His name was Miles Arthur. Everywhere he went, he excelled. His test scores were perfect, his attendance was perfect and his disposition was perfect. He was on track to go to the best college in the region. Though it seemed fate had different plans.

The problem with getting perfect scores is it eventually becomes something that is expected, rather than something that should be praised. He was met with pressure. From his peers to his parents and his brother especially, everyone was expecting him to do perfectly and become something great. He tried to reach out to others but found no one. Like oil on water, he separated and rose to the top. And that top was incredibly isolated.

Everything was a mess. He wanted to escape. But what he wanted more was to succeed.

Despite everything, he did want to become the person everyone had propped him up to be. To be someone anyone could look up to. To soar high above everyone else. So he allowed the pressure to build. And along with pressure, his desire to succeed grew more and more. Until one day, his aura ability awakened.

His desire to succeed manifested itself in the form of two metal discs on the palms of his hands. At will, he could open up the discs and fire rockets from them. If he so wished, he could also hold onto these rockets as they fired off and fly with them.

Yet irony is a cruel mistress. While his aura ability came from his desire to succeed, the very people who pushed him to do so now turned him away. He was ostracized. His parents disowned him and his peers wanted nothing to do with him. He had one of those strange powers now. According to the government, that made him evil, dangerous, a demon even.

He was lost. Everything had crumbled down so quickly. There was nothing left for him in his old life anymore. The only option he had was joining the SDA and starting anew. He never understood why they hated him for his powers until he joined.

Even now, there was clear evidence for why those people with powers should be locked up.

He was in Gene Collins's apartment with 80. On the floor in front of him were the cut up bodies of two police officers. It was just as Rusty described; one cut in two, the other with all his limbs cut off.

Outside, the sky was a sullen gray. The forecast had called for rain at noon. It was as if the world were weeping for the poor officers.

His eyes went over to 80 who was inspecting the bodies more closely. The cuts made by the Aegislash were incredibly clean, as though they were done by a circular saw. Moreso, the headless corpse of the other officer wouldn't have looked strange in the bed of a guillotine.

80 had been the first real friend he had made in his new life. While she knew how to push his buttons in every which way, there was no denying the fact that he enjoyed being with her. It was a much needed change of pace. A welcoming person who didn't care much for whatever statuses he attained or what his performance was and just continued to mess around with him.

He bent down and shook 80's shoulder. "How is the inspection going?"

She peered back up at him, "Not too bad. Rusty said it himself back in the meeting, but this was definitely the work of The Beast. To think it was caused by a person wielding an Aegislash is just plain crazy."

"If it's the same one in the records, then maybe we can finally put an end to its chaos." He looked back to the front of the apartment, "I'll be checking out the kitchen. Holler if you need me."

"Roger that, Smiles."

He smirked at the nickname and walked over to the apartment's kitchen. It was clear that Gene Collins had no intention of having guests over today, nor did it seem that he had any guests for the last two weeks. The area was in complete disarray with plates and glasses strewn about the countertops, various liquids and congealed solids staining all the silverware that lay around them. Beside the trash bin there were several glass bottles and even more tin cans. The smell was unbearable; a mix of rotten food with fermenting alcohol.

Regardless, he soldiered on, and made his way to the fridge. Opening it, he found a couple of styrofoam containers that had leftovers in it as well as a six pack of beer cans, two of which had been removed from the plastic rings. However, the thing that made his eyebrows raise were the three large bottles laying on their side on the top shelf.

Miles took one out and looked it over. The label said it all: Burn wine. It was an outlawed drink and for good reason. Its highly addictive nature turned good, outstanding members of society into slaves of the bottle. There was a saying that, "a drop would make you stop" as in, you would stop being your own person.

The drink had proliferated throughout all of Nivalheim and made thousands of people suffer. After a member of the royal family became addicted, the queen outlawed it. No one was allowed to manufacture, buy or sell the item. While it helped clean up most of the issue, some of those who were still in its grasp were forced to buy it from black market sellers. It seems that Gene was one of those people.

"Raiding the fridge? It's hardly even lunch time."

Miles turned around to see 80 smiling at him. He stuck his hand inside the fridge and pulled out a bottle of burn wine. "Not hungry, but it seems Mr. Collins had a certain taste for alcohol."

80 looked at the bottle and walked closer, "Is that..?"

"Burn wine. There's two more bottles in the fridge."

"Not too many places where you can get that, huh?"

"No, but I do know a bar nearby that might give us a clue. I have a feeling Mr. Collins wasn't exclusively a burn wine drinker." He gestured at the many cans and bottles by the trash.

"What's the bar?"

"The Five Leaf. Not exactly the most friendly place so I'm sure you'll have lots of fun there."

80 grinned, "So where is it?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this. It's in Heyline territory."

Octavia took out the next file and skimmed through it, looking all over for the word 'Aegislash'. Nothing. She put it back and took out the next one, expecting the same result. She expected right.

The archives were a dark room, only lit by a solitary incandescent bulb above. Beneath the lightbulb was a small wooden table that currently held the few cases that mentioned an Aegislash that Octavia and Miyu had found. Surrounding the table were walls of filing cabinets, each one containing twenty files at minimum.

She and Miyu had gone through several cabinets already but had made little progress in the grand scheme of things. During her first cabinet, she had read through each file carefully. Though after realizing that it was fruitless to keep going at such a slow pace, she decided to copy Miyu's technique of skimming. And while he was more adept at it, she was able to go through files much faster.

She took out another file and skimmed through it again. No Aegislash. Though something stood out to her, something she had noticed over reading the hundreds of files. It was a far cry from the kind of bizarreness she had expected the SDA would help with, in fact it was probably most appropriate to describe the case file she had just read as mundane.

"Hey, Miyu?" she asked.

Miyu popped his head up from the filing cabinet he was working on. "Hi! What is it?"

"This case file." She raised the file in her hand, its pages open. "It's just some guy seeing hallucinations, why is it even in here?"

He shrugged, "Can't do much about it. Anything that comes off as supernatural is sent off to us."

"But why even keep it?"

"You never know. Every little detail counts. If there were a pattern of hallucinations stemming from that guy's file, it would be helpful to know everything about it, right?"

"I guess but," she gestured to the many file cabinets, "it doesn't exactly make things easier for us."

"You're right on that one. C'mon, let's finish up these cabinets and we can check out the ones that have Aegislash in them."

"Detective, huh? What brings you here?" the bouncer asked. He was a tall man, bald, and easily cleared the door behind him in height and nearly cleared it in width as well. Miles kept eye contact with him.

The Five Leaf was not a place where someone went on their best days. In the dilapidated depths of Clover Garden, it was for those who were one step away from the first circle of hell. Its unassuming outside appearance was that of a brick building, but the inside held a rustic aesthetic. Unfortunately, the warmth such a theme might have conjured was easily overwhelmed by the clientele.

Miles was no stranger to this place. And he knew he would be visiting it again at some point.

"Nothing much. We've just got a few questions for the bartender. That's all we're here for," he said calmly.

"Oh, I think I know exactly what you're here for," the bouncer said, folding his arms. "You can't fucking fool me, you flatfooted bastard. You know whose territory this is."

80 stepped in front of Miles, "My friend, pal, chum, buddy, would you pretty please let us into the bar? I'm getting real tired of waiting out here."

It was the bouncer's turn to step forward. The difference in height was immense, though that didn't deter 80 in the slightest. "And what are you gonna do about it, huh, pipsqueak?"

She stood on her tiptoes and leaned her face close, "Beat the shit outta ya, probably."

Miles, realizing 80 was about to have a little too much fun, put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back behind him. "Enough. We're here to talk, not fight," he said. He looked down at 80, who still had a slight savage look in her eyes, "Right?"

80 sighed and backed away, reaching her arms behind her head, "Fine, fine. Ol' chrome dome here probably wouldn't even last long."

"The fuck did you just call me?" the bouncer said, his face turned red.

Miles held out his hand, stopping the oaf's advance. "Listen to me. There is a man on the loose who can cut people in half like they're nothing. This man has likely come to this bar and I need you to let us in so we can speak with the bartender."

He expected the bouncer to brush his statement off or start to get physical with them, but surprisingly neither of those came to be. Instead, the bouncer's eyes locked onto Miles's hand, still outstretched, and went wide. "Oh, fuck," he said, "You're one of them."

One of what? Miles thought. Then he realized what the man was seeing: The metal disc on his palm. "Yeah, I'm an aura ability user. What about it?"

"Look, I don't want any trouble here. I can tell you what I know just… just put your hand down."

Miles put his hand down and pulled out a picture of Gene Collins. "Do you recognize this man?"

The bouncer breathed and regained some sense. He leaned in to peer at the picture. "He used to be a regular here. Came here every day until about two weeks ago. Got nothing from him until yesterday night."

Perfect, we're in the right place. He put away the picture. "How about letting us talk with the bartender, then?"

The bouncer shook his head. "I can't let you in, even if you're an aura… whatever. The higher-ups would do worse things to me than you ever could."

80 cut in, "Then bring the bartender out here then, you dummy. Surely that head of yours isn't as thick as it looks."

"80…" Miles started.

"Fine," the bouncer said, "If it means you two get out of my hair afterwards, then I'll get the bartender out here."

Miles instinctively covered 80's mouth with his hand, saving him from having to deal with the result of another quippy remark about the bouncer's baldness. He received 80's

muffled protests in his hand and ignored them. "Thank you. We'll wait out here for you then."

The bouncer gave them one last glance before stepping inside.

80 pulled Miles's hand off her mouth. "For the record, I was about to compliment him."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really? What were you going to compliment him on?"

"Oh, you know, how the moonlight perfectly reflects off his head. It really is quite the spectacle."

"I'm beginning to think you're having too much fun here."

She punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Well yeah, Smiles. We gotta make the most of the situation. Half of those guys in there we can't even arrest because of Heyline's power. I'm just making sure their time out here will be filled by my ridicule."

He looked down and smirked, "It's not going to be easy to keep up with all of them, you know?"

"O ye of little faith, my dearest Smiles. I can, and will, do this forever."

"Looking forward to it." He tussled 80's hair and waited.

After a couple minutes, the bouncer stepped back outside with a grizzled old man in tow. Miles felt it was safe to assume it was the bartender. The old man's hair was gray and laid flat on his head and a chevron mustache that was perfectly groomed.

"I've been told you two need some questions answered," the bartender said, taking out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He pulled one out and lit it. "You've got until I finish this. I've got patrons to attend to."

Miles pulled the picture of Gene out and showed it to the bartender, just as he was sucking in his first dose of smoke. "Do you recognize this man?"

The bartender let out a puff of smoke and squinted at the picture. He nodded, "I reckon that's one mister Gene Collins. I must say, he's lookin' a lot better in that picture than the last time I saw 'im."

"When did you last see him?"

The bartender took another long breath on the cigarette, paused for a moment, then let out a large cloud. "Last night. Probably the worst I've seen 'im. Always came here when he was feelin' blue but last night was somethin' more."

"Did he talk about anything?"

"Can't say I recall too much. He went on ramblin' and ramblin' about the world and how it was all unfair. Didn't make too much sense to me I'm afraid."

"Anything about an Aegislash?"

Another breath, another cloud. "'Fraid not. I woulda remembered somethin' like that."

Miles sighed, shaking his head. "Did he say anything noteworthy at all?"

The bartender took his sweet time taking in a breath and savoring the smoke in his lungs. When he exhaled, the toxic fumes filled Miles's nostrils. His patience was fraying, and would soon break. He didn't intend to find out what he would happen after.

Eventually there was an answer, "He mentioned somethin' about movin' apartments if things got hairy."

That piqued his interest, "So he has a second apartment? Where is it then?"

The bartender raised both his hands against his chest, his cigarette still firmly between two of his fingers. "Woah, boy. Can't just be givin' information out like that."

Miles gritted his teeth and scuffed his shoe against the pavement. "Alright. Who do you want out?"

The bartender smiled and tapped his cigarette with his finger, dropping ash to the ground. "Glad you know the game, son. Archie Bleecker, charged with four counts of tax evasion."

"I can get them to drop two of the charges."

"Drop 'em all."

"Three of them. I know he has a lawyer that can deal with the last one."

The bartender went into thought, dropping his hand with his cigarette down by his side. "Fine. Get your notepad ready 'cause I ain't gonna say this twice."

80, on instinct, whipped her notepad out and pressed her pen to the paper. "I am ready to be enlightened by your ways, oh cancerous one." Miles flicked the side of her head.

"Easy, firecracker. Don't lose the favor your friend got you," the bartender said, puffing smoke. "It's the Gray Sky apartment complex, room 205. If he ain't at his normal apartment or here, he's probably there."

80 wrote the details down. Miles exhaled, glad that he had managed to get a good lead. "Thank you for your cooperation, sir," he said, bowing.

"Uh huh. You'd best be callin' your superiors and takin' those charges off. We'll know if you didn't." He breathed into his cigarette one last time, the length barely being able to be held between his fingers. Breathing out, he dropped the cigarette and stomped on it with his shoe. "I reckon that's all my time. You two have a good night."

With that, the bartender turned around and walked back inside the Five Leaf. The bouncer retook his position in front of the door, eyeing the pair.

"80, let's go," Miles said, walking away from the bar. "And call Rusty too, we'll need to update him on some things."

80 followed him close and pulled out her phone. She flipped to the contact for Rusty and hit the call button. It only took two rings for Rusty to pick up. 80 put the call on speakerphone so that Miles could listen in.

"Hello?" Rusty said.

"Hey there, boss man. We've got some good news," 80 said, holding the phone out so Miles could listen.

"What is it?"

"We've got a location. Looks like The Beast has a second home."

"That's good. Please return as soon as possible. We'll need to hold a meeting to discuss our next actions."

"Well uhh…"

Miles heard a sigh from the phone. "What is it, 80?" Rusty asked.

"To get the info, we were in Heyline territory. Miles had to pull a few strings, if you know what I mean."

Another sigh, "Who was it?"

Miles cut in, "It was Archie Bleecker, sir. Four counts of tax evasion. I promised we would cut it down to only one count. I'm sorry for doing so without your permission, but it was necessary."

Rusty was silent for a moment before he spoke. "If leaving a tax evader on the streets means that a murderer goes behind bars, then I'm okay with that. You did good, Miles. I'll talk things over with the attorney general and get things sorted."

"Thank you, sir. It's unfortunate we needed to come to that."

"Don't worry, we'll manage. In any case, I want you and 80 to come back. We need to hold a meeting and make a plan of action."

"You got it, boss man," 80 said. She hit the 'end call' button. "Ready to ship out?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to stick around these parts for too long. The smell's already getting to me."

"Fuck, you can say that again. I thought I was gonna die with how much smoke was coming out of that bartender."

Miles smirked, "Well, I'm glad you're not. I'd prefer you alive."

80 grabbed at her chest in dramatic fashion, "Oh! Oh how it burns! That geezer's death breath has invaded my being and is eating a hole in me!" She dropped her arms to her sides and laughed, "And to think, just a minute longer with him and that might have been true."

Miles chuckled as he took the keys from his pockets and unlocked the van.

The last few reports had been duds and Octavia did not feel optimistic picking up the next one in the pile.

They had moved away from sorting through cabinets and had deferred to going through the reports that mentioned an Aegislash in any way. All of them so far only mentioned an Aegislash as one of the pokemon a criminal had. Skimming through the files in the cabinets had gotten her this far, but it would be useless if they just had to go back to looking through things again.

Miyu was still smiling, though Octavia could tell he wasn't feeling confident about the files either. She felt intimidated by how hard he worked. They had found twelve files that mentioned an Aegislash and had divided the work between them. While she had gone through three files, Miyu had gone through five. He was nearly through his sixth.

She opened up the file and started reading. Already, it was more promising than any of the previous files. It was about a man who had gone on a massacre, slaughtering everyone who dared cross his path. The man had used an Aegislash for the job, one that was shiny.

Octavia looked up and smiled, "I found it."

Miyu responded in kind and dropped the file he was nearly done. He walked over, huddling up beside Octavia and stared down at the file's contents.

"Yes! Good work, Octavia!" he said, patting her on the back. They were light, and made Octavia feel warm inside. "It's definitely the same one. Lay it out on the table and we can double team it."

She placed the file down on the table and spread its papers out. Several pictures of the crime scene stood out to her, ones that she had missed on her skimming. The pictures that Rusty had shown in the meeting and the scene she had been at with 80 resonated in her mind. Bodies with missing limbs, missing heads, and blood everywhere.

Octavia pried her eyes away from the pictures and focused on the documents. She picked up the police report that was made and began reading. The writing was little more than chicken scratch but it was, at the very least, legible. Past the smaller details at the top, there was a large section that described the incident shown in the photos. It went on for several paragraphs, even cutting into the section below it.

"Does it say anything helpful?" Miyu asked, staring at a report of his own.

Octavia brought the report closer so she could read it. "A man named Peter Davis armed with a shiny Aegislash… Dismembered and killed fourteen individuals… Evaded fire from police…" Her eyes scanned the rest of the page, eventually settling on a passage near the end. "Peter Davis was eventually disarmed and detained after he had apparently suffered immense fatigue. This was unexpected as the officers had tried and failed to do any harm to him. The Aegislash broke away from him and vanished."

Miyu put down the report he had. "Immense fatigue would suggest that the Aegislash was draining his life force. Perhaps the effect was only being held off by the killing of others. In which case, Gene Collins may be a completely new host for the Aegislash."

"I don't think that's true."

"Why not?"

She looked at the report, "When Peter Davis was interrogated, it was found he had picked up the Aegislash only ten minutes before he used it to kill all those people. The confrontation with police lasted only twenty minutes."

"Then why would Gene be an exception to the rule?"

"If Gene Collins's life force was being drained, wouldn't we have heard of more murders instead of just those police officers? If fourteen people only gave Peter Davis twenty minutes, two people wouldn't nearly be enough for Gene Collins. He would have collapsed inside his apartment building."

Miyu frowned, "Which means that the Aegislash isn't draining his life force." He rubbed his forehead, "For some reason, Gene Collins is an exception to the Aegislash."

"What are we going to do?"

Miyu smiled again, "Well, we're going to take him down, of course! There might not be an easy solution, but we'll keep going! We have to, after all."

Octavia nodded but didn't return the smile. She stared back down at the report and set it on the table. She placed a finger on Ace's pokeball and breathed. Was she out of her depth? This wasn't as simple as being an assistant for 80 at the scene or merely attending Rusty's meeting. She was actively working on the case. It scared her, and yet it didn't at the same time. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to react. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to react at all.

The door to the archive opened behind her. She looked back and saw Rusty standing in the door frame.

"We're having another meeting. Pack up things here and be there in five."

Rusty glanced up as Miles and 80 walked into the meeting room and sat down. They were all present and the meeting could begin.

"Let's start with what Miles and 80 have uncovered," Rusty said, nodding to Miles.

Miles stood up and cleared his throat, "We've learned that Gene Collins has a second apartment and may be hiding out in that location. The Gray Sky apartment complex, located in Clover Garden and relatively close to his old apartment. It's likely he is currently there."

80 chimed in, "He also appears to be a raging alcoholic. We found bottles of burn wine in his fridge and was told he frequented the Five Leaf on a daily basis. Though, we were also told that he stopped coming to the bar two weeks ago, the same time The Beast started killing."

"It seems that the Aegislash and Gene Collins have some history with each other," Rusty said. He looked over to Miyu and Octavia, "Would you two be able to shed some light on the subject?"

Miles sat down and in his place, Miyu stood. "Gene Collins appears to be the most recent host of this Aegislash. Considering what 80 said, it seems likely that he picked up the Aegislash two weeks ago and has been using it ever since."

"What about the reports that Miles mentioned in our previous meeting?"

"We did find a report pertaining to this particular Aegislash. It details Peter Davis, likely the last host before Gene, and his rampage where fourteen people were killed. It was also found that the Aegislash was likely draining Peter's lifeforce as well as the one it killed."

"So Gene Collins's lifeforce is currently being drained?"

Miyu shook his head, "No, it appears Gene is the exception to the Aegislash's rule."

Rusty raised an eyebrow, "And how did you come to this conclusion?"

Miyu nudged Octavia beside her and sat down. She looked around the room, surprised and flustered, before slowly standing up. The room was quiet, though that didn't seem to ease her much.

"Well… Peter Davis killed thirteen- I mean fourteen people and collapsed from his drained lifeforce ten- no, twenty minutes later." She paused and breathed. Though Rusty couldn't make out what she was doing from where he was, it appeared that she was holding her finger against something on her belt. "If Gene's lifeforce was being drained, he would've needed to kill many more people to be able to leave his apartment building. But the only people who were killed were the two police officers."

Rusty looked up, pondered the reasoning before him, and nodded slightly. "That does seem to make sense." He leaned forward in his chair, "If Gene Collins isn't getting his lifeforce drained from the Aegislash, that makes him extremely dangerous. We'll need to organize a raid on his apartment and take him down. Today, if we can."

80 rubbed her hands together, "Oh ho! Time to hunt down The Beast!"

"I want you all to be prepared to head out. I have a few calls to make," Rusty said, standing up.

A resounding "Yes, sir!" filled the room.

Octavia sat back in her booth in Joltin' Joe's, sipping the coffee that Joe had given her free of charge. Ready with a bullet-proof vest, combat boots, and Ace's pokeball on her belt, it was almost time for the raid.

Rusty had gotten everything sorted out, and they would be going to Gene's apartment soon. She didn't expect she would play a large part in the raid, maybe only being present to observe, but it still made her anxious about what could possibly happen to her. Gene and the Aegislash were dangerous, and she didn't want herself or any of the others to just get turned into mincemeat by them.

She saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see Miyu walking towards her. He was dressed in much the same gear she was, and she found it amusing how much his pink hair contrasted the black equipment, even more so than her own blonde. In his hand, he was holding a small cup of tea.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied, taking another sip of coffee.

Miyu sat down on the opposite side of her and put down his coffee. He smiled, "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot back there."

She swallowed her coffee. "It's fine. I got through it, at least."

Miyu leaned back in his seat. "I'm glad you did. I didn't want it to seem like I took credit for something you found."

"No, no, it's okay."

There was a bit of silence between them as they both took sips of their drinks. Miyu was the one to break the quietude first.

"How is it?"

"How's what?"

"You know, adjusting to a new life you were just kind of… thrown into."

Octavia looked up, pondering. "I guess it isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but I feel-"

"-Like you don't know what you're doing?" Miyu finished for her.

She nodded, pulling her legs up and holding them against her chest.

Miyu nodded, "I want to let you know that it gets better. You aren't the only one to go through this."

"What do you mean?"

Miyu gripped his tea harder for a moment. "Well, we were all kind of shoved into this, one way or another." He took a sip from his tea, "Doesn't matter what kind of past we lived, we're in this together now. And whether we like it or not, we're family."

"Huh…" Octavia hadn't thought of it in that way before. She didn't realize that every person with the SDA had their own story to tell. Stopping a rampaging Steelix likely wasn't even the most outlandish thing that had occurred to any of them.

Miyu stood up. "Well! Since this is going to be your first raid, make sure you're careful. Then again, if you're not I can just heal you after. Just don't die!" With that, he took his tea and walked outside of Joltin' Joe's.

Octavia, still trying to make sense of what he said, tried to take another sip of coffee but found there was none left. Her mug was completely empty.