"... any news?" Brylle asked Genevieve as the Kirlia teleported in once more. It had been two weeks of the Kirlia shaking her head and saying 'No', but… maybe this time…

"... no," Genevieve said, shaking her head once more.

"... oh." Brylle went back to the ball of earth in her hands. As Genevieve grabbed a snack Hastor 'found' yesterday, before teleporting off again, she just continued to play. She didn't have that much to do anymore, other than play around with her powers and wait for something to happen - or, to be more precise, for Genevieve to bring some semblance of good news.

There wasn't any. There was always plenty of bad news, though - bases Genevieve thought that she'd secured, being invaded by another force of Shadow Workers. Though Genevieve had made a sweep with the tuning fork that Kapun had brought back with him, some of the people there were hypnotized.

By Pandora.

… it was terrifying how quickly everything had changed in two weeks. People that Brylle had thought were… were practically family… they turned out to have never been so. Pandora - and now Sable - was working for Chain.

For Chain.

… and people that Brylle had considered fixtures in her life were just gone…

... Genevieve found her brothers' bodies last week… and with what had happened in Cognes… with what remained…

Brylle closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as possible to keep the bile in. If she didn't, Esmerel would fuss over her, slowing her and Genevieve's rescue efforts down, and the possibility of them saving another person would plummet even more than it already had.

This… this was the least that Brylle could do… to… to… to not be a burden…

… it was also the most she could do. She was just… a kid, now. This was the last cell of 'Key' that was really operational. Key, as a whole, was… well, gone.

The adults still hadn't given up hope. Genevieve and Esmerel were still searching for survivors, to increasingly empty odds. Hastor and Skell routinely went into the town near Eonia Castle to buy… or, if her suspicions were right, steal… food for them to eat, as well as gather information. Wyvell and Raga, meanwhile, kept an eye on Eonia Castle, just to see if there was anything important that they were missing.

Brylle and Kapun, meanwhile… well, they were left alone, for the most part. Brylle looked over to where Kapun was sitting, as solemn as she was. She'd have loved for him to be happier, but a selfish, selfish, selfish part of her wanted someone to be as miserable and depressed as she was.

They'd spent some time talking together, of course. Kapun had confirmed his 'other talent' as he called it, and Brylle had shown her ability to change evolutionary state. At nights, when everyone barring Genevieve and Esmerel had returned, they'd try to teach 'the new Aspect' to everyone.

Interestingly, Wyvell could learn it - they also discovered a pre-evolution to Druddigon, something Raga had hypothesized they evolved out of inside the egg, like how Munchlax would evolve into Snorlax inside the egg if the proper pheromones weren't present in the air surrounding the egg. As for Raga, Skell, and Hastor, they could learn it as well - Hastor was much more personable as a Mankey, though Skell was about as irritating and annoying no matter what form he took.

More than that, the farther back they went in their evolutionary process - the more they 'regressed' or 'devolved' - the more stamina they had for their Aspects. In other words, it was never Kapun's talent - rather, he was the one who discovered the ability, like how Culus discovered the ability to use talents and Stifle, and Helios was the one to discover the ability to resist Stifling.

… and it meant nothing, in the end. Brylle couldn't think of a way to use this other than as a disguise and maybe the ability to be variable in battle - whether you wanted to focus on the usage of Aspects to shut down the opponents, or evolution to overwhelm them.

In the end, it still didn't solve their problems. It still didn't put them in a better position.

It still…

… it still wouldn't bring back her brothers…

… or Mom…

The piece of earth that she was 'playing' with in her hands suddenly solidified, then shattered. She just stared at it, wondering why she was doing… anything.

"... Kapun," she eventually asked, voice squeaking a little as she spoke. "Kapun?"

Kapun was busy tossing a stick from hand-to-hand. He looked about as invested in it as she had been with her piece of earth. "... yeah?"

"... what was it like, before you joined Key?" she asked. "Before you started learning about… well, everything?"

"... I don't know," Kapun said, as the stick he had been idly tossing clattered to the ground. "I don't remember it all that well now."

"But… it's only been a month or so for you, right?"

"A couple of months," he agreed flatly.

"... shouldn't you… I don't know…" Brylle's voice began to trail off. "... never mind-"

"It was hard," Kapun said - and now, there was a note of weakness in his voice. "But… but… but even though I wasn't happy, I could still push forward. Even as I worked for Kenki, I… I still had…"

Kapun bowed his head. Brylle felt like an absolute piece of shit. "... right." He still had his father - and then, he had Culus and Rowan.

And now, he had none of them. Now, all he had was her - her, and her nature as a completely, ABSOLUTELY MISERA-

"Brylle… do you want to go find Hastor and Skell?" Kapun asked.

Brylle blinked. "... I'm - you want to see them?" she asked. "They aren't exactly the… nicest people."

"I don't want to be around nice people right now," he said blandly. "And you're just making me feel worse…"

"... the feeling's mutual." Brylle winced as what she meant - 'I feel bad too' came out in the worst possible way. "I - I mean…"

"Yeah, we need to be around other people," Kapun said, slowly pushing himself to his feet. "Switch into your Pupitar form - that's your default, right? - and let's go to town."

...

...

...

The town near Eonia Castle was well-fortified with guards and policemon. The first thing she did was check the wanted posters - and both of them were on it. However, she was there as a Larvitar, while he was there as a Deino. Kapun evolved into a Hydreigon - he categorically refused to go as a Zweilous with a second head and a second consciousness - while she went as a Pupitar.

She'd argued that, if she was to go as a Tyranitar, she'd be even farther from her wanted poster saying that she was a Larvitar. Kapun shot it down, saying that she still needed to learn how to live as a Pupitar, and that they'd need at least one of them to be a person who wouldn't devolve if they lost enough stamina to maintain their evolutionary transformation.

And so, she was doing her best not to shoot forward at ridiculous speeds or clatter uselessly to the ground. How her brothers…

… no…

"Focus," Kapun muttered as she nearly fell. "You look like you just evolved."

"I did-"

"You don't want anyone else to think that, do you?"

… Brylle steadily righted herself. They drew some eyes as they passed, but not too many. Obviously, most of the people living here weren't bounty hunters, and Brylle wondered if it was for the fact that two bad-tempered species were standing so close to each other without issue.

"Where are we going?" Brylle asked. "Are you using your talent?"

"If I was using my talent, you wouldn't be able to keep up," Kapun shot back. "And as for where we're going… for now, we're just wandering the city."

"Can't you use your talent-"

"Maybe, but unless you want what happened in Lition to happen again, I'm not going to risk it." He paused. "Plus, I've tried to trigger it randomly before - it doesn't work like that. I have to have a strong… resolve, I'm thinking, to use that."

"Resolve?" she asked.

"It's the word that comes to mind," he said, flushing a little. She would have thought it a trick of the light if it wasn't for all three heads doing it at the same time. "I need to be desperate - like I was with Sable, or inside the research facility. If I want a path to the nearest grocery store… yeah, no, I can't do that."

"That sounds…"

"Inconvenient?" he asked.

"... still pretty useful," she said. "It's better than whatever the hell I do."

More than ever, Brylle found herself wishing that she was on the higher end of the talent lottery. According to Kapun, Thilia had the ability to give herself perfect luck, with no caveats beyond it being expensive stamina-wise. What she wouldn't do for something like that?

But no, she got the ability that told her how terrible she was at doing something. It didn't even lead her to the right path forward like Kapun's did, it just told her that she sucked.

"Where are Skell and Hastor?" she asked irritably, as the reason they came here didn't miraculously show up.

"I don't know," Kapun said. "I'm guessing that we just have to look around to find them." Kapun paused for a second. "Do you want to go to the town square, and see if they're there?"

"Fine," she groused. As Kapun flew forward, she followed.

The town square, in the evening twilight, was filled with chattering people, adults and kids alike. A Rattata and an Azurill played tag on the outer rim of a fountain, while an Azumarill and Raticate talked idly on a nearby bench - probably their respective parents. A Rockruff teenager was taunting a Noibat, all while pelting the Noibat with Rock Throws, while a Phanpy idly sunbathed in a nicely-lit spot.

But there was no Hastor or Skell.

"Oh, well," Kapun said, shaking his head. "Maybe we should-"

"Take a break," she finished.

"Not what I was-"

"Yes, it is," Brylle insisted, giving Kapun a look. "No offense, but I've long since lost the mood to go and visit a pair of assholes!"

"Language!" The Azumarill sitting on the bench hissed, as the Raticate next to them nodded disapprovingly. "Don't curse in front of children!"

"Chil…"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Kapun said, bowing. "We'll be sure to be more polite. Come on," he said, tugging on Brylle's spikes to bring her to the other side of the square. "We shouldn't draw attention-"

"... children…" Brylle muttered. "... kids… Kapun… aren't we… why did she act like we're not…"

Kapun looked at her oddly. "Brylle, I'm a Hydreigon and you're a Pupitar - and if you went as a Tyranitar as you wanted, you'd look even less like a kid."

"But…" But kids didn't become Tyranitar and Hydreigon, she remembered. No, kids stayed as Deino and Larvitar.

She and Kapun weren't even teenagers yet, but to Pokemon they didn't know, they'd pass as adults. And with the cursing…

"... Kapun, who are we anymore?" She floated down, before clattering to the floor to stare at the evening twilight. "I'm… everything's changed."

"... it has," Kapun nodded.

And it wasn't just due to the invasion - ever since she'd started taking missions instead of just being in training, hoping that she'd eventually go on missions, she'd stopped feeling like… herself. She wouldn't call it 'grown-up', but with everything she'd suddenly had to do, she'd had a lot less time for fun.

She'd stopped playing with Thilia and Sable, and she'd played board games with Wyvell. With Wyvell.

"When was the last time you played a game?" she asked. "And not like a training game, just - well, just for fun, I'm saying."

Kapun paused. "In Lition - I played a game with some guys in the park. I think I actually used my talent at a point, now that I think about it, to help get a better kick. They'd invited me for more, though I obviously couldn't go…"

That sounded nice…

"... am I selfish for saying that I don't want to be a part of this anymore?" Brylle asked. The words tasted evil in her mouth, but… "None of us were ready for this. None of us could ever be really ready for something like Chain."

"..." Kapun didn't say anything in response.

"What's the point in fighting them?" she continued, closing her eyes. "Some pointless revenge? They're stronger than us, and I doubt that the tuning fork you got us will be enough to stop Chain for long. Our friends? The more people we drag into this, the more people will-"

"Shut up."

"Shut up?" Brylle asked sardonically. "Shut up - oh, obviously. Well, guess what, you wanted to be around someone that wasn't nice. Let me be that for you - trying to save Rowan accomplished nothing. Our families are dead-"

"Shut up!" Kapun hissed.

"-because we fought a war we could never win. And day after day, Genevieve and the others are trying to bring back the fight, but there's nothing to fight for anymore." Brylle looked Kapun dead in the eyes. "They kill the people they make into Shadow Workers - that's what you said, right? There's no way to save anyone we've lost, and no revenge we can take anymore - nothing that's possible. Nothing that'll bring what we care about back."

"... I hate you." Kapun didn't look her in the eyes. "I hate you so, so much."

Not more than Brylle was hating herself.

"... what are we going to do?" Kapun asked, eyes looking far off into the distance. "Soon… Thilia will be one of them. Dead - and then not dead, but never Thilia again. She'll be like everyone else. We're… we're the only ones left, Brylle." His voice was weak and scratchy. "S…Sable, brainwashed. Helios, Culus, Slate… dead. Thilia, Rowan, both."

They were the only ones left.

The only ones left.

Why her?

Because she hadn't gotten involved. Because she hadn't run away, or participated in the 'invasion' - because she'd been left alone.

Why she'd been left alone… because she was useless. Because they couldn't use her.

"... I hate me too." She wanted to pound the ground with her fists, to make the world know how much bullshit everything felt.

To punish the world that…

… let her…

"… I don't have a home," Brylle said quietly, drawing Kapun's attention. "My only 'living' family is my brainwashed Shadow Worker uncle. I don't even know where he is, and I don't doubt that Phosophor would tell him to kill me or capture me without a second thought."

So there was nowhere for her to go. She was, more or less, trapped here.

Then Kapun said something she hadn't quite expected. "I thought I had gotten stronger than this," Kapun said quietly.

"Stronger than this?" Brylle repeated. "Stronger than what?"

"Stronger than sitting around, pushed by forces I can't control, waiting for someone to come save me, and making my stress everyone else's problem." There was a far-off look in Kapun's eye. "It… it reminds me of Pinnaleis, strangely."

Brylle looked at her oddly. "Losing your family and friends reminds you of Pinnaleis?!"

"... yes, actually," Kapun said. "When Kenki first invaded, and Dad fought him off, being the only one to escape with his life… I needed to be able to pay for his treatment, and he wasn't able to do it anymore. I'd almost lost him, and I couldn't be around him as much as I wanted to. So… in a small way, I did lose the him I'd known. The rock I could always throw my anchor around."

Sailing metaphors aside… "But your friends?"

"Oh, that's easy," Kapun snarked. "Two types of Pinnaleis people worked under Kenki. The first type is in it for easy power and cash - and the second only had me. Guess why my friends thought I worked for Kenki. Guess how long they stayed my friends after finding out I started working under the monster that hurt my Dad."

"Why were you…"

"I thought impressing Kenki enough for him to forgive Dad would be enough for him not to try to kill Dad eventually, or to at least get enough money for the treatment. Culus… well, he slapped some sense into me, more or less."

"And then he risked your life in a crusade to escape." Like he did with everyone's lives. "It's all his fault, isn't it?"

"... maybe?" Kapun said, before shaking his head. "But all he did was spur people into action, give us a path to follow. He… I remember him saying something about running away from Ascendance Palace, to escape Undeath. He was in a worse spot than us, and even with failed plans, it was better than…"

Better than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. Better than doing nothing.

"... better than this." Kapun's eyes flared. "... we can't just leave it at this-"

"Then what can we do?" Brylle asked harshly. "The whole point of Key was to fight Chain, and when we started to get something - anything resembling an advantage - Chain decided to reveal their hand and crush everything we had left."

"... they revealed their hand, at least?" Kapun offered.

"Great, we can stand proud next to Ground Zero and tell our dead families, 'We revealed their hand'." Brylle spat. "So now what?"

"... I don't know," Kapun said quietly. "Usually, there was something we could do." He grimaced. "Ugh… but then, I was never good at finding out the way forward, talent be damned. Culus was the one offering a way out from under Kenki, Dad got Key's help to invade Fylak, and after that, we just followed orders."

"... what do you want to do?" Brylle asked. "If you didn't have to worry about what you could do."

"... make someone pay," Kapun said quietly, voice coming out in a growl. "Find Phosophor, and beat him into the ground. I… it doesn't matter what happens to me anymore, I just want the nightmare to stop. I-"

Kapun's eyes widened - and then, Brylle saw a shimmer of blue in his eyes. A second later, his form began to morph and shift, shrinking, shrinking…

… oh.

"Kapun!" Brylle hissed - no one was looking at them, but… " Kapun!"

Kapun devolved into a Deino - and then, he turned toward an alleyway. There was a blank look in his eyes, along with that shimmer of blue.

Using all of the pressured air she had stored up while talking to Kapun, she shot towards the Deino. It knocked him off balance, catching the eyes of everyone around. Especially from the Azurmarill and Raticate from before, there was a look of confusion.

A second later, that confusion turned to fear - at least, that's what Brylle could only guess, as she attached herself to Kapun while he ran through the city.

" Damn it, Kapun!" Brylle swore. "Now?!"

"Now!" Kapun shouted.

Brylle blinked. "You - you can talk?"

"Enough - I can see the path!" Kapun growled, tearing through the streets.

Brylle just clutched on tighter - and as they left the city limits, entering the forest once more, she devolved back into a Larvitar to raise her stamina. "What the hell are you talking about?!" she shouted. " What path?!"

"The path to him!" Kapun growled, running even faster. "That bastard is in Eonia Castle!"

That bastard…

… Brylle clutched Kapun's back even tighter. "Phosophor?" she asked, hoping to hell that she was wrong.

Kapun's nodding broke that hope.

"Kapun, we can't-"

"We have to!"

"This is insane!"

"It's never going to be not insane!"

Brylle began to Stifle, trying to lock Kapun down. "It's suicidal!" she shouted. "You know what happened the last time we tried something like this?!" Kapun began to slow down - whether it was due to her Stifling or her words, she didn't know. "We just talked about this - our families-"

" ARGH!"

Kapun practically doubled in speed - almost as if he was trying to shake her off. She just gripped on tighter. "You're trying to make everything they did in vain!" she shouted.

"As long as Phosophor lives," Kapun said in response. "Nothing we do will matter."

"If we die, nothing we do will matter!" Brylle countered.

Eonia Castle loomed over them, the shadow growing larger by the second as the last few minutes of twilight began to end. Kapun didn't stop - even as some guards looked their way.

Brylle cursed in her head, before evolving into a Tyranitar. Kapun nearly collapsed as her thousands of pounds pushed down on him. He should have collapsed. Instead, he still managed to push himself forward, albeit much more slowly.

Brylle then hit the ground, and a tunnel formed underneath them. Kapun tried to go around it, but Brylle dragged him in, before sealing the tunnel shut with another stomp.

Finally, the blue shimmer left Kapun's eyes. "The hell, Brylle!"

"Me? Me?!" She devolved again, facing him. "What the hell was wrong with you?"

"I - I have to-"

"We can't deal with Phosophor!" Brylle shouted. "We just can't!"

"But we-"

"No!" Brylle stamped her foot on the ground, shaking the earth a little bit. Kapun's expression changed. "I don't want to lose anyone else! We can't fight Phosophor!"

"... I need to see him, at least." Kapun said, shaking his head. "I can't live my life having never seen him. The man who… would I even be alive without Phosophor?"

Brylle paused. "What?"

"Phosophor's actions started Key - his kidnapping my mother's family led her to Key, and Dad was the one who made Key." Because of her family, Brylle remembered, the one time she'd asked Mom about why she made Key and who she made it with. "I hate him… but I need to see him, at the very least. He made our lives the nightmares they are."

"..."

"Fine. You think we can't beat him. Maybe we can't - not as we are. Phosophor has every advantage under the sun, and is constantly working to undermine us. Fine." Kapun fixed her with a stare that pierced her to her core. " It doesn't matter. We're not heroes fighting because it's the right thing to do - we're fighters, fighting because it's the only thing we can do. Because if we run… well, Helios tried that."

"... maybe if we run… better…"

The words sounded hollow to her.

"Running is fighting," Kapun countered. "Because then it becomes a chase. Our ability to run is fighting against Phosophor's ability to find us - and he knows who we are, and he will try to find us. Helios couldn't escape him. Key couldn't escape him. I'm not going to try and bother running - because if running is a fight where we can't fight back, I'd prefer the fight where I can."

"..."

Brylle punched the ground. "I hate you," she growled. "I hate everything about what you're doing, about what you're saying."

"But I'm right," Kapun insisted. "And my fight starts with seeing Phosophor. I refuse to let him remain a monster hidden in my heart - I'm going to see the monster with my own two eyes."

"And then?" Brylle asked. "And then what? You see him, and then what?"

"I'll figure it out afterwards," Kapun said confidently. "The path isn't obvious, but I'll have to find the right one eventually."

"..." Brylle evolved again, before stomping. A path opened up. "That leads deeper into the castle," she said. "I can't make any other promises. Good luck, Kapun-"

Kapun shook his head. "You're coming with me, Brylle."

Brylle growled. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I need the help of your talent."

Brylle blinked. "My… talent?" She scoffed. "It's shit. It tells me how much I suck at any one thing, it's awful!"

"Follow me, and I'll show you."

...

...

...

"How much of the tunnel have you made?" Kapun asked a few minutes later, as they walked. "What's the completion percentage, to the inside of the castle."

86%

"86%," Brylle said tiredly. She'd underestimated how much tunnel she'd need to make, she'd give Kapun that. The percentage had been climbing up steadily as well. She stomped again, and made more tunnel.

88%

"With that, 88%," she continued.

And then, a minute or so later…

"... 99%... and…" A little tired, she stamped her foot, and the wall crumbled in front of her to reveal a smooth-floor. "100%" She shook herself off. "With that, I'm done. Good luck, Kapun, and-"

"Brylle, you're really undervaluing your talent."

She paused. "Huh?"

"When we used it to try and find Sable, we were using it wrong," Kapun said, shaking his head. "We were using it to try and find where Sable was, as a radar - but it gives percentages of how well you're doing something, or how close it is to finishing."

"... right, so?"

Kapun walked to the smooth hallway outside of the tunnel. "Brylle, can you humour me for a few minutes?"

"I've been doing nothing but humoring you," she groused. But then, she sighed. "Fine, let's do this - but only for a few minutes." She walked out with him, looking both ways. "Which way are we going?"

Kapun's eyes flashed blue - and then went out. "Okay, getting a bit of control over stopping it," he muttered, before turning to their right. "The path to Phosophor leads in this direction. Follow me."

Kapun started walking, and Brylle started following him, quickly covering up the tunnel as they walked. The further along they went, the cleaner the floor became.

Then, a minute or so after they started walking again. As they did, a strange bell began to ring in their head, and their images appeared in their mind, for some reason.

It didn't take too long to figure out why - this was a psychic wanted poster. The guards from up front had raised the alarm, minutes after it had happened and they determined that they were intruders. "Brylle, we've got to be stealthy," Kapun said - as though she wasn't trying to do that already.

" Obviously," she snarked - but then, she remembered that she wasn't using geokinesis to mask their footprints or footsteps. She did that, explaining what she was doing as she did it - and as she did, a smile went over Kapun's face.

"Say, Brylle," he asked. "Grade your - our stealthiness right now."

Their stealthiness?

48%

"48%," she bit out. 52% room for improvement - whatever that meant.

Kapun, though, looked pensive. "Are there some other ways that they're tracking us…?" he asked - and then his eyes widened. "Brylle, check the walls!"

"The walls?" she asked.

"The walls," Kapun said. "Look for any sort of device or something that they could be using as some sort of watchtower."

"I think we've already gone past my few minutes," Brylle groused again - and then, feeling like she'd already put too much work in, decided to do as Kapun said. Using her geokinesis, she searched the inside of the walls, looking for something, anything, out-of-the-ordinary.

"How well are you doing this," Kapun whispered after thirty second. "Compared to perfection."

62%

"... not perfectly," she admitted, cheeks coloring a little.

"Go a little slower," Kapun suggested. "And be a bit more thorough."

"Stop acting like…" She was about to say 'like my mom', but stopped herself. Even as she did, though, she went slower and a bit more methodically. And as she did…

93%

It went up a little higher.

And then she found something strange, nestled deep in the wall - her first sweep had been rather haphazard, as she'd been more annoyed at Kapun and his incessant requests than focusing on the search. Using geokinesis, she pulled it out - a strange orb.

"What… is this?" she asked, a little curious and amazed.

Kapun smiled victoriously. "Something they're using to keep an eye on us," he said as he grinned. "If our stealth wasn't high, we were missing something obvious we could be doing better - and if you were covering up our tracks - and we can't manage our scent, so that wouldn't be a part of it. They were using something else to keep track of us." He smashed the orb - and it went dark. "How much closer to perfect stealth are we now?"

52%

"Higher," she said, a little impressed that he was right. "Now it's 52% instead of 48%."

"52…" he muttered, frowning. "So it was a tracker, I'm guessing… but the security probably already knew where we were, and if we move… well, I doubt it was the only one."

Brylle sighed. "See what I mean, this is pointless-"

Kapun's eyes glowed blue. "... okay," he said. "I found a new path, one that avoids the security orbs." He grinned thinly. "Like I'd let Phosophor know where I am."

Stupid, powerful talents.

"Well, that's great," she said. "So then, I'll-"

"You don't get it, Brylle." Kapun said, shaking his head, the blue light fading from his eyes. "I would never have known to find this path as opposed to the one I was using if you hadn't told me we weren't being stealthy enough. It made me realize that we were making a mistake."

"... yeah, so?" Brylle said.

"Your talent isn't useless," Kapun said decisively. "And a part of me thinks that, with the right actions and questions… it can be as powerful as mine. Better, even-"

"Bullshit."

Kapun shook his head. "You need the right type of question for your talent," he said. "Because we were able to do this with it. It doesn't find the answer for you - instead, it tells you how well you're doing it. It lets you know that there's room for improvement. We have to find the answer, but it tells us if it is the answer."

"..."

"With your help," he said. "I can fix our mistakes as we look for Phosophor. I need your help - and you can help me."

… Brylle shut her eyes. "I… fine," she said, feeling both weak… and happy?

Why was she happy?

"First off - how good are we at hiding right now?"

He just asked that, why…

46%

44%

42%

"It's dropping," she said, paling.

Kapun narrowed his eyes. "But we're not doing anything… unless…" He growled. "Once we broke it, they realized that we had figured out they knew where we were, and that we knew those devices were in the walls. They're coming to capture us!"

40%

35%

And because they were trying to capture them, their ability to hide - the places where they could hide - were shrinking.

"We have to run," Brylle hissed - and then, she stomped, creating a hole in the wall where the orb had been.

After tunneling for a while (making sure that they were maintaining their stealth, Kapun using his pathing to find a place where they wouldn't be found), they ended up at a new tunnel, this one a shute that went upward. Slowly, they began to climb.

As they did, Kapun whispered another question. "How good are we at avoiding detection now."

73%

She grinned. "It practically doubled," she answered - and then, remembering to cover their tracks…

76%

"Great," Kapun said, eyes shining. "Let's keep going!"

… fuck, she was too deep in now to back down. What would Mom say?

… you know what… maybe it was best not to follow Mom's example in this case.

"Let's keep going."

...

...

...

87%

"We've almost hit the 90% mark," she reported.

"That's good." Kapun sighed. "Honestly, I would've thought that they'd have more security mechanisms."

But they did have more security mechanisms. Brylle figured that the orb from before was to find Pokemon that walked or ran, based on the seismic waves sent out by footsteps. With Kapun's path that avoided the range of the orbs, they didn't have to check.

They did, however, have to tunnel around grids of pointed light. She figured out that they were there when, a little paranoid that it was going too well, she asked her power how well she was understanding the security mechanisms they should avoid. A '67%' let her know to tell Kapun, and with the combined usage of her seismic sense, Kapun's path-finding to avoid any paths that would involve security they didn't know about (his control over his talent had grown massively, and she had to wonder if it had anything to do with their argument earlier), and a little bit of luck, they found it out.

After that, she hit '100%' on security measures she was supposed to watch out for. It was a little bizarre how well it was going.

… but then… there were only so many security measures, and the grids of pointed light located Pokemon that hovered. Anything else would probably be overkill on the part of the Eonian security squad, considering how they would have to keep track of it.

It wasn't easy by any means. There were a lot of guards on patrol - and they looked very panicked. She didn't overhear a lot, but she did hear them conducting more sweeps, as a tense presence came over the castle.

They were supposed to have been caught, but they weren't. Because they figured out the security mechanisms - her power let her know they had them all - and with the various tools at their disposal, they were avoiding them.

"... it really isn't useless," she whispered. If she'd left Kapun to his own devices, he would have been caught. But because of her help - because of her talent - they were able to patch up the weaknesses in this little trip of theirs.

"Of course it isn't," Kapun said, taking a second to look back at her. "It never was. It gave us accurate information - we just weren't using it properly."

" I wasn't." She closed her eyes - how well was she using it?

83%

Not perfectly - but it was at a high percentage, more or less. It meant that she had room for improvement - and considering how useful it was now…

"... hey, Kapun," she said, eyes a little distant. "If… if I came with the invasion, and I used my talent properly… would things have been different?"

Kapun didn't answer. His eyes were distant as well.

… she closed her eyes. If she'd been there, and she used her talent to ask how close she was to rescuing Rowan - and the further along they went, and the less the percentage would go up… well, it would make sense to switch strategies. Kapun said that they'd gotten trapped - if they'd switched strategies, maybe they wouldn't have gotten trapped.

She felt sick to her stomach. "It was my fault-"

"Stop," Kapun growled. "It was all our fault."

"If I'd developed my power, if I'd tried to-"

"Stop blaming yourself. That's in the past-"

"I-"

"You want to do right by your mother?" Kapun asked harshly. "Then help me here - and help show the others that we're powerful enough, useful enough, as we are, that we can turn the tides. That any talent is a powerful asset."

"..."

Kapun bowed his head. "That's what Culus would have said… at least, that's what I think," he said. "Culus was never a guy to sit around feeling sorry for himself. He faced death straight in the eyes and said that he wouldn't go down without a fight. He never let his problems burden him beyond what he had to fix. I…"

Kapun took a deep breath - and as he did, Brylle realized something.

"You're trying to imitate him, aren't you?"

Kapun paused, and a pink coloring dusted his cheeks.

"... keep at it." She patted his flank, feeling a little better. "And keep moving - let's finish this little 'objective' so we can return to get absolutely blasted by everyone back at our hideout."

Kapun's pink coloring was replaced by paleness. For the first time in a long while, Brylle felt an amusement that wasn't sardonic. Though… they had to focus on their little 'mission'.

Power… what percentage of completion are we on our path to Phosophor?

91%

She paused. That was a little too high. "Kapun, make the path again," she whispered.

Kapun's eyes shimmered blue, as the embarrassment quickly left his cheeks. "It's… changed," he whispered.

"He's close," Brylle confirmed, tension rising in her heart. "How close do you want to get?" They couldn't confront Phosophor… could they?

Power… if we were to battle Phosophor, what is the likelihood of our success?

No answer - probably the wrong kind of question. She wasn't actually fighting Phosophor, and her power - as far as she could tell - told her how well or how far she'd gotten in something she was doing.

Power… for battling Phosophor with a high-chance of success, how close have we come to preparing for it perfectly?

23%

She paused.

23%... was that high, or low? She hadn't expected much, after what she'd learned, but…

… well, they did have the tuning fork, and they did know more about what he could do. Learning was a form of preparation…

… the problem, of course, was finding ways around Phosophor's tools and powers.

…. 23%. Her mother sacrificed her life to get them to 23%... from where?

The more questions she asked, the more she wished that she had begun using her power better earlier.

… but Kapun was right. The less she thought about the past, the better. Now, she had to make sure that they were making no mistakes. And with her questions, she had found out that they were hiding perfectly…

… so what was this sense of unease she was feeling.

She closed her eyes, and concentrated. Was there something she was missing? Was there anything that could go wrong?

Power, tell me how close I am to finishing this mission - finishing the mission including us not being found by Phosophor.

25%

22%

19%

The sense of unease multiplied.

"Something's wrong - we're coming closer to failure," she whispered - the sense of unease mixed with a new sense of panic.

Kapun's eyes widened. "What do you-"

And then they began to hear voices. Kapun paused, before craning his ears.

"... those voices…" he whispered. "It sounds… familiar…" Kapun began running - and Brylle followed.

Kapun led them through a few more hallways, and as he did, the percentage kept growing smaller and smaller. And then, he made a sharp right and led the two of them to a room with a balcony.

What the balcony opened to, though, was an incredibly large space, practically the size of all the rooms in the base she'd called home her entire life combined. Kapun began to creep slowly, before staring down the railing of the balcony to what looked like a pair of strange looking figures. Brylle followed suit, looking through the railing to see a Leafeon and…

… and…

"... have time, Phosophor," the Leafeon - perhaps King Leafia - said with a note of irritation. "The master of security still hasn't found the intruders from earlier."

"Peace," Phosophor - as monstrous as he'd been described - growled. He stood there, surrounded by guards. Just open, just…

… Brylle made sure to grab Kapun. "23%" she whispered. "We can't."

Kapun's eyes were burning with hatred - but he nodded.

Leafia flicked his tail in irritation. "This is the first time in a long time, Phosophor, that intruders have successfully made their way into the castle without detection. Do you think it's a coincidence that they come when you have come?"

Phosophor sighed. "Do not worry, King Leafia," he assured. "This matter will be over soon. One of my retinue, Thilia, is an empath, and her talent - the unique ability each Aspect user possesses - will give her an edge. This will be over soon enough." There was a note of irritation in his voice as he spoke to the King.

More than that…

… Brylle turned to Kapun, and his pale face. "... Thilia…" he whispered.

… oh.

"We have to escape, now," she whispered. They got what they wanted and more, they couldn't afford to stick around and let everything instantly come to waste. "Path us a way out."

Kapun's eyes shimmered blue for a split-second - and then, it faded. "It's not working."

Brylle could almost feel the ground sink beneath her with how dizzy she was. "Y… you can't?" she whispered in horror. " How?"

"I'm trying. It…" A second later, his eyes flickered blue. "Okay, I… oh, wow, I have no stamina left."

Stamina - had he been overusing his talent to path them a way to Phosophor? Though it was one path he'd made, he'd had to constantly adjust the route that they were taking. What kind of toll had Kapun been ignoring…?

"Can you lead us out?" she asked.

"I… I don't know. If she's using her talent to look for us, I don't know if it's possible to avoid Thi…" He paused as he turned around.

Brylle turned around as well - and there, standing in the doorway, was an old friend of hers.

"T…Thilia…" she whispered. Though her eyes were overshadowed by her hair, Brylle was able to see small bags underneath them. "Are you… okay?"

Thilia's eyes glowed a soft blue and then a second later, she fell over. Wisps of purplish black energy wafted from behind her. Brylle couldn't move.

"Wh…"

"Oh, good," an unfamiliar voice commented. "I was right." Turning the corner was an Eevee - an Eevee with piercing golden eyes and a Collar around its neck, one with a sapphire inside of it. "Hello, Kapun, Brylle. It's been a week or so since I've seen you, hasn't it?"

Brylle looked at Kapun, who looked equally mystified. "... who are you?"

"Pardon me," the Eevee said, rolling its neck around. "I haven't introduced myself with this body, have I?" The Eevee then held out a paw. "My name is Culus - and we need to have a talk."

'Culus' then narrowed his eyes. "But first…"

And his claws flashed towards Thilia.

(Earlier)

"Are these the documents that you wanted?" Thilia asked, awkwardly levitating a sheaf of papers in front of the Pokemon who she'd spent her entire life trying to defeat.

Phosophor's eyes glowed, and a two or three of the papers broke out of Thilia's control to hover directly in front of him. "They are." A second later, all of the papers broke out of her control. "Good job. Begin attending to the Terminal once more."

"Yes, sir," she said, bobbing her head forward, and trying desperately to force back the rush of happiness she'd felt at 'Good job'. Though, considering how little it had changed anything, she might as well try to embrace it.

… she missed the others. Or, more to the point, she wanted to miss the others - whoever they were. Phosophor had stolen both her ability to miss them and her ability to remember who they - her old friends - were. She'd tried stabbing herself with a tuning fork she'd found, just to see if she was still herself.

All she'd gotten from it was a wound - and on the Terminal, she didn't register as a Shadow Worker. Phosophor had done something else to her. Maybe it was Selene or that older Epsilon Fusion's power… but then, she didn't feel anything towards them.

It was nothing she knew about, so she couldn't combat it. She wasn't entirely sure she would be able to combat it, if Phosophor found out and ordered her to stop resisting.

And with his conditioning, she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to keep up this resistance, even in her thoughts.

She began following Phosophor's orders, not that she'd had any real choice in the matter, and began attending to the Terminal - a giant device in Nucifera (and, she faintly remembered, in Cognes) that had lots of 'identities' in it. At least, that was what Phosophor told her - there was a lot of weird chaotic data instead.

She closed her eyes, making sure to check her levels of stamina. It was high, around the three-quarters mark. Then… time to work.

She pulled on her talent - which had begun to feel harder as time had gone by, for reasons she didn't understand - and directed it toward the chaos on screen - and slowly, every so slowly, the formation of the dots began to change.

Phosophor was discreet in how he used her talent - how he found out about it, he'd had yet to tell her, if he was going to tell her at all. She didn't particularly understand how using it here was going to help her, but every time she used it, he became happier and happier. He never explained what the Terminal even was, only saying that it held 'identities' in it.

The first time she'd done this, very little had happened, but he'd checked something on the Terminal and seemed satisfied. The second time, those dots slowly began to align. Day after day she did this, and day after day, they seemed to be doing… something. What that something was, she wasn't sure, but it was taxing.

She sighed - and then, just as she did so, a green light shone.

Phosophor's eyes immediately snapped to it - and then, as he did so, absolute delight flashed in his eyes. "Finally," he said. "Your talent has paid off."

"It… has?" she asked tentatively.

"It has." Immediately, he pushed her aside and began to press buttons. "At last, the Terminal has recovered enough to begin reassigning souls in the Repository to Cores and Collars. Perfect job, Thilia."

None of what Phosophor said meant any sense to her, but 'Perfect job' sent an indescribable jolt of happiness into her. Immediately, she began to want it to happen again - even though she knew it was Phosophor's doing, that he was using it to control her…

… it was the only thing she could do to feel happiness now.

"Is there anything else you need me to do?" she asked quickly, almost hating herself for how desperate she sounded.

"For now, rest and watch," Phosophor directed. "With your talent, I'll need you present later today to make sure things go smoothly." She nodded. "I can tell that the Terminal isn't fixed, but you've brought it to a point where I can output a Shadow Worker or Collared, every once in a while."

He hadn't been able to make Shadow Workers? Why? What had happened to the Terminal, and why was Thilia's talent able to fix it?

Phosophor's tentacles flashed faster than Thilia was able to see - and then, one of the dots began to separate from the rest. Phosophor pressed one last button, and the Terminal fully lit up, every single screen showing streams of data passing.

"Wh… what are you doing?" Thilia asked.

"Just watch," Phosophor promised. Electricity began to crackle through that air, and something began to distort. "Actually, Thilia, apply your talent. There may be that damned chaos this late into the process of setting the soul into the Collar."

Thilia began applying her talent, feeling her energy drain even more. The electricity subsided - and then, just as the last dregs of her talent was about to disappear, there was a small DING!.

"Perfect!" Phosophor said. Thilia smiled, even as she felt that she was about to drop. She swayed a little, but managed to steady herself.

She was completely and utterly tapped out of her power, though, and her vision went a little blurry as Phosophor went forward to pick up something that had deposited in the box in the Terminal.

"Not as perfect as I'd hoped," he judged. "A soul only fit for the Collar. But which one…" He typed on the Terminal a bit more - and then his eyes lit up. "The probability of him being the one to come out first…" Phosophor then looked over to her. "But then, with your talent, 'likelihood' becomes as close to certainty as is possible. Ideally, the original DNA won't alter the talent."

"I… I'm happy to help," Thilia said, swaying on the spot. Phosophor righted her, and then pulled something out of his pocket.

"Eat this," he commanded. "An energy supplement. It will leave you mobile, if not able to use your Aspects." Thilia took it (as if she had a choice), and as Phosophor said, she soon felt enough energy to move around. "I will need you soon, so recover as much as possible."

Phosophor didn't even wait for her to respond, already turning to the Collar that had dropped. "And with this… I won't even have to divide your stamina between your talent and your less useful Aspects." He whispered something to the Collar - and the instant he did, the sapphire in the center began to glow.

A second later, black goo began to ooze out of the sapphire, pooling around the Collar. The Collar began to raise, the goo raising with it, forming the shape of…

… was that…

Thilia felt a little nauseous as the goo made a Pokemon - an Eevee, she soon realized, with golden eyes. It formed with the Collar already around its neck as well, bound upon the instant of existence.

The instant it formed, it blinked. "You put the settings to give me my memories?" the Eevee asked.

"You, Culus, are my loyal servant." The gem in the center glowed even brighter. "You perform every task I, my brothers, and other Epsilon Fusions give you with your fullest ability and with the utmost happiness possible. The idea of rebelling against me and the other Epsilon Fusions is inconceivable and hateful, and you would never wish to do so. That is your role, Culus."

The gem finished glowing. Culus blinked. "I see - that is my Internal Being for this life." He then nodded. "Of course, Phosophor - I'd be happy to."

Phosophor turned away. "For now, take care of Thilia. I have other matters I must attend to, and I will need her abilities soon. Make it so that she recovers a significant portion of her stamina for my meeting - or rather, that she remains safe while she does so."

Phosophor then turned to Thilia, and she froze, his eyes pinning her to the ground. "Thilia… sleep."

...

...

...

When Thilia reawoke, she made sure to check her stamina, and gauged it at around two-fifths. Not nearly as much as she had before she started helping Phosophor today, but it was definitely stronger than she had been before she had fallen asleep.

"Oh, good, you're awake," a voice near her said. She opened her eyes, turning to see the golden-eyed Eevee - Culus, she remembered - looking at her. Judging from how the fur on his arm was slicked back, the Eevee had been busy grooming himself. "How are your energy levels."

"Almost half," she replied easily.

"Good." The Eevee returned to grooming himself.

"... " Thilia sat down. "So… now what?"

"Now, we wait, I suppose - until Master Phosophor calls for us." Culus still didn't bother to look at her as he groomed himself, taking a pause for a second to judge if he had done it well. "Do you need anything beforehand?"

"N-Nothing. Well, maybe some food…" she amended as her stomach rumbled.

Culus smiled. "Wait here," he said.

A few minutes later, Culus returned with some berries. "They haven't changed the password since the last time I was here," he said, shaking his head. "I'll have to tell Master Phosophor that as soon as he has the spare time to deal with the issue."

"You… you've been here before?" Thilia asked after popping a berry into her mouth. "But you - you just came out of that Collar? How did you know?"

Culus paused. "Ah, right. I suppose Master Phosophor wouldn't consider telling you the truth about Collars and Cores important."

A feeling of shame went through her. "I… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. He approves of curiosity, almost as much as obedience," he said candidly, almost kindly. "He's a busy man, though, and if you didn't need to know how they worked to do your job, then he probably wouldn't bother." He paused. "I don't mind answering, though. Would you like to know?"

Thilia couldn't nod fast enough.

Culus tapped his Collar. "First off, some assumptions you probably had, at least until earlier. This Collar? No one 'puts it on'. You can, but it doesn't do anything."

Thilia had thought it was like that, until she saw it leak out that weird fluid and make Culus. "Okay… so how does it work?"

"The Collar, simply put, makes the Collared." Culus pinched a bit of his body. "By using a special method of decomposition, you can turn a body into 'organic gel', which has most of the 'ingredients' for life. Each species had a different kind of 'gel', but they all have one. The person who decides who the Collared is - most often Phosophor or his brothers, but in my case, out of random chance from your talent - puts in the organic gel into this special stone," he said, pointing to the sapphire in the center of Collar.

"So…" Thilia frowned. "You're made of the gel. That means…"

"Collared and Cored Pokemon aren't most Pokemon - they're artificially made by the Collars," Culus reiterated. "We're called a 'homonculus'." As he said that, a frown came over his face.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, just… bad memories." Culus sighed. "The term came partially from my name, along with the original inventor of the Collar, centuries before Phosophor rediscovered the technology - a Pokemon called 'Homun'. A technology designed to make perfect soldiers to turn the tide of a war they were losing - and when they had the chance, they turned my best friend into one, just to get at me."

Culus then tightened his claws. "Until I'm finally allowed to rest… I'm nothing more than a 'Homun-Culus'. Only a shadow of what I'd been when I'd been truly alive."

"... I'm sorry," Thilia offered.

"Don't be. Instead, focus on serving Master Phosophor." Culus swished his tail. "Any other questions? Do you need a clarification, for instance?"

"Um…" Thilia looked at the Terminal. "What is that? He had me use my talent to improve it - I don't really know what it does, though. I-If you don't mind answering…"

Culus smiled. "I don't mind at all." He looked over at the Terminal. "That," he began. "Has two roles. First, it acts as a way to store data and track the various Cored Phosophor has made around the world."

"Store data?" Thilia asked.

"Research notes, plans - and, of course, memories."

" Memories?"

"Memories," Culus nodded. "Every experience that a Collared or Cored has ever had is stored in those data banks. Every single piece of knowledge, every emotion, everything." He tapped the Terminal. "Here."

"That's…" She looked at it in amazement. " How?"

"Neural alloy - other than allowing for 'artificial intelligence' to take over for the various Modes of the Collared, it can store neural network patterns even more densely than normal brain matter can." Culus's words washed over her, but it sounded incredible. "You know what 'Reporting Mode' is?" Thilia nodded. "Neural alloy is fully responsible for allowing it to work along with the various other 'modes' Collared and Cored can be in."

"Like Shutdown Mode?"

"Like Shutdown Mode," he agreed. "There are some others, like Driver Mode and Logic Mode, but those don't get used too often." Culus paused. "And as for what isn't data and trackers… there's the Repository. It holds all of the souls of the Shadow Workers."

"The… souls?" Thilia asked hesitantly.

"Once Phosophor taps potential Shadow Workers' minds for all they're worth, he uses a special mechanism to extract their soul. I've never seen it, personally, since he prefers to do all maintenance on it himself. It separates the soul from the still-living body, and funnels it into a massive spacial stone - the Repository."

"...w-why…?"

"Because even with neural alloy, you can't make a person. Ultimately, a person needs a soul to function. Spacial stones can store many things in a pocket dimension, but alter it just right, and you can filter for things like souls." Culus tapped the gem in the middle of his collar. " This is a spacial stone - right now, it stores my soul."

"... I… I don't know what to say…" Thilia looked at the Terminal. "And that just has a lot of souls in it?"

"A lot of souls. Thousands, all able to be made into Shadow Workers when Phosophor wants it. It's a time-consuming process, since spatial stones and neural alloy have be mined and forged to make the devices for individual Shadow Workers, but the result, to Master Phosophor, is worth it."

Culus then smiled thinly. "The Terminal, both data and souls, is the collection of Phosophor's hard work, over decades of tribulation and toil. It is more valuable than any of our lives, to Master Phosophor. Recovering it after what happened at Cognes was probably paramount to him."

At Cognes? "What… happened?" Thilia asked. She was there, she faintly remembered, but she remembered nothing of what happened.

"Angira's Sacrifice," Culus said simply, tapping the Terminal. Angira - the name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "As far as I can tell, when I was being re-uploaded to the Terminal - my memories and soul for my most recent incarnation - Angira used her talent to detonate herself in an explosion that was at least large enough to reach Cognes's Terminal, which is linked to and uses the same pocket dimension as this one."

"She exploded?"

"Boom," Culus said, splaying his fingers. "And it wasn't an ordinary explosion, I figured. You can probably ask Phosophor, but since he's alive and knew that Angira was the cause - he told me some things while you were asleep, by the way - the explosion wasn't enough to kill his sibling, despite being at the epicenter of a ridiculously large explosion."

"... I… " Thilia closed her eyes. "I don't think I'm curious anymore. You explained too much."

Culus snorted. "If there's more that you want to know, I'd be happy to tell."

Thilia just felt her head spin. "Can I… can I just sit down for a minute?"

Culus simply nodded, before going back to the Terminal and using his claws to type on it. He looked over the data, humming as he worked.

Thilia, meanwhile, began to let the deluge of information sink in. Everything… everything that she thought she had known about Collars was utterly fake. Mistaken assumptions, and a lie that Phosophor was happy to feed through his agent in Key…

"... um… a small question." Thilia asked

"Small?" Culus asked, as he looked through the data.

"You… you know about Key, right?"

"I was in Key," Culus said casually. "As someone loyal to the cause, too - the last life I had before I was remade today was of a person who really didn't like Phosophor and what he was forced to be."

"And… and you knew me, and Chain's spy in Key?"

"Correct." So she wasn't making things up in her head - she really was missing a lot of memories. And he… he probably knew what she didn't. "You and Lady Pandora-"

"That's enough, Culus," A harsh voice said. "I'll take managing that from here."

Thilia turned to see a Hypno walk in. One that looked very tired, eyebags clear and visible under her eyes. The second that she arrived, Culus stopped working away at the keys, nodding his head.

"Lady Pandora," he greeted. "How are your sisters?"

"About as well as you can imagine, Culus," Pandora sniped, shoving Culus to the ground as she headed to the Terminal. A second later, in a flash of rainbow… "Diane's recovery has still been slow, and Penelope is near-unreachable. Thorn is inconsolable," a Ribombee said, while her hands blurred over the keyboard.

"My condolences, Lady Sephyle," Culus said, picking himself up and shaking himself off. "And the same goes for Parasel and Kair?"

"The same goes for them as well," Sephyle nodded.

"What of Selene and her sisters?"

Sephyle paused. "Selene completed her polarity shift last week, almost simultaneously with our attack on Key's bases. She has remained within the fusion. Four and Meline - Drowzee and Cutiefly - have left for a reason that Two and Beryl - Roselia and Morpeko - aren't willing to disclose." The words came out in a quick clipped tone, as if reciting from memory.

"And Princess Eve?" Culus asked. There was a strange look on his face as he asked that.

Sephyle frowned. "Disappeared," she said softly. "But we suspect the involvement of Zennitas, likely hired by Light Black. Nero has confirmed that Lord Black is still pliable enough to Chain's demands, but Light has begun to act out of Phosophor's predictions."

"Nero will deal with it soon, I hope?" Culus asked.

"As soon as he can contact Light again, the Princess will be returned - and this time, under firm mental lock-and-key," Sephyle said, eyes flashing. "She slipped Pandora's net - she won't do so again." Thilia eeped in a little fear, before qualing as Sephyle turned to her. "And you are?"

"Thilia," Culus explained for her. "She has the talent of increasing probabilities favorable to her. Phosophor has taken control of her and set her to recovering the Terminal." He swished his tail, before 'pointing' to himself with it. "That's why I'm here now - her talent has turned the chaos from Angira's explosion into something resembling order."

Sephyle fluttered over to the Terminal, scanning over it quickly. "... insane…" she whispered. Thilia blushed at the unintended praise. "Somehow, the chaos is maintaining order…" She looked over to Thilia. "But not for too long…"

"I imagine Phosophor will set her to work at it again, after he's taken her to visit King Leafia."

"Just as well…" Sephyle then made a shooing motion. "Leave. I'll need to study this phenomenon closely. That specific pattern… what is it trying to…"

Culus took Thilia and sat her on top of him. "Sorry for all of that," he whispered, walking her out.

"It's… it's okay." She looked back at the Ribombee studying the Terminal. "Who is she?"

"One of Selene's 'aunts'," Culus said, with a little snort. "Much more technologically minded than the others."

"Her aunts?"

"Yes - all part of the same 'Epsilon Fusion'."

… that was something she was curious about. Hopefully, it would be easier to understand than everything with the Collars. "What are Epsilon Fusions?"

"Four Pokemon fused together from birth, their mixed form making a fifth person." Culus waved his tail. You saw how she changed form? That was her-"

"I know about that," Thilia said, a little cross. "Phosophor switched into Meteor and Nero in front of me plenty of times. No, I - what is an Epsilon Fusion? Why are they fused together like that in the first place?"

Culus went a little silent. "... one of the overarching purposes of Chain is to answer that question. The other is to find a way to separate the Fusions without killing them, since being a Fusion is an inherently uncomfortable experience."

Thilia blinked. "Not to take over the world?"

Culus scoffed. "Take over the world? If Chain wanted that, they could have done that by now." He paused for a second. " Could have." He reiterated. "With the state that the Terminal is in after Angira's Sacrifice, and that state that other communications are in right now… well, we'll have to recover before doing anything of significant scale again."

Glad to see that Key had never had a chance.

… wow, Thilia was bitter today.

"You seem out of it, compared to your usual self," Culus commented. "I hope Phosophor isn't too out of practice with his Possession."

"With his… what?"

"Ah - you probably don't understand that." Culus hummed. "Well… think of it like this. You have a talent, right? Epsilon Fusions innately have something like that too, in addition to whatever talent they might already have. For now, let's call it their 'Control'."

"Their… Control?"

"Something they use to 'control' other people. Maybe it's pity from Arceus, maybe it's something else. Diane and Selene have their Rhythm, while Phosophor has his Possession. There was once another Epsilon Fusion that Phosophor found with Puppeting, an ability that could attach itself to organs like the brain to control them, but he…" Culus winced. "No one likes thinking about him and what he did once everything became too much to bear."

Thilia was silent for a second. "And Phosophor used his 'Possession' on me? What does that… mean?"

"It means that he turned himself into a conscious mass of bioelectricity, Thilia, and literally jumped into your head. He found the neurons that made up your brain and rewired them on the spot - permanently, likely. What are the changes that you've noticed?"

"I…" Thilia gulped. "I'm eager to please him. I feel happy whenever I do. I can't disobey him, and… I don't want to disobey him. And I don't think I can feel negatively about him anymore." There was a strange emptiness to what she said, as if it should have had emotions in it, but didn't. "My memories… you remember meeting me, but I don't remember meeting you. I don't remember anything except..."

Except for everything that Phosophor was worth keeping.

"That's probably why your personality changed," Culus judged. "Eh, you'll get used to it. It's not like you're going anywhere, right?"

"... right."

...

...

...

There was a dullness to her thoughts, Thilia absently realized, as she spent an hour or so relaxing. Bit by bit, her stamina rose again. Culus took care of her, as was his orders. She walked around, wondering if she was going to come across any of the Epsilon Fusions, or Phosophor.

More than anything… she just examined her thoughts. Their strange nature, she recognized. The memories that were no longer there (erased, by the will of her new Master), the emotions that jumped into her head when thinking about Phosophor.

Her mind… her mind wasn't her own. She'd known it, but Culus's explanation drove it home. All of those explanations together led her to remember, once more, that Chain was nothing more than a collection of lifelike puppets. One she was now, too.

The only ones that weren't puppets were the Epsilon Fusions. They were chained together, but their minds weren't chained like hers and everyone else's were.

Or maybe they were? Culus had continued telling her things, feeding her understanding of the situation. He told her that Epsilon Fusions had two kinds of 'states' - one state where they all lived in a single body, with only one main body in control, and one state where the identities were spread out through four bodies. No matter what, though, one person was always forced to stay 'inside'. Having opinions and thoughts, but limited in how they could share them.

… Thilia… Thilia didn't know how to feel about it. Maybe that was why Master Phosophor didn't bother telling her. She was just his tool, like everyone else was. Maybe, once she came to truly accept and embrace her new role, she would be happy.

"... I just… have to stay positive," she whispered. That was one thing that had never changed. Things would work out - she told… she didn't know who, but she developed her personality to support others.

Others…

… people who had likely been her old friends, people that Phosophor had wiped from her mind.

Now, she would support Phosophor - and things would work out. They'd have to.

Then, some ninety minutes after Thilia and Culus had left Sephyle back with the Terminal, as they walked through Chain's compound in Nucifera, Thilia saw her. A Drowzee, trailing behind a Roselia walking through the compound.

"... Sable…" Thilia whispered.

"Oh, you remember one of your old friends," Culus commented.

Yes - but then, Thilia had learned that she had been a traitor to Key, so it was a bit more complicated than that. She was staring at Sable at the end of a long hallway intersecting another hallway - and soon, Sable walked out of sight, behind the Roselia. "She… she had to have been here."

Thilia simply hadn't put two and two together, but…

… but she didn't know what to think. Did Sable - under Selene's influence - still remember her? Did she care for Thilia?

What… what would Thilia…

… Thilia shut her eyes. "Can… can you contact Phosophor?" Thilia asked quietly. "Tell him that I'm fully charged, and that I'm ready to serve him."

It wasn't entirely true, but the rewiring of her brain left her flexible. If it didn't disobey a direct order and would help Phosophor or the other Epsilon Fusions, then she could do what she wanted to do. At least, that's the only reason she could think of that would let her act like this.

Culus, instead, handed her a small device underneath his cream-colored ruff. "You can use this to connect to him," he explained. "Tell him what you need to."

Thilia, using her powers, grabbed the device. A bit of luck, courtesy of her talent, allowed her to figure out how to operate it. The instant she did, she received a message from Phosophor.

' Return to the Terminal. Prepare to depart for Eonia Castle.'

"We should go back," Thilia said. Her voice was flatter than she would have liked, as though she was tired.

Well… she was, kind of.

Culus scooped her back onto his back, before taking off once more. It only took fifteen minutes of high-speed running to return to the central Terminal room. Sephyle had left, but Master Phosophor was back in her place.

"Master Phosophor?" she asked. "We have returned, as you directed."

"... hmm… " Phosophor said, looking a little distracted. "This aberration…"

"Sir?" Culus asked, stepping forward and sliding her off his back. "We've arrived."

"Yes?" Phosophor's tentacles flicked as he turned to look at them. "Oh, yes." He took one last look at Terminal, and Thilia, through her empathic sense, felt his higher interest and curiosity toward the strange phenomenon that had caught Sephyle's attention. The one that she had created, through the use of her luck talent.

She wondered what, exactly, she had actually done.

"... sir?" Culus asked again.

"You know your old culture," Phosophor said dismissively. "Clothe her in something that won't get her sneered at and prepare her etiquette. As long as you teach her what she needs to know, she'll be fine. I need to isolate this phenomenon for later studying. I'll be ready to travel in fifteen minutes."

"Of course, sir." With that, Culus led Thilia away, to a small clothing storage room for Pokemon of all shapes and sizes. With a little bit of work, he draped her in a set of clothes that looked nice, while also somewhat resembling her Hatenna body type. "While I work on this, read my mind - I'll let you copy all of the information that you need."

Thilia tentatively reached outward with her mind, and found a wealth of information about Eonian culture and etiquette. Piece by piece, she absorbed the knowledge, until she was fairly confident that she wouldn't fall over herself by accident.

As she absorbed the information, though, she marveled at Culus's innate mental strength and savvy not to let anything else travel through. There was a reason, after all, that she didn't know everything everyone else did - not just because some could innately resist her and that it was rude, of course, but because people's thoughts leaked into other thoughts. 'Don't think of pink Cufants', and stuff like that.

Was it because of the Collar, or was it because of something else?

"Alright, do you have it memorized?" Culus asked, shaking her out of the idle thoughts. At her nod, he smiled. "Good work. You're a brilliant, wonderful girl, Thilia."

She flushed. "Thank you," she said quietly, as Culus swung her around so that she was riding him once more. A few seconds later, he was running as fast as possible toward the Terminal room, and made it back with a minute or two to spare.

Phosophor, meanwhile, was still working on the Terminal, almost with a feverish ardor. Lines of text displayed across several screens.

"I've isolated the phenomenon you've created, Thilia," Phosopho said. "Now, it exists in a controlled environment, such that outside factors won't be able to destroy it."

"What is it?" Culus asked, walking up to the Terminal. There was a note of curiosity in his expression as he looked at the original model of the Repository - now with a section cordoned off, with five souls in it.

"If I'm correct…" Phosophor's eyes flashed. "A new family member. And more than that, crucial information for my objective."

Thilia blinked. She had no idea what he meant by something like that, but the way Phosophor's eyes glittered…

"Perhaps you would like to stay behind so that you can view it?" Culus asked.

Phosophor shook his head. "Sephyle will manage the data collection as well as I can. We have the King to attend to." Despite that, Thilia could feel frustration in his heart. From what she figured, he probably did want to watch whatever the phenomenon would result in but knew that having too many people would be pointless when he could delegate.

...

...

...

Twenty minutes later, the three of them were walking through the halls of Eonia's castle. Thilia couldn't help but look around in interest.

She'd never really come to Eonia for anything more than a short visit, and certainly nothing like the sharp, impressive castle that they were walking through. It had an aura of splendor - the gleaming tiling of the walls, the meticulously crafted ornamentation, the painted glass windows - everything.

Although… she was the only one who particularly seemed to care. Culus had a soft smile on his face as he looked around at the scenery, but didn't really react to anything. His eyes were hidden behind a set of contacts, enough so that the gold was hidden to look like the Eevee standard brown. The odd-colored eyes would denote him as one of royal blood, and that it was gold meant that he would be forced to be a Jolteon if Phosophor ever allowed him to come into contact with a Thunderstone.

Despite the contacts, though, he stood with a sure posture, and a confidence that underlined every step he took. The occasional maiden and guard that they came across stood up straighter as the three of them passed by.

But that might not have been Culus's presence, though. It might have been Phosophor's presence in front of them, the surety in his walk coupled with how utterly strange he was making him the sight to pay attention to.

Thilia used her powers to look a little deeper into his mind. There was a bit of a barrier, though - and soon, she found Phosophor looking back.

' Actively curious now, are we?'

' ... I'm sorry, sir,' she said.

Phosophor pushed her out of his mind, but instead of anger, all he felt was a faint sense of amusement. Culus was right, then, that he valued a curious but obedient mind over a content one.

Soon, their walk came to an end, as they came to a grand room. Many, many guards lined the walls, all eyes trained on the three of them from Pokemon of all shapes and sizes. Dozens of balconies with thick wooden railings were above them, from where people could watch them (though Thilia felt no hidden minds). At the very end, she could see a pair of thrones, one with a small layer of dust caked onto it. On the clean one rested a Leafeon.

King Leafia - the King of Eonia.

As the three of them approached, the King smiled. "So, you're Phosophor. Queen Arya spoke of you with high regard."

She did? Why?

"Thank you, your Majesty," Phosophor said bowing. As he did, she felt Phosophor's presence touch her mind and was compelled to let him.

' Use your talent at low levels - enough so that you'll only use half of the stamina you have left over the course of an hour.' His instructions were clipped and curt, even as he continued exchanging pleasantries with the King orally. ' Focus it on negotiations between the King and I, if you can.'

She didn't know if she could focus the talent, but she'd try nonetheless. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

' You're aware of my Possession, then?' She blinked, realizing that he was still in her mind. ' It doesn't matter. Concentrate on the matter at hand.'

She sent her acknowledgement, and Phosophor retreated. The King and Phosophor continued speaking about what the Queen had told him - namely, the dangers that Key had posed, and the potential benefits Aspect users could have to their national alliance - but she wasn't really paying too much attention beyond lightly applying her talent to smooth things along as best as possible.

From the balconies, she felt a mind looking in on the conversation. She turned to see a set of silvery white eyes, almost icy blue. The Crown Princess, Glacia. She wasn't looking back at Thilia, but at Phosophor, a look of interest plastered on her face and curiosity abundant in her mind.

Culus looked at her - and then, at what she was looking at. A strange expression crossed his face as well, before he sighed.

"Focus," he whispered, lightly enough that none could hear but the two of them. She blushed a little, then nodded.

Then, some twenty minutes into the conversation (Phosophor said that he had Aspect users under his employ, which was technically true if you considered what he did 'employment', which were more skilled in the usage of Aspect than the weak ones that Queen Arya had training their abilities, and offered tutorage for any Aspect users that the King might like to use), a strange bell began to ring in her head - and from the suddenly shifting emotions from everyone else in the room, others could hear it as well.

Culus leaned in. "It's an intruder alert," he whispered. "The guards near the boundary of the castle have spotted someone entering."

A second later, two images appeared in her head - that of a Deino, and a Larvitar, neither of which she recognized. Culus, though, blinked in what she sensed was recognition.

"Do you recognize them?" she whispered, concerned.

"... you would have as well," he replied simply.

"... right." Then they were Pokemon from her past.

Around them, the guards grew more and more antsy, as did she, though for completely different reasons. They were dealing with an actual threat, enough that this alarm that they had activated had to be activated. Fire-types slowly began gathering flames in anticipation for a fight, while Electric-types began sparking off electricity.

Thilia, meanwhile, was antsy for a different reason. Her… her past. It wasn't a longing, more of a curiosity - the kind Phosophor liked, though she imagined that he wouldn't in this case. She had been part of Key, an organization dedicated to taking down Chain - these people were likely here to take him down.

People from her past would be coming here. They would see her - they would wonder why Thilia was working with their enemy. The more that she thought about it, the more confused and inherently scared she felt.

"Enough, enough," King Leafia called out to the assembled guard. "Groups Alpha through Delta, stay here. Everyone else, fan out among the castle, and find these intruders." Obedient nods all around. "Phosophor, I suggest you do the same. Your retinue isn't doing too much."

"... very well."

An instant later, Phosphor generated another psychic connection with her, sending her a message over with telepathy.

' Use your talent and senses, find the intruders, but don't confront them. Instead, direct the guards to take care of them using your talent sparingly, then return with Culus. I'll find a way to spin this to our advantage.'

Thilia sent her acknowledgement back to him. Next to her, Culus's contact lensed-eyes subtly shone a little brighter as well. Less than a couple of seconds overall had passed, and Thilia waddled onto Culus, who picked her up and put her on his back.

They soon followed all of the guards that King Leafia had ordered to go search for the Deino and the Larvitar. The large group split into ten, each one covering an individual wing of the castle. They talked a little about 'proximity orbs' and 'grids' that made her a little confused, but Culus nodded with understanding, so Thilia decided that maybe it would be best if she just subtly started applying her talent to smooth things over when they happened.

After a few more minutes of talking, the groups fully split up. Making her guess as to what the targets of the Deino and the Larvitar were - Master Phosophor, or perhaps one of them - Thilia reasoned that it would be a smart idea not to move too far away. At the very least, then, Phosophor would be close enough for Culus to call for help with the device hidden in his ruff.

As Culus led them through the hallways, though, Thilia felt the emotions of another mind, not Phosophor, Leafia's or the guards' but another. It was familiar, but not incredibly so. It was not two minds, but one. It wasn't the Deino and Larvitar - unless, of course, they split up. And that would explain her somewhat familiarity. At her direction, Culus headed toward the mind.

It wasn't the Deino or the Larvitar - rather, it was the Crown Princess, Glacia.

"... who are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked at both of them. "You were with that strange mutant who was talking with Dad - what do you want?"

Culus cleared his throat. "Hello, Princess," he introduced smoothly. "My name is Culus, and Thilia and I serve Phosophor, a wonderful-"

"Yes, yes, what do you want?" She paused. "What does 'Phosophor' want? Dad usually only talks to dignitaries, not…"

"Master Phosophor's situation is complicated," Culus said evasively. "Suffice it to say, it isn't something that should be brought up in polite conversation." Glacia mutely nodded. "As for what Phosophor 'wants', he is here to explain the basic mechanisms behind the use of the Aspects, a new power that Queen Arya wishes for those in our alliance to use. In a week or so, he'll be traveling to Dragnis to explain the Aspects to King Prometheus-"

"The Aspects?" Glacia asked, a glimmer of interest in her eyes. "What are they?"

"A set of abilities," Culus answered. "Among them is an ability to create a field that locks people to the ground and stops a large variety of phenomena, the ability to resist the former ability, and a 'talent' - a special skill, unique to each individual user. Mine, for instance…"

Culus then picked up and waved his paw, and an intricate flower of ice appeared in front of Glacia, who's silvery eyes widened as she picked it up.

"... is the ability to create matter out of nothing. It is an exhausting and costly ability, but there is much that I can do with it when applied creatively."

"That's… and that wasn't a move?"

"If you need, I can make anything you wish," Culus said, his smile growing just a little bit wider. "And Thilia's ability is unmistakably not a move or ability native to her species - ah, but that will remain a secret, for now."

"Oh, come on, you can tell me! I promise to keep it a secret from Dad."

"... well…" Culus smiled. "If you help us find the two the alarm alerted us to, I'll be happy to explain. But if we find the two first, well…"

"Deal - I know these halls better than you ever could." Glacia promised, before bolting off.

"... did you say all that just to get rid of her?" Thilia wondered out loud.

"Was it that obvious?" Culus asked, smirking. "Oh, well - it worked at the very least. And it's nothing the King wouldn't have learned eventually. If, miraculously, she finds the two intruders before we do, we can just lie about what your Aspect is."

Thilia wasn't nearly as amused as Culus was. "... does Master Phosophor really want that many people to be able to use the Aspects? Why? And what if someone gets an ability that allows them to find Shadow Workers? Why does he want everyone to be so… powerful?"

"It's his new approach, as far as I can tell. The more Aspect users there are, the more likely it becomes that at least one will have the talent that can lead to breaking the Fusion. All talents have been unique so far - that means that the number of undiscovered talents is high, if not infinite. It's what he's banking on, right now. And as for a talent for finding Shadow Workers - well, we can find and eliminate them easily, with the right people in the right places."

And it wasn't like the Collars and Cores were the only methods Phosophor had for controlling people - he, and the other Epsilon Fusions, had their Controls that each worked differently. She wasn't a Collared or Cored, but Phosophor had control over her just the same.

"Anyway, Thilia," Culus continued. "Your talent, if you'd please?"

Ah, right. Thilia applied her talent, then made a guess. It took a few minutes, but eventually, they began to loop back in on themselves, heading toward a balcony near the throne room.

And then, Thilia felt their minds. They were familiar - indescribably so - and without question, she knew that it was the two that Culus claimed were from her past. She froze.

"... Culus, tell Phosophor that I can feel them," she whispered. "They're by the balcony - the third one."

Culus hummed - and as he did, his emotions shifted. They grew cold, empty - not merciless, but something close to it. A second later, she felt herself fly through the air, before hitting the ground with a roll and a tumble. She landed on her feet - right next to the Deino and the Larvitar, right as they turned around.

"T…Thilia…" the Larvitar whispered. "Are you… okay?"

Thilia froze. This… this had been a friend. It was obvious - the concern the Larvitar felt for her was obvious, as was the concern from the Deino. She… she…

SHE HAD TO CONTACT MASTER PHOSOPHOR!

Her mind practically acting on its own, she pulled on her psychic power - Master Phosophor was on the periphery of her psychic sense. If she could could send a message to him, warning him about the Deino and Larvitar, about Culus, EVERYTHING WOULD BE BETTER-

And then a wave of ghostly energy hit her from behind, and everything fell into blissful sleep.

As strange as it was, Helios was beginning to enjoy the pain, and the perpetual exhaustion that stood in fighting against the force that would have erased Riley's mind. Perhaps not the sensation itself, but what it was doing.

If Helios let go - if he ever let go - the forces in this 'Repository' would take Riley's mind and inflict pain and torment on it. Part of the reason he could fight like this was because he could still remember everything that happened to him and could figure what would happen to him. Let go, and soon, he'd be assaulted by this same force. Except…

"... and I ran around, throwing garbage at Zigzagoon," Riley jibed. It was a bit weird at first, listening to Riley's nonsense. She had no memories, so anything she said would naturally be false.

It didn't matter, though - and the idea of throwing trash at a Zigzagoon managed to pull a chuckle out of him. He had to immediately buckle down again, but the laugh was worth the pain.

"... are you sure that you don't need me to take it-"

"No!" Helios insisted as the pain pressed down on him more. It was intelligent, in a way - if Helios approached a moment of weakness, a flash of hope, it wouldn't let it go, make him want to beg for it. But Helios couldn't - he could never.

"This won't last forever," a familiar voice said. Helios grimaced as Tamon floated into 'view'. "I hope you realize that you're only delaying the inevitable."

"Fuck off," Riley eloquently said. Helios couldn't help but snicker at the wave of displeasure that emanated from Tamon, even as pressure from the Repository ratcheted up a little.

"So you're the same," Tamon said. "Letting him take the pain for you to save your own-"

"Why the hell have you come back?" Helios growled. "You were gone for so long, I thought you'd found something better to do with your time than come and harass us."

"Things have been… ordering themselves," Tamon answered, a note of confusion in the voice. "After everything was scrambled, things have been a mess that I've been unable to solve. Now, though, by pure chance, a lot of the anomalous effects have been canceling themselves out. It is… bizarre."

"Anomalous effects?" Riley asked. Helios was curious too, though his curiosity was dampened immediately by the system deciding to push just a little bit harder on him.

Tamon noticed - and as if to make it harder, began to explain, pulling Helios's attention away from protecting Riley, making her wince somewhat as a spike of pain made it through his protection. "Soon after your… attempt to protect Riley, let's call it… the functions of the Repository had been altered significantly. The mist erasing your memories is gone, and back-up memory-and-personality sets are floating through instead."

" Back-ups?" Riley asked, incredulously.

"Memories and personality we've set aside for later use and recombination, if necessary," Tamon answered dismissively. As he spoke, a strange… thing appeared in front of him, curling in on itself and undulating weirdly. "See this thing? This fractal is one of those back-ups. Any of us can touch it to absorb it and gain someone's memories." Tamon paused. "There were more earlier, though, which I had to herd the other wayward souls away from, as best as I could, to prevent things from taking even longer than they should."

"..." Riley approached the 'fractal', and Tamon smiled.

"Don't!" Helios shouted, startling her. "Are you really going to trust Tamon?!"

"Oh, drats~" Tamon said smugly. "You got me, you genius."

"You… you…" Riley growled. "You… you…"

"It doesn't matter whether you touch it or not. At this point, I imagine Master Phosophor is looking at your case with interest, considering how long you've been able to hold out for. If he isn't busy trying to fix everything, that is."

A second later, a weird pulse went through the repository. Helios's hold nearly slipped, and the pain grew with it.

Tamon looked delighted, on the other hand. "A soul was moved out of the Repository! That means that they are repairing the systems, enough so that things can get moving again! How wonderful! It…"

Tamon trailed off as a strange wind began to blow through the strange misty space. It whipped up to the level of a Hurricane within seconds, and with the winds came thousands of the 'fractals' that Tamon had said were memories. A large number of them were golden, a small number silver, and a few were this strange, pulsing black. They spun in the vortex that surrounded them, a living painting of nightmares.

"... it created this," Tamon muttered, sounding much less enthused. The golden memory fractals simply whipped around them in a vortex - and then, a strange wind blew them into the vortex.

All of a sudden, everything became hell. He, Tamon, and Riley tumbled around in the vortex, a maelstrom of motion and chaos throwing them back and forth through the strange space. They were mixed in with the fractals, and Riley and Tamon only barely dodged the fractals that almost grazed them as they tumbled.

Helios, though, couldn't dodge at all. The system that was in charge of erasing Riley's memories pressed harder, harder, harder on him, and Helios never before wanted to die more than he did now, struggling to keep it in check. It prevented him from even beginning to try to resist the vortex, and it tumbled him around and around. Even with the space being as esoteric as it was, he had still been able to tell up from down - but as things were, all he could think about was stopping the pain from reaching Riley.

But then, by chance, (or maybe, with how many of them were in the vortex, by inevitability), he was thrown into a couple of the fractals.

...

...

...

"We have delayed the punishment for far too long," Xion declared. "Helios, any last words for Kite?"

Helios didn't say anything.

"Oh well." Xion smiled one last time. "Goodbye."

Pain blossomed, making him seize up and scream.

It didn't end. It never ended. It only grew worse. Culus's thoughts only grew hazier, the sea of molten pain melting everything away. There were no desires beyond escaping the pain. There was nothing to remember, nothing to believe. The pressure on his mind was too great.

Hours had to have passed. Culus's emotions were dying. His throat had long grown hoarse, his eyes burned their tears away. Stuck in both limbo and hell, he could do nothing but suffer.

His body hurt. Everything hurt. Nothing but pain. There was nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Strangely, at some point, one of his emotions flickered up again. It was crushed by the pain in an instant, returning to nothing.

Had Culus been able to identify it, he would call it sadness.

...

...

...

The only reason that Helios had been able to keep holding back the pain from reaching Riley was because of how familiar the pain was.

Undeath. What he'd been willing to throw Culus into. Helios didn't know how or why, but the golden fractals - those were Culus's memories. And he knew they were accurate, at least in terms of the events, because he could remember those events from another set of eyes. His own.

This pain - it was all encompassing, but it was only a fraction of what Culus had endured. He'd taken this pain for Riley as long as Culus had to endure the Undeath in Fylak - except, Undeath was meant for breaking down not just personality, but sanity.

Or rather, Phosophor had toned it down to target personality. This was the weak version.

Even through the pain, Helios felt a sense of despair. Culus had managed to endure this - and then, to help engineer the escape from Fylak. He… he was nothing compared to the Shinx. Even bearing this pain was nothing…

… the pain had disappeared.

Helios righted himself in the maelstrom - or rather, gained as much of a semblance of control as he could. Why the eternal pain stopped, he…

… his eyes widened, and he turned to Riley - or rather, the orb that was Riley. The orb that was currently smashing into most of the silver fractals - not the Culus fractals, but a different set entirely. But 'smashing' wasn't the right word, considering how none of the fractals reemerged after impact.

Riley had taken the memories, then - and that meant that she, along with him, would need to have their memories removed once more, before the pain re-started.

The thought made him recoil - the mere phantom, the memory of the pain made him dodge any of the other golden fractals, in case they too had memories of Fylak. Could… could he take the pain for Riley again?

… was… was he strong enough…

… Helios could do nothing but try to correct his course through the maelstrom, and was successful as he had been when trying to escape Kyogre's Nightmare. As he navigated, he did his best to try to escape, to move as he did when first exploring the Repository.

But he couldn't escape. There was an invisible barrier he couldn't break, no matter how hard he pushed against it. He'd been isolated from the rest of the Repository - he, and everyone else in the hurricane. Him, Riley, Tamon, and two other souls that had been drawn in when he hadn't been paying attention.

"... damn it," he growled, before using what meager control he had over his tumbling in the maelstrom to make his way to Riley. "Riley, can you hear me?"

"... snow…" Riley muttered, her voice sounding distant. "... so much… snow…"

"Riley!"

"... H… Helian?"

Helian? He'd never introduced himself to Riley as Helian. As Helly, when he'd wanted to distance himself from her. Helian - he'd used that alias, but as distracted as he was, he couldn't remember.

Even as he tried to remember, the maelstrom dragged Riley away once more. The amount of memory fractals had thinned dramatically, but that was because the two souls that Helios didn't recognize were making no efforts to actually dodge them. Blank canvases that they were, they took the splashes of color into themselves.

Or, at least one did. While one of the two new souls was swept up into the vortex like he, Riley, and Tamon were, another was in the center of the vortex. Perfectly immobile, as if the maelstrom was made for it. The fellow soul in the currents of the vortex absorbed thousands upon thousands of the golden fractals, while the soul in the center of the vortex…

… the eerie, black fractals neared it. Helios had a sudden, dark premonition - nothing but instinct, but he felt that, if those black fractals touched the soul the vortex surrounded…

… he tumbled his way toward them. They were grouped together, almost intelligently, and they looked to be trying to avoid him. But the size of the isolated space shrunk and shrunk, and without the memory fractals acting as buffers, he and the four other souls began to press closer and closer together.

Almost invisible lines began to connect him - to the other souls, and the thickest of all, to the soul in the center. He felt like he was about to burst, like this wasn't something that was supposed to happen - but that the vortex made happen. Tamon had described it as chaos, but the way it was acting was almost conscious.

The black fractals couldn't avoid him - and though they tried to near the soul in the center, Helios at last managed to envelop them, just as the bonds between him and the other four souls finally crystalized.

...

...

...

He saw the little girl, begging for mercy. With a contemptuous wave of his hand, his mist enveloped the girl, taking over her like it did the rest. His puppet, what used to be the girl, ended itself. He had no need for puppets anymore.

After all, with the girl gone, the last human was dead. And he ruled supreme.

...

...

...

"... so, you're finally awake, are you?"

He opened his eyes to a chamber. In front of him flapped a Ribombee, taking notes at lightning speed. The Ribombee… he… her name…

I suggest that you address Mistress Sephyle by her name,

"S…Sephyle?" he asked, weakly.

The Ribombee blinked. "One of the souls that was in the phenomena was Tamon," she idly noted. "I suppose this is his influence."

As always, Mistress Sephyle is quick with her deductions.

What… who is Mistress Sephyle? he replied mentally.

What - what happened to me?! A voice asked in his head, high-pitched and a little panicky. I - I took those memories, and-

Helian-Helios-agh! Another voice, a female this time, shouted in response. I… I'm so confused!

Quiet down! A fourth voice roared. We need to hear what the Ribombee-

Mistress Sephyle.

-the Ribombee , the fourth voice repeated. Is saying!

"… with the difficulties of being an Epsilon Fusion," Sephyle said in a consoling way. "But you will adapt, dear. And Selene, I imagine, will be pleasantly surprised to not be the most junior among you."

Every word felt like nonsense to him. "I… I don't understand. What happened to me?"

Sephyle simply shook her head. "To put it simply, like us, you were born."

"B-Born?"

Sephyle just looked him in his eyes. "What is your name? Ask that question to yourself, and to the other voices in your head. Perhaps that will make things clearer to you, to clear the confusion"

I… who…? He asked, mirroring Sephyle's questions. Who are you guys?

I - I'm Helios?

… Bru-Riley.

Tamon.

… Culus. Don't trust her.

Regardless, he dutifully repeated each of the names to Sephyle, who nodded at each. "The memories created an identity for the last," she noted. "And as for you? What do you remember your name to be?"

"…nothing?" He had no memories, though the other voices in his head did. "Who… who am I?"

Sephyle only hugged him. "You are a new Epsilon Fusion, born of a miracle of warped luck and incredible chance. More importantly… you are one of us, now."