Helios, learning of Pandora's betrayal, goes to warn Angira, but overhears a conversation between Angira and Pandora (where Pandora turns Angira against trusting anything Helios could say) and flees the base to keep his mind secure against Pandora's influence. Culus keeps having strange dreams, dreams in vivid detail of someone with his name but who isn't himself. Selene is confused - without knowing who to trust, what to do, or what she can do, she does what Chain tells her to do, and what Chain says is good for her. Eve, depressed and alone, awakens to the Aspects and plans to train them to get the edge on Chain. Sable has learned how to teleport, but can't do so accurately yet, and Kapun has awakened to his talent - what the talent is, he isn't completely sure.

Arya is moving troops from Regilia to Illusuria to maintain a military presence, and to take down Culus and Selene's organizations before they become too much of a threat. Chain has decided that Key is no longer needed, and is preparing the Shadow Workers everywhere to fully crush Key, while Key remains none the wiser. Helios and Culus witness Diane, Selene's aunt, brainwashing Key's head scientist into sabotaging discovery projects so that they don't discover anything before the crushing or maintain anything after, and Culus attacks Diane in a debilitating way before Pandora captures him and wipes the memory (Helios, however, remembers, causing the events above).

What will happen?


No one had figured out that anything was wrong until lunchtime. Ekib had been working in his lab, Pandora had been healing the two people the Nucifera team had brought in, and Culus and Angira had continued their usual work - namely, the management of teams. She continued tutoring him on how to manage the system, while never giving him too much power by himself.

Perhaps it would have bothered him if he wasn't able to Stifle her on the regular and see her struggle. Oh, sure, she was already growing her resistance to the power, if slowly, but that was the whole point of the exercise. Culus, meanwhile, was slowly, ever so slowly, managing to make the correct calls.

It wasn't too hard, as long as you managed to keep your wits about you. Maybe Helios's enormous fuck-up had reminded him that, while any mission, in particular, could go badly, there was always the chance for it to go worse, and that he had a good head screwed on. Focus on maintaining secrecy, don't let your emotions go to your head, and think about the situation from perspectives other than your own, limiting what you consider 'common sense' to what others reasonably know.

Culus attended the meeting Angira had with Pandora, though only as an observer. She had him sorting through paperwork, one of her more menial tasks, while the meeting went on. Culus was supposed to pay attention to his work, of course, but an odd headache that he'd had all day stopped most of that. Eventually, he started paying attention to what Pandora and Angira were talking about.

"... how long will it take for the spy and the bystander to be healed, Pandora?" Angira asked, tapping her claws on the desk.

Pandora sighed, before sitting on a chair that Angira had created with her innate powers. "A long time," she admitted. "I have my methods for healing brain damage and waking people from comas, so usually, they would have awoken by now, but something is keeping them trapped in their minds."

"Something for Ekib to look into," Angira agreed.

"But as a tertiary priority," Pandora said, to which Angira raised an eyebrow. "I can keep them healthy without difficulty while they remain in their comas, and Ekib has all of his tasks to deal with. Let him deal with those while I try to enter their dreams and see what I can glean from them."

"Can you enter their dreams, Pandora?" Angira asked pointedly.

"Not yet - but if they continue to heal, I might be able to. Perhaps in a week or two, they'll have recovered enough from what Rowan and Thilia did to them for me to reach into their minds. I'm already worked to the bone as it is."

"I can see that very clearly, Pandora." Culus chanced a look at Pandora and saw large bags below her thin eyes. Her muscles also looked to lack definition. She looked ill, and the way she was slumped on the chair lent credence to the idea that she was overworked.

Culus could only pity her. A lot of Psychic-types had way too many abilities as it was. The ability to heal remotely with Heal Pulse, generalized teleportation, hypnosis - the list went on and on. Other types (such as Electric, meanwhile) only had a few abilities. Culus could create and control electricity… and that was pretty much it. Everything else was related to moves from other types or his Aspects.

So, for a multi-talented Psychic-type capable of entering dreams along with everything else Pandora could probably do, her service to Key was invaluable. It wasn't that she was the only Psychic-type in Key, but of all of the ones that were adults - and kids, too - she was the most talented. That probably put a lot of pressure on her to perform well.

"If I might be so bold, Lady Angira," Pandora then said. "I heard from the team in Lition that my daughter has learned how to teleport."

Angira sighed. "I heard as well. I can only be thankful that things didn't escalate as much as they could have."

"Exactly. As an experienced teleporter, I need to teach my daughter, in person, how to properly teleport and judge distances. Might I ask for a… break, of sorts?"

Angira narrowed her eyes. "What kind of break?"

"I remain in the base, on-call, but for a week or so, I simply focus on teaching my daughter how to teleport and working on healing the Eevee and Elgyem. I…" Pandora then winced. "Don't have the constitution for much else right now."

"... of course, Pandora," Angira said, nodding. "I'd hate for you to overwork yourself. If you need to rest, then please, help yourself. Just remember to keep the Eevee and Elgyem healed, and we'll find a way to manage. But, since Genevieve is busy managing the Regilian reconnaissance effort, could you teleport to Lition to bring Sable here?"

Pandora smiled thinly. "Anything for my daughter." She then stopped for a second. "But… there's one last thing I need to talk about since I'll need to go lie down for a bit soon."

Angira raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" She then looked at Culus, who promptly 'resumed' his paperwork. Of course, it wasn't much, just shuffling papers around while keeping his ears pricked.

"It's about Helios, Lady Angira," Pandora said. Culus didn't know why, but a small chill went down his spine at that moment. "I touched on Helios's mind with telepathy earlier today, and he seemed to be planning something risky. And, in his memories, he still seemed to be… attached… to Selene."

The room went silent. Culus's mind went blank for a split second. Helios… still?

Seriously?

… was the memory of brainwashing that strong? Was Thilia likewise affected? Or was it an aftereffect of the control Selene had exerted during the Twin Moon Ball?

After a second's pause, Angira sighed. "But he hasn't done anything yet, has he?"

"I'm… afraid not, ma'am."

"Then keep a sharp eye on him. If he begins to act oddly, tell me." Then Angira tutted. "Ah… but Ekib needs him."

"I don't think Ekib needs him immediately," Pandora interjected. "I remember him telling me about educating Helios first with textbooks he used in his youth. While I work to teach Sable how to teleport and heal the Eevee and Elgyem we captured, he can read next to me."

"If Ekib has no problem with it, then neither do I." Angira then crossed her arms. "But your illness… is it infectious, Pandora?"

Pandora shook her head. "I don't know the cause of my current unwellness. I've run diagnostics on myself, and I haven't read any pathogens. I'm going to wait it out, and if Sable and Helios turn out to develop this, we'll quarantine ourselves. Perhaps that would be for the best, considering their personalities."

"Then go and rest Pandora." Angira smiled. "It looks like you need it."

Pandora slowly got off her chair. "Don't worry, I… I think I'll recover soon," Pandora said. "Keep up your spirits, ma'am."

With that, Pandora teleported away. Then, Angira turned to him. "I know what fake work looks like, Culus."

Culus's cheeks colored, and he gave off a fake little cough. "Sorry. I've just been having a small headache today, and your conversation with Lady Pandora was more interesting than this." His head throbbed in agreement.

Angira frowned. "I do trust Pandora's diagnostic skills, but perhaps she's missed something," she said after a few seconds. "If you've been infected, please keep a clear distance from me so that I don't catch anything. Don't resume the paperwork either."

"Right…" Culus was fairly sure that he wasn't sick, but he didn't have any medical expertise to prove it. This was the first he even remembered being 'sick', so he didn't have anything to compare it to.

Angira took over and simply had him sit down while asking for some input now and again. This wasn't something that she used for her benefit, he guessed since the questions she asked were rather leading. It was more likely that their purpose was to get Culus thinking in the right ways.

They spent the next few hours that way. Occasionally, Angira would give him a harder problem than usual, and he'd pace around her office while trying to think of a good response. She seemed rather amused by it, but let him do so. He gave her satisfactory answers more often than not, and usually within the time limit, when she gave one.

Then, Angira put the books aside, and like always, he and Angira went to develop her ability to resist Stifling. This time, she was Stifling, and Culus was resisting. Before long, though, she got tired, so they switched roles, and Culus Stifled while she resisted. A simple training regimen, but it gave her time to recover and learn.

And yet, it felt like Angira had plateaued. While her growth, in the beginning, was slow - faster than Slate's, but everyone was faster than Slate considering he hadn't made any progress in a month - it had tapered off even more as she continued to develop it. She didn't seem particularly happy but continued trying.

After an hour or so of that, Culus went on his lunch break while Angira left for her office to continue listening to reports and filing paperwork - most of what she did, really, in an official capacity. His stomach gurgled with the repeated use of his Aspects. He'd woken up today starving - as much as if he'd used his power in his sleep - and scarfed a lot down, but right now, he was practically a vacuum with how quickly it entered his mouth.

As he ate, he heard the door to the cafeteria open and saw a familiar Drowzee walk in. He swallowed his current bite. "Hey, Sable."

She waved. "Hey."

He wiped his mouth with a rag next to the table, used for that very purpose. As he did so, Sable walked to the kitchen and grabbed some grub. "Heard that you learned to teleport."

She sat down next to him and popped a Pecha Berry into her mouth. "'Learned' is an overstatement. It's more like the teleportation 'happened'."

The corners of his mouth went up. "... huh. How did it 'happen'?"

Sable sat down. "... well… cabin fever, mostly," she said after a while. "Mom could bring me into a dream if I wanted to be somewhere other than stone corridors. I can't do that by myself yet, though."

"And that meant…"

"It meant that I felt the need to escape, much more than I ever had before. And that resulted in… well, teleportation. One second, I was getting up from the toilet, the next I was already in front of the bathroom door. I practiced teleporting to and from the bathroom, and that was easy, but when I tried to teleport into the living room… well, I thought about Lition itself, and I teleported into the main city instead."

Culus whistled. "How much trouble did you get into?"

"Not too much," Sable admitted. "According to Mom and Esmerel - she's a Gothitelle working at the Lition base - beginner teleporters often misjudge their position a lot. After lunch, we're going to start practicing measuring distance. She said that it wouldn't take too long to get a hang of it and that once I've mastered it, I can start helping out with transportation between the bases.

Culus frowned. "That sounds like it'll suck."

"Oh, definitely," Sable agreed. "But hey - I'll be able to teleport everywhere once I get a hang of it, so no more walking!" She then scooped up another spoonful. "So, what about you and Helios?"

"Well, I've just been working with Lady Angira on paperwork and stuff like that. I've also been teaching her to Stifle, and while she's not… great at it, she's a lot better than Slate."

Sable scoffed. "Everyone's better than Slate. All of the agents that we're teaching - Esmerel, a Primeape bastard called Hastor, and the Druddigon leader Wyvell - they suck too."

"How much?"

"Hastor's the most proficient, and Esmerel's the least proficient. That being said, Esmerel is a million times more pleasant to train." She shivered. "Honestly, I don't know how Kapun can handle it." A thought suddenly flashed in Sable's eye. "Hey, did you know that yesterday, he evolved - and then devolved?"

Culus smiled. "He finally figured out his talent?"

Sable nodded. "It's a little hard for him, but when he woke up today after sleeping for, like, seventeen hours, he was able to transform into a Zweilous and back - and he says that if he pushes real hard, he thinks he can turn into a Hydreigon."

Culus whistled even louder. "That's lucky," he said. "I wish I could be a Luxio." At that, something strange churned inside of him, but it faded after a few seconds. "I've been a Shinx for a while. Helios evolved before I did."

"You probably just need to push yourself a little harder," Sable said. "Speaking of Helios, I heard that he was brought back here for long-term punishment."

"Yep. He's working with Ekib."

"Then why don't we go visit him?"

Culus raised an eyebrow. "... why?"

"To laugh at his expense. Duh."

"... again, why?"

Sable groaned. "Ugh, you're no fun anymore."

Culus's gaze went flat. "I'm sorry, but I don't find my kicks from literally laughing at someone else's expense. I just like doing what I do, and Helios has been putting in the effort. Sure, he's not the brightest Charmeleon in the bunch, but I know that he doesn't deserve to be laughed at. Oh, sure, punished in ways he doesn't like, but-"

"I get it," Sable groaned again, a little louder this time. "Let's just go and say hi, then, and we can brag about our cool talents while he just… I don't know, cries while he reads."

"... okay, I'm cool with that."

They finished off their bowls of berries, and then they walked to Ekib's lab. Sable offered to teleport him there, but Culus didn't want to find half of him inside a wall and the other half sliding down that wall with a dark red smear mark trailing behind him - in case Sable messed up spectacularly.

As a result, despite Sable's groaning, they went the distance on foot. Soon, after a couple of minutes of walking, they arrived. They found Ekib sitting there, poking at the glittery metal flakes with his electrically-charged wires.

"Hey, Ekib," Culus greeted. "Do you want any more of them?"

Ekib turned to him, smiling. "Culus, thank you, but these seem to work fine. I'm just… stuck in a bit of a rut," he admitted. "So, how can I help you?"

"We just want to know where Helios is. We want to… talk with him." Sable crossed her arms. "Don't ask me what it'll be about."

Ekib raised an eyebrow. "... you've raised my curiosity, but I'm afraid I can't help you. Helios went to the bathroom four hours ago."

"... four hours?" Sable asked. "What kind of massive shi-"

"No," Culus interrupted. Pandora's words from earlier today floated to the forefront of his mind. "This… this isn't constipation." Helios wanted to do something risky… Angira and Pandora thought that he would have waited a while before enacting whatever reckless plan he wanted to pull off, and Pandora could stop him before he did so. But if he did it right away

… but what could Helios do under Selene's spell? Poison their food? Kill the Eevee and Elgyem? Those were bad, but they'd implicate him right away since Pandora could just read his mind again while he… remained in the base.

"Culus?" Sable asked. "You've spaced out."

"Sable, we have to go," Culus said, before turning away. "Where is the entrance to the base?"

"The… top of the base? The room above the sparring hall? I don't-"

Culus didn't wait for her to finish. He was already blurring off, using Quick Attacks to speed himself up as he ran through the base. He could only hope that his hunch was wrong. He would be happy if his hunch was wrong. He'd be ecstatic if his concern was just him being a worrywart, brought on by Angira warning him of all the possible worst-case scenarios.

He sped up to the top level, and then, remembering his overall spatial location, sped to where the sparring hall would be. The further he went, the more 'rugged' the rock looked as if the builder of the base didn't spend too much time worrying about the entrance people would only seldom use instead of teleportation.

He went there and looked outside. It looked like it had rained this morning or yesterday since the ground was damp and there was mud everywhere. And in the mud…

… were tracks. Tracks of a large pokemon with claws. The shape of the Pokemon… was a Charizard, Charmander, or Charmeleon.

"... C-Culus?!" Sable ran up next to him, huffing. "What the hell are you… " Her voice trailed off as she followed Culus's line of sight, to see the muddy tracks on the ground. "Whose are…"

"... I'm not entirely sure," Culus said. "But my instincts are screaming at me that they're Helios's."

"But why…?"

"Earlier today, your mother came to Lady Angira saying that she had scanned over Helios's mind earlier today and that Helios wanted to do something risky - that he was still affected by Selene's control over him."

"But then… why?"

"... he betrayed us." The words came out of his mouth slowly. They didn't feel 'right' for whatever reason, but it was the only logical conclusion that he could come to. He wanted to believe in Helios's character… but then, mind control didn't care about who you were, only what you could do. "Selene hypnotized him - through a memory, maybe? - and led him to escape. To tell all of Key's secrets to Chain."


Culus felt exhausted. After his revelation earlier today, Angira went apoplectic. Pandora's little break only lasted four hours, as she and Sable called in a Mightyena from a base in Hovete to come and track Helios.

As Pandora and Sable did that, he and Angira quickly made rounds on the base to determine if Helios stole anything, messed with anything, or sabotaged them in any way before escaping. The Eevee and Elgyem, still comatose in the medical wing, were completely fine, and Culus at least didn't see any items missing. Angira, though, was terrified of the possibility that Helios had snuck into her office and stolen any plans or documents she might have stored away.

It was only after the Mightyena returned unsuccessfully (Helios's scent had been washed away past a stream that the Mightyena figured he jumped into) and did a quick sniff check on Angira's office for any traces of Helios's scent that Angira accepted that, no, everything was where it was supposed to be. Helios had been around Angira's office, but he didn't go inside it at any time. Furthermore, the scent had been around seven hours old by the time the Mightyena got to sniffing Angira's room.

Since three hours had passed, by that point, since Culus had realized that Helios had gone missing, they figured that Helios must have been around at the time that Pandora was visiting - namely, Helios figured out that Pandora had cottoned on to his deception. At that point, Helios must have decided that it would be smarter to escape before Pandora found him out.

That, of course, didn't solve much. They still had no idea where Helios was now - the only saving grace was that Helios was days upon days away from any civilization. Then Sable oh so helpfully reminded them that Chain probably had teleporters by their side too, so they could pick Helios up from an agreed upon meeting point.

But that raised another problem - where would that meeting point be? More than that, when would they have set up the hypothetical meeting point?

Of course, when had Helios been hypnotized fully? Thilia hadn't reported anything mentally wrong with him during the time before he had met with Eve in the Moat - she also hadn't reported anything strange with Helios mentally after the meeting, and she had helped make sure that Helios hadn't left again in the night between the meeting and the time he was teleported back into the base.

Naturally, Thilia had to be brought in to be interrogated. Culus felt his stomach continue to tumble as he got ready to go to sleep. He was fairly certain they were going up the wrong tree at this point, but…

… Angira had suspected that the memory Thilia had extracted was one where Selene brainwashed Eve - brainwashing Thilia, and then Helios. Rowan and a Shifty called 'Media' inside Nucifera were safe since they were Dark-types, but the other two agents of Key in Nucifera weren't safe, so they had to be quarantined and have their minds scanned by Pandora to make sure that they hadn't been hypnotized by the memory either - and not only them but Slate as well, since he had no immunity either.

Angira and Pandora were still conducting the interrogations right now, trying to extrapolate information and figure out just what was going on. Meanwhile, other trackers from Key were being brought in - a Swellow to scan for Helios's footprints, and Pokemon that could cover a lot of space quickly. They still hadn't found anything either.

As for the interrogation of Thilia…

...

Culus couldn't see through to the other side of the wall. Thilia had been brought into the room, shaking and shivering, and yet Angira didn't seem to pay her any attention. She and Pandora had brought Thilia into the room for interrogation, leaving him and Sable on the other side to just… wait.

Culus turned to Sable, whose eyes were closed. "What do you think is-"

"Shh…" Sable shushed him immediately, putting a finger to his lips. "I'm trying to focus on what's happening in the room with psychic energy."

"... can I see too?" Culus asked after a second.

Sable paused for a second. "... fine. Don't ask me to do anything else."

She grabbed his paw, and Culus felt a foreign force enter his mind. He let Sable in, sharing his senses with her. Or, rather, she shared her senses with him. Using those senses, he felt the inside of the room.

"... two nights ago." Though Sable's senses couldn't go within Angira, her Dark typing acting as an insurmountable barrier, Angira's voice could be heard clearly. "You brought Helios back, after sharing possibly contaminated memories with him."

"I - I didn't…"

"If I remember correctly, the memories were strong enough to 'prove' that Selene was a mind controller. That she had mind controlled the Princess. You looked into those memories, and then shared them with someone who is known to be over-emotional."

"... I… " Thilia said, even more weakly.

Pandora then piped in. "If you have anything to say to help show your case, Thilia, we'll be happy to listen."

"... I… the memories do have an impact on the psyche, but not that much! For me, it faded away after a while! I promise!"

Angira snorted. "And Helios running away from headquarters? Betraying us for no reason?

"I don't know!" Thilia cried. Culus felt emotions bubble over from Sable next to her - rage and anger. "I just wanted to show Helios what I found in Eve's mind! I didn't do anything!"

"But, in the time that you spent by Helios's side from that meeting until I teleported him here," Pandora continued. "You felt nothing amiss? Nothing that would cause him to betray us?"

"I didn't feel anything!"

There was a pause.

"If you let us into your mind," Pandora said gently. "We'll be able to know the truth."

"No, don't," Angira interrupted. "If that memory contaminates you as well, causes you to betray us, we'll lose one of Key's stronger assets."

"Angira, I would never betray Key."

"I know, Pandora, but caution is of the essence." Then the silhouetted blob (to Sable's senses) that was Angira slammed the wall with a fist, causing it to shake. "If you have loyalty to Key, Thilia, you will tell us the truth."

"I… I'm trying…"

"You" Angira seethed.

"She may be telling the truth," Pandora interrupted. "But we need a better way to verify this, Lady Angira, than grilling her until she confesses to something she makes up for you to let her go."

"Pandora, I won't-"

"Tonight," Pandora then said. "I'll bring you both into my dreams. From there, we can go to Thilia's dreams. Angira, you will be mostly immune to any mind control - but to be safe, we'll go into the areas of her memories that aren't copied from the Princess, to minimize any chance whatsoever of accidental mind pollution."

"... very well," Angira then said. "Do you accept, Thilia?"

"... o… okay…"

The door opened, and Pandora walked out. Sable let go of Culus, bringing his senses back to normal.

"I felt you two trying to sense us," Pandora said, voice not amused. "Be thankful that Angira couldn't feel you, or you would be in a lot of trouble."

Sable scowled. "You'd better treat her well."

"Everything will be over by tomorrow. You can't go in, yet, though - if Thilia spreads a contaminated memory to you by force, you'll be forced to stay inside with her. Since we won't be able to tell if she does that or not, we'll have to do it anyway." Pandora then took her pendulum and polished it a bit. "But I can tell her a message if you want me to, dear."

"Fine, Mom," Sable said, crossing her arms. "Tell her that Culus and I - we're on her side, no matter what."

"... very well. I expect you to continue practicing your teleportation - with your rate of growth, I'm sure you can master coordinate teleportation by tomorrow." Pandora then teleported away.

"... sorry for presuming that-"

"No, you were right," Culus said. "I've decided to stay on Thilia's side - unless she's been completely mind controlled, in which case we'll have to find some sort of cure."

"... right." Sable turned to him, a thin smile on her face. "Thanks."

...

Angira was busy keeping watching over Thilia while Pandora went to tend to her patients. Culus had nothing to do but try to help Ekib - an exercise in futility - and practice his Aspects. The headache he kept feeling only just grew and grew, though, so eventually, he decided to call it an early night and hit the hay - and after the discovery of Helios fleeing the base, the subsequent searches and then interrogations, and the innate fear of betrayal that had enveloped the entire base, Culus just felt tired.

But, as he lay in his bed, waiting for sleep to take him, he couldn't help but think that somehow, Angira and Pandora were ridiculously off-the-mark. He'd know if they were soon enough, but still… everything wasn't 'clicking' in a satisfactory way.

With an awful feeling of lead in his heart, Culus closed his eyes.

And in time, dreams came to him.

...

"The deposit of spatial ore consists of roughly two tons. Aluminum is in seventy tons, tin in eighty-two tons…"

Culus stood next to Master Phosophor, rattling off the list of components for the neural alloy. Phosophor just sat there, listening patiently.

"... and thirteen tons of platinum," Culus finished.

Master Phosophor hummed. "So we'll be able to create approximately how many Collars?"

"With the current likelihood of success of 59%? Roughly 1420, sir."

"Not enough to keep watch over every major city," Master Phosophor said. "With a 100% chance of success?"

"2406 collars…"

"... possible, but possible isn't good enough," Master Phosophor said. "And even then, you all stick out like a sore thumb."

"Sir, if I could remove this and continue to serve, I would."

"Don't give me pointless hypotheticals, Culus," Master Phosophor snapped. "Where is Negisa?"

"She's still measuring the deposit of spatial ore under the Anisundial."

"... " Master Phosophor then sighed. "I suppose that Parasel's idea has merit after all."

"... if you may pardon my asking, sir, what is Master Parasel's idea?"

"To break down the Collar and make it hyper-efficient, as well as better hidden in the body. Reporting Mode, Logic Mode, and Attack Mode are all so… wasteful. It will likely raise the chances of success, too."

"How long will that take, sir?"

"Parasel's already made it past the preliminary stages. He says that he has yet to get to the hard part, but projects success in seven-and-a-half months."

"How wonderful!"

Master Phosophor simply turned to the Collared miners, breaking away at the spatial ore at high speed. Culus felt a pang of longing - if only there was a way he could help Master Phosophor more than he was able to right now!

But then, he had to be available at all times for any orders Master Phosophor was willing to give. As Master Phosophor's servant, it was his reason for existence to take care of the Master in whatever capacity he could. He would stop at nothing for Master Phosophor.

"Culus?" Master Phosophor's call brought him to attention.

"Yes, sir?"

"If you're going to space out, try to think of names for this facility?"

"... sir?"

Master Phosophor's voice grew flat. "I don't want to devote any brainpower toward naming this place, and neither do any of my brothers nor do Diane and her sisters. Come up with ten candidate names by tomorrow, and I'll choose from them."

"Of course, sir!"

As Culus lay in his cramped bed, his scaly tail curled next to him, he thought about the events of the day. He wished that Master Phosophor would order him to have a good night's rest - then, he'd be awake bright and early the next morning, ready to enact whatever tasks Master Phosophor would like him to perform.

But that wasn't fair, he quickly scolded himself. Master Phosophor was busy - he didn't have the time to do silly things like order his servants good night. Master Phosophor trusted that Culus would do the job, and Culus would perform the job.

But then, Master Phosophor also ordered him to think up names for this new facility. They had facilities in Regilia, Illusuria, and even in some Eilkan countries as well! Those were named by Senior Collared Negisa and Master Phosophor's adopted daughters, the Diane Epsilon Fusion.

Culus temporarily lost himself in the memory of the one time he got to hear one of Diane's songs. It had been a beautiful, enrapturing melody, but it had also been a test from Master Phosophor to see if Collared had any resistance to the power of the Epsilon Fusion. One that Culus had failed.

Culus took only a moment to curse the inferior Venitex craftsmen that had created the collar that lay around his neck. Perhaps, if they were more competent and better at keeping records of the process for creating Collars, Master Phosophor's success rate with creating the Collars would be higher, and Collared just like him would be able to do things better at Master Phosophor and his brothers' whims.

There was no point in cursing the long dead, though - especially those dead for centuries. Culus could only push through his tasks with everything he had. If he failed, Master Phosophor would simply kill him and use his new systems to reactivate the Collar later. If Culus wanted to live - because of course, he did - he needed to excel!

Okay, okay… names for this new mining and research facility. Phosophis! That was… something. Something to put in the back of his mind, to be used if nothing else worked. How about… Jillain?

As the minutes ticked by and Culus thought of interesting-sounding names for the new facility, he found his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Pushing his head like this, exhausting his creative potential, was more tiring than he would usually give it credit for.

At last, he came up with nine names, even throwing out Phosophis (it was too close to Phosophor, and Master Phosophor wasn't vain enough to like that sort of simpering idea). But, his head drowsed, and he was this close to falling asleep.

One last name… one last name…

Cognes… it was… Cognes…

Culus fell asleep.

...

Culus's eyes snapped open. It was only a few seconds later that he was able to separate his identity in the dream from his identity in reality.

"H…Holy…"

Everything had felt so… so real. He'd only ever seen Maste- Phosophor, as a drawing from the mission briefing that Angira had given them weeks ago. But in his dream, it had come to life with so much detail.

And the things that he had seen - the research facility (Cognes, his mind supplied), the strange black mutant… who… felt familiar, in a way that he couldn't describe… everything.

And then was the 'spatial stone' and the 'neural alloy' - he could still remember the component materials for the alloy as well. Each element, even in the exact amount needed.

His stomach gurgled, and Culus shook his head. That had just been a dream. Nothing more. Time to get breakfast and find out the result of the interrogation.

As he arrived in the cafeteria, he found Thilia there, eating food. Or just looking at it. He had to be inside her sensory range, and yet she didn't seem to acknowledge him. Instead, she was staring blankly at her food. Every fifteen seconds or so, a spoon would float a bit up to her, feeding her, but she didn't seem to enjoy it.

Culus walked in, and Thilia nearly jumped. "C-Culus!"

"How's it going?" Culus asked. "They found you innocent?"

Thilia broke out into a smile. "Yeah! My memories were just the way they were supposed to be! Pandora even suggested that since my memories were fine, and that my mind didn't seem contaminated, they could check out the memory from Eve!"

"Did they?"

Thilia's smile grew a bit bitter. "... yeah. And it confirmed that I didn't do… anything wrong."

Culus pursed his lips. Alright - now was the time to practice empathy. "You okay, Thilia?"

Immediately, Thilia's smile was on full blast again. "Yeah, I'm okay! Why would anything be not okay?!" She got up. "I'll get you some berries! Let's - let's check out Ekib's lab and see what he's up to!"

A couple of berries floated up from the kitchen and plopped themselves directly in front of Culus. Culus, looking at Thilia and seeing an expectant look, reluctantly ate them. They satisfied his hunger, at the very least.

After he ate, the two of them walked to Ekib's lab. As they walked, Thilia explained what happened after she woke up earlier.

"... so then, Angira was like, 'I'm sorry that you had to go through this', and I was like, 'There's no problem you just… did what had to be done!'" Thilia paused after saying that statement. "Everything's just… normal, now, and we'll all be going to Nucifera in a day or two."

"Who's in Nucifera right now?"

"Just Rowan and Media." The two Dark Pokemon. "Lady Pandora is scanning their minds too right now - just in case they were secretly affected by the same thing Helios was. I don't think anything is going to go wrong, though, and they'll be coming back there with me!"

"... right." Culus paused. "You know, it sounds like something is wrong with-"

"There's nothing wrong," Thilia interrupted, her cheer even louder now. "Give me a day, and I'll be fine!"

"... fine." Culus decided to let it go. "Where's Sable?"

"She's practicing her hypnosis. She's just about got the hang of coordinate teleportation."

"Which is?"

"You use landmarks and maps to figure out where to teleport to. It's for going to new places without having to go there in person. I think teleporters also use it to go to places that you haven't been for a long time."

Another convenience. Not for the last time did Culus wish that he had access to psychic powers and the raw utility of what they could do. Creation was powerful, and he used it as best as he could, but he could just imagine everything he could pull off if he could both create and teleport.

Semi-remote bombing in people's sleep, anyone?

At that point, they arrived at Ekib's lab. Ekib was standing in the same place as he was last night, crouched over the metal flakes that Culus had created for him a few days ago. He looked just as frustrated as before.

"No progress?" Culus asked as Thilia went over to look at Ekib's other inventions.

"None," Ekib said, crossing his arms as he poked at the flakes with his wires. "They react, and when they react, they synchronize… but I can't think of how to use this. I need a Shadow Worker to experiment on… I think. Probably."

Culus figured that there was no way in hell for Ekib to manage to get a Shadow Worker. It's not like having a Shadow Worker would help… well, it would, since Slate could sense Shadow Workers, likely using those particles in his bloodstream.

So, those particles could help sense Shadow Workers… but how? What was it sensing? How were Shadow Workers fundamentally different from normal people?

"... if you may pardon my asking, sir, what is Master Parasel's idea?"

"To break down the Collar and make it hyper-efficient, as well as better hidden in the body. Reporting Mode, Logic Mode, and Attack Mode are all so… wasteful. It will likely raise the chances of success, too."

As that dream floated back into Culus's attention, he considered it a bit. Didn't people work on problems in their sleep? If so…

… could the collar be hidden inside the body? Was that the main difference between Shadow Workers and Collared? An incision could be healed away, leaving them hard to tell apart - but no, there would be a collar-sized object in the body. Surely, it would be noticed.

But… if it was changed entirely, to make it more efficient, it didn't have to be shaped or sized like a collar. What these particles could sense have any size or shape.

So what could it be…

Culus watched, a little horrified, as the color of Kiriku's cadaver turned jet-black, before slowly losing its form. Half a minute later, his corpse was nothing but a puddle of inky ooze, leaving only a blinking double-terminated crystal the size of Culus's old paw left.

"Wh… what the… " Culus whispered.

Brimu walked forward through the ooze before grabbing the crystal. "Insurance."

That memory floated back up to Culus's mind. Something he almost entirely forgot about. The 'insurance' bomb… Thilia's aunt Brimu had taken in with her after Helios had killed the Bisharp. Culus thought that she took it so that he wouldn't have a weapon…

… but then, she thought that he would be recaptured. And if he wanted to even try to use it as a weapon, he wouldn't be able to, since it would blow up before he could get away.

More importantly… it was a crystal that both the Bisharp and Brimu had inside them, according to Brimu. That every Shadow Worker had inside them.

It was a crazy thought, but…

"... Ekib," Culus began again. "I want to try making something again. Something incredibly expensive. I need food."

Ekib turned to look at him, surprised, before shaking his head. "I can't let you do that, Culus. You drained yourself just making the collar a few days ago - and I'm thankful, but if you…"

"If I'm correct, if I manage this, it'll fix most of your problems. I'll try to make it small - and the collar didn't kill me, so this won't either," Culus promised. "But I want to fuel up beforehand, just in case."

"... " Ekib said nothing.

"Right now, we need to get working on the sensor," Culus said. "It's a feeling, but I think we'll need to be able to tell Shadow Workers apart from normal people as soon as possible. If that's the case, I'm willing to…"

"... make it as small as possible," Ekib said, before sighing. "Lady Angira's going to have my head for this, but I can't think of another way forward."

Culus nodded. Ekib then shoved two pounds of dried food at him, and Culus scarfed it down as quickly as possible before he lost his nerve. Thilia walked over, having stopped playing with Ekib's invention in the room.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Thilia, I need you to be quiet," Ekib said, to Thilia's confusion as Culus finished Ekib's stored food. His stomach felt completely bloated as he had eaten way more than he should have the capacity for, but as he started digesting it, he'd need it all. "Culus, what will you try to make?"

"... what I think is the Shadow Workers' version of the collar," he said. "Because, if we assume that they work off similar technology, then there's something I've seen before that might be it."

"What do you-" Thilia began to ask, only to stay silent as Ekib shushed her.

Culus closed his eyes and collected what remained of his nerves. While creating things was always a risk, creating things he knew very little about was even more of a risk. After all, if he created something out of his limits, he would court death. And Culus had courted death many, many times.

But Culus knew of ways to minimize the risk. Remembering the rules of his power - knowledge of the object, the complexity of the object, the size of the object, etc. - he could minimize the cost. Since he could create things he knew very little about at a greater cost, if he knew what was in the special crystal, he could help reduce its overall cost on him.

If he went with the assumption that it was made like the Collar was… but then, he didn't know what was in the collar…

… or… there was the smallest of chances, but if his unconscious mind was as intelligent as he now suspected it was.

"Before I make it," Culus announced. "I'll try to make more flakes. Okay?"

Ekib quickly nodded. "Go for it. I could always use more of them."

Culus closed his eyes and remembered the dream - it was especially vivid now that he was thinking about it. Each metal that he had reported to Mas- Phosophor about… the proportion of materials in the 'neural alloy'...

… he created…

He put a sizable amount of power into it - about as much as he used for making the particles two days ago when Helios came over and asked for him. If his idea was incorrect, the pile would be the same size as before, if not smaller from the inefficiency. If it was correct, it would be more efficient, and he would be able to create more.

He opened his eyes to see the pile - almost double the size of what he had created yesterday, in a single go. And he didn't even feel particularly hungry - his stomach was considerably less bloated, too. The pile was small, but it was bigger than it was before. An improvement.

"Culus, thank you, but that much is-"

"It wasn't that hard," Culus immediately said, to Ekib and Thilia's gasps. "And I'm ready."

His dream had notes of truth in it. It couldn't have been real, just like the rest of his recent dreams, because he wasn't a Shinx in them, but if his mind was thinking about the problems and offering correct ideas…

… okay. The collar was made of the neural alloy (which he now knew the overall composition of) and a 'spatial stone'. That would probably be taxing…

… he cast his mind back to the memory inside Fylak and tried to remember as much of the crystalline device. It had the special gemstone and neural alloy… it could rotate like a puzzle cube, so that was probably on a joint… it had a bomb inside it, but he could remove it if he mentally avoided thinking of the 'bomb' when making the crystalline-device, and it would be less taxing since he would be creating less (not to mention safer).

… that would have to do. He'd make it small - as large as the collar he made a few days ago, if not smaller. That would reduce the difficulty, the efficiency, and the cost for him. He closed his eyes.

Once again, he created.

A second later, he opened his eyes to see the tiny crystalline device on the ground in front of him. Now, he definitely felt hungry but not debilitatingly so.

More than that, he looked at Ekib and Thilia, both of whom just looked confused.

"What… is that?" Thila asked, walking up to it and poking it hesitantly. "Is it safe to touch?"

"... probably," Culus admitted. "I removed the bomb inside of it, if there was one, so it's safe to touch."

"The bomb?" Ekib asked sharply.

Culus sighed. "Well, let's try something out. Thilia, Ekib, keep an eye on the flakes." Putting a claw on the crystal, he let electricity flow into it. As he did, an eye slipped over to the flakes.

Immediately, the flakes lit up, just as brightly as when Ekib touched them with an electrically-covered wire. Ekib's eyebrows immediately raised, and he twisted to look at him. "Culus, what is that?!"

"... the Shadow Workers' equivalent of a collar," Culus said, somewhat confident.

Thilia's mouth dropped, and Ekib's eyes glazed over in shock for a second. "... are you sure?" Ekib asked.

Culus nodded. "I'm fairly sure." Culus prepared to explain his thought process. "I figured that the collars and the Shadow Workers' control were based on the same kind of control." He figured that out in his dream. "And if they are based on the same type of control, then the Shadow Workers had to have some kind of collar-equivalent. When Helios killed the Shadow Worker Bisharp in Fylak, everything melted away - except for this thing." He then pointed to the crystalline-device, before continuing.

"Thilia's Aunt Brimu told me that it was a bomb, something strong enough to kill anyone who killed a Shadow Worker." The more he thought about it, the more stupid it sounded. Chain had wanted to keep quiet, and it wasn't like Shadow Workers couldn't die randomly. Having a Shadow Worker that died by happenstance explode right after could blow their cover completely, or at the very least cause people to investigate things like, 'Why was there an explosion just now?'. "I'm thinking that it was a lie and that it's, in reality, the collar-equivalent."

"... so you tried making it," Ekib then continued. "And then you tested if it was the thing causing the particles to activate?"

"Yep," Culus said. "And it worked, didn't it?"

"... " Ekib turned to the crystalline-device, before picking it up with his wires and shocking it. The particles, once more, lit up. "... so this is the cause of our nightmare, huh?"

Culus nodded. "That about sums it up."

Ekib looked at it. "... once I think of some more tests," he said eventually. "I think we'll make some real progress. Namely, figuring out how exactly this thing controls people."

Thilia then piped up. "Are you sure that's what Slate is sensing, though? I mean, what if those things lighting up means something else?"

Culus opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but Ekib interrupted him. "She's right, we aren't completely sure of the connection. It would be smart to test it."

"... Slate is here," Culus acquiesced. "Let's go test it out."

A few minutes later, they had finished walking to the door holding Slate and the other Nucifera agents. According to Thilia, Lady Pandora wasn't here right now, so she was probably working on the two captives they brought with them before checking their minds. Whatever the reason, it gave them time for the impromptu experiment. Ekib put the crystalline device into his mouth, and when Culus purposefully swayed his tail inside the room, he would activate the device.

Then, Thalia would check Slate's emotions with her empathic sense, and if they triggered when Ekib activated it, they would know that their experiment was a success. When Thilia asked why they were going through all of the effort to do all this, Culus said that he didn't want Slate's preconceptions to interfere with the little 'experiment'.

They walked inside. Slate was sitting down, looking bored out of his mind. When the three of them walked in, though, he got up.

"Can I go out now?" he asked. "I want to help join the search parties-"

"You probably won't be able to do that," Culus interrupted. "You need to help with the effort a bit more."

"But Helios is in danger!" Slate said, his claws curling into his fists. He and Culus stared each other down. "He's the whole reason I'm here. His safety is what's important, not what I can do for Key."

Culus opened his mouth to argue, then remembered this wasn't why they were here. Instead, he swayed his tail.

Ekib didn't visibly change, but he held his mouth shut tight. Slate blinked wildly, then his eyes narrowed for a split second before returning to their normal state.

'He felt a sudden burst of trust,' Thilia reported. 'Then suspicion, and then… well, he stopped suspecting. I don't know what he was thinking exactly, but he reacted.'

Then that was enough of a confirmation for him. "Thanks, Slate," Culus said. "Just hang tight. I'm sure that they'll let you out once Pandora takes a look at you."

"... okay?" Slate asked, now more confused than anything.

Before Slate could say anything else, the three of them left, and Ekib spat out the device. "So it worked?"

"Yep." Since Slate could sense Shadow Workers, he could sense the device. Although… why was the instinctual reaction 'trust'? And why didn't Slate say anything?

No… why the hell was Slate able to sense Shadow Workers? Culus hadn't given it too much thought before, but it wasn't a talent from the Aspects, since it probably originated from the flakes in the blood. It could have been genetic…

".. Mica is Slate's mother, right?" Culus asked, remembering the Garchomp from earlier in the month. With everyone else on missions, she didn't have any reason to stay at the main base and instead helped out at different bases. "Did you take a sample from her?"

Ekib blinked. "She's his mother?"

So Ekib didn't take samples from her. But then, if she could sense Shadow Workers, wouldn't she have mentioned it before? She had to have come into contact with Shadow Workers at some point, right?

Maybe it wasn't genetic? But if so, then what was it? Did it have anything to do with Slate being unable to develop the Aspects (because if everyone but Slate could make progress after all this time, in much shorter periods, then it was likely that Slate could never develop Aspects)?

What was he missing? The answer felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't quite reach it. He felt certain that he had all the pieces to figure out what was up with Slate, that he just had to connect the right dots. If only he-

"Culus?" Thalia interrupted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm feeling fine." He turned to Ekib. "Go do some tests on it, and try to make the sensor. Maybe try forging the flakes into a single ingot to see if it still reacts."

Ekib shrugged. "Sure thing." He then looked at the two of them. "You two should report to Lady Angira about this - she needs to know something this important. And I feel like you understand the situation better than I do at this point, Culus."

"... L… Lady Angira?" Thilia asked, clear hesitance in her voice.

Culus turned away from Thilia. "If you aren't feeling comfortable, then don't bother yourself with coming. I don't need you to report this."

"N-No, I'll come." She smiled. "I mean, there's nothing wrong, after all."

Culus could tell a lie when he saw one. But Thalia didn't seem ready to talk about it, so, thinking about what a reasonable person would do, he decided to leave it aside for now. "If you're sure, then let's go."

The two of them said their farewell to Ekib before heading toward Angira's office. The closer they got, the more Culus could tell that Thilia was getting nervous - she seemed to be shaking, specifically when she thought he wasn't looking (but his whiskers were sensitive enough to notice anyway), and the idle chatter held a hint nervousness that he could tell she was trying not to betray.

At that point, they arrived outside Angira's office. Culus then decided to make sure she was committed. He turned to her. "Thilia, I get it if you don't want to be here right now. You can-"

"I'm fine!" she interrupted, the bright, bright smile plastering itself back on her face. "Really!"

'Thilia," Culus repeated. "Please, stop. I can tell that you are very much not fine"

Thilia's smile remained… and then, the corners lowered a bit. They kept lowering until she stopped. Until she was wearing what Culus thought was a more suitable expression - just… sadness. "... it was terrifying," she said, a little slowly. "I've been getting ready for Shadow Workers for a long time now… I… I wasn't ready for her, though."

Culus wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how. An instinct told him to lick her, but he figured that probably wasn't the best idea. Instead, he decided something else.

"Thilia, stay in here," Culus said. "If you're not ready, you shouldn't go in."

"N-No," Thilia stammered, shaking her head. "Even if I'm afraid… I have to go in with you. She's still my boss, and I can't just run away."

"Thili-"

Her voice hardened. "That's final," she said. "I'm coming with you."

A second later, psychic powers opened the door for the two of them. Then, almost ignoring him. Thilia walked inside. Culus wasted no time in following her.

Angira's desk was still as cluttered as it was from yesterday. All of the previous tidiness had been thrown away instead of a frantic search for whatever Helios might or might not have taken. Angira hadn't taken any steps to clean it, though, and sat at her desk, staring into nothingness.

"... Lady Angira?" Culus asked.

Angira looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot. They flickered over to Thilia for a split second, before coming back to Culus. "What do you want?"

"I have to tell you something, but before that - tell me what you were thinking when you interrogated Thilia. You always try to make sure that I understand that we should be cautious - what part of this was cautious?"

" ... tell me, Culus. Tell me what you would have done better?"

Culus blinked. "What does that-"

"I simply want to make sure," she said. "That I'm not dealing with a hypocrite. That I know what you would have done."

Culus found himself tongue-tied. With effort, he freed it. "By looking for Helios, you made the right call." His speech was slower, as he reasoned through what he was saying as he was saying it. "We need to find him - even if he chose on his own, he's in danger, and Chain can mind-control him to find our secrets if he's caught."

Angira said nothing.

"As for Thilia… you didn't have to be so rude to her in the interrogation chambers."

"You eavesdropped." Angira's voice was stone-cold.

"... uh, yeah," Culus nodded. "And, well… you could have…"

"'Believed her'?" Angira's words echoed Culus's thoughts. "If she truly was taken in by Selene's mind control-"

"You didn't have any reason to b-"

Angira's eyes flashed. "I had every reason to believe that she had been taken in by Selene's mind control. By her admission, she had access to the same memory that Helios did. If that memory is what caused Helios to defect-"

"You don't even know that!" Culus accused. "You did everything based on wild speculation! What if Helios is just dumb?!"

"I couldn't take the risk, Culus! Think about it in terms of a virus - if the memory truly was that dangerous, then every person that opened their mind up to Thilia would be in just as much danger of being sabotaged, of becoming a traitor! Imagine if someone like Sable or Pandora were to try and sabotage Key, by being a traitor! Just imagine everything that could go wrong!"

Culus said nothing.

"I thought you were less arrogant, less risky than this…" Then Angira paused. "... no. No, I didn't. It was too much to expect of you, wasn't it? A month wasn't enough time to develop the right mindset - I'd only thought it applied to yourself, but when it comes to people you're close to… you lose your sense of logic entirely."

Culus growled a little. "You didn't have to terrify her, though." He'd lost the battle on the overall goal of the interrogation - Thilia had been someone to investigate, considering everything that had gone on with Helios after his return from Nucifera. But how Angira did it…

"..." Angira sat back, before leaning back on her chair. "I'm not perfect," Angira said after a few seconds. "You saw how I was yesterday, correct? After Helios left and everything was thrown into the air? I wasn't in the most… personable of moods. And I could hardly trust anyone else for such an important interrogation, could I? Everything else… was my nerves overwhelming me when I couldn't afford to pay attention to them, to maintain my calm in this emergency."

Angira then sighed. "Yes, Culus. I could have managed this better. I lost my calm when I shouldn't have. Pandora should have conducted the interrogation alone - I didn't trust her enough, though."

"... I'm sorry I even looked at that memory." Culus turned to see Thilia trying to burrow herself in the corner as much as possible. "And… I should have let Pandora-"

"It wouldn't have helped that much," Angira interrupted. "I would still interrogate you since you were the psychic closest to Helios before he came back. And since Pandora could have been at risk of becoming contaminated, I wouldn't allow it anyway - not without being in your mind myself." She sighed. "Thilia, you performed as admirably as possible. I can't tell you the sorrow I feel for what I had to make you go through."

But she didn't regret her decisions, Culus still realized. Even though the results were worse than if she hadn't done it at all, she still felt that her decisions were necessary.

Culus then took a look at Angira's eyes. Her bloodshot eyes. She hadn't taken Helios's departure well, had she? Culus wondered why Key didn't have safer defenses against traitors leaving through the front door - and then he realized that if they were found, they'd have already lost against Chain in their only real defense against the self-altering minds of the Shadow Workers, a perfect mental defense.

His collar… it had left him completely unable to even think the way he wanted to. It controlled his thoughts, and could probably sense telepathy. It ensured that he couldn't tell people, even through his idle musings, that he had been relatively innocent. Shadow Workers could get through every screening process imaginable - at least, before Slate and the flakes came around.

The only real defense they had against infiltration was the fact that Chain knew nothing about them. If they found the opening to the base, they won. If there was a traitor in the organization… well, a traitor would be able to pass on information, so they would have lost anyway. Considering how the opening to the base was well hidden, a lock was superfluous, especially when dealing with Chain's teleporters. Putting up a sentry would be a waste of time and manpower.

The only reason he could think of a traitor leaving through the front door was if they were absolutely stupid. Like Helios.

But it happened. And Angira put the blame and stress on herself for not being vigilant enough.

"It… I'm fine." Thilia was fine, and Angira looked about as convinced as Culus had been. "Just… I can't go back to work right now."

"... I'm afraid I can't let that happen. Only a day or two of break," Angira said.

Was she serious? She wanted Thilia to go back to work?!

"Please understand, Thilia, that with the current crisis, we'll need all hands available. You're needed as much as everyone else is." She then paused. "If you want, I can put you to work here, though. With Helios gone, Ekib and Pandora will need all the help they can get."

"Th… that's fine," Thilia said.

"It shouldn't be, but the situation demands it, unfortunately." Angira looked down. "If I had a better option, I would have taken it, but this is the only one that gives us the best shot. Once Ekib manages to develop a sensor for the Shadow Workers and can offer some protection against Selene's power, we can relax a little bit, and you can take as long a break as you feel necessary."

Thilia slowly nodded. "Okay."

Culus wasn't too happy about this - with Kapun in Pinnaleis, he had figured that Kapun had thrown himself into a ditch, and that tough love was the best way to get him out. Same with Rowan, back when he was 'Runt'. He didn't have too much problem with other people's discomfort. But Thilia didn't deserve this in the least, and he wasn't… well, he wasn't that bad.

He took a breath. As long as Thilia was okay with it - really okay - then he wouldn't raise any more of a fuss. "About that - he's made some breakthroughs."

Angira's gaze snapped to him. "Breakthroughs?" she asked. There was a strong emotion hidden in her voice (Desperation? Hope?) that he couldn't perfectly place. "What, exactly, have you figured out?"

"..." Culus decided to tell the whole truth. "Last night, I had a… peculiar dream."

Thilia looked at him oddly, but Angira didn't react. "What happened?"

"In it, I was still a Collared, but… I was different. A different species entirely. And… I was one of Phosophor's personal Collared. A secretarial Collared, kind of."

Angira raised an eyebrow. "I… see."

"In the dream, we were overseeing the construction of a facility. I told Phosophor about the size of various deposits of metals and a special gemstone called 'spatial stone', as well as different metals. We then discussed how many Collars it could create, and the number - around 2400, if I remember correctly - wasn't enough for what he wanted. So he told me that Parasel was planning to make the Collars more efficient, able to hide in the body, and raise the success rate of making the Collars."

Thilia blinked. She had probably caught on. Angira, though, still looked bemused. "And?"

"And then he asked me to name the facility, and the last one I thought of was… Cognes."

Angira's eyes flashed. "... I still fail to see what that has to do with a breakthrough."

"Well, after I woke up from the dream today, I went to have breakfast and talked to Thilia, and then we went to visit Ekib's lab to see how he was doing. He was having trouble, and I knew that I could be helpful, so I tried to think of ways to be helpful. Ekib wanted a Shadow Worker to sense-"

"He wanted what?!"

Oh, right, he probably shouldn't have mentioned that. "It's something that doesn't matter anymore. He just wanted to find something that he could test any sensors on, to make sure that he doesn't get any false negatives on whatever sensor he gets."

Angira nodded. "I understand, but he has to know that we can't get a Shadow Worker to test on."

"That's what we both figured," Culus agreed. "But then I started wondering, what makes a Shadow Worker different from a Collared or a normal person? What was Slate sensing? And then I remembered my dream…"

"... the miniaturized Collar?" Angira asked. "That was a dream, Culus."

"I know, but… well, people work on problems in their dreams, don't they? Anyway, it was a fair assumption to make some logic off of. I also remembered seeing this crystalline device inside Fylak, when Helios killed a Shadow Worker Bisharp - the Bisharp, once Helios killed him, turned into black goop, leaving behind a crystal. Brimu took it, saying that it was explosive."

Next to him, Thilia stared at him.

"I didn't question it until earlier today - what that thing was. She said that every Shadow Worker had it. Something small, with a crystal and metal inside it, inside every Shadow Worker. And when the Bisharp dissolved, nothing was left but that crystal. It was the best candidate."

Angira said nothing.

"So… I wanted to create it. But I didn't want to do something that dangerous based on nothing but a dream. I wanted to see if my dreaming self's mind was logical. Inside the dream, Phosophor talked about 'neural alloy', and I remember the components of the metal for that alloy. So, before I made the device, I went to see if I could make what's inside Slate's blood using the elements."

"... the result?"

"Complete success, easier than ever." Culus smiled thinly. "Those things inside Slate's blood, what allows him to sense Shadow Workers - they're made of that neural alloy. I don't know if it's just the alloy, or if the alloy needs a special construction to be made into flakes, but I'll tell Ekib the 'recipe' soon."

"... and the device?" Angira asked. "Which I assume you made afterward."

"Yep. And… again, a complete success. I made sure to specifically exclude any bombs in the creation, only keeping the 'spatial stone' and 'neural alloy'. We made the crystal device, and after running electricity through it, it activated the particles we found in Slate's blood. We even went to Slate himself, just to see if activating it secretly would make him react, and… well, it did."

He then drew breath. "And then we came here."

Angira said nothing for a few more seconds. "... would you be willing to testify in Reporting Mode, Culus?"

"Of course."

Culus waited for a response. Eventually, Angira just sighed. "Can you create the device for me, right here, right now?"

"... uh… sure?"

Culus had some stamina left, so he went and created another of those crystalline devices. It shimmered into existence, and Angira then took it from him.

She then stared at it for a few more seconds. "... consider the both of yourselves forgiven," she said. "For any wrongdoings that you might have done. This is… invaluable, Culus." She then flashed a look at him. "But… that dream you had…"

"What about it?"

"What else do you remember?"

Culus took a few minutes to recount as much as he could from the dream - Phosophor's appearance, in as much detail as he could, the names of the facilities, the Pokemon he remembered in the mines, the names he created, the Anisundial and Negisa, and… whatever Diane was.

As he spoke, Angira's eyes just grew darker and darker. It was only when he mentioned the Venitex did she truly react.

"The Venitex, you said?" she asked.

"... uh, yeah?" He hadn't cared too much. "What about-"

Angira walked to a corner of her room - where a small bookshelf stood. He'd gone there once before, and it was full of reference materials, like history books and the like. Angira took one of the books and flipped through it, before landing on a page and just looking at it.

She then closed the book. "Culus, do you remember the location of the Cognes Research Facility?"

"I… vaguely. I couldn't tell you the precise location in coordinates, but I have a sense of where it is."

"... that'll be good enough." Angira's eyes flickered over to Thilia. "Bring Sable here. The experience will be good for her, and Genevieve will need the psychic power."

Both he and Thilia cottoned on to Angira's idea - to teleport into Cognes directly. Probably, with Genevieve teleporting them. "Didn't you say not to do anything this risky?" Culus asked, considering how she just admonished him over it.

Angira didn't listen, though - instead, she went over to a communication terminal and messaged Genevieve to come. As she did, Thilia left - probably to do what Angira just said.

"Lady-"

"I heard you, Culus," Angira interrupted. "And right now, with Helios in the open and possibly in Chain's hands, we might not have that luxury anymore. With bases known to Helios, Chain could get ready for an invasion in as soon as a week, if not sooner than even that. We will exercise caution, but we can't delay either." Angira then paused before clenching her fist. "And I really need to get out more."

Culus's mouth went dry. "B-But… it was just a…"

"It might have been," Angira said lowly. "Some of history's greatest architects and inventors had revelations in their dreams. But your dream was too precise, far too precise, to be only a dream. If it's what I expect, then we need to investigate."

Culus opened his mouth to ask more questions but was interrupted by Genevieve teleporting in. "Ma'am, I have only ten minutes left of my allotted break from Arya," Genevieve said. "What do you need me to do?"

"Teleport us into Hovete. Culus will give you the location." Angira then crossed her arms. "We might be there for a while, so I've gotten another teleporter to take us home if we don't find our objective."

Genevieve looked over at him. "The objective?"

"... Cognes Research Facility," Culus said, a little hesitantly.

Genevieve's eyes widened before she turned to Angira. "The Lition team found the location?!"

"If we're correct, the Lition team will be recalled, since we won't need them anymore." If anything, Genevieve's eyes widened further. She didn't say anything more, though, as Sable and Thilia re-entered the room.

Angira cleared her throat a little as everyone gathered around her. "This will be an impromptu mission, simple reconnaissance. We will be working as a four-mon team, Genevieve acting as transport to the mission site. Thilia and Sable, you two will be on return duty. When we need to go, Thilia will power up Sable so she can teleport the four of us out. Culus, you will act as our guide. I will oversee this mission directly. If I have any orders, I expect them to be fulfilled immediately. Am I understood?"

There was a beat of silence.

Angira then stamped the ground, sending shockwaves through the room. Culus felt his heart skip a beat. "AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Y-YES, MA'AM!" They all offered the best salute they could give.

"Culus, give Genevieve the location. Genevieve, teleport five hundred meters away from the location, in a way that will let us approach safely." She then turned to Genevieve. "Begin."

Genevieve turned to Culus. "Bring the location to the forefront of your mind," she instructed. "And hold it there for as long as possible. If it comes into sharper focus, don't worry - I'll just be helping the process along."

Culus nodded, before closing his eyes. As she did so, the three other members of the room touched Genevieve, Genevieve holding onto him.

Culus thought about the dream… the experience. Where he had thought he was. The location. The… coordinates.

There was a small breeze, and the floor under him grew soft. He opened his eyes to find himself near a mountain range - a familiar mountain range.

"This is the location?" Angira said stiffly, looking at Culus.

Culus quickly nodded. "It's… this is exactly how it was in my dream. I mean, we're a bit farther away than I'd like, but…" But that made no sense…

… it wasn't a dream, was it? The truth of the matter blew over him - but then… then, what had happened?

"Culus, can you guide us to the exact location of the facility?" Angira pressed.

"Uh… sure."

Angira turned to Genevieve. "Dismissed. Expect an update on this mission by tonight. If there isn't one, alert Pandora that I might be compromised."

Genevieve nodded curtly. "Understood, ma'am." She turned to Culus. "I hope that you won't break our hopes."

With that, she teleported away.

Sable then blinked. "The facility? Where… are we?"

"Hovete," Culus answered.

"You're kidding."

Culus just walked forward, and Angira and Thilia followed after him.

"You're… you're kidding, right?" Sable began to run to keep up. "This has to be a joke. You knew where it was the entire time?!"

"Not since this morning," Culus answered, weaving his way through a thicket. Angira simply pushed them aside. "It came to me in a… in what I thought was a dream."

"Both of you, quiet," Angira ordered. "Culus, you can only resume talking when we arrive."

With that, they continued making their way through the forest. The farther he went, the more certain he felt that he knew where he was going. The more he went, a visualization of the facility became clearer and clearer, as if he was… remembering…

"... we're here," Culus answered. "This is as far as we can go before they have sentries that can directly see us - before we become suspicious."

"How much further to an entrance?" Angira asked.

"... fifty meters," Culus estimated. "And even then… the facility extends deep underground and into the mountainside." He looked up and saw a mountain - the mountain, he realized, he decided not to go to when leaving that farm months ago.

Had he decided to risk it, would he have found the facility? Would Chain have captured him, giving him back to the Zoroark?

"... this might be close enough." Angira then put her hand on the ground, kneeled, and closed her eyes. "Don't bother me until I get up or until five minutes have passed."

The three of them could only watch. Sable looked at him with incredible confusion, and Thilia - well, she just watched Angira closely.

And then, some four minutes later, Angira got back up. "I've extended my geokinetic senses as far as they could go. It's normal rock until eighty meters in - at that point, it switches to metal floors, walls, and ceilings. An entire hidden complex in the side of the mountain." Angira took a breath. "Cognes Research Facility. The secrets to the Collars and those crystals - they're inside, I imagine."

"... what does that mean?" Culus asked.

"It means that we return to base. Thilia, Sable?"

...

Once back inside Angira's office, Angira walked over to her chair and sat down on it, before steepling her fingers.

"Ma'am, I-"

"Thilia, Sable, go train or relax or whatever you please. Simply remain quiet about the mission for now," Angira instructed, not changing her position at all. "I'll need to disseminate the information later - maybe in a few days - and I don't want any other narratives floating around to spoil it. Sable, you can tell your mother, but no others. Understood?"

Sable crossed her arms. "I-"

"Understood!" Thilia nodded, before dragging Sable away. All that remained were Culus and Angira.

"... so, what now?" Culus couldn't help but ask.

"We prepare," Angira answered. There was no hesitation in her voice. "For the first time in… forever, I feel like we have a strong chance of countering Chain."

"... really?"

"Really. I'll have to stop Ekib from working on the sensor - he'll be able to triple his speed soon enough. And if we figure out a way to disrupt the mind control of the Collar and crystal, or remove it, there might not even be a need for a sensor in the long-term."

Culus's mouth went dry - and the full ramifications of the discovery dawned on him. "We… we're almost done?"

"No, but the goal is in sight, and what we have left might be done quickly, depending on how easy it will be to understand the Venitex's technology."

Whoever the Venitex were didn't particularly matter to Culus at the moment. Instead… "I can be normal again?"

"Ideally." Angira fixed Culus with a gaze. "Our next operation will be perhaps the most important, and I'll be recalling available members for it. What I'm planning to do is obvious, correct?"

Culus nodded. "We're going to raid Cognes."

"... essentially, though not immediately. We'll need preparations beforehand - a mapping of the building, an idea of the security, anything and everything." She then smiled. "But we won't be able to delay for too long, a couple of weeks at most, considering Helios could teach the Cognes staff the Aspects. I'll gather the best of the best - Kair, myself, and likely you - for the raid itself."

Culus blinked. "Me?"

"You know Cognes better than most of us, and if there is anything that we need a Collared to get through, we'll need you and your returning memories."

"Memories?" Culus asked faintly. Other than prophetic visions - which he was 99% sure could only happen to psychics - there was nothing else it could be. But… "I wasn't myself in it."

Angira smiled thinly. "I hoped that the debacle with Thilia would remind you that memories aren't perfect replicas of a person's experience. And we knew that Chain could manipulate memories before, to some extent, with Reporting Mode."

… holy shit. "So… I have other people's memories?"

"Yes - implanted into you by the collar. You called the metal it's made of 'neural alloy', correct?" Culus slowly nodded. "That probably means that it can function like a brain can - in other words, it can store memories in it, among other things."

Culus thought back to his dreams. As Culus, servant of Phosophor. As Culus, Prince of Eonia… "Is there a historical Prince Culus?"

Angira nodded. "I've taken the time to study other leadership styles. He was a prince of Eonia that disappeared near the tail-end of a war against the Veniti Kingdom, the kingdom that founded Nucifera in present-day Illusuria. You have his memories, I assume?"

"... yeah. Pieces of them - before and after he had a Collar placed around his neck. And the thoughts I had between the two of them were completely different." Culus then blinked. "Does Phosophor put a Collar around anyone named Culus?"

Angira hummed. "Perhaps. You likely remember the name Culus because of stored memories."

Well… he didn't. He remembered that he didn't know his name until… Selene said it.

"... and it felt perfectly natural," Culus whispered to himself, such that Angira couldn't hear it. How did she know it?

"Regardless," Angira continued. "You should try to remember as much as possible. We don't know if this is a natural process all Collared goes through before being brainwashed again, or if it's an aftereffect of the Aspects. I'll have Pandora look over your dreams and try to activate your regaining of memories. In the meantime, just relax and train. You'll need all of the strength you can get."


Sorry for being really late with this chapter. I've been building up a huge backlog of chapters and will be posting them soon. Thank you for understanding.