Chapter 80 – Finding Stability

Demitri was a lot heavier than Mispy remembered.

The Haxorus lounged on her back, axes by his side, while he nestled his face against her. "Thanks for this, Mispy," Demitri mumbled.

The Meganium nodded silently, though she was more focused on her surroundings. With no idea on where to go, they had decided to try to find the highest ground possible. To their fortune, they had wound up right next to a mountain, stuck in some kind of valley. The mountains were black—so dark that, at times, it was hard to tell where there were cracks in the ground, or boulders to step over. It had gotten so bad that Demitri had tripped every other step, resulting in Mispy's more unorthodox mode of travel.

Her vines crawled over every small pit and dip, filling in the cracks without much issue. Sliding forward, creeping one vine at a time, she focused on their surroundings. The actual aspect of climbing—the slope wasn't very steep—had become a routine. Red skies above and black rocks below made for a very ominous sight. The wind was invisible, kicking up no dust; she could only know to brace herself when she heard it coming, or otherwise had to make sure she had a good foothold—vinehold, technically—of a nearby rock.

"How far up are we?" Demitri said. "I don't wanna look down."

"Almost," Mispy said. The summit wasn't too far. If she really wanted to, Demitri could probably ball her up and throw her to the top. If only they had Gahi or Owen to do the flying; it would've taken Owen only a few hundred seconds to get to the top of the mountain from here. Instead, they had to deal with kiloseconds.

Mispy suddenly stopped.

"H-huh?" Demitri braced himself. "Is there another one?"

"Mhm."

She raised a vine, pointing it at the ground to her left. She waited, staring, her antennae twitching. Then, suddenly, something black oozed out of the ground, lunging at her; the Meganium's vine was faster, piercing it right in the center. It shrieked and went limp; she flicked it ahead, where it bled an inky blackness.

"Is it dead?" Demitri asked.

Mispy prodded at the thing; no movement. She jabbed it. More black ooze came out. "Dead." She curled a vine around it, lifting it toward Demitri. It dripped thickly. "Hungry?"

Demitri's head jerked forward in a restrained retch. "I—I'm full from the last one," he said.

Mispy shrugged; the vine holding the carcass split open four ways and wrapped around the vaguely shapeless blob. Once she actually pressed on the strange body, she felt vague, slightly harder parts of the body that resembled limbs. Did this thing actually have arms and legs beneath its rounded mass? How strange. Not that it mattered; it was food, now.

Piece by piece, her vines tore away, swallowing each piece greedily until all that remained was black residue. She sighed, satisfied. Any food was good food, and it seemed like they weren't going to come across anything fruit-based for Demitri to enjoy anyway.

It had been a battle just to feed him the first time. 'What if that blob had a family?' Demitri had protested.

She sighed at the thought, which earned a worried pat from the Haxorus. "It's okay," she said.

"It's settling well, right?" he asked.

"Mm."

Maybe they did have families, but as far as Mispy could tell, they were even dumber than ferals—not counting Enet. Then again, she didn't deal with ferals all that often… But these things just attacked on sight. They were defending themselves! And once they were dead, well, it'd be wasteful, wouldn't it?

She wondered if another would attack. She was still a bit hungry.

A while more of climbing brought them to the top, but a cruel wind forced Mispy to brace herself again. Her aura sense gave off no other wraiths, so that was a good start, but it would be bad timing if she had to take one on while the wind blew. Did they get blown away by those? They were pretty dense—and, therefore, were very filling meals—usually.

There had been one time, though, when she killed one and it simply dissolved into thin air. That was strange—and disappointing. It was the least defined of the bunch, nothing but a blob that vaguely resembled a Goomy, similar to the ones that Anam had summoned when he was possessed. She'd probably never know what those ones tasted like.

Soon, they reached the top—a flatland near the top of the mountain, with only a modest dip of a crater at the center. Demitri didn't want to scan for too long, but he looked around enough to gather that they were simply too far away from any sense of civilization.

It was all the same. Mountains all around, skies the same, and the horizon was lined with more mountains. With the featureless sky, there wasn't a whole lot to tell on where to go, either.

"Still nothing, huh?" Demitri said. "I guess we should just—wait, what's that?"

"Huh?"

A cave. It was on the other mountain to the left of the one they'd been climbing—which meant it would be another long and boring climb—but it was at least something. Mispy's antennae twitched, but it was too far away to tell. Still, at least it would be more climbing down than climbing up. The cave was a lot lower than the summit.

"It's so far away," Demitri whined. "Why can't we just fly there?"

"Wings."

"I—I know, just—wait. Didn't we glide on our way here?"

Mispy flinched. Did boredom get to Demitri so much that he'd rather try to fly than take the safe walk? Then again… they could get attacked by more wraiths the longer they took, and they couldn't risk too many injuries before tapping into their healing energy. And with food being scarce, Mispy would have to use up her vines for the healing.

"Glide?" Mispy said.

Mispy and Demitri had arrived to this strange place from the sky shortly after they had been taken by Anam. It was disorienting at first, but Demitri had been right next to her. They had been taken together, though the ground had been rocky. But the way they had broken the landing—aside from Mispy using most of her weight as a cushion for Demitri—was to try to fashion her vines into a flat, wing-like glider.

It hadn't worked well, but it had slowed the fall.

Mispy gave Demitri an uncertain look, though she couldn't find her words. She tried to speak, but she stumbled over herself and grumbled. "Not…" was all she managed to say.

"I guess so," Demitri said with a nervous laugh. "Okay, maybe a little too crazy. Let's just go with the normal walking, a-aha… Besides, I don't know if I want to experience falling again."

He adjusted himself on her back and leaned forward. "Do you want me to get off?" he asked.

Mispy wrapped her vines around his waist and smiled. She could feel her words returning to her again. "I'm fine."

Demitri wrapped his arms around her neck for a better grip. "I wonder if we should fuse after all. Then I won't be bothering you on your back."

She had considered it, but would that take up more energy? Less? It was hard to tell. Food used to be abundant, and now they were just trying to be cautious.

"Not for now," Mispy said.

"Yeah, I guess we don't know what it'll do with our energy."

Deciding to keep to the same routine, Mispy started her slow and careful descent down the valley. They went over the rocks, over a small fissure, and finally started their ascent all over again. At some point during the descent, Demitri had fallen asleep. Mispy kept him situated on her back with a few more vines, which he happily snuggled with. Meanwhile, she kept his axes in safekeeping for now. She did appreciate that he slept with them off so he didn't cut up her back with them, for how sharp they were.

Eventually, they made it to the cave on the other side, and in case there was something lurking within, Mispy gently shook Demitri.

"Mmm… uh… huh?" Demitri blinked himself awake. "What's going on? Oh." He rubbed his eyes, finally slipping off of Mispy. "You know, we could probably use the cave as shelter if it's empty, don't you think?"

"Mm." She didn't feel any odd auras inside. Maybe it was actually safe to rest for once. Taking shifts while sleeping would still be wise.

The inside of the cave looked like more of the same black rocks. No dust here, either. After Demitri verified with Mispy that it was safe to advance, he led the way in, unable to see the back of the cave. He was bolder, now, with the knowledge that there was nothing else inside. Still, he had to be careful about the floor being uneven.

A chilling wind shocked Mispy to her core. She raised her vines in an attempt to shield from it, but she could already tell that her body wouldn't last against this cold for long.

Demitri had it just as bad, rubbing his arms. He retreated behind Mispy's vines. "Cold—"

Mispy nodded and wrapped him in some of them in an attempt to shield the Haxorus from the wind, which didn't end. And further along, the rocks were changing from black to something with at least some color. And was that… salt?

"Why does it smell like the beach?" Demitri said, wincing when another whip of chilling air hit his arm.

"Let's keep going."

Defiant of the wind, the pair pressed onward, black, oppressive rocks giving way to a dimly lit cave within, the stone even colder to the touch. Bizarre as it was, they continued anyway, and heard a high, constant whistling sound. "What's…" Mispy looked back. "What is that?"

"Whistling—like wind through a tunnel," Demitri said. "Wait, didn't Owen mention to us about that before? A cave that always had a loud whistling noise. He went with Nevren to train, and he told us about that weird dream, I think… That was from a reset ago."

"I remember…" Mispy frowned. That didn't make sense. That cave was at the northern edge of Kilo, even further than Hot Spot. But that did explain the salty air—it overlooked the ocean on the northern side.

Everything except for how they got there made sense, if it really was…

"It actually is Eternal Whistler," Demitri said, pointing to the left. "Owen mentioned that only heavy rocks remained and stuff. It's gotta be."

Mispy's eyes brightened. That meant they were somewhere home. The air seemed saltier when they went in one direction; if they wanted to head south, closer to Kilo, they would have to go in the opposite direction, against the wind.

""C-cold," Demitri said. "How did Owen d-deal with this?"

"Fire."

"Oh… right…" Demitri rubbed his arms again. "Would love to have Owen around right now… S-so warm…"

Gahi would've done even worse, Mispy imagined. Ground and Dragon wouldn't do well in this sort of frigid weather. Step's angry words echoed in her mind—how ironic that three components to the apparently-perfect fusion shared a weakness to Ice.

There weren't a lot off feral Pokémon in the area. Even when Mispy tried to get a feel for their auras, she only sensed a few hiding in the corners. Did they fear the two of them?

Mispy suddenly froze in thought, then tapped Demitri on the side.

"H-huh? What? Too cold?"

"We're mutants."

Demitri blinked. "Yeah, we are. Are you feeling okay?"

Mispy looked onward, frowning. Once they got out, if the world was in any sort of trouble from what Anam was doing, or if the others were fighting, would they get mistaken for enemies by the general public? They didn't have Enet to hide them in an illusion this time, and while Demitri could pass as normal… there was no disguising Mispy. She wouldn't even pass as southern—she was simply too different.

"Oh… oh," Demitri said lowly. "Well… we can't just go back, can we? We'll just behave really nice, and maybe they'll believe us. Better than nothing. R-right?"

He had a point, but it wasn't exactly a good chance.

Soon, they reached the exit, with just the little distorting waiting for them. It seemed a little different than the others; usually, they had to pass through little segments from one to the next, but they hadn't encountered anything like that. And now, they were at the exit?

They decided to just accept the blessing and advance through, blinking at the sudden brightness. The sun practically burned against them. "Aagh, I think we adjusted too much to that dark place." Demitri groaned, holding his arm up to the afternoon sun. "Maybe we should… stick to the shade or something. It's kinda hot today, isn't it?"

Mispy had to agree. She knew from traces of Demitri's memories what it felt like to feel the pain of a burn, and even she was starting to feel it. It reminded her of when she'd endured Anam's attacks—like they went right to her aura. Why was it that the sun felt the same way, now? No, it wasn't the sun. It felt like the very air was oppressive to her. She looked to see how Demitri was doing, but—

"D… Demitri!" Mispy lost her words again.

"What?" But then he gasped. "Mispy! You're—what's happening to you?"

"What?"

They were both losing their shape, like a haze had overtaken their bodies. And it was getting worse—and as it got worse, so did the pain.

"S-something's wrong," Demitri breathed out.

It happened right when they got out of the Dungeon. Their first reflex—to simply go back. "Hurry," Mispy said, pulling Demitri with her. They passed through the distortion for a second time—relief flooded over them, like cold water on a burn.

Demitri trembled, staring at shaking claws. "I… th-that… what happened?"

Mispy didn't know. The pain—such a rare feeling for her—had become nearly unbearable by the time she'd thrown herself through. It was fading, though.

They shuddered together. Going out again was out of the question. But that just left…

"We need to head back… and find some other way in. W-we should tell the others about this first, and see what it means. Maybe Owen will know, right? He's… got to be in there, too. Something out of all this must make sense."

Mispy nodded. Owen might know. They just had to find him. How hard would it be to find a Charizard? He was probably searching for them from the skies.

"Let's go."

With a determined nod, the duo elected to return to the strange, red-sky land they had come from.


Manny slid down a hill made of cotton candy.

It was awful. The sugar got all over his fur and stuck between his paws, and he didn't want to think about anywhere else that he'd have to start cleaning by the time he got to the bottom. Behind him, all of the other surviving spirits of his Realm continued through, some of them tumbling and spinning downward.

"We're fallin' too fast!" Manny shouted. "I ain't gonna fizzle ter a fall, we gotta slow down!"

Elbee, further behind, pulled out one of her blades and slashed into the cotton candy slide; far below, there was a bubbling pool of pink liquid, waiting to melt them down should they land in it.

Yen followed next, slamming his hidden claws into the cotton candy, followed by the others doing the same. Azu, Roh, and Verd were strong enough to dig their claws into the surprisingly thick hill of pink fluff, and Manny swung his arms backward, using his wrist spikes to stop his fall. He slowly decelerated, his body pressed against the slide at a steep angle. They were only a few seconds away from the bottom if they lost their hold.

"Freaking Willow," Manny said, puffing out an irritated breath. "What's with the Fairy Realm?"

Everything smelled sweet, and the sky was a swirl of pink and pale green, like the entire atmosphere had been painted in pastel. The clouds looked like brush strokes trying to imitate hair.

"I don't trust Fairies. Never did." Elbee tried to get a better hold of her blade. The Samurott couldn't position herself nicely, but instead looked at her surroundings. "So, this slide goes into that pool of bubbling pink lava, right? What do we do?"

"Guys! A little help?!" Doll cried.

Far above them, two Pokémon were caught near the top of the slide. Clair and Doll—with their rough skin and prickly body respectively—had gotten caught on the slide right at the beginning.

"Aaah, that ain't good," Manny muttered, but he was pinned against the cotton candy by his own spikes.

"Pick the Fairy Realm, you said," Elbee said in a hiss. "It'll be easy, you said."

"Oy, we tried ADAM's place and that was messed up! I ain't gonna live there! And Step's nuts!"

"Oh, and the shrink-happy Joltik isn't?!"

"Baaah, ferget that! She's weak, I figured we coulda handled it!" Manny waved dismissively, which loosened him from the slide. He swung left, yelping, and he slammed his spike into the slide again.

A silence followed where nobody tried to move—up or down. Then, Elbee growled, jamming her forehead's horn into the cotton candy. "Great. So what do we do now, leader?"

"Shaddap, I'm thinkin'!" Manny tried to move his arm, but any time he did, he felt his grip on the slide become more and more perilous. He couldn't see what was to their left or right, but straight down was a bad idea.

"Elbee, shoot some water into that stuff. See if it's actually hot."

The Samurott nodded and launched a glob of water toward the vat below. Direct hit—the water sizzled loudly, a series of pops sending solidified pink material in all directions. The water blended with the pink fluid once it was as hot as the rest.

"Yep, that's hot alright," Manny said with a wince. "Great. That's out."

Some of the hot water splashed on the slide, melting the sugar near the bottom.

"…Oh, lookit that," Manny said. "Hang on. I think I've got an idea."

"Way ahead of you," Elbee said, and then blasted the slide in front of her with a Hydro Pump.

Manny barked in surprise, eyes wide. "WHAT? NO! Don't—"

"What?" Elbee stopped her attack prematurely, but the damage was already done. The water spread through the fluffy sweetness like it was nothing. "Which way were we supposed to go?"

The bridge split apart, revealing an open pit filled with—

"Oh, come on…"

All the others screamed or shouted, looking for a way out as more and more of the sugary footholds disappeared into melted, red candy. Far below, colorful, lumpy mounds of yellow, green, orange, and red, several times their size, came into view. In the rain of sugar, Manny crossed his arms and shouted, "Fall floppy; it'll hurt less!"

Manny loosened his body, while Yen tried, and failed, to catch up to him in time. The Drampa kicked his legs and channeled his innate levitation abilities—something that the other spirits lacked in Willow's domain. Roh flailed his arms in an attempt to fly. It had no effect. Azu struck an honorable pose, sticking one arm forward with his fist clenched, while his other arm held his hips. Verd had passed out—never was a fan of heights.

Clair was falling a lot faster than the others, challenging the ground to try to kill her, while Elbee actually listened to Manny's advice. The Garchomp hit the pit's center, sticking headfirst into one of the red lumps near the middle with a loud splorsh. Manny landed next, getting his chest-spike stuck in a yellow gumdrop. The others all landed one way or another, with Azu managing to hold his pose even after he landed. He was waist-deep between a pinkish and orange gumdrop, looking like he had been there all his life.

Verd, meanwhile, had landed back-first, and then rolled further down. The spikes on the Chesnaught's shell carried a few of the gumdrops down with him, reinforcing his back with sticky goodness.

Sticky water landed on all of them in a brief, sweet rain. Manny's fur stuck together, and for a moment, he just remained face-down, wondering if trying his luck with Step would've been the better choice after all.

Yen landed gracefully beside Manny, tilting his head. "It looks like everyone landed fine," the Drampa said, serene as always.

Manny usually admired Yen's ability to keep a level head and calm tone in nearly every situation, but right now, it seemed to make the sugar bubble with angry fury on his head. "Yeah, landed jus' fine," Manny grunted.

Yen's massive snout gently went under Manny's chin, playfully helping him up. "You were smart to tell them how to land," he said. "You've had rougher landings in the past, haven't we?"

Gentle waves of nostalgia hit him, and briefly, Manny felt like a Riolu again. He remembered a gentle fire that warmed up his waterlogged body and the Oshawott that so cheerfully doused him anyway, asking for a fight. He had been angry at the time, livid, even, and had his arm not been broken, he probably would have given her that fight. But now it just made him want to go for another sparring match with her.

"Gah, always know what ter say," Manny mumbled, rubbing the back of Yen's neck, though he couldn't hide his dumb grin.

Yen nuzzled Manny back, but movement to his left caught his eye. "Ah… Clair."

She was angrily slashing and chomping at some of the gumdrops, only to stop in confusion when the sweet taste got to her. Chew, chew. Too thrown off by their landing platform, she just shuffled to Manny and awaited further instructions.

"Feeling better, Clair?" Yen asked.

The Garchomp licked at the sugar between her teeth. "Yerm, 'm fine."

"Yes, you're fine," Yen said gently.

Clair snorted, but then glanced at Manny. "Yeh, doin' fine," she said.

Yen looked crestfallen. "Oh, goodness, another one…"

Manny smirked. "What's wrong, can't deal with the accent?"

Yen smiled nervously at Manny. "It's charming. I'm just surprised at how impressionable they can be. That Flygon, Gahi? He had acquired it even faster all those centuries ago…"

Yen really did like to think about the past, Manny said, but that comforted him. Maybe he was spending too much time thinking about old times, but now that he was surrounded by gumdrops and melted sugar, thinking about better times kept him sane. Good call, Yen. "Swear, it was like Gahi already had it and just fergot," Manny remarked.

They performed a quick headcount. Manny did best to ignore the fact that he felt like he was about to be rolled up for a Joltik's sweet treat. He saw Clair, and the color trio… That took care of the mutants. Yen was, of course, by his side—Elbee was angrily jamming her blade into several of the larger gumdrops.

Someone was missing.

"…Doll?" Manny looked up. "Beh, ain't that something."

She was dangling by her shoulders and arms, unable to break loose from the sugar. A green dot in the pastel sky.

Now that they were lower, just where were they?

Manny didn't expect Willow's realm to be filled with nothing but sweets and—oh, there were mushrooms as well. That was more appropriate.

To his left, there was a mountain that, instead of trees, had giant mushrooms dotting its rocky—no, those weren't rocks, those were crystals of solid sugar. Muttering incoherent curses under his breath, he looked for some sanity to his right, only to see that more of those mushroom trees had blocked his view outside the pit.

One was staring at them with black eyes and tiny, white dots for pupils in the mushroom-tree's stump.

The sound of Elbee firing a Hydro Pump caught his attention. He looked skyward; she was trying to knock Doll loose from her sweet prison, but wasn't accurate enough for such a distance.

"Little higher, gotta account fer gravity," Manny advised.

Because at least gravity still worked properly here.

"Hey!" Manny shouted at the mushroom. "Where's Willow? We need help, ya got that?"

The mushroom jeered at them, then laughed. Its echoing mirth shook the gumdrops and the sugar on their bodies. Then, it closed its eyes, and the mushroom became lifeless.

"…Well, alright."

"Got her!" Elbee shouted. "Wait, no, I missed a bit…"

"Are you even getting far enough? That's very high up…" Yen frowned, readying his body for another flight. "If I push, I might be able to get back up there in time."

The Cacturne, meanwhile, kicked her legs uselessly. Her thorns were simply too stuck in the sugar.

Squeaky giggling made Manny's ears twitch left.

Several Togepi, Joltik, and Cleffa were at the top of the pit, staring at them. Manny counted at least twenty in total. The Joltik in particular made his fur bristle. Great, she's got fans.

All of them jumped into the air and sprouted large, pink wings. They fluttered toward Manny, who at this point was resigned enough to watch without a reaction. One of the Joltik landed on his head.

"Hi, Mister! How'd you get here? You don't look like one of those mean old wraiths!"

"Yeah, we're kinda runnin' from them," Manny said.

"Oh, is that it?"

"Oooh, you look strong! How come you're running away?"

"Well, can't fight a whole lot all at once. Too risky outta our own realm."

"How come you're not in your own realm? Did you lose?"

Manny kept his expression even, despite his urge to snarl. "Yeah, we met the wraiths' boss. Didn't exactly go well."

"Oh, I see, I see! So, you want to see Willow?"

"Yeah, what's she doing now?"

"AaaaAAAAA—OOF!"

Doll landed in a few of the gumdrops, stuck for a third time. Azu and Roh helped to free her, while Elbee and Yen tried to wake Verd up.

The fairies giggled and circled around the group several times in a disturbing tornado. "She's flying around Kilo Village with a bunch of others!"

"Everyone's scared because of Dark Matter, but with Willow on the case, nobody should be worried at all!"

"Yep! Willow will just shrink him down until he's a tiny, tiny marble, and then crunch! No more Dark Matter!"

Manny frowned, pensive. "Dark Matter… So that's his name, eh?" All things considered, it was appropriate. But he still didn't like the sound of that. Wraith King was the name he'd known it by before, and that was just a title; Dark Matter… Should they really give it the dignity of calling it by its chosen name?

Not that it mattered; did it even care? It seemed keener on destroying everything all over again. And Star…

"Are you okay?" one of the fairies asked.

Manny jolted up. "Yeh, jus' fine. Eh, take us ter Willow. Where's she?"

"Well, you can try to talk to her directly if you go to the Core!"

"Sure, where's that? Mind flyin' us there? Actually, hang on—how come we can't fly, eh? Let that happen! Ain't that hard. Aether Forest let us fly no problem."

The flying fairies all giggled again, and then a Togepi sang, "Only fairies are allowed to fly here! If you want to fly, we'll turn you into a fairy!"

"Wait, no, hang on, yeh can't just turn someone like me—"

Pink dust surrounded Manny in moments, as well as all the others on his team of refugee spirits. His back felt heavier, and a new set of limbs—wide and flat and with great resistance when he tried to move them. He didn't want to look, because he knew exactly what had just happened.

But he couldn't stand still forever. Eventually, be opened his eyes and beat… his new, pink wings, taller than he was. He gave them another few tentative beats, and each one lifted him a few inches off of the ground. He stopped, landing with a cloud of pink, glitter-like mist. The horror was too much for him to express, so he didn't express it at all.

Behind him, the others sported similar wings, some taking it better than others. Verd, who had finally regained consciousness, inspected them curiously. Clair was already trying to fly with them, swiping at the air like it gave her a better battle stance. Azu marveled at them, and then tried to flex while in midair. "A wonderful addition!" he declared.

"Well… It could be worse," Yen said to Manny. The Drampa's wings were perhaps the largest of them all, and several of the other fairies were gathering on his back for a ride. He was unnerved by their presence—Dragon instincts, no doubt—and Manny just groaned and rubbed his head. "Yep. Should'a gone with Ice."

"Come on! Let's fly to the Core! There's a portal that'll take us there!"

"A what now?"

"A portal! Don't you know? The Fairy realm is full of them if you know where to look! C'mon, let's fly through one!"

"Will it get us closer ter the Core?"

"Yep! We'll lead the way." And then, the swarm of fairies took off for higher ground, beating their little wings like Butterfree.

With an irritated sigh, Manny followed them all to the skies before, finally, he spotted what seemed to be an odd, golden circle in the air. "Oh, lookit that," he said. "So, through that, I figure?"

"Yep!" the flurry of pink nearly blinded him. Trying to ignore the fact that the wings came naturally—and all of his precious Fighting spirits—he beat them a few times to gain height above the haze and toward the portal.

"Hey," Manny said to the others. "When we get outta here… nobody speaks o' this. We clear?"


News of the hostile Dungeons and the return of the wraiths accelerated all efforts to put nearby Dungeons in complete lockdown. A map of all known Dungeons had been pulled out, marked, and then assigned to flying Pokémon to scout the perimeter for any signs of recent visitors, and to leave signs depicting the dangers of entering one now.

Blessed Dungeons were one thing—easy to manage. Anam had crafted their properties with nothing but benevolence in mind. If someone became too injured in a Dungeon, it would warp them to the entrance, sometimes with most of their injuries gone. Their auras were often severely damaged, though, and Rhys never quite understood why; it was as if injuries within Dungeons were done to the aura, rather than to the body.

Along with that, Dungeons often gave rise to blessed items within, like Oran berries. They even grew along the perimeter of nearby Dungeons from exposure. Rhys recalled the ones he had used to heal Owen during his outburst, so long ago, when he'd discovered Zena. And, perhaps most importantly, blessed Dungeons lacked wraiths of any kind.

But those blessings were gone—and now, so too went all of their benefits. Defeat in a Dungeon spelled death for those who traveled inside; no useful, blessed berries, orbs, or seeds appeared there; and wraiths ran rampant within.

Just like that new Dungeon within Hot Spot. The first dungeon to form in centuries… Why now? Would there be more?

Not that it mattered—they were all unblessed, now.

Several Pokémon entered and exited the office and passed along the halls, looking for orders on where to go next or what nearby area to scout. Nearby, because they didn't yet have the provisions to handle long treks without Waypoints to take them anywhere more than a little ways away.

"That should be all of them," Rhys stated, looking over the map, then at the long checklist of Dungeons that they had to send others to. He had deliberately excluded a few of them—such as Ghrelle's swamp, or Zero Isle Spiral, since not only would those be too dangerous, but the Trinity surely had them covered. Though, it wouldn't hurt to check just in case.

Before he had the chance to give out the final orders, something landed on his head. On reflex, he reached out to grab it—only for a jolt of electricity to crackle against his paws. He hissed and swiped it away, but that just learned another zap.

"Willow!" Rhys hissed.

The Fairy Joltik fluttered in front of Rhys, sparking angrily. "Why'd you hit me? I was resting my wings! Do you know how long I've been flying?"

"You don't even need wings to fly!"

"Yeah, well, it looks better!"

Rhys pinched the bridge of his muzzle. "What do you need, Willow? Shouldn't you be scouting with the others?"

"Manny wants to see you!"

Rhys blinked, and then his expression transitioned rapidly from exasperated to serious. "Manny? He's alive?"

"Nope! But he ran all the way to the Fairy Realm just to see me! I'm gonna summon him now. All his other surviving spirits are there, too, but Manny's too strong on his own. I gotta put aaaaall my strength into this so he looks solid!"

"Yes, of course, I—"

Rhys realized that several passerby Hearts were staring at the flying Joltik, but by now, they'd already made themselves known to the public. There was no real point in trying to keep themselves hidden for very long. He sighed. What was one more power?

"Summon him. We don't have much time to—"

"Actually, Manny wanted it to be done in private. He refuses to come out in public as a Fairy."

"…What?"

But Willow was already flying into the Heart HQ, and Rhys followed with a morbid sense of anticipation. Manny, a Fairy? What would he look like? Would he have fur colored like those mushrooms that Willow often summoned? Or perhaps, would he sparkle with every movement? Perhaps his voice would be several octaves higher—that could be it.

Whatever it was, Rhys intended to meet it with respect and dignity.

A spirit shot from Willow and in front of Rhys—a Lucario, pure and simple. Rhys' shoulders visibly lowered with relief… and then he froze. Two luxuriously hot-pink wings spread behind Manny, taking up his entire arm span and a bit extra in width. Manny glared at the ground, paws clenched, as he stared at Rhys' feet.

"Laugh an' yer dead."

Rhys nodded firmly, body tense.

"I'm here after we got attacked by that demon and stuff. We've got a lot ter go over."

Rhys grunted in affirmative.

"…You busy? I'll wait."

"Just some small duties," Rhys said too quickly.

"I'll wait."

Rhys made a hasty retreat into Anam's office, shutting the door firmly behind him. Elder, who had just ascended the stairs nearby, tilted his head. He'd caught Rhys' expression, filled with a great amount of strain and forced discipline.

"Is Rhys okay?" Elder asked, but then kept his mouth open upon seeing the elegant Lucario that remained with Willow. "Oh… goodness, Manny."

"Yeh don't wanna know… how much hate I got in my heart righ' now."

Elder looked at the closed door of Anam's office, then at the Fighting Fairy, and frowned. "Perhaps some time to cool down would be best." He exhaled a plume of clear smog, then rested his shell near the door.


"So he's really callin' himself Dark Matter now, eh?" Manny said.

"Indeed." Rhys poured out some hot apple cider for himself, then passed the main teapot to Manny.

"Pur some fairy dust in it. It tastes way better!" Willow said, waving one of her mushroom spirits in her paws.

"…Yer not gonna tear off pieces o' them again, are yeh? That's weird." Manny looked at the giggling mushroom.

"What's weird about it?"

"Everything."

Willow snorted and pulled off a bit from the cap—earning a loud giggle from the mushroom—and then tossed it into her tiny bowl. The rest of the mushroom disappeared in a puff of mist, returning to Willow's Realm.

Elder hummed worriedly. "I think it's reasonable to assume that the wraiths are trying to attack us any way they can. We can't afford to let our guards down at all. Willow, your Fairy Realm—is it safe from wraiths?"

"Well, they can't get anywhere near my Core, so I think I'm okay."

"What security measures do you have?" Rhys asked. This one was curious. Of all the Guardians, Willow was among the weakest, yet her realm was safe from wraiths?

"Oh, that's easy. Most entry points will destroy wraiths because of the spicy pits of sugary doom! And even if they get past that, they still have to battle the mushroom giants, and then they have to get across the gumdrop chasms. Oh, and Choco Mountain, and after that, Wafer Ridge…"

Rhys blinked several times, then looked at Manny.

"It's a freaking candy land." His wings beat once on reflex. "Only reason we got through easily was because the spirits guided us to a weird portal. Looked like a ring. Went through a few of them, actually. Next thing we knew, we were near the Core."

"Hrm. So a confusing architecture can thwart the wraiths. That's good to know. We should probably warn the others about that. Manny, what was your realm like?"

"Er… simple."

"I see," Rhys hummed. That explained why his realm was so easily overrun. Step's was quite hostile as well, from what he gathered. ADAM hadn't spoken of any issues in his realm, either.

Rhys briefly thought about all the other realms, but then quickly realized that all of the others were either overrun or simply claimed by Dark Matter. Everyone…

Well, the Trinity still had theirs, but there was no telling how they were doing until they sent others. "Ah, that reminds me… Elder. Could you stay here and discuss with the others? I need to send for a few teams to investigate the Poison and Dragon Dungeons."

"Wait, isn't that sorta a bad idea?" Manny said. "Star said those places're pretty dangerous fer mortals. I mean, apparently the Dragon Guardian's fine with mortals, but Poison, I dunno… And there's that weird barrier protecting the factory that keeps mortals from getting' there, too."

"Hrm, that's true. But we can't travel all the way to the Poison swamp on our own, can we?"

"Well, I could fly there," Willow said. "I'll shrink one of you down to come with me. Do we know who Ghrelle would like?"

Manny thought back, but then growled. "The four that Star said would be fine the first time're all…"

Rhys' expression darkened. That was true. Enet, Owen, Amia, and Gahi were all lost to darkness. The four who Star had considered 'worthy' of Ghrelle's presence, at least from the Altaria's perspective.

"Tch… I'll go," Manny said, nodding. "Willow can come with, and I'll take over her body fer a bit when we arrive. How long's the flight, y'think?"

"From Kilo all the way to that forest… That's quite far. Perhaps a day."

"Don't got a choice. Who's gonna go ter the factory, you?"

"Zero Isle Spiral and the factory are on the same route," Rhys said. "I will visit them both without a problem."

Elder leaned his huge shell against Rhys. "Hmm, I do wonder, though…"

Rhys ran his paw along the large Torkoal's side, watching wisps of smoke escape from the top.

"Would it really be a good idea for all of you to go alone like that?" Elder hummed. "I don't know if it's safe anymore, not with the wraiths."

"We don't have time nor other Mystics to help. ADAM is trying to assist in stabilizing the technology that went down, isn't he?" Rhys frowned. "All that remains is Willow and I. Manny's attached to Willow for now. We… have to."

Elder hesitated, looking down. "I… I see."

An awkward silence followed, but Rhys didn't have time to think about all the others. If there was any hope of saving them, it would be by defeating Dark Matter—their spirits were probably imprisoned in the Ghost Orb.

That had to be what happened. And perhaps, if Hecto still can't find Amia, maybe she—

"Hecto. Where is he?"

"What?" Elder said, but Rhys was already stepping out of the Heart HQ.

"Hecto. He's how we can communicate with all the others with ease. Why hadn't we considered that until now?"

"Well, I suppose part of that would be because of all the panic," Elder admitted. "We've been so busy that—Well, actually, we aren't really sure where Hecto is, are we? We need to find one of him…"

"I'll go look! Do I just call for him a bunch?" Willow stretched her wings.

"Er, yes, actually," said Elder with a nod. "I suppose you could try to do that."

"Okay!" And she was gone.

"…Hey, wait, wait, oy! Yeh left me behind! I—" Manny looked at his paws, which were already fading the more Willow distanced herself. The Fairy Lucario let out an annoyed grunt, about to say something, but then his body dissolved into mist completely. His spirit returned to Willow in a blue ember, leaving Rhys alone with Elder.

"…We should search for backup just in case, Rhys," Elder said, looking down. "I just don't want to risk it, and we already know that mortals can handle themselves against wraiths if they have backup. But a Mystic alone can be overwhelmed."

The Lucario rubbed his forehead. "And you shouldn't come with me for this," he admitted.

Elder frowned, but nodded. "I'm sorry I'm not much of a fighter, Rhys. It just isn't part of my capabilities. Perhaps if I trained like Rim, I would be at your level, but… My focus was always imitation blessings. Something I should do here."

"No. It's not a problem," Rhys said. "I just want to make sure you're safe, Elder. And… if you're worried about me, then I'll search for some talent in town. Almost all of the Hearts are scouting Kilo, though, and we can't afford to take guards away from the border in case mutants wander here. I might need to look for hidden talent." Rhys' paw flashed with cyan flames. "Thankfully, I have just the means to do so. And if they need a boost in power, there's always that Substitute technique I developed."

"Ah—don't strain yourself too much," Elder said. "You know how draining that is to your power."

"That's the point," Rhys said. "A spark of energy is just enough for a boost… If it's enough to take Demitri and Mispy to their highest forms, then perhaps it can help strengthen other non-Mystics to fight by my side, too."

"Just don't do it immediately," Elder pressed. "Find… already-strong talent."

Rhys nodded, setting off for town. He had already felt a few powerful auras that hadn't even joined the Hearts; perhaps he could begin there. He already recalled a few that he'd spotted previously: a powerful Incineroar, for one, and a strange Smeargle.