A Dragon's Tail

by Dragon of Vale

The world of Pokemon is now in a peaceful era under the protection of goddess Yggdrasil and the Hero/ine of Legend, a group of Pokemon who received the blessing from the god Arceus. However, the tide of destiny seemed to hate this world as the force of chaos had appeared and plagued the realm, and the cause of it was from the Hero/ine of Legend themselves!

81. Tail 8-1: Showdown of Venturnome

A Dragon's Tail

Tail 8: Sirius' Tail - Monstrosity

Tail 8-1: Showdown of Venturnome

The portal closed behind me after I stepped out of it, and I didn't waste my time as I left the Portal Room and stepped into the Main Hall of Pendracomonium.

The hall of Pendracomonium, our team base, was almost empty, except for the gargoyles that still patrolled the hall in order to keep it safe. This place had always been too large for a group of 12 Pokemon. Luckily, there were many gargoyles that took care of this place, so we could focus on our work. I had all these thoughts in my head as I walked toward the north room of Floor B2, which was none other than our base's Meeting Room.

I paused a bit in front of the door. I knew that everyone else was already in the room, and I was the last one that arrived. However, I was ordered to do something before coming here, so, I didn't think that anyone would scold me for being late. I took a deep breath before using my paw to open the door of the Meeting Room.

"—And our next mission will take us to the land of vast grassland and abundant plain to the south of the continent, the Theocracy of Venturnome."

That's Baromyteus' voice. I'm sure of it. The voice was interrupted as its owner, along with everyone else in the Meeting Room, turned their attention to me as I entered the room. To be honest, I'm not used to being the center of everyone's attention, considering that I usually tried to avoid everyone as I knew that everyone except Rachael and Richard still didn't trust me, not that I blamed them for doing that, considering what I had done…

"Welcome back, Sirius." Richard was the first one who greeted me as I entered the Meeting Room. "How was your work going?"

"…" I nodded to the Latios in the accepting manner. The mission I was sent to do went well, though it was hard not to let anyone else see me, and this damned mask made it hard for me to move around.

And there's also a matter of that thing too…

"Good." Baromyteus was the next one who spoke up after I entered. "Then, give us what you've found."

"One moment." Richard said before he reached his paw into my neck and gently removed the chip that was implanted into my body. That was the Gamma Chip, a 'weapon' of mine that increased my skill and power. Richard also modified it so that it could record what I've found, which was great as I couldn't communicate with anyone via words, so this was the best way for everyone to learn what I've found.

Richard then used his chronicle to decrypt the content of the Gamma Chip, and after a few minutes of silence, the message of mine was delivered to him. Richard then silently read the decrypted message from my chip before he spoke up again.

"… I'll spare my judgment about it for now." Richard said with a serious voice. "But according to what Sirius found, our mission in Theocracy of Venturnome would be harder than the one we did in the Shadowlost Territory."

"What do you mean by that?" This time, it was Claura who spoke up.

"… The situation in Theocracy of Venturnome is… not very good." Richard said. "After the death of Pontifex Hawkins three years ago and the death of Archsage Iris a few weeks ago, the ruling duty of the sacred land falls into the hand of their son, who became the new Pontifex of Venturnome. The prince, however, never does any work of the ruler. He instead chose to leave his work to a group of Venturnome's Holy Council and kept himself in his own quarter, and he never appeared in the public again after his mother's funeral."

"That's unacceptable. A leader's duty is to lead those behind them. Neglecting their own duty is an unacceptable action."

I decided not to look at the one who mentioned the former words, as I knew that he hated me so much that he wouldn't hesitate to kill me, even though we're part of the same group.

"Who taught you that?" Diego asked the one who just finished speaking.

"My grandpa. He was the elder of my village, and since I'm his grandchild, I was taught to be a leader of the village so that I may inherit his role some day."

I knew what he was talking about. He talked about a Drampa who was the elder of Hidden Village of Dragon, a village that once located in Valley of No Return. However, the village was already destroyed during the Dragon Massacre three years ago, and Elder Baldr, along with everyone else in that village, was killed. The reason I knew this was because I'm responsible for all of these.

"Back to our topic…" Richard spoke up again. "Because of the prince's action, the sacred land has now fallen under the control of its Holy Council. Thus, many changes were made from the time when Pontfiex Hawkins and Archsage Iris were still alive. Some may argue that these are positive changes, thought this statement is highly questionable in my opinion."

"Just hurry up and tell us what happened there!" Zetarus yelled at the Latios.

"… I'll spare you from the complicated and trifle details…" Richard said. "First, do you know what do 'Theocracy' and 'Pontifex' mean?"

" Now that I think about it, I don't." Diego said. "I thought it's a strange name for a nation. Why shouldn't it be called 'Venturnome Kingdom' or something like that? And why does its ruler have to be called 'Pontifex' instead of 'King' or 'Queen'?"

"Then, can someone who knows the answer explain this?" Richard said.

"Aren't you going to explain it yourself?" Zetarus asked.

"Do you want me to?" Richard asked back.

"Of course not." Zetarus quickly replied.

"T… Then… Please let me explain this…" Freya spoke up. "T… Theocracy is a form of governance that religion is the center of the authority. The 'god' of the religion will be the head of the entire nation, and a group of 'priests' will serve as the government of the said nation. A… And the Pontifex is someone who's the representative of the god, someone who communicates with the god and adopts their god's command. A Pontifex's duty is to rule the nation under the command of the god, with a group of priests, or what's called the Holy Councils, under the Pontfiex's command."

"They let a group of priest become the rulers of the nation?" Claura said. "If you ask me, that's pretty inappropriate. A priest's duty is to promote and protect their religion, not to rule over the people. Sure, I know that a priest can become a good ruler, but I'm also sure that it's not often that someone will excel in both religion duty and ruling duty..."

"But if you ask me, I think that's appropriate." Baromyteus said. "After all, a religion is nothing more than a tool that was invented to command other people under someone's command by abusing their belief and faith to their advantage."

"… I am not surprised for hearing that from both of you, Baromyteus, Claura." Richard said. "But let me give you a warning. If you're in Theocracy of Venturnome and someone, especially those associates with the Holy Councils, heard you saying that, you will immediately get an execution due to heresy with your name on it."

"Over my dead body." Baromyteus said.

"Of course, because you'll die anyway." Richard said. "Now, back to our topic. I think you all may have already guessed that religion plays a major role in Theocracy of Venturnome, and any action that's considered as desecration, malediction, and blasphemy will meet with an immediate punishment."

"Yeah, like I understood half of those words anyway." Zetarus said. "But this kinda reminds me a bit of Fireview Kingdom, with all those stuffs about the god and their represent—Whatever it is."

"But in Fireview Kingdom, the god's representative, the Volcano Guardian, doesn't have any power in politic or governance." Diego said. "Sure, everyone in the land, even the royal family, reveres them, but they can't just go around and tells their people to start a war with other nations and stuffs."

"And in Theocracy of Venturnome, those who associate with religion can do that." Richard spoke up. "They could just announce something to the public and say that it is from the words of their goddess, and everyone who... has faith in them will surely believe their words."

"Heh…" Baromyteus let out a snarky remark after hearing the words of the Latios. "No wonder why this place's name is TheoCRAZY."

"And that's the first thing that you all must always keep in your mind while we're in Theocracy of Venturnome." Richard said. "Try not to speak of your opinion regarding the religion and everything regarding the religion of Venturnome while you're in the sacred land, regardless of the direction of your opinion. If you can't do that, stay away from other Pokemon, or you'll be charged with the crime of heresy."

"Fxxk my life…" Baromyteus mumbled to himself.

"You'll need to be more careful than anyone else, Baromyteus." Richard said before turning his attention to the Draconic Lapras. "And you too, Snow. I suggest that you two should avoid letting anyone see you during this mission."

"Why me and Baromyteus?" Snow asked.

"Just look at your body and think for yourself." Richard said.

"…" Snow and Baromyteus said nothing after hearing the words of the Latios. All they did was look at their body, which was also the thing that everyone in this room, including me, did too. It's because Baromyteus was cursed to be a Shiny Haxorus with the body of cursed skeleton, which was concealed beneath the armor suit that he always wore, and Snow was a Lapras who undergone some kind of curse or genetic mutation, which caused his body to turn draconic. With these, it would be very easy for anyone who saw them to think of them as some kind of heretic.

"And not just you two…" Richard spoke up again and turned his attention to Zetarus and Diego. "If it's possible, you two should also stay away from the settlements in Theocracy of Venturnome as much as possible."

"Why must we do that? And why it must be me and Zetarus this time?" Diego asked.

"… Due to its religion, Theocracy of Venturnome has adapted several dogmas of its religion as its law, which isn't present in other nations on this continent…" Richard said. "And one of them is what you two are."

"What are you talking about?" Zetarus asked.

"I'm talking about you two and your habit of… that, especially when you two are alone with each other." Richard replied.

"Couldn't you just say it out loud?!" Zetarus spoke with a confused voice, and Diego also seemed to be as clueless as the Garchomp next to him.

"… Just remember my words and stay away from other Pokemon as much as possible." Richard said.

I looked at the Garchomp and the Mega Charizard X and saw the confusing looking on their faces. It was clear that they were clueless of Richard's words. As for others, I can see that some of the more clever and more mature members of the Pendragon, such as Xavier, Claura and Baromyteus, seemed to understand Richard's words, while the others, such as Rachael and Freya, also had no idea of what Richard was talking about. As for me, I completely understood it, for that I had witnessed it with my own eyes, and I completely agreed with Richard on this, especially with Zetarus. As for Diego, I'm not really certain about this, because I couldn't tell if he's really the same as Zetarus, despite of what many others thought about him...

"Let's move on to the most important part…" Richard spoke up again. "While we don't have to deal with Shadow Pokemon while we're in Theocracy of Venturnome, we still need to be careful of ourselves."

"You're saying that to a group of Dragon type Pokemon who aimed to kill the Hero/ine of Legend, and over two-third of the said group had the power of Legendary Pokemon with them too." Claura said.

"I'm not talking about the our identity as the Pendragon, Claura. I'm talking about our identity as the Dragon type Pokemon." Richard said. "Apparently, a huge controversy toward the Dragon type Pokemon was ignited in the Theocracy of Venturnome… Once again."

"Controversy?! Ignited?! Once again?!" Freya repeated the words she heard. "What do you mean by that?!"

"… Do you remember that day? The day that we… experienced the time skip?" Richard slowly said. It was noticeable that he tried to avoid mentioning the Dragon Massacre directly.

"… The one during the Dragon Massacre?" Baromyteus asked.

I immediately looked at the Shiny Haxorus as soon as he finished speaking. Direct to the point as usual… Well… At least he seemed to not be affected by the mention of that event as much as before, yet Baromyteus still didn't give him a break…

"… Yes." Richard paused a bit before continued speaking. "And do you remember what else happened on that day? The strange phenomenon, I mean."

"You mean… The Solar Eclipse?" Anastasia replied. "It's the strange phenomenon that the sun is basked in the dark shadow, turning the entire sky dark."

"Right." Richard nodded. "Actually, Solar Eclipse is just a natural phenomenon that could easily be explained by those who aren't idiots… Which apparently don't exist in Theocracy of Venturnome?"

"What do you mean by that?" Snow asked.

"… The Holy Councils announced to the public of Venturnome that… The one responsible for the dark sky that happened on the day that… the raid of inaccessible valley occurred… are the Dragon type Pokemon." Richard said.

"… I see…" Claura spoke up. "They blame it on the Dragon type Pokemon again, didn't they?"

"Again?" Freya said. "You know about this, Claura?"

"Well… I haven't lived that long, but I heard it from my grandmother." Claura said. "About 250 years ago, the Pokemon of this world accused the Dragon type Pokemon for being 'The Spawn of Sin' and 'The Sin of the Dark God' after they discovered the truth about their god and the Dragon God, and they started a war against the Dragon type Pokemon in the Kingdom of the Dragonking. This war is later known as War of the God III."

"Wait a minute…" Rachael spoke up. "But… As far as I know about War of the God III… Isn't it about the Hero/ine of Legend who united the Pokemon of this world and the Dragon type Pokemon to fight against the evil from another world?"

"That would be the second half of the war." Xavier spoke up. "Ironic, isn't it? The Pokemon of this world and the Dragon type Pokemon united to fight against a common enemy in the second half, and yet they fought against each other in the first half of the war."

"If you want to, I could tell you the story of War of the God III later…" Richard spoke up. "For now, let's just say that a controversy toward the Dragon type Pokemon was ignited in the Theocracy of Venturnome after the Holy Councils announced that the Dragon type Pokemon are responsible for the Solar Eclipse that occurred on that day. They said that the Dragon type Pokemon from the inaccessible valley turned the sky dark as a part of their plan to kill the Pokemon of Symmetria that entered the valley on that day, and the fact that almost everyone from Symmetria who entered the valley on that day was killed and blown away from the valley was caused by the Dragon type Pokemon of inaccessible valley too."

"So, they also blame us for killing most Pokemon from the six armies of Symmetria, huh?" Xavier said. "I won't say that it isn't the truth, but we aren't really responsible for the death of the entire six armies from Symmetria, thought if I fight—"

"It couldn't be helped." Claura suddenly spoke up. "The Solar Eclipse occurred, and the Pokemon of the six armies that were sent to Valley of No Return were killed and blown away. To explain these things and to reinforce their citizens' trust in themselves, they need to find someone to blame for them, and who would be a better victim than the Dragon type Pokemon of Valley of No Return, who were massacred by them?"

"… And… I don't know if this is unbelievable or not, but most Pokemon in Venturnome believe them." Richard said.

"That's not unbelievable." Baromyteus said. "After all, the Pokemon of Venturnome are a bunch of idiots. Sure, there could be some Pokemon who know the real cause of Solar Eclipse or figure out that the Dragon type Pokemon of Valley of No Return aren't responsible for the death of the entire six armies, but since the Holy Councils control everything in Venturnome and most people believe in them, it would be better if they just keep quiet instead of revealing the truth and be branded as a heretic."

"… Anyway, because the Holy Councils of Venturnome announced that the Dragon type Pokemon were responsible for everything that happened on that day, the attitude toward the Dragon type Pokemon of the people of Venturnome is… aware, at best, or hostile, at worst." Richard said.

"Can someone translate that Latios' words for me?" Zetarus asked.

"What Richard said is that… Due to the announcement of the Holy Councils of Venturnome, the Dragon type Pokemon are viewed as heretics in Theocracy of Venturnome." Claura said.

"That's such a pain…" Zetarus said. "Now that the Pokemon of Venturnome view us like this, it would be harder for us to operate in that land, isn't it?"

"At least, our target is the Archbishop Zira, the weakest Heroine of Legend among the 14." Baromyteus said. "Sure, being someone important to the religion, it wouldn't be easy for us to reach her, but we could find a moment to strike her off-guard, which shouldn't be too hard for us."

"… If our mission in Theocracy of Venturnome is to kill Archbishop Zira, then I'm not worried too much…" Richard said. "However, there's more to it than that."

"What is it this time?" Diego asked.

"… There has been a report of the Pokemon of Venturnome who saw him wandering around the Theocracy of Venturnome." Richard spoke up again. "And 'him' I mentioned is apparently… Our last target."

"You mean that traitor?" Baromyteus said.

"If you mean the former Hero of Rock type, then yes." Richard answered. "From what I could gather, he was the general of Queendom of Riverbrine until about 20 years ago when he quitted… No… deserted his duty. After that, he had been missing until now, when he was spotted roaming the field of Venturnome."

"Strange…" Claura said. "He disappeared several years ago, only to appear in Venturnome. What is he doing there? And what's he planning to do?"

"C… Could it be that he knows about us, so he's trying to protect Archbishop Zira?" Rachael said.

"… Or maybe it's something else…" Baromyteus mumbled. "That guy is the embodiment of betrayal and traitor, and I won't be surprised if it turns out that—"

"Either way, it seems like we have two things to do in Venturnome." Xavier spoke up. "One, kill Archbishop Zira, and two, find and kill the missing Hero of Legend."

"And that's all information that Sirius got for us." Richard said. "I would suggest that we should go to Theocracy of Venturnome as soon as possible. The sooner we move, the better chance we have against our enemies."

"I agree with this." Claura said. "Does anyone have any objection?"

"…" No one among the Pendragon said anything.

"Then…" Claura was about to continue speaking, but her words were cut off when someone else suddenly spoke up.

"… There's something that I need to say… It's about how we work." Baromyteus spoke up.

"What do you have in mind, Baromyteus?" Diego asked.

"While our mission in Shadowlost Territory has a definite time and action, our mission in Theocracy of Venturnome will be different. We can't just go in and challenge the Archbishop to a duel to death, and we don't even know how long it will take us to find that traitor. Baromyteus said. "So, we must change how we operate a bit."

"Name it." Xavier said.

"I suggest that, this time, we should operate in pair." Baromyteus said.

"Isn't that what we always do?" Zetarus asked.

"If that's true, then Korben wouldn't be kidnapped during our mission in Shadowlost Territory." Baromyteus said as he gazed at someone whom I tried to avoid.

"That's because he ran around the land of darkness and did the investigation on his own without telling anyone." Diego said.

"Still, this time, we need to find the last Hero of Legend, who's somewhere in Theocracy of Venturnome. We don't know where would he be, so separating ourselves to search for him is a better way for us to operate in this mission." Richard said. "And going by pair means that we could search for him more thoroughly while still be able to watch each other's back too."

"If you put it that way…" Diego said. "Then, I guess I'll go with Zetarus like usual—"

"No." Baromyteus suddenly spoke up again. "This time, we won't go with our usual pairing partner."

"Huh?!" Everyone, including me, immediately looked at Baromyteus after he finished his words.

"We always go by the pair of Rachael and Richard, Zetarus and Diego, Claura and Xavier, and Anastasia and I. It's time for us to change things around, and it's a good opportunity for us to learn more about our teammate too." Baromyteus said.

"Heh… This is really ironic, coming from you, Baromyteus." Claura said.

"But…" Rachael spoke up. "How do we decide our new pairing?"

"I'll put twelve identical pieces of paper into a box, and each of us will take out one piece of paper." Baromyteus explained. "Each paper will have the number 1-6 written on it, and each number will be written on two pieces of paper, resulting in six pairs of paper, each with the identical number. After we take out every piece of paper, we will see which number each of us get, and the one who get the same number will be paired together in this mission."

"That's really simple…" Zetarus commented.

"Simple, but practical, I would add." Xavier said.

"Then, does anyone have any objection with these new pairing stuff, or the way that will be used to determine our new partner?" Claura asked.

"… One question." Richard spoke up. "What would our new partner turn out to be someone whom we… doesn't get along with, such as Baromyteus and Claura, or Korben and—"

"There's no second chance." Baromyteus said. "We will do it only once, and we won't be allowed to change our pairing, no matter what new partner we get."

"… But wouldn't a bad pairing affect our performance in this mission?" Richard asked.

"Then there are five other pairings that could still work." Baromyteus said. "If we allow ourselves to change our partner after getting someone we don't want to be paired with, then we would keep changing our partner until our pairings turn out to be the same as before, so we must be decisive and accept our result."

"…" Richard said nothing in response after hearing Baromyteus' answer.

"… If any of you don't have any objection, then, let's get this started." Baromyteus said. "Anastasia, Freya, helps me prepare for this.

I watched as Anastasia and Freya prepared a black box and twelve pieces of paper. For me, I didn't really agree with Baromyteus' way. No, I didn't have anything against this new pairing thing, but I felt uncomfortable when thinking about who will I be paired with. I would be completely fine if I was paired with either Rachael and Richard, but not much with others, as I knew that most of them still didn't trust me, despite that they allowed me to join the Pendragon. It would be really awkward to work with someone who still didn't fully trust me… Or in the worst case, I might end up getting paired with… him, which is very, very terrible for both him and me, as he hated me to the deepest part of his heart, for the crime I committed against him...

The crime that I killed his grandfather… Right before his eyes…

---

-A Few Minutes Later…

After folding twelve pieces of paper and put them into the black box, we let each of us took out one piece of paper. To make things unbiased, the Pendragon asked Ryugan the Gargoyle to carry the black box in order to let each member of the Pendragon take a piece of paper. Finally, eleven pieces of paper were taken out, leaving the last piece of paper for…

"THIS IS FOR YOU, MASTER." Ryugan said as it handed over the black box to Baromyteus, who proceeded to take out the last piece of paper.

"… Thanks. You can go now." Baromyteus said as he placed the box down on the floor beside him.

"THANK YOU, MASTER." Ryugan said. "IF YOU HAVE ANY NEED FOR MY HELP AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME."

After finished speaking, the Druddigon Gargoyle left the meeting hall, leaving the twelve dragons in the room.

"… I trust that no one unfolded the paper yet." Baromyteus said as he gazed around to see the other eleven dragons, all who were holding a piece of folded paper in their paw. "Then, by the count of three, we will see the number we got at the same time. Understood?"

"Hm." Everyone else nodded to Baromyteus' words.

"Then… One… Two… Three!" Baromyteus counted from one to three, and when the word 'three' came out of his mouth, everyone unfolded the paper in their paw and looked at the number they got.

"I got the number '1'!" Rachael spoke up as she showed a piece of paper with the number '1' written on it. "Who else got the number 1 too?"

Rachael looked around the hall to see if anyone got the same number as her, until she finally found another Pokemon who held a piece of paper with the number '1' on it. However… That Pokemon was someone who was standing right beside her.

"… It seems like our bonds are unbreakable, Rachael." Richard said with a calm voice as he held a piece of paper with the number '1' written on it.

"Wow! I get to pair with Onii-chan again! Yay!" Rachael said as she hugged her elder brother. "What a coincidence!"

"… Is this really a coincidence?" Diego said. "Are you sure that you two didn't use some kind of trick to get yourself paired with each other again?"

"B… But we didn't do something like that!" Rachael said. "We didn't even get close to the paper before it was cut and put into the box!"

"If you have a free time to accuse your teammate, why don't you use it to do something more productive, such as finding your partner." Richard said.

"Geez… That's just like you." Diego said before he showed his piece of paper to everyone. "I got number '2'. Who else got it too?"

"Me." Claura said as she showed a piece of paper with the number '2' written on it.

"Fire and water, eh?" Xavier commented. "Try not to burn or drown each other, okay?"

"Shut up, Xavier." Claura said. "And what number did you get?"

"Me? I got number '3'." Xavier said as he showed his piece of paper with the number '3' written on it.

"Then you're paired with me." Baromyteus said as he showed a piece of paper with the number '3' written on it with his paw.

"Oh, great…" Richard commented. "My greatest condolence to the Pokemon of Venturnome."

"What do you mean by that?" Baromyteus asked.

"You two are the most powerful among us, thought you two tend to lose yourself in battle." Richard said. "Normally, you'll have your sister and your cousin restraining you from that, but now that they won't be with you, and you freaks are even paired together…"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Xavier said with a blank face and emotionless voice. "If we both lose control of ourselves in a battle, we would likely kill each other before we kill anyone else, and the other one who survive will most likely end up in a terrible wound and die shortly afterward, so there's nothing to worry about it."

"P… Please don't say such a scary thing like that, especially with that voice and face…" Rachael said.

"Anyway, let's continue." Baromyteus said and looked around. "Which two of you got the number '4' on the paper?"

"It's me."

Two voices were spoken at the same time as two paws holding pieces of paper with the number '4' were reached forward. One of them was a white and slimy paw while the other one was a fin covered in black scales.

"Huh?!"

The attentions of ten other dragons were drawn to Anastasia and Snow, both who had the piece of paper with the number '4' in their paw, and some of them also noticed that the temperature of the room suddenly dropped down…

"So, I am paired with you, Snow." Anastasia said softly as she looked at the Draconic Lapras. "Please take a good care of me, Snow."

"…" Snow said nothing as he slightly nodded before coldly turned his face away from the Goodra.

"GRR…" Baromyteus let out a low growl as he gazed at the Draconic Lapras with a blood-hungry looking on his face, and the sinister aura was emitted from the armor suit he's wearing, sending chills down the spine of everyone in this room.

"Geez… You aren't very good at hiding your emotion, eh?" Xavier spoke up. He seemed to not be affected by the Shiny Haxorus' sinister aura. "Just give up. You're stuck with me, Baromyteus."

"Hm!" Baromyteus let out an unpleasant growl from his throat.

"Just leave him be, Xavier…" Claura spoke up, ignoring Baromyteus' action. "Now, how about number '5'? Which two of you get this number?"

"Me." Zetarus spoke up as he showed a piece of paper with the number '5' on it. "Now, who is my new part—"

"A… Ah!" Freya spoke up. She was holding a piece of paper with the number '5' on it. "B… Brother! I get to pair with you!"

"Huh?" Zetarus looked at the Flygon, his new partner. "So, this time finally comes, eh? Very well, Freya, just stay close to me. I will keep you safe, or else your three other siblings will kick my butt from letting their sister get into harm."

"O… Okay!" Freya said with a cheerful voice. However, her face suddenly turned from a cheerful one into a frightened one. "W… Wait a minute…"

"What's wrong, Freya?" Rachael asked.

"I… If the pairs we got are… Rachael and Richard, Diego and Claura, Baromyteus and Xavier, Snow and Anastasia, and Zetarus and me… T… Then the last pair must be…"

After hearing Freya's words, I immediately looked at the piece of paper I got and saw the number '6' written on it. This was the moment that I finally realized something. Because I got the number '6', then the one who would be paired with me must be someone who also got the number '6' too, and by the proceed of elimination, the one who got the number '6' other than me must be…

"…"

A paw holding another piece of paper with the number '6' was reached forward. The owner of the paper didn't say anything, and his eyes were concealed by the shadow casted from his head, making it unable to read his expression.

"Korben…" Freya said as she approached the Pokemon who got the number '6' that wasn't me.

"… Don't worry about me, Freya." The Kommo-o replied softly to the Flygon before turning his attention to everyone in the room, though I noticed that he deliberately avoided looking at me. "So, it would be me who will be the part of the final pair. So, what's next?"

"… Are you sure that you'll be okay, Korben?" Baromyteus said. "Though I said earlier that these pairing can't be changed, it may be better if—"

"No, Baromyteus." Korben said. "Everyone is equal to each other, and I also don't want you to break your own words, Baromyteus."

"… Fine." Baromyteus said. He paused speaking for a few seconds before he spoke up again. "Now… Richard, can you show us the map of Theocracy of Venturnome?"

"Okay." Richard said as he opened the Chronicle of Nightmare and summoned a hologram of Symmetria map, before zooming in until the area of Theocracy of Venturnome was shown.

"Next, we must assign the place that each pair will go and search for that traitor." Baromyteus said as he looked at the map of Theocracy of Venturnome. "Now… Richard, where's the capital city of Venturnome?"

"Venturnome City? It's located in the middle area of the nation, between two Venturnome Meadows that cover on the eastern part and the western part of the nation." Richard explained.

"Though I don't think that he would be in the capital city, I'll assign you and your younger sister to search in this area, Richard." Baromyteus said as he looked at Richard and Rachael. "The reason why I choose you two is because, other than the part of being the Dragon type Pokemon, you two aren't at risk of being branded as heretics, especially since you two are also Psychic type Pokemon like many Pokemon of Venturnome."

"Of course." Rachael and Richard nodded in response.

"Next…" Baromyteus looked at the map again. "Richard, did you just say that there are two Venturnome Meadows?"

"Yes. They are Inner Venturnome Meadow and Outer Venturnome Meadow." Richard said. "Inner Venturnome Meadow is located to the east of Venturnome City, and it covers the entire eastern half of the nation. It also connected to Leafburg Grassland in Principality of Leafburg to the north. As for Outer Venturnome Meadow, it's located to the west of the capital, covering the entire western half of the nation. It connected to Dustorm Desert in Dustorm Empire to the north, and it reached Venturnome Strait, the strait that divided Theocracy of Venturnome from Windsky Plateau."

"Then…" Baromyteus looked at the map again. "Anastasia and Snow, you two search the Outer Venturnome Meadow."

"Okay, brother" Anastasia said, while Snow just nodded in response without saying anything.

"And Zetarus and Freya, you two search any port towns that are located along the Venturnome Strait." Baromyteus said.

"Okay." Zetarus and Freya replied.

"For the Inner Venturnome Meadow, Xavier and I will take it." Baromyteus said.

"Such a pain…" Xavier mumbled. "Inner Venturnome Meadow is larger than Outer Venturnome Meadow, so it's more work for us, Baromyteus."

"No. We won't cover the entire area of Inner Venturnome Meadow." Baromyteus said before pointing his paw at the easternmost area of Theocracy of Venturnome. "For this area, it will be for Claura and Diego to search."

"What's so special about that area?" Diego asked.

"It's because a huge trading post is located there." Claura answered. "After all, that area bordered Principality of Leafburg to the north, so it became a huge trading city for Venturnome and Leafburg, as well as Civilight and Riverbrine, just like how Venturnome Strait is an important trading area between Venturnome, Dustorm and Fireview."

"How do you know about this?" Diego asked.

"Xavier and I had been there once while we were searching for the Hidden Village of Dragon before we met you guys." Claura answered. "And since we have been there before, we could use the portal from our base to the Trading Post there easily."

"Then, the problem of how to travel to Venturnome for us is solved." Baromyteus said before turning his attention to the map. "And finally, the area to the south of Inner Venturnome Meadow, which is the most important area of our searching, is for Korben and Sirius."

"Why is that area important?" The Kommo-o asked.

"Because Solar Village, the place where Archbishop Zira resides, is located there, and your searching area will cover this village too." Baromyteus said. "Also, the important landmark of Theocracy of Venturnome, as well as the southernmost point of the continent of Symmetria, the Tower of the God, is located not too far from the village, and it will also be your job to search the tower too."

"And why it must be… us who search this area?" Korben asked. I noticed that he also deliberately avoided mentioning me.

"Because Archbishop Zira knows me and Anastasia, she would immediately recognize us if Anastasia or I search that area, and she may recognize Zetarus and Diego since both of them are the sons of other Heroes of Legend, which may not be a good thing for us." Baromyteus answered. "And I heard that the Pokemon of Solar Village are more accepting than other settlements of Venturnome, so there's no need for the Psychic type Pokemon like Rachael and Richard to go to that area. This leaves only your pair, Korben."

"I see." Korben nodded to Baromyteus.

"And don't forget that our first priority is to find that traitor. Killing Archbishop Zira can wait." Baromyteus said. "Don't kill her yet, and don't let her or anyone knows who we are. Understood?"

"Hm." Korben nodded to the Shiny Haxorus.

"Then, anyone else has a question?" Baromyteus asked.

"Me." Diego spoke up. "After we found that Hero of Rock type, what must we do next?"

"Kill him, of course." Baromyteus answered. "It shouldn't be too hard to provoke him to attack us, and all we must do is kill him. If he tries to escape, don't let him flee, or if he manages to escape, follow him. Also, after finding him, ask your Dragon Legend to relay the message that you found him to everyone else. At least one Pokemon of each pair had already formed a pact with Legendary Pokemon, so it shouldn't be a problem to contact other pairs via this method. And you can also use this method to contact everyone else whenever you have something to say to others."

"Hm." Diego nodded. "And what about Archbishop Zira? When will we kill her?"

"After we took down that traitor first." Baromyteus answered.

"Got it." Diego said.

"No more question, I assume?" Baromyteus looked around the Meeting Room. After seeing no one speak up, he continued speaking. "Then, our meeting ends here. You all are dismissed. We will leave for Theocracy of Venturnome in two days. Before that, prepare yourself well. We will hunt two last targets on our list, and if nothing goes wrong, this could be our last mission... The Showdown of the Pendragon… At Venturnome…"

---

After the meeting ended, everyone left the Meeting Room and went to do their own business. Richard and Xavier went back to their room to read a book or sleep. Freya and Snow went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Zetarus, Diego, Claura and Baromyteus went to Valley of No Return to hunt wild Pokemon. Rachael and Anastasia went to the greenhouse to check the plants and harvest the berries. For me… Usually, I would go to the dark cavern below Floor B5 of the Pendracomonium in order to find something that could be useful to the Pendragon. However, because I had just come back from my scouting mission in Theocracy of Venturnome, Rachael and Richard urged me to take a rest, so I think I should heed their words.

But before I did that, I remembered that I hadn't finished my work yesterday. I was exploring the dark cavern under the Pendracomonium yesterday, and I found a lot of gemstones and ores for Diego and Anastasia to use in their work. However, as soon as I left the dark cavern, I found Rachael and Richard waiting for me, and both of them urged me to take a rest immediately because they knew that I would be sent to do the scouting mission in Theocracy of Venturnome today. And so, I was taken back to my room for me to take a rest, but I left all the gemstones and ores that I found at the cavern entrance. And now, I thought it would be better if I just did a quick work and took them to Diego and Anastasia, and it wasn't a very hard work either, so it shouldn't take too much time and effort of mine.

After a few minutes of walking, I found myself standing on Floor B5 of the Pendracomonium, at the entrance of the dark cavern. The boxes that contained the gemstones and the ores I dug were still there, but what I didn't expect was that someone was there, standing in front of the cave's entrance.

"…" He was looking at the cave's entrance and had his back to me. He didn't seem to notice me being here, and I noticed that he was reaching his paw to somewhere around his chest, thought I couldn't tell anything more because he was having his back turn at me.

"…" I decided to take a step further and made a small noise to let him know that I'm here, and it worked. He seemed to be able to sense that someone was here, and he immediately pulled his paw away from his chest and turned back to face me.

"PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIZE, MASTER." Ryugan said as he bowed down to me. "I DIDN'T SENSE YOUR PRESENCE HERE, SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR IGNORING YOU."

"…" I nodded to the Druddigon Gargoyle, trying to let him know that I wasn't angry with him, though I didn't know if he knew about this or not because I couldn't read the stone expression he always had on his face.

Now that he turned back to face me, I was able to see that there was something hanging on his neck like a pendant on a necklace. That object was a Dragon Fang, which I remembered that he always had it hanging around his neck since the first time we met him, and I also remembered that, the first time we met him, the Dragon Fang started glowing with a sinister dim light before he started moving for the first time, which meant that… The Dragon Fang hanging on his neck was the source of his 'life' energy?

"AND IF I MAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, MASTER?" Ryugan continued speaking. "DO YOU REQUIRE MY ASSISTANCE IN ANY WAY, MASTER?"

"…" I shook my head before walking up to the boxes containing gemstones and ores to let him know that I was here just to collect these.

"THEN, PLEASE ALLOW ME TO ASSIST YOU, MASTER." Ryugan said as he walked up to where the boxes were. "NOW, WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO CARRY THESE BOXES TO?"

"…" Since he offered it, I decided to take up his offer. I nodded to him before I took some of the boxes and placed it on my back, and then I turned back to face the stairs that would lead back to Floor B4, urging him to follow me.

"AS YOU WISH, MASTER." Ryugan said as he picked the remaining boxes with his arms and followed me.

---

After delivering the gemstones and ores to Anastasia and Diego, I thanked Ryugan with my gesture before he went back to his place on Floor B1, and I was left with no more chore to do for today.

'… Maybe I should take a quick bath before dinner…" I thought to myself before I walked toward the bathroom of our base and entered it. Our base's bathroom was divided into three major zones. They were the Male Bath, the Female Bath, and the 'Outdoor' Bath, which wasn't really an outdoor bath because we were under the group. We only called it like that because it was decorated with the atmosphere to the real outdoor bath, and it was also a mixed bathing area, so anyone could take a bath in this area regardless of their gender. However, everyone else preferred to take a bath in the area of their gender instead, so the Outdoor Bath was mostly empty, which was good for me. Because I'm the only Genderless member of the Pendragon, I could take a bath in either area of the Bathroom. However, it would be awkward if I took a bath in the Female Bath, and it was risky for me of running into 'him' if I took a bath in the Male Bath, so I always took a bath in the Outdoor Bath, and the fact that it was always empty was a nice bonus as it helped me relax even more…

To be honest, I really liked taking a bath because soaking in the warm water helped me relax after a long and tiring day, though it's a bit tricky for me to wash myself properly by myself since I'm a quadruple Pokemon, and the mask I wore didn't help either. Sometimes, if either Rachael or Richard caught me taking a bath here, they would immediately offer to help me wash myself, and they wouldn't take a no for the answer. Sure, it felt great when they helped me wash myself, but I didn't want to bother them, especially since they had already done so much for me.

---

After I took a bath, it was already dinnertime. While I usually didn't join them for any of their meals because I knew that he didn't want me to be there, and I didn't want to upset him, so I usually had my meal by myself. However, after our mission in the Shadowlost Territory, I was urged by everyone, especially Rachael and Richard, to join them for their meal. At first, I was scared, but after a few days, I found that it wasn't that bad. Everyone started talking to me more, despite that I couldn't say anything, and he had been strangely tolerant of my present, though he still refused to even acknowledge me.

"Thank you for the meal! It's so delicious!" Rachael said after we finished dinner. Tonight, Snow and Freya cooked us a huge pot of stew since the hunting group managed to get a lot of games today, and it was the day for Rachael to harvest berries from her garden too.

"Thank you for the compliment, Rachael." Snow replied softly to the Latias' compliment, while Freya just said 'thank' shyly.

"Alright…" Zetarus spoke up as he finished his stew. "Since we didn't have anything else to do for today, how about we have some 'fun' for tonight?"

"… What kind of 'fun' are you talking about?" Baromyteus asked with a skeptical voice.

"Come on! What sort of Pokemon do you think I am?!" Zetarus said with a casual voice. "I was talking about us playing some games tonight. Nothing more than that!"

"Come to think about it… It's been a while since the last time we played games together…" Claura spoke up. "What kind of game are we playing tonight?"

"How about a game of chess?" Richard suggested.

"Boo!" Rachael spoke up. "Chess is boring! And we all can't play chess together at the same time!"

"Yeah." Diego nodded to the Latias' words. "Beside, the winners are either Sirius or you, Richard, so it's no longer fun for us to play chess."

I listened to the Mega Charizard X's words. What he just said was true. The winners of our chest game are either Richard, Baromyteus or me. It's no wonder that Richard, the smartest Pokemon in our group, would always win. For me, I was created to possess many skills, including the skills required in the game of chest, so it wasn't hard for me to win in the game of chest. Actually, Xavier also had a potential to be the winner in the game of chest too, but he always fell asleep during the game, so he was always forfeited, thought it didn't seem like he cared about it anyway.

"Then, our best bet is the card game." Zetarus said. "Since we already played Poker last time, this time, how about Daifugo?"

"Daifugo?" Rachael repeated the words she just heard. "Oh! I know this one! Some of my classmates back when I was in Leafburg played it too!"

"I… I know about this too…" Freya said. "Daifugo is a card game that's popular in Theocracy of Venturnome and Principality of Leafburg, and since Windsky Plateau used to be a part of Venturnome…"

"I'm surprised that you know about Daifugo, Zetarus." Diego said. "I know that you know how to play Poker, but I never know that you also know how to play Daifugo too."

"Most prisoners in the Desert Prison know how to play a few card games anyway, since they're some of a very few ways to pass the time in that hellhole… And they came with a few… benefits too." Zetarus said, though his voice was lowered at the last part of his sentence.

"Benefits?" Korben spoke up with a puzzled voice. "What kind of benefit?"

"Err…" Zetarus shuffled around restlessly, as if he didn't want to answer the Kommo-o's question.

"… Even so…" Noticing the Garchomp's action, the Mega Charizard X decided to speak up. "I still think Daifugo is a good game for us to play tonight, and it isn't too hard too. What about the rest of you? Do you all know how to play Daifugo?"

"I have no need to answer that, because everyone knows that I'm the smartest—" Richard answered, but his words were cut off when Baromyteus interrupted him.

"I know that game, and Anastasia also knows too." Baromyteus said.

"I think Xavier and I know about this too…" Claura said. "In Kingdom of the Dragonking, we know this game by a different name, but it's still the same game, so we both know how to play it."

"… I somewhat remember this game and how to play it, but nothing more than that…" Snow spoke up.

"Then, that leaves me as the only one who doesn't know how to play it…" Korben spoke up.

Actually, he's wrong… He wasn't the only one who didn't know how to play that game, as I also didn't know how to play it too…

"Don't worry about it, Korben." Zetarus said. "We can teach you how to play it, and you'll be able to play it in a jiffy."

"Then, I'm interested in this game too."

"Then, that's settled." Baromyteus spoke up. "Now, then… Who's going to be the dealer?"

"Dealer?" Zetarus said as he looked at the Shiny Haxorus. "We can take turns to be a dealer. No big deal."

"That won't do." Baromyteus said. "I want this game to be as honest as possible, and having a player as a dealer may turn the tide of the game to the dealer's favor too. We should have someone who acts specifically as the dealer, as well as the referee of the game."

"Man… You're such a pessimist…" Zetarus said. "Fine. I'll get that Druddigon Gargoyle to be the dealer for us."

"You mean Ryugan?" Rachael said. "Why him? Does he know how to be a dealer?"

"Yes, he does." Zetarus said. "I asked him the last time I asked him to fetch us cards for playing Poker, and he offered to be a dealer for us, as he had a knowledge about the card games, in case that the future masters of this place needs someone to referee the game."

"And I thought that he's just a stone statue being made to guard our base…" Claura said.

"… That guy, huh?" Baromyteus mumbled softly to himself. It was visible that he wasn't keen of the Garchomp's idea.

"What's wrong, Baromyteus?" Noticing the Shiny Haxorus' action, the Garchomp asked him.

"… That Druddigon Gargoyle…" Baromyteus spoke up. "… I don't like him."

"What?" Diego spoke up as he looked at the Shiny Haxorus. "Why?"

"… I don't know exactly why." Baromyteus answered. "It's just that there's something… wrong about him. I don't know what it is, but he has something about him that feels so wrong and makes me… uneasy."

"Me too…" Anastasia spoke up. "Since the first time we met him, I've always been uneasy around him. I know that he's just a gargoyle, but I feel like there's something about him more than that…"

"Knock it out." Claura said. "That guy's just a gargoyle guarding this place. I don't see anything else about him. You two are just being paranoid."

"WHAT?!" The Shiny Haxorus stood up and glared at the Kingdra. "DID YOU JUST ACCUSE ME OF BEING PARA—"

"Enough about that, brother!" Before Baromyteus could get into another argument with the Kingdra, Anastasia dragged her brother back to his seat. "Still, you may be right, Claura. We both have been on our guard for several years, so we may be a bit too… anxious."

"If you have nothing else to say, then I'll go and ask him to referee our game." Zetarus said.

"… Suit yourself." Baromyteus replied.

---

After finishing dinner, the Pendragon gathered in the Resting Room, or the Lounge, on Floor B2 next to the dining hall. Zetarus then fetched Ryugan from Floor B1 to act as the referee and the dealer of the game.

"UNDERSTOOD." Ryugan replied. "I SHALL BE THE REFEREE OF YOUR GAME, IF THAT'S YOUR WISH, MASTER."

After everything was ready, all 12 members of the Pendragon, including me, sat around a round table in the Lounge. The clockwise order of the seats is Korben, Claura, Xavier, Anastasia, Baromyteus, Diego, Zetarus, Rachael, Richard, Freya, Snow and me. Ryugan was standing between me and Korben, acting as the referee of the game, which was a very good thing that he stood between me and Korben. The Druddigon Gargoyle then proceeded to shuffle the cards and then distribute them among the 12 players. Meanwhile, Zetarus explained the rule of Daifugo to Korben and me.

"First, the cards will be distributed to everyone." Zetarus explained. "Because there are 12 of us, I decided to use two decks of cards instead of just one, like usual, to make the game more fun. First, the cards will be distributed to everyone. Because there are 12 of us, and there are 104 cards, not counting the Jokers, eight of us will get nine cards while four of us will get only eight cards. Which of us gets eight cards or nine cards depend on the order of card distribution."

I nodded to the Garchomp's instruction and looked at the card I got after Ryugan finished distributing the cards. I got eight cards, and so did Korben, Freya and Snow while everyone else got nine cards, which made sense since Ryugan distributed cards by starting with Claura, followed by Xavier and ended with Korben.

"THEN, LET THE GAME BEGINS." Ryugan spoke up.

"Here, let me do a quick tutorial to our friends here, Ryugan." Zetarus spoke up to the Druddigon Gargoyle before turning his attention to Korben and me. "The game will start with the one who was distributed the Three of Clubs, which is the card with the lowest point in this game." Zetarus said before looking at everyone. "Now, who got Three of Clubs?"

Everyone started looking at the cards in their paw, until…

"… Me." Diego spoke up.

"Then, you start the game, Diego." Zetarus said.

"Hm." Diego said before he put the Three of Clubs card on the table.

"After that, the player on the left will continue the game, which is me." Zetarus said. "Here, I need to play the card that has an equal or higher point than the card that the previous player played."

"A equal… or Higher point?" Korben repeated the words he just heard.

"By number, the card three has the lowest point, and the card four has a higher card than three, and so on…" Zetarus said. "And the card two has the highest point."

"What about the suit of the card?" Korben asked.

"Club has the lowest point, followed by Diamond and Heart, and Spade has the highest point." Zetarus explained. "Hench while Three of Clubs has the lowest point, and Two of Spades has the highest point."

"I see…" Korben said.

"Then…" Zetarus said before he placed the Three of Diamonds on the table. "Now, then… Rachael, your turn."

"Okay!" Rachael said before she placed the Seven of Hearts on the table.

"Woah! Not bad, Rachael." Zetarus commented.

"… Allow me…" Richard said before he placed the Ten of Diamonds on the table.

"U… Um…" Freya mumbled before she placed the Clubs of Jack on the table.

"I… think I'll pass." Snow spoke up.

"When you don't have any card that's higher than the card played by the previous player, or if you don't feel like playing any card, you can choose to pass, which will automatically skip your turn for the rest of the round." Zetarus explained.

I looked at the cards I had as I realized that it's my turn to play. After a few seconds, I decided to place the Jack of Spades on the table.

"Your turn, Korben." Zetarus said.

"Hm…" Korben looked at the card in his paw for a few seconds before he placed the Ace of Diamond on the table.

"Not bad!" Zetarus said before turning his attention to the Kingdra, who was sitting on the left of the Kommo-o. "Now, what would you do, Claura?"

"… Pass." Claura sighed before she spoke up.

"Me too…" Xavier said.

"Okay!" Anastasia said before she placed the Ace of Heart on the table.

"Now that's more like it…" Zetarus said and looked at the Shiny Haxorus beside the Goodra. "Now, what would you do, Baromyteus?"

"… Pass." Baromyteus declared.

"Then the first round ends here…" Zetarus said as Ryugan collected the cards that were placed on the table away. "Then, the next game will start with the Pokemon who played last in the last round, which is Anastasia in this case. The goal of this game is to play until no one has any cards left on their paw. The one who plays all of their cards first is the winner of that game, while the one who plays all of their cards last is the loser of that game."

"So… The more cards you have, the more disadvantage you'll be, right?" Korben asked.

"Yeah." Zetarus replied. "However, keep it in mind that, the more card you have, the more chance you'll have a card with a higher point."

"Now, let me start…" Anastasia said before she placed two cards, the Four of Hearts and Four of Spades, on the table.

"Two cards?" Korben looked at the cards that were placed on the table.

"Now playing Double, huh?" Zetarus said. "In the Double game, everyone needs to place two cards on the table. Both cards need to have the same number, but their suits can be different. The way that the points are determined in the Double game is the same as the Single game."

"I see…" Korben said as he looked at the cards he had in his paw.

"Oh, and keep in mind that, if you have two cards with the same number, you can choose to use both of them in the Double game, or use each of them in the Single game too. Sometimes, using two cards separately may be better than using both of them together, but sometimes, using two cards together may be better than using both of them separately."

"Watch and learn." Baromyteus said as he placed two cards on the table. Those two cards are King of Club and King of Spade.

"Woah!" Zetarus said as he, along with everyone else, looked at the cards that were placed by the Shiny Haxorus with the shocking expression on their face. "Hardcore, aren't you?"

"Hm." Baromyteus nodded slightly to the Garchomp.

"You aren't going to let anyone else play, huh?" Diego said. "Fine… Pass."

"Me too." Zetarus said.

"But not me!" Rachael said as she placed the Ace of Club and Ace of Diamond on the table.

"… And then, this round ends here." Richard said as he placed the Two of Diamond and Two of Spades on the table.

"… You're really merciless, Richard." Zetarus said. "Since the Two of Spades is already out, I guess this round really ends here, huh?"

"P… Pass…" Freya said.

"Me too…" Snow said.

I looked at my cards for a bit before I shook my head, indicating that I passed.

"Pass." Korben said after looking at his cards.

"You aren't going to let me play, huh?" Claura said. "Pass."

"Yawn…" Xavier let out a yawn from his mouth. "Pass."

"Then, I guess—" Zetarus was about to declare the result of this round, but his words were cut off when another Pokemon spoke up.

"W… Wait!" Anastasia said before she placed several cards on the table. They were Eight of Clubs, Eight of Diamonds, Eight of Hearts and Eight of Spades!

"WHAT!" Zetarus said with a shocking voice as he and everyone looked at the cards that the Goodra had just placed on the table. "You got Quadruple?!"

"Right…" Anastasia said with a gentle smile on her face.

"Quadruple?" Korben looked at four cards that were placed on the table. "Is it possible to place more than two cards on the table?"

"Oh, I haven't explained this part yet." Zetarus said. "While the Two of Spades is the card with the highest point, there are cards that have higher point than that. They are Triple and Quadruple."

"Triple? Quadruple?" Korben said.

"Triple is when you place three cards of the same number on the table, while Quadruple is when you place four cards of the same number on the table." Zetarus explained. "Triple can only be placed in the Single game, and all Triples have higher point than all Single cards. For Quadruple, they can only be placed in the Double game, and all Quadruples have higher point than all Double Cards. As for the points in each Triple and Quadruple, they are determined in the same way as Single and Double. This means that Triple Three has a higher point than a single Two of Spades."

"So… Triple and Quadruple are really valuable, huh?" Korben said.

"Yes, because it's rare for one Pokemon to get three or four cards of the same number anyway." Zetarus said.

"However…" Richard spoke up. "Since we played with two decks of cards, it's possible for one Pokemon to have Quintuple, Sextuple, Septuple and Octuple too."

"… What da fuq?" Zetarus spoke up after hearing the words of the Latios.

"… I mean that it's possible for one Pokemon to have up to eight cards of the same number." Richard said. "Like Triple and Quadruple, Quintuple and Septuple can only be played in the Single game while the Sextuple and Octuple can only be played in the Double game."

I nodded to the Latios' explanation. Quintuple was five cards of the same number. Sextuple was six cards of the same numbers. Septuple was seven cards of the same number. And Octuple was eight cards of the same number.

"Then…" Korben spoke up. "Can I start the round with Triple and Quadruple?"

"Well… Yeah, you could…" Zetarus said. "However, keep it in mind that the next player will have to play the Triple or Quadruple too if you start the round with them, and it's rare for a player to possess Triple, let alone Quadruple…"

"But since we play with two decks of card, Triple and Quadruple may not be as rare as you think." Richard said. "But what're really rare are Quintuple, Sex—"

"Cut it out, or we'll never finish the game." Zetarus said before turning his attention to Anastasia. "Now, Anastasia…"

"Okay…" Anastasia said as she started another round by placing another cards on the table.

---

-Several Minutes Later…

After playing the game for several minutes, the game finally came to the end, and the result of the first game was revealed to everyone.

"I won!" Anastasia said, as she was the first one who played all of her cards, followed by Freya, Richard, Rachael, Snow, Korben, Baromyteus, me, Claura, Xavier, Zetarus, and…

"…Grrr…" Diego grumbled as he was the last one who played all of his cards.

"Guess this is it, huh?" Zetarus said. "So, we have winners and losers of the first round. In the second round and so on, the rule will be a bit different from the first round."

"What is it?" Korben asked.

"First, the roles will be assigned to each player according to the result of the previous round, as well as the amount of players who play the game." Zetarus said. "Since there are 12 of us, there will be four 'winners' and four 'losers'. First, the first place of the previous round will be the 'King', while the last place will be the 'Slave'."

"Which means that I am the 'Slave' of this round." Diego said with an irksome voice. "And Anastasia is the 'King' of this round."

"Next, the second place will be the 'Queen', while the second-to-last place will be the 'Servant'." Zetarus said. "Which means that I'm the servant while Freya is the queen."

"M… Me? Q… Queen?" Freya said shyly.

"Next, the third place will be the 'Prince' or 'Princess', while the third-to-last place will be the 'Retainer'." Zetarus said. "Which means that Richard is the Prince while…"

"Yawn…" Xavier let out a yawn from his mouth. "I think the role of 'Retainer' doesn't suit me. How about the role of 'Murd—"

"What about me and Rachael, since I am in the fourth-to-last place while Rachael's in the fourth place?" Claura quickly spoke up.

"The fourth place will get the role of 'Noble', while the fourth-to-last place will get the role of 'Poor'." Zetarus said. "Normally, we won't have the role of 'Prince/Princess', 'Noble', 'Retainer' and 'Poor' since the game mostly consists of less than six Pokemon, but since there are 12 of us, I decided to put some more roles into this game too."

"What about… the rest of us?" Korben asked.

"The remaining players will get the role of 'Commoner'." Zetarus replied.

"Okay…" Korben said. "So, what do our roles have to do with the game?"

"First, the order that the cards will be distributed will be different." Zetarus said as Ryugan started distributing the cards for the second rounds. "From the second round onward, the card will be distributed to the Slave first, and the order of distribution will be either clockwise or counterclockwise depends on the position of the King. If the King is closer to the left of the Slave, then the cards will be distributed in the counterclockwise direction, but if the King is closer to the right of the Slave, then the cards will be distributed in the clockwise direction."

"Err…" Korben mumbled as he tried to grasp what the Garchomp had just said.

"You don't have to worry about it, since it's Ryugan's duty to distribute the cards anyway." Zetarus said. "Anyway, the card distribution of this round will start with Diego, followed by me, Rachael, Richard, and so on, and end with Baromyteus."

"Hm." Korben said as he watched until the Druddigon finished distributing the cards to everyone.

"Now, here's the fun part." Zetarus said. "From the second round onwards, the players who don't get the role of 'Commoner' will have to exchange their cards with another player who get the corresponding role to them, which are King and Slave, Queen and Servant, Prince/Princess and Retainer, and Noble and Poor."

"Which means that Anastasia has to exchange her cards with me, Freya with Zetarus, Richard with Xavier, and Rachael with Claura in this round." Diego said.

"Now, there's a rule for exchanging cards." Zetarus said. "The amount of the cards that would be exchanged depends on the role you got. The King and the Slave will exchange four cards. The Queen and the Servant will exchange three cards. The Prince/Princess and the Retainer will exchange two cards. And the Noble and the Poor will exchange only one card."

"And here's the crappy part of this exchange." Diego said. "The Slave, the Servant, the Retainer and the Poor will have to give their best cards to the King, the Queen, the Prince/Princess and the Noble in the corresponding number that Zetarus just said."

"While in return, the King, the Queen, the Prince/Princess and the Noble can give any of their cards to the Slave, the Servant, the Retainer and the Poor. If you feel merciful, give out usable cards, but if you feel cruel, give out the worst cards you had." Zetarus said before he picked three cards and gave them to Freya. "Here're the cards for you, Freya."

"T… Thanks… A… And here're for you, Zetarus." Freya said before she gave three cards back to the Garchomp.

"Hm…" Zetarus looked at the cards Freya gave him. ".. Not bad, Freya. You're really kind to me."

"I… It's nothing, brother…" Freya said. Meanwhile, the other three pairs, Diego and Anastasia, Claura and Rachael, and Xavier and Richard, are exchanging their cards.

"Thanks for the card!" Rachael said cheerfully after receiving the card from the Kingdra.

"… You're too kind, Rachael." Claura said after receiving the card from the Latias.

"Thank you, Diego." Anastasia said after receiving the cards from the Mega Charizard X.

"… It could be worse, I guess…" Diego said after receiving the cards from the Goodra.

"… Now that's the worthy cards for me." Richard said after receiving the cards from the Dragonite.

"… You really want me to hate you, huh, Richard?" Xavier said with a plain voice after receiving the cards from the Latios.

"Now, let me explain the last part of the game." Zetarus said. "From the second game onward, in the first round, the Slave will be the one who plays first, and the order of who will play next is the same as the card distribution order, meaning that Diego will play first and Baromyteus will play last for this round."

"And one last thing…" Richard spoke up. "If the Slave manages to win this game, the King will immediately become the Slave of the next round, and the Slave will become the King of the next round, just like usual."

"So… The King is a really serious role, huh?" Korben said.

"Right." Baromyteus spoke up. "Being a King is no easy task. If you fail only once, you will be overthrown and left with nothing."

"Hey… Let's not get the real life stuff into our game…" Zetarus said. "Now, let the second game begins!"

---

-Several Hours Later…

The Pendragon played Daifugo for several hours. While the result of each game is different, there was one thing that always remained the same. No matter how many games they played, Anastasia always won, while either Diego or Zetarus always.

"Sigh… This is just like the last time when we played Poker…" Zetarus mumbled after Anastasia won for the fourth times. "Anastasia seems to have a better luck than everyone else, while me and Diego always have a worse luck than everyone…"

The game continued as the time passed, until…

"Yay!" Korben spoke up as he placed the last card he had on the table. "I finally won!"

"Congratulation." Anastasia said with a smile on her face. "The role of the King was passed from me to you, Korben."

"Now you're the King, Korben." Zetarus said. "And guess either me or Diego will be the Slave again—"

"Hm?" Korben looked at the clock on the wall of the Lounge. Right now, it was already 22.00. "It's already this late?! I think I should call it a night for now…"

"Hey… You just won a game, Korben." Diego said. "Why don't you play one more game before you go?"

"No… I don't want to sleep late at night, or else I'll wake up late tomorrow." Korben replied.

"Yawn…" Rachael let out a yawn from her mouth. "I'm sleepy now…"

"Yawn…" Like Rachael, Freya also let out a yawn from her mouth. "I think I'm at my limit too…"

"Then you should go to bed, Freya." Zetarus said.

"You too, Rachael." Richard said. "And that means I'll have to excuse myself for now."

"Aren't you going to continue playing with us, Richard?" Snow asked. "You usually stay up late at night anyway…"

"Yeah…" Richard said. "However, I still think I should be going… After all, it isn't… appropriate for me to continue being here."

"What are you talking about, Onii-chan?" Rachael asked.

"Now then, if you'll excuse us… Let's go, Rachael." Richard ignored his younger sister's question as he took her to the exit of the Lounge, with Freya and Korben following them. "I'll take everyone to their room, so… Good night."

"Good night, everyone…" Rachael said.

"Sleep well…" Korben said.

"See you tomorrow…" Freya said.

After finished their good night, Richard, Rachael, Korben and Freya left the room, leaving nine other Pokemon in the room.

"… So… They're finally gone." After seeing that Richard, Rachael, Korben and Freya were already gone, Zetarus spoke up. "Now the real game will finally begin."

"You've been waiting for this moment, huh?" Diego spoke up and looked at the Garchomp.

"Right." Zetarus said. "It's just us, adults, so we can play the games with more… advance rule now."

"Adult?" Claura said. "I must say that Korben looks more like an adult than you, Zetarus."

"That Kommo-o is just 15!" Zetarus said. "He's the youngest of us!"

"Huh?! Korben's even younger than Rachael and Freya?" Anastasia spoke up.

"Yeah." Zetarus said. "Rachael and Freya are both 16, so they're able to quickly befriend each other."

"Then… It means that Richard is 17, right? Since he's a year older than his younger sister…" Anastasia said.

"Right." Diego said. "And since all four of them are younger than 18, they aren't adults yet, unlike us, so it's better for us to play our games without them with us."

"Speaking of ages…" Diego spoke up. "How old are you all? I haven't asked your age yet."

"And before you ask, both Diego and I are 21." Zetarus said. "And I guess that the rest of you are older than both of us, right?"

"I guess…" Xavier said. "I'm 26, and Claura's 28, which means that she's two years older than me."

"Hm." Zetarus nodded to the Dragonite before turning his attention to Baromyteus and Anastasia. "What about you two? How old are you?"

"… I'm… 24." Anastasia answered.

"And I'm 30." Baromyteus answered.

"Huh?!" Everyone in the room, including me, looked at Anastasia and Baromyteus after hearing their ages.

"… What?" Baromyteus spoke up after realizing that everyone was looking at him and his sister.

"That's… impossible." Diego spoke up. "Are you sure that you two didn't miscalculate your age?"

"Of course we didn't!" Baromyteus said. "And what did you mean by 'impossible'?!"

"While I don't know much, but I know that the Fallen Crisis was 33 years ago… And you two told us that you were alive during that time, and you two also fought alongside and against the Hero/ine of Legend too…" Diego said.

"And even if we don't count the three years that we were sealed in the barrier, it's still 30 years apart from the Fallen Crisis and now." Zetarus said. "It would mean that you're just an infant during the Fallen Crisis, Baromyteus, and Anastasia, you aren't even born yet 30 years ago!"

"…" Anastasia and Baromyteus said nothing after hearing the words of the Garchomp and the Mega Charizard X.

"Actually… Their ages does make sense…" Claura spoke up. "Xavier and I are also alive during the time of the Fallen Crisis too.

"Huh?!" Everyone turned their attention to the Kingdra.

"Well… We were just whelps during that time…" Xavier said. "But yeah… Both of us are alive 33 years ago, and we both aren't even 30 yet."

"Tell us more about it." Diego said.

"It's because we both lived in Kingdom of the Dragonking." Claura said. "You remember that Kingdom of the Dragonking is located somewhere between time and space, right?"

"Yeah. What does it have to do with your ages anyway?" Zetarus asked.

"Because of its location, time in Kingdom of the Dragonking flows at a different pace as the time in the Pokemon World." Xavier said. "The pace of time in Kingdom of the Dragonking fluctuates a lot. It may flows at a faster pace, slow pace or at the same pace as the time in the Pokemon World."

"Which means that one day in the Pokemon World can either equal to two days or half a day in Kingdom of the Dragonking." Claura said. "And that's why Xavier and I are 28 and 26 despite that we were alive during the Fallen Crisis, since both of us spent most of our lives in Kingdom of the Dragonking."

"So…" Diego spoke up. "Since you two said that you left Kingdom of the Dragonking on a mission to find the Hidden Village of Dragon several years ago… It means that the time between then and now could be somewhere between one day to several millenniums, right?"

"Actually, the time in Kingdom of the Dragonking didn't fluctuate that much lately." Claura said. "The most of it would be plus five years or minus five years of the Pokemon World's time between now and then anyway."

"I see…" Zetarus said before turning their attention back to Anastasia and Baromyteus. "Then it means that you two spent your time—"

"No." Baromyteus spoke up. "We both never went to Kingdom of the Dragonking after the Fallen Crisis."

"Really?!" Zetarus said. "How old were the two of you during the Fallen Crisis anyway?"

"… I was 20, while Anastasia was 14 during the Fallen Crisis." Baromyteus answered.

"Then it doesn't make any sense!" Zetarus said. "33 years had passed since the Fallen Crisis to now, and not counting those three years, it's still 30 years between then and now, and only just ten years between your ages then and your ages now! However, both of you only aged for ten years during these 30 years! That's impossible!"

"I already told you!" Baromyteus said with an irritated voice. "I'm 30, and Anastasia's 24! And you all should know that I hate lying and deception to the deepest part of my heart!"

"Of course we knew that!" Claura spoke up. "Just tell us what happened to you! Did you two go to a place where time flows differently, just like Kingdom of the Dragonking?"

"… I think we didn't go to somewhere like that…" Anastasia said.

"Then why?" Claura said.

"… Are we going to spend our entire night arguing about my age and Anastasia's age?" Baromyteus said before he looked around. "Wait, where's Snow?"

"Huh?!" Everyone looked around the room and noticed that the Draconic Lapras that was with them was nowhere to be seen here, but before everyone could say anything else.

"… Are you looking for me?"

"Huh?" Everyone turned their attention to the entrance of the Lounge and saw Snow walking up to them. He was holding a tray with several teacups and a teapot on it.

"Snow?" Baromyteus spoke up. "Where have you been?"

"I went to the Kitchen to prepare us tea." Snow answered with a gentle voice. "It would be a long night for us, so a cup of tea might be welcomed for you all."

"And when did you leave this room?" Diego asked.

"At the same time that Korben and others left the room." Snow replied softly. "I didn't want to disturb you all so I didn't inform you."

"I see." Claura said.

"Then, allow me…" Snow started preparing tea in the cups and then distributing them to everyone, including me and Ryugan, who was waiting patiently for us to resume our game.

"… Since we were talking about our age…" Anastasia spoke up while Snow was preparing tea. "Snow, do you remember your age?"

"… As far as I could remember, I'm 46." Snow replied with a cold voice as he finished preparing tea and took the seat at where he was sitting before.

"Really?" Zetarus spoke up. "So, it turns out that you're the oldest among us, Snow."

"Is that so?" Snow replied softly. "What about the youngest among us?"

"That would be Korben, as he's only 15." Diego said.

"Actually… " Baromyteus spoke up. "There's someone in the Pendragon who's even much younger than Korben, and that Pokemon is in this room right now too."

"Who are you talking—Wait.." Zetarus was about to ask more when he seemed, along with everyone else in this room, seemed to realize something, and that made everyone turn attention to me…

"…" Even if I was capable of speaking, I wouldn't know what I would say in this situation. What they said, however, was right. Because I was created a few months before the Dragon Massacre happened, which meant that I haven't reach the first year of my life yet.

"Sirius…" Baromyteus spoke up. "… You aren't even one year old yet, right?"

"…" I slowly nodded. I had no reason to lie to him, after all.

"As I thought…" Baromyteus said. "Your age is only comparable to those of the infants. However, I can see that your mind is comparable to those of the full-grown adults… No… You're probably much more mature than any full-grown adults considering that you were created as a tool of war.

"…" I lowered my head a bit after hearing the Shiny Haxorus' words.

"… Which means that you can stay and join our game, Sirius." Baromyteus said. "Now, enough talking. Let's start our game before we spend all night talking nonsense."

"Agreed." Diego spoke up. "Now, I think we've enough with Daifugo for tonight. How about playing Poker again?"

"Agreed." Baromyteus said. "And what are we betting on this time?"

"Hm… The last time, when we played, we only bet on PokeCoin." Claura said. "Now, why don't we try betting on something different?"

"Agreed. "Baromyteus said. "We could use something more exciting than just PokeCoin."

"How about the loser of each round has to take of one piece of their clothes?" Zetarus spoke up with a perverted voice.

"…"

"…"

"…"

The room fell into silence after the Garchomp speaking. All that everyone did was staring at the Garchomp with a different look on their face. Claura had the expression of 'Really?!' on his face. Snow had a blank look on his face. Anastasia lowered her head shyly. Xavier pretended to look at something else around the lounge instead. Diego had the expression of anger on his face, thought a red blush was visible on his face too. For me, my face was hidden behind the mask I was wearing anyway, so no one could see my expression right now. Baromyteus, on the other hand…

"… Do you really want to die that much?" Baromyteus spoke up with a sinister voice as the sinister aura was emitted from the demonic armor suit he's wearing.

"What's wrong with that?" Zetarus asked as if he didn't do anything wrong.

"You fxxxxr…" Baromyteus continued speaking. "You are either very brave or very stupid for suggesting that my sister may have to strip in front of everyone's eyes while I'm here."

"Like that's going to happen." Zetarus continued speaking. "Since the day we played Poker, Anastasia never loses even a single match, and she won in almost every match. If I said it in the gambler's language, I would say that the lady luck is always on her side."

"No…" Anastasia spoke up. "… Luck is never on my side."

"... Beside…" After noticing that the mood started to become heavy, Zetarus quickly spoke up again. "I am not interested in seeing your sister naked anyway."

"You wretched beast…" Baromyteus spoke up with an angry voice. "Of course you didn't, you fxxxxxg—"

"Brother!" Anastasia quickly spoke up. "Don't say something like that!"

"It's fine, Anastasia." Zetarus spoke with a nonchalant voice, and with his arms crossed. "After all, I am a fxg."

"Z… Zetarus!" Anastasia said with a shocked voice as she looked at the Garchomp. "Y… You don't have to—"

"No, it's true." Zetarus continued speaking. "I'm always a fxg since as far as I could remember, since when I was still in the hellhole called Desert Prison."

"I knew it…" Claura spoke up. "So that's why Richard told you to stay away from any settlement in Venturnome. After all, I heard that homosexuality is illegal in Theocracy of Venturnome due to the 'teaching' of their stupid religion."

"At least you don't have to worry about it since no one in our group is going to judge you for being a qxxxr anyway." Baromyteus said. "Also, I heard that Dustorm Empire and Shadowlost Territory have already legalized homosexuality." Baromyteus said.

"Yeah." Zetarus said. "If you went to the Desert Prison, you'll find many fxgs like me too. After all, female Pokemon are as rare as a good Pokemon in Venturnome's Holy Council."

"Wait a minute…" Anastasia spoke up. "Zetarus, when you said earlier that those in Desert Prison played card games for 'benefit'… Don't tell me that—"

"Yeah. It's exactly what you think." Zetarus said with a plain voice. "And knowing how bad my luck in these games are, I've lose and been used by them so many times."

"Used?" Anastasia asked.

"In other word, raped." Zetarus replied with a nonchalant voice.

"O… Oh…" Anastasia gasped after realizing what she had done. "I am sorry for making you remember the bad memory—"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Zetarus said. "I already killed everyone theere when I escaped, so I've no hard feeling to them anymore."

"Look like I underestimated you big times, Zetarus." Baromyteus spoke up. "Fine, I'll humor you, but just this once. Okay?"

"Yay!" Zetarus let out a shout of happiness and jumped up after hearing the words of the Shiny Haxorus.

"Sigh…" Baromyteus sighed. "One second you're talking about you kill everyone in the Desert Prison, and the next second you're jumping for joy like a 3-year-old whelp. I don't know which word I should use to describe you, Zetarus."

"How about starting with 'weird'?" Zetarus said with a cheerful voice as he sat down. "Now, I'll just play and hope that Diego is the first one who loses all his clothes."

"W… WHAT?!" Diego spoke up with a flustered voice and a red blush on his face.

"I thought that you have seen that Mega Charizard X being naked for so many times already." Xavier spoke up.

"H… HEY!" Diego yelled at Xavier, though it was clear that his face had almost turned red from blushing.

"Hm… Now that you point it that way—" Zetarus pondered for a moment, only for him to get punched on his head.

"A… ARE WE GOING TO PLAY OR NOT?!" Diego yelled at the group. "I… IF WE AREN'T GOING TO PLAY, THEN I'M LEAVING!"

"Heh…" Zetarus looked at the Mega Charizard X with a perverted face. "Have I told you yet that you're really cute when you're flustering and blushing like this, Diego?"

"S… SHUT UP!" Diego yelled at the Garchomp.

"… Just play it already." Baromyteus said and glanced at Snow, Ryugan and me. "Those three have been waiting for us this whole time. Don't make them wait any longer.

"Oh!" Everyone looked at me, Snow and Ryugan with an apologetic look on their face.

"Don't worry about it, everyone." Snow said. "After all, I've been preparing and tasting the tea for you all this whole time, so it isn't a big deal for me."

"…" I nodded in the manner that they didn't have to apologize. After all, it's nice to see the Pendragon having a casual talk with each other. (Though the Pendragon's definition of 'casual' may leave something to be discussed…)

"ARE YOU READY TO START ANOTHER GAME, MASTERS?" Ryugan asked after seeing that the Pendragon was ready to continue playing the game.

"Bring it!" Everyone said.

---

-Meanwhile…

"… This world is but a stage, and every living creature is but an actor…"

A card was picked up from the table. The light from the moon showed that the card was the picture of the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil, with the word 'The Word' written under the picture.

"Each living creature, like every actor on the stage, was assigned the role since when their 'story' started…"

Another card was picked up as The World card was placed back on the table. This time, it was the card of a Pokemon, with the word 'The Fool' written under the picture of that Pokemon.

"Who was the one who assigned their role? We will never know…"

The third card was picked from the table. It was a card with the picture of Arceus summoning several light orbs down on the earth, and the word 'Judgment' was written under the picture.

"Among all the living creatures, there is a group of actors who shined much brighter than any of their fellow performers, and they were tasked with a much greater role than any other actors as well…" Two cards were picked up. The first of them was flipped, revealing to be a card with the picture of a Lucario holding a scale with his paw, and the word 'Justice' was written under it. "If the stars on the sky are all the actors that currently play their show on the stage, then this group of actors is the eighteen brightest stars on the sky…" The second card was raised to the moonlight that shone on it, revealing it to be the card with an Eevee looking at the stars on the sky, and the word 'The Star' was written under that picture.

"… However, wherever there is light, there must be darkness… Wherever there are the stars on the sky, there must be the voids in the very same sky…" Another card was picked and revealed to the moonlight, the card with the picture of Giratina and the word 'The Devil' written under it. "And now, the voids are swallowed the shining light on the sky that gave hope to the living creature on earth…" The card 'The Devil' was moved until it covered another card entirely. The card that was covered was the card with the picture of a Solgaleo and the word 'The Sun' under it. "And if it continued…" Both 'The Devil' card and 'The Sun' card were dropped on another card on the table, which was 'The World' card. Another card was then placed on top of the other three cards. It was the card of a single Pokemon standing among several corpses of dead Pokemon, and the word 'Death' was written under the picture.

"For me… I was assigned the duty of being the director of the show on the stage…" Another card was picked up. It was the card with a Pokemon that wore a sacred-looking uniform, with the word 'The Hierophant' written under the picture. "In ordinary cases, it would be considered inappropriate for the director to play the role on the stage too…"

All cards that were picked up fell down on the table as the being that was controlling them stood up and looked at the night sky above. The very same being then picked up another card, with was the card of a Pokemon that wore a cape and a mask on his face, and the word 'The Magician' was written under it. "It's time for me to walk up onto the stage and take the role of the actor… The role of one of eighteenth brightest stars on the sky…"

"… The stars told me everything…" The being spoke up as they gazed at the night sky. "The ten voids had reached the northernmost part of the sky, and another bright star was extinguished. Now, the ten voids are moving toward the southernmost part of the sky… And so do all the eighteen brightest stars on the sky except one."

"… And so, another show on the stage is about to start…" The being walked back to the table and looked at all the cards on the very same table. "Will this be the overture of a greater show, or will it be the final play of the entire show? There's only one thing that can tell…"

Another card was picked from the table. This time, it was a card with a picture of a wheel with many strange letters written on it, and the words' Wheel of Fortune' was written under the picture.

"… For now, let me present you with another show that's about to be played on the stage. The actors are the brightest stars and the voids on the sky, and the stage is the sacred land. What will happen on the stage? What role would each actor play? How would this story end? Let the show begin…"

To Be Continued…

---

Dragon of Vale: And now, the eighth tail of A Dragon's Tail has officially started! This time, the stage is Theocracy of Venturnome, as you might guess, and the main actor on the stage is Sirius! How many of you are able to guess it right that it would be Sirius' Tail this time? After all, Sirius has been a quiet character who doesn't get many roles so far, but it will change in this tail! Oh, and this tail is called 'Monstrosity'… I mean, you might have figured out that the name of every tail so far is the opposite of the quality that the protagonist of that tail possessed… But isn't 'Monstrosity' the quality that Sirius possessed? After all… Look at what happened during the Dragon Massacre… So, why would the name of this tail break the trend of every other tail's name so far? Only one way to find out…

For this chapter, I didn't intend to make it this long. At first, it was really close, so I decided to put the scene of the Pendragon playing some game, which made this chapter much longer than I intended to…

One last thing that I need to tell you all… This tail will contain some controversial topics, as you might have seen a bit in this chapter. If you feel like it has gone too far, you can always tell me and I may tone down the story as you suggested.

---

Q&A Session:

Tail 8-1 - Question: What do you do when you have free time?

Answer:

-Korben: Training and meditating, of course. Training helps my body become stronger, and meditating helps my mind become stronger too. Outside training, I also enjoy reading a nice book too, especially since I'm from Hidden Village of Dragon, and I want to learn more about the world outside my home.

-Claura: Bathing, of course. I'm a Water type Pokemon, so I enjoy soaking myself in the water, but since I'm always on land, I tend to enjoy taking a bath whenever I could, and Xavier always complains a lot that I took forever to take a bath.

-Xavier: ZZZ…

-Anastasia: I enjoy reading some novel and have tea party with my friends, and I also enjoy take a walk alone for sightseeing too, because seeing a beautiful atmosphere always inspires me so much.

-Baromyteus: Does going into the wilderness and challenge any strong foes there count? After all, battle always makes my blood boil, and I like the feeling of it and always hunger for more.

-Diego: To be honest, I don't really have a hobby, because my life is always a battle so far, and I didn't really have time for anything else. Lately, however, I enjoy spending time alone quietly to calm myself down think about everything. It helps me cool down and let me think about everything much clearer.

-Zetarus: Hunting and playing cards. I found that hunting is like a game for me, and it helps me hone my skill too. For playing cards, it has been my hobby since when I was still in that hellhole, because it's one of a very few thing I could do when I was there.

-Rachael: Reading stories and gardening, of course! I always love reading romantic stories, and I also love taking care of all plants that I grow with my own paw too!

-Richard: Reading the chronicle may seem like a chore for everyone else, but for me, it's a hobby. Other than that, I also enjoy playing a tactical game, such as chess, too.

-Freya: L… Like Rachael, I also enjoy reading stories too. Other than that, I also enjoy doing a simple crafting from whatever I could find, such as a crown or a necklace made from flower…

-Snow: Making tea and coming up with a new recipe is the hobby of mine. I am a tea connoisseur, so I always enjoy doing something that involves tea. For the recipe part, I want everyone to be happy when they eat my food, so I always try to come up with a new recipe that would make them happy when they try it.

-Sirius: … (Dragon of Vale: Sirius said that it likes chasing after something, as well as being petted by someone else.)

---

Question from Ridin Valon: To: Richard Lustermist
From: Rose Armornal
You're... Richard Lustermist, I assume? I do believe that this would be our first meeting through a letter. Please, tell me more about yourself. I am Rose Armornal. Hundred and three years old. I'm a Shiny Genesect. My weapon is unique: I can call forth weapons out of thin air around myself to use. This is called the Drive Arsenal. It's...(extremely detailed conversation about the Drive Arsenal which bores any normal person).
...So, what about yourself?

-Richard: To be frank, I am not keen on the idea of giving the story of myself to someone whom I never met or speak to before, but I'll humor you since you seem to not be an idiot.

As you already know, my name is Richard Lustermist the Latios, and I'm 17 years old. My weapon is the ancient chronicle that contains every knowledge that exists in my world, meaning that it would be possible for any mediocre creature to use it. Not me, of course, because I'm superior to them, and it allows me to learn something that other living creatures would never hope to even grasp a single fragment of it, such as (Continue speaking about something that's very detailed and hard to understand…)

Now that it comes to this, I think I'm starting to be interested in another world too. I hope we get a chance to speak to each other again.

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Question from Parousia45: To Diego (From Tyson Drought): So, you must love battles huh? Do you want to spar with me? You can have your boyfriend join the fight so I can have that sheep support me.

-Diego: Well… I was a gladiator, after all… But actually, deep down, I'm not really fond of battle, unlike Baromyteus, so… Wait… WHAT?! WHAT THE FXXK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! ZETARUS ISN'T MY BOYFRIEND! DO NOT SAY SOMETHING STUPID LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN, YOU FXXXXR!.

Dragon of Vale: But the writer never mentions Zetarus' name, didn't he? So, how did you know that he was referring to Zetarus when he wrote 'your boyfriend'?

Diego: ENOUGH! I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE SXXT! FINE! If you really want to get your ass kicked that much, then I'll show you how a gladiator fights! Now, bring it on! I'll fxxxxxg impale you, you fxxxxxg fxxxxxxxt!

Dragon of Vale: Diego… I don't know if he's angry or flustered right now, but… Whatever…