Chapter 54 – Lend a Hand

Demitri screamed, frantically waving his arms. "AAAAAAAAHHH, I'M SO SORRY!" He rushed toward Trina with heavy steps, tripping over the lumpy terrain. Ani was much faster, gliding over the web with ease, and inspected the ax lodged inside Trina.

"Is—is she okay?!" Demitri asked with shaky breaths.

"Of course I'm okay," Trina growled, blood dribbling out of her mouth. "How did you"—She coughed blood, staining some of the web crimson—"do that?!"

Ani tugged the ax away with one vine, blasting Trina with healing energy at the same time. One of her vines melted away, and Trina's chest was back to normal. The Serperior wiped away the remaining blood on her mouth with her one good vine. The other slowly regrew.

"I—I don't know!" Demitri winced at the blood, making useless motions toward the ground as if he could will the red away. "I th-thought I just, uhh… I just threw! Like normal! I mean, I guess I was a little fired up—m-maybe I did what Jerry did, and got so fired up that I did a Backlash on accident? Owen's really motivational, s-so…"

"Willpower alone isn't enough for that sort of Backlash. I don't know who this Jerry is, but he sounds like he got lucky against Owen's hubris. I doubt that sort of battle will be replicated now that the young Guardian learned his lesson." The Serperior slithered closer to Demitri, handing him his ax, but then circled around him, inspecting his body.

Mispy glared.

"What is this?" Trina muttered, closing her eyes. "Your aura… for just a second, I saw…"

"Y-yeah?" Demitri said. "I know it looks a little weird. The others told me that it was because I don't have any ancestry and stuff, since I was created artificially. Rhys has the same sort of thing! Except just Star as a direct ancestor since, uh, she created their auras or something?"

"It was more or less a symbolic gesture," Rhys muttered.

Demitri uneasily put his tusk back in his face, clicking it inside. Then, he looked at Trina, who was still inspecting his body. "Hey, so, uh—"

"Hush."

Trina placed a vine at the center of Demitri's spine. "Can you do me a favor, Demitri?"

Mispy growled, vines curling and uncurling. "Vines off…"

"It will only be for a moment, Mispy," Trina said to the territorial Meganium. "I won't hurt him. I merely want to examine something about his aura."

Mispy snorted, sinking lower with her vines writhing irritably. She watched Trina carefully for any sign of her trying to hurt the Haxorus.

"Now, Demitri. Do you know how to draw into your own aura, by any chance? Has Mispy taught you anything about this, or perhaps Rhys?"

"You mean meditate?"

"Yes. May you do that for a moment?" Trina asked.

"Sure." Demitri closed his eyes. The Haxorus eased his breathing, wobbling where he stood until he planted his rump firmly on the ground, shaking the web. Trina readjusted her vines to be at the center of his spine again.

"…Hn!" Trina tapped Demitri's back and he straightened completely upright. Two tendrils of white light burst harmlessly from his chest, right near the center, just below the ribs.

Demitri gasped raggedly. "Wh-what—"

Mispy lunged at Trina; it required both Trina's and Rhys' barriers to keep her from ripping the Serperior apart.

"Hold!" Trina said firmly. "Demitri is just fine! Speak."

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Demitri wheezed. "What's—?"

"It's just what I had suspected," Trina said, slithering until she was in front of him. "Hm, two… Interesting."

"Uhh—help?" Demitri said. "I feel weird. Help? Stop?"

"I apologize," Trina said, nodding. "Focus on the two Hands and pull them inward, please."

"What? How?" Demitri said.

Trina sighed. "Just relax. It will happen eventually. Then, you will learn the feeling, and it will happen on its own." She slithered away, approaching Mispy next. "May you meditate?"

"No."

"Mispy," Rhys said, "Trina is only trying to help. I'd like to see this as well."

Demitri poked at the two tendrils sticking out of his chest. "They're kinda warm," he said, grasping one. He felt something, yet he didn't at the same time. His hand passed through, yet it still felt like part of him was holding onto it. The strange dual-sensation was too much and he jerked his hand away, and it felt normal again. "That's weird."

"Can I do that…?" Owen looked at his chest.

"I just want to see how many Hands you have," Trina said to Mispy.

"Many," Mispy said curtly. She raised ten of her vines, shaking them threateningly toward Trina. The Serperior was unfazed.

"You know what I mean," Trina said. "Please. Let me see."

Mispy growled, but then turned her head away. "Fine."

Trina slithered closer and asked Mispy to do the same things as Demitri. First, she closed her eyes. Then, she meditated, and Trina tapped at the side of Mispy's body—she was too large to easily reach the spine. On the opposite side, three tendrils of light burst out. "Three…"

Mispy used a few of her vines to knock and jiggle at the three tendrils that floated in the air. Gusts of wind had no effect on their gentle flow, though trying to touch them did make them move. Mispy tried grasping it with a vine, but when she did, the vine fell down, limp—as if she'd lost feeling in it for the moment that it had held it too tightly. The feeling returned seconds later.

Trina looked at Owen. "I've never… seen this happen before. I didn't think it would happen, but, well, the evidence is right before us." She pointed with a vine at the five tendrils in total. "It appears that Owen's Mystic power was partially transferred to the rest of the Alloy. Owen, you mentioned that you fused with the others before." She slithered toward Gahi, gesturing for him to start meditating. Gahi reluctantly obeyed, sitting down with his tail coiled in front of his slender body.

"Yeah, I did," Owen said. "I fused with Gahi a few days ago. We kinda went crazy… but after that, we stabilized, thanks to, er, Emily. Long story. But yeah, we fused. Oh—and later on, I fused with Mispy, too. W-wait, are you saying—when I fused with them, they—they took some of the Grass Orb with them?! I thought it was, uh, just one unit!"

"I did, too," Trina said. "And yet, here we are."

"Does that mean we can summon spirits, too?" Demitri asked. "What about—uh—what about the whole thing with, wait, hang on," He rubbed his head. "How about going to that weird spirit world that Owen talked about? Can we do that? Rhys can. Right?"

"Yes," Rhys said, "but it's not quite a simple task. I thought—"

"Mispy, you fused with Demitri recently as well," Trina deduced.

"Mm." Mispy nodded.

"I see. Then that means… Gahi should have ten."

She tapped Gahi on the back and—unexpectedly—only seven tendrils of light poured out of Gahi's chest, each one flowing to some invisible, idle current.

"Nngk—I'm with Demitri, this feels real weird," he muttered, grasping one. His hand instantly felt simultaneously numb and warm. "Gah—what is that?!"

"Stop doing that," Trina said irritably. "Why are you all obsessed with trying to grasp your Hands? That's your aura splitting from your body. What you're seeing is ethereal. When you try to touch it, your aura makes contact, but your body passes through. It's fine enough if you're simply knocking against it, but if you hold it from all sides—grasping, as you are—it has nowhere to go, and it simply pushes your aura away from your body. Be careful, or your aura might detach completely."

"And then what?"

"I was never foolish enough to find out."

"H-hey, I got mine!" Owen said, holding out his claws. He had four emerging from the palm of each scaly hand. "Just eight, huh? Not that many. That's just one more than Gahi, right?" He counted the ones from Gahi's chest. "Yeah, seven."

"Mm. That adds up," Trina said. "Each Orb contains twenty Hands. Owen, when you fused with Gahi, you fused down to the very cores of your beings. Body, mind, aura, and spirit. Since Hands are tied to the link between the aura and spirit, you must have exchanged powers while fusing with one another." Trina looked between the four as if mapping out the order in which they had fused to make such an arrangement.

"Wait, but Rhys totally would've noticed that!" Demitri said. "Rhys?"

"I—I certainly would have, if there were spirits within you," Rhys said. "Or if you were utilizing your Mystic powers—but I suppose… you haven't done that, since you weren't aware of it. Until now, when I suppose Owen's motivational speech was enough to trigger a Mystic reaction out of you, Demitri."

"Wait, so they don't have spirits in them like me?" Owen asked. Worriedly, he closed his eyes. Hey, guys? Are you in there?

We are, replied Jumpluff Klent. Owen, everybody is accounted for. We didn't notice anything, either. It's strange, but… the spirit world seems completely unaffected by the split.

"Well?" Trina asked Owen.

"They're all there," Owen said. "They didn't notice a thing—they're just as surprised as I am. Wait. So—so does that mean when I was fighting Jerry, I was at less than half my Mystic power?"

"Hmm… No. That's not necessarily the case. After all, a Hunter, with just one Hand, can kill a Guardian with all twenty of theirs. Though, having more does have an effect, at least on the scope and range of your power."

The Serperior then slithered away from them all, sighing irritably. "Well, seeing as you are now Mystic, and managed to learn how to Backlash against my barrier with your willpower, as Star would call it, I suppose my demonstration can't be done completely."

"It's alright," Owen said. "Now we just know that more recent Mods can do it, and we kinda can, too, since—"

"Mods?" Trina repeated.

"Yeah, uh, modified Pokémon."

"I see."

"Is—is it a bad title?"

"Bad, yes. I suppose that's a good term for it," she agreed. "You couldn't have been more creative?"

"I think Manny was the one who came up with that one," Demitri recalled.

"The other Lucario? I'm not surprised," Trina said.

"What do you call them?" Owen asked. "Mutants? That's what most of the world calls them."

"Hmph. I suppose I never gave a name for my subjects," Trina said. "They are all equal to me, regardless of their origins. Is that satisfying?"

Demitri and Mispy both nodded. "A little," said the Haxorus. "To be honest, I feel a little better after… you know. Our talk. And stuff. But—" He eyed Ax uneasily. "It's still weird to see someone exactly like me."

"More than Rhys seeing a fellow Lucario?" Trina asked.

"But they're completely different. They're almost opposites! They don't even fight the same way."

"Well, part of that is due to how versatile the Lucario species is. I was more referring to the personalities you share. I can tell that you are quite different." Trina scanned the eight of them, and then looked to Zena and Rhys. "Hmm… You all seem unconvinced."

"He even does that same thing I do," Demitri said, mirroring Ax's foot shuffle to shift his weight.

Trina sighed. "Very well. If you are so unsure, I have a proposal. You have impressed me enough to consider joining your group under Star, as little as I approve of her cowardice. It seems that she is not quite running your group, anyway, so much as she is helping you find more Guardians, is that it?"

"More or less," Owen said. "Some of us aren't really on super good terms with her just yet…" He glanced at Zena, who nodded.

"Then it is settled," Trina said. "I will send Har, Lygo, Ani, and Ax with you to your home for a few days. This works well, as I will need that time to mobilize and organize my subjects. Unlike most of you, many of those you see here are still alive, and cannot simply be withdrawn as spirits. Then, when they feel they have enough information for me, they will tell me whether you are worth joining or not. Simultaneously, you will realize the differences you share with your counterparts. Har, I think this will do well for you, too."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Har said.

"You know what," Trina said with a wry smile.

Har growled and crossed his arms, flashing a glare at Owen. The gesture made the prototype flinch—did he do something wrong?

"Do you have enough of that strange Heart power to warp back to your homes?" Trina asked.

"Yes," Rhys said. "I used my Badge to warp us here, but Owen and the others have their own Badges to bring us back. Considering how many of us there are," he said, "we should use two of our Badges this time."

"Right," Owen said, fishing out his own. Mispy pulled out the next one.

"Hey, these things gonna go back in yet?" Gahi aside, poking at the seven filaments of light drifting in front of him.

"In time," Trina said. "Just relax. As you can see, Demitri's are almost inside again."

Demitri poked at the little nubs sticking out from the center of his ribcage.

Owen inched over to Har's half of the team and the rest moved toward Mispy. "Hey, um," he said, "I'm sorry if I offended you or anything. I've kinda been doing that a lot lately." He glanced awkwardly at Zena. "I—"

"It's fine," Har said. "Not your fault."

"Oh. Okay," Owen said. "But how come Trina said that?"

Har glanced at Owen, but then at the Serperior, who was leaving the arena to tend to the rest of her subjects. The Charizard sighed. "Because," he said, "my first name was Owen."

He snatched the Badge from Owen's hand, seeing that he was too stunned to use it, and thrust it in the air, warping them back to Hot Spot Cave.


"Have fun at school, Saffron!" Salazzle Sugar waved her son down the road of cobblestone, just at the base of Kilo Mountain. The little Salandit glanced back just once to return her wave. Sugar sighed, shaking her head. "I hope he passes that test. He studied so hard!"

A Rampardos next to Sugar shrugged. "It's just basic math. He knows his multiplication tables; that should be enough." He gave her a gentle tap with his snout. "Anyway, I have to head to work."

"Guess I do, too." Sugar licked him on the chin. "Big day today?"

"Every time there's a mutant attack, there's a new request for rebuilding. It's almost a routine." He hung his head a bit lower. "I know it sounds morbid, but as long as mutants keep damaging outside settlements, I'll have a job to scheme out the new foundations. Maybe I can convince them to install improved Protect insulation?"

"You better." She reached forward for an embrace; Rampardos had to bend down to get to her height. "Okay, see you, Dezz. I'm heading to the shop."

With a wave, the pair parted ways, with Sugar heading to the Waypoint just behind. Dezz, meanwhile, headed deeper into the outskirts to find another Waypoint to a ruined town. From the Waypoint, Sugar followed her usual route to her shop, crawling and weaving past the morning crowd of Pokémon. She spotted a few familiar faces along the way: a Marowak sleepwalking her way to the daycare; a Smeargle completely lost in thought; an Incineroar carrying a bag of medical supplies. Soon, she approached her building, pressing her paw against the open entrance. When it passed through without resistance, she blinked, realizing that the barrier to the entryway had already been taken down.

The only other aura it had been configured to open to was Spice, but… hadn't she been on an overnight mission? "Spice?"

"Hey, Sugar," Spice called from the storage room. "I got everything ready."

"You're back from your mission?"

"Yeah, it was pretty easy. Labeling it overnight was an overestimate; we found the guy just fine hiding under a boulder."

Sugar went past the white countertop and into the supply room; everything—all of their pastries, ingredients, and tools—had all been neatly organized and resupplied. That was usually her morning routine before opening officially. "Spice, how long have you been here?"

Spice finally tore her eyes away from the last of the supplies. "I've been here for a few kiloseconds, I think. It hasn't been long at all."

"But… that's insane." Spice looked at the organized shelves. A pile of Oran Berries in a box, arranged neatly in a grid-like format to take up as little space as possible. She searched for any kind of error or oversight, but as far as she could tell, it was almost better than how she did it. "Spice, did you even sleep?"

"I tried, but I couldn't. I'm just… not tired." Spice pat the box of Cheri Berries. "That's the last of it. I also got all the pastries made from yesterday out and they're ready to sell. Sorry if you don't know what to do, now, but…" Spice tittered, looking away. "I had to find something to do."

Sugar held Spice's forehead. It was hot, but that was normal for her Type; it wasn't blazing. She checked Spice's eyes, next, but they didn't appear bloodshot. Still…

"Have you tried sleeping again? You can't just stay awake for so long, Spice; this is starting to scare me…"

"I would if I could, but I'm not tired. I'm not too worried about it."

"Maybe you should have that checked? Why don't you try a Sleep Seed, or—oh, sorry."

Spice scowled. "I'd use one if they worked on me."

"Y-yeah."

Spice unconsciously ran a hand along her scarred chest, the electrical pattern ever-prominent. "Maybe if I shoveled five of them or something. But I don't see why I should bother. I'm just gonna go on a mission to get rid of this excess energy."

"W-wait, Spice, maybe… take a break today," Sugar said. "What if you suddenly pass out mid-mission?"

"What am I supposed to do all day?" Spice jabbed the air in front of her. "I have way too much energy to just sit still. I need to do something."

Sugar nervously clasped her hands together. "Spice… This is too strange. I'm sorry. This is just like when Mom was worried about you, remember? I just—don't want anything odd happening. Can't you just… patrol town instead?"

Spice grumbled, but her expression softened. "I guess I could do something like that…"

"Please. Just for today? And maybe go see the hospital if you start feeling strange again, okay?"

"It's not like they can help me," Spice growled, but then turned away. "But… okay. For you, Sis." She spun around, holding the edge of the exit. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Alright?"

"I really just wish you didn't go on missions. Blessed items barely work on you. You can't just…"

"I made it this far." Spice grinned sadly. "Besides, I… it's my calling. Anyway, I'm gonna go patrol."

"See you," Sugar said, and she was gone. Alone in the shop, Sugar worriedly bit at her tongue. With old worries resurfacing, the Salazzle tried to focus her mind on whoever would be the customer of the day.


White tiles lined the floor, pressing against concrete walls. Lights filled the ceiling every few paces in the form of little crystals powered by Mystic energy. In a grid-like formation, strange machines surrounded thick, glass cylinders made to hold small Pokémon, no more than two feet in diameter. Some of them were empty. Some of them were filled with a strange, opaque, brownish-red liquid. Others were a clear green, with little figures floating inside.

Talons clicked against the tile in addition to claws, tail wagging happily. "Huhu… Aw… look at him! He's a cute one! Lucas, don't you think he's cute?" Lavender asked. "…Lucas?"

Lavender closed his eyes. Chitin coated his body and solidified, and his purple form grew grabber-like appendages from the side of his head. The newly-formed Drapion scuttled along the aisle of cylinders, but he stopped again when he saw one of them catch his eye. "Hi, hi!" he said, pressing his head up against the glass. "Hi! Hi!"

The strange, partly-grown figure floating in the green, bubbling fluid stared at Lavender. It appeared to be a Tyrunt, but in some strange development cycle, like it lacked an eggshell. No, it had a shell—that was the glass cylinder that surrounded it. The eyes had no lids. Its little, gooey stubs for arms wiggled at Lavender, and Lavender waved his right, massive grabber in reply. The developing Tyrunt grinned and wiggled weakly.

"You're cute!" Lavender said. "Can you hear me?"

Tyrunt stared blankly.

Lavender clicked his mandibles thoughtfully. "Oh!" He slammed his head against the glass—startling the Tyrunt—and shifted his form again. Thick, green slime coated his shrinking body until he was nothing but a pale blob floating in the slime. The Reuniclus pressed against the wall and thought, Can you understand me?

And to this, Tyrunt nodded.

Ooh! That means you must be Reincarnated! Aww, you look cute! Don't worry! It won't be long now! He bobbed his body. Hey! Did you see Lucas anywhere?

Tyrunt shook his head.

"Aw, okay. I'll keep looking. See you!"

Slime evaporated from his expanding body, and he returned to one of his favorite forms, Scolipede. He rolled through the halls—they were thankfully wide enough for him to do so without much of a risk of running into anything—and stopped only when he made it to the other end of the hall. He shifted back to Drapion. "I smell you…" He clicked his mandibles a few times. "Ah!"

He tumbled forward, back to Scolipede, and went down three aisles. He turned and uncurled, landing with heavy grace on his feet. "Lucas!"

The Houndoom spun around, panting happily.

"There you are! I thought I lost you!" Lavender hopped heavily, disturbing a few of the developing mutants. They tried to turn away, glaring. "C'mon, let's go! We need to find Daddy and make sure he has the stuff for groceries when Auntie goes!"

Lucas barked and followed Lavender through the aisles.

"Lucas! Is your Mega form still okay?" Lavender asked, looking back. "Are you feeling angry or crazy yet?"

Lucas barked.

"Okay, good," Lavender said. "Remember! Daddy said if you ever feel upset, you need to go to him right away!"

The Houndoom emitted a playful growl.

Out of the lab, they ran through white hallways and turned many corners. Lavender slammed into the wall that had "10" written on it with a heavy THUD. Lucas pranced behind him, tail wagging.

"Two!" Lavender said.

The ten became a two. Lavender twirled around and rolled away. Lucas hopped on top of the spinning wheel and used it as a platform, running backward to keep on top. When Lavender turned, Lucas held on tight. They continued rolling along the halls.

Just in time, Lavender saw two Espurr exit the hall, smiling at one another. "Daddy!" he shouted when his head was at the apex of his roll.

Rim blinked in horror at the Houndoom riding the rolling Scolipede and vanished. Eon was not so quick. The pair toppled right over him, flattening the Espurr into a pile of pink ooze. He gurgled, shifting into some strange amalgamation of a Scolipede and Houndoom: a purple exoskeleton covered in black fur. A few seconds later, he became just a Scolipede.

"Sorry, sorry!" Lavender said. "I'm sorry, Daddy!"

"It's okay, it's okay," Eon grumbled, shrinking down into an Espurr upon searching for Rim, who had disappeared. "I should really look both ways before crossing the street…"

"Looking both what?"

"Nothing," Eon said. "Seeing how rushed you two were," he said, "I'm guessing you had last minute errands for Auntie Rim?"

"Yeah!"

Rim reappeared holding a small notebook. With a bit of Psychic energy, she wrote down Lavender's exhaustive, long list of trinkets and items. It had everything from a certain flavor of cookie to an exact number of berries to some sort of new toy he heard about. He then said that Lucas probably wanted some treats, to which he barked an affirmative.

"Did you get all of that, Rim?" Eon mumbled, still on his back, staring at the ceiling, contemplating why Lavender so frequently flattened him in the halls.

"Mm."

"Okay!" Lavender nodded.

"Lavender," Eon said, "you've been in that Scolipede form for a while. Are you stuck or something?"

"No! I transformed a lot while in the lab!"

Eon's tiny heart skipped a beat. He sat up. "Th-the lab? You didn't—"

"I didn't break anything this time!"

Eon sighed. "Lavender, please don't go in there. I know you're good at movement now, but you can still trip, and it was a huge mess the last time you crashed into the chamber. And the embryos were very upset at you afterward, remember?"

Lavender shrank down. "Y-yeah, but… but I apologized!"

"No transforming, and no rolling, in the lab," Eon said firmly. "Now go back to your base form. I want to make sure you're still stabilized."

Lavender frowned, but then shook his head. "I don't think I should look like that right now," he said. "Maybe later."

"…Alright. I understand. Now, Rim will come back with everything you asked. You were the last one we needed anyway."

Lavender nodded and slammed his front legs on the ground. "Good! I can't wait!"

"…And why do you prefer that form so much, Lavender?" Eon asked curiously.

"I can roll!"

Eon sighed, rubbing at the massive space between his two eyes. "Fine, fine," he said. "But I want you to try maintaining a lot of different forms, just in case, okay? Tap into the memory of every one you can."

"Hmmm…" Lavender tilted his head thoughtfully. "Okaaaay, I'll do it later," he said. "…After I get my toy."

"What even is a Five-Cube?"

"It's a cube that's got twenty-five squares on every face and each face has a different color and you have to scramble it up and then you—"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Eon sighed, waving dismissively. "Ugh, turn off the Psychic, please."

"Ha ha, you know I can't do that!" Lavender giggled. "Besides, that's not the Psychic part at all! Stop playing by stereotypes, Daddy!"

"Oh? What Type was it?"

"I dunno!"

"Wh—then how can you know it wasn't a Psychic?!"

Lavender giggled. "I dunno! Maybe it just isn't?"

Eon held his tiny arms up, trembling with some strange mixture of exasperation and confusion. He rubbed his eyes. "Okay. Okay, Lavvie. Rim. Go to Kilo and get the usual groceries. And… be careful."

"Mm." Rim vanished.

Eon stared at the empty space where Rim had once been. "…Lavender."

"Yeah?"

"I want you to follow Rim. Keep her safe. And… don't hurt anybody, either."