Culus, Thilia, Kapun, and Kair have arrived at the Cognes Research Facility, where they plan to find and steal the machinery and sensors Chain use to keep track of Shadow Workers. Right now, Kair is going for an initial scouting of the openings in Cognes, while Culus, Thalia, and Kapun rest for a brief time to ready for the invasion.

Angira and Genevieve, now aware of some of the Shadow Workers that reside in Key, promise to keep Pandora and Sable unaware of their new knowledge and give them the opening they need while Chain believes them to be still in the dark.

Helios is willingly being transformed into a Shadow Worker in Cognes, alongside Riley, due to his ballooning insecurities and the brainwashed Queen Arya striking at a moment of weakness. Phosophor, overseeing the process, prepares for the arrival of the 'final brother'.

Brylle, with many people to train, helps those in Lition train the Aspects, unaware of what is going on in Nucifera. Pandora and Sable 'interrogate' Relm in the infirmary, though in reality they are simply admonishing him for his reckless actions and prepare to lock away key memories that they think would reveal their deceptions. Ekib remains asleep, his mind already accessed as evidence for those very deceptions.

Selene, having spent the last few weeks practicing both the polarity shift that would give her sisters more bodies to work with and the use of the Rhythm to keep it under control, now readies for her joint performance alongside the Temptress for the Festival of Enamorous. Much happier now that Relm has been shown to be well and more confident for an unknown reason after dancing under the influence of the Rhythm, she now helps the stagehands prior to the dance itself, all while readying herself for the dance and unaware of Eve's plan.

Rowan and Eve conduct Eve's attempt to rescue Selene from the grasp of Chain. However, they must grapple with a giant obstacle - Zennitas, while ostensibly trying to 'help' Eve and Selene escape, is toying with them, with the final result (no matter what happens) being that Eve is carted off to Lord Black to be hypnotized and brainwashed into becoming his loyal pawn for his planned revolution of Eonia. Even with Eve managing to tear off the cover of the lie using her newly-found talent, they're left at an impasse with Zennitas's new talent blocking every solution they have. Now, they've traveled to Chain's complex in Nucifera, uncovering several identities as truly being Shadow Workers, including who Eve thought was a relatively uninvolved friend, Anna. Though they now know Selene's location, Eve despairs that, due to Chain's now-discovered ability to track Selene, the plan was doomed from the start.

Light, disillusioned with Chain's empty promises and his father's lack of action, takes matters into his own hands. Now free of Nero's hypnosis that ensured his loyalty to his father's cause and with new access to the Aspects thanks to a mysterious malevolent voice in his head, he schemes to give Glacia, who he dismisses as entirely incompetent, access to the Aspects to ingratiate himself to the King, while pushing Mentali further against his brother.


"You're going to fail, Kite."

… this wasn't a memory.

Culus blinked - he was in a world of endless mist. There was no horizon, none that he could see. Instead, everything faded away into smoky, blurry lines. Wafts of a steam-like substance rose from the surface he was standing on, a pool of water that wasn't wet. He had no reflection, though the 'sky' above did.

And, standing in front of him, was an Eevee staring at him with sharp gold eyes. The Eevee's posture and fur were perfect, not a hair out of place. There was no smile on their face.

"I'm going to fail?" he parroted.

"If your success were possible, I'd support you with all of my heart. But your dream is an illusion, and your ambition of revenge a delusion." The Eevee closed their eyes before shaking their head morosely. "If I were you, Kite, I would run. Run, survive as a hermit, and live the rest of your life in peace. If nothing else, then drown yourself at sea. Anything but this."

"... who are you?" Culus asked. A second passed, before he added a demand on top of it. "And stop calling me Kite. My name is Culus." He wasn't going to be polite to a person who suggested that he commit suicide. Not until they began showing it first.

"My name?" The Eevee's smile grew bitter. "It's been a long, long time since someone's asked me my name. I am Culus, Kite."

Culus blinked. "I am Culus. You're-"

A thought occurred to him. Yellow eyes on an Eevee - that was the signature trait of the Eonian royal family and nobility, including all other colors except brown. He was an Eevee royal that called themself Culus - no, an Eevee royal that was named Culus.

"You're Prince Culus," Culus corrected. The Eevee - who he decided to call 'Prince' in his head' - nodded. "But - I only have your memories. The Collar collects memories, so what are you?"

"I'm nothing more than an ego of the Prince, what remains of the original. You, ultimately, are in charge, Kite."

Culus looked the Prince straight in the eye. "It doesn't really feel like it, Prince. And stop calling me Kite."

"Then what would you like me to call you?"

"Culus, obviously."

The Prince shook his head. "But I, too, am Culus. The original. Kite is the other name that you have taken."

"It's been forced upon me."

"As has everything else."

'As has-' This bastard!

But Culus bit his lip. There were more important things to worry about. "What can you tell me about Cognes Research Facility? Do you have access to what other memories are stored in the collar?"

"I do."

"Then-"

"But none of them will help you."

"..."

"I must repeat this, Kite; any other action you take will be better than walking back into the den of he who chains us. He has powers beyond what you remember, and beyond what you can hope to deal with. He adapts faster than you can, he is stronger than you'll ever be, and he has more advantages than anyone else under the sun."

"Even so, I have to. There's no other way to free myself."

"Even if you find what you're looking for and leave with your mind intact, you won't be able to free yourself. The chain that binds you is attached to your soul itself. He has you forever in his grasp, unless you yourself are broken, Kite."

Poetry and distraction. "Nothing you say to me will pull me away from my goal. I will survive, I will free myself, and I will succeed. And I. Am. Not. Kite."

The Prince looked upon Culus sadly. "Then you will fall, and we will remain in the clutches of whoever finds us until the end of time."

Culus scoffed. "'Until the end of time'?"

"The Collar resists damage, and your hour has been etched into its memory already." Culus hadn't quite considered the fact that the Collar would, logically, store his memories as well, though in retrospect, it had been an obvious conclusion to make. "Should you develop an ego of your own, we will be trapped here together forever."

The idea… he wouldn't let it happen. "But I won't. I will put this Collar behind me, and live my life as a free man." He stared at the Prince. "Is there any device to remove the Collar in the facility?"

"... at its heart," the Prince eventually allowed.

Culus blinked. "He really has a device to do that?"

"He does. Sometimes a Collared wanes in usefulness, and he wants to recycle materials. He removes the Collar, then kills the one it was attached to. It remains at the heart of the facility, deep in its center, as he wanted to be efficient first and foremost when it came to the Collared."

Brutal - but a good sign. "What about the process for becoming a Shadow Worker?"

"A Cored?"

"A… what?"

"One of us who has a Core, not a Collar."

Culus blinked - and then shrugged. "Sure."

"The process takes place near the heart of the facility, at its most protected location. It takes a little under a day to complete the process, but can be canceled part of the way through, though the farther along the process the soon-to-be-Cored is, the more dangerous it is. He has only ever stopped it to document the dangers, and if they ever make it past 50%, it is over."

… Rowan…

"Is there a way to prevent Chain from taking advantage of any Cored I find?"

"The use of a tuning fork, a special instrument designed specifically for the Cored, allows their innate being to be changed."

"The innate being?"

"The state that defines a Collared or Core. It defines who we are, in a way that cannot be resisted. I imagine you know, instinctually, what your innate being was declared to be."

His innate being? It…

...

"You'll keep those things in mind, I'm sure - so remember, you're a thief, you killed that Nidorina guard, and you broke the Life Harp. And now… adieu!" With a shimmer of the air, the Zoroark disappeared into nothingness.

...

One of his first memories - the thing he almost always said, when the Collar took command of him and forced him to declare his 'guiltiness'.

"I'm a thief, a murderer, and the one who broke the Life Harp." The last of which was untrue, and yet he felt it reverberate through his entire being. Something he could never hope to resist.

"A lucky innate being," the Prince remarked. "The thief and murderer portions denote no loyalty to any one being, though they stop you from declaring innocence." He wasn't innocent, so it would have been a lie anyway. "The last would force you to break the Life Harp if you were to be in its presence."

"That's still awful."

"It is far better than what could have been. The vast majority of current Collared and Core have an innate being defining them as Phosophor's slave - him, and the rest of his 'family'. Perfectly obedient - and since he isn't needlessly cruel, perfectly happy in that obedience."

Culus connected some dots. "So, the Zoroark isn't my Master?"

"He likely has an innate privilege to overwrite your innate being, as he had done in the beginning. However, if he knows not how to overwrite your innate being past the initialization, then he is like everyone else and is forced to use the Commands to force you into different 'modes'. Even that isn't enough to fully control you, though it is enough to stop you."

So he wouldn't be forced into service immediately after meeting the Zoroark - though, once he removed the Collar, 'innate beings' and the like wouldn't matter anymore to him. More than that, back to Rowan… "And the tuning fork you mentioned?"

"A convenient tool of Phosophor's to overwrite the innate being of the Cored. While the Collared have the innate privilege from the master, the Cored can have that innate being changed by being stabbed by a tuning fork."

Culus's eyes widened slightly. "And it doesn't do anything to non-Cored?"

"Nothing - though, the fork needs to draw blood."

That was only a minor problem, considering how Key had healers. The whole time, they'd been looking for a way to sense Cored - to discern them from normal people. And tuning forks did that for them.

A simultaneous sensor and defense mechanism against the Cored, against the Shadow Workers.

"What happens to a Cored's 'innate being' when they're stabbed with the tuning fork?"

"You brush against the edge of my knowledge." The Prince said. "For information relevant to you, however, the Cored are knocked unconscious upon being stabbed with a tuning fork."

Perfect.

"Then we have our goal."

"Be warned, though - Phosophor knows of this weakness. He will adapt his strategies if you succeed, so that the tuning forks no longer work. How long it will take depends on how far he's forseen a turn of events such as this."

Culus's mood dropped a little.

"Furthermore, Phosophor will attempt to combat the use of the tuning fork, either through the application of the theft of any tuning forks taken before their copies are made, or even after the copies are made, with the murder of its creator and the destruction, or theft, of the records of its recreation."

Culus's mood dropped even more.

"In different lives, I have been made into Phosophor's slave. In each of the lives, I have seen how he deals with problems - decisively, if they ever show themselves to be a serious risk. No matter what 'sensor' you apply, no matter what trick, Phosophor will find a way around it. Even without the Collared and Cored, the Fusion's intellect and ruthlessness is what sets him apart, even from other Epsilon Fusions. It sets him higher than anything Key can throw at him."

"... why are you helping me? No… if you believe it's doomed already, why bother saying anything?"

"We've tarried for too long - it's already too late for you to run away." The Prince smiled. It had no malice, no joy, just a sad sympathy. "You've lived your life well, Kite. You've rediscovered powers that were long since locked away."

The only thing that he could think of were the Aspects, in regards to that. But he was the first to use it. "Rediscovered?"

"It won't help you to know. Instead, I'll give whatever knowledge I can, in the short remaining time here. They'll try to wake you up soon, if not now."

The steam was rising faster - Culus was running out of time. He had to ask a smart question fast. "Knowing what you know and what my overall goal is, what's the absolute best thing I could do in there."

"Beyond killing Phosophor?"

"You said he was too powerful - be realistic."

"Once you remove your Collar, have one of your friends wipe the Terminal you used to remove it, then destroy it."

Culus blinked. "But if it can remove Collars-"

"Phosophor uses the data in the connected Terminals, both in Cognes and Nucifera, to keep track of all his Shadow Workers and maintain crucial data for plans moving forward - data he can't hope to hold in Parasel's prodigious mind. Don't try to take it for yourself, he'll steal it back and kill you as a needed response. Wiping the data clean from the terminal will set him back in both managing Shadow Workers and working on whatever plans he has, and destroying the Terminal… will destroy us as well."

"Us?"

"The hours engraved on the Collar, Kite." The smoke rose. "Don't tell this plan to anyone - simply act as if you're going to remove your Collar and leave. Make sure no one sees you - among your friends and allies, there are those you can't trust."

The smoke rose to the top.

"May fortune favor us, Kite."

...

"Culus? Culus?"

Culus's eyes snapped open from where he was napping. "Y-yeah?"

"Get up, we're burning daylight!" Kair shook him a little more as Thilia and Kapun watched.

Culus blinked, a little confused. "But dawn hasn't happened yet?"

Kapun stepped forward. "Culus, did you recover any memories?"

"... no," Culus said, to which Kair sighed. "Instead, I got answers straight from the source."

Kair paused. "'Straight from the source'?" he parroted. "What source?"

"The ancient Prince of Eonia himself." He pushed himself to stand. "I don't know how, but the memories of him and my former lives have banded together into a single 'ego'. I talked to the ego and got some of the answers I wanted."

"Really?" Thilia asked. "Like what?"

Culus thought for a second. "Well… he told me where I'd be able to remove the Collar - a place called 'The Terminal'. It can remove the Collars of any Collared that Phosophor wants to recycle - according to the Prince, Phosophor kills them right afterward."

Thilia shivered a little. "That's… awful."

"It's at 'the heart' of the Facility'," Culus added. "The deepest part."

Kapun leaned forward. "What else?"

"I found out the 'sensor' that we'll be looking for."

Kair blinked. "The sensor?"

"They're called 'tuning forks' - if you stab a Shadow Worker with it, they'll instantly be knocked unconscious, but if you stab anyone else with it, they'll just be…" Culus shrugged. "Well, nothing happens. Other than them being stabbed."

"... that's weird," Kapun said, tilting his head. "Why would they make that?"

"It's not supposed to be used as a sensor," Culus explained. "It's a way to rewrite a Cored's - what he called Shadow Workers, probably because of that crystal device that I found out about a few days ago that's inside the Shadow Workers - 'innate being'."

Upon the questioning glances, he elaborated. "It's what 'defines' a Collared or Cored. I'm a thief, a murderer, I broke the Life Harp." The words slipped out even easier, outside of his head - automatically once he started, out of his control. "That's my 'innate being', the identity the Collar forces me to keep. Each Collared and Cored has one - usually, just being Phosophor's happy slave, him and his family's."

"And the tuning fork changes that?" Kapun asked sharply. "So if Rowan's been turned, we can use it on him?"

"Exactly - that was my question, after 'how long it takes to become a Shadow Worker'."

"And Sable too?!" Thilia asked, voice rising a little.

"... maybe," Culus hedged. Rowan said that she was controlled by Selene, and her power was something else entirely, he guessed - else, the Prince would have probably mentioned it alongside the Cored and the Collared.

Probably.

"So the thing that we're looking for is the tuning fork, correct?" Kair asked. "It allows the alteration of a Shadow Worker's internal 'programming' and only works on Shadow Workers?"

"Right," Culus confirmed. Then he paused for a split-second. "Only on Cored, to be precise - the people with that crystal device in their chest that Slate can sense, the 'Core'."

Kair narrowed his eyes. "And the person that told you all of this is…"

"An 'ego' of the former Prince - Prince Culus, of Eonia," Culus shortly answered. "He told me everything that I wanted to know."

Kair leaned forward. There was a strange look in his eyes. "An ego?" he asked.

Culus felt a little creeped out by how interested Kair was. "An ego," Culus repeated. "The Prince had its own thoughts - I didn't have access to its memories, but it could answer my direct questions."

"... can we trust it?" Kair asked, narrowing his eyes. "After all, if it had the memories of the Prince, it might have the memories that were made when the collar was on someone who was loyal to Phosophor."

Culus didn't say anything. The 'ego' did have such memories, since the time the Prince was properly alive was centuries upon centuries past. If the Prince knew anything about Phosophor, it would undoubtedly be through the lens of however many lives Phosophor had controlled with the Collar.

"I don't know," he said, a little lamely. "But it's a step forward." He didn't bother saying what the Prince had said about everything being useless, how he'd already lost. It didn't have a place when they were at what was possibly their lowest point already. "We'll test it against any Shadow Workers that we come up against - if we have no other option, anyway. For now, let's just try to go in as deep as we can."

Kapun nodded. Kair sighed, then grabbed both of them, along with Thilia.

"I hope that the three of you are ready," the Dragonite murmured.

Culus wasn't. He never really would be.

Kair flew them through the forest once more. As they flew , Kair began to explain - the 'entrance' they had found was in fact an emergency exit, a trapdoor that was cleverly concealed. Kair had managed to find it on the second day of searching. Genevieve was already there, waiting for them with an impatient scowl on her face.

"What took the four of you so long?" she bit out.

Kair gave an extremely abridged version of what Culus had told him - mostly just 'Culus found what we're looking for', along with the existence of the 'ego'. Genevieve seemed confused by the way she tilted her head, but shook it off after a short second.

"It doesn't matter," she said plainly. "If you find what we're looking for quickly, all the better to you. Lady Angira and I have returned to our 'posts', as they were. Slate has woken up, but Lady Angira has given him an abridged version of events so that he doesn't suspect a thing."

"There's very little he'll be able to do, even if Chain were to make him go against us," Kair remarked. "He's not mastered the Aspects yet, and though he's skilled in combat, he's unevolved at the end of the day. Not yet fully able to tap into his potential."

"It's not something Lady Angira particularly wants to provoke," Genevieve continued. "After this, I'll go to 'make sure' that the interrogation with the Eevee is going well. I won't push too hard, since it's too early to spook Pandora, but keeping her on her toes and committed to her lie will be important for the next few hours."

"Thank you," Kair nodded. "The amount of help that you've already given has been nothing short of invaluable." He turned to Culus and the others. "With her help, we knocked out five of these exits, as they were near too many of the Shadow Workers. This is the one that doesn't have as many of them milling around. She's going to teleport us in soon."

Kair locked eyes with the three of them. "If you have any reservations, say them now. Kapun, once we're inside, I won't be able to help you anymore."

There was a strange way that Kair said that - he was hiding something, something that Culus couldn't place. A strange feeling crawled up his spine.

But the Prince had said that it was too late to back down, whether they wanted to or not. For whatever reason, Culus was inclined to agree with him.

As for Thilia and Kapun, there was no response. Looking at them, they didn't even move. He could only wonder as to what the two of them were thinking.

"... alright," Kair said mournfully. Mournfully? "Then, Genevieve, take us in."

...

The atmosphere was tense as they walked through clean, silver, tiled hallways. Genevieve had taken very little time, if no time at all, to teleport them in and out. There was a certain distaste on her face as she teleported them in, as if being in some place like this was an insult in and of itself. Maybe it was, though it spoke to everyone's professionalism (meager as it was in his, Thilia, and Kapun's case) that they didn't raise an issue about it.

Kair was hovering a foot or so off of the ground - according to a small question he'd asked, it was because of the sound his scales and claws would make on the floor. How he was doing it, also according to him, was through the use of the draconic energy that allowed the thick muscular dragons to fly easier.

In Dratini and Dragonair, the energy itself was enough to allow for flight, even if it was slow. Dragonite like Kair only used it to propel themselves and supplement their wings to move at speeds belying their size. Kair was using it at an intense level for his impromptu levitation, though wrapped tight so that it wouldn't give psychics any more information than if they just scanned the four of them directly.

Thilia, because of her small leg size and remaining exhaustion from the use of her talent earlier this morning, sat on Kapun as he plodded along. Kapun had decided to abstain from the use of his talent, saying that he wasn't used to using different forms, not enough to justify its use out of combat in tense circumstances. Culus simply walked alongside Kapun, making sure both of them didn't accidentally scrape their claws on the ground and alert any sharp-eared Shadow Workers.

Thilia wasn't doing nothing, though. Kapun had whispered to Culus, a little earlier on, that they were using the 'antenna-head' protocol. What that amounted to was just using Thilia to sense any foreign emotional sources, anything at all, so that they knew if a Shadow Worker approached. Abstaining from fine-tuning the power to thoughts as she was, she could sense other psychics hopefully before they could sense her.

They regularly 'encountered' Shadow Workers with Thilia using her sense to detect them before they could detect her - they were everywhere here, but on low-alert, as it seemed. Luckily, though, whenever it happened, Kair would drag them into nearby enclosed, unused space, ones he could find quickly. By the fourth time it had happened, Culus's heart had stopped beating so fast.

At some point, though, Culus realized something. It was about the time they hid from the eleventh-group of Shadow Workers, hiding in a familiar closet. Judging from the small amount of Shinx fur in a corner - a corner much like one, he'd crouched by in a previous room they'd hidden in - he had a simple conclusion to make.

"We've been going around in circles," he muttered, loudly enough so that the rest of them could hear him. "Kair, have you mapped this place out well?"

"I've tried," Kair muttered back. "But I couldn't exactly label landmarks, now could I? We've gone in farther than-"

"We haven't gone in any farther," Culus countered. "This was the third place that we've hidden in. Do you actually know where we're going?"

Silence.

"Damn it," he groused. Worse was the fact that he didn't know where to go to find the Terminal, other than 'deep in the facility'. He imagined that the Prince would have known, but Culus had focused on what to look for and its location, not the actual damn route. He looked at Thilia, and saw that she was dozing a little. "Thilia, which way are we supposed to go?"

"From here?" Thilia asked, snapping out of it. "I think… left." Thilia winced. "I… haven't recovered as much as I thought I had."

Culus clicked his tongue. In retrospect, 'left' had been the obvious choice. From this room, 'left' would lead them further along the loop, and since they were still early in the loop, the correct exit from the loop that they would have to take was probably further along.

Then he thought a bit more. Considering how it was a loop, that meant that he could knock off half of the loop, since Thilia would say 'right' if it was far enough in the loop that heading back to the last few rooms they hid in would be the smarter option. It meant that, while they had a long distance to travel, it wouldn't be too long.

… unless, of course, there were Shadow Workers behind them, in which case Thilia would always say 'left', as that would stop them from encountering Shadow Workers.

"I'm sorry," Thilia reiterated, bowing her head.

"Don't worry," Kair said. "Save your strength for when we really need it."

Culus nodded, though it didn't help that much. There were too many factors involved to use Thilia's 'luck' consistently. While it would always give them the right answer, it would never give them the right context for that answer, and making deductions based off of that would be based on luck as well.

This was just the kind of thing that had got him in lethal trouble in Pinnaleis - relying on things that he'd overestimated. Of course, the thing he'd overestimated then was himself, not someone else, but the overall point still stood.

"... hey, Culus?" Kapun asked, knocking Culus out of his thoughts. "Did 'the Prince' tell you where we'd be able to find Rowan?" Culus didn't say anything. 'The most protected location', according to the Prince. In its own way, it was enough of an answer for Kapun, who bowed his head. "... is it too late to stop him from becoming a Shadow Worker?"

"It… probably is," Culus whispered back. "But that's only for him becoming a Cored. It's not too late to stop him from being their slave, a Shadow Worker. As long as we get there in time, or get there with a tuning fork, we can stop them from placing that initial definition on him. They have their memories, so with the right definition, we'll be able to put Rowan back to normal." Assuming that they managed to get through the protections.

"... right." Kapun's claws flexed. "Then it's up to us. To find Rowan… no, to find a tuning fork, to help Rowan."

"Right." Now, they had to… "Kapun?"

Kapun was walking to the door of the closet that they had sequestered themselves in. With a powerful push of his muscles, he opened the door.

"Kapun?!" Culus's voice echoed with Kair's. "Kapun, what are you doing?"

"... I can see the way…" Even as Thilia gripped Kapun in terror, still on top of him, Kapun opened the door. "I can see!"

A second later, he burst out of the door, ignoring Culus and Kair entirely. Thilia almost screamed as he tore out into the hallway, running faster than Culus had ever seen him run in his life.

Kair's face paled. "No, not yet…" he muttered. Moments later, with a burst of speed and a flap of his wings, he rushed out after Kapun. Culus cursed, barely managing to keep up with Kair using a Quick Attack and latching on to his scales with his sharp claws.

"What's gotten into Kapun?!" Culus asked, as they trailed Kapun through the research facility. "Has he gone crazy?"

"I don't know!" Kair said, flapping his wings faster. Though Kapun was fast, he couldn't keep up with a flying Dragonite - a couple of seconds after their two-sentence long conversation, he and Kair had caught up with the Deino. "Kapun, what are you doing?!"

There was no response from Kapun - instead, he rushed faster through the facility. Kair grumbled a small curse before grabbing Kapun's tail forcefully.

In a show of mighty force, Kapun ripped his tail right out of Kair's grasp. Kair blinked as Kapun sped up yet again.

"We're boned," Culus muttered as a pair of Cored passed by them, blinking heavily as the four of them rushed by. A few seconds after they passed those Shadow Workers, an alarm bell started ringing. "We are so completely boned."

"Not. Helping!" Kair hissed. "Kapun, what's gotten into you!"

Kapun didn't respond. A second later, Kair reached out an arm as, shivering in terror, Thilia jumped off of Kapun, who still wasn't slowing down. Luckily, Kair caught her.

And then, out of nowhere, Culus saw a door in front of him. Quickly, Culus remembered that they were in the section of the facility that was faster to get to from the left. And this door - they hadn't gone down this hallway last time.

There was a keypad near the door, and Kapun stopped almost as fast as he had started moving. In under half a second, he punched a password into the keypad - and it was accepted.

"Kapun?" Kair asked, a little hesitantly.

The door opened, and they walked inside to find a collection of strange, two-pronged rods. Looking at them made Culus feel a little weird inside.

Kapun blinked. "I…" He swayed a little bit on the spot. "What did I…"

"Kapun!" Kair rushed forward and grabbed his son, pulling him into a hug. "What happened?!"

"I…" Kapun groaned, before leaning into the hug. "I'm not sure. I just… I felt like we needed to get where we had to go faster, and then… well, everything was a blur after that."

He felt that they 'needed to get where they had to go faster'. Culus frowned. That didn't explain how this happened…

… unless…

"Kapun, has anything like this happened before?" Culus asked.

Kapun blinked. "I… I'm not sure… I…" Then Kapun gasped. "... it has!"

Kair stared at Kapun. "When?!"

"In Lition - Sable had gone missing, the day before I went to Nucifera. She had accidentally teleported-"

"When we went searching for her with Brylle?" Kair asked.

"Y-Yeah. I'd gotten frustrated that we hadn't found Sable. I was a bit more 'in control' back then, but I was fast, and I knew how to get there somehow…" Kapun looked around. "Where are we - and what are those things?" he said, pointing to strange, two-pronged rods lying around.

Culus' mind worked quickly. This had happened before. In Lition, Kapun had gone into this state, before searching for Sable, then finding her. If he had replicated the feat - if Kapun somehow found what they were looking for, then this had to be either the Terminal, where people were being turned into Cored and Collared, or…

"Intruders!" a voice shouted. Culus turned to see a large Pawmot standing there, looking furious. "Stop-"

Culus moved fast, grabbing one of the two-pronged rods and throwing it end-first at the Pawmot. Its eyes widened, before it tried to dodge in the incoming rod.

However, halfway through, the rod glowed pink before its trajectory curved. Still mid-air, the Pawmot could do nothing, and it stabbed into his arm.

The instant that happened, the Pawmot's eyes rolled up in their sockets. Everyone stared as the Pawmot just laid there.

"What just…"

"Thanks, Thilia." Thilia nodded - Culus figured that she was the reason why the rod changed trajectory when it did. Even if she maybe hadn't understood what he was doing, she supported him regardless. "These are the tuning forks," Culus explained. He ran forward and grabbed the tuning fork from the Pawmot's arm, before shaking them. "Get up."

Kapun's eyes widened. "Culus, he's a-"

The Pawmot's eyes snapped open. Before Kapun could say anything that would screw them over, Culus spoke over him. "You're our friend and you'll happily do whatever we tell you to do. You know everything that you knew before, but you're on our side, not Chain's."

The Pawmot shivered a little - then...

"... okay…"

Culus did nothing as the Pawmot got up, staring them down. Eventually…

"... so, what will we do now?"

"Take us to the heart of Cognes - the Terminal. If any Shadow Workers get near, alert us so that we can hide."

The Pawmot screwed up his nose, but nodded. "They know that you're here, though."

"There's nothing we can do about that," Culus said, waving his tail as a gesture to accent the point. "We can't run anymore, though."

The Pawmot shrugged. "Alright, then." He turned to the rest. "So, when are we going?"

Kapun's mouth just hung. "I… what…? But you just-"

The Pawmot pointed at the tuning fork. "That thing made me your friend, just like he said. I'll do what you tell me to do."

"I…"

"Remember what I said?" Culus reminded Kapun. "How the purpose of the tuning forks is to change the 'definition' of a Cored on the fly? This guy's a Cored, but he's not a Shadow Worker - not now that we've gotten to him."

Culus didn't miss the moral implications of doing essentially what Chain did, but he didn't have the time to worry about that with things as fraught as they were. They'd have to 'retune' the Pawmot to turn on Chain and hurt as many of them as he could - they couldn't return with the Pawmot.

After all, they were only the new users of the tuning forks. Chain were experienced in their use - they could easily steal the tuning forks back, and remove any traces of this new 'identity' of Pawmot. It would be utterly stupid to continue to trust the Pawmot. Any Definition that they gave him would be overwritten by an infiltrator with a tuning fork. It was an awful thought, but one that was unavoidable if you went to the most logical conclusion. No matter what, the Pawmot's new Definition wouldn't be permanent - not unless they were absurdly lucky with Chain's possible response, which they very much weren't up to now.

In that way, he was glad that he was a Collared over a Cored. He would need the Zoroark to personally overwrite who he was - it wasn't at the ease of a simple injury by the tuning fork to completely erase his dreams, motivations, and bonds. Of the two prisons, a Collared was more preferable, assuming, of course…

His eyes widened. "Are there special passwords in use to put the Cored in different Modes?"

The Pawmot shrugged. "Hell if I know. I've never seen it used."

… drats. Worse, if there were modes, then that meant that Phosophor didn't even trust the Shadow Workers with that kind of information. And if so…

"We have to stay on our guard," he announced, almost needlessly considering how they were already 'on guard'. "Phosophor probably has a few tricks left up his sleeve."

Everyone nodded. Kapun and Thilia grabbed three more tuning forks and put them in a bag before slinging them on Kair's shoulders. And then, they started moving again.

The Pawmot started guiding them through the facility. This time, there was no 'backtracking', nothing of the sort. There was some hiding, but each of the Shadow Workers that they came across were only in pairs.

Why would they…

"Pawmot," Culus asked after the third pair. "Is there a reason why each of the Cored are in pairs?"

The Pawmot raised an eyebrow. "No reason - well, beyond basic safety, so that no one is caught off-guard by a Shadow Sneak or something like that and put into a helpless position. It's a simple security measure."

Culus breathed. "Good."

The Pawmot raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"It was…" How could he say that he was afraid they'd already found out. Well, they had, but they wouldn't know it would be the Pawmot with time. Unless… "It was the fact that they might be looking for a lone Shadow Worker. That they need to be on guard for a Shadow Worker."

Kair crossed his arms. "I don't follow."

"With tuning forks available to us and their storage room raided, they don't know who does and doesn't have their 'innate being' changed. If so, once they find out about the tuning forks being stolen, they'll be on-guard for other Cored - they don't know who's enemy and who's friend. In pairs, they're safer, less likely to get caught off guard. If one of them is taken out by the tuning fork, the other can help set them back - even return the rogue Cored back to the fold."

Kapun just looked confused, but Kair slowly nodded. "In the end, a lone Shadow Worker would be suspicious, right?"

But the Pawmot shook his head. "Not likely - there's never been a need to be suspicious of lone Shadow Workers. I doubt to think that Phosopor would think of something like that-"

The room crackled with voice - speakers that he didn't see rattled to life. "Attention, all." The voice was bored, but Culus remembered it from months ago - Parasel. "To all those unaware, there are unidentified intruders. It should be noted that they likely come from Key. Furthermore…" There was a small pause. "Four tuning forks have been taken from the stockpile. There are signs of a struggle, only one identifiable bloodstain, and with no body, it's likely that the tuning fork was properly used. Take note of any solitary Cored and detain them until further notice. If you find the intruders, subdue them and take them to Section 7-D."

The voice crackle died. Culus growled. "They found out," he muttered.

Kair rubbed his temples. From the slightly glassy look in his eyes, he was likely nursing a headache. "Goddamn it…" he muttered. "Make this harder on me, why don't you?"

Harder on him?

"Okay, they've fully wisened up to our presence," Kair said. "We need to make a retreat, ASAP. There's practically nothing else that we can realistically accomplish with the security tightening like this. I'll call Genevieve, and-"

"We only need to capture one more Shadow Worker," Culus argued back. "They're on guard for solitary Shadow Workers."

"They'll find out Pawmot here before we can do that! As soon as they sense him, alone, they'll find out that it's us."

"Sense him?" Culus asked. What was Kair talking about?

The Pawmot spoke up. "We can sense other Shadow Workers, through an innate sense of 'trust'. It allows us to know who we can get the help of to fulfill our mission."

"But that…" Culus blinked. "Is the mechanism through neural alloy in the blood?"

The Pawmot nodded.

"And each Shadow Worker has this?"

"Each Cored - no exceptions, as far as I'm aware."

... fuck. Fuck. Trust - that was how the ability was described by…

"Slate," Kapun said. "That means that his ability to sense Shadow Workers was ingrained into him by Phosophor. That means…"

Slate was a Cored. Considering his position as Helios's bodyguard, likely an unknowing Shadow Worker.

Their enemy from the start.

"Tell Genevieve and Angira that," Culus declared to Kair. Kair nodded. And then, a second later… "Maybe we can use it to our benefit."

Kair looked at him, confused. "What are you…?" Kair's eyes widened. "You want to overwrite him? He's your friend-"

"We've known that he's our enemy because of Rowan, and now we know that he's been our enemy from the beginning. We don't have the time to worry about stuff like that anyway. Plus, whatever his Definition is, we can give him a better one."

"They'll know it's him!" Kair said. "What are the odds that there's another Gible Shadow Worker on roll-"

"Granite. He's one of the younger miners," the Pawmot interjected. Right, this used to be a mine for the components for neural alloy, the whole reason this mountainside was chosen as the facility's location. "I've worked with him before. A gruff guy, but reliable."

Kair bit his tongue. "I…"

"With Thilia's talent, we'll hopefully avoid Shadow Workers, and we'll send Slate and this guy as an advance guard. Even if they come across us, if Slate's here, they won't be suspicious until they see him - that'll give us the edge that we need to use the tuning forks on them and get them on our side. Then Slate won't be needed at all."

Kair grimaced. "We can still retreat. We have the tuning forks!"

But they would lose the chance to remove his Collar, to rescue Rowan, and to destroy the Terminal. They needed to stay.

Culus shook his head. "This is our ultimate attack on Chain - we can't go home empty-handed-"

"WE HAVE THE TUNING FORKS!" Kair half-roared.

"Rowan." Culus stated simply, standing his ground. "We're not going to let Rowan go."

"He's not even-" Kair said, before stopping himself. "Fine. Fine. We'll go find Rowan, then leave-"

"And we need to collect more data on Chain," Culus added. "Two teams, two pairs of Shadow Workers. We have enough tuning forks to make it work."

"That will make our team equal parts people who can be turned against us with a single wound and people who are actually loyal."

Culus just stared Kair down, who looked pissed. Eventually…

"You know what? Go ahead and try." Kair sat down and crossed his arms, before pulling out the communicator. "Let's see what Genevieve and Angira have to think of this."

The little alcove they'd hidden in to hide from Shadow Workers - hopefully enough for them to stop being able to sense the Pawmot - went silent as Kair activated the communicator. Kair's face was normal. Then pale fear showed itself through his scales. Then red rage - before finally, acceptance.

"Genevieve has a lock on our location," Kair said morosely. "Genevieve will teleport Slate and Angira here right now."

A pause. Then…

"... he's already started." The words were in barely more than a whisper, and Culus saw a strange mix of fear and anticipation on Kair's face. He looked down at them. "Genevieve will be able to teleport Slate here, but it's the last thing that she'll be able to do for us - Pandora and Sable have dropped the act and have disappeared. More than that… multiple of our communicators have stopped working."

Fuck.

Fuck.

Kair took a deep breath. "Get ready to use the tuning forks on three… two… one…"

Culus readied himself.

"NOW!" Kair roared, just as Genevieve teleported in, holding an enraged Slate and an Angira keeping him from attacking. Genevieve already had several wounds on her - a large laceration going down her side and a thick cut on her cheek.

Slate, meanwhile, was nothing more than a feral. His eyes held no trace of his normal mindset, of any logical psychology. Angira was angry, but in a cold way, as quivering bands of earth locked Slate's arms and legs into place.

It wasn't just Pandora and Sable who had dropped the act.

Chain had dropped the act.

Culus wasted no time. As Slate turned to face them, Culus grabbed the tuning fork he'd retrieved from the storage facility and rammed its prongs into Slate's large mouth.

Slate's jaws closed quickly, and Culus winced as large fangs scraped against the side of his forelegs. But it was only a small scrape, not even drawing blood - and as Slate keeled over, eyes rolled into the back of his head, Genevieve sighed, before grabbing a tuning fork.

"We don't have that much time," she muttered to Culus as Angira and Kair immediately began to speak to each other, discussing a possible Definition for him. Genevieve had already filled Angira in on the tuning forks and what had happened - Kair had probably done the rest. "I need to stop as many of the Shadow Workers as possible. I'll use this to hopefully save a few bases - while some of the bases have lost communication, others have been sending distress signals."

Angira turned to Genevieve. "Start with the Lition base and teleport them out - they have Aspect users." Brylle was there too, Culus faintly remembered. Thilia breathed a sigh of relief next to him as Genevieve nodded, before teleporting away. Not even thirty seconds after she teleported in with Slate, Genevieve teleported back out. Idly, Culus noticed that some of her wounds had healed, and that Thilia's little bob on the top of her head had stopped glowing.

As many of them stood there, processing what just happened, Angira sighed. "This is a mess… you heard what Genevieve said, right? There's no going back. Forget about trying to preserve anonymity, or trying to hold one over Chain anymore."

Kapun shook a little bit. "I… I…" There was a clear fear in his voice, a hesitance. "Dad?"

"... orders are orders." Kair asked. There was a strange dispassion in his voice. For whatever reason, he didn't sound like Kair anymore. But then… "... if you want to leave, Kapun, this is your last chance. I think I can fly the two of us out." Kair fixed Kapun with a strong stare, a strange, unreadable emotion in his eyes. "Please, Kapun. I don't want to lose you too."

Angira's eyes narrowed. "Kair, he's a-"

"He's my child!" Kair half-shouted. The voice echoed around in the small chamber they had enclosed themselves in, far away from any of the other Shadow Workers. "We have a guide now, he shouldn't be here!"

"And as for the rest?" Angira said.

Kair said nothing.

"Brylle is in Lition, and if she's under attack, there is close to nothing that I can do to help her." Angira's words were poisonous. "My sons were in a base under attack. I ignored them because I have faith that they can handle themselves until Geneveive gets there."

She took a deep breath, then continued. "With Pandora a traitor and the bases destroyed, Key - as we know it - is history that may not even be written in the books. We need to salvage as much as we can, and start on a new foot as soon as possible. New recruitment - the usage of these tuning forks as protection against Shadow Workers. Perhaps not anonymity anymore - that failed, since they likely keep an eye on those close to the victim to make sure no one gets any ideas of revenge. It's how they got Pandora in our midst, I imagine."

Kair gulped. "... Kapun is…"

Angira turned to Kapun. "What do you want?"

Culus turned to Kapun as well and met his eyes. "... I…" Kapun shook a little. "I want to go get Rowan."

Kair looked at Rowan - then sighed." ... fine. You know what, fine."

He turned to the unconscious Slate and woke him up.

"You follow whatever my son says, obey his commands. That is your sole purpose in life. Even if it makes you miserable, you unflinchingly obey Kapun's words. You take him as your sole law."

Culus blinked, as did Kapun. "Dad?"

Angira growled. "Kair…" she said warningly.

"It fulfills our purpose, and Kapun is one of the few left we can trust. Unless you wish to stab my child to prove it."

Angira looked ready to do that, but Kapun was faster. He grabbed one of the last two tuning rods and poked himself with it - drawing blood. Angira's furor cooled. "... very well," she acknowledged. "We can change it later, if need be."

Kair looked at Thilia. "Do you have any objections to taking Kapun as your temporary leader?"

Thilia tilted her head. "No… temporary leader?"

"We'll split up," Kair said. It was clear from the way he fixed Culus with a sharp glance that he was leaving no room for argument. "With Slate and the Pawmot here, they shouldn't expect anything from them until it's too late. Now, we can split into two teams; Kapun, Thilia, Angira, Slate, and the Pawmot will go to rescue Rowan from the Shadow Workers, while Culus, and I go to remove his Collar and pry however much data we can. We'll be faster like this."

The room was silent. Angira simply nodded, finally approving of Kair's decision.

"Am. I. Clear?" Kair asked.

"Y-yes, sir!" Thilia said, nodding quickly. The Pawmot nodded as well.

"If you say so, Dad," Kapun said. Slate crossed his arms, then nodded as well. He was much more… silent now. Was this because of the new Definition, or was this how Slate was originally?

What even was Slate actually like? How long had he been a Shadow Worker? According to Slate, he'd known that Selene was a Shadow Worker as far back as Pinnaleis - that meant that he was Cored probably before Helios ran away.

If so, was Slate a plant by the Shadow Workers? His position was valuable, in a sense - as the bodyguard and friend of the future King of Dragnis, he'd undoubtedly have a say in what happened, able to influence Helios's opinion without coming under direct scrutiny for doing so.

"Culus?" Kair asked, drawing his attention. "Do you understand?"

Culus nodded, waving his tail a little as he did so. "I do," he said simply. "I have no problem with the plan."

He'd have faith in Kapun and Thilia to find Rowan in this Facility. With their Stifling, they'd be relatively safe, and Thilia's talent would be able to help them out of a jam. Angira, as support, would be enough to round them out. Meanwhile, he and Kair were more than competent enough to manage themselves - Culus had his Stifling, and Kair was a Dragonite, so he was practically guaranteed to be a force to be reckoned with in a fight.

And, if they managed to get rid of his Collar, then virtually nothing would be able to stop them. Not even Phosophor - after all, he couldn't resist Stifling… hopefully. With Sable on Chain's side, there was no guarantee. And 'Diane' could resist his Stifling…

Kair turned to the Pawmot as Culus mulled over his worries. "What are the directions to 'The Terminal'?" The Pawmot listed off some directions quickly. Kair nodded, then grabbed Culus's ruff. "I'll keep the tuning fork," he told Culus, whispering into his ear. "So we'll be safe. I'm faster than you are, so I'll be more able to defend us with it."

"Quick Attack," Culus countered, breaking out of his stupor.

"Extreme Speed," Kair shot back. "Don't try it - and we don't know the extent of the 'modes' that you can be forced into. If there's one that makes you automatically obey the speaker, you're done for."

Culus hissed, then sighed. "Fine."

Kair took one last look at Kapun, and his eyes softened a fraction. Then, turning back to Culus and the hallway, he readied himself. In a giant flap of his wings, Kair rocketed off through the hallways.

As they flew, Culus took a deep breath. In a short time - a very short time - his nightmare would be over. They'd remove the Collar, and he'd prove the ego of the Prince in the Collar that it was wrong, that things would finally look up.

He'd have his freedom of will - and, with that, he'd have the luxury of going after the Zoroark for his revenge without fear of losing his free will in the process. Clearing his name - well, that would have to come with the fall of Chain, since they would throw a wrench into whatever he tried to do. It didn't matter - in the end, it would be whatever he chose.

Culus did his best to ignore the unease in his gut - the faint fear that somehow, everything was going to go wrong.


The inside of the Lition base was very, very boring.

It was only a day or two ago when she, Sable, and Kapun were here busy whiling away time, waiting for some progress - any progress to happen for discovering the location of the Cognes Research Facility. Now, the mission had been more or less halted.

They hadn't been allowed to leave for the past few days. The two new people from the Nucifera base - 'Skell' and 'Raga' - were… fine. Skell was a Scolipede ruder than anyone other than Rowan that she'd met before, while Raga was a fairly no-nonsense Dragalge. Now that they, along with Hastor, Wyvell, and Esmerel could Stifle - albeit poorly - they didn't need her to teach them.

It wasn't like Brylle could teach them anymore. She'd given any and all tricks that she could give, and while that had helped somewhat in the beginning, it just wasn't anymore. They just needed to practice and hope to unlock their talents now.

Brylle didn't have that. She already had her talent, and it wasn't very helpful. She'd tried using it to gauge how much progress the others had made. It didn't work like that, though, and only gave 'her' percentage meters.

Worse was that for her 'teaching' progress, it hovered around the 99% mark. In other words, there were things that she could still teach them - and she had no idea what they were. Just giving random advice didn't seem to help them once she tightened the scope to 'teaching them how to use their Aspects properly' - and even then, it was still at 99%.

The thing she was ashamed to admit was that she… well… she gave up. And not just with teaching the others how to use the Aspects, but with her own training when it came to the Aspects. No matter how much she used the power, it just didn't seem to improve. Any increases when it came to her usage of Stifling were marginal at best, and her talent…

… forget about it. She'd already written it off as useless. It didn't help where it mattered - it definitely didn't help when Sable had gone missing. There, Kapun was the one to find her.

Even though his talent had to do with evolution.

She'd written her talent off, and now only practiced her Aspects once or twice every hour so that the power she'd worked her ass off for wouldn't atrophy. The rest of the time she'd spent training in battle. Perfecting her moves, making them stronger, faster, easier to move.

She… she had to keep improving. She had to be useful somehow. Everyone else had strong talents, useful talents. Even Helios's talent, when he was on their side, was useful in battle.

Hers? It just always demoralized her. Always 99% of what she wanted, always the tiniest fraction out of reach. She used her power to tell how much closer she was to evolution. She'd started at 75% of the way to evolution when she'd started training a couple of days ago. She was sitting at 82%.

Using her power, she determined the way that gave her the most progress - and yet even that was beginning to plateau. Soon, she'd be forced to try to learn a new move, work on her base strength, do something, anything to be better.

For whatever reason, Brylle had stopped training. All of the other Lition agents woke up early in the morning to train their Aspects, so Brylle had too. Ten minutes ago, she was working on her 'Bite' strength, trying to awaken its strength to upgrade it to a Crunch. It was a painfully slow process.

Now, she was just using her geokinesis on a ball of earth in front of her, shaping it into funny, odd shapes. A star at first, then a ring in the shape of an ellipse, a cube for fun, repeat, make a pyramid..

… she put it away. She wasn't in the mood right now to try and play with the earth that she pulled from the ground.

"Why? Won't? IT? GET? STRONGER?!" Hastor raged, Stifling with all of his might. The range was only half of what it was when Brylle was casually trying, and the others could move through it with only a bit of difficulty. Considering how sluggishly they moved through Brylle's Stifling, it wasn't because they had strong resistances.

Wyvell sighed. "Enough, Hastor. I-"

"We've been working at this for weeks now - it took that incompetent prince only a day to get to and surpass our level!" Hastor stomped his feet on the ground. "I refuse to be outdone by a fucking loser!"

"ENOUGH!" Raga roared, making Wyvell jump. "Hastor, three sets of seventy-second planks, now!" Hastor glowered. "That's an order - or do you want me to write you to Angira so she can station you in Jimera?!"

Hastor growled, but got into the plank position. Wyvell just looked flustered, and Skell looked amused.

Esmerel, meanwhile, hovered over to Brylle. "Dear," she said softly. "Do you have any idea what we could be doing wrong?"

Brylle bit her lip. "There's… something, but I don't know what."

"Your talent is informing you?" Esmeral noted. "What has it been saying that we need?"

"It's not like that!" Brylle growled. Esmerel held her hands up in peace, and Brylle forced herself to try and calm down. "It tells me how far I am away from completion of something, of its perfection." The words slipped into her mouth, but they felt as good an explanation as any. "They don't guide me beyond telling me how close I am to the end. At best, I give it some shots in the dark, and sometimes, it lets me know that I've gotten closer." If the thing she was measuring didn't 'switch tracks' halfway through.

Esmerel hummed. "Then give us a 'shot in the dark' - what do we need to improve?"

Brylle threw her hands up. "I don't know!" she half-screamed. "Skill, technique, and…

Esmerel tilted her head. "And?"

It was on the tips of her lips - it sounded stupid, but… "... power!"

99.5%

She paused. "... power… you need power."

She had tried technique, she had tried skill. But there was only so far you could go with that when it came to Stifling.

"You guys aren't pumping enough of the stamina into it." That was the only answer that she could think of. "Your stamina - that energy in you that you throw into the Aspects - you need to pour more of it into the Stifling."

"But you said that we need to be sparing with how we use that power," Wyvell countered. "That every bit of that power counts."

"Well, maybe you need to be a bit less sparing with it?" Brylle offered, voice rising up. The percentage didn't go down, though, so…

Raga narrowed his eyes - and then, he closed them. A second later, a normal Stifling came out - not one of the weak ones that he'd been doing before, but one with power comparable to Brylle a week ago.

It only lasted for five seconds, though, as Raga fell to the floor. "That… that was… exhausting…"

"That was good!" Brylle said.

Esmerel put her hands to her chin. "He may have overcharged it, though - can you show us an example of that, Brylle?"

Brylle nodded "Gladly." A second later, she focused on her core, before pumping everything she could into a Stifling.

But it was only marginally stronger than the ones she did if she was careful, and only reaching a foot out more. The more power she threw into it, the more was 'wasted'. She coughed a little, feeling the fatigue wash up on her. "Yeah," she said. "You guys haven't been pumping enough into the Stifling."

Hastor finished his last set of seventy-second planks. "We've been careful," he spat. "And you're telling us to ignore that now?"

Wyvell frowned. "No… is it that you simply have larger reserves of that stamina?"

That… "Probably," Brylle said. "If you were trying to be economical with tiny reserves, you won't have enough for a good Stifling. Overcharging it doesn't do much, but you guys were undercharging it."

A few minutes later, it was more or less confirmed - everyone else throwing everything they had into their Stifling increased the power of the Stifling to levels comparable to a more inexperienced version of the ones Brylle, and likely the others, were using. But as a result, everyone was exhausted after only one or two Stifles.

"... how… how can you push yourself so hard?" Wyvell asked, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. "How can you do more than one of those?"

Brylle shrugged. She was recovering a lot faster than the others were, even though she threw everything she had into her 'super Stifling'. "Practice, I guess?" She paused. "Though… not enough to go from your reserves to mine. I don't know why, but you guys have a lot less stamina."

Then she thought for a bit more. Exactly why did they have less stamina than her? If she followed the trend, Genevieve had less stamina as well, but Brylle and her friends had plenty of stamina. Did the stamina go down as you aged?

*brrrrrrr*

The answer was on the tip of her tongue. Somehow, she felt like Kapun was related to the answer as well. Him and his talent…

*brrrrrrr*

… she felt herself nearing that 100% completion. She just had to…

*BRRRRR*

"Who's doing that?!" she complained, the noise getting to her.

Esmerel blinked. "Doing what?"

"Making that noise!" Everyone stared at her blankly. "How am I the only one that's…"

… wait… it wasn't in the air. It was in the ground. She could hear a sound coming from the walls, growing louder, louder, louder…

*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

What was…

no

"RUN!" she shouted, while stomping her feet to create a wall of earth blocking the origin of the sound.

It lasted for only a second. A moment after she shouted the warning, the wall burst into large chunks as an Excadrill forced its way into the base.

The symbol of the Regilian military was on its shoulder.

Wyvell was the first to recover, shooting a large Dragon Breath at the Excadrill. The Excadrill, though, scooped away a large portion of the earth, digging into the ground before the Dragon Breath could hit. The world's fastest digger, if she remembered correctly.

More Pokemon soon started streaming out of the initial tunnel that the Excadrill had made - a Furret, a Baxcalibur, a Pelliper, and a Kilowattrel soon ran and flew into the base from that tunnel.

"RUN!" Rage shouted as the ground underneath him shook. He barely managed to dodge a Dig from the Excadrill as it moved faster than any Excadrill should naturally. "Regroup at ZX-23… never mind, JUST RUN!"

Bryle pushed down a curse. With Helios gone, all of the common phrases they were forced to learn would be known to Chain's intelligence - and this had to be Chain, since there was no other explanation why the Regilian military would be here, in Lition, a long ways away from any other encampment.

She Stifled the Pelliper and Kilowattrel, and watched them slam into the ground with a sort of perverse glee. Using Stifling like this was normally a bad idea, but with Helios brainwashed, they had Stiflers too. In fact, already, the Kilowattrel was getting up - not to fly, but into a standing position. The Baxcalibur had only been slowed down by her Stifling - still unused to the power, but able to recover.

… okay, maybe Stifling wouldn't be as helpful. With Helios's intel, they knew that people here had Stiflers, so they sent their Stiflers here. Pokemon that could resist the Stifling enough to fight. She stopped Stifling.

Brylle switched targets. As the Baxcalibur aimed a ray of frost at Raga, Brylle stomped her foot on the ground. The Excadrill had performed another Dig, missing again. Instead of landing on solid earth as the Excadrill planned, he instead was punted to the side by a pillar of rock Brylle had manipulated - punted straight into that very ray of frost. Raga capitalized on it to shoot a Dragon Breath of his own, one that actually managed to hit its target and knock the Excalibur out.

"Ye-" Brylle's joy was cut by a Claydol showing up through the tunnel, shooting off a Psybeam that tore through the air. Esmerel raised her hands to conjure a psychic barrier to slow it down, but the Baxcalibur roared loudly, temporarily shaking Esmerel's concentration. The Psybeam clipped Raga, who barely managed to dodge the worst of it.

Brylle was then torn from that fight as the Pelipper formed a sphere of water inside its giant gullet, before firing it straight at her. She stomped another wall of earth in front of her, but the water sphere only burst on impact with the wall, and a torrent of water washed over. Immediately, as she felt water clog up her insides, she cursed her double-weakness typing.

If only she could evolve…

… and then, she began to glow.

The Pelipper tried to stop her, but Esmerel locked it to the ground with psychokinesis. Hastor, a weak Stifling around him (not enough to get to her, and she was a little afraid that of what Stifling would do to the evolution process) grabbed the Claydol and spun it around like a ball hammer, before tossing it at the the Baxcalibur that was barely managing to evade a furious Skell.

What happened after that, Brylle couldn't see, as the light of her evolution had grown too strong. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach, as water clogged it - the Pelipper must have managed to get at least one attack in even through Esmerel's psychokinesis - but endured it.

And then, the light faded. Her body was different, now - it had strange holes in the back, and a strange pressure that wouldn't go away. Her mother had told her about this, though - those holes were jets that she could push air through to propel herself across the world. Couple that with her geokinesis, and unless she was under Stifling, she'd be perfectly able to move around, no issues whatsoever.

She couldn't find it in herself to be joyous, though, as she faced another Water Pulse by the Pelipper that had managed to free itself from Esmerel's grasp. Instinctually, she turned on the spot with geokinesis and sped away with jets of compressed air.

She then flew straight into a wall, and a massive headache erupted - her new shell was undamaged, but her softer brain didn't appreciate the sudden stop. She wobbled back, only to face another Water Pulse from the Pelliper.

It… hurt… the water dug into and softened her shell, and a new fear blossomed inside of her. She tried to Stifle - it would prevent her from moving, but she was bad at that right now, and-

Where did her reserves go?

Her 'store' of stamina for the Aspects had been cut in half - she 'felt' that she was at her top, but her 'top' was pathetic compared to what it used to be. Why the hell… it made no sense! It… it…

… no…

… the weakness of everyone outside of her friend group with the Aspects… Helios had gotten weaker after he evolved too, but his weakness stayed…and Brylle hadn't forgotten how Kapun had navigated her to find Sable a couple of days ago. At first, she had thought he had two talents, before dismissing the second ability entirely.

But now…

She still felt evolutionary energy in her - some of it was subsiding, but a large portion of it was seeping into her new form. Where did the energy for evolution come from, and why could some Pokemon evolve at a young age, while some didn't evolve unless under specific circumstances?

The questions either answered themselves, or she gained a bit of insight. And her talent, weaker than it was before, still notified her one more time.

100%

She took the stamina she had and pumped as much as she dared into the evolutionary energy. And though her body wasn't ready for it, the evolutionary energy reacted, and once more her body began to glow.

At that point, she began to hear a roar. Soon, she realized it was coming from her. Water Pulses were still hitting her, but as the seconds went by, each consecutive Water Pulse was weaker than the last. Her control of the earth multiplied.

She felt powerful.

The Pelipper fired a Water Pulse at her, but she countered with another wall of earth. It practically jumped at her will, her control growing exponentially with her transformation into a Tyranitar. Unlike before, the wall of earth completely absorbed the Water Pulse - and with another thought, a Stone Edge jutted out of the wall, skewering the Pelipper's wing. It wouldn't be enough to take it down, so Brylle caused stalactites to fall from the ceiling of the base, pinning the Pelipper to the ground and knocking it out. The Kilowattrel attempted something as well, but she just hit it with a Smack Down and Rock Tomb combination and knocked it out as well

The Furret was already down, but Hastor was as well - the Claydol had finally managed to get to its senses, probably smashing Hastor with some sort of psychic attack. Skell was trading its Ground-type moves with his Bug-type moves, creating a weak stalemate that could tip in either direction at either minute.

The Baxcalibur, meanwhile, had knocked out Raga and wounded Wyvell. Esmerel was desperately blocking its attacks, trying to eke out an edge. She was slowly losing ground, though.

Not anymore.

Her Tyranitar body was much more familiar than the Pupitar one was. Using geokinesis to move the ground under her, she shot forward and smashed her fist into the Baxcalibur's chest. It took it with a grunt, then tried to retaliate with a ray of frost.

Idiot.

A wall of earth smashed into the Baxcalibur's chin, knocking the Ice Beam off course. It clipped her, but a complete lack of type-disadvantage with this form prevented any real damage. Coating her arm with rocks, she smashed her fist into the Baxcalibur's chest again. And again. And again.

And then, her concentration broke, and she devolved.

Maybe it was that she was unused to this ability, maybe it was the pain from the Pelipper's former wounds, or maybe it was that she pushed herself into a form she was unready for and went all-out immediately. Regardless, her form was that in a pupal stage once more, and it would take more time to re-evolve into Tyranitar.

Time that she didn't have. Snowflakes danced around the Baxcalibur's maw, and she stared at it with rekindled fear.

But a second later, the Baxcalibur's maw was forced upward with psychic power - Esmerel! Her eyes were glowing, and Skell charged in, the Claydol unconscious next to them. Skell slammed his horns into the Baxcalibur, pumping powerful poison into its flesh.

The Baxcalibur roared, knocking Skell away, but the hit was weak with Esmerel's help. The Baxcalibur attempted to switch targets, but then a lance of purple liquid shot out of Skell's horns - Venoshock.

And after everything else, the Baxcalibur didn't stand a chance. While the Venoshock didn't wound it directly, its ethereal power ricocheted off the poison already inside the Baxcalibur, tearing up the Baxcalibur's insides. It swayed on the spot, before collapsing.

They'd won.

Brylle couldn't move - and yet, she could feel the energy in her. She could draw stamina from evolution.

Once more, she devolved. She shakily stood up - her Larvitar form wouldn't be permanent, but it would last magnitudes longer than her Tyranitar form. "I… ugh… that hurt…" Water was still clogging her - much easier to ignore as a Tyranitar, but she didn't have the luxury. "Figured out why your guys' Stifling was weak, though."

Esmerel hummed, closing her eyes and not even commenting on Brylle's regressions. Brylle could feel the psychic power emanating from her. "I… sense more lifeforms approaching from the tunnel. We shouldn't tarry."

Damnit. Damnit.

"How did they know where the Lition base is?!" Skell growled, while grabbing the unconscious Raga and Hastor and slipping them on his back.

Wyvell groaned, finally speaking up while nursing a long cut on her stomach. "We've been dealing with the possibility of traitors for a while now, ever since Helios defected. They knew that we had a base in Lition, though where, exactly, they must have had some other way of figuring out. Either way, we can't stay."

With difficulty, they slipped Wyvell on Hastor as well. Once she gathered some more energy - though, according to Esmerel, she was cutting it close - she evolved back into a Tyranitar and collapsed the tunnel the Excadrill had made.

"How the fuck are you doing that?" Skell muttered. "You guys said that the Deino kid had that 'talent' - you had a different talent, right?"

"It's not a talent," Brylle answered, regressing back into a Larvitar to restore energy. "It's another Aspect - more like Stifling, where everyone has it. At least, that's what I'm guessing. It trades the stamina used in Aspects for evolutionary power."

That was the only conclusion she could draw on right now. She had used her evolution as a springboard for the ability - now, she could feel the power deep within her, yet biologically wanting to express itself in an evolution that she only kept back through will to recharge her stamina.

After all, while it was a bit draining will-wise to keep this form, it allowed her to recharge past the 'max' of her more evolved forms.

Esmerel hummed - and then, turned to Wyvell. "You can do this too, can you?"

Wyvell - a Druddigon - looked nonplussed. "We don't have evolutions or pre-evolutions."

"That you know of," Esmerel countered. "And you do have the same weakness we do. Like Munchlax or Azurill-"

"This doesn't matter!" Skell half-shouted. "They have tunnel diggers and they know where the base is - they can pincer us from both sides! We don't have time to talk Aspects - just hop on!"

Both she and Esmerel hopped onto Skell, who ran out of the front door a lot slower than he usually would. And then…

"... oh, you're kidding," Skell growled.

Twenty fully-evolved Pokemon surrounded them, wearing Litionese police uniforms.

"Several residents have reported a full-scale battle ocurring beneath non-alotted battlegrounds," the main officer - a Magnezone - drilled. "Put your hands and claws together and surrender."

They just stood there. The police Pokemon didn't move, but Brylle could hear sounds coming from the inside of the base. More 'tunnel diggers'.

"... we split up," Brylle said quietly. "We can't fight this battle."

Wyvell grimaced - and then nodded. "Alright. Skell, run away with Raga and-"

"Enough talking!" the Magnezone shouted, the voice filled with klaxons. The Litionese people around them were looking absolutely terrified, the police raid in the night (possibly started by Chain, Brylle wasn't going to discount anything at this point) breaking the peace of the city. "Surrender on three, or we attack! Three!"

"... I'll be fine." Skell said, making sure Hastor and Raga were safe on his back. "Run, you three."

"Two!"

She had barely charged any of her power, but there was no choice. She jumped off and turned into a Tyranitar.

"She - how!" One of the lieutenants screamed, the countdown interrupted.

Brylle paid them no mind. She had three seconds remaining of his form, considering how little time she had to 'recharge' beforehand. With a single stomp and empowered by her geokinesis, she created a giant Earthquake starting three meters from their standing position.

A spike of earth hit the Magnezone, and all of its stored electricity discharged straight into the spike, knocking it out. All of the other pokemon were knocked over - and yet, the Water and Grass types among the officers quickly clambered to their feet. Brylle's evolution instantly broke, reverting her to her Pupitar stage. She wouldn't be able to change her evolutionary stage at all anymore.

"Good job," Skell said. "Now let's get out of here before-"

In a pop, a wounded Kirlia appeared before them - Genevieve. A second later, her eyes widened. "You six are okay?"

"Genevieve - take us away!" Esmerel said.

"Grab on," was all Genevieve said. Without hesitation, she and Skell - who was holding everyone else on his back, grabbed Genevieve's arms. As the police officer howled and the footsteps of more Chain soldiers sounded inside the base they escaped from, they disappeared in a swirl of space and time.

Seconds later, they arrived in an unknown clearing. Skell quickly dumped everyone. "What took you so long-"

"Why did you come?" Esmerel quickly asked instead. "None of us used the communicator-"

"We're under attack by Shadow Workers!" Brylle shouted, trying to clarify. "So we-"

"ENOUGH!" Genevieve roared. "I know! Every base is under attack right now!"

The silence was deafening. Brylle's mind short-circuited.

"Before I say anything else," Genevieve said warily, pulling out a strange rod. "I need to stab you guys with this."

"... what?" Skell asked. "Makes you think we'll agree to that."

"If I don't heal you guys after every stabbing - only a light wound - you can assume that I'm a Shadow Worker." Genevieve said. "It will determine whether you guys are Shadow Workers."

"As if!" Skell roared. "Like I'm going to let you stab me! And for all I know, you're a Shadow Worker!"

"Skell, I-"

Skell's horns glowed a bright green. "Stand still!" he growled, before charging.

Genevieve teleported onto Skell's back, before stabbing him with the strange rod. Skell roared, but Genevieve quickly waved her hands over the wound fixing it up, before teleporting away.

"Skell's just an idiot, not a Shadow Worker," she heard Genevieve murmur as she landed on the ground. Esmerel, though, held up her arms, bathed in psychic power. "Are you serious… you know what, fine. You're far enough from any other Shadow Workers that you'll be safe for now, and I have Cresselia knows however many bases left to protect from the Shadow Workers invading. Stay away from the castle, and I'll come back when it's safe. Good luck."

A second later, Genevieve teleported away - and this time, she didn't return. They all stood there, waiting for her to come back, but she didn't. Esmerel slowly lowered her hands. "... has she left?"

Wyvell winced, nursing the wound. "Uh, Esmerel, a little help with this?"

Esmerel quickly turned to Wyvell, stitching up the wound with psychic power. "Of course. We have no idea where she dumped us, so-"

"I know where she dumped us," Skell muttered. "Look there." They all looked up - and off the edge of the cliff, they saw a monumental castle. By the bottom of the cliff, a huge river winded and bended. "There's only one castle that's like that, if I remember my history right."

Skell then took a deep breath. "So if you've never been… welcome to the Eonian Royal Palace."


Culus, Thilia, Kapun, and Kair have arrived at the Cognes Research Facility, where they plan to find and steal the machinery and sensors Chain use to keep track of Shadow Workers. After going to sleep to learn what he can from the memories of his prior lives, Culus speaks to an 'ego' of the former Prince Culus of Eonia, who gives him most of the information he needs. However, the Prince was cagey and unclear with some of the information, and the Prince firmly believed that Culus was going to die.

Nonetheless, the four invade the facility. Part of the way through, Kapun goes into the same 'trance' he did in Lition, leading them to the tuning forks that allow them to rewrite a 'Cored' Shadow Worker's 'Definition', what they are forced to be no matter what. Using the tuning forks, they make a Pawmot their ally, before an untimely message from Phosophor makes them need a second Shadow Worker to maintain their disguise.

From that, along with some information from the Pawmot, they finally realize that Slate was a 'Cored' as well, and have Angira and Genevieve teleport him to where they're hiding. There, they learn that Pandora, Sable, and Relm have disappeared, and that Key is under attack. Genevieve goes to help the other bases, while Angira stays behind to help the invasion. After using the tuning fork to rewrite Slate to become Kapun's loyal helper, Kair and Culus leave to remove his Collar, while the others go look for Rowan, who they believe is being turned into a Shadow Worker.

Helios is willingly being transformed into a Shadow Worker in Cognes, alongside Riley, due to his ballooning insecurities and the brainwashed Queen Arya striking at a moment of weakness. Phosophor, overseeing the process, prepares for the arrival of the 'final brother'. Then, after the invasion starts, he sends the order to Chain and his other subordinates to destroy Key, after deducing that the invaders have figured out how to use the tuning forks.

Brylle, after helping several of her higher-ups train their Aspects, realizes that they have a markedly smaller reserve of 'stamina' for the use of the Aspects. Soon after, their base is attacked by an unnamed force they believe to be Shadow Workers. During the fight, Brylle realizes that Kapun's 'talent' to control his evolutionary state was in fact an ability that others could use as well. Using it, she helps the group fight off the attackers, and subsequently, a police force alerted to the disturbance. Genevieve then appears to teleport them away, before attempting to use the tuning forks. However, the Scolipede Skell is mistrustful, and drives her away, before revealing that she teleported them, in her haste, to the Eonian Castle.

Ekib remains asleep, his mind already accessed as evidence for those very deceptions. Pandora, Sable, and Relm disappear from the base entirely, likely knowing that their deception has been revealed at last.

Selene, having spent the last few weeks practicing both the polarity shift that would give her sisters more bodies to work with and the use of the Rhythm to keep it under control, now readies for her joint performance alongside the Temptress for the Festival of Enamorous. Much happier now that Relm has been shown to be well and more confident for an unknown reason after dancing under the influence of the Rhythm, she now helps the stagehands prior to the dance itself, all while readying herself for the dance and unaware of Eve's plan.

Rowan and Eve conduct Eve's attempt to rescue Selene from the grasp of Chain. However, they must grapple with a giant obstacle - Zennitas, while ostensibly trying to 'help' Eve and Selene escape, is toying with them, with the final result (no matter what happens) being that Eve is carted off to Lord Black to be hypnotized and brainwashed into becoming his loyal pawn for his planned revolution of Eonia. Even with Eve managing to tear off the cover of the lie using her newly-found talent, they're left at an impasse with Zennitas's new talent blocking every solution they have. Now, they've traveled to Chain's complex in Nucifera, uncovering several identities as truly being Shadow Workers, including who Eve thought was a relatively uninvolved friend, Anna. Though they now know Selene's location, Eve despairs that, due to Chain's now-discovered ability to track Selene, the plan was doomed from the start.

Light, disillusioned with Chain's empty promises and his father's lack of action, takes matters into his own hands. Now free of Nero's hypnosis that ensured his loyalty to his father's cause and with new access to the Aspects thanks to a mysterious malevolent voice in his head, he schemes to give Glacia, who he dismisses as entirely incompetent, access to the Aspects to ingratiate himself to the King, while pushing Mentali further against his brother.