And stopped.

Eyes shut, Riven remained still for what seemed like centuries, waiting for death that never came.

Opening his eyes slowly while noting the coldness of steel on his neck, he exhaled partially in relief. Both arms and legs were still numb from the thunderbolt he'd taken earlier, the paralysis stretching up to his midsection but away from the organs.

Tesla could have killed him then and there, but he didn't. Even now, he stood in place, a light smile on his lips, holding a blade in his right while holding his left out- the one that ordered his Bisharp not to take Riven's head.

Confusion and surprise riddled Riven at being spared, even if there was nothing he could do, no one to help him. Any intelligent enemy would kill their enemy any chance they got. But he didn't. Maybe it was because of some grim satisfaction that he had bested him? Or perhaps because Riven was uninvolved? He didn't want to die, of course, but that didn't mean he wasn't a slight bit interested at the thought process. If it'd been up to him, he'd have killed him then and there, no questions asked. You just didn't let your enemies get stronger so they could come back and kick you in the balls, because you were "merciful".

In his world, that kind of thinking cost lives. Just like trying to achieve peace was. And didn't that end spectacularly?

Sky blue peered back at him.

"You look surprised." With his free hand, Tesla released an Audino, ordering it to heal his Bisharp before the eye got worse. The two pokemon went off to the side, a bright pulse of healing light illuminating the room. The Luxray laid down on the floor, taking the time to nap. Turning back to Riven, the blonde man's smile stretched a little wider.

Riven gathered his clouded thoughts. "Why? I'm your enemy."

An amused chuckle.

"I'm a mercenary too, you know. Kind of. The thing about mercenaries?" He reclined on the podium stand, peering at Riven's sword. "We can think for ourselves. We don't have to do everything they tell us to do. Like killing someone. Even when it comes to those spare cogs that try to jam up the process. It's not nice to ruin other peoples' plans, you know. They worked hard on them."

Riven carefully reined in a twitch. His limbs were paralyzed. His face was not. "Why'd you do it then? A whim of yours?"

"Curious, aren't you." He shrugged, pointing at him. "Not sure about your case, but not all of us mercenaries are cold blooded killers and miscreants. But really the reason I did it is…" He walked over to Riven, holding the blade downwards, point first, aiming straight for his right leg.

Could he be a sadist? The thought raced through Riven's mind, unable to see him walk behind him, panicking that maybe this Tesla just wanted to see his victims suffer. Ruining a limb in a horrific manner and knowing that person would never walk again was perfectly plausible to sick degenerates like them. If he was… it'd be better to just have him kill him now.

What he did next surprised him.

The sword stabbed downwards with a quick thrust into the tracker placed on his leg, splintering and cracking it with the small application of a few pounds of force. He couldn't feel it, but he could hear the parts breaking until what sounded like shattering glass told him that the device had been destroyed completely.

"There we go," Tesla said, impaling the sword into the podium and wiping his hands. Crossing his arms, he looked at Riven expectantly. Whose facial expression said just about- well, everything.

"That was a personal tracker, right?" He asked, receiving a pointed look in return.

"I know-" Riven tried lifting his body uselessly with his core, "-I'm in a bit of a bind, but what the bloody hell are you doing?"

Tesla frowned at that, listlessly peering at his fingernails. "I've been around some. Seen lots of people. Old, young, sad, happy, depressed… the list goes on. And when I looked at that-" Tesla pointed to the broken device, "-I saw something that saddened me. Everyone deserves to be free, even your enemies. Forcing others to do things holds down their potential. After all, what fun is it going against people who aren't motivated? It's boring."

Riven thought about it, mostly because he couldn't do anything else at the moment. In a way the guy was right, he didn't enjoy being under Nera's heel any more than a prisoner enjoyed being incarcerated. He nodded in understanding. "I can see why you'd say that. For most it's not a good idea if you're working towards something."

"Yeah well, I'm not most. My boss is a busy bee, and he likes to plan things," Tesla said absently, with a tinge of annoyance. "Always planning, always plotting. A schemer. He has some pretty big plans, you know. But he's a little… ruthless. 'Kill X, do X', blah blah. No time for fun stuff." Another grin came over him. "I like to have fun. And you?"

"I'd need to figure out what that is exactly," Riven muttered unenthusiastically.

"Really. 'Cause you looked excited," Tesla said knowingly. "Fighting Azazel. Fighting's fun, and we mercenaries enjoy a little more than most. Gives some spice to life. But alas we have-" His watch beeped repeatedly and after looking at it, he gasped. "Oh, shit. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I'm running low on time, gotta run!"

"Wait," Riven demanded.

"Hmm?"

"You don't make any sense," he breathed. "You spare me, you free me, left me like a Metapod and then you're just going to go? You're fucking strange."

"Heh. Pots shouldn't call the kettle black. You're a weird one too. The amount you talk is indirectly proportional to how dangerous you are." Tesla noted wryly. "Right now being not very."

Riven shrugged, somehow managing that with just his face. "Well, when you can't move, at least you can mouth off and preserve some of your dignity. And being face first in the ground isn't very exciting. Neck is getting tired."

"Hmmm. I want to stay and play, I really do, but I have things that must be done. You should be able to move in a good… six hours or so? Boss is getting impatient."

Returning his Bisharp, Audino, and the Luxray, Tesla summoned another pokemon. After the flash of light receded, a large draconic pokemon materialized, its body covered in dark scales. It sported three heads, with the biggest in the center, baring sharp white teeth and eyes colored a deep fuschia, surrounded by a sclera as black as night. The dragon's wings were coated in black scales, its wingspan covering the length of the room.

He'd seen it before, at the dragon festival, but only briefly, and never up close.

The sight of it was ominous enough to give pause to anyone, and somehow, some way, Riven could feel it just like he could Haona. He didn't exactly know why he could feel this- chalking it up to more space magic, because everyone knew you can't question that- but he knew. Where his Absol was a pushy female with attitude problems and an affinity for semi harmless violence, this one just felt vicious. A familiar vicious, at that.

Regardless, Riven tensed upon seeing it- a natural reaction to dragons it seemed- and tried to back off, but found himself unable to do so given his legs were effectively logs at the moment, managing an incredibly lame half-assed roll. He'd never seen a three-headed dragon like this one before, and it unnerved him more than just a little at having six pairs of eyes watching him hungrily.

The same hungry expression which suddenly shifted, becoming curious, then… cautious? The dragon was giving him a wide berth? What?

Tesla raised a brow at his dragon, whispering something to it. After a brief, dragon sized grunt, the man recoiled, blue eyes wide as saucers. He beamed and jumped in place like a child, as if he'd just struck gold, stroking the smaller left head. With a command, the dragon blew open a gigantic hole in the wall of the auction room with a puff of blue flames.

Riven had managed to roll onto his side, and stared in crippled disinterest.

But just as it was about to fly off with trainer in tow, Tesla turned back to him, a wide smile on his face. A true smile of happiness, one which baffled Riven once again.

"I knew keeping you alive would pay off! It is you! Next time we meet, bring your team and all your friends, because things might get a little crazy. And oh so fun!" He laughed to himself, barely able to contain his excitement. "Come back to Hoenn soon. We're going to put on one hell of a show!"

The dragon launched itself into the air, massive wings beating the air around it to propel it into motion. Wind kicked dust at Riven's eyes, shutting them momentarily. A roar pierced the sky, the sound of the cry reverberating along the walls of the room and the sky outside, letting all around know its imposing presence.

And just like that, the man had left, flying into the sky above, artifact and all.

Groaning, Riven let himself flop onto his back, laying there for minutes, just contemplating his situation and everything that had happened to him. Remembering Yanine and Nemos, the Scyther, the festivals, as well as all the bad luck the universe could chuck at him, he closed his eyes and took a nap.

Isole and Cormac found him some time later, having had some difficulty getting up to the fifth floor, running to his side as they saw him on the ground. They panicked, the strange sight of Riven laying on the floor while not dead instead of doing something better with his time- like snarling at something- not quite registering in both of their minds. A collective sigh of relief came out of them after they confirmed he was lightly snoring. Sleeping on the job, shame.

Muffled muttering filled Riven's ears. Things about paralysis, the situation, damages, the artifact, general distress and something about… idiots and sharp pointy objects.

Cold hands gripped the part of his arms he could still feel, while larger ones held his feet, propping him up beside the podium, next to where his blade had been embedded. Riven woke up to an ice cold hand on his stomach. He shot up- well, the part of his body that still functioned at least- releasing shouted profanities in his half startled, half groggy state.

Hands waved at him, and he wished his arms worked so he could swat them away.

"Riven, you with us?" Isole asked, holding his face still. "I know you're paralyzed, but can you speak?"

"You put your hand on my stomach. Why? Do you know how cold your hands are?" He whined, dazed. "Fucking ice blocks!"

Isole rolled her eyes, snapping a finger next to his eyes. "Are you with us or not? You want another hand on your stomach?"

"No, yes, dammit no. I'm here. Awake," he confirmed, bobbing his head as well. Blinked a few times, trying to come back to his senses.

Cormac shook his head in disappointment. "Sleeping on the job in the middle of a fuckstorm? The Riven I know wouldn't ever do that, he'd be right in the center of it, probably dying and bitching about it. Are you sure this isn't an alien, Isole?" Cormac questioned, noting some cut up chairs, scorch marks, and obviously, the gigantic hole to the outside. He kicked Riven's dead leg as a test. "You don't look like someone beat the snot out of you, but since you have the movement capabilities of a vegetable at the moment, I don't think I have to ask but did someone wreck your shit?"

"Something like that," Riven admitted bluntly. "It was the blonde guy you were talking about, Isole. Had a Bisharp. Was fun."

Cormac all but winced, probably putting two and two together, from the scratch marks on Riven's sword. Weapons against steel types were about as effective as trying to put out a fire with a handful of dirt. You got somewhere, just not far enough. It didn't take an astrophysicist to figure out why they were the trump cards of past armies and empires. At least until someone discovered that metal didn't do so well when introduced to fire.

"Uh-huh. Since you're paralyzed, I'm going to assume you decided fuck all to fighting a steel type with a sword because it was a gigantic pain in the dick and went straight for the trainer, and got turned into a human conductor?"

"Mmm." Riven closed his eyes in exhaustion. "Luxray. Right after I cut into the Bisharp's eye and was about to stab the guy in the chest, it shot me out of the air and pumped enough electricity into me to nearly make my heart explode. Probably mixed in thunder wave too because holy shit, I'm tired."

"You've been hit by a thunder wave before?"

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Riven stared at them dully. "I had a Manectric sit on me before. In LaRousse, while I was running away from the police your lot called on me."

Isole and Cormac exchanged looks, ignoring him while noticing the broken tracker on the ground. Picking up some of the shards, Isole grimaced.

Riven noted their looks, chuckling to himself in half disbelief. "He could have killed me you know. Was about to cut my head off, but stopped. Broke my tracker too."

Both of them instantly refocused on him. "He spared you? Why?"

"Hell if I know," he huffed. "Guy didn't make a lick of sense, for a mercenary at least. Some of them are eccentric, but usually they're massive douchebags. But him… I didn't know what he was thinking, sparing an enemy like that. Pokemon were powerful though. Bisharp wasn't going serious against me and his Luxray could have fried me without even trying."

Then again though, it wasn't very compelling judging a pokemon's strength against a human's. If a Linoone could tackle with the force of a car going at a moderate speed, it was pretty meaningless to say they were strong when a human at peak physical condition could at best hit for a quarter of that power. It'd be like comparing the density of talc to steel. That is unless they happened to have insane bursts of power fueled by dark and troubled pasts that allowed them to temporarily match pokemon in terms of strength. But hey, apparently every human who came through time via legendary magic bullshit had some form of enhanced ability. Which was kind of cool? Except for well, having creepy side personalities that really wanted to kill things. Or living in freezers and raising the temperature of a room just by being in the general vicinity- you know, small things.

Craning his neck, Riven gestured to the hole in the wall. "Then he summoned what caused that."

"And what caused," They both turned towards the hole. "That?"

"Dragon," he replied casually.

"Got a name?"

"What was it?" Riven closed his eyes, concentrating, muttering out loud. "Hida? Uh… Dree? Gongs...? Uhhhh… something that sounded like eggs?"

"Hydreigon?" Isole suggested. Thunder bolt must have done a number on his brain. His memory was effectively ass, despite being very attentive to details most of the time. No thanks in part to his mindset of 'everything wants to chomp on your face, you just don't know it yet'.

"Ah, that's the one," he nodded, trying to raise an unresponsive finger. He frowned when it didn't come up. "Three heads. Really dangerous looking. Of the it's going to eat your children and lay waste to your loved ones variety."

Cormac snorted. "Yup. That's a Unovan native. Impossible to miss, no one ever forgets Hydreigon, in tournaments or in the wild. First thing they teach kids and young budding trainers? Do not fuck with them. Things are violent as all shit and their power… let's just say it can match Salamence if not outright make it its bitch. Until fairy types were discovered, it made trainers wet their pants in battles. They're incredibly difficult to train, and if he has one… guy's not to be taken lightly. Could have killed you up, down, and sideways if he wanted to."

"I kind of got that impression when I was laying face first in the ground and my limbs decided to stop working," Riven replied dryly. "Got away with the artifact too, but I guess that's obvious already."

Both of them agreed with identical shrugs. "Did you find anything about them at least?"

"From him? Just that he doesn't really care for his employer, but from one of the other mercenaries, he told me they go by the name of 'Singularity'. I don't know what that means but I'm assuming it has something to do with what they're aiming for."

Cormac and Isole mulled it over, brows furrowing in concentration.

"Could mean exactly what it says on the tin," Isole said. "Criminal organizations and past teams never really did put much thought into their names."

"Their fanatic chant is 'together as one'," Riven mused. "Points for originality."

"Lot better than having Team at the front, sounds less like a boy scout crew and more like an imposing organization of sorts. But what it could mean… Maybe it's a physics thing?" Cormac suggested instead. "A gravitational singularity is defined as something that occurs in time and space when matter is condensed into a single point, defying classical and quantum mechanics, as quantum mechanics does not permit particles to condense into a point smaller than their respective wavelengths," he said matter-of-factly.

Riven and Isole were both pretending to snore. They both startled awake after he finished, muttering a collection of half-asleep whats and huhs. Cormac gave them both the middle finger.

"Seriously, fuck both of you." He grunted, placing a foot against the podium as he tore Riven's blade out of the wood. "Let's get paraplegic here off the ground. Can you handle his heavy ass, Isole? Wouldn't want you to damage your lady goods now. They're much too nice."

"Oh? Says the normal," she smirked, hoisting Riven up easily. "I'm at least twice as strong as you. And I can make ice sculptures and you can't," she chided, tracing the air with a bit of frost.

"Tsk," the other man sneered.

Although it was surprising at how easily she picked up a six foot tall man like a sack of fruit. But for said six foot sack of fruit, it was also fifty kinds of awkward getting held over a woman's shoulders. Especially when he could easily see her behind when she walked, made much easier because of the dress she was wearing. Yup. Pretty awkward. "Uh, Isole?"

"Yeah?" She replied as they were taking him to the stairs.

"How are you going to get me down the stairs? They're kind of… gone."

"Throw him," Cormac suggested. "He'll be fine. It's the floor that should be worried."

"Throw me and I'll castrate you."

"Cormac built a web padding," Isole assured, feeling Riven's death glare behind her back. "Kind of like a hammock, but you'll slide down it instead of stick. Or… roll down I guess?"

"I guess?" He repeated, not convinced. "If I land face-"

Then he felt himself get lifted, dropped, and rolled along a slightly sticky but firm layer of webbing, the fibers of the web sleeker than normal, noticing what looked like frost flakes on the tips. So she iced the web to reduce the stickiness. Huh. He landed against Cormac's Ariados, who didn't appear at all perturbed by the fact than a human just crashed into it. Seemed like a trend.

Getting carried down the stairs the same way again, Riven heard more explosions as they approached the ground floor. "Have they taken care of the Tyranitar yet?" He started, focusing his hearing, not that it did him much good, facing backwards.

"No," Isole answered curtly. "We came up to see if you hadn't gotten yourself killed. We were planning to go out and help the police but… mega Tyranitars aren't playthings. That they're still fighting it and not completely wiped out is incredible. Or that asshole of a trainer is toying with them. I'm betting on the latter, trainers are arrogant at the best of times."

Exiting the staircase, Riven craned his neck to look past Isole's shoulder, jaw nearly dropping at the sight of the base floor. "Holy... shit," he stammered. "This place is done."

Jagged spikes of ice coated the walls and floors, splintered by attacks gone astray. Craters lined the floor and pieces of glass and tile were strewn about in every which way, the dying embers of flamethrowers still burning along the charred slabs of the walls and stores. The structural supports were chipped and broken, barely holding on, riddled with bullets and the after effects of battle. Long slices were carved into some parts of the ground, and a shop window had been neatly bisected in half. Water lay along the path of destruction- the mark of an aqua jet. Whatever lights were working flickered and sparked, probably as a result of an electrical surge.

In short, place was worse than fucked.

Mercenaries, pokemon, and gangsters alike were frozen to the walls or wrapped up in spider silk, struggling. Most of them were gagged too, so luckily they weren't spewing verbal diarrhea as the three passed by. Isole and Cormac went around the back, where firemen had extinguished most of the flames, but all that had done was expose more of the damage from the ongoing battle.

"This is going to be a disaster," Riven winced, observing the extent of damage to the fractured earth.

"Expect mass political fallout," Isole said, blowing out a cold breath of exasperation. "Thank the heavens I'm not an official, much less the champion."

"Feel pity for the champion. Poor bastard," Riven added.

"Poor woman," Cormac corrected. "Champion of the Kalos region is a chick."

"Doesn't change the fact she's going to hate her life for the next few months," Riven smiled darkly. "Did the Tyranitar do this?"

"No, the distractions did. The Tyranitar is facing towards Vernal Avenue, hasn't left that side of the plaza, but I'm sure it's well beyond wrecked at this point. The fires and explosions just harassed this part of Centrico," she stated. Shook Riven lightly, receiving a grunt. "Look, paramedics. We're going to leave you there since you're the definition of useless at the moment. They should be able to fix your paralysis. But it's not going to be quick enough for you to join, not that you'd be much help with no pokemon."

"Guess you can't partake in the heroisms today, Rivy," Cormac smirked. "Much sad."

"Not really. Heroes tend to die," Riven responded flatly. "And if heroes try to take on something like that, then I really don't mind sitting out this time. By all means, you idiots can go kill yourselves, only makes my life easier."

Snorting, they left him with the paramedics and ran towards the sounds of battle. He would wave but… it went without saying.

The medics ran several tests, applying paralyze heals to his skin, which helped some of the feeling return to his limbs, but it wasn't enough. At most it would take upwards of two hours, even with medicine. Otherwise he was perfectly fine. He relayed a message to one of the paramedics, and from out of the smoke, a blonde girl with green eyes and antenna hair met him. Her white tank top was now a dull grey from the soot, and her skin was ashy and dusty from the debris of the surrounding buildings. Her hair was disheveled and she looked ready to drop from exhaustion.

"Prime," Viola uttered wordlessly, catching her breath. "Thank you for escorting the civilians out, are you ok?"

"Just paralyzed from my arms and legs, but otherwise yes, I'm fairly all right. You look like you've had better days though," he said, looking at her grimy appearance. "You didn't watch the shirt. I told you to watch the shirt."

She laughed at that, shaking some of the dust off. "What happened up there? I saw a Hydreigon come out and panicked a little, but it just flew off."

Riven took a glance at the sky, trying to make sense of that still. "Guy got the best of me there, took what I was after and left. Everything else was at best a distraction of sorts. How's the battle coming along?"

"I wish I could say we're getting through, but that wouldn't be true," Viola lamented. "Most of the police forces' pokemon have been exhausted and recalled, and the Elite Four won't be here for at most another hour or two. And that trainer…" Viola grit her teeth, and held in what sounded faintly like curses.

That was new. Viola wasn't one for connecting with her inner foulness, and gym leaders seldom cursed. At least the first few gym leaders did. Drake didn't really care, but to be fair, he was a sailor before. To make her want to curse- that was pretty scary. Seeing her angry was a little concerning, it'd be like seeing Roxanne angry. It just didn't happen. "So he's a massive prick, then."

"And a half," she hissed out.

Viola. Hissed. Riven shook as he fought a sudden chill.

She stared at him in mild concern. "Are you cold? Do you need a blanket? I know it's night time but-"

"I'm fine, it's just you… hissed," he pointed out meekly. She raised an eyebrow at that, as if to elaborate. "Nevermind, it's nothing. Can you wheel me out to where I can see the battle?"

"Prime-"

"If I get killed it's fine, just tell anyone I was being an idiot and probably deserved it," he assured, nonchalantly giving Viola what amounted to a verbally signed liability form. "Can you help me get on this wheelchair though? I can't move my legs, or my arms."

The gym leader sighed softly.

When she took him out to the Vernal section of Centrico Plaza, Riven could only stare in disbelief as he saw what used to be the beautiful streets of the plaza reduced to a pile of rubble. The cafes that lined the entrances to the avenues were destroyed, and the buildings they resided in were crumbling on the outside, just skeletons of what they once were. The police had evacuated the people, but the damage was still there.

In the center of it he could see Isole and Cormac fighting against the Tyranitar with the policemen and their pokemon, jets of flame and water dancing amidst streams of multi colored beams. But even from there, he could make out the laughing as their attacks seemed to bounce off, and pokemon were blown clearly into the surrounding buildings and cars, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt.

The trainer cackled, sitting comfortably on a rock behind his pokemon, mouth twisted into a smirk. "You can't beat me!" He shouted between more cackles. "I'm a true trainer! You're all nothing but fakes. I'll avenge his death, just you fucking wait! Then I'll take down that runt of a champion and move on to the rest of the world!"

He raised a hand, and an earthquake shook the very ground, fissures opening along the ground, swallowing several police cars. The damaged buildings gave their dying breath, crashing to the ground in a blanket of dust. "Did you see that?" He continued, raising his hands towards the sky. "I've been going easy on you, little policemen."

Riven and Viola watched uselessly from the sidelines, incredulity in his and utter shock in hers. He wondered why she was shaking. Sure, this guy was fucking nuts, but after he mentioned fakes, she very nearly broke down, even more scared than when she was fighting the Pangoro, and boy did that say something.

Isole's Empoleon and Cormac's Ariados were getting tired, their attacks growing more sluggish. They were already worn out from the previous fight, and mercenaries seldom carried upwards of three pokemon, mostly for safety reasons. A full pokebelt raised suspicions, but three or two pokeballs was so commonplace that no one gave it a second thought. Useful for blending in, but absolute shit for battles like this.

The Tyranitar roared, forming a swirling vortex of black energy in its mouth, prepping another dark pulse. Police pulled back, as well as the two mercenaries.

"That mega evolution is problematic." Isole grinded her teeth together. "If Yuvir hadn't been blindsided by that fireblast in there, I could have-"

"Not worth it," Cormac reminded. "You really want all these people to know about you and the others?"

She cursed, considering that.

"But we can't have this crazy fuck running around Lumiose either. Not that there's much we can do at this point." He grimaced, watching the kid laugh. "Forget the Tyranitar. That trainer. We're going to have to kill him."

"Easier said than done." She replied, watching the collected energy grow in size, a deep vicious purple glow emanating from the interior of the pokemon's mouth.

The trainer smirked smugly once again, a crazed look in his eyes. "Goodbye, fakes," he uttered, issuing and order with a flick of his wrist.

Darkness howled forth and a flash of purple light pierced the ground and sky, the power of mega evolution traveling along the attack, which would no doubt cause untold amount of damage to the city.

The police braced, and frantically told everyone to take cover and run.

Riven only sat in his wheelchair, eyes wide, and in a second, the attack exploded against something, a wave of force sending shards of concrete flying in every which way. He gagged and coughed as dust clouded his vision and filtered in through his nostrils. The concussive force of the blast sent everyone further ahead hurling backwards, but the ground beneath and behind him were strangely untouched. Everyone who had been on the plaza was now on the sidewalks, confused.

Riven looked up, puzzled, squinting against the heavy air.

Shimmering among the clouds, he noticed glimmering walls of hard light, layers upon layers of them stacked on each other, arranged like shields in a formation around the plaza, their images easy to make out among the backdrop of dust and distorted light. They began to spin around the circular plaza, like a revolving barrier. The dust cloud was then blown apart by furious winds, making out a speeding metal bird flying impossibly fast high above the plaza, the gale from its wings restoring visibility with powerful sonic beats.

Standing in front of the layered shields, a steel haired man calmly curled up the sleeves of his suit, a fierce look in his eyes. Behind him, a massive psychic hovered inches above the ground. In his hands, a pin gleamed under the moonlight, and a smile bloomed on Riven's face. Things were about to get downright interesting.

"It's impolite to destroy someone else's property."

I know I said I'd release this within a week, but the traffic stats on stories are currently borked, so I held off a bit, but since the problem has persisted, I decided to release the chapter anyways.

It's a bit shorter than normal, so I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.