"

"Oh, we just talked. We were at this lake that was like a mirror, it was so shiny."

"Oh, I know that place," Piers recalled. He sat down, scratching behind one of his ears. "That's, uh, Mirror Lake. We take the kids there every once in a while."

"Have you seen Trace?"

"He went home. He looked pretty sad, too, you know."

"I'll go talk to him."

"I guess you're helping out everyone today, huh?"

"Sorta," Lysander said. He waved bye to Piers and his family before leaving for Trace's house. The sun was low in the sky—walking to and from Mirror Lake had taken longer than he thought.

"Trace?" Lysander called gently into the darkening room. "You there?"

A moment of silence, then: "Yeah." He was napping, or trying to. Lysander felt guilty again, seeing Trace lying there facing the wall.

"How was the—"

"They fixed it without my help."

"Oh." Lysander sat down across the room from Trace. "Look, I'm sorry about the whole Latios thing. I talked to him, though, and he said it might be something crazy. Like something about other worlds."

Trace stirred. "Like the world you think you came from?"

"The what?"

"Never mind." Trace sat up, sighing. "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Lysander saw it as Trace's offer to forget about the quarrel earlier. He was so relieved to accept.

"Well, the Latios said it was like, something poking the fabric of the universe," Lysander began, lying down and explaining away.