Chapter 58: The Walls in front of them

"We have to take them down!" The angry Vigoroth that was defeated by Quaxwell was angrily protesting to his boss, Slaking. Slaking yawned with tired looking eyes and scratched its belly.

"If you want revenge…"said Slaking, who was starting to become surrounded by his henchmen: other Vigoroth. Slaking held the Herba Mystica over his stomach while lying on his back. "Do me a favor and look for these Pokémon who bothered you.. Then I'll take care of them…probably.."

"Uh, boss?" One Vgoroth said. "We already sent our boys to follow that water type…we just need you to confirm when to strike.."

"Oh…okay… I guess… il do it…soon."

"...When is soon?"

"Soon."

All of the Vigoroth around the slaking all sighed at once.

"I don't know how this stuff'll be enough to make a hammer…" Tinkatuff was crouched down on the grass floor with her back turned to Pawmo.

The pink, still hammerless Pokémon trying to make a new hammer out of the shards of the incubator she and Pawmo were able to nab from Kai's backpack when he wasn't looking (And was busy flirting with Aeon).

The shards were all on the floor in front of Tinkatuff like it was a mess. "It's mostly made of hard plastic, and there's only tiny pieces of metal in this thing, if you can even call it that.." Tinkatuff sighed to herself.

"How do you know it isn't metal? It looked all metal-y and stuff to me," Pawmo asked.

"Don't you know about the hardness scratch test?"

"What the heck is that?"

"Let's say… uh… okay!"

Tinkatuff turned around, holding one black piece of the broken incubator and a clear, plastic piece.

"What's harder? Metal or Plastic- No wait, easier question." Tinkatuff put the metal piece down and raised the plastic. "What's harder? My skin, or the plastic?"

"The plastic," Pawmo said.

"Right- so since it's harder…" Tinkatuff scratched her arm a bit with the plastic. "See the scratch? The object that is harder will always leave a scratch on a softer object, whereas if I tried using my skin… and just my skin- to try to scratch the plastic" Tinkatuff rubbed her arm against the flat end of the broken plastic piece. "I can't leave a scratch even if I rub as hard as I can. That's how I know this piece here…" Tinkatuff picked up the piece of metal "isn't plastic, because when I try scratching it with this plastic…" Tinkatuff scratched the metal piece with the plastic piece. "It doesn't leave a scratch."

"Wow," He said. "You really know your stuff."

Tinkatuff's face turned red suddenly. "W-Well..I-..Uh-... I have to know about this stuff- or else how can I make hammers?"

"I'm not going to lie, I kinda imagined you wearing glasses while explaining all of that stuff to me."

"Hmph. I don't even think I'd look that good with glasses on."

"I think you'd look great with glasses on."

Tinkatuff made an annoyed look at Pawmo while still red in the face.

"You'd look better with glasses… "Tinkatuff mumbled.

"You say something?"

"I was just mumbling to myself that I need more time… I have no idea how I'm going to make something out of all this.." Tinkatuff aimed her arm at the plastic. "Junk." She concluded.

"I mean, to be fair, when you first made your hammer, didn't you ask yourself the same thing?"

"...Huh. Fair point."

"If you could make a good hammer then, you can make a good hammer now. I believe in you."

"R-Really?"

Pawmo nodded and smiled brightly. "Really, really." He said.

"Th-That...makes me happy.." Tinkatuff said.

For a moment, both Pokémon just stared at each other. They both became red in the face.

"Hello, everyone!" Quaxwell's voice made Pawmo and Tinkatuff turn around. Quaxwell, while holding the hand of Charcadet had finally arrived. "I've arrived with the child."

"Oh!" Pawmo went on all fours to rush over to Charcadet.

"Hmph!" Tinkatuff turned her head and huffed while she went back to work.

Pawmo went back to standing up and offered a hand to the Charcadet.

"Hi, Charcadet! How're you?"

Charcadet babbled like a tiny baby would.

"Awww… so cute!" Pawmo scratched the young Pokémon's chin and the Charcadet began to laugh. "Sooo cuuuute!" He said. Pawmo turned his head to Tinkatuff.

"Hey, Tinkatuff, come say hi!"

"I'm not talking to him!" Tinkatuff cried. "He spat milk all over me, remember!?"

Pawmo turned to Charcadet. "Let's go over there together and apologize, okay?" Pawmo went on all fours. "C'mon, il give you a ride!"

Charcadet beamed with joy and went on Pawmo's back. Pawmo started moving and Charcadet giggled with its tiny voice.

Tinkatuff, tried her hardest to fight the urge to smile upon hearing the cute voice of the tiny fire type.

"Look, there's Tinkatuff," Pawmo said. "C'mon, Tinkatuff, turn around."

Tinkatuff groaned and turned around. She looked at Charcadet, who held out both of its arms as though it were trying to hug her. It made babbling noises as he tried to move closer.

Tinkatuff continued to grumble and pout, trying her hardest to remain angry.

"Ba…Ba…" Charcadet babbled. "Ta…Ti…Tinka…"

Tinkatuff's eyes widened.

"Is he saying his first word?" Quaxwell approached.

"Tinkatu-...Tinkatuff!" Characadet cried.

Tinkatuff's angry face immediately disappeared and was replaced with a look of extreme joy- she ran over to the fire type and yoinked it off of Pawmo's back while hugging it tightly.

"MY BABYYYY!" She cried. She started rubbing her cheek against Charcadet's. "SUCH A CUTE WIDDLE BABY, I'LL MAKE SURE NO ONE HURTS YOU EVER AGAIN. MMMMMMMMWAH!" Tinkatuff planted a kiss on Charcadet's cheek.

Pawmo and Quaxwell exchanged looks.

"It's just that easy, huh?" Quaxwell said.

The sound of bushes rustling made Quaxwell and Pawmo turn their heads.

"What was that?" Quaxwell asked.

"...No clue…"

"I can't stay mad at you!" Tinkatuff cried. "You're so cuuute- yes you are! Yeeeess you are!" Tinkatuff was tickling the baby she held up over her head. She started spinning around with Charcadet, who began giggling. "I have to put you down now. Big Sis Tinkatuff has stuff to do now!" Tinkatuff placed Charcadet back on the ground. "Be a good boy, okay?" Tinkatuff patted the child on the head and turned back to her scrap.

Instead of walking away, Charcadet watched her.

"Oooh- you want to watch me work?" Tinkatuff said. "Maybe you can help me with your fire…"

"It's good they're getting along," Quaxwell said. "It's important that we get along seeing as we all belong to the same trainer."

"Yeah." Pawmo said. "Although… I'm wondering why we're listening to him when he has so little… uh…medal thingies."

"Gym badges?"

"Yeah."

Quaxwell shrugged. "I don't mind listening to him. He's not a bad trainer."

"Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a bad trainer either.." Pawmo said. "But-"

"Your thought process is natural. Any Pokémon that was in your shoes would think the same thing. We want to have a trainer who is worthy to wield us. And to measure that worth we look at their gym badges. If you're beginning to think this way..."

"...it won't be long until Tinkatuff does too." Pawmo concluded. "How about you? Will you disobey Kai?"

"I've been through too much with our trainer to disobey him. Although- I don't want to be used for the next gym battle. I want Charcadet to shine."

"I agree."

"Ooooh!" Tinkatuff cried as Charcadet let out flames. "Thanks, Charcadet! You melted the pieces together…You're speeding everything up..!"

Quaxwell and Pawmo remained quiet for a moment.

"Y'know," Pawmo said again, "Tinkatuff treats her hammer like it's her life's work, like it's a part of her soul. If it's destroyed, she… becomes really sad."

"I suppose I can relate. If I lost my ability to dance, I would feel absolutely miserable."

"Yeah. I can understand how she feels even though I've never had something like that. So… no matter what… I want to make sure that she finishes this hammer and makes it perfect. That way she can be happy again."

"It's nice to hear that you care about her."

Pawmo began to blush a bit. "Well, I mean- Yeah, of course I do!"

"Mhm."

Quaxwell and Pawmo remained quiet for a bit.

Suddenly- the sound of bushes rustling caught their attention once again. They both turned their heads and saw something absolutely horrifying: There were ten Vigoroth, all of which were rushing toward them like a mad mob.

Both Pokémon gasped.

"Tinkatuff, Charcadet-!" Pawmo shouted.

"Both of you-" Quaxwell shouted.

"Run!" Pawmo and Quaxwell shouted at the same time and shot their heads to Tinkatuff and Charcadet, who both looked startled. Charcadet began to shiver in fear and hide behind Tinkatuff.

"I- I don't have a weapon yet..!" Tinkatuff cried. "I need time!"

"Tinkatuff-" Pawmo turned his head to Tinkatuff as the Vigoroth army began to surround him and Quaxwell. "How long until you finish it!?"

"Charcadet really helped- and...I got the shape and everything down, it just needs time to cool off…then it's done!"

"Okay... Quaxwell, that means it's up to us to stop them!" Pawmo turned to Quaxwell, shared a nod, and entered battle stances as the ten Vigoroth began to approach.

"I'm never gonna forgive you guys for interrupting Tinkatuff..!" Pawmo roared.

"Oh...that explains that conversation you had with Kai about this Cassiopea person," Arven crossed his arms, having finished listening to Penny's explanation. "You're trying to stop team star with her, and Kai isn't helping,"

She didn't like that she had to tell him this sensitive information, but seeing as lying would further complicate things, she felt as though she had no choice. She made sure to leave out important information, like the fact that she was the leader of Team Star, and that she was the one asking Kai to put an end to Team Star.

"Yeah.." Penny said. "If I don't, who will?"

"I mean, I kinda get it. But at the same time… eh. It's not my business. Although that doesn't explain why you're here. This place is top secret, y'know. No students allowed."

"I could say the same thing to you," Penny said.

Arven sighed. "Seeing as we're both not supposed to be here… why don't you help me out?" Arven pulled out his phone and showed it to Penny. "I'm looking for Herba Mystica, and my Phone's telling me that there's two around here. If you can help me find them I'd be really grateful."

Penny squinted her eyes as she stared into the phone. "It looks like it's in the main laboratory area. Although it's always guarded by two guards.

"How do you know?"

Penny pulled out her Pokeball and dropped it, allowing Sylveon to come out with a purr. "All I have to do is put a camera on Sylveon send her to go and wander around here. Someone's Pokémon slipping through the school and accidentally coming into the lab area is something that's common enough for the guards to not think twice about it as they escort them back outside."

"Wow. You are a rebel."

"Yeah." Penny said, crouching and patting Sylveon's head. "I know a lot of things." She smiled a bit at her fairy type. "Anyway- if we're going to get past them, we need to use Sylveon as a distraction. Then, we can both slip in."

"Will they really just leave their post to get Sylveon?"

"The cuter the Pokémon looks, the more likely human beings are to take care of it. It's simple psychology." Penny said, her smile deepened as Sylveon began smiling, enjoying the patting. "And it's super effective." Penny stood up and turned to Arven. "Just curious… what was your plan if you got caught? I was hiding my face with my hood on."

"Um.." Arven's eyes darted away from the girl. "I was planning to talk to whoever caught me."

"Really? No offense, but that's not very smart. Unless you had some real sob story ready, there's no way they'll let you, a student of all people come in."

Arven sighed quietly, fiddling with the bang of hair over his head.

"Maybe it's a good thing I met you, then," Arven said. "Anyway, I'm liking this plan, and I'd appreciate it if you let me join you."

Penny started walking ahead. "Go ahead, if that's what you want," She said. She sighed to herself, placing a hand on her chest to feel her rapidly beating heart. She had no idea how she could stay seemingly calm while talking to a boy that cute.

Pawmo and Quaxwell were breathing heavily, bruised and beaten while standing back-to-back. Around them were the ten Vigoroth that charged them, and all of them were unconscious.

Pawmo turned his head to Tinkatuff. "Are you two okay!?" He cried.

"Yeah! None of them got past you guys… you both did great!"

Charcadet leapt with joy and babbled happily.

"We've done well…" Quaxwell groaned.

"Yeah…" Pawmo replied. "we can rest easy-"

The sound of the ground shaking under the massive weight of someone's footsteps caused both Pokémon to gasp loudly. The two of them looked up to see a Slaking's shadow looming over them. His body was radiating with a greenish aura and he was bigger than he was supposed to be. The height of a normal Slaking was usually about 6'7 (200cm)

This Slaking was 10'5 (317cm).

Slaking had the herba mystica it was snacking on in his hand and bit onto it. And the moment he did, he grew a little bit more.

"I thought I wanted to fight you guys for messing with one of my boys…but…you guys look so weak and small… I don't know anymore…" Slaking sighed. "Standing up is such a pain…"

"Q…Quaxwell.." Pawmo's voice shook with fear.

"We have to get that herb out of his hand." Quaxwell said. "Did you see how he got bigger when he took a bite out of that thing?"

"Y-Yeah. You're right." Pawmo gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve with courage. "Let's do this."

Quaxwell opened his beak and released a Hydro pump at the Slaking's face. Slaking just stood there and groaned in annoyance, putting his free hand between himself and the water splashing him as though it were a minor annoyance. Meanwhile Pawmo climbed up the massive Pokémon's body by his leg and went to his arm to try to take the herbs.

The moment Slaking realized what Pawmo was doing on was the moment he decided to do something. Slaking swung his arm with enough force to send the electric Pokémon away. Pawmo slammed onto the ground with a thud. The earth cracked like glass when he crash-landed.

"Pawmo!" Tinkatuff roared. Both Tinkatuff and Charcadet ran to Pawmo's side.

Pawmo groaned. "He's…strong…really, really strong… I can't move…" He said.

"What- what do we do now!?" Tinkatuff cried.

Pawmo looked at Tinkatuff. "You can fight too, right? Just- get angry… I know you can match his strength if you do."

"How am I supposed to do that?! I'm nothing without my Hammer..!"

Pawmo's eyes widened. He forgot how insecure Tinkatuff was without her hammer. His eyes moved over to Charcadet. He was still shivering with fear and was beginning to cry.

Both of their powers combined actually do something against that Slaking… but how was he going to get them to fight?

Meanwhile, Quaxwell glared at the Slaking that was picking his nose.

"You're the one who beat up my underling… so I'll mess you up first.." He said. He crouched and dug his hands into the ground, lifting up a large chunk of the ground with its incredible strength, and threw it at Quaxwell. The water type did a cartwheel before leaping into the sky, dodging the projectile with graceful flips. Slaking watched as Quaxwell landed directly onto his head and did a ballerina pose.

"You've incredible strength, but there's one thing you lack..." Quaxwell said.

Slaking groaned and tried sheepishly to grab Quaxwell, only for the water type to disappear as though he teleported with his incredible speed.

"It's speed!" Quaxwell shouted as he re-appeared behind Slaking, landing a devastating jumping Mega Kick onto his back and sending him to the ground. "You also lack motivation! It's pitiful that you have such a strong body but so little desire to use it!"

Slaking started to yawn.

"Your attacks tickle me…I'm so tired… I almost don't want to fight you anymore…" Slaking's entire body began to radiate with a green aura, and Quaxwell's eyes widened. "Almost," Slaking concluded.

Slaking then pushed himself off the ground with so much force it sent its own body flying into the sky.

"Heavy slam…" Slaking groaned lazily.

Quaxwell looked up in absolute horror as the gigantic Pokémon did an Elbow drop as it dove after him. Quaxwell leapt into the air to dodge it, and watched the entire ground where he stood break apart as dust rose from where he landed. Quaxwell landed with a crouch and watched as the dust stopped rising and disappeared. A crater was created where Slaking landed- and the lazy Pokémon rested the elbow he slammed into the ground as he kept his hand on his cheek and scratched his belly.

Quaxwell crouched before darting into the crater after Slaking- the speed boost from using his Aqua jet attack caused water to blast from behind him as he moved.

But Slaking's hammer attack aimed directly at the water type's head struck true, well before Quaxwell could touch him.

The attack caused a geyser of dust to rise from the ground, and for Pawmo and Tinkatuff to wince as Tinkatuff covered Charcadet's eyes.

After the dust settled, it revealed Quaxwell's head buried in the ground with its twitching legs up in the air. Slaking plucked the little water type off the ground by its leg and stared at it, all while still lying on the ground.

"Don't blame me…" Slaking said. "I gotta do this so I keep getting free food from those Vigoroth…"

After swinging the Water type's body like a lasso, he flung him out of the crater with incredible force.

Slaking yawned after doing this. "Bad idea to throw him away like that…. Now I don't feel like moving."

Quaxwell's body tumbled uncontrollably after landing on the ground. His wings trembled as he tried pushing himself back to his feet but failed when he plopped back to the ground.

"Quaxwell's in trouble… You have to do something…" Pawmo moaned.

"What do I do!? Oh, goodness, what do I do…?!" Tinkatuff put her hands on her face. "If I had my hammer... If... I had my hammer-"

"Tinkatuff!" Pawmo cried. "Dang it-You're the strongest Pokémon I know. You can stand up to that thing, I know it!"

"I-...!" Tinkatuff began to cry herself. "I..!"

"Ugh..!" Pawmo struggled to bring himself back up.

"Pawmo- no!"

"Shut up!" Pawmo cried. His sudden aggression made Tinkatuff widen her eyes. "If I don't do something… who will?!"

No matter how hard Pawmo tried, he couldn't get up. Tinkatuff turned her head, looking at the newly created hammer she made that was lying on the ground across the floor.

She gritted her teeth and started sprinting after it. After reaching it, Tinkatuff picked up the weapon. She felt the heat of the weapon burning her handd, and she did her best to ignore the pain. turned her head to the enemy, who had climbed up the crater it created and picked up Quaxwell by his foot again.

"Nothing personal…" Slaking said, pulling its fist back.

Quaxwell closed his eyes tightly to brace himself. Just before Slaking was about to throw his punch, Tinkatuff threw her newly hammer, and it landed on the back of Slaking's head.

Dropping Quaxwell on the ground and looking annoyed, Slaking turned to look at Tinkatuff, who was glaring. Slaking looked down and saw the weapon the pink Pokémon created.

He picked it up with his pointer finger and thumb- it was about the size of a pebble to the Slaking.

"What's this piece of garbage?" He said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"G…Garbage?!" Tinkatuff said.

"Thing's so tiny I could use it as a toothpick… eh… im too lazy to pick my teet-"

The sound of plastic snapping in two rang into the air as Tinkatuff's hammer snapped in half.

Tinkatuff gasped.

"NO!" Pawmo cried.

"Whoops," Slaking said. "I didn't mean to break it…thing is so tiny and weak…"

Tinkatuff gritted her teeth. A shadow loomed over her eyes as her body began trembling with the amount of rage that was surging within her body. A pink fairy type aura began to rise around the tiny Pink Pokémon.

"You…How…dare you..!?" Tinkatuff gritted her teeth as her eyes began to shine with silver, steel type energy. She let out a boisterous war cry as she started sprinting after the Pokémon.

Pawmo grinned as Tinkatuff leapt into the air, raising its fist in preparation to strike.

But then Tinkatuffs rage was put to a screeching halt when Slaking slammed his flaming fist onto the Fairy type's face.

It was super effective. Tinkatuff fell to the ground like a rock.

Slaking yawned loudly, looking at all of the surrounding Pokémon that were able to fight were now down. He turned his head and saw Charcadet, who was shivering in fear still. Slaking slowly approached the tiny baby Pokémon.

"Hm…" Slaking said. "You're the smallest one here…" Slaking reached down and grabbed the tiny Pokémon by the head. "Hmm…. still weak. maaaybe… I…. can keep you."

Tinkatuff groaned loudly as she tried standing up.

"Don't…you…dare..!" She cried.

Slaking took a bite of his herbs still in his hand, and he grew an extra inch taller. He began to walk away with Charcadet.

"No!..!" Pawmo cried.

"Stop..!" Tinkatuff shouted.

"Wait..!" Quaxwell roared.

None of them could move. No one could do anything against him. All they could do was watch as Charcadet was being taken.

Suddenly, the sound of the sound barrier being broken rang in the air- and what looked like a flash of white light shaped like a laser beam shot directly at Slaking's stomach- and Slaking reacted- saliva shot out of the lazy Pokémon's mouth.

The white laser beam began to fade and reveal that it wasn't a laser beam at all- it was light that had been reflected off of a singular person without an invoker who had landed a devastating gut punch.

There was only one person- no, one robot that could have possibly done this without an invoker:

It was Aeon, and his face had quiet rage written all over it- he was frowning and looking at the Slaking with disdain.

"I've got you, Charcadet!" Aeon's boyfriend came running in from behind, catching the Charcadet that had started to fall and holding him in his arms. "Gotcha!" Kai cried as he turned and ran back toward Aeon for safety.

Slaking fell to his knees from the immense force of the punch. Aeon looked at his hand he used to punch the Pokémon and saw it starting to spark.

"Tch..!" He groaned as he began to lose all feeling in his hand. "Kai!" Aeon turned to Kai. "Are you able to fuse with Charcadet?"

"I can try..!" Kai pulled out a Tera Orb from his pocket and prepared to activate his invoker. "It's time- Tera fusion!"

Kai crushed the orb, and Aeon turned his head back to Slaking as the light from the Tera fusion shone behind him. Slaking groaned in pain.

"That's the child that Kai and I are raising together that you tried stealing," Aeon said. "I'm going to personally make sure you regret what you did toda-"

His eyes widened as he realized that Slaking was starting to become bigger. He took steps back as the massive Pokémon began to grow in size exponentially- to the point that it was beginning to become a full Titan.

Many thoughts ran through the android's mind as the Pokémon grew to rival the size of a skyscraper. He knew that he had to stay within Combat level 1…he was too afraid to go past that…because he could risk going berserk.

In combat level 1, he could land devastating punches and kicks, but once he used that limb, it became useless. So that would mean… realistically, he could only strike this Pokémon four times before he would become unable to fight. That would have been a problem if he were alone.

Aeon turned his head to see Kai marching to his side. The invoker armor he had on was now pitch black and red, like Charcadet's body. His visor was now black and covered his eyes like he was a knight of some sorts.

"Now that I think of it, isn't this the first time we've ever fought together, side by side like this?" Kai asked.

Aeon smiled. "Yeah. It is," he said.

"You ready?" Kai asked, raising his fist over to Aeon. Aeon smiled and bumped fists with Kai.

"Yeah. Ready. Let's do this."

The Slaking began to roar loudly, and the shockwaves emitted by its massive voice was enough to blow an incredible wind at the two boys as they walked forward- lowering their fists and entering battle stances.

"Where are theeyyy?!" Nemona sighed as she sat on a tree trunk. "They said they'd be right here- but no one's here!"

"Hmmm.." Geeta raised a bent finger to her lower lip. "Maybe they're not too far from here. Who knows? Either way, we're not in a rush."

"Yeaahh… but I wanna meet Kai now!" Nemona sighed and flopped onto the grassy floor, keeping her bottom on the trunk she was sitting on. "I really wanna know how much stronger Kai's gotten. It's been so long since we've fought, y'know?"

"Remind me how important Kai is to you, please?"

"He's my best friend in the whole world. He's the guy… the only one…who I know I can fight at 100%." Nemona's eyes widened as she pulled herself up. "N-Not that you can't get me to fight at 100%! I'm so sorry- I didn't think before talking! I'm sorry!"

Geeta shook her head.

"Don't worry." Geeta said. "I'm no longer in a competition with you. I'm in a competition with myself. When I was back at that desert, I saw myself in Iron Valient. I know that if things went a little differently… our places would have been reversed. I could have been the one desperately searching for power, and doing whatever it took to get it," She smiled. "So, believe me when I say this, it's okay if I'm not the one to draw out your full power. What I want is something different, now. I want to become the best version of myself."

"Whoa…" Nemona said. "That's really cool."

"Thank you," Geeta said. "But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. If I went down the wrong path… I could have went after you, Nemona. You would have been the main target of my rage. It could have been bad… terrible. I have no idea what I could have become capable of. But I'm glad I was able to avoid that road."

"Oh.." Nemona said, frowning. "Um…I… I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You did absolutely nothing wrong. All right?"

"O-Okay. B-But-"

A call came to Geeta's cellphone. She raised a finger at Nemona, picked up her phone and pulled it to her ear.

"The scientists made a breakthrough and discovered something. This is important." Rika's voice came. "Make sure Nemona isn't there to listen."

Geeta's eyes widened. She turned her head to Nemona. "Just a second, friend." Geeta said. She walked away into the forest.

"Take your time!" Nemona said, laying her back on the grassy floor.

She had no idea how to process what Geeta had just told her…but she was grateful that everything turned out well. She couldn't help but feel at least a little bad… She sighed.

She would give anything to become worse at battling…

Turo and Sada watched through the monitor in their Labotory seeing Nemona lying on the grass by herself.

"Now's the time," Sada said, turning her head. "The Nemona in this timeline is right there, finally alone."

Behind Sada and Turo was a human-shaped body covered in nothing but shadow. None of their features could be seen at all...one blue light and one red light shone where their eyes were supposed to be.

"In your timeline," Turo said, "I was told that your Nemona called you...'La Angel Rojo?" Something like that, right?"

The mysterious figure began to laugh. Then- the laughter erupted into full on cackling. The person didn't stop laughing for a while, but soon, the person stopped.

"Sorry, It's just...ironic to hear that nickname again," The mysterious figure said.

Author's note:
Fun fact, the 'hardness scratch test' Tinkatuff talked about is a real thing! Look it up!